1. 41ISSUE 16.9 HRMASIA.COM
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
“They thought that ‘western’
approaches were being forced on
them and were concerned those
approaches would not work in China,”
she adds. As a result, the staff were
initially slow to step into the new
operating model and adapt to the new
ways of working.
The Chinese firm is not alone
among organisations facing the uphill
challenge of convincing employees to
adapt to new circumstances.
While many may be tempted to
force past the resistance by ignoring
the employees’ concerns or letting
them leave the company, experts urge
business leaders, HR and organisation
development professionals to take a
drastically different approach to the
issue of change resistance.
“Organisations and managers
need to start seeing resistance as
something to be understood rather
Earlier this year, a large fast-
moving consumer goods (FMCG)
firm in China was forced to integrate
with a US-based company, which had
acquired its operations.
A new leadership team had to be
created while the two sets of support
functions needed to be consolidated,
among other large-scale changes
that affected almost all of its 6,000
employees in Asia.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the
company’s Chinese employees
showed significant resistance and
the firm enlisted the help of change
management consultancy Ketchum
Change.
“The employees felt the acquiring
company was not showing enough
sensitivity to the way things were
done in China,” says Gretchen
Huestis, Regional Director of Asia-
Pacific at Ketchum Change.
than something to be overcome,”
advises Alex Swarbick, Regional
Director for Asia-Pacific at the Roffey
Park leadership institute.
Too many managers are content
to treat the phenomenon of change
resistance as something inherent in
the individuals involved, Swarbick
points out. That, he says, puts
responsibility for resistance in the
wrong place.
Two major risks arise from that
approach. “First, it’s insulting to
the intelligence of the people they
regard as simply resistant by nature,”
Swarbick says.
Fiona Lam
fiona.lam@hrmasia.com.sg
When it comes to employees averse to change, companies
need to look at resistance through radically different lenses.
HRM Asia looks at some best practices in managing large-scale
organisational change
Rethinking
RESISTANCE
Contact: Azrielle Looi | Tel: (65) 6423 4631 | Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg
EARLY
BIRD
SPECIAL
Book
by
9
Septem
ber&
save
up
to
$400
Only
$1,395
+GST
4 – 5 October | Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza
Leadership in HR Asia Congress 2016
Leading Now, Leading Globally and Leading the Future
Emerging Asian markets are indispensable for any firm with aggressive growth commitments. However, to capture the Asian Market depends, in large
part, on the quantity and quality of Asia Leadership teams. Unfortunately, qualified leaders are in short supply in the region. While C-suites and boards in
Asia recognize that leadership development is a key priority for their business, many do not have the capability to address the issues that come with it. The
unique diverse markets within the region – with some more mature than others – poses specific challenges.
At Leadership in HR Asia, we have gathered HR Leaders from different industries to share their leadership experiences in HR as well astheir strategies for
Leadership Development for the organisation.
Featured speakers:
Aparna Kumar
Regional Human
Resource Lead – Asia
Pacific
Monsanto
Ben Roberts
Chief Talent Officer
Worldwide
Saatchi & Saatchi
Bobby Chiew
Head of Human
Resources
Woodlands Transport
Service Pte Ltd
Jaclyn Lee
Senior Director, Human
Resources
SUTD
Kate Colley
Head of People, Asia
National Australia
Bank
Irene Teo
Regional HR Director
Jardine Lloyd
Thompson Asia
Marie Petit
Chief HR Officer Asia
Pacific
Socomec
Anuradha Purbey
Director HR – Singapore
Aviva Ltd
Neel Augusthy
CFO Customer
Logistic Services
APAC
Johnson & Johnson
Priya Shahane
Chief Human
Resources Officer
AXA Singapore
Leadership in HR Asia features:
• 2 Interactive Workshops
Explore mindfulness as a leadership practice and Practical Skillsets for
HR Strategic Role in enabling business success
• 3 New Successful Case Studies
Successful Case Studies from leading companies in different aspects of
Leadership – HR as Change Champions, Leadership of the Past vs the
Future and Corporate Culture
Leadership Think Tanks
• Building Asian Leaders for Global Markets
• Developing your Millennial Leaders
• HR Leadership - Today and Tomorrow
Half-Day Workshop: HR Strategy and Effectiveness
• Understand the overall HR context today
including: the ways HR can be seen as a
business partner;
• Be able to establish better connections between
core HR processes, and build stronger capabilities in each
process;
• Strategic leadership development and implementation:
Developing and implementing HR strategies
+PLUS

2. 42 43ISSUE 16.9 HRMASIA.COM ISSUE 16.9 HRMASIA.COM
CHANGE MANAGEMENT CHANGE MANAGEMENT
had a stronger impact if we had
communicated more in the local
language,” says Anna Zavirukhina,
Head of HR for Asia-Pacific. “A
lot of information was given, but
unfortunately some employees were
not fluent in English, and many were
also not very interested in paying
attention to the financial data.”
As a result, Penspen has now
appointed a regional leadership team
that includes local managers as change
agents. Because local employees already
trusted these managers, they could start
new dialogues and formal discussions
to change the subject of hallway
conversations, Zavirukhina says.
At times, change calls for the
cooperation of not just the employees,
but also outside institutions such as
labour unions and government agencies.
Bobby Chiew, Head of HR at private
bus operator Woodlands Transport,
gives the example of a production
outfit that planned to halve costs
within two years and redeploy
hundreds of mature employees into
completely different job scopes over
an 18-month reorganisation.
“For decades, the workers
consistently executed what they were
trained to do, and many were over 50
years old,” says Chiew, who was then
Head of HR at the Singapore plant.
To start with, the company held
rounds of consultation with the
union and government agencies.
They worked together to anticipate
questions and resistance to the
changes, and came up with solutions
where possible.
Later, talks were given to explain
the new situation to the employees,
but the real challenge came when
assigning them to new roles.
Complaints about the disruption were
rife. Some requested the machines to
be slowed down, while others resisted
typing computer entries because they
preferred pen and paper.
To respond to those grievances,
Chiew engaged staff via both top-
them regularly for them to report
the big worries circulating on the
grapevine, and for us to share the key
talking points and facts we wanted to
enter the conversation,” Huestis says.
Eventually, these positive messages
took root virally, reducing the
resistance among the workforce.
Less painful layoffs
Employers can also soften the blow
and reduce resistance even when staff
are set to lose their jobs.
Neo recounts her experience
carrying out a major retrenchment
exercise when she was the Regional
General Manager for Asia-Pacific
at the now-defunct industrial
conglomerate General Electric
Company (GEC).
Tasked to cull 1,000 staff and exit
all businesses in the region, Neo’s
approach was more compassionate
than usual, and helped avert the
bitterness and protests typical of
massive layoffs.
Instead of handing employees
pink slips on the spot and getting
security guards to march them out,
Neo first announced the company’s
shock closure plan to all employees,
counselled them, and gave them two
weeks to “mourn”.
“Then, I got them to do financial
planning with their family members,
and together we prepared an exit plan
down and bottom-up approaches.
He also redeployed them in different
roles until there was a good fit, while
retraining them each time.
Eventually, employees worked
closely with the management, and
the company achieved a 47-percent
cost reduction by the end of two years.
Communicating clearly the urgent
need for change helped to foster trust,
Chiew explains.
Roping in champions
Identifying individuals to influence
others to join the change journey is
also a favoured strategy of change
managers.
An aviation client of Ketchum
Change’s was going through a
company-wide restructuring, but
employees had a high level of distrust
which was worsened by the many
rumours circulating.
“When we measured which
communication channels were the
most trusted for information, we
realised the grapevine topped the list,
well above formal channnels like the
CEO newsletters or the intranet page,”
Huestis says.
Rather than fight the rumour
mill, Ketchum Change used it to its
advantage. It convinced the client
company to assign a group of change
champions to leverage the informal
communication networks. “We met
In reacting to change, under-
communicating is often a big misstep,
she warns. “This happens because of
the sensitivity of the decisions being
made, or because not all answers have
been figured out.”
Unfortunately, Huestis says pulling
back on communication worsens the
situation. “In the vacuum of silence,
employees often fill the gap with
their own inaccurate assumptions or
false rumours,” she adds.
Sentiments on the ground
Another avoidable blunder is to
implement a change before making
sure it is actually doable. “If you
announce something but suddenly
backtrack a few days later, you’ll
be seen as a very flippant leader,
and people will lose trust in your
capabilities,” warns Eddy Putra,
Operations Director at secretarial
service provider Ottavia.
“Always start with understanding
the situation and getting the ground
sentiment first, so you can make sure
a change will be practicable,” he says.
Moreover, convincing employees to
adopt an initiative should go further
than merely explaining the benefits.
Putra says that above all, staff need to
first know and trust the change leader
sufficiently. “That means you need to
build up the right reputation for your
work ethic before you can gain their
trust and implement change.”
Challenges in getting buy-in from
the ground can also come from
language differences.
The ongoing cultural
transformation following a 2014
rebranding and reorganisation at
energy services company Penspen was
initially met with strong reactions in
some Asian countries.
Senior management made several
presentations regarding the market
situation and the urgency behind
the changes, but employees did not
embrace the new situation easily.
“We realised it would have
“Whatever people are resisting,
it isn’t the change per se, but
actually the implications that they
anticipate, which seem to conflict
with something that is important to
them.”
The other risk is managers failing
to skillfully inquire into the reasons
for the resistance, which misses
the chance to gather rich data about
how the change is being perceived
from the ground. This data could
potentially help the change be more
successful, Swarbick explains.
“So simply dismissing resistance
as something about the individual
can pose an organisational risk which
threatens to undermine the change.”
Communication counts
Neo Chia Reei, Director of
Organisation Development and
Learning at NTUC Health, stresses
that communication, coupled with
patience and persistence, is crucial.
“Often, communications need to
go through the organisation eight to
10 times before they are accepted,”
says Neo, who has extensive
experience managing change in large
organisations across different sectors.
“Once this happens, the change
process will be very fast because
everyone in the ‘change trail’ has
ownership of it and sometimes
may even think they invented the
changes!”
Likewise, to manage resistance
at the FMCG company in China,
Ketchum Change focused on creating
clear narratives that explained the
reasons for the change, the specific
timeline and steps, what was
expected from each employee, and
the support they could rely on.
Huestis says the consulting firm
also ensured messages came from
all directions. A regular employee
newsletter was introduced, and a
series of senior manager blogs on
integration topics was also started,
among other initiatives.
“Organisations and managers
need to start seeing resistance as
something to be understood rather
than something to be overcome”
Alex Swarbick, Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, Roffey Park
Staying fluid
Dynamic business environments are
the new normal. Change management
consultant Ketchum Change has identified
four attributes key to success in changing
environments:
• Transparency: Communicate in a
human way, with clarity and authenticity,
across borders
• Pioneering spirit: Promote curiosity
and experimentation, and support risk-
taking to break through and innovate
• Being dialed-in: Create strong
connections with internal and external
stakeholders, embrace fearless listening,
and engage employees in dialogue
around changes
• Agility: Be energised when approaching
change, and drive forward with passion
and resiliency to act on opportunities in
real time

3. 44 ISSUE 16.9 HRMASIA.COM
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
of six to 12 months,” she says. She
also allowed employees to resign
anytime they found a new job, and
got the UK-based leadership to
approve the performance-based
bonuses within the exit plans and
retrenchment package.
The UK board of directors said it
was the first time they had seen a
retrenchment exercise carried out
calmly, quietly, and with dignity.
All GEC businesses in Asia were
successfully sold off, customers’
maintenance contracts were taken
care of, and millions’ worth of bad
debts were collected, Neo says.
Letting the recalcitrant leave
That being said, it is often not
realistic to try to win buy-in from the
entire organisation for every change.
Besides being personally
unwilling to accept the change,
some individuals may also impact
the productivity of their teams.
“Resistant employees may impede
the progress of an organisation, and
sometimes also generate negativity
which causes disengagement and
will slow down the progress of
the change,” says Clarence Hoe,
Group HR Director at International
Enterprise Singapore.
Ketchum Change recommends
measuring the change sentiment in
an organisation and then shining
a spotlight on those who are most
supportive.
The consulting firm has a
framework that segments employees
into “bystanders”, “skeptics”,
“enthusiasts” and “ambassadors”,
in order of increasing buy-in. The
change ambassadors can then be
studied to identify what it is about
their mindset, capabilities, and work
environment that supports their
change position.
“HR and managers may then
replicate these qualities to create
wider change throughout the
organisation,” Huestis says.
However, if someone – especially
a leader – remains resistant over
the long-term, even after active
listening, clear messages and
patience have been tried and
exhausted, then it may be time for
them to transition out.
“The shadow of a leader is
particularly long during times of
change, and role models who are
not supportive can have significant
negative impact,” Huestis says.
An example can be drawn from
when NTUC Health’s Neo was hired as
a director of a local business school.
Her division was losing money,
and student enrolments were at an
all-time low. Tasked to turn things
around, Neo implemented several
new systems and processes.
All her 25 employees appeared
amicable and showed no signs of
resistance. Weekly meetings were
introduced to monitor their progress.
However, one senior manager gave
constant excuses for not completing
his assignments, which hindered the
change process. Despite Neo taking
the soft approach of counselling him
repeatedly, nothing changed.
As a result, she resorted to the last
option of collecting evidence that he
was not doing his assigned work.
After his forced exit, new members
joined the division, and Neo was able
to build a high-performance team
through regular communication,
mentoring and coaching, and
performance-based incentives.
In time, the division brought in
profits and student enrolment for all
its 10 programmes was at a record
high. “A winning team can move
mountains,” Neo says.
“Sometimes, to move forward, you
need to fire the recalcitrant.”
Change fatigue
Besides resistance, burnout among
employees can also impede change.
Huestis says that continuous,
accelerating change has become the
rule rather than the exception, and
is now an urgent matter of business
survival.
Last year’s Liquid Change Study by
Ketchum Change revealed that 74%
of leaders in large corporations had
observed “change fatigue” among
their staff.
“The employees have hit the limit
of their ability to deal productively
with change,” Huestis says.
Change fatigue is caused when
senior leaders do not recognise the
exhausting effect that continuous
change and volatility have on staff.
Hence, leadership behaviours,
corporate cultures, and operating
systems must adapt and become more
liquid, Huestis says.
Zavirukhina from Penspen is
familiar with the phenomenon. “I
worked at a company that had changes
every year, and after a few times,
people just stopped adapting because
they knew another change would come
the following year,” she says.
“If transformational change
– which completely alters the
organisation and its processes –
happens too often, one day people
will no longer believe in it.”
“Sometimes,
to move
forward, you
need to fire the
recalcitrant”
Neo Chia Reei,
Director of Organisation
Development and Learning,
NTUC Health
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K