Organizational change occurs when a business alters its key components for either the operations or its strategy. This can involve changes to organizational structure, essential technologies, company culture, or major goals and initiatives. Depending on the company’s objectives it is trying to achieve, a change within the workplace can either be intermittent or continuous.
For UAE businesses, organizational change is usually categorized into two: transformational and adaptive. Adaptive change is small and incremental which an organization undertakes in order to grow and evolve. The modification is usually to fine-tune a business strategy or process. As for the transformational change, it is larger in both scale and scope. It also typically involves a radical shift to the direction the business is going. The change is often a result of an outside force putting pressure onto the company e.g. emergence of new competition.
How can HR managers help UAE businesses deal with change within the workplace?
Below are the strategies used by top HR managers from outsourced HR firms in UAE to better manage organizational change:
Understand the forces that lead to change
In order to manage change effectively, HR managers are to grasp the primary reasons as to why change is absolutely necessary. As without understanding why there has to be organizational change, it can be very hard for HR managers to craft a concrete plan in addressing the root concerns. Pressing questions can include:
- What is the pressure that is driving organizational change?
- Is the pressure internal e.g. new leadership?
- Is the pressure external e.g. a massive shift within the industry, emergence of new competition or development of brand-new technologies?
By understanding all of the precipitating factors which have made changes within the workplace necessary, the HR department and the business as a whole become better suited in addressing the concerns.
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Understand the process involved of change
No two initiatives for change are exactly alike. The vast majority, however, are successful due to following the steps of change management process. All change processes come with starting conditions and an endpoint. Change is everything which happens in between these two points. Multiple steps are involved which can be grouped into three phases: the preparation, the implementation, and then the follow-through. Here is what happens with each phase:
1st stage: Preparation – this is where the HR managers are focused on making preparations, most especially for the employees. The stage involves helping the staff understand the need to transition and outlining a vision and plan to achieve the new company goals.
2nd stage: Implementation – this is where the HR managers are focused on the execution of the changes in a manner that’s compatible with the vision of the company for the future.
3rd stage: Follow-through – in this phase, the HR managers focus on making sure the changes are sticking and become embedded onto the culture and practices of the company.
Create a plan
There is also the need to create a concrete plan. The plan for change has to broadly outline all of the reasons for organization change. The plan should define as well the scope and outline all the key stakeholders. Then, establish the team and offer a detailed roadmap for the steps which are required in completing the project. HR managers in UAE are required to have a well-defined strategy set in place as this makes it a lot easier in communicating changes to all the team members. What’s more, it’s going to be a lot easier to monitor progress towards the company goals and key milestones.
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Communicate to the entire Organization
Guiding the employees through the period of change involves focused and clear communication. It’s among the most powerful tools that’s in the arsenal of effective HR leaders. Ultimately, you have to be effective in communicating change onto two very different audiences:
- Employees/team members – the first audience is your team members. They have to understand why change is necessary and how the change will affect their job responsibilities. It’s also important to recognize how important it is to listen to their concerns to assuage the fears that they may have.
- Company stakeholders – the second audience is the key stakeholders of the company which are other members of the company management, board members and the C-suite. If you are among the people who are proposing a change, it is these individuals who will need a lot of convincing. If they’ve initiated the change; however, they’ve put you in charge of the overseeing of the process, it is these individuals whom you’re to regularly update with regards to the progress or status of the recent project.
It takes skill and many years of experience to effectively manage change within the workplace.
For assistance and more information on HR outsourcing in UAE, call us here in Payroll Middle East today!
