Managing Organisational Change

The Psychology of Change Management

Organisational change management is vital for implementing new strategies as the company’s goals and environment changes.Organisations can transform the attitudes and behaviours of their employees through effective cultural changeby applying techniques that explain why people think and act as they do.
 

Over many years now programs to improve organisational performance have become increasingly common.  Yet they are notoriously difficult to carry out. Success depends on organisational cultural change to persuade large numbers of employees to change the way they work, a transformation people will only accept if they can be persuaded to think differently about their jobs.

1. Companies act directly to achieve outcomes without having to change the way people work.  For example, divesting non-core assets to focus on the core business.
2. Employees may need to adjust their practices or to adopt new ones in line with their existing mind-sets in order to reach, say, a new bottom line target.  An already ‘lean’ organisation would encourage staff to look for new ways to reduce waste.
3. But what if an organisation can reach its higher performance goals only through changes to the way its people behave across the board?

Four Conditions for Changing Mindsets: 

A purpose to believe in:

If staff believe in the overall change purpose, they will be happy to change their individual behaviour to serve that purpose. But to feel comfortable about change and to carry it out with enthusiasm, people must understand the role of their actions and believe that it is worthwhile for them to play a part.

Reinforcement systems:

Change management experts agree that reporting structures, management and operational processes, and measurement procedures (ie setting targets, measuring performance, and granting financial and non-financial rewards) must be consistent with the behaviour that people are asked to embrace.  When an organisation’s new behaviours are not reinforced, employees are less likely to adopt it consistently.

Skills required for change:

Consistent role models:

To change behaviour consistently throughout an organisation it is not enough to ensure all people at the ‘top’ are in line with the new ways of working; role models at every level must ‘walk the talk’.  The way role models deal with their tasks can vary, but the underlying values informing their behaviour must be consistent.  Behaviour in an organisation is deeply affected not only by role models but also by the groups with which people identify.  Role modelling must therefore be confirmed by the groups that surround them if it is to have a permanent or ‘deep’ influence (most teenagers can tell you about this).

Summary:

It is neither easy nor straightforward to improve an organisation’s performance through a comprehensive program to change the behaviour of employees by changing their mind-sets.  No organisation should do so without first exhausting less disruptive alternatives for obtaining the business outcome it desires. 

Sometimes tactical moves will be enough; sometimes new practices can be introduced without completely re-thinking the organisation’s culture.  But if the only way for an organisation to reach a higher level of per4formance is to alter the way people think and act, it will need to create the four conditions for achieving sustained change.