People and Change & Managing Change

Managing Change: Managing People's Fear

Managing change means managing people's fear. Change is natural and good, but people's reaction to change is unpredictable and irrational. However change can be managed if done right.

Managing Change: Managing People's Fear

Facing Change
Nothing is as upsetting to people as change. Nothing has greater potential to cause failure, loss of production, or falling quality. Yet nothing is as important to the survival of an organisation as change. The secret to successfully managing change, from the perspective of the employees, is definition and understanding.

Managing Change: Managing People's Fear

Resistance to change comes from a fear of the unknown or an expectation of loss. The front-end of an individual's resistance to change is how they perceive the change. The back-end is how well they are equipped to deal with the change they expect.

Managing Change: Managing People's Fear

An individual's degree of resistance to change is determined by the following factors:-

Is the perceived change good or bad? How severe will the impact of the change to be. Is the change linked to the organisational structure, culture and of power centres

Managing Change: Managing People's Fear

Ultimately An employees ultimate acceptance of the change is a function of how much resistance the person has and the quality of their coping skills and their support system.

Your job as a manager/leader is to address the resistance from both ends of the spectrum to help the individual reduce their fears to a minimal manageable level, and not to bulldoze employee resistance.

Resistance to Change Reasons

Fear of the Unknown / low tolerance Lack of Information Misinformation / misunderstanding Threat to status / parochial self interest Unable to visualise the benefits Lack of trust Tradition and culture Different assessments of situations

Class Discussion
When looking to implement change, why must the following be taken into consideration by managers?
Employee perception A clear definition and understanding of proposed change

Please justify your reasons.

Change Phases
All change models follow a similar process.
EXPLORATION PHASE

PLANNING PHASE FEEDBACK ACTION PHASE

INTEGRATION PHASE
Gilgeous P.7

Key Activities in Planning Change

Identify drivers of change and resistance to it Create a sense of urgency Put together a change team Create a clear and uplifting vision Recognise key people who are involved and likely to be affected Communicate the vision in order to induce understanding and commitment Construct a suitable timetable for change

Successful change management (Kotter 1996)

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5: Step 6: Step 7:
Step 8:

Establish a sense of urgency Create a guiding coalition Develop a vision and strategy Communicate the change vision Empower broad-based action Generate short-term wins Consolidate gains and produce more change Anchor new approaches in the culture

Approaches to Managing Change

Style
Education & Communication Collaboration & Participation Intervention

Context
Clear understanding of change vision Group involvement in setting change agenda Change agent retains control but delegates elements Use of authority to direct and drive change Explicit use of power

Effective
Long-term incremental change Long-term incremental change Non-crisis driven change Transformational change Crisis or change in established culture

Direction Coercion/edict

Managing Change Framework

Continually look for potential areas of potential improvement Assess the benefits of change against the likely problems Consult with all concerned to gain buy-in Plan and implement the required changes Evaluate whether improvements have been achieved

How to Manage Change Effectively

Careful Strategic Planning
Identify benefits and potential problems

Limiting Change
Needs to be possible, necessary and desirable

Understanding Effects
Consider impact on individuals and company

Involvement
Consult all stakeholders

Meet Security Needs of Employees Positive & Dynamic Leadership

Transformational

Training and Support Develop a Culture of Change

Empowered environment

Implementing Change
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Establish need for change Prepare a draft plan Analyse potential problems and/or resistance. Finalise plan Establish a timetable for change Communicate the plan for change Implement changes Evaluate and review

Managing the Implementation

Set up responsibility charts containing following elements:
Managers major objective General programme for achieving objective Sub-objectives Critical assumptions underlying all the above

Identify, schedule and monitor tasks

Project management

Management by Objectives

Implementation Issues
Impossible to plan for every eventuality (hence need for contingency plans and scenario planning)

May need to adjust implementation plan/timetable in light of changed conditions Need to ensure decisions taken at operational level consider overall strategic implications

Typical Implementation Problems

Full implementation takes longer than expected Unexpected problems arise Activities inadequately defined and/or coordinated Management attention distracted from core activities Employees do not have necessary capability to carry out implementation tasks Overall goals not communicated Information systems are inadequate What practical steps could be taken to prevent/overcome these problems?

Establishing a Timetable
What is the urgency of the change? Is there a window of opportunity? Is change to be implemented gradually or as a big bang? What is involved, what are the implications? Are there any revenue / cost implications?

Resource Allocation Considerations

What resources are needed? Are required resources already in place? Can new resources be acquired through redeployment, re-training etc.? How do we acquire / integrate additional resources? What are the budgetary implications?

Kubler-Ross (1960) Adapted

Change-Performance Curve

Change-Performance Curve
How can the different stages of the curve be effectively managed?

Monitoring and Evaluating Change

Monitoring
Concerned with checking progress on an on going basis Based on formal and informal information Measure against key implementation measures, e.g. milestones, cost etc

Evaluating
Involves reviewing what has been done and achieved. Need to examine performance indicators Important to know at the outset exactly what you are wanting to achieve

Evaluating Change Questions

Have objectives been met?
Have all required changes been embedded (refreeze / integration)? Where do we go next?

Critical Success Factors

These are the targets against which success should be evaluated Often these are hard, measurable targets, e.g. increased market share, higher profits etc However, they can often be softer targets, e.g. increased customer focus, improved staff motivation, becoming more proactive How might each of these be measured?

Monitoring Performance
Observation
Progress Reports Feedback Surveys Operational Data

Managing Change Framework

Continually look for potential areas of potential improvement Assess the benefits of change against the likely problems Consult with all concerned to gain buy-in Plan and implement the required change/s Evaluate whether improvements have been achieved

References
Vic Gilgeous, (1995) "Strategic concerns and capability impeders", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 10, pp.4 29 Lewin K. (1943). Defining the "Field at a Given Time." Psychological Review. 50: 292310. Republished in Resolving Social Conflicts & Field Theory in Social Science, Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1997 Leading Change" by John Kotter. Harvard Business School Press, 1996. John Reh (2013) Managing Change: Managing People's Fear Change is natural and good. Reaction to change is unpredictable, but manageable. Online http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/MngChng092302.htm Accessed 29th January 2013