Change efforts fail to reap rewards

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Change efforts fail to reap rewards

The majority of organizations believe they are effective at initiating change. But they are far less confident about the effectiveness of change communications, maintaining momentum and motivation, and their ability to reap the rewards of their change efforts.

These findings come from The Management Agenda 2006, the ninth annual survey on the issues and challenges facing managers at work produced by UK-based consultancy Roffey Park. The report shows that change has become a constant part of organizational life in all sectors, with a clear majority of respondents (89%) reporting that their organization has undergone structure and system changes in the last two years.

Respondents were asked to rate how effective their organizations are at managing different elements of change. The figures are almost identical to those reported in 2005:

82% consider their organizations effective at initiating change
72% feel they are able to maintain top-level involvement
63% say their organizations are effective at employee consultation
61% rate their organizations effective at planning and coordinating change
61% believe they are effective at implementing change

The ratings drop, however, when it comes to change communication, with only 54% of respondents claiming effectiveness in this area. This could have a direct impact on the elements of change which respondents feel their organizations are ineffective at. For example:

58% rate their organizations ineffective at maintaining momentum during change
62% say their organizations are ineffective at consolidating benefits
63% feel they are ineffective at reviewing and learning from change
64% say their organizations are ineffective at managing employee motivation

"Organizations still struggle to sustain a focus on the people aspects of change for long enough to gain the real benefits of change," say the report's authors. "Consequently, more restructuring occurs to try and achieve the desired benefits. Communication in particular needs to be more consistent and maintained for longer."

Blogged on 1:50 AM by Upay

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