Change Management

The article on "Change Management" was written by me couple of years back. I am reproducing the same for your benefit. Here it goes.

"Change management is of great significance in any change initiative undertaken by the organisation. Rapid and constant innovation in technology is driving change in organization’s systems and processes. Government legislation, trade policies and market forces over which the organization has no control can also bring about change in the organization culture, systems and processes. If organisation does not respond to change in market forces, it will be left behind and perished. If change initiative is not handled with precision and great care, it can fail miserably. The reason why change initiative fails is not because of any lack of technical expertise but because of lack of leadership qualities and managerial skills and foresight like blurred corporate vision, inability to respond to changes , wrong prioritization, planning etc. Human factor is also very dominant in failed change initiatives. Human psychology is such that any change initiative undertaken by management is looked upon with suspicion and fear by employees resulting in resistance to change. Management must therefore anticipate employee resistance and develop a strategy to counter it. There are many reasons why employees resist change. The main reason being fear of loss of authority,control and lack of faith in their own ability to learn new skills and methodology which results in sense of insecurity. Interestingly, if they are asked as to what makes them to resist, the reason given by them will be entirely different from the deep rooted actual reason. Typically, employees reaction to change takes place in 3 phases. Initially, they are in the state of denial, subsequently, they pass through the stage of fear, anger, frustration and helplessness. Finally, they accept the change either negatively with feelings of resignation, complacency or they accept the changes positively with renewed enthusiasm to capitalize on the changes.

Employees resist change either covertly or overtly. Those resisting overtly voice their objections loud and clear. These types of employees can be easily identified and handled. They display their resistance to change whenever an opportunity arises such as taking unapproved leave, refusing to take instructions from seniors, convincing others to stick to the old system. At times , the resistance can take the form of strikes, boycotts, legal notices etc. Those resisting covertly mask their objections and are much more difficult to identify. They do not openly voice their objections for fear of termination or fines. Covert resistance can take many forms such as unco-operative attitude, absence from work, spreading rumours, complacency in work etc.

What should the management do to overcome resistance. It should firstly communicate to all the employees what has prompted them to take change initiatives, how the change will take place and how the employees and organization as a whole is going to benefit from the change. Secondly, it should communicate very clearly what will be the repercussion in business if the change initiative fails to take place. Thirdly, in anticipation of refusing to participate in the change process by some disgruntled employees, management should chalk out detailed action plan to counsel them and if need be take appropriate measures to thwart their plan to scuttle the process of change.

Change initiatives typically usually starts with great fanfare but dies down slowly after couple of months. Change requires putting up lot of extra efforts. Unless employees are self motivated, it is very difficult to sustain the motivation level over a long period of time. No amount of external motivation like incentives, fear factor etc can work for long. Clear vision, Positive thinking, self belief, empowerment, affirmation, visualization etc are internal motivating factors that can change the attitude of employees.

Organisation should appoint change agent to implement change initiatives. The change agent should have the clout, conviction and leadership qualities to make things happen. Besides these qualities, change agents should also have technical skill depending upon what type of change initiatives are undertaken. Change initiative may be required to restructure organization to make it more customer centric or it may be required to reengineer business process or ERP implementation. Change agents should not be part of project team responsible for BPR or ERP implementation. This is so because members of project team are more focused on improving systems, processes and technology, whereas change agents are more focused on human behaviour.
Certain change initiatives which require restructuring organization culture are extremely difficult to implement because this type of change initiative impacts the organization as a whole and not confined to a particular section of employees and therefore very time consuming. The motivation level of employees have to be sustained over a long period of time else the change initiate will fail resulting in colossal waste of time and effort made."