What Is the Role of HR in Organizational Change Management

The ultimate goal of every brand is to strive for commercial success. In their journey to success, brands often navigate the various complexities, challenges, and opportunities of the business world. However, merely dealing with the challenges doesn't make the cut; sometimes, the organization has to make tough calls and go for organizational changes.?

These are fundamental changes undertaken to better adapt to changing market dynamics, technological advancements, or even strategic shifts in industry. Did you know that 53% of management leaders believed the changes needed to be completed faster?

Though the decision of the management leader to go through organizational changes is based on facts and figures, making changes to a well-established structure can pose real challenges. However, as an HR person, you can shine in a scenario like this by acting as a bridge that facilitates the organization's smoother transition from an old system to a new one.?

So, in this new HR episode of Pitch N Hire's Newsletter, we are deep-diving into the concept of organizational changes and understanding how you, as an HR person, can take the necessary steps to facilitate a smoother transition.

What is an organizational change for a brand?

Organizational change is a transition a company embraces to move from its current state to its desired future state to achieve the desired goal. In the management and HR worlds, it is considered a broad term that includes a variety of changes, such as streamlining workflows, implementing new technologies, or even restructuring operational processes.

Examples of organizational changes:

• Product diversification
• Cultural changes
• Organizational restructuring
• Sustainable initiatives
• Mergers and acquisitions

Did you know that 47% of organizations that integrate change management are more likely to meet their objectives?

This statistic proves that the right changes at the right time are necessary for the organization to be on track to success, but implementing the changes is not an easy task as they propose a variety of challenges. For this reason, managers and executives often use the HR department to deal with such changes.

How can HR lead organizational change management?

Analyzing the change readiness

No matter what changes businesses implement, they are bound to impact their employees. It is also the responsibility of HR to see the human side of the change. As HR, you need to assess the workforce readiness for the upcoming changes.?

You can assess the readiness using the following questions:

• Does the current workforce possess sufficient skills and knowledge to adapt to the changes?
• ?Is there any mechanism to support employees during the change?
• Can the workforce withstand the changes?

Change management strategies

Once the assessment is done, you will be left with relevant data, statistics, and other vital information. Using this information, you can devise a strategy to better equip your employees for the upcoming changes.?

However, crafting change management strategies involves communicating with management regarding the employees' unique needs and coming up with plans to tackle them. A study conducted by McKinsey shows that only 34% of change initiatives prove to be successful, and a large part of this success is due to effective change management strategies.

Communicate changes

Changes are prone to confusion, and when they happen on a large scale, they can leave your workforce confused and lost. As an HR professional, you can use the reach of your department to effectively communicate the upcoming changes and why they are happening.

Provide training on the changes

Employees will require training based on the specific changes implemented by the organization. Whatever the changes are, HR personnel in this step can act as a bridge to connect management with employees by providing relevant training programs.?

But apart from this, the HR department can also act as a middleman to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the training programs to the upper management.

Track and monitor the changes.

The role of an HR or HR department doesn't end with providing training because, no matter how well the planning has been done, there is always a possibility of unpredictable results. It can be good or bad. As HR, you can further help the management by tracking and monitoring the impact of the changes.?

According to the results, you can adjust strategies and implement necessary interventions to ensure the organization makes that smooth transition.

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Final word

It's not an easy decision to devise a plan to make organizational change; it contains risks of failure, disruption, and potential resistance from stakeholders. But despite all this, if an organization makes this decision, the importance of the human resources department grows tenfold. But remember, as an HR professional, you will need your communication, analysis, and planning skills to assist your organization in making that shift.

As we conclude, we hope this newsletter ignites a spark of inspiration and equips you with the tools to steer your organization toward a brighter future. However, if you want to revolutionize your hiring game, consider integrating Pitch N Hire's ATS into your hiring system. Because unlike other ATSs, its AI-enabled mechanism and advanced filtering tools make it a perfect hiring tool to tackle all your unique and modern hiring problems.