| Change that maximises employee potential | Send to a friend |
| Thursday, 26 January 2012 10:15 |
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GUEST COLUMNIST pmbithi@deloitte A change management strategy aims to deliver benefits to an organization and its shareholders through a coordinated implementation of complex initiatives that comprise changes to processes, systems, infrastructure, data, roles, structures, skills and performance levels. Change management therefore is the process through which an organization is able to get its employees to the desired goals. The goals may include the adoption of a given set of behaviours, the successful implementation of an information system or enterprise application or the attainment of its strategic objectives. In order to do this the organization appoints a change manager who develops change plans and their associated measurement instruments and tools. Experience has shown that failure to consider the people aspects of any implementation often results in failure of the initiative. There are a number of variables and unseen employee behaviours when trying to undertake a change intervention. This fact is further compounded by the size of the organization, the novelty of the change being introduced and the degree of employee preparation. In some cases the leadership of the organization might not be fully aware of the rationale for the change or even understand how it will impact them. Heads of departments and units also face the same challenge because a concept being introduced will most likely have been formulated with inputs from outside the organization and they would thus have played a minimal role if any. Employees for their part will wonder why the organization keeps changing systems and practices because they will have become used to the way things are done. Employees for the most part are not rational in the midst of change and a directive approach may work in the short run but employees soon revert to their previous ways of working. New structures become redundant and the amount of effort to sustain change increases. The promise of reduced costs will remain a promise or a dream at most. The larger the organization the more this may happen. Relying on employee goodwill or contractual obligations is not a full proof method to institutionalize this change. A change manager may also decide to dwell on the feel-good factors and develop an approach that makes employees feel good about the proposed changes. He may even decide to offer incentives to those employees who adopt the new ways of working quickest. The results of this type of approach can be somewhat mixed because there will always be the doubting Thomases and those employees who see no benefit in what is being proposed. Such employees may use another strong emotion – that of fear of the unknown- to lobby fellow employees to resist the change. This lobbying does not appear as a structured and planned activity. It may take place in the canteen, in the cafeteria, in the corridors or in any other place where employees meet. A doubt created in the mind of one employee is enough to spread the fear factor in a large number of employees. The number of factors to be considered and the risks involved might be great. The organisations budget is finite and so the change initiatives may be planned to happen within a specified period of time. If employees know this they may simply cooperate during this planned period and then revert back to the old ways of working. The change manager cannot work without an understanding of the organisations dynamics neither can he work in isolation. A system needs to be built to incorporate employee behavior, employee segments and measurement approaches. This should also be combined with a monitoring and review system which will reveal that movement has taken place from point A to B and where movement has not taken places, obstacles should be identified, isolated and addressed.Most obstacles are actually opportunities that organisations can work with to arrive at the desired future-state and achieve success. The change must be managed and not just left to happen because change doesn’t just happen. Change is created. Change is managed. In using such an approach Tanzanian organisations can create a workforce that is open to change and that strives in the midst of change. The organization then becomes agile, out-competes its competitors, sets standards in the industry and becomes a true learning organization where employees thrive and achieve their maximum potential. Mr Mbithi is a director in human capital with Deloitte Consulting Limited and is currently working on a large change management project in South Africa. The views expressed in this article are of the author and not necessarily those of the firm. The Chris Harrison’s article will resume next week Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 26 January 2012 11:34 |
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