By Joey McDonald

Whenever large-scale organizational change is planned and managed by executives, project managers are on the front lines of incorporating those changes. Most employees don’t enjoy the prospect of undergoing large-scale organizational change, especially if it will impact them in any way.

Organizational change is ultimately implemented to make things easier, more efficient, and to improve financial results to enhance the company’s future. Organisations implement changes for a number of reasons. This could include topics like cultural awareness and acceptance, where many companies are taking large-scale initiatives to make workplaces more inclusive. Other reasons for change would be a desire to break into a new field, an overall change in a company’s mission, or implementation of new technology with the goal of streamlining communication.

Many large-scale changes often mean many labour hours being spent on training and changing, rather than work and generating revenue. This could lead to differing opinions from members of the C-suite on why, how, and even if these changes should be occurring. With that in mind, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of project managers to determine what the actual final verdict was regarding the organizational change, and incorporate the same techniques utilized in workflow management into the organizational change management.

Just as some C-suite executives will scoff at certain organizational change requests, many employees will do the same, unfortunately making the organizational change management that much more difficult for project managers. Taking of the gloves might be needed, especially if the organizational change management has been clearly put on the Project/Program Management team (including a Change Manager). If you find yourself in a position of having to lead change, taking a look at this comprehensive guide on Organizational Change Management can prepare you for success in your difficult-but-achievable situation.

The Organisational Change Management Guide cover important aspects; like what Change Management is, why it is important, planning strategies for Change, who needs change and examples of successful and failed transformation cases. This Guide is an excellent read and reference.