4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. BLR’s Human Resources Training Presentations Managing Change

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Goals Understand why change is necessary Know why employees resist change See how you can overcome this resistance Find out how you can successfully implement change

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Steps for Successful Change Denial Resistance Consideration

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Working Through Resistance Admit your own concern Work through your resistance Validate employee concerns

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Developing a Plan Creating a vision Responding to “What’s in it for me?” Developing an action plan Making the case for change

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Communication Rumors As much detail as possible Newsletters, bulletin boards, intranet Progress reports

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Change Leadership Pick change leaders Check past change projects Look for enthusiastic people

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Prepare Leaders Provide information Reward all for support

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Implementing Changes Communicate plans to all Brief everyone on changes Maintain status quo

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Developing Common Goals Set a group- specific goal Find a common ground Build on teamwork

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Evaluate the Changes Monitor the changes Keep records Review the process

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study: Massive Layoffs Mega-Bucks Financial Services (MBFS) is a large brokerage company with several thousand employees. For many years MBFS experienced enormous growth, expanding its business to all 50 states. However, because of a new phenomenon within the industry—day trading—MBFS began to experience a slowdown, virtually overnight.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study: Massive Layoffs (cont.) Massive layoffs were rumored to occur within the company. When employees confronted their managers, they were told not to worry, but the rumors persisted. Eventually, the company announced that some employees would be given an opportunity for early retirement. A few employees took immediate advantage of this option, however, many others did not. As the business continued to experience shortfalls, many of these employees were given end dates and offered termination packages.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study: Massive Layoffs (cont.) Several rounds of layoffs occurred, often happening unexpectedly. Managers could not give their workers specific details about what was happening within their unit or within the company in general. Many employees felt even their own managers did not know what was going on.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study: Massive Layoffs (cont.) During the course of one year, layoffs continued, often sporadically. MBFS was inconsistent in its messages to employees about their future, as well as inconsistent in most of its communications to employees about the company’s future plans.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study: Massive Layoffs (cont.) Many employees suffered from stress. This stress led to a lack of motivation to do their job.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study Massive Layoffs (cont.) All employees felt the additional stress of not being informed by MBFS about what was happening. Often there was no communication from management at all. In fact, most of the managers were worried about keeping their own jobs.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Case Study: Case Study Discussion Preparing employees for layoffs Communicating better Keeping employee morale up

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Summary Companies that do not make changes within their organization will not remain competitive. Most people, however, are somewhat uncomfortable with change. Understanding the factors that drive change, and how people within the organization react to it, is an important first step toward success.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Summary (cont.) Resistance to change follows some definable patterns. Progress is achieved when employees begin to think about certain aspects of the change in a positive light. Before you can get your employees to stop resisting the inevitable, you have to accept it yourself.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Summary (cont.) Get employees involved. Give people the chance to comment on the proposed change and help in the planning. Monitor the changes. Check to see that the changes have been implemented according to the plan.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Quiz 1. Why is change necessary? 2. What do employees really need to know? 3. How can you accelerate the acceptance of change? 4. What are some of the warning signs that supervisors should watch for during times of change? 5. What should you do if you see these warning signs?

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Quiz (cont.) 6. Why is it necessary to monitor change? 7. What methods of communication should you use to let employees know about the changes that are about to occur? 8. How can you identify change leaders? 9. Why do employees fight a company’s effort to make changes? 10. What elements should be in your action plan for change?

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Quiz Answers 1. Your company is either moving forward or staying in place. Technology, mergers, new products and services all are reasons for implementing change in an organization. 2. As many details as possible. The more open you are about imminent changes provides employees with a sense of confidence about the company and their future. 3. By overcoming your own resistance to change. Your attitude, motivation, and behavior toward the change is vital in setting the tone for others.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Quiz Answers (cont.) 4. Look for missed deadlines, tardiness, expressed negativism, and low energy levels. Also be aware of employees leaving to work for other companies. 5. Speak privately with the employee, try to find some common goals. Make your change leader aware. Involve the employee with planning and implementing changes. 6. Possibly the change is not working out and needs to be revamped. You will only know this if you keep notes and evaluate the change.

4/00/ © 2000 Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Quiz Answers (cont.) 7. Lunch time meetings, bulletin boards, newsletters, and the company intranet all are good communication tools. 8. Look at past change situations and who was involved. 9. Fear, uncertainty, and a loss of control. Some employees worry that their jobs will be cut. 10. Aim and objectives of the change, how, who, the resources, the time scale, monitoring, and a measurement of how you will know if the change is successful.