Smart Change Management

Smart
Change
Management
Smart Business Book Series

Smart Change Management (Smart Business
Book Series)
Title
Master Steve
Author
Somayeh Amiri, Tara Kamangar
Colleagues
Keyvan
Layout
Designer
Silk Road Publishing (Toronto, Canada)
Publisher
Printed Book: 978-1-927060-79-7
EBook: 978-1-927060-80-3
ISBN
www.MasterSteve.com
Website
Attributions:
Images Credits: Pch.Vector / Freepik
Note: The author of this book gives the right to use
the present content, provided that the source is cited,
to professors, educators, teachers, lecturers, and
academic and non-academic educational centers, for
an indefinite period.
The copyright of this bookis internationallyregistered
for the author.

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................5
Chapter 1: Change: Types and Driving Forces ...................... 7
Types of Change .........................................................................................8
Driving Forces of Change .................................................................... 10
1. Technological Advances ........................................................................10
2. Losing Managers .......................................................................................11
3. Revision of Financial Affairs...............................................................12
4. Change in Governmental Regulations.......................................... 14
5. Change in Status of Competitors .................................................... 15
6. Rise of New Products and Services ................................................16
7. Emergence of New Customers in the Market.............................17
8. Reduction in Production Costs ........................................................19
9. Updating the Way an Organization is Being Run ................20
Chapter 2: Change Process...................................................................21
Chapter 3: Stages of Formulating the Change Initiative...... 24
1. Determining the Driving Force and Purpose of Change ....25
2. Assembling a Change Team............................................................... 26
3. Researching Change ..............................................................................30

4. Identifying Obstacles of Implementing Change and Their
Solutions ........................................................................................................... 33
5. Recognizing the Company’s Culture and Structure in Order
to Implement Change ................................................................................35
6. Defining a Timetable for Implementing Change...................37
7. Operational Change Initiative........................................................... 38
8. Employee Orientation Strategy ..................................................... 39
9. Trial Run.......................................................................................................40
10. Running the Operational Change Initiative ..........................40
Training Employees for Implementing Changes.................40
The Most Common Reasons for Organization Employees
to Resist the Change: ............................................................................43
11. After the Changes ...................................................................................48
Lists of figures and tables
Figure 1. stages of change ....................................................................23
Table 1. Required changes ...................................................................33
Table 2. obstacles of change and their solutions ...................... 35
Table 3. Required time for change .................................................. 37
Table 4. State of changing factor. .....................................................38
Smart Change Management
4

Introduction
This book belongs to a series of books titled “Smart
Business” which I have written. Therefore, what you read
here comes from years of experience I gathered around
on how to start and manage different businesses. I have
founded and managed many different for myself and
other people so I am in a best position to advise you on
how to start your business, manage your business and make
profits from your business. This book teaches you how to
adopt a new point of view, to look at the present standards
and methods through different perspectives, and to select
the best method based on your peculiarconditions.
“Change” is crucial for any organization, brand,
company and business of any industry and guild. The
purpose of implementing change is to obtain positive
and clear results, and tendency toward change causes an
organization to change its structure and system or reform
some sections, all forcibly or willfully.
Reformation is a part of change and it happens when
considered necessary.

5

Before knowing how to implement the change in your
organization or company, you need to know why you had
to change or modify the structure, process or system.
Then you can learn all types of change and backgrounds,
and eventually, you get to learn the plan for implementing
the change in an organization.
In this regard, getting to know how to research and how
to identify needs, establishing the new structure, drawing
the employees to come along, evaluating performances
and formulating a flexible smart change initiative are all
concepts about which you learn by my recommended and
experimental method. You can implement these great
methods in your business when you are done reading this
book.
6

Chapter 1
Change: Types
and Driving
Forces

Types of Change
The changes that are generally applied in every business
are in two different types:
1.
1. Gradual,
2.
2. Instantaneous.
z
Gradual changes are those changeswhichyou smartly
implement while you are proceeding according to a
plan.
z
Instantaneous changes are involuntarily forced on
an organization, they are immediate and you need
to make a critical decision in the moment like when
a collapse is happening. Forced changes are mostly
imposed because of incidents.
In both types of changes, your goal is to solve the issues
in the business system. In fact, the problems which got in
8

the way have imposed the need for implementing such
changes. In this situation, you need to implement the
changes using a comprehensive plan. By change, we mean
smart modifications and not conventional methods of
change. However, standards should not be violated, but
rather, methods should be optimized.
The reasons behind implementing changes or driving
forces for a change include various items which you get
to know in the following sections. Then, analyze these
items according to the conditions of your business and
determine whether you need to make a change or not.
Change:Types and Driving Forces

9

Driving Forces of Change
1.
1. Technological Advances
One of the most import-
ant factors which necessitate
change is advances of the
technologies used in business
and production. By having
decent revenue and regular customers who do busi-
ness with them repeatedly, some business owners
grow complacent and avoid adapting themselves.
These business owners find it hard to cope with or
incorporate latest yet useful technology into their
businesses then have themselves to blame in future.
Technology can be destructive
and it may take you out of the
industry following the slightest
negligence.
Nokia Corporation is an example of such fail-
ure. This company owned the major part of the mo-
bile market for years, and consequently, it gained
a prosperous income. For this reason, the manag-
ers of this company ignored the driving force for
change and lagged behind the speed of changes.
10

Take technological advances
seriously, update your technol-
ogy, and broaden your horizon
and long-term plans.
2.
2. Losing Managers
Sometimes, a change is
necessary due to some inci-
dents such as death of man-
agers or employees. When
you lose a manager, to replace
them with a more competent manager, hire some-
one with a plan for your business who can defend the
plan they have for the organization the same way a
student defends his/her thesis in the defense session.
Sometimes, you need to hire a manager to car-
ry out specific yet, prearranged plans. In that case, it
is crucial to hire managers with a competent back-
ground and resume.
A manager with a plan is the
one who can make changes.

11

Change in management spontaneously
brings in challenges and discoordination in
an organization. Therefore, those in charge
of appointing a new manager must choose
the best option with adequate sensitivity and
fixation to minimize challenges and unnec-
essary hiccups in the day-to-day running of
the business.
3.
3. Revision of Financial Affairs
Changes sometimes happen
for financial reasons. An exam-
ple is when the company makes
losses or is on the verge of suf-
fering losses because of a sharp
drop in revenue of the brand/company. In these
situations, even minor risks can bring grave conse-
quences and make you operate at a loss. Sometimes,
minor incidents result in major problems.
In business, an income on the
brink is one of the riskiest sit-
uations.
Notice
12

During rough financial conditions, the compa-
ny starts bustling and looks for solutions. In such
situation, the company requires pumping money
and needs loans from banks or private investors to
expand and grow. However, neither banks nor in-
vestors are willing to participate financially unless a
change is undertaken.
In substandard financial con-
ditions for a business, you need
to implement changes and
modify the structure to be able
to have a partnership with oth-
ers or get banks to be involved
in a partnership.
When offering a plan to a bank for partner-
ship in business, you need to comply with
the standard structures of that bank.
Notice

13

4.
4. Change in Governmental
Regulations
The fourth reason for im-
plementing change in business
structure or process is change
in governmental regulations.
Every company is located within the realm of a
country and it follows the governmental rules/poli-
cies of that country. Such policies or change in pol-
icy or change in government may impose certain
changes on the company. For example, an export
company follows the established rules for tariffs
and export laws of its state.
By state, we don’t simply mean a central gov-
ernment; establishing some laws are within the
authority of municipalities, the governor-general
offices, etc.
For instance, the regulations established for
protecting environment may appreciably affect
companies in financial terms. Establishing certain
regulations may destroy millions of jobs. Therefore,
some companies refuse to accept the limitations.
In developed countries, change in regulations
does not happen suddenly, and enterprises are giv-
en chances to adapt to the new conditions unless
it’s a matter of certain important subjects such as
health and food.
14

A business system must always
be prepared to change instan-
taneously in emergency condi-
tions.
5.
5. Change in Status of
Competitors
The fifth reason for
change is a change in the sta-
tus of competitors. When a
new competitor emerges in
the market, a new wave is formed which brings in vari-
ous sidelines. In this situation, you need to implement
changes to avoid lagging behind. For example, when
a competitor such as Tesla Motors, which produces
electric and smart cars, emerged in the market, auto
manufacturers who are leading in market research
had to implement fundamental changes in different
sections of their organizations and businesses so they
could stay competitive. This is necessary if they must
maintain their relevance and keep their customers.
Sometimes, the change may be imposed by
old competitors. There is always a possibility that
one of the competitors changes strategy and take
over a huge share of your market. We have seen it
many times when an old company has suddenly

15

changed its strategy which has been used for years
or launched a production line for new products with
new target market. To be competitive, you must
adapt to the change and ensure you do something
necessary and reasonable to keep your share of the
market and retain your customers.
You should always consider
the possibility of changes in
behavior from the potential
and actual competitors of your
business in the market and
be ready to encounter these
changes.
6.
6. Rise of New Products and
Services
Another reason for change
is rise of new products and
services offered by the com-
pany. Sometimes, companies
have to coordinate their structure with new prod-
ucts.
16

Adding a new production line
can result in fundamental
changes in an organization or
company at the highest to the
lowest organizational level.
What happened years ago to Samsung Compa-
ny is an example; rise of new products and innova-
tion in the products of Samsung caused a change in
strategies and development patterns of Samsung.
Because of these changes, Samsung, a previously un-
known company which would only copy and use the
present ideas in the market, turned into one of the
technology giants in the world. This change helped
Samsung to get a more larger share of the market and
also helped Samsung brand in becoming one of the
brands that dictate what happens in the tech world.
7.
7. Emergence of New
Customers in the Market
The other reason for chang-
es is the emergence of new cus-
tomers in the market. For ex-
ample, consider a company that produces healthy
food products. Customers of such products are
generally old and senior people. However, recent-

17

ly due to promotion of healthy lifestyle and im-
portance of physical wellbeing, lots of young peo-
ple and adolescents have developed an interest in
healthy food products. So, the manufacturers must
revise the way of packing, offering and advertising
of the company, its products and make fundamen-
tal changes as these new customers are added to the
target market.
As a business,you need to adapt
to the needs of new customers,
otherwise, you will lag behind.
Recognize customer’s needs
and check what taste your cus-
tomers have so you can change
your products accordingly.
The raison d’etre for any busi-
ness is to have customers, and
all manufacturers are indebted
to customers.
The flexible structure is one of the factors in
success of China industries in global markets; these
industries shift like the playdough according to cus-
tomer’s needs.
18

Defining the roadmap of a
business based on customer’s
needs plays important roles in
developing that business.
8.
8. Reduction in Production Costs
Another reason for imple-
menting change in structure
and process of a business is re-
duction in production costs. Old
companies have lots of costs
due to various reasons such as chaos and disor-
der or dependence on state systems. For example,
they have employees with job titles but without
any duty or task. Every morning, lots of people
punch the time clock and register their presence
but their task is not clear. Such issue is common
among many old organizations. In this situation,
organizations must take actions regarding down-
sizing and layoffs.

19

9.
9. Updating the Way an
Organization is Being
Run
The final reason for im-
plementing change is old
fashion style of running an
organization. An organization that proceeds slowly
and is not aligned with the modern world resem-
bles a machine which gears need to be oiled-up.
Redundant paperwork and bureaucracy, lack of fol-
lowing meritocracy, conventional format of an or-
ganization, and lack of adequate space for employ-
ees to learn and develop are all old fashion methods
of running an organization that practically prevent
progress and improvement.
To survive in the oversaturated
market and in business world,
organizations which are run
by an old fashion style will re-
quire fundamental changes
sooner or later.
20

Change is a wave which is not
easy to create.
Every department is a part of the general structure of
your organization, and before implementing any changes,
you need to see how much influence is inserted on each
department because of implementing the changes.
The changes must be coordinated in all sections of an
organization; otherwise, a heterogeneity happens which
won’t result in any desirable consequences.
To successfully implement any changes, you must find
a way to implement the change smoothly and without any
complications. Even if this change creates any trouble, it
should be temporary in the long run.
Change should not be similar
to a medical operation with
long healing or recovery time
and long-term complications.
22

In business, the path ahead must be transparent and a
clearvisionmustbeexpected.Therefore,thecomplications
of a change must be eliminated and positive influences
must get to the safety net and become permanent.
According to this fact, designing “the change roadmap” is
of great importance.
Change is generally a process in three stages:
z
Current State
z
Transition State
z
Future State
Figure 1. stages of change
Be aware of the current state
of your organization and con-
sider a transition period, and
formulate the change initiative
after that period.
Current State Transition State Future State
Change Process

23

Chapter 3
Stages of Formulating
the Change Initiative

Before implementing any changes in the structure and
processes of your business, you need to formulate a change
initiative. By going through the following stages, you can
do so.
1.
1. Determining the Driving Force and
Purpose of Change
As discussed in the previous section, various
factors may cause the driving force for implement-
ing change in structure and system of your business.
First, you need to identify this driving force and de-
fine for yourself clearly why you have to implement
the necessary changes.
ƒ
For what reasons do you intend to make changes?
Research this need. After identifying the rea-
sons for a change to happen, the following ques-
tion is raised:
ƒ
Where is the point of interest?
25

Reasons for change determine objectives,
and objectives are defined according to reasons
for change; this means, before we do anything, we
should clarify what changes based on what driving
forces are necessary to be applied to get to the point
of interest or achieve that objective.
After you answer these basic but essential ques-
tions, in the next stage, you need to gather a team
for implementing the change.
2.
2. Assembling a Change Team
Check what individuals can successfully lead the
change process in your organization. See whether
you already have such people in your group or not.
Some professional companies or individuals
have adequate expertise in this regard. You can col-
laborate with them and during the change, you can
use their partnership and counseling in the change
process in your organization.
Making changes in an organiza-
tion is a high-risk situation and
professional individuals are re-
quired to provide the roadmap
and implement the change. As-
sistance of an expert appreciably
influences on reducing this risk
and implementing the changes.
26

To implement changes, use people who are
active and experienced in your industry and
who are qualified in identifying the prob-
lems and providing a plan for implementing
changes in your business in accordance with
the field of industry in which you are work-
ing.
If you haven’t used a professional change
counselor, assign a group of people within your
system as “the change team” based on size of your
company.
“The change team” is formed
based on the driving force of
change and its objective.
Sometimes, the team continues its activity after
the change processes are over, but it will be less ac-
tive. In some cases, the team becomes a subset of a
section in the organization and observes activities.
Notice
27

Build “the change team” using members of
all sections in the organization, especially
the sections which are more affected by the
change process, and while proceeding along
with changes, add other individuals from
various sections based on what you need.
Before entering the crisis-making stage of
changes, you need to understand the organization
and stages of changes. New managers in an orga-
nization need to be fully aware of the structure of
that organization, the history of their company, the
nature of their business and the atmosphere in the
market.
The first duty of this team is to examine the
conducted research and knowing exactly what
changes need to be made in each section, and each
member of the group needs to equate these chang-
es in their section.
After counseling sessions, “the change team”
gathers a list of changes which must be implement-
ed in each section; this list is made based on con-
ducted research and knowledge about the respec-
tive organization.
Notice
28

At the beginning of its activity,
the “change team” coordinates
the data with the current state
of the organization.
Within the “change team”, select individuals
who prepare and formulate “the change initiative
or the change roadmap”. The result is a plan with
an appropriate, applicable and justifiable sched-
ule.
The individual(s) in charge of
writing “the change initiative
or the change roadmap” may
not be necessarily a member of
“change team” and they could
be chosen from counselors of
an organization.
29

3.
3. Researching Change
In formulating the change initiative, the third
stage is doing research to have a more precise iden-
tification of problems in an organization, driving
forces for a change, and types of required changes.
In this stage, you need to look for an answer to the
following questions:
ƒ
Has the problem for which you need to make
changes happened to any other organization that
works in the same business as yours?
ƒ
What solutions did other organizations find for
solving similar problems?
ƒ
How did they adapt to the conditions?
The change team may follow the same goal de-
fined before assembling the team, or during their
research, they may identify other driving forces
and goals for making a change in the organization.
For example, at first sight, the impact of Coro-
navirus outbreak may seem the same on two auto-
mobile companies such as Iran Khodro and Saipa,
and the same changes may be considered as neces-
sary ones in both companies because both of them
are working in a specific industry. However, these
30

companies are two different companies with differ-
ent structures, systems and assets; therefore, Coro-
navirus outbreak will have different impacts on
them and the changes necessary for each one will
be different.
The same goes for the tourism industry. Since
the Coronavirus outbreak has significantly dried up
the tourism industry, it’s necessary to implement
changes in the businesses of this industry. A compa-
ny may implement such required changes through
layoffs or repurposing. In contrast, by carrying out
more extensive research and evaluations, another
company may conclude that human resources are
one of the important assets in the company. There-
fore, they need to maintain these resources in a dif-
ferent condition so they can continue their activity
while using them when things are back to normal in
that respective industry.
Both aforementioned examples indicate that
research plays an important role in determining
the driving force and goal of implementing chang-
es and types of changes required in a company and
in a business.
While researching to determine the driving
force and goal of making changes, you need to con-
sider an important matter which is the impacts of
a change and its outcomes in both stages i.e. when
you implement the change and after you imple-
ment it.
31

You need to know what changes occur in the
organization after modifications are done. To suc-
cessfully do so, create a table in four (4) columns
such as Table 1;
ƒ
Inthefirstcolumn,listtheneedsforimplementing
changes.
ƒ
In the second column, in front of each change,
write down its impacts and outcomes during the
change process.
ƒ
In the third column, write down the impacts and
outcomes of each change after implementing
them.
It doesn’t matter whether the
impacts are good or bad. What
matters is to be aware of them.
So, identify both positive and
negative impacts of a change.
Then, have a serious look at the costs of a change
an make a precise estimation of the budget. So,
ƒ
The fourth column of the table belongs to
the costs imposed on an organization by the
respective change.
32

When you are done with the table, you have a
list of changes which includes numbers and figures.
This is an introduction for writing “the change ini-
tiative or the change roadmap”.
Costs
Impacts and
outcomes after
implementation
Impacts and
outcomes during
implementation stage
Change
Table 1. Required changes
4.
4. Identifying Obstacles of Implementing
Change and Their Solutions
To design “the change initiative or the change
roadmap”, you need to identify the obstacles of
making changes.
In this section, your job is very simple because
of the table you have at your disposal. The individ-
ual or group in charge of formulating “the change
initiative or the change roadmap” identifies the
obstacles based on Table 1. These obstacles can be
related to the structure of an organization, the em-
ployed individuals, the geography of a business, the
technology applied in an industry, etc. For instance,
resistance [to change] among individuals in an or-
ganization is one of the obstacles of implementing
changes.
33

The way various people react
to any change is different, and
each person has his/her pecu-
liar formula. The same goes
for the organizations.
In the stage of implementation, you get to know
the reasons why people resist and how to address
this issue. After making a list of obstacles, you need
to look for solutions. The person in charge of pre-
paring the change initiative for organization must
make a list of all possible solutions and hand it over
to “the change team” for making decisions.
The solutions must be practical and must be
prepared based on the knowledge of your organiza-
tional complex. These solutions must make it easy
for “the change team” to make decisions. Some-
times, you need to go after standard solutions, and
sometimes, you need to use special methods such
as guerilla solutions.
Note that smart view is our philosophy in the
collection of smart business topics; smart view
means looking at standards from different points
of view to find the best method and solution ac-
cording to the respective conditions. We are aiming
at working smart and making tremendous progress
with less effort. Therefore:
34

Using a smart view, find solu-
tions to remove obstacles to
implementing changes in your
organization.
Solution for
obstacle
Obstacle to implementing
the change
Required
change
Table 2. obstacles of change and their solutions
5.
5. Recognizing the Company’s Culture and
Structure in Order to Implement Change
Culture and structure of a company are import-
ant factors which you should consider while writing
the initiative.
z
While implementing changes, inspect careful-
ly the relations of employed individuals, their
type of socializing and their working interac-
tions with each other. For example:
ƒ
Which individuals are influential in decision-
makings of the company?
ƒ
Is the company run through an individual-
centered and bureaucratic system?
35

The advantage of formulat-
ing a plan by a “change team”
consisting of individuals in an
organization is that the team
members are familiar with
culture and structure of their
organization, and they consid-
er these elements while pre-
paring the change initiative,
but a counselor must review
these items.
z
Examine the human resources required for the
change process and after change and see wheth-
er the present workforce is adequate for the job
or you need a new workforce.
Prepare “the change initiative or change
roadmap” in a way that unexpected incidents
during the change and after are considered
as well.
Notice
36

6.
6. Defining a Timetable for Implementing
Change
Create a timetable like table 3 for changes in
your plan. Determine in which time period the ap-
pliable changes should happen.
Select the right time for imple-
menting changes.
For example, if summer is the peak of your
business activity, any change during that time may
inflict irreversible harm – it can be suicidal for the
company.
Make an extensive chart of all stages of changes,
mark your position anywhere on the path, and ob-
serve the vision ahead of you.
Required time
Change
Table 3. Required time for change
According to your needs and perspective, you
can create tables for each stage of change, including
current state, transition state and future state. Ta-
bles give you a more precise, clear and comprehen-
sive perspective.
37

For each item you wish to change, you can de-
fine a current state, a state during the change and
finally a state after implementing the change. Table
4 will help you in this regard.
Future state
Transition state
Current state
Changing factor
Table 4. State of changing factor.
7.
7. Operational Change Initiative
Now that you have great deal of information
for implementing changes, design “the operation-
al change initiative” and send it over to all depart-
ments in accordance with separation of duties, so
each department gets to know its definite task.
In “operational initiative”, you need to consid-
er two important points:
z
First, you need to be flexible so in case of unexpect-
ed incidents, certain mechanisms will be considered
to confront these issues. In fact, an operational ini-
tiative must be able to carry out risk management.
z
Second, “strategy of employees” must be defined in
the operational initiative. In otherwords, the required
tasks for implementing changes must be divided. You
need to do the task division according to the capacity
and human resources of different departments and
people involved in the change process.
38

8.
8. Employee Orientation Strategy
In this strategy, you need to consider three cru-
cial subjects, including employee orientation, creat-
ing an appropriate environment for implementing
changes, evaluating the performance of employees.
z
To reach a common understanding of the
change process, brief the employees. In fact,
you need to proceed while you have a proper
understanding of how to manage “the change
team” and convey this understanding to the em-
ployees as well so they know exactly what role
they are to play in the change process.
z
Define a path to engage the employees with the
matter of change; i.e. help your employees un-
derstand how to create a viable environment for
themselves so they can easily carry out their tasks.
z
Create an opportunity so the employees can as-
suredly proceed what they are doing, knowing
fully that their performance will be evaluated
whether they do their duties out of interest or
sense of responsibility, and that their commit-
ment will be supervised and appreciated during
the change process.
Implementing the strategy of
employees requires the em-
ployees to learn it properly.
39

9.
9. Trial Run
Implement “the change initiative or the change
roadmap” in a trial run and a small scale.
Most of the times, the plan is tested using sim-
ulation software. In that case, the obtained results
can be compared to the predicted ones, several er-
rors can be avoided, and it can be evident whether
the expected results are obtainable or not.
10.
10. RunningtheOperationalChangeInitiative
Up to this stage, “operational initiative” and
“strategy of employees” are prepared. Training
employees based on the formulated strategy is the
first part regarding implementation of “operational
initiative”.
z
Training Employees for Implementing Changes
ƒ
Keep all members of organization, from the
highest to the lowest level of the pyramid
in the loop about the required changes so
everybody will be informed.
ƒ
Train all employees, but you should consider
trainings which are specific for each certain
department while some departments may
have common training.
40

ƒ
Inform all employees of their tasks according
to the scheduled plan. In addition, make it
clear for them how to compensate if they fell
behind schedule.
ƒ
After starting the training which is carried
out based on the schedule, pay attention to
two points:
¾
First, evaluate yourself constantly to see
whether you are proceeding according to
the plan or not. This evaluation includes
all members and sections.
¾
Second,receiveclearandcomprehensible
feedbacks out of training your group.
ƒ
Define a support system along with the
evaluation system so your employees can
seek help in case of any problem during the
change process.
Consider a training course for the support sys-
tem in the training plan of your employees.
ƒ
Define the set of required changes in form
of taking small steps, and in order to create
an appealing environment and prevent
employees from feeling concerned, celebrate
after going through each stage.
Notice
41

ƒ
By creating a refreshing environment,
promote this concept that changes are
necessary for everybody’s job security.
Employees may sense that they are going
to lose their jobs. Try and get rid of this fear
by creating a suitable environment.
The research shows that 70% of failures
in the change process is because the
organization has failed to brief its employees
about the changes and align them with the
new pattern.
The important point in train-
ing is that the employees
should know exactly what el-
ements must change and the
reason for this change.
Previously, it was mentioned in the stage of research
and examination before the change that you should
identify the possible reasons for which employees may
avoid collaborating in the change process. In the following
section, these reasons and their practical solutions are
stated while highlighting the training.
42

z
The Most Common Reasons for Organization
Employees to Resist the Change:
ƒ
Fear of losing their job: No matter their position or
cadre, employees always have such fear. This fear
makes them resist changes and impose significant
costs on organization by interrupting these changes.
Mention in the training courses that implement-
ing changes doesn’t require layoffs. Basically, it is
risky to remove some individuals from the system.
ƒ
The unknown nature of changes: Sometimes,
there is this fear that changes and developments
may get out of control.
Eliminate this “fear of the unknown” by using
the strategy of communicating with employees.
Explain to them that the whole path is clear and
goals are precisely identified; therefore, there is
no possibility of failure.
It will be impossible to con-
vey the matters properly if you
don’t communicate with your
employees appropriatelyand if
you don’t take them seriously.
Providing drip-feed informa-
tion creates an unhealthy envi-
ronment filled with doubts.
43

ƒ
Other companies’ failure in implementing
changes: The rumors among the employees
around unsuccessful changes in other companies
are among the problems in implementing
changes.
In the training section, make a list of unsuc-
cessful attempts in implementing changes by
other companies and tell your employees that
you are aware of the reasons these companies
failed and you have done the necessary predic-
tions to avoid the same pattern. The employees
better hear about these matters from you rather
than others.
Smart formulation of “opera-
tional change initiative” elim-
inates factors of resistance [to
change].
ƒ
Inability to face the problems: Another reason
for the employees’ fear of change is that they
think they cannot adapt to the new conditions.
Sometimes, the employees believe it will be too
difficult for them to adapt and as a result, it will
affect their performance and output, especially,
in if your organization is setup in a way that
workers are only paid based on the result they
44

achieve. For example, an individual may suppose
he/she cannot work with new machinery and
technology due to his/her limited education.
This fear of inability in competition forces
the employees to resist against changes and the
change processes will be consequently interrupt-
ed.
To eliminate your employees’ fear of inabil-
ity in confronting changes, you need to em-
phasize on training them about the support
system.
ƒ
Concern about falling behind schedule: For
most employees, it is a very stressful and tense
situation to fall behind schedule and not to be
able to deliver on time.
Create an environment for
change where employees feel
that whenever they get stuck
behind the change processes,
“the support system” will help
them get out of the wood.
Notice
45

Make sure the schedule of
change initiative aligns with
your organizational culture; it
also needs to be clear and un-
derstandable so it doesn’t make
any resistance among the em-
ployees.
ƒ
Fear of an increase in workloads: It is very
possible in the change process for employees
to be afraid of an increase in load of assigned
tasks.
Eliminate this fear of your employees by ex-
plaining “the change team” or “the support and
training team” clearly.
Contrary to popular opinion,
positive changes usually de-
crease reworking and repeti-
tive hierarchy in an organiza-
tion.
46

For employees to take part beside you in change process,
you should consider the following points:
¾
It is better to implement change gradually and
without imposing any tension, and you should
make the employees feel that they all are going to
benefit from this change.
¾
Setting rewards during change process results in
instantaneous benefit of change for employees
and they will have more empathy.
¾
Creating a sense of empathy among employees and
convincing them to participate makes it possible
to avoid formation of change-resisting groups. Of
course, sometimes you are obliged to fire a bunch
of employees and it complicates the situation and
makes some resistance.
¾
Identify the replacing individuals for these em-
ployees and predict the whole impact on “the
change initiative”.
¾
Ignore what is happening in other organization,
and concentrate on your organization.
¾
Using training, change the environment of your
company in a way that when employees enter the
company, they do not come in with toxic thoughts
or past negative opinion.
¾
Establish your own rules and convey to all the col-
leagues that everyone plays a role in running the
company according to their tasks. You will reach
higher standards if you hold such perspective.
¾
Anyone in any position can be an origin of change.
47

An employee is obviously unable to implement major
changes, but this employee can make recommendations
to managers. While managers are the ones who eventually
originate the change, but employees also can offer
constructive suggestions since they are directly dealing
with the activities, and managers can make critical
decisions without fear of no desirable outcome. An
example of this situation is the manager of “Uber” Taxi
company who has generated a great deal of revenue by
implementing several changes and expanding activities
in various contexts.
11.
11. After the Changes
When changes are applied, “the change team”
gets smaller according to the size of the company or
an individual takes the responsibility of controlling
things and check whether the process of affairs is
carried out properly or not.
These evaluations and controls continue con-
tinuously according to “the change initiative” un-
til implementation of the plan is completely as-
sured.
Finally, you need to note that the process of
“changes in an organization” are never completely
over and these changes have an endless cycle and
you should always consider them and look for im-
plementing more recent changes.
48

In business, stillness means
gradual death.
So, you can never state certainly that you have reached
stability and that you do not need any changes anymore.
While changes were slower and they would happen time
to time in the past, they occur quicker in the present time
due to the ever-increasing advances in technology and the
expansion of global communications.
In the turbulent world of busi-
ness, the secret for survival and
success is to always have a solid
yet workable plan of changes.
By doing so, you will continu-
ally control your brand and be
able to retain your share of the
market.
49

Smart Change Management

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