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 (37 votes)
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Submitted by gdinunzio on Sun, 12/09/2021 - 11:05

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During covid-19 wave, I don't have experienced many changes at work except I didn't commute from home to work. In fact, remote working isn't such a new thing in IT world. There are a great number of remote collaborative tools we were already used to. So It wasn't a great deal.

Submitted by GiulianaAndy on Tue, 06/07/2021 - 04:27

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Well, I've experienced a lot of changes in the place where I work, especially during covid-19 wave. I work for a company which is dedicated to sell prints and all material related with university classes. However, we had to close off almost 70 per cent of our installations. The lack of solves and the lower demand for our products affect all the teamwork of the business. Despite the fact that the sanitary emergency has affected significantly, the management team of the business has been working so hard to maintain a balance. However, we had to dismiss some staff as the maintenance staff because less people went to the office (the majority of the manager staff work online now). On the other hand, the management team of the business has been working so hard to keep all the staff whom were not fired with their benefits, such as the monthly wage, the business medical insurance and stuff like that.

Submitted by Bruno2020 on Fri, 19/02/2021 - 00:00

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Well, The Covid 19 has forced us to learn how to work from home, as quickly as possible.

Submitted by ser1er on Sun, 24/01/2021 - 21:46

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I have been in many differents situations where included changes in the work structure and management of my workplace. Some of them, have been good for the employees and others not at all. For instance, due to the pandemic, we had to close off almost 90% percent of our factories (shoes production). The lack of production and the needing to be lockdown, affects all the teamwork of the business. Despite of the crisis has affected significantly, the management team of the business has been working so hard to maintain a balance and keep all the staff with their benefits, such as the monthly wage, the business medical insurance and other stuff.

Submitted by mhd91mode on Tue, 12/01/2021 - 19:41

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I have not experienced a big change in my company till the covid-19 came. our company started to think about surviving and find out how to make our strategies be consistent with the new situation.

Submitted by Barawas on Tue, 05/01/2021 - 22:12

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Totally agree... Such action needs to be planned, communicated & implemented carefully.

Submitted by Jackelin Espinoza on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 20:21

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I work as a Business Support and since one years ago comes implementing and developing operations procedures to expand a new division from Perú to region Latam. This include organizational changes what affect ways how team members have been doing their tasks.

Submitted by Ventola on Tue, 20/10/2020 - 12:36

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I have never experienced some big changes during the work for same employer. I experienced big changes when I changed company, but after few months I got used to new work environment.
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Submitted by davicovalencia79 on Fri, 04/09/2020 - 13:50

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I started my job as developer, then four years later I became a Business Analist, it was a successful changover for me because I could take experience in another job, I learned about new topics, that now I got a great experience for my professional profile.