4. Change Management & Communications

4. Change Management & Communications

1. Change Management vs Organisational Development

   • OD focuses on continuous improvement through business as usual
     • 4 characteristics common in OD:
       • 1. OD is a planned intervention, designed to improve organisational effectiveness
         • 2. OD relies on a lot of psychology & concepts & research from behavioural science
           • 3. OD is a long-term & continuous effort throughout the life of an organisation
             • 4. OD is mostly centred on HR variables (motivation/job satisfaction) & often concerned with 1 project at a time
   • CM is involved with more radical and far-reaching changes and their effect on the organisation
   • Types of change:
     • Transformational change
       • Fundamental change that involves structures, activities, personnel & often the type of produces or services delivered
     • Realignment change
       • Adapting or reconstructing existing structures & processes rather than changing them
     • Typical implementation plan for change:
       • 1. Analyse the current position & the changes required
         • 2. Identify the future state required & the barriers to change that may occur
           • 3. Analyse the critical change that need to be made
             • 4. Identify & design the approach to change
               • 5. Plan the transition path & the phasing of changes
                 • 6. Manage & lead the transition
                   • 7. Evaluate the process & communicate the outcomes

2. Change Kaleidoscope

   • Developed to enable managers to design a context-sensitive approach to change within their organisation
     • 1. Time-how long have they got?
       • 2. Scope-degree of change required
         • 3. Preservation-certain things we do not want to change, such as staff commitment, high performance in a particular team, or a good reputation
           • 4. Diversity-staff/team experience of change, attitude
             • 5. Capability-three levels
               • Individual
                 • Ability of individual to cope with the transition they will go through
               • Managerial
                 • The ability of managers to help their staff through the transition process
               • Organisational
                 • The existence of organisational resources with the knowledge & ability to manage change of the type required
               • 6. Capacity-resources available for investment (budget, time, people)
                 • 7. Readiness-extent to which staff are aware of need to change & are ready to embrace it
                   • 8. Power-the amount of power that change agents have & autonomy they have

3. TROPICS test

   • Predicts whether the changes required within the organisation fall into:
     • 1. Soft changes-people attitude & culture paradigms
       • 2. Hard changes-system process & structural issues
   • Tool assesses:
     • Perceptions
       • Interest
         • Control
           • Source

4. Change Life Cycle

   • Unfreeze
     • Existing mind-sets in the org are challenged, establishing need & motivation for change
     • Change
       • Freeze
         • The new order is bedding in & being reinforced in the org, becoming the new status quo
       • Stage of anxiety & confusion, where people are going through changes but do not have clear picture of future
   • Change requires prior learning to be rejected & replaced-COGNITIVE REDEFINITION

5. Transition Curve

   • Tool designed to help to predict the way people react to change, enabling correct technique to be applied

6. Force Field Analysis

   • Tool in anticipating likely resistance to change, based on idea that situation at any given time is not static but subject to driving forces that will push/hold back the change
   • Highlights concerns & provides the change leader with an idea as to which solutions to put in place

7. Change Agents

   • Employing a change agent to manage the change process can be a useful catalyst for successful implementation of change
   • Main role is to engage with all stakeholders & to sell the change & benefits to all parties
   • Change agents must:
     • be seen to be open & responsive to others
     • be judged by org as a whole to represent all parties
     • have the authority to act quickly to solve problems as they occur
     • have the ability to be detached from the detail of the various change initiatives, concentrating on end results of change process as a whole
   • Advantages of Internal Change Agents:
     • Save time as they already know & understand the org
       • Know about politics & relationships that exist
         • Have access to rumour mill & can anticipate problems
           • Accepted by others as looking after the interests of the org as a whole
             • Quickly establish rapport & trust
               • Not an additional cost
   • Disadvantages of Internal Change Agents:
     • Subjective view due to previous role in organisation
       • Over-cautious when making decisions that might ultimately affect their career
         • Potentially lacking in the skills of change management
           • Learning on the job inefficient
             • Might get drawn back into their 'old' past
               • May defer decisions to more senior leaders
                 • Difficulty moving back to original role after the change process
   • Advantages of External Change Agents
     • Specialist knowledge & skills
       • Objective view point
         • Specific help on a temporary basis
           • Access to expert opinion
             • Have done it before & can participate problems & issues
               • Highly competent project management skills
                 • Can make the difficult choices
                   • Can transfer knowledge to the organisation for future change
   • Disadvantages of External Change Agents
     • Need time to get to know the organisation
       • Members of the org may be wary of outsiders
         • Perceived as not having loyalty to the organisation
           • Feeling that if negative things happen they can just leave
             • Cost
               • May not have time available to manage unforeseen consequences if moving on to next job

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