Communication management

CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Comment by Anne Richards: Report format required with table of contents, executive summary (succinct overview of whole report, about one page.

Change management planning process within an organization development model

Executive summary

Introduction

Organizations in the present day are in a constant state of change. This is necessary as they respond to the call of the fast-changing business environment in which they operate. External, internal, global, and technological environments are fast-changing hence the need to change a management strategy (Butler, 2015). √ This has a meaning that workplace systems together with strategies must continually change to adapt to these trends. A case study is presented in this paper where the management is to plan and communicate changes in senior management and additional stuff. The key emphasis is given to the way, the management is going to plan, communicate and ensure the organizations adopts these changes without affecting the morale of workers. It will be argued that a comprehensive communication strategy is Comment by Anne Richards: There has to be a significant change to ethos of business eg expansion overseas or takeover/merger

essential …

Change management planning process within an organization development model

A good management change plan can bring a smooth transition and incorporation of changes in an organization. This plan will ensure employees are well guided in the whole process of change. Comment by Anne Richards: Write this as an argument statement and put in Executive Summary

Introduction

Studies have shown that There is a 70 % failure rate in the incorporation of changes in an organization. The biggest obstacle has been negative attitudes from employees (Pollack, 2015). How do we then curb this ugly side of the organizational changes? The following are smooth steps that will help plan for the changes in employee structure. Comment by Anne Richards: First sentence but provide soutce

Defining the change clearly and aligning it with the business goals; employees should be notified about the changes and be educated on how it is in line with business goals and objectives. Clear communication and explanation of the change and how it relates to the business mission, vision, objectives, and strategy will give employees an insight into the importance of these changes. Employees should be notified about the changes, provided regular updates and be educated on how it is in line with business goals and objectives. Determination of the impacts of the affected group will be key in carrying out the changes. It is a heart taking moment for senior employees to be demoted in this case or for their roles to be merged and one or two employees retrenched. Comment by Anne Richards: Rewrite as one complete strong sentence Comment by Anne Richards: Why? In next sentence give a brief quote why this helps. Comment by Anne Richards: Make the change bigger. Eg Major restructure with …

The impact falling on the affected people should be well examined and analyzed. There may need to train employees about the imminent changes. Employees should be assured of effective training before they take up new roles or before they receive demotion or shift in their workplace. Horizontal movement may not have such a major impact as a vertical movement. Training may be through online learning modules or face to face training. A support structure should be set up to provide staff with . It should be set up to assist people in emotional support throughout the change process. Pollack, 2015). It also equips employees with relevant skills that are practically necessary for adapting to these changes. Comment by Anne Richards: It will be necessary to … Why? Quote or reference Comment by Anne Richards: Although face to face communication is proven to be more effective – give reference

This system also builds positive behavior of employees. Improving morale. Reference? It further equips them with technical skills that may be relevant to achieve business goals and objectives. In some instances,the incorporation of new employees may lead to redundancies or bad structures that may result in duplication of roles. An open door initiative may be set up to aid the employees who may have questions. Prompt support in giving out answers may help employees better understand their roles. Comment by Anne Richards: What is this? Elaborate why it is effective and provide source

Organizational activities to be engaged

What are some of the activities that will follow up on the change plan in this discussion? Many activities need to be undertaken practically to make this change a success. Diagnostic activitiesexamining; the facts about the new system should be set up should be examined. The cause of the shift in the management change should be well established. Data collection techniques should be engaged in this process. Surveys, consultation interviews should be done to tell us why this change is important. Yes so elaborate why staff feedback is important strategy in building morale, giving ownership. Reference Team building activities; various teams are supposed to operate effectively concerning each other. The skills needed to accomplish tasks should be well noted and ways established on how they can be coordinated for a common goal (Lodgaard, et al. S2016). √ The relationship between team members is the key to establishing how well the team can relate. Comment by Anne Richards: Why are education and training initiatives an important part of this communication strategy Comment by Anne Richards: Why? Rewrite as stronger sentence

A team leader with …. should be appointed to lead the various teams towards a common purpose. Intergroup activities should also be examined. These are activities that relate to the effectiveness of interdependent groups. They relate to the different tasks carried out by different groups operating as a single system. The activities should interface in a process called organizational mirroring. Survey feedback activities they are somehow related to diagnosis activities. They can, however, be considered a different group. They involve utilizing data by analyzing it and using it to give productive feedback about the proposed changes. Comment by Anne Richards: What type of skills should this leader have? referemce Comment by Anne Richards: Define and reference

Education and training activities as discussed above in the plan should be practically carried out. These activities improve the skills, knowledge, and abilities of individuals to take up the new roles. Various ways of educating the employees may include among others; isolating an employee and teaching him or her away from other workmates. The teaching may be geared towards equipping one with technical know-how or simply making one more competent for the job. Structural activities are simply ones that check the effectiveness of the system (Lodgaard, 2016). They look at organizational structure and ways in which technical resources can be mobilized to achieve a given goal.

Strategic management activities; these are done by the management to help them reflect on the organization`s long term goals. The top management compares the eminent change with the mission and vision of the organization. They look at the upcoming opportunities that may be accrued as a result of this change. They involve forecasting the future demand and the effects the external environment may have on the business. Factors like competition are well analyzed. This is a critical process since bringing in new employees will mean more wage bill for the organization.

The convergence of planning organizational development and communication into a cohesive strategy

After a comprehensive plan has been created as highlighted above, the next step will be to communicate this plan into a strategy. What strategies are we going to employ to implement this change in organizational management? Key in implementing this change is making official communication to the affected employees and all the workforce in general. Official communication will then be followed by a face to face with the affected person. Zeps, & Ribickis, 2015). Communication will be through all mediums to avoid contradictions. The communication should be made politely and professionally detailing the reason for the action. The communication about change in the management should be pegged on the mission, vision, core values of an organization and above all should be in line with the terms and conditions as elaborated in the contract. Care should be taken as not to create a lawsuit against the organization. Demotion and employment of new taskforce should be carried out in line with the legal frameworks of a company. Comment by Anne Richards: Many of previous steps can be part of communication strategy Comment by Anne Richards: Staff at all levels. Affected employees will have additional face to face communication channels ….

Support is needed to effect this change. The process begins by identifying various stakeholders who can aid in this change. They should be persons who can help in the future. People who may not aid in the process of change should also be noted down. A few internal staffguys who may help in program implementation should also be engaged. This could be technology experts. Clear goals should then be communicated after effecting the change. The desired outcome should now be made official. The goals should be specific and measurable. Zeps, A., & Ribickis, L. (2015). Ambiguities of purpose should be eliminated. Responsibilities will then be re-assigned to the new structure formed and everyone given specific roles to carry out. Comment by Anne Richards: affect Comment by Anne Richards: incorporate idea of change champions. What are these and what do they achieve. Reference this.

Duplication of roles as highlighted in the plan should be done away with. After the employees have known their specific roles, the goals are then transformed into strategies and made policies of the organization. Employees will now have to work towards a common good. Periodic training as highlighted above is key at this stage. Frequent training will assure the taskforce of quality output. The new system should then be evaluated frequently to establish its bottlenecks and hence improved.

Implementation tactics to be used and why?

Implementing the change in an organization is hectic. It will need a lot of strategies to enable the process to work efficiently. There are several ways in which this will be carried out; Employees will readily accept change when management itself supports the change. The board of governors and the C.E.O. of an organization should be the first people to communicate and elaborate on the usefulness of this change. This tactic has an advantage of brainwashing the junior employees to think that change is inevitable and that it is for their common good. A chairman of the board communication will be viewed as from a government directive and therefore will be absorbed quickly with little resistance. Zeps & Ribickis, 2015). All the top-level management should talk about the change in unison. They should all be advocating for its implementation. This will leave the affected taskforce with no otherwise but to accept the change.

The cause for changes should be a good campaign tool for change. Customer feedback, surveys and all forms of data should be used to effect the change. There is no way an employee will reject the change if he or she is the cause of customer complaints. The complaint may be such as sluggish customer service, abusive language towards customers and overly pricing of commodities in case of a sales manager. The change will be inevitable in this case.

Employees themselves should be used to effect change. They should give views about the changes. If their salaries are too low, they may suggest a reduction in the workforce. If for instance, there is too much work against the available taskforce, they may suggest the hiring of more stuff like in this study.

Removing barriers in implementing change cannot be neglected. Barriers are hindrances in the process of carrying out change. This may be the employees themselves or other departments. This may require adequate training and capacity building. Why do people resist change and why is this normal/to be expected? Elaborate and provide reference

Celebrate the success of the changes as they are implemented. Yes but why? Provide source This motivates the employee to feel part of the process and anticipate to learn more about the changes. This is a psychological tactic.

Future-proofing to sustain change and development of the organization

After the changes have been fully adopted, there is a need to sustain their implementation even in the future. Several ways and strategies are required to make this process a single. For the organization to fully adopt these changes in the present and the new future, some techniques as highlighted below should be employed. The new management structure should be documented and made an organization policy. This should be implemented even if the new management leaves the office. An organization is an artificial person. It exists on its own. Frequent evaluation of the present structure of management and the size of the task force should be done to establish any shortcomings. Pimentel, & Major, 2016). Comment by Anne Richards: Ongoing consultation and monitoring stratey. Why? Reference

References

Butler, W. H., Monroe, A., & McCaffrey, S. (2015). Collaborative implementation for ecological restoration on US public lands: implications for legal context, accountability, and adaptive management. Environmental Management, 55(3), 564-577.

Pollack, J. (2015). Understanding the divide between the theory and practice of organizational change. Organizational Project Management, 2(1), 35-52.

Lodgaard, E., Ingvaldsen, J. A., Gamme, I., & Aschehoug, S. (2016). Barriers to lean implementation: perceptions of top managers, middle managers, and workers. Procedia CIRP, 57, 595-600.

Zeps, A., & Ribickis, L. (2015). Strategy development and implementation–process and factors influencing the result: a Case study of Latvian organizations. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 213, 931-937.

Slater, M. J., Evans, A. L., & Turner, M. J. (2016). Implementing a social identity approach for effective change management. Journal of Change Management, 16(1), 18-37.

Pimentel, L., & Major, M. (2016). Key success factors for quality management implementation: evidence from the public sector. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 27(9- 10), 997-1012.