Change Management is necessary to help employees understand their responsibility and goals and achieve the same in the mentioned timelines. It helps both the employee and the organization to grow effectively. A Change Manager analyzes an organization and initiates and implements all necessary changes required for the organization’s better functioning and success. They do this without disrupting the work of the organization. We will discuss Change Manager Job Description here.
Change Management is mostly associated with Information Technology and technical issues. In recent times, organizations are opting for change management to overcome global competition, workforce training, etc. Depending upon the requirement, firms either hire a qualified individual as a change manager, or they can hire a consultant that specializes in change management for the same.
Change Manager Job Description
- The candidate should have done a bachelor’s in business studies or computer science and a Master’s in Business specializing in Change Management.
- He/She should be a self-starter with good analytical skills.
- He/She should possess excellent communication skills.
- Candidates should be able to identify the areas of change and bring the transition without affecting the organization’s work.
- Should possess strong leadership and people management skills.
- Ability to multi-task.
- Ability to complete tasks before deadlines.
- Change Management Certificate would be valuable but not mandatory.
- Highly data Driven.
- Knowledge and prior experience in Market Research and Data Analysis.
- Ability to work under extreme pressure.
Duties of a Change Manager
- Identifying the areas where change is required.
- Identifying the risks that may arise due to the change and minimizing the same.
- Designing the Change Strategy.
- Initiating and Implementing change strategies.
- Making sure that the organization and its workforce can adapt to the change.
- Being cost-effective and ensuring not to exceed the budget allotted for change.
- Training the workforce to make sure that they adapt to the change.
- Ensure that work is being done in the mentioned timeline.
- Doing a post-change assessment to ensure that change implementation is successful.
Salary
On average, a Change Manager in the USA earns 98,363 $ per annum. A fresher can earn around 60,000$ per annum, which includes all benefits. With an increase in experience level and certifications, one can earn more than 118,000 $ annually, including all benefits. (Source: PayScale)
Change management is basically categorized into the following types:
- Transitional Change – Acquisitions and mergers are the best examples of transitional change. This change generally transitions the organization into a completely new entity without losing some of its core values. This change generally takes place either to overcome or to face stiff competition existing in the market.
- Developmental Change – This change generally takes place in old organizations. Developmental change means completely or partially changing policies, technology, procedure, and processes that the organization previously followed.
- Transformational Change – This is the change that most commonly takes place. Transformational change means changing the work culture of an organization. Transformational change results are not easily predictable, and hence utmost care should be taken before implementing this change. Data-driven risk analysis needs to be done to avoid any failures.
- IT Implementation Change – This change is basically related to technology changes that take place in an organization.
A Change manager needs to keep the below points in mind before initiating a change:
- Why is the change needed?
- Who will be sanctioning the change request?
- What are the organization’s expectations from the change?
- What is the cost involved?
- What are the risks involved?
- Who will be responsible for testing and implementing the change?
- What are the materials or resources required?
- How and who would be training the workforce?
- How would the suggested change impact the working of the organization?
- What is the timeline within which the change needs to take place?
It is famously said that “Change is the only constant.” In the earlier times, organizations feared losing their values and profitability and avoided change, but this has led to many companies being obsolete. With the advent of new technology and many competitors arising for every product and service in the market, change in today’s organizations has become inevitable. This constant change has also helped many organizations to change the game in their field and increase their revenue.
The most affected by a change in any organization is the people working there. A lot of research and analysis needs to be done before introducing change in any organization. One needs to be fully aware of the work culture that is being followed in the organization. The change manager should take opinions of the people working in the organization, specifically the key stakeholders and those in the leadership roles, to avoid any risks involved and for the change to happen faster. It is best to bring the change first with the top management and then subsequently introduce the same with the middle and lower management. He/she also needs to ensure that the organization’s people are fully aware of the change and are fully prepared to adopt the same. The top management should also share the transition results with middle and lower management to create a positive approach towards change in the organization and help them prepare better. Hence, the top management should motivate others to adapt better and support others during stressful times of change.
Before initiating a change, the key stakeholders and leaders need to inform, explain and convince the other management levels of the change’s need. They themselves should have complete clarity on how the step or change that the Change Manager is bringing will transition the organization. Feedback from all levels of management also needs to be collected before initiating a change. One of the best ways to implement a smooth transition is to identify a leader at all management levels. These leaders need to be fully informed, trained, and equipped to solve any raised query and make sure that baseless gossip doesn’t demotivate people to accept the change.
Many employees join an organization for its work culture, the company’s beliefs, the brand value it has created, etc. If these things are hugely affected, then employees may lose interest in working in the organization. Hence, the change manager should take utmost responsibility to make sure that the change is properly communicated. It does not affect the factors like work culture, beliefs, and brand value, etc. If a change is supposed to happen in these domains, then the management and the change manager needs to ensure that everyone working in the organization understands the reason behind the change and how it is going to benefit them and the organization as a whole and that it would not in any negative way affect them.
A Change manager holds high accountability for a proper transition. Hence, it is his responsibility to take feedback from employees at all management levels and confirm if any issues are arising and need to be addressed and how they feel about the transition. Change Manager also needs to keep in mind the alteration should happen within the deadlines. They also need to monitor the change over a period of time to understand if there are any loopholes or risks that they may have foreseen.
Before implementing the change, it is properly planned and tested. Nowadays, many organizations maintain proper documents and audits of the same along with evaluation of the effects that happen because of the change so that if there is any failure, the organization can roll back the same.
Areas where issues may arise in change management are:
- Costs – The Change manager must ensure that the change happens within the specified budget, and one needs to have additional funds in place within the budget if there is re-scheduling.
- Human Resource – Acceptance and adaptability of the change by the workforce.
- Time – Ensuring the change takes place within the decided timelines.
- Communication – A minor miscommunication can affect the acceptance of change by the organization.
- Training – Proper training has to be given to every employee to adapt and embrace the change. Training needs to be designed custom to the change taking place. Failure in training can lead to failure of change.
- Re-scheduling – A Change manager needs to assess all risks. If not, then re-scheduling of change can double the cost allotted, and it can also demotivate the employees.
Many tools are now being used for change management like Flowcharts, Culture Mapping, Process Maps, ADKAR Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Gantts Charts, Force Field Analysis, Kotter’s 8 step change model, Lewin’s Change Model, McKinsey’s 7s, etc. These tools ensure that change is implemented properly, seamless adapting to a new change, measure how training is helping people adopt the change, and generate feedback, etc.
There are also several certifications that a Change Manager can earn. Some of them are:
- Prosci
- Change Management Institute (CMI)
- Management and Strategy Institute (MSI)
- Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP)
These certificates not only increase the market worth of Change Managers but also help the employers to judge their knowledge.
The position of Change Manager needs one to be patient and highly data-driven. Change is inevitable, and change management can help organizations achieve their goals, face competition, and align the employees with the organization’s goals and visions. It is only possible for any organization to survive in the market if they keep up with the world’s changes.
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