By Trevor Wood
Quality World
The key to effective organisational change flows from the sound management of the process for cultural change, strategic and business planning, role and process design, management development and performance management. Before embarking upon organisational change, you must review the quality and effectiveness of what you currently have in place and then design a change management programme that is tailored specifically for you. Ideally an organisational change programme contains only new processes or improvements that are necessary. The change management process should ensure that not only has effective organisational change been achieved but that a change management culture has been created.
You can get 'off-the-shelf' change management programmes but regardless of whether these organisational change initiatives have been successful elsewhere, they do not guarantee organisational change success. Is there a better way to achieve organisational change?
Change or die
Many organisations will say that if they cannot manage cultural and organisational change they cannot energise resources or create the innovative environment needed to survive - ie if they do not change they will die. There are a number of processes which impact upon organisational change.
Many organisations undertake reorganisation changes on the assumption that this is all that is needed to keep the organisation energised and focused on organisational change initiatives. While this can help maintain cultural vitality it is implementation of the vision and values in the strategic plan that will drive the culture and organisational change initiatives. Establishing a culture of constant organisational change is essential for long-term organisational success. Once a culture has been successfully changed, management will be relieved of the daily operational struggle to focus on value-adding organisational change initiatives. This represents more effective utilisation of valuable resources.
The cultural change gap is the difference between the outdated corporate culture and what cultural change is needed. Without a cultural change programme to manage the gap, the organisation gradually sinks into a culture rut - a habitual, unquestioning way of behaving. Sadly, often there is no adaptation or cultural change, only routine motions, despite the fact that the company is unsuccessful. A cultural rut can go on for years, even though morale and performance suffer. Bad habits die hard. A cultural change shock occurs when the sleeping organisation awakes and finds it has lost touch with its original mission.
Strategic planning
Strategic planning for organisational change ensures that a company is doing the right things. In the context of a change management programme, a strategic plan explains what organisational change is needed. Once it has determined what the right things are to do, organisational change devolves accountability to change management for doing them right.
In large organisations, strategic organisational change plans may be prepared at different levels in the organisation and/or may define the role of particular functions across the whole organisation. Smaller organisations do not need this many plans, and often have only one organisational change plan, which covers the strategic and business plan. The strategic change planning process first identifies 'critical stakeholder needs' and environmental threats to success. It examines current competencies, values and resources to determine what organisational change is needed to respond to these needs, threats and opportunities. Strategic organisational change plans usually contain a vision, corporate values and broad aims. The strategies define the products or services to be delivered, markets to be served, key result areas, processes and technologies used to deliver them.
Business planning
If strategic organisational change plans explain what the organisation must achieve, business plans explain how they will achieve it. Change management is the process for delivering the strategic requirement. Business plans may be used inside the organisation to provide direction to staff and outside the organisation when seeking investment funds. They should contain organisational change and development strategies for marketing, operations, human resource management and finance.
Job and process redesign
The purpose of job and process redesign is to ensure that staff are involved with and inspired by the change programme. All organisations or organisational units can benefit from redesign. Good redesign aligns resources with the organisational change strategies being pursued. Redesign is driven by effective resource use and not by downsizing.
Management development
The skills needed by managers in organisations ready for change management are quite different from those associated with traditional operations management. Skills in change management enable managers to build constructive relationships with their colleagues. Communication, motivation and leadership skills are essential. Because managers need to make strategic organisational change decisions they need to be able to step back and see the big picture. Managers equipped with the skills needed for change are not afraid to delegate.
Managers ready to take on organisational change missions will be experienced in integrating performance management into business planning. This integration is achieved by first establishing the common organisational change goals that will drive business plans, then by linking the organisational change goals to the roles, competencies and performance improvement measures needed to achieve them. Individual performance development plans there- fore should include assessment of role requirements and competencies needed to achieve organisational change goals. A performance management system will only be effective in supporting organisational change if it is objective, valued by both employees and managers, judged to be fair and realistic and proven to make a positive contribution to personal and organisational development.
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