INITIATING CHANGE AT WORK

Introduction

The saying that ‘the only thing that is constant is change’ is ever true. Change is important in all facet of life. The various departments in all business organisations must embrace change in all its ramifications. The employees at work, being the most valued assets in any organisation must be carried along in all change initiatives at work. Change must not be forced on employees without any input from them. The employees should also cooperative with management when laudable changes are being introduced at work. They should not stand in the way of progress of their organisations; they should always buy into all the positive change initiations of their organisations without any sentiment.

Meaning of Change

Change in terms of Human Resource Management or organisational development is all about the modification or outright replacement of any existing structure, procedure, process, system and technology as it affects people, process, system, product, market, service offer and the organisation as a whole to achieve better performance or to respond to internal strength and weaknesses and the external environmental opportunities and threats.  Change management is an important element of achieving organisational development and transformation.

Types of change

There are two major types of change. We have strategic change and operational change. Strategic change is basically about organisational transformation. This focuses on taking an organisation to a desired future position. That is, taking the organisation from where it is now to where the organisation wants to be. Strategic change is broad and affects long-term, corporate and organisation wide issues.

Operational change addresses the present organisational challenges. It relates to the introduction of new structures, systems, procedures and technology that are expected to have an immediate impact on the operation in some parts of the organisation.

Overcoming resistance to change at work

The first thing that must be clear to all Change Agents and organisations that want to initiate change is that people will always resist change at inception. To carry people along and achieve the successful change initiation, they must understand why people resist change.

People resist change for so many reasons. They resist change because of the fear of unknown, fear of losing money, threat to job security and because of uncertainty. To remove people’s fear about change, they must be involved in the change process. Change agents must carry everybody along before change is introduced. Those to be directly affected by the change must be noted and their sources of fear understood and clarified. People must be assured that the change is for the benefit the organisation as well as for everybody.

Steps towards initiating change at work

The following actions must be in place when initiating change at work.

·         Get the commitment of top management and those to be affected by the change.

·         The change agents must have clear understanding of the culture of the organisation and a detailed understanding of its people.

·         The people to be affected by the change must be carried along from start to finish.

·         Focus on achieving result through changing system, structure and systems rather than changing organisational culture and attitude of people.

·         Make it clear to everybody that change is desirable in order for the organisation and its people to keep abreast of new development and innovations in the globalised world economy.

·         Provide all the needed assistance, tools and encouragement necessary for easy transition into the new system, for all.

·         Expect resistant to change and treat same as a challenge expected when initiating change.

Conclusion

Change is desirable. Change is a must. But change must be introduced with care. Everybody to be affected must be carried along. Change agents must be well trained in the process of change initiation in order to reduce unnecessary resistance and tension. Any organisation that fails to change and innovate is digging its own grave. Change is good.

References

Armstrong, M (2003) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 9^th edn, Kogan Page, London.

BecKhard, R (1969) Organisation Development: Strategy and models, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

Nadler, D.A (1980) Concepts for the management of organisational change, in Reading in the Management of Information, ed M.L .Tushman and W.L. Moore, Ballinger, New York.

Writer’s Profile

Ajiboro Ayodeji is a Chartered HR Practitioner based in Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: 2348027807452. Email: hutrenconsulting@gmail.com.

©Hutren Consulting 2011

HR PRACTITIONERS CORE COMPETENCIES

Introduction

The HR Practitioners core competencies are the essential skills, knowledge and behavioral attitudes required of a high flying HR Practitioners. They represent the job skills, knowledge and general capabilities needed by HR Practitioners to deliver superior performance.

The knowledge of these core competencies will affords HR Practitioners to know where they are in terms of skill and capabilities requirement of their enviable position and what they need to do to add value to the bottom line.

The essence of these core competencies is to expose HR Practitioners to the major competencies expected of them so as to leverage on their skills and knowledge gaps and invest in continuous training and development in order to fill the identified gaps. My take home to HR Practitioners who possessed all the identified competencies is: Never relent on your effort towards a continuous self development. Keep learning, relearning and unlearning.

 Core Competencies

Here are some of the top HR Practitioners core competencies.

• Strategic thinking.
• Vision.
• Global mindset.
• Employees-Employer Advocate.
• Internal/External Customer’s focus.
• Excellent Teamwork/ Team spirit.
• Change initiator.
• Professionalism.
• Creativity & flexibility.
• Business literacy.

The HR Practitioners of the future must strive towards demonstrating a detailed knowledge of the above identified core competencies so as to be able to deliver superior HR functions at work. All efforts must be put in place to ensure the mastery of all the identified core competencies through training and retraining.

Conclusion

Managing human resources has become critical to the success of all companies, large and small, regardless of industry (Ulrich, 1997). This shows that the success or otherwise of any company depend solely on the quality of its human resources.  Therefore, attracting, developing, motivating and retaining human resources needed for superior organisational performance can only be achieved by organisations staffed with well trained and competent HR Practitioners that possessed the identified core competencies.

REFERENCES

Stephen C. Schoonove r (1998).  Human Resources Competencies for the year 2000: The wake up call. Society for Human Resource Management.

Ulrich, D (1996). Human Resource Champion, Boston, Harvard University Press.

About the author

Ajiboro Ayodeji is a Chartered HR Practitioner based in Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: 2348027807452. Email: hutrenconsulting@gmail.com.

©Hutren Consulting 2011