Blog/News
IMPLEMENTING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE – THE 5 CS APPROACH
Organisational Change has been defined in many ways by different scholars. Different organisations have in their own way tried to adopt and implement new strategies that are designed to improve their systems, operations and overall practices.
Organisational Change entails adopting new ideas, behaviour, and practices either by adding or removing major parts of overall corporate strategy. Every organisation at one point needs to adapt to new situations regarded as an improvement over the status quo if they are to survive or prosper.
International occurrences, technological advancements, and new trends in leadership and managerial styles require profound changes in organisations and underline a need for continuous improvements, a better set of practices that seeks to make the organisation more modern.
Change has to be properly managed to ensure that problems that arise are minimised. Change can only benefit the organisation when it is well implemented. New ideas and new technologies do not benefit any organisation unless it is in place and fully utilised.
Experience, however, has proven beyond doubt that change cannot be implemented without upheavals. Indeed some organisations experience stern resistance to change, others have had to repudiate the whole idea of change because of the problems that arise during implementation. People typically resist change they believe will take away something of value. People typically resist change because our natural inclination is to remain in our comfort zone. Our desire not to stir up the hornet’s nest, maintaining the status quo causes us to resist any change, however subtle.
It, therefore, beholds every organisation to adopt specific tactics when implementing change to ensure that firstly the change process becomes successful, and secondly, there is very little resistance on the part of employees.
Below, I present my 5 Cs approaches for effecting successful change. My aim here is to present a series of approaches directed at organisations that want to implement change successfully.
Change cannot be successfully implemented without proper communication and education. Everybody that will be affected by the change (to whatever degree) must be well-informed about the process. Ignorance breeds misinformation and that leads to uncertainty which can only lead to resistance. People must be educated on the process, timelines, benefits and negative effects. Those with fears can be taken through some form of training, encouraging them to embrace the change as the way forward.
Communication and education are particularly important when the change involves new technical knowledge or in situations where people are unfamiliar with the ideas. Communication serves as a confidence booster and supports people who are uninformed enabling them to access information that will help them throw their support behind the change process. When people get a good idea of what the process is about they tend to support and serve as sources of information for those that have similar fears.
Change must be supported by corporate culture, meaning that change in itself must be initiated from the top. There must be visible support from top management. This can reduce resistance to a great extent.
When employees see top management making the effort to accept the changes, they fall in line and also make the effort. Top management support is particularly important if the change involves multiple departments. Top management involvement cements the process making it a corporate policy. The objective will be to secure top management’s support in implementation. When top management fails to support a project (Change process) they can inadvertently undercut it by issuing orders that clearly undermine the whole process. How do one secure fund, and allocate time without top management support? The process must be well designed and supported by management as the accepted way of conducting business.
Closely related to the above is the need for cooperation at all levels. Every employee must be encouraged to participate. Participation entails involving users and potential resistors in designing the change. Employees’ understanding must be sought to ensure that there is a commitment to change. When people are involved in decision-making and the change process, they tend to identify with the process, freely communicating their problems and ensuring that it is successful. Making people an integral part of the process makes them feel appreciated, relishing the fact that they contributed to the process and so must make it work. Apathy must be discouraged and everybody must be involved in every stage of the process. People feel detached when they feel that a particular process is being pushed down their throats without seeking their consent.
Making concessions can be a very good strategy for effective implementation. Making concessions and compromising entails negotiating with interest parties in a formal way. Negotiation serves as a formal means of achieving cooperation. You gain people’s trust and support by making concessions and compromising to a certain degree. The strategy is to bargain to win acceptance and appreciation of a desired change. Unions can be engaged in a formal negotiation process and their interest considered. Management may have to make concessions and cede some interest with the aim to gain support.
As indicated earlier, negotiation also indicates that the employees’ interest matter and that the process accepts and respects their opinion. Change must be negotiated and concessions made to ensure that its implementation is successful.
Organisations must however be careful not to negotiate important features of the idea away.
When everything else fails force must be used. When management has a conviction that a particular change idea is a way to go they can push it through in spite of the resistance. Managers use formal power to force employees to change. Under the circumstance, resistors are told to put up and accept the change or lose rewards or their jobs even. Employees that appear to be making an effort are rewarded to motivate others to join and accept the change, whiles those that are resisting are punished to deter others. Coercion is particularly useful in crisis situations when rapid response is urgent and when the organisation decides that a particular course of action is their only option and their only hope for survival. People that do not toe the line are forced out and new faces are put in their places.
In most cases, the use of force must be minimised as it makes employees feel as if they are being victimised, making them target change managers as enemies and can even go to the extent of sabotaging the whole change process.
Change is good, especially when an organisation realises that it must change quickly and dramatically to survive in a changing environment. The way change is implemented determines to a large extent how successful or otherwise the process will be. Change can be managed effectively when an organisation uses external trends and needs as a basis for deciding the course of action
The approaches stated above are correlated as one option precedes the other for it to work. It beholds a particular organisation to decide what method to use to ensure that the process is smooth and successful.
By Michael Kuma Avuglah
Michael Kuma Avuglah is a Human Resources Management professional. He is the Chief Operations Officer of Ghana HR Solutions ( http://ghanahrsolutions.com) a Ghanaian Human Resource Consultancy with services in recruitment and organisational training and development. At Ghana HR we support your organisation with strategic HR services. Our services range from Recruitment, Training and Development, Payroll Services, Employer of Record, and Salary Benchmarking among others. Outsource your HR to us and focus on your core functions. Talk to us about our newest service EA-for Hire and utilise the services of an Administrative Assistant. We have a large database of qualified administrative staff ready to support you with your admin work. Reach us directly at info@ghanahrsolutions.com at 0302797657