Effects of ineffective change management
Name
MMSL 6000 - Dynamic Leadership
2022
Effects of ineffective change management.
According to Prosci (2010), poorly managing change has costs and risks. There are countless
consequences of ignoring the people side of a change. Productivity declines become much larger
and longer in duration than they could have been. Managers are unwilling to devote the time or
resources needed to support the change. Necessary people do not show up to meetings. Suppliers
begin to feel the impact and see the disruption caused by the change. Customers are negatively
impacted by a change that should have been invisible to them. Employee morale suffers and
divisions between “us” and “them” begin to emerge in the organization. Stress, confusion and
fatigue all increase. Valued employees leave the organization. Projects also suffer as deadlines
are missed, budgets are overrun and rework is required to get the effort back on track. In some
cases, the project itself is completely abandoned after large investments of capital and time. All
of these consequences have tangible and real financial impact on the health of the organization
and the project. And, each of these consequences can be addressed and mitigated if a structured
approach to the people side of change is utilized.
Importance of effectively managing change.
More and frequent changes.
Change is occurring at an incredible pace in organizations today. The sheer quantity of changes is
increasing, and changes are happening more frequently and faster than ever before. With such
large amounts of change happening, organizations need a better and more structured way to
manage the individuals in the organization impacted by all of these changes.
Value system of empowerment.
Over the last fifty years, value systems have shifted in many organizations. Old values of control
and predictability have been replaced by new values to push decision making, authority and
responsibility down into the organization. While this shift has delivered many benefits, it has
also made top-down changes more difficult and increased the resistance they face. Organizations
with empowered workforces need to manage the human side of change more effectively than
they did in the very hierarchical structure of the past.
Competitive advantage.
Many sources of competitive advantage have eroded as information moves more quickly and
across the globe in seconds. In upcoming years, speed and agility will be a central differentiator
in the market place. And organizations that do not use change management cannot build their
internal competency to quickly and effectively implement change. Strong change management
competencies within an organization are a key source of competitive advantage in coming years
Summary
4Managing change within a company always creates ripples of complication, and changing a
company’s processes and systems can have a profound effect on the overall organization and its
performance. As a species, human beings are good at getting things done. Their ability to
recognize patterns and react automatically lets them complete familiar work tasks quickly. The
downside to this is that when they encounter new patterns and behaviours, they are pushed out of
their comfort zone. They react to emotional stress and productivity is inevitably affected. This
means that even a small change in a work culture or processes can end up costing big money if
those reactions aren’t addressed. Alternatively, if a company takes a structured, goal-oriented,
data-driven approach to change, it can actually increase productivity and profitability.
Organizations undertake change in order to improve performance through reduced costs,
improved efficiencies, increased revenue, better utilized employees, reduced risk exposure, etc.
To improve performance, changes must be made to the processes, systems organization
structures or job roles and ultimately these changes impact how people do their jobs. Effective
change management strategies should be used to implement changes and reduce resistance to
change. For these changes to be successful, they must be managed from a technical perspective
and from a people perspective using change management.
