Change management through human resource development
CHANGE MANAGEMENT projects often fail although there are some stories of hope. Prosci, one of the most well-known global consultancy companies in change management, often reports on successful change projects which have improved human performance, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and finances. Through their ADKAR model, (awareness, desire, knowledge, action, and reinforcement), Prosci’s success has come largely due to its focus on the ‘people’ element of change efforts, such as leadership, appreciation training, resistance management, and identifying with one’s organisation. The consultancy company also heavily emphasises the need for researchbased methodologies and project management as part of their success.
POSITIVE CHANGE
For change management practitioners, and leaders who are presiding over a change and/or thinking about hiring a change manager, I suggest that you are more likely to succeed if the project is grounded in principles of human resource development (HRD). This disciplinary area underscores that development of people can result in long-term, sustainable, positive change. HRD is a multidisciplinary area of study, grounded in an understanding of people’s everyday psychological, sociological and cultural life. One of its pioneers, Mary Parker Follett, promoted ‘people’ and ‘learning’ as core principles of improving organisational life. To some readers this may sound purely academic, but, in fact, it is not because a multidisciplinary approach helps us to appreciate that each leader, manager and employee has a set of motives, feelings and attitudes that may both facilitate and hinder change efforts. These individuals have also learned a set of values and norms from their social environment with which they are comfortable, and which may prevent them from trusting or engaging with the change process.
Further, HRD allows us to understand that there are also ‘hidden’ sides to people and organisations that are not easily understood or changed, but which are very real elements of our daily lives. Change managers should pay attention to ego defences, blind spots, unconscious motives and selfawareness, for example, to ensure they have more comprehensive understanding of the factors impacting their change efforts. Chances of success are increased when the practitioner can truly disrupt the sources of behaviour, old habits and culture to make way for better ones. It is often said that people don’t resist change, but rather, they resist being changed.