Industrial Management

MAR-APR 2016

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30 Industrial Management change, and naturally an increased level of mistrust held by the front-line employees against top management or change agents. A good communication should be a two-way communication, with a frequent and well-thought out feedback system from the employees. This will help the change agents engage, align and include the front-line employees as process owners from the initial steps of the change efforts. The more that employees clearly understand what their organization stands for, the better they can respond and accept change. There should be no element of surprise in this process. 2. Why is the change necessary? This is to ensure that the change is value-added, necessary and justified. During this step, the executive team should carefully investigate and ratio- nalize the need for change. Top manage- ment's analysis must include what happens if the change does not take place. What would be the organizational impact? This information should be used effectively in communication with the employees and all stakeholders up front. Listening to the stakeholders' feedback during this stage and openly discussing and addressing the need for change will increase the probability that your planned changes earn consensus faster and are well-accepted by the entire organization. 3. What exactly needs to be changed? This is a process of controlling the rate of change. The elements of change must be identified clearly and implemented in proper sequences, according to the goals and objectives of the enterprise. Being clear about what areas or factors the new changes will affect helps reduce the employees' anxiety and uncertainty about how their roles and responsibilities will be altered. This reduces the element of surprise when implementing change. Employees should know how the changes will When one aligns these principles with the "why and what" of change, paradigms and attitudes change. affect their job functions, roles, respon- sibilities, potential for career growth and job security, along with the actual transformation processes to get from here to there. Frequently, a workforce becomes resistant to any planned changes because there are too many unknowns. Individuals need to have access to the full picture to understand the scope of any major initiative. If not, they may begin extrapolating from bits and pieces of information they hear and put together threatening stories that are not factual. This could contribute to the spread of rumors, create pockets of resistance and promote mistrust of what leadership actually intends. Another element that could exhaust an organization's resources and negatively impact change efforts is introducing too many changes simul- taneously. This could tip the balance of the organization and cause irreparable damages and disruptions, akin to tipping the top over. This is particularly noticeable when the nature of change includes a funda- mental shift in people's paradigms. Employees must be provided with enough information, metrics and communication, along with the necessary training and continued coaching and mentoring to be able to ease into the new paradigms with a feeling of ownership and trust. To make the transformation easier, leadership must prioritize all activities and introduce them systemically in order to have the capacity to control the speed of the implementation. This would allow the leadership to address issues more specifically at the root level. After resolving the issues, then the next issue or constraint will be addressed in an organized and controlled manner. 4. What does the organization look like post-change? This is a principal activity. Leadership must be fully sold on and supportive of the change(s), its intent, objectives and implementation methods. Clearly visualizing what the expected outcome will look like is a good way to manage expectations properly. At this planning stage, the visualization of the outcome must be clear enough that leaders can articulate "what good looks like." This visualization exercise will allow the leadership to install the proper measurements and metrics that will cultivate the employees' desired behavior, which is absolutely critical if the organization is going to achieve the "good" in its planning model. 5. How should the change(s) take place? A systemic approach that compels the organization's leadership to have a laser-sharp focus is necessary to identify the above imperatives in a prioritized fashion. Further, the leadership should identify the implementation technology and methodology for achieving those objectives. At this stage, leadership must review its policies and governing principles to ensure that they harmonize with the strategy, goals and technologies. When organizations introduce change, it is absolutely necessary for them to examine all previous and existing assumptions and policies. The organi- zation should be limber and flexible to align policies and principles to support the nature of the future change and its road map to success. Flourish for the future As fascinating as the research on change management may be, it is a daunting task to implement the desired change into any ongoing enterprise. As this article has tried to relate, change occurs when acted upon by principles. When one aligns these principles with the "why and what" of change, paradigms and attitudes change, and organiza- tional growth is given an opportunity to flourish. It must be reiterated that a change can only flourish when there is an active effort of continuous support, leadership and coaching to provide a trusting environment for your organization's employees. v

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