Manage-Wise

Preparing the organisation for change

To quote an anonymous author, “Change is inevitable except from a vending machine”. Most individuals and organisations do not easily embrace change. Often, they take steps to avoid it. In many cases, individuals expend more energy resisting change, without realising that it could take lesser energy to change. It is human nature to accept status quo and feel uncomfortable about the unknown state brought on by change. A plethora of research exists on the topic of stage and change management. Thousands of consultants are employed because of the inevitable and constant need for effective change management in organisations. And within organisations, effective change agents are desired commodities.

Commitment for change

Leadership commitment for an organisation activity, including change, is a key ingredient to actively manage an organisation. Leaders must be actively engaged and “walk the talk”. Leaders should create or foster a culture where change, spurned by continuous improvement, is expected, and desired behaviours are rewarded. Leaders also need to assign and support effective change agents within an organisation, and hold key members within the organisation responsible and accountable for achievement of results and continuous improvement. Status quo should not be tolerated.

The old adage “manage change or change management” cannot be more true. Unfortunately, most organisations, and people, don’t deal with change particularly well. In addition to leading by example and supporting change within an organisation, leaders need to help create an environment where the need for change is understood by everybody. Sometimes, this is communicated in a crisis mode, such as by an organisation in dire financial straits and about to go out of business. By this time, it is probably too late to change. And the key stakeholders—employees, shareholders, communities, and so forth—will hold leaders accountable for not having made the necessary changes to keep the organisation viable and successful.

Leaders need to create or reinforce a culture that promotes change. Employees will constantly invoke the “WIIFM” adage—“What’s in it for me?” Leaders, working with their change agents, need to help the entire organisation understand the need for change and the impact it will have on all individuals and parts of the organisation. One way of doing this is by estimating the magnitude of change.

Change agents within an organisation are rare yet desired entities. They must effectively implement changes throughout the organisation, knowing that they will face resistance from every quarter. Change agents must serve as extensions of the senior management. The typical attributes change agents must possess include an ability to get things done by others, respect for and by the organisation, and demonstrated history of achieving results and meeting commitments. Six Sigma Black Belts are taught change management as part of their overall training and make acceptable change agents in most cases. They identify new ways of performing old operations and implement these changes in various parts of an organisation.

Managing resistance to change

Organisations need to be productive and practical in order to compete and survive. Organisations are made up of people—with feelings, aspirations and fears. When the human side of the organisation is well taken care of, change and success will occur. People can accomplish nearly everything if the desire and will exceeds their apprehensions.

There are fundamental reasons why individuals resist change. It is human nature. Some of these reasons are:

Inertia. People are afraid that change will disrupt and slow down their current levels of performance.

Habit. People are used to doing things in a particular way. The adages “old habits are tough to break” or “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” certainly apply.

Resource limitations. There is never enough time or people to change what is being done today.

Threat to power or influence. Certain individuals feel that they have control over the way things are currently operate and change will eliminate their power or influence.

Fear of the unknown. People get comfortable doing things a certain way and the fear of doing things differently or the impact it might have on them cause them to resist change.

Social influence and social information processing. Change agents and change adopters are a minority in any organisation. There is always power in numbers. People resist change because others do.

Change agents need to understand some fundamental techniques to overcome resistance to change. These include: n Clarify the importance and urgency for the need to change. n Provide facilitation and support to deploy the change throughout the organisation, in the most effective and efficient manner. n Identify and address individual differences in receptiveness to change. n Address WIIFM issues. Change agents need to help individuals in the organisation accept and manage change. They will encounter a number of reactions to change that have been categorised as follows: 1. Bystanders, or those that are reluctant to get involved, wait to see if another will take the lead and wait for others to adopt change before following. 2. Victims strongly resist change and feel angry or depressed about the need to change. They isolate themselves from others and will not ask for help. 3. Change critics actively look for reasons why the change will not work. They challenge the appropriateness of change and go out of their way to demonstrate that the current way of doing things is better than the proposed way. 4. Technical resistors, or those that question all the technical details and reasons for change, feel inept in the face of change because of new or different technology. 5. Political or organisational resistors equate change to the loss of power. They strongly defend the status quo.