ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT: CHANGE PROCESS - DUDAS - 2024

The management of organizational change corresponds to all actions taken in order to manage the effects caused by major changes within an organization, focusing on people. These changes can be structural, process or cultural.

When an organization proposes any major change, the feeling among team members can be very mixed. Some may see it as exciting; however, many may see it as threatening and this can create some discomfort.

Given these varied reactions that can occur within the work team, it is an essential component to promote not only acceptance but also continuous support, in order to manage a transition in the most successful way possible.

Importance

In these types of situations, it must be taken into account that people will surely have to change their behavior, adopt a new mentality, learn and adapt to new processes and practices, adhere to new policies or make any other change that involves the transition.

For this reason, implementing a proper organizational change management strategy will ensure that changes are carried out successfully.

Ideally, you should formally agree on expectations, use tools for good communication, and find ways to reduce misunderstandings; in this way, all parties will become more involved with the change process, despite the possible discomforts that this may cause.

Change process

An ideal change strategy has to ensure that the parties involved fully understand how these changes will affect them, that they have the necessary support to carry them out, and that they have the appropriate tools to be able to overcome any challenge that the process may pose them, with as little frustration as possible.

First of all it is important to know how the changes affect the mentality of all the members of the organization.

Lewin's three phases

The psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) defined three phases in the mentality of employees during any process of change:

Defrosting

In the unfreezing phase, it is necessary to take measures to dismantle the existing mentality in the organization until that moment.

This entails having to overcome the initial defense mechanisms that seek to avoid any type of change. Little by little, people will realize the need for it, and this will allow them to move on to the next phase.

Change

In this second phase is when the change occurs. This transition period often creates moments of confusion and uncertainty about what will happen in the future.

At this point people are aware that traditional methods are being changed, but they are not yet sure exactly how they will be replaced.

During this phase, management should be responsible for clearly communicating the reasons for the changes and the steps necessary to get them done.

Freezing

The last stage involves getting used to the new changes and ending up taking them as the standard process. In this phase the comfort levels of the employees return to normal.

Despite the fact that many still criticize Lewin (mainly due to the last stage, arguing that it is impossible to comfortably get used to the changes in the world today, due to its extreme speed), his great contribution was the idea of that change must be analyzed as a process rather than through individual stages.

Keys to success in the process

Understanding how changes will affect the workforce, it is important to consider a number of key determining factors when it comes to achieving success when implementing any organizational change:

Establish a common vision

First you need to agree on what the best possible end result should be. In this way, a common vision will be reached, which will make all parties row in the same direction and with their minds set on the same goal.

Transparency and effective communication

During an organizational change, it is imperative that managers communicate the reasons for the changes, as well as the process necessary for their implementation, to their employees.

In this way, if they understand the reasons for the change, they will be more likely to see the benefits and support you, facilitating the process.

Training and continuing education

When a process changes in the organization, employees are probably not familiar with it, and they probably do not know how it will affect them directly.

It is very important to give them the education and training necessary to adapt as quickly and effectively as possible to changes.

A good strategy is to train certain stakeholders early. Thus, once the changes begin to be implemented, they will serve as support and guidance for the rest of the workers.

Economic and social rewards

Giving incentives to employees most affected by the change will make them more welcome in their new roles and responsibilities.

Personalized advice

Employees will receive changes in a variety of ways; therefore, there will also be some who will take the process worse, because it may affect them more. It is important to have counseling programs that help them adjust successfully.

Monitoring and evaluation

This is one of the biggest keys to successful change management.

Analyzing how the changes are affecting the organization will serve to measure the impact of the change on employee productivity, and the operation of the production process in general. In this way, adjustments can also be made if the results are not being as expected.

References

1. Lumen. (sf). Managing Change for Employees. Obtained from Lumen: courses.lumenlearning.com
2. SearchCIO - TechTarget. (November 2009). Retrieved from searchcio.techtarget.com
3. Paragon, C. (nd). Consult Paragon. Retrieved from consultparagon.com
4. Lewin, Kurt. (1973). Dynamics of Personality. Ed. Morata
5. Hellriegel, Don; Jackson, Susan E. Administration: A Competency-Based Approach. Cengage Learning Latin America.