Career Guru India

If you work in a corporation or with a large organization, you might have heard the phrase "change management" used from time to time. Change management has been around for a while, but has become extremely popular with organizations or corporations that would like to initiate significant change to processes that can include both work tasks and culture.

A common definition used for change management is a set of processes that is employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and systematic fashion to effect organizational change. One of the goals of change management is with regards to the human aspects of overcoming resistance to change in order for organizational members to buy into change and achieve the organization's goal of an orderly and effective transformation.

The ADKAR Model
Change management has been developed over a period of time and one of the models that have played an influence in change management is the ADKAR model. ADKAR was a model developed by Prosci. In this model, there are five specific stages that must be realized in order for an organization or an individual to successfully change. They include:

Awareness - An individual or organization must know why a specific change or series of changes are needed.

Desire - Either the individual or organizational members must have the motivation and desire to participate in the called for change or changes.

Knowledge - Knowing why one must change is not enough; an individual or organization must know how to change.

Ability - Every individual and organization that truly wants to change must implement new skills and behaviors to make the necessary changes happen.

Reinforcement - Individuals and organizations must be reinforced to sustain any changes making them the new behavior, if not; an individual or organization will probably revert back to their old behavior.

Organizational Change Management
Organizational change management takes into consideration both the processes and tools that managers use to make changes at an organizational level. Most organizations want change implemented with the least resistance and with the most buy-in as possible. For this to occur, change must be applied with a structured approach so that transition from one type of behavior to another organization wide will be smooth.

Management's Role in the Organizational Change
In most cases, management's first responsibility is to identify processes or behaviors that are not proficient and come up with new behaviors, processes, etc that are more effective within an organization. Once changes are identified, it is important for managers to estimate the impact that they will have to the organization and individual employee on many levels including technology, employee behavior, work processes, etc.

At this point management should assess the employee's reaction to an implemented change and try to understand the reaction to it. In many cases, change can be extremely beneficial with lots of positives; however certain changes do sometimes produce a tremendous amount of resistance. It is the job of management to help support workers through the process of these changes, which are at times very difficult. The end result is that management must help employees accept change and help them become well adjusted and effective once these changes have been implemented.

The Importance of Buy In
For an individual or organization to achieve change effectively, it is important that individuals in the organization that will need to make modifications to their behavior exhibit buy in. Buy in means that the organization as a whole understands that the changes that need to be made are ultimately beneficial to both the individual and the organization. In addition, each individual and the organization as a whole will have to work hard to make the necessary behavior modifications. If an organization tries to make changes which are inherently bad or are not received positively by an organization, it will be much more difficult or close to impossible to implement these changes without significant resistance.

You can enhance buy in by first explaining the changes you would like to make, citing issues with current procedures and then communicating the benefits for both the individual and organization.