NC: Generic Management Level 5 Module 1

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Learner Guide

NC: Generic Management (Level 5)

Module 1: Planning Formulate, develop, implement and evaluate operational strategies, projects and action plan, to improve the effectiveness of the business unit

Section 1: Managing Change

Unit Standard:

252021

Formulate recommendation for a change

Level 5. Credits 8

Theory relates to Action Card (5):

➢ Identify change

➢ Develop a SWOT analysis

➢ Selecting the right change model

➢ Knowledge Questions

➢ At the workplace

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Contents

Section 1: Managing Change ................................................................. 3

Need for Change ..................................................................................... 3

The Change process................................................................................. 5

a) Prepare the organisation for change ................................................... 5

b) Create a vision and a plan for change ................................................. 5

c) Implement the change ..................................................................... 6

d) Embed changes .............................................................................. 6

e) Review and analyse results ............................................................... 6

Conducting a SWOT Analysis ..................................................................... 7

Change Model examples ........................................................................... 8

Kaizen Philosophy of Continuous Incremental Improvements ...................................... 8

Kotter’s Change Management Model ........................................................................ 9

Change management action plan ............................................................. 11

Creating an Action Plan to Implement Change ........................................................ 11

Dealing with Negative Resistance to Change ........................................................... 11

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Section 1: Managing Change

Need for Change

Change seems to be the only constant in our modern world. This impacts all aspects of our lives, personal and business. Almost all organisations will at some point have to change or adapt to ensure the success and viability of the organisation in the ever-changing world. Change can be seen as s survival tactic to keep up with changing technology, customer demands and everyday business operations, to ensure they keep a competitive edge. As a manager you must understand the need for change as well as the impact of the change on employees and the business itself.

“YOU NEED A CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN BECAUSE STRATEGY AND

PROCESSES ARE ALWAYS PERFECT IN THEIR CONCEPTION, BUT AS TIME

GOES ON THESE ELEMENTS OF BUSINESS BECOME LIVING, BREATHING,

AND CHANGING ENTITIES. CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLANS HELP YOU

REMAIN AGILE, ADAPT TO CHALLENGES ALONG THE WAY, MONITOR

SUCCESS METRICS, AND TRACK MILESTONES.“

– AMY KAUFFMAN, FOUNDER OF STRATEGIC MOXIE Change management has many definitions, this includes but not limited to:

• Change Management is the process of bringing the right people together to address the issues in real time, leading them to reach agreements that lead to collective action.

• Change Management involves preparing and equipping the workforce to be effective in the new environment

• Change management is proactively managing the people side of change to achieve the desired business results

There are various factors that can affect or influence change:

Internal factors that can influence change in an organisation:

✓ New leadership in the organisation or department

✓ Changes in products or services

✓ Changes in organisational team structures

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✓ Implementation of new technology

External factors that can influence change in an organisation:

✓ New Government regulations

✓ Competitors

✓ Economical changes for example: recession, pandemics etc.

We can see that organisational change is necessary to success and grow. Change management drives this process and it helps employees understand and commit to the change. If the change management process is not effectively implemented, it brings on resistance and lead to organisations failing. Managers play an important role in the change process. They need to see the big picture, develop the plan, implement the change and ensure employees and other stakeholders are on board. Change management is an ongoing process as you need to continue to assess the outcome, measure data, train employees and adjust goals where necessary.

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The Change process

Change management is not a one-size fits all approach. Various factors within the organisation will lead how the change process need to be implemented. There are however a few core principals of change management that can be followed. As discussed, earlier change management is the process of guiding organisational change, from the planning stage to the monitoring stage.

Here are a few guidelines to follow in the change management process:

a) Prepare the organisation for change

To implement change successfully preparation must take place. The manager must focus on helping employees to recognise and understand the need for change. They need to create awareness, focus on the positive aspects of the change and gain buy-in from their team and other stakeholders. This will minimise friction and resistance later.

b) Create a vision and a plan for change

When the organisation is ready for change, the manager needs to develop a thorough and realistic action plan to implement the change. This plan can include the following:

✓ Strategic goals: Set out the goals and objectives the change process needs to work towards. ✓ Key performance indicators: How will success be measure?

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✓ Project stakeholders and team: Who will oversee each task in the action plan? Who is responsible for each stage of implementation etc.

✓ Project scope: What steps and actions will the project include? What falls outside the project scope. ✓ Risk and bumps: This risks and possible delays or roadblocks need to be identified and address how to

overcome them.

c) Implement the change

Once the action plan is created, the manager and team need to follow the steps outlined in the plan and implement the required change. The change can be the organisational structure, strategy change, change of systems and processes, change in employee behaviour etc.

During the implementation process the manager should focus on empowering employees to be able to implement the necessary steps/actions to achieve the goal. Managers also need to anticipate roadblocks or risk and assist in removing or dealing with them. Successful communication is a very important part in implementing the plan successfully. This will ensure that all stakeholders are kept up to date on the progress and actions taken. It will ensure continuous buy-in from the team and stakeholders.

d) Embed changes

This step it to ensure that ‘things don’t go back to the way they were before the change was implemented.” By embedding the changes within the organisations culture and practices, it becomes part of the organisation and backsliding does not take place. Or not that easy.

e) Review and analyse results

Once the plan is implemented you need to do a review (KPIs) to see how successful the implementation is. Apart from the successes the review step can also show failures, valuable insights to the change. Ask yourself questions like: Were project goals met? If yes, can this success be replicated elsewhere? If not, what went wrong?

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Conducting a SWOT Analysis

Very often managers would use a SWOT analysis to identify the organisation’s readiness and capacity for change, so that any issues can be addressed in the change management plan.

The SWOT-Analysis will focus on the following questions:

• What are our objectives?

• What do our customers want?

• How do we distinguish ourselves from competitors?

• How can we improve our services?

• How can we distinguish internal framework conditions (strengths and weaknesses) from external framework conditions (opportunities and threats)?

As a precondition for a SWOT session, the organisation's vision or the change initiative's objective should have been outlined. People should share a common understanding of what are the medium- and long-term purposes.

Definition Typical examples

Strengths Any internal asset (know-how, motivation, technology, finance, business links) which will help to meet demands and to fight off threats.

Key Questions:

What are we good at?

How are we doing competitively?

What are our resources?

Well-trained labour force

Well established knowledge base

Good contact to target group

Technology, etc.

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Weaknesses Internal deficits hindering the organisation in meeting demands.

Key Questions:

What are we doing badly?

What annoys our customers most?

Lack of motivation

Lack of transport facilities

Problems in distribution of services or products

Low reputation

(The lack of a particular strength)

Opportunities Any external circumstance or trend that favours the demand for an organisation's specific competence.

Key Question:

What changes in demand do you expect to see over the next 2-3 years?

Increasing purchasing power

Development of new markets for high quality products

New technologies that favour our product

Threats Any external circumstance or trend which will decrease the demand for the organisation's competence.

Key Questions:

What do other people do that we don't do?

What future changes will affect our organisation?

Establishment of strong competitors

Lack of cash at household level

Governmental regulations that limit free distribution of our product

You would need to present your recommendations to people at various levels in the organisation and then only can you analyse their responses and determine the readiness of the organisation to change.

Once you have analysed the outcome of your research, you can plan to overcome any resistance to change that there might be in the organisation.

Change Model examples

There are various change models to help an organisation to implement change. The structure of your organisation will steer which change model will work best of your organisation.

Below are two examples of change models, you can search on the internet for more examples:

Kaizen Philosophy of Continuous Incremental Improvements

The Kaizen method of continuous incremental improvements is an originally Japanese management concept for incremental change. Kaizen is a way of life philosophy, if every aspect of our life deserves to be constantly improved. The Kaizen philosophy lies behind many Japanese management concepts such as Total Quality Control, Quality Control circles, small group activities, labour relations.

Japanese companies distinguish between innovation (radical) and Kaizen (continuous).

Kaizen means literally:

change (kai)

to become good (zen).

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Key elements of Kaizen are:

• quality

• effort

• involvement of all employees

• willingness to change

• communication

The foundation of the Kaizen method consists of 5 founding elements:

1. teamwork,

2. personal discipline,

3. improved morale,

4. quality circles, and

5. suggestions for improvement.

Out of this foundation three key factors in Kaizen arise:

- elimination of waste and inefficiency

- standardisation

- the Kaizen five-S framework for good housekeeping:

1. Seiri - tidiness

2. Seiton - orderliness

3. Seiso - cleanliness

4. Seiketsu - standardised clean-up

5. Shitsuke - discipline

Although it is difficult to give generic advice on when to apply the Kaizen philosophy, it is clear that Kaizen fits well in incremental change situations that require long-term change and in collective cultures. More individual cultures that are more focused on short-term success are often more conducive to concepts such as Business Process Reengineering (see below).

In short, the Kaizen model is people-oriented, easier to implement, requires long-term discipline.

Kotter’s Change Management Model

This is one of the most popular and adopted models in the business world.

This model has eight stages and each of them focus on the employee’s response to change:

• Increase urgency – Creating a sense of urgency among employees may be the best way to motivate and engage them during the process

• Build the team – Determine the right set of skills and personalities for the team that will be responsible for driving change within the organisation

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• Get the vision correct – Consider not just the strategy, but also employees’ creativity emotions and project’s objectives

• Communicate – Be transparent and frequently communicate with people about the changes being implemented

• Get things moving – Get support, remove the roadblocks, and collect feedback in a constructive way.

• Focus on short term goals – Don’t just focus on the result. Set small goals and recognize small achievements during the process to boost employee morale

• Incorporate change – reinforce and make change a part of the workplace culture. This is to help employees adjust to change and reward them for their behaviours.

• Don’t give up – Change don’t happen overnight. There will always be obstacles that is unavoidable. Be persistent while the process of change management is in the process.

What makes this change model so popular, it is easy to follow and incorporate into an organisation. This model also focuses on preparing employees for change rather than change implementation itself. Thus, the focus on employee experience and proper communication in the workplace is one of the reasons it popular.

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Change management action plan

Creating an Action Plan to Implement Change

Develop a detailed plan that will include:

• the rationale

• the aim and objectives of the change

• how it will be implemented

• who will be involved and their individual roles?

• the resources required

• the time scales

• how the plan will be monitored

• how you will know that the change has been successful.

Dealing with Negative Resistance to Change

Kotter and Schlesinger set out the following six (6) change approaches to deal with negative resistance to change:

• Education and Communication - Where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis. One of the best ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about the change effort beforehand. Up-front communication and education help employees see the logic in the change effort. This reduces unfounded and incorrect rumours concerning the effects of change in the organisation.

• Participation and Involvement - Where the initiators do not have all the information, they need to design the change and where others have considerable power to resist. When employees are involved in the change effort, they are more likely to buy into change rather than resist it. This approach is likely to lower resistance and those who merely acquiesce to change.

• Facilitation and Support - Where people are resisting change due to adjustment problems. Managers can head-off potential resistance by being supportive of employees during difficult times. Managerial support helps employees deal with fear and anxiety during a transition period. The basis of resistance to change is likely to be the perception that there some form of detrimental effect occasioned by the change in the organisation. This approach is concerned with provision of special training, counselling, time off work.

• Negotiation and Agreement - Where someone or some group may lose out in a change and where that individual or group has considerable power to resist. Managers can combat resistance by offering incentives to employees not to resist change. This can be done by allowing change resistors to veto elements of change that are threatening or change resistors can be offered incentives to leave the company through early buyouts or retirements to avoid having to experience the change effort. This approach will be appropriate where those resisting change are in a position of power.

• Manipulation and Co-option - Where other tactics will not work or are too expensive. Kotter and Schlesinger suggest that an effective manipulation technique is to co-opt with resisters. Co-option involves the patronising gesture in bringing a person into a change management planning group for the sake of appearances rather than their substantive contribution. This often involves selecting leaders of the resisters to participate in the change effort. These leaders can be given a symbolic role in decision making without threatening the change effort. Still, if these leaders feel they are being tricked they are

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likely to push resistance even further than if they were never included in the change effort leadership. Manipulation can be a tempting solution, but is morally questionable and, if employees’ sense what you are doing, it could lead to a very dangerous backlash. Only consider this when change is necessary in the short term and all other avenues have been explored.

• Explicit and Implicit Coercion – This is even more extreme than subtle manipulation. This is where the manager can explicitly or implicitly force employees into accepting change by making it clear that resisting change can lead to losing jobs, transferring, or not promoting employees. One sits the employee down and makes overt threats, for example that if they do not comply, they will lose their jobs. This should only be used when speed is of the essence or when the other persons themselves have taken to public and damaging actions.

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