Acceptance of an organisational change by those people affected by it is critical to the success of any change programme. The human element within an organisation that implements change is probably the most important because not only are they affected by it, but they must drive and sustain it as well. However, the effect of change upon morale and behaviour is an intangible that is difficult to predict or calculate. But is there a way it can be predicted? Is there a methodology or toolset that can be used to measure the effect of change? And are there methods for ensuring the reaction is a positive one?
 
Dr Joseph Juran noted that generally there are two broad aspects to change: a technological or organisational change, and a social consequence change. Juran referred to the social consequence as “the troublemaker” because it was the most difficult to predict and prepare for. Commonly perceived as “resistance to change”, Peter Scholtes, author of The Leader’s Handbook instead believed that “people don’t resist change, they resist being changed”.
 
In his 1993 book The New Economies for Industry, Government, Education, W. Edwards Deming proposed his System for Profound Knowledge, which is the basis for application of his famous 14 Points for Management. One of the four interrelated components was The Psychology of Change. Deming believed that understanding this was as important as understanding the system and its variation. Often resistance to change is strong because everyone feels devalued. Deming believed that resistance is diminished when everyone shares in the identity and understands the benefits of change. By adapting and developing new skills people feel their value increase, they have ownership in the change.
 
How to manage the human element of change will be the focus for the next i&i Community Network Meeting. Presentations, discussions and workshops will seek to answer questions such as:

• What preparation can be made for the human element of change?
• What are the common behaviours that can be expected?
• How are these best dealt with?
• What causes resistance to change?
• Can preparations be made pre-deployment to lessen the likelihood of resistance?
• What are some of the key lessons learned on employee engagement and cultural change from other successful change programmes?

 
Leaders from i&i Member organisations as well as guests from variousindustries will be present to share their experiences and lessons in this subject.

The meeting will take place in Edinburgh on Thursday 23rd September. Guest invitations are available: please complete the form below to request an invitation.

i&i Member organisations include:

AstraZeneca UK Ltd (Global)
Baxter Healthcare (Europe)
BP PLC (Global)
British Airways, BAA, Centrica PLC (UK)
Credit Suisse (Global)
DuPont De Nemours (EMEA) General Medical Council (UK), Legal&General (UK),
Nokia (UK)
npower (UK) Royal Mail (UK)
SCA Hygiene (Europe) Standard Life (UK) 
Sun Chemical Europe (Europe)
TNT Express (Global)
Virgin Media (UK)