Change management is the process of guiding change within an organisation and carefully sealing the loopholes of transition that could threaten achievement of an organisation’s goals (Hall & Hord 2006). Normally, in change management, the leadership is concerned mostly with the creation of awareness of the intended change and development of tactics that take care of possible resistance from a section of the employees or other stakeholders. The beginning point in a change management process is for the management to communicate the goals and the scope of the new change, or basically to create awareness and build desire among the employees to reach the new milestone.
Along with communicating awareness to the relevant parties is the process of monitoring the achievement of the envisioned change process. To be able to increase the employee retention rate, or to build loyalty among the employees towards the organisation, it is imperative for the management to recognize achievement both at the individual level and at group level. The achievement of any milestone is worth celebrating to increase an employee’s motivation to reach the envisioned goals.
The two functions are much related and their careful execution usually leads to achievement of set goals in a smooth manner and which increases the employees’ loyalty towards the organisation. Generally, the communication role ensures that there is synergy in the entire group and that each stakeholder is reliably informed on their contribution to the entire envisioned change and also made aware of the interrelationship between their contribution and the overall process. In essence, this creates a situation where the employees understand how their immediate output affects the next party in the production process. A deeper analysis of the two functions of management, communication and monitoring of employees, is offered below:
Communication at tactic and strategic levels
Achievement of any goal in any organisation begins with proper communication of the objective to all the stakeholders. In management, the communication role is usually in three parts. The strategic level involves communication of the entire vision to the entire organisation. This level of communication alleviates possible confusion among the employees by offering an overall direction for the organisation in the long term. It encompasses all parties to the organisation and contributes to creation of synergy amongst the employees and the management.
Strategic communication is further followed by tactic communication which involves communication o goals to specific departments and individuals key to achievement of various sub-goals and which are supportive of the overall objective. Mostly, this level of communication involves the lower departments and the subordinate and its overall goal is coordination of activities to realize the prime objective set by the company. Through it, the management is able to create a situation where everyone feels a part of the organisation and thus increases the loyalty of the employee to the organisation. The third level of communication involves the operational communication usually carried out by the management at the lowest level of the organisation.
Monitoring employees
In management of change process, the term monitoring of employees goes beyond merely imposing supervisory pressure on the employees and pushing them towards targets. It goes beyond this by encompassing other desirable traits such as recognizing employees and rewarding them regularly for tasks well accomplished as well as providing remedial support that they may require in the course of discharging their duties.
Management is purely a behaviour game. Managers and top leadership on organisations ought to understand how to manipulate the behaviours of their employees through tactical tools, technology and contingent benefits. This is achieved through creation of basic goals for the organisation and attaching benefits to their achievement and all efforts that make their realization apparent. Contingent benefits could include such things as promotions, rewards and other benefits such as paid seminars for further training to increase the capacity of the employees. The contingent benefits has the advantage of motivating the employees towards the overall goals of the organisation which not only increases their loyalty to the organisation but also makes the retention goals of the human resource easy to achieve.
Use of technology is yet another effective tool of management and monitoring of employees in that, for example, through computers, the management is able to automate the systems and have employees work on targets set by the system (Need 2006). This creates a situation where the employees do not have to deal with an overbearing leadership and a desire to keep up with the machines which leads to an overall increase in the productivity of the employee. Technology has also provided a platform to interlink systems and have employees on their toes since the management is able to assess in real time, the pace of achievement of the set goals.
Tactical tools by management too help to monitor the employees. Management is trained on behaviour manipulation through several strategies that impact an employee’s view of the organisation. The overall result is that the employee is able to stick to the organisation by feeling appreciated and a part of the overall success of the firm. Such tactics range include subdividing tasks into small components and having each employee take part so as to feel as part of the ultimate company success.
References
Hall, G. E., & Hord, S. M. (2006). Implementing change: Patterns, principles, and potholes.
Need, W. C. D. H. P. (2006). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
