Change Management
Analyze, Plan, Execute – How Organizations Remain Prepared In The 21st Century
By Lucas Saito
Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash
What is Change Management?
In our ever-changing world of business, organizations need to be adaptable and malleable in order to survive. Enter, change management.
Change Management (CM) is a facet of Human Resources that focuses on analyzing, planning, and ultimately executing a series of short and long-term plans to facilitate organizational changes. These may be caused by economic, societal or political factors. The recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of change management, with the overwhelming transition to “Work From Home” statuses and the ensuing “Return To Office” movements.
CM varies highly by organizations and schools of thought, but a highly condensed version of it would look like this:
- A survey of an entire company and its workforce to establish current roles and future goals
- Development of a plan for the future to reach said future goals even with potential new challenges and risks
- A summary of how the existing roles would be affected in the future, to determine how they can be changed in the present.
Organizations are best equipped to deal with changes if they have a comprehensive understanding of their current selves. Thus, HR departments play a crucial role in change management, as it is already their responsibility to keep track of the corporate agenda and the employees’ roles. Additionally, due to HR’s responsibilities to employees, it is their job to communicate these changes from management to the workers, ensuring smooth transitions that also account for employee morale and satisfaction.
While CM is primarily a massive responsibility shared by an organization’s HR department, its core components offer a valuable lesson to any student, a lesson of preparedness. The development of a CM plan revolves mainly around having a thorough understanding of an organization’s current state, and an accounting of potential change in the future. Such a plan is valuable and attainable for a student to develop at the individual level. Maintaining a current understanding of one’s own abilities and responsibilities helps one be more prepared and dynamic should the need arise. A student who is aware of all their upcoming projects and deadlines will be more capable of editing their schedules or calendars to incorporate new events or outings if they’d like. A student who is prepared is less likely to feel overwhelmed during Finals Week, knowing that they’re not starting their projects at the 11th hour.
So what can you do?
For those interested in learning more about change management, careers as “change managers” may be worth reading into, however, any branch of HR will inevitably be responsible for some level of change. The Centre of Industrial Relations and Human Resources at UofT (CIRHR) hosts an abundance of literature on the topic, both within the IRHR Library and online. The library frequently posts new books and resources on its Instagram page, so it’s worth checking them out!
IRE346 “HR Strategy and Planning” focuses on change management. This course used contemporary examples like the COVID-19 pandemic where many companies had to sink or swim in a changing environment.
Upcoming events
- IRHRSA Study Session – Friday, November 3rd
- Case Study Event – Friday, November 17th
Exec Tip of the Month
While It is important to focus on school and to stay on top of studying, it is imperative that students maintain some interests and activities unrelated to academics. During my time at UofT, I’ve seen many students who drop all their interests and extracurriculars in favor of studies and lectures. While an admirable dedication, this ends up being disastrous for their mental health and social life. By the time finals come around, students become burnt-out and unmotivated, ultimately stumbling down at the edge of the finish line.
Personally, I try to leave at least one day of my week, completely free of studying. I try to go outside, be active, and enjoy my time with friends. I wake up early on weekends and go to practice archery. I try to cook frequently and tend to “meal-prep” for days when I know I’ll be too busy to cook. Both archery and cooking allow me to be expressive, practice and improve my skills and just have fun, without worrying about readings or deadlines.
Note, this message isn’t trying to undermine the value of studying, but rather to advocate for a healthier work-life balance for students, lessons ultimately held onto for life.
SOURCES:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/18479790211016273
https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/change-management