Change Management

What is change management?

• Change management is making sure all change is controlled and managed and does not occur without management approval.

• Change management is a process that coordinates business systems to control and manage change within an organisation.

• Businesses operate in an environment that is always changing.

• Change in the business environment is brought about by new government policies and laws, demographic changes, developments in technology, and increased competition.

What is important to note about change management?

• Change management is not completely in the control of management and directors.

• What worked in the past may not work now.

• Management and directors may decide to respond to change through a strategic process of creating a new vision and new goals implemented through new business structures and systems.

• There are two important aspects of change management - a successful change relies on success in both of these aspects.

What are the two important aspects of change management?

• The purpose

• The business

• The people

• The product

(Important aspects of change management) Requires successful implementation of new systems, policies and technologies to respond to the business environment and new strategic direction:

(Important aspects of change management) All employees must understand the reason why the business must change and the purpose of the change process. Management must be clear about any repercussions for staff (promotions, demotions, redundancies) and the role of staff in the change process. Change will succeed if employees are supportive and motivated to change:

Examples of change: Pt.1 of 2

• New products and services

• Firing people to cut costs

• Outsourcing

• Purchasing from the same suppliers

• Starting business online

Examples of change: Pt.2 of 2

• Entry into a strategic alliance

• Significant change in laws and regulations

• International expansion

• A move into franchising

• Buying and selling businesses

____ can take many forms and must be managed if it has an impact on the business.

Which of the following are true for change within businesses?

• Not all stakeholders will be happy with change for various reasons and may resist any attempt to modify processes and procedures.

• These changes have an impact on everything a business does and involves changes to procedures, policies, and how staff do their job.

• Businesses are not stagnant, they are dynamic, and change is always occurring in them. The business environment is also dynamic and to keep up to changes a business will have to adapt its mode of operations.

• In order to have continuous improvement, a business will have to monitor and modify its operations.

____ ____ ____ is when employees oppose or struggle to accept changes in the workplace. ____ ____ ____ maybe expressed as criticism, nitpicking details, failure to adopt new policies and procedures, sarcasm, missed training and meetings, arguments with management and co-workers and, at the extreme, workplace sabotage.