Successful programmes always include monitoring and on-going review process. This is especially important in organisational change. The review serves as a means for evaluating the progress of the change programme. It is a continuous process that terminates with the achievement of the goals of the change plan.
An Overview of the Implementation Stage
The implementation stage of any plan involves the operationalisation of the different interventions designed during the planning stage of the organisational change process. This is the stage where the different units of the organisation work to execute the different interventions. The review of the implementation phase can come from two different types of change plans.
- Blueprint Change
The blueprint is an organisation’s highly-defined documentation of how it wants change to proceed. It is a well-planned roadmap that comes complete with very detailed descriptions of the things that the organisation needs to do to accomplish the desired change. These very specific details can provide the parameters for reviewers to evaluate the organisation’s position relative to the identified parameters.
- Emergent Change
Reviewing the implementation of emergent change plans can be tricky. This is because an emergent change is one where the plan is not in the agenda of the organisation, yet still requires appropriate interventions. Proper documentation of the interventions is important in making a valid and accurate review of its implementation.
Monitoring of the Change Plan Implementation
There are three important things that organisations must assess whenever they perform a review of the implementation phase of the change plan.
- Accuracy of the Interventions
Reviewers need to assess whether the interventions are being implemented as specified in the plan. It addresses the concerns about how the interventions are being executed.
- Effectiveness of the Interventions
The organisation also needs to measure the effectiveness of the interventions. It is easy to say that the organisation is executing the interventions. It is another matter completely to say that the interventions are producing the effects that the organisation expects.
- Validity of the Change Plan
The third issue springs forth from the issue of intervention effectiveness. If the interventions are producing the desired effects, then the change plan is effective and valid. However, if the interventions are not producing the desired outcomes, then one can assume that the change plan is defective or that the interventions are ineffective.
Role of Performance Measures
The implementation phase involves the actual execution of the different interventions set forth in the change plan. It is for this very reason that reviewers should use tools that can help measure the performance of these interventions.
Approaches to Measuring Performance
Organisations can observe a variety of approaches to measuring performance.
- Comparative – Performance measured against the performance of others.
- Attribute – Assessment involving the rating of employees based on predetermined parameters or attributes.
- Behavioural – An old approach that remains very relevant today. It measures the performance of employees relative to different job dimensions.
- Result – A very straightforward approach where the performance is based on the results delivered.
- Quality – This is an approach that focuses more on the achievement of continuous improvement of services and the reduction of errors to improve customer satisfaction.
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The Balanced Scorecard
This is a type of results-oriented approach to measuring performance. This technique allows organisations to communicate the things that they want to accomplish. It also allows them to align the different processes of the organisation with regards to the end-goal of the company.
The technique can also facilitate the prioritisation of services, products, and projects. In change management, the Balanced Scorecard can provide a clear picture of the progress of the change plan. It involves four important aspects.
- Financial Measures – Focuses on the financial performance of the organisation and can include the effective and efficient use of organisational resources.
- Customer-related Measures – These measures define overall customer value, which can include the satisfaction and retention of both internal and external customers.
- Internal Business Process Measures – The focus of these measures is on the efficiency of the different business processes. The parameters also help define the level of quality of the different aspects of the organisation’s operation. It can include the services provided and the products designed and manufactured, as well as other important business processes.
- Learning and Innovation – These measures evaluate the organisation’s ability to foster continuous growth among its people. It can also include the development of the infrastructure and technology needed to promote growth and innovation.
Developing Tools for Reviewing Change
Reviewers must create and develop tools that accurately measure the different parameters that describe a successful implementation of the change initiatives.
- Implementation Monitoring Tools
There are different kinds of monitoring tools that can help assess the ongoing progress of the implementation of the change plan. These tools can come in the form of old-school data collection, monitoring, and evaluation forms. Organisations today can also make use of advanced computing technologies to help ease the process of monitoring.
- Building Review into the Change Management Process
Implementation is one of the most critical phases of the change management process. While the plan provides overall direction for the initiative, it is the implementation that gets the ball rolling. It is for this reason that organisations must integrate a review mechanism into the development of the change plan. This will help provide for a more responsive framework upon which to evaluate the progress of the change initiative.
Reviewing People’s Responses to Change
Measuring job performance and other indicators is easy. It is the review of people’s responses to change that is quite challenging. There are no quantitative tools that can provide a very accurate picture of how the human mind is processing all the information related to change.
These data are more subjective than they are objective. Even reviewers tend to exhibit rater or reviewer bias simply because they are also humans.
Regardless, reviewers should try to be as objective as possible in measuring people’s responses to change. These responses can include emotional intelligence, irrational thoughts, defence mechanisms, employee attitudes, and communication characteristics.
Reviewing change is all a matter of assessing and evaluating the progress of the planned interventions. Review points provide a clear picture of the success of the change initiative as it develops over the course of predetermined time frames. It is crucial for organisations to devise a review scheme right from the very start of the change initiative and clearly defined in the change plan.