Barriers to change can arise from four major sources: people, technology, infrastructure, and process.
People barriers can stem from a lack of shared vision, requiring a more thorough effort to involve and educate the members of the organization who will be called upon to implement the proposed changes and/or who will be most directly impacted by these changes.
Sacred cows and fiefdoms may also be major sources of barriers to change.
o Traditional ways of doing things and cultural beliefs that are frozen in time are the basis for "sacred cows"
o Perceived ownership of data is often a source of these turf issues.
Insufficient "buy-in" and involvement by top management and the lack of a champion for a particular new activity can serve as significant barriers to change.
o Management at all levels must be convinced that the new processes, in fact, are going to be used and that they will help them do a better job.
o General inertia and the inability to implement recommend changes are fundamental people-based barriers to change.
Technological barriers to change are usually assumed to stem from the lack of the latest available equipment and related software.
"Technology overload"--the inability to utilize the technology that is available within an organization--may be equally to blame for delaying change.
o The introduction of new technology often raises the level of anxiety among the end users.
o It is important to clear identify who within the organization will be affected by the introduction of the new technology and to ensure an adequate lead time for training before the "change over" occurs.
A phased implementation will mean that some portions of the organization and/or some portions of the technology will continue to operate on so-called legacy systems--i.e., the existing technology.
Barriers to change emerging from the infrastructure of an organization may be tied to physical facilities and/or to organizational structure.
An organization with many layers in its hierarchy--physically or functionally--may suffer from communication breakdowns that will result in barriers to change.
A cost-constraint assessment may be undertaken to examine the barriers to change associated with or emerge from current processes by comparing the cost of the program that might be adopted if no constraints were present with the cost of the constrained program.
ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT CHANGE
Dealing with organizational change is a continuous responsibility--management should begin to address these needs during the planning phase and should extend through the project execution phase.
The role of the organizational change management team is to ensure that the improved processes will be successfully assimilated into organization's structure and culture.
The change management team must accomplish four general objectives:
o Understand the organizational changes that are needed as a consequence of process redesign or reengineering;
o Design the necessary structural changes needed to support the new process;
o Design a program that will begin the cultural transformation of the organization to one that is aligned with the principles behind process improvement; and
o Anticipate, recognize, and resolve the barriers to change that will spring up in reaction to the change management plan.
Structural change management is concerned with the way functional units are organized to carry out their work responsibilities.
o Structural change management has to do with things or facilities.
o The focus includes policy and procedure, rules and regulations, management and staffing, facilities and equipment, and human resource practices.
Cultural change management is concerned with the way people interact with each other, both in peer relationships and in superior/subordinate relationships.
People and culture--the human systems of an enterprise--are what make or break any change initiative.
Managing Human Change
Managing change is critical in an age where technology turnover occurs in a matter of months, customers demand more for their money, and the competition is in relentless pursuit.
Senior management often fails to understand that employees seldom perceive change with the same clarity and determination as they do.
Employees are often skeptical, since cultural change is based on a corporate perspective, not on individual needs.
o Fear and concern center around compensation, job security, sense of worth, perception by others, position and social patterns.
o Employees may not be confident the organization will properly manage the transition.
Projects must have strong, credible leadership and sufficient time and resources for high levels of communications, information gathering, participation, collaboration, education, training, and appropriate incentive and reward systems.
Employees also need time to adapt--change activities should start from the assessment phase of the BPR and go through to implementation.
The Change Hierarchy of Needs
Ken Blanchard, author of Leadership and the One Minute Manager, believes people change on the job by asking themselves and others the following questions, in the order specified:
1. What is it?
2. How will the change affect me and my job?
3. How will I be evaluated?
4. How will this change be conducted?
5. What are the benefits?
6. What will the overall impact of the change be?
7. How can I help others with the change?
8. How can we implement improvements?
If management cannot explain how the change will affect an employee (Question #2), then the employee will not help others change (Question #7).
BPR sets into motion a profoundly complex set of actions and reactions which must first be understood and then managed.
Managers often feel disoriented and confused and often jump to incredibly simple-minded explanations in an effort to return to a state of equilibrium.
Employers and employees must recognize that people react to change in different ways and in different stages.
Eileen Wolfe has identified three behavior patterns, or reactions, are exhibited in a stressful change management situation: victims, survivors, and navigators. [2]
Being a navigator is the most effective way of managing and handling change--a navigator has greater control and can help to steer the necessary changes in a direction that benefits both him/her as well as the overall organization.
The Stages Change
Four stages of personal change manifest themselves in the reengineering change process:
o Disbelieving: Change is seen as a threat; people are afraid and react accordingly.
o Balking: Individuals hold on to and defend the old way of doing things.
o Testing: The value of change becomes more apparent and efforts are made to seek and test ways to feel more comfortable about accepting change.
o Adapting: Individuals feel comfortable with the change and are ready to adapt and embrace the new routines.
The challenge for managers is to recognize the stage of personal change each employee and responding accordingly.
Organizations also go through stages of change:
o Perceptions and attitudes are destabilized when long held beliefs are challenged by new information.
o Transformation begins when employees collectively acknowledge the benefits of long held beliefs, but also recognize things could be changed to their advantage.
o Perceptions, attitudes, and behavior restabilizes when all or most employees believe the organizational benefits warrant the personal risk attached with reengineering change.
Successful Change Management
An effective change management process depends strongly on communication.
Plan the content of the message for every phase of the BPR process; train the messenger or agents of change; determine the communication medium; be honest, flexible and empathetic.
Successful change management focuses on the process, not the people and uses the past as stepping stones to guide future activities.
Successful change management is accomplished by:
o Educating people about the change.
o Planning for change and managing it as a process.
o Assessing organizational readiness in terms of corporate culture, the right timing and adequate resources.
o Identifying and utilizing critical roles.
o Demonstrating commitment through active involvement and role modeling.
o Communicating in a clear, honest and open manner.
o Objectively assessing and preparing for implementation barriers.
o Limiting crises and turning them into opportunities.
Endnotes
[1] Edith Stokey and Richard Zeckhauser, A Primer for Policy Analysis (New York: Norton, 1978), p. 252.
[2] Eileen Wolfe, "Human Management: The Achilles Heel of Business Process Reengineering," Enterprise Reengineering (September, 1995)