The modern business world changes at breakneck speeds. New businesses start and fail every day. Large corporations buy each other out, merge, downsize and restructure constantly. Many small business models thrive on perpetual change, such as the iterative process common to lean startups. Nonstop innovation in technology and economic globalization fuel this change. For companies to survive in today’s business world, they need to excel at adapting to change. Better yet, they must embrace it.
Successful adaptation to change involves effectively managing it through careful planning, training, development, monitoring and evaluation. Any kind of change involves all the people affected by that change, from top to bottom. As the people-centric component of organizations, the human resources (HR) management team can often manage this change most effectively, leading their workforce through destabilizing, transitory times.
Northwest Missouri State University’s online Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Human Resource Management program uses coursework in organizational behavior, training and development to prepare degree candidates to navigate times of organizational change. With the hard and soft skills gained through these studies, graduates can guide their organizations through the challenges of change, ensuring organizational continuity and success through disruption.
What Kind of Changes Do Modern Companies Face?
Change can happen at the macro level with top-down organizational restructuring, company mergers, new ownership, business relocation, downsizing and other events that have a company-wide impact. But it is important to realize that any change in the workplace can have a big influence, whether on the whole company, a single department or an individual.
Change in the workplace can involve forming a new project team, promoting an individual to a management position or responding to something in an employee’s personal life that is affecting their job performance.
When Does HR Become Involved in the Change Management Process?
HR’s involvement in change management depends on what kind of change is happening and the source of the change. If top executives decide to restructure their organization, they will ideally include an HR manager in that process from start to finish. Change management should involve considering the goal of the change and how best to accomplish that goal. What change is needed, and what processes would be most effective in bringing about that change?
An HR manager brings the human perspective to this process, considering employees, what training and development they will need, what incentives will motivate them, and anticipating emotional responses and how to react to them. In an effective change management plan, this HR component is integral to the entire change process from the beginning.
But of course, HR managers may not be part of the change management process from start to finish. They may be thrust into a situation where a company is implementing changes without careful planning. People can be resistant to change. Resistant employees are unmotivated employees, or at least not motivated toward productive ends.
In these situations, HR leaders must slip into the crisis management role. They need to address and resolve these conflicts while they try to restructure the overall change management plan to facilitate a more positive transition for all involved.
What Does HR’s Role in Effective Change Management Look Like?
Say a research and design department comes up with a brilliant new product concept. That product needs intensive development from vision and design through market launch, including functions like testing, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. HR is responsible for pulling together the team that will execute this process, including employees from existing departments and new hires. Although this project team and the respective department heads manage the nuts and bolts of that process, it often falls to HR to manage the change itself.
To positively engage with change, employees need to be informed. What are they supposed to accomplish? Why is it important? How will it benefit the company as well as the employees themselves? Communicating all of this to employees is a huge part of an HR professional’s role in managing change.
Effective HR managers are able to motivate and engage employees, design and implement necessary training, monitor progress and performance, give feedback, and provide additional incentives. HR adapts to change by managing the human component and effectively engaging the employees involved, all while ensuring change processes comply with current laws and regulations.
Change management is not a quick answer to a simple problem. Adapting to change as an HR manager involves careful planning, consideration, and constant involvement in the process and the teams responsible for making the change happen. With a solid understanding of organizational behavior, change and development, such as that offered through courses like Organizational Behavior in Administration in Northwest’s online MBA in Human Resource Management program, HR managers can be effective in managing and facilitating positive change and growth in their companies.
Learn more about Northwest’s online MBA in Human Resource Management.
