10. Managing Change
Learning Outcomes from this chapter
On completion, you should be able to:
- Identify the strategies for managing change in a business
- Explain the changing role of a manager from controller to facilitator
- Discuss how employee empowerment helps manage relationships
- Discuss the importance of total quality management
- Outline the stages in forming new teams
- Understand the importance of employee participation
- Understand how technology changes the role of management
- Explain the impact of technology on personnel/business costs, and business opportunities
Reasons why employees may be resistant to change
- Loss of job security
- No obvious reward or benefit
- Fear of the unknown
- Fear of failure
- Inertia, happy with the status quo (individual or cultural)
Strategies for managing change effectively
- Communication
- Rewards
- Change from a controller manager to a facilitator manager
- Employee empowerment
- Adequate resource provider
- Training and development
- Emphasis on quality - TQM and quality assurance
- Lead by example
- Teamwork
- Employee participation
1. Communication
Open and honest communication is required, where management consult with staff when making changes. This removes the fear of the unknown. When staff are updated regularly, management can explain the motivations for change.
2. Rewards
Management can negotiate with staff and offer increased pay, bonuses, flexi-time, extra holidays or access to training courses to encourage staff to embrace the proposed changes.
3. Change from a controller manager to a facilitator manager
Controllers enforce change and want to keep decision-making power, without including or consulting staff.
Facilitators guide and coach staff, empowering them to make changes, showing trust in them to offer solutions. Staff are more energised to work.
4. Employee empowerment
Managers give staff power, freedom and permission to make decisions. When management grant extra responsibility, this shows trust and encourages staff to use their initiative and be motivated.
| Benefit | Quicker decisions, better solutions, increased job satisfaction, better staff |
| Risks | Staff unhappy with extra responsibility, staff need training, some poor decisions, loss of control |
5. Adequate resource provider
Provide: new devices (e.g. laptops, software, machines); training (on-the-job and off-the-job courses); time (reduced workload and time allocated to work on change); and more staff (more people hired to spread the extra work)
6. Training and development
Train or re-train staff so they feel better prepared and confident in dealing with change. Enable staff to be more adaptable to change and to work in teams
7. Emphasis on quality - TQM and quality assurance
| Focus on customers | TQM puts the customer at the heart of researching, designing and manufacturing their product |
| Continuous improvement | TQM businesses strive for ‘zero defects’, always trying to highlight areas of production they can improve on |
| Teamwork | TQM uses teams to enable decision-making and productivity |
| Employee empowerment | TQM gives employees real responsibility, power and trust in decision-making |
Quality Assurance: maintaining a desired level of quality; can aim to achieve quality awards
| Benefits | Quality awards are internationally recognised and allow a business to charge a higher (premium) price. To achieve an award, systems are improved, which leads to reduced errors. Management and staff work to shorter-term targets, which brings focus |
8. Lead by example
When a manager shows they are committed to and believe in change, staff are more likely to accept change too
9. Teamwork
Use the matrix structure to increase commitment, purpose, involvement and adaptability
| Stages | Forming (polite); storming (conflict); norming (routines); performing (excel) |
| Benefits | Satisfaction, improved human relations, better decision-making, happier staff, lower staff turnover |
10. Employee Participation
Encourage staff to become involved in decisions about the overall running of the business
| How? | Through work councils, employees as board members, issuing share options |
| Benefits | Increased involvement, better information available for decisions at top level, control is delegated, staff do not feel uncertain |
Implications of technology for a business
| Implications | Opportunities | Costs |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | CAM reduces defects | Purchase, installation and maintenance |
| Production | More speed, quality, efficiency | New machines and training for staff |
| Staff | Flexi-time, FaceTime, remote work | Redundancies if job replaced by IT |
| Communications | Large data analysed quicker (Excel) | IT security and encrypted files |
| Marketing | Access to new markets through e-commerce | Website costs and maintenance |
| Security | Digital data more secure, less storage space | Costly virus protection |
| Customers | Faster for customers to book, complain, etc. | IT problems can lead to lost orders |