Change management

Two workers discussing something in an office

Listen to a consultant talking about the basic stages of the change process and the people in a change management team.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Before change, there must be analysis. Organisational change is a costly and difficult business, and there must be a real business need reason in order to change current practice. Typically, changes are attempts to reach new markets, to improve productivity or to cope with drastically reduced funding. A good analyst will identify the key problem.

Once it's clear what change is required, a change strategy has to be developed. In other words, somebody needs to say what should be done. Sometimes the idea will come from a visionary within the company, perhaps an imaginative and persuasive member of the management team. Otherwise, the company might bring in a consultant to help them find the right solution. Either way, management should also consult with staff at this stage. There should be meetings to help raise awareness for the need for change and to give employees a chance to suggest their own solutions.

Next comes what's probably the most problematic stage: implementation. Above all else, making the planned change a reality requires communication. Staff will need to be informed of new procedures and, where necessary, trained in new skills. The most important member of the change management team at this stage is the gatekeeper. It's their job to be available to staff, to help them deal with problems they may be having with the changes and answer any questions, making the change as painless as possible.

Finally, there's the consolidation stage. There needs to be a way to collect feedback from employees on how the change is being received. Because there will still be some resistance to the change, even at this stage, someone needs to act as a champion for the innovation. The champion gives encouragement and raises morale by congratulating everyone on a successful changeover and on what's been achieved.
 

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Language level

Average: 3.9 (64 votes)

Submitted by isa19colombia on Fri, 10/12/2021 - 21:22

Permalink

I am a student so I have not experienced job changes, but I think that changes are good as long as they are for the better, but many changes without adequate control generate conflicts, so it is important that they be well carried out and looking for good stability.

Submitted by JariMariE on Fri, 10/12/2021 - 20:25

Permalink

Name: Mariana Estacio...

I haven't experience in "changes" in the work, because I haven't had a job. But I think that the changes sometimes is necessary for glow up, because if we remains in the same position in the company for a long time (more than 5) we don't experiment new things and don't get out of the comfort zone....

Submitted by Isabella Vega on Fri, 10/12/2021 - 20:11

Permalink

When I worked in pandemy, it was so difficult because we always have to be with alcohol and cubremouths. People always were prevent with every thing that we do to offer the products and they sometimes don't buy anything because they feel that it could be dangerous and they might be sick buying outside in different malls

Submitted by yangtinh on Tue, 09/11/2021 - 07:43

Permalink

I used to experience changes in my previous company. At that time, the department’s work was allocated to each employee by a secretary. The secretary would base on volume of current processing tasks ‘s each employee to allocate, guarateeing that no employee was overload. There were high productivity persons as well as low ones. However, staff ‘s performance was not judged by quantity tools. Therefore, low productivity employees did not have motivation to improve their work. Even they deliberately worked with low speed not to be allocated more tasks. In awareness of this situation, the boss decided to apply a new scoring system to rating employees. The principle of work allocation was still not changed but performance result would be based on finished volume of work. At first many people felt uncomfortable and not cooperated because they were not convenient as previous. However, after short period, everything went better, everyone got used to new judgement system. Finally, productivity of the department was improved.

Due the pandemic of Covid-19 I did lost my last job, cause was on a center of documentation at my college, and because the restrictions to get inside all those offices that were closed. Now I’m working remotely by internet, in a church, taking care of their communications on the net. Now, All became virtual for me.

With my Work a change that i experienced was with the ingredient we use for decorate the cakes and cupcakes, we have changed the ingredients and recipe in order to improve the product, But sometimes it's hard to learn how to use and decorate with a new recipe.

productivity is sometimes hard to judge individually, but to deliberately work with low speed is just wrong. Some tasks may take more times for some people but it should not be a choice, could not the company just take it with them?

Submitted by jessliss on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 22:19

Permalink

I think we experience changes mostly of the time because of the market trend and we should be prepared to assume those challenges such as method of working, technology, consumer preferences, new regulations etc.

All of us experience changes all the time, because everything change. For me the biggest change i experienced was that i studied and worked in another country, so i was just to deal with different culture and different trends and different kind of people, so when i came back to my hometown mostly everything changed, but thats part of life, we just need to assume those changes and challenges the best way posible.

Submitted by Anya_200 on Mon, 01/11/2021 - 14:54

Permalink

Good afternoon! I fully agree that change is a difficult business, because it requires the latest technologies and human experience to implement it. But not everyone is ready to change. The reasons may be fear of something new and unknown. To solve the problems, the manager should meet with employees and discuss the issues of changes, making the changes less painful. Since the modern world is a world of very rapid changes. Thank you for the information!