So remember: don't underestimate the emotional impact that change has on people, don't ignore people's fears, don't lie or tell half-truths and do communicate and listen ad infinitum - you can't do too much of it." (Tyler, 2007)
This is confirmed in the work of F. John Rey states in the work entitled: "Managing Change: Managing People's Fear" that "Managing change means managing people's fear. Change is natural and good, but people's reaction to change is unpredictable and irrational. It can be managed if done right. Rey additionally states: "Resistance to change comes from a fear of the unknown or an expectation of loss. The front-end of an individual's resistance to change is how they perceive the change. The back-end is how well they are equipped to deal with the change they expect." (2009)
VII. PROACTIVE MITIGATION of EXPECTED ISSUE and PROBLEMS
How can the internal management of the organization proactively mitigate the expected issue and associated problems? That is the question posed in this examination of the change initiative related to information technology. According to the work of Rey (2009) the following will be a good start in doing just that:
1) You have to help your people understand. They want to know what the change will be and when it will happen, but they also want to know why. Why is it happening now? Why can't things stay like they have always been? Why is it happening to me?;
2) it is also important that they understand what is not changing. Not only does this give them one less thing to stress about, it also gives them an anchor, something to hold on to as they face the winds of uncertainty and change; and 3) You need to understand their specific fears. What are they concerned about? How strongly do they feel about it? Do they perceive it as a good or a bad thing. (Rey, 2009)
Rey (2009) emphasizes that the change manager should not "try to rationalize things. Don't waste time wishing people were more predictable. Instead, focus on opening and maintaining clear channels of communication with your employees so they understand what is coming and what it means to them. They will appreciate you for it and will be more productive both before and after the change."
VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS
Arising from the literature reviewed in this study are recommendations as to how internal change management of the organization...
Recommendations include those as follows:
effective communication of the change;
open door policy for feedback and questions;
newsletters communicating the change;
meetings with employees (all, groups, and individual teams) to communicate the change; change management training for management; and assessment of change initiative.
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
Proactive mitigation of issues and problems in the Information Technology change management imitative and specifically from the view of internal change management requires that these managers address the change head-on via informative provisions to employees who will be affected by or involved in that change initiative. Because people in the organization fear and are repelled by the unknown it is necessary that the change initiative be accompanied by clear and concise information, an open door policy to allow discussion and to allow questions to be posed. Finally, it is important that key change management personnel be trained properly to handle such change within the organization effectively.
Bibliography
Organizational Change Primer (2000) Management Decision and Research Center, Health Services Research and Development Service, Office of Research and Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. May 2000. Online available at http://www1.va.gov/hsrd/publications/internal/organizational_change_primer.pdf
Qubein, Nido R. (2002) Change: Embrace or Resist it. BNET Online available at http://www.frogpond.com/articles.cfm?articleid=nqubein02
Tyler, Debra Allcock (2007) People are right to fear change - Leading People. Third Sector 4 Apr 2007.
Managing Change: Managing People's Fear
Change is natural and good. Reaction to change is unpredictable, but manageable.
By F. John Reh, About.com 2009
http://management.about.com/cs/people/a/MngChng092302.htm
Wojtecki, Joseph G. And Peters, Richard G. (2000) Communicating Organizational Change:
Information Technology Meets the Carbon-Based Employee Unit. The 2000 Annual: Volume 2, Consulting Copyright - 2000 by Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, San Francisco, CA. Online available at http://www.centerforriskcommunication.com/pubs/crc-p3.pdf
