Change Management Paper

Change is always needed within the workplace in order to be competitive and successful. Changes have impacts and effects on employees and processes and to help facilitate and drive the change an effective change management methodology is needed. Change management can be defined as a structured approach to transitioning employees, teams and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is a process that aims to helping employees to understand the need for change and to help keep them involved in the change process. It is very important for managers at different levels in an organization to understand the four W’s and one-H of  a change process including (1) why change is important, (2) when change is needed, (3) what needs to be changed, (4) who will be involved, and (5) how change can be successfully managed (Ha, 2014).  In this paper I will identify a policy or procedure that needs to be changed within my current workplace. I will apply Kotter’s 8 Stage Process of creating change to the situation I have proposed. Then I will provide suggestions for how to put this change imitative into practice and present recommendations to upper management.  After creating this report, I will prepare a slide PowerPoint presentation in which I would present to upper management to share my recommendation of change.

                Organization Industry Size and History

        My current place of employment is the Richland County Public Defender’s office. This office was founded in 1967 to fulfill the traditional role of providing legal counsel to indigent defendants.   My office is committed to providing legal representation to citizens who cannot afford attorneys at both the trial and appellate levels. My office currently staffs approximately 54 employees; out of the 54 employees we have one circuit public defender, chief public defender and assistant deputy public defender.  The remaining of the employees are public defenders, paralegals, HR professionals and support staff. Although my office is fairly small, we are one of several offices in the Richland County government.          The changes proposed will benefit all employees in the entire Richland County, not just this office.

                         The Proposed change and why the change is important

        The biggest value that Employee Self-Service brings to a company includes the relief from some of the administrative work that comes with working in the Human Resources Department, as well as putting the accuracy of the information into the hands of the person who knows their information best, the employee (White, 201 ). The Hr program that I believe needs to be change/updated is our current online employee self-service program. Employee self-service programs are used to provide quick and easily accessible employee service. I believe that our current ESS should be changed in order to provide the most effective online portal that we can offer to our employees. Our current service program is very limited and employees cannot access their benefits 24/7 on a as need basis. Also employees are not able to update any information, they are only allowed to view the information. For an example, information that cannot be updated is direct deposit information (this information must be faxed), retirement or savings contributions, and W-4 Forms. Changes have to be submitted on a form and then entered onto the portal by a HR representative.  

                 The recommend change is important because I believe the new and improved ESS can bring several benefits to employees and the Human Resources department as a whole.   Employees will no longer have to contact the HR department directly in which could decrease the amount of phone calls. Also there would be less paper used and wasted and employees would have of updating their own information.

                                Describe the Recommended Change

        The recommend change is to use our current ESS but update it so that it could have extended functions that are needed and that could help decrease the need for papers and phone calls to our limited Human Resources staff.  This program should be change to allow these functions; of all information should be able to be updated electronically, performance reviews should be available to be seen through the ESS, and information should be available 24/7. Also employees should be able to have access to their information via internet, not only the intranet.

                        Strategy for addressing the 8 stages of change

        There are several elements to successful organizational change which includes creating a clear vision, conducting good communication regarding the new vision, empowering employees, leading by example and celebration of success.  The first step I would do is to establish a sense of urgency. I would do this by conducting a meeting in which all employees would attend so that I could present the urgency for this change. During the meeting I will make sure that every employee understands the need of the change and the importance of the urgency. The next step I would do is create a guiding coalition, I will assemble a group of people to help lead the change.  I would ensure that the members of this group understand the change and that the members have strong leadership capabilities. The next step would be developing the vision and strategy. Vision plays a key role in producing useful change by helping to direct, align and inspire the actions on the part of large numbers of people (Kotter, 2012).  The vision is to “Embrace a more effective Employee Service program in which will deliver extended functions and user friendly portal to all employees”.  Having developed the vision and strategy, the next step is to communicate the vision. This will be done by using many different forums to spread the message and by aligning leadership actions to communications and by making it multidirectional.  I will encourage as many people possible to talk about the vision and give employees real opportunities for input and feedback. The next step is to empower broad-based action, this stage is about action and getting things done that will bring employees to realize the change vision. In this stage I would encourage ownership and participation, overcome obstacles and listen to employees’ responses and concerns.  This stage is important because employees need to feel empowered to action. The next stage is generating short term wins, I will ensure that employees are recognized and rewarded.  It is important to generate short wins because it will allow us to gather insight and feedback as the change vision progress. The next stage is consolidating gains and producing more change.  In this stage, I could assess the gains and take a look at other systems, structures or policies that don’t fit the vision. The final stage is anchoring new approaches in the culture, I can use this stage to create connections between the new behaviors and success.