Managing change at work
By Megan Byrne | theage.com.au | 26 September
Altering a business structure is a confronting process.
This year has seen some major changes in Australian workplaces. The promised demise of WorkChoices, redundancies at Ford, Boeing and Fairfax, and Vodafone's recent acquisition of Crazy John's are prime examples of the changing nature of employment.
Behind every change are the people who instigate it, and those who are affected by it. When the two don't see eye to eye, the workplace can be an unpleasant place to spend the day.
But change management consultant Chris Nguyen says change can be positive.
"Managing change effectively involves an understanding of the emotive response people have towards their career," he says. "If this is understood and treated appropriately, it is possible to help everyone move in the right direction together."
Mr Nguyen is the director of Curve Group, a company which specialises in change management and support. He has worked with ANZ, Shell, Coles Myer and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
He says that at a basic level, change management involves educating staff and clients as to what a proposed change means, helping managers to implement and support the change, and design any new roles.
Some of the more common situations in the past three to four years that have required the support of change management consultants are mergers and large-scale acquisitions, he says.
"Imagine if BHP Billiton acquired Rio Tinto. One of the most important tasks would involve integrating two very different cultures and working systems. There is a massive people component to such a change."
A typical project revolves around a strategy change that causes company structural changes, Mr Nguyen says. "This usually means movement and repositioning of staff, requiring effective management of both communications and organisational redesign, particularly in ensuring that tasks will still be completed, and at the same standard."
A recent client of Mr Nguyen's wanted to outsource major aspects of its organisation offshore, he says, including IT, HR and finance.
"My job involved analysing the impact to people both locally and internationally," he says. "How does the change affect people's motivation and knowledge? How do you help people from the onshore entity to understand the change? I also explored the changes the organisation would make to its marketing strategy in the local area and overseas."
Mr Nguyen describes change management as a "very loosely defined profession".
"As a discipline, it doesn't have its own professional body or representative organisation," he says. "Most change managers have a background in organisational psychology, and specialise in organisational behaviour or development."
Though it is now a well-known profession, Mr Nguyen says change management is not a new field.
"The business need for CMs hasn't changed, clients are just more aware," he says. "Senior leaders within organisations are seeing what happens if they don't engage 'people-people' in their large projects: staff issues aren't managed, and they don't realise the benefit they are aiming to achieve. Because of this, the engagement of CMs is now considered a required spend rather than a discretionary spend."
Mr Nguyen believes CMs should become involved very early in the change process.
"If possible, when the strategy decision is being made," he says. "We can help determine whether an organisation should involve certain parties in the decision process. But usually, we're engaged after the decision, which is a slightly harder point at which to start.
"Change management is almost like running a political or PR campaign for your staff. Itstarts with very detailed planning - consideration of the best approach to win over the minds of employees with the rational component of 'why', but also how to win their hearts by helping them feel that they are involved in change rather than having it forced on them."
Tips for managing change effectively:
Involve staff and stakeholders in the change process from an early stage.
Ensure that key parties within the organisation show genuine leadership. "Most people will see through ideas or reasoning if they suspect that their leaders are not being sincere," change management expert Chris Nguyen says.
Keep a broad mindset: don't just consider costs, processes and systems. Remember people's needs and the quality of the workplace and your product.
Identify the size of the risk to your business if you don't manage certain people issues. Consider the likelihood of any staff action and the impact that this will have on the product and staff. "Unfortunately, the impact on people and of their response usually comes as an afterthought," Mr Nguyen says.
Consider the appropriate method for communicating the change. Lunchtime sessions, small group discussions and a town hall meeting are all possibilities.
First published 13/09/08
First published by TheAge.com.au on September 26 2008
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