MANAGING CHANGE AND TRANSITION IN COVID-19 CASE ERA

   As COVID-19 crisis struck, organizations in vulnerable sectors worldwide have seen their revenues drop substantially in a matter of weeks — in some cases, dwindling to almost nothing. Countless companies have taken reactive steps to ward off major losses, such as establishing remote work arrangements, securing supply chains, reducing employee workload, cutting costs, and applying for government support.

There is no gainsaying the fact that COVID-19 Case has introduced some disruptions on the normal ways organizations and individuals operate. The outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic is considered as an uncontrollable environmental factor due to the factor that officially World Health Organization(WHO) has not approved any drug for its cure and vaccine for its prevention.In fact.WHO Bose, Dr. David Nabbaro earlier advised that countries around the world may think of stopping lockdown since it has not produced any drug for cure of coronavirus and vaccine for its prevention. He went on to say that coronavirus will live with us into foreseeable future and we have to learn how to live with it. Although, country like Madagascar has claimed that they have discovered the drug that they claimed cured coronavirus disease within 10 days but WHO is yet to approve it. WHO about a month ago said that they will conduct two drugs combination daily trials in Norway and Spain but nobody knows the extent they have gone. 

What affects the economies of the countries around the world are essentially the measures that have been recommended by WHO that can help curb the spread of the virus like ,closure of international airports, lockdown, shut down of business activities, restriction in vehicular movements, social distancing etc.

 However, for organizations to continue to do their businesses they should be ready to introduce some changes in the way they operate before COVID-19 Case. They have to embark on some change management programmes. As they manage change ,they must manage transition.

Change is defined in the Collins English dictionary as “to make or become different: transform or be transformed.Change management is a set of processes employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in a controlled and systematic manner(University of Adelaide, Change management guide,2010).

Organizations no matter their sizes must manage change and to make the change management work effectively, they must manage transition. Organizations are essentially exposed to different forces that are existing in the external business environment that are uncontrollable.

The five major forces that have been identified and which continue to promote rapid change include:

?     Technical obsolescence and technological improvements

?     Political and social events

?     Tendency for organisations and markets to become global

?     Changes in the size, complexity and specialization of organisations

?     Greater strategic awareness and skills of managers.

Goals of Change Management

One of the goals of change management is the alignment of people and culture with the strategic shifts in the organisation, to overcome resistance to change in order to increase engagement and achievement of organisational goals for effective transformation.

Achieving sustainable change begins with a clear understanding of the current state of the organisation, followed by the implementation of appropriate and targeted strategies. The focus of change management is on the outcome the change will produce-The new arrangement that must be understood. Change processes usually apply to a task and/or structural change and can be either; Incremental or transformational ,Situational .A comprehensive change management strategy should lead to the desired objective and create a sense of ownership, enable sustained and measurable improvement and build capability to respond to the future change.

When organizations are managing change, they are expected to manage transition too. There are several models available to understand, frame thinking and help lead change. One of the pre-eminent thinkers in change management is John P. Kotter who teaches Leadership at Harvard business School.

KOTTER’S EIGHT STAGE PROCESS OF CREATING MAJOR CHANGE IN ORGANIZATION

Kotter’s Process are:

 1.Establish a sense of urgency .Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately. Examining the market and competitive realities Identifying and discussing(potential)crises

2.Creating the guiding coalition.

Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change, one with leadership skills, bias for action, credibility, communication skills and authority and analytical skills. Building team and forming influential coalition. Getting the group to work together like a team.

  3.Developing a vision and strategy

Clarifying how the future will be different from the past, and how you will make the future a reality. Creating a vision to help direct the change effort. Getting the vision and strategy right. Developing strategies to achieve the vision.

4.Communicating the change Vision

Make sure that as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and strategy.

Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate new vision and strategy. Have the guiding coalition role model-The behaviour expected of staff. 

5.Empowering Broad-Based Action

Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so. Enabling others to act on the vision by getting out obstacles and encourage risk taking. Altering system and structures that undermine the change vision.

6.Generating Short-Term Wins

Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible. Planning for and generating short term wins/improvement in performance. Creating those wins Recognising and rewarding those people who make wins possible ,

7. Consolidating Gains and producing more change

Press harder and faster after the first success Not letting up, consolidating improvements and sustaining momentum for change Use increasing credibility to change all systems, structures and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation effort .Hiring, promoting and developing people who can implement change vision. Reinvigorating the process with projects themes and change agents.

8.Achoring new Approaches in the culture

Hold on to the new ways of behaving and make sure they succeed until they become a part of very culture of the organisation. Creating better performance through customer and productivity oriented behaviour, more and better leadership and more effective management. Anticipating the connections between new behaviours and organisational success. Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession. 

  TRANSITION

Change is situational. It happens when something starts or stops, or when something that used to happen in one way starts happening in another. But acceptance of change is transitional.

People exposed to change undergo several psychological stages by which they come to terms with the new situation. Although the original model of transitions was based on five stages of grief, people exposed to change undergo similar stages. The model has evolved into a change management tool with one popular version consisting of three phases of individual transition.The phases are Endings, Neutral Zone and Beginnings  (Saldana,2010).

Endings involve loss of the old situation and identity.It is like a small death with typical stages of mourning.

The Neutral Zone is a state that lies between the old realityand new reality. It can be a time of confusion, with swings between hopefulness and despair. It is like an incubation period that holds creative potential and the test of new ideas.

Lastly the Beginnings phase brings acceptance and incorporation of a new sense of reality. It involves new visions taking root after the old visions have been put to rest. The Beginnings phase builds on the new orientation that emerges in the Neutral Zone.

Everyone goes through these three phases of transition but they can go through them in minutes, in days, or even years depending on the change, their perspective of the change, and the way it is managed. Leadership must understand that unless transition occurs, people will not commit to change.

The role of leadership is to understand the phases of transition and identify how people are feeling.

It is important to recognize that it is normal to b experiencing a variety of emotions and to help people move quickly through the disbelief and anger and into the solution phase.

WILLIAM BRIDGES THREE STAGE PROCESS OF MANAGING TRANSITION

It isn’t the change that do you in, it’s transitions(Anonymous) There are several models available to guide thinking on how people cope with the emotive cycle of change. William Bridges, Ph.D was formerly, a professor of English, a consultant and Lecturer, he made the shift to transition management in the mid 1970s. Bridges holds that transition has three phases; an ending/losing/letting go of the current position, disorienting neutral zone and a new beginning. If people do not deal with each of these phases, the change will be just a rearrangement of the current status quo and then we wonder why it didn’t work.

In managing transitions, Bridges offers advice in assisting employees to make  transitions from one state to another and how to deal with the resistance. Bridges describes the following key points which any leader of change should heed as we should not underestimate the power of not dealing with the emotive side of change.

HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO LET GO

Identify who’s losing what; and discuss it openly. Accept the reality and importance of subjective losses; acknowledge the pain people will go through, openly and sympathetically . Don’t be surprise about overreaction take it in your step. Expect and accept the signs of grieving. Compensate for the losses by showing staff the benefits of the future. Give people information and do it again and again and again and again. Define what’s over and what isn’t Mark the endings; make sure there are actions or activities that dramatize the processes ,systems, cultures and that reflected the old ways. Treat the past with respect Let people take a piece of the old way with them; endings occur more easily if the people can take a bit of the old way with them. If a ceremony can be created about moving on but holding a piece of the past, this will help people move on. Show how endings consist of what really matters. What must end ;must end

Bridges holds that the single biggest reason organisational changes fail is that no one has thought about endings or planned to manage their impacts on people. Leaders and managers of change forget that while the first task of change management is to understand the desired outcome, what it will look like and how to get there, the first task of transition management is to convince people to leave home(Bridges,2003). Williams Bridges refers to the second phase of transition as the  neutral zone as it is a nowhere between two somewhere and possibly the hardest part of managing transition.

 Bridges describes the dangers of neutral zone as a time when; People’s anxiety rises and their motivation falls. Sick leave increases Old weaknesses which may have been patched over or compensated for re-emerge.

People feel over loaded, they frequently get mixed messages as systems are in flux and therefore increasingly unreliable. People easily become polarised; somewhat to rush forward, others want to hold onto the old ways; and People respond to competition slowly and hence the organisation becomes more vulnerable to competitive attack. As well as a potentially a dangerous time, Bridges describes the neutral zone as a potentially creative time. The key is for the manager of the process to; Normalise the neutral zone by explaining that it is an uncomfortable time. Ensure a positive metaphor is linked to the time spent in neutral zone. Create temporary systems and structures for people during this time when they feel lost and confused. For example review values or business processes that govern the old ways. Strengthen intra-group connections by rebuilding a sense of identity and ensuring frequent succinct communication.

Use transition monitoring team, its purpose is to facilitate upward communication and ensure that stakeholders understand the stage the change and transition is at. Use the neutral zone to do things differently and creatively(provide opportunities and training, encourage experimentation, embrace losses and setbacks, look for opportunity to brainstorm answers to old problems etc.) Above all, support through the neutral zone; spend time in staff 1 to 1 meetings, communicate to your team regularly, be perceptive and be available. The third phase in the transition according to Bridges(2003) is known as launching a new beginning. Bridges provides the following insights with respect to launching a new beginning; Clarify and communicate the purpose/vision.

 Provide a picture of the outcome so that people can imagine it. Then create the accompanying plan and publish it broadly. Ensure all staff are involved in the plan to implement the purpose. Finally reinforce the new beginning by Being consistent .Ensuring quick wins Symbolising the new identity Celebrating the success.

 Risk of Not Managing Change

 Without effective change management, the likelihood of successfully implementing change decreases. At the outset of change, many organizations experience a loss in productivity. Effectively managing change reduces the productivity loss, speeds the realization of the benefits and lowers the total costs.