Change or Die: Managing Change to Achieve Organizational Success

How often has your company tried to adapt to a changing environment by modifying or transforming some process or procedure? Was the change effort as efficient and successful as it should have been? It is hard to imagine any bio-based company that has not had to make some significant change in the recent past. It is even harder to imagine that a company can survive and thrive without being able to change in the future.

The importance of change management is so significant that experts have even coined the term “Change or Die” to reflect its value.  This article provides guidance on employees as a key component of change management and how to avoid common pitfalls that have befallen Pennsylvania producers.

All managers must remember that organizational-level change will be difficult or impossible without corresponding changes at the individual (employee) level. Gaining an understanding of what leads to an employee's likelihood to change should enable us to overcome resistance more effectively. A poorly implemented change initiative can have detrimental effects on the health of your organization. In fact, we have actually seen manufacturers go out of business because of a failed change initiative.

Examples of organizational changes can range from opening a new facility to introducing a new line of products. In each case, hourly employees and supervisors will be forced to adopt new behaviors, and often new attitudes, in order to make the change successful.

Over the past 20 years we have been working with a variety of bio-based manufacturers to investigate and understand change-related behaviors of individual production employees. Employees at numerous organizations implementing behavioral changes have participated in our research. Our studies indicate several key factors to keep in mind when attempting to get employees to adopt changes. These factors can be divided into both individual employee characteristics as well as variables related to the organization itself; it is critical to recognize that both can impact the likelihood that an employee will contribute to organizational goals. Below are some of the key findings from our work.

Organizational Factors Driving Change Behavior

Perceived organizational support (POS) is a measure of how much an employee perceives their employer supports their own interests, career, advancement, etc. This type of support has been shown to be an important factor in how much an employee "gives back" to and supports their employer.

Our research indicates that an employee's perception of POS will have a significant impact on the likelihood of adopting a desired change. Workers who think that their employer cares about and supports them as individuals are much more likely to engage in desired behaviors. An organization can foster higher levels of perceived support with such methods as training programs, a good benefits package, or incentive systems.

The benefits for an organization that has high levels of perceived organizational support among its employees go well beyond increased change behaviors. This perception can lead to a more satisfied workforce that, in some cases, has been shown to be less likely to approve a union, produce higher quality products, reduce absenteeism, etc. Managers at all levels should strive to make their employees believe that the organization really cares about them and their future.

Reward System

Many managers will understand that employees fulfill organizational requirements in order to receive rewards. These rewards may be in the form of a wage/salary increase, public recognition, or even verbal reinforcement.

Our findings, however, indicate mixed results for using rewards as a tool to promote change adoption. A significant portion of the employees in our studies showed no correlation between the rewards for adopting a change and their actual change adoption. In other words, just because I think that I will get a tangible reward for changing my behavior does not necessarily mean that I will be willing to adopt that change.

This finding should make managers reconsider a change initiative that depends largely on rewards to get employees to adopt a new behavior. Managers should consider using their reward system to foster increased perceptions of organizational support, not to "buy" change.

Knowledge about the change

Individuals should learn about a change initiative when the change is formally introduced; make sure they don't hear about it through the grapevine. However, do not expect your employees to all feel the same about the content or the amount of information they have regarding the change. In all cases, there will be some people who perceive a change as bad for them. Further, some individuals will perceive that the organization provides them a great deal of information, while others will perceive they've been given little or no information. It is dependent on upper management to ensure that all levels of the company are getting accurate and complete information about a change.

In general, the more someone knows about a change, the more likely they are to adopt the change. Lower levels of knowledge lead to more cynicism about the change, which may lead to limited adoption of the desired behaviors. In sum, we strongly urge managers to provide written and oral information to employees about a change. Also, keep in mind that at some point, information on the specific behaviors workers are expected to adopt must be provided.

Communication: a source of information

Having shown the importance of providing information to employees, we also evaluated various sources of change-related information. Your employees will receive information from a wide range of sources. These can include co-workers, assistant plant managers, etc. The challenge for managers is to determine which of these sources will have the most impact on employees.

Previous research has also found that the credibility of the communicator affects the relationship between knowledge and performance of the desired behavior. In other words, an employee will adopt a change-based behavior based to some degree on who tells him about it.

Our results indicate that the average production employee perceives the shift leader and plant manager as generally having high levels of credibility. In such cases, these persons would be good sources of information for communicating change-related information. However, there seems to be considerable variance in the level of credibility perceived for any given person. For example, a very strong and well-respected assistant plant manager may be your best source of information. Be careful to choose communicators who are well-respected yet believe in and understand why the change must be made.

The Role of HR in Successful Change

Your Human Resources office should play a key role in managing a change initiative, and it has a direct relationship with the personnel who must be on board in order to be successful. HR uses its people expertise to drive change by communicating, training, assessing readiness, managing resistance, and aligning support systems (policies, rewards) with new goals, acting as a bridge between leadership and staff to ensure smooth transitions, boost morale, and build a culture of agility. 

Key HR Roles in Change Management:

1. Communication & Engagement:
• Craft the narrative: Help define the "why" and "how" of the change, translating it into relatable stories for employees.
• Be the hub: Act as the central point for updates, feedback, and addressing concerns through town halls, emails, and feedback sessions.
• Advocate: Bring employee concerns to leadership and ensure their voices are heard.
2. Readiness & Skill Building:
• Assess readiness: Determine if employees understand the change and have the skills needed.
• Training & Development: Conduct needs analyses and create training programs to build new proficiencies.
• Hire/Promote: Bring in new talent or develop existing staff for new roles.
3. Resistance Management:
• Listen & Validate: Provide a sympathetic ear to validate employee feelings and anxieties.
• Provide Support: Offer reassurance and clear answers to reduce fear and confusion.
• Identify Risks: Help pinpoint potential roadblocks to adoption early on.
4. Policy & Structure Alignment:
   • Update HR Docs: Revise handbooks, policies, and performance metrics to align with new goals.
   • Reward & Recognition: Adjust reward systems to incentivize new behaviors and celebrate quick wins.
5. Strategic Partnership:
   • Align with Leadership: Work with leaders to ensure they are consistent and prepared to champion the change.
   • Measure Impact: Use HR data (performance, sentiment) to track the change's success and ROI, making adjustments as needed. 

 By focusing on these people-centric activities, HR ensures organizational change is adopted effectively with less resistance, leading to greater agility and sustainable growth. 

Summary

We strongly encourage leaders in the bio-based industries to prepare for change within their organizations. Whether you like it or not, change is one of the constants of business and can’t be ignored.  Competitive forces will continue to demand flexibility and an ability to change in response to new threats and opportunities.

Most managers will recognize that change initiatives have a better chance of success if well thought-out and thoroughly planned for. However, they may not have realized the importance of planning for resistance at both the individual and organizational levels.

Highly ambiguous change initiatives may require even greater attention to plans for promotion and dissemination of information. If a technology has never been used in a facility, there may be no one to provide leadership in its training and use. Outside vendors may not be as trusted as key people within the venue. In such a situation, the plant manager will have to decide which employees would be the best candidates to be initially trained in the new process. Our suggestion is that, in addition to other characteristics such as intelligence and aptitude, the manager should also consider personality variables and the "reputation" of the employee among his or her coworkers.

Finally, one of the key things for managers to understand is that an organization's people will be crucial to the success of any change initiative. An organization should carefully consider how its people are informed about a change and who will act as key disseminators of change-related information. Your HR staff should play a key role in both designing and rolling out any change initiatives.  A change initiative that might otherwise be easily achieved may turn out to be a failure if the wrong tactics or opinion leaders are utilized.

Prepared by Judd Michael and Maryam Shahri