The Importance of Change Management

As we all know, the world and more specifically the world of work undergoes continuous change. Some of the changes that organisations experience are part of the external environment and to a large extent outside the control of the organisation and its management. In contrast, internal changes experienced by the organisation can be managed and controlled to a greater extent. Regardless of the source of the change, organisations need to manage change.

The need to manage change is seen by many members of organisations as an essential part of an organisation. Overall, HR professionals are even more aware of the need to manage change as it tends to form part of their job description. Given the accepted importance of change management I am always surprised to read and hear about organisations that fail to proactively address and account for change management processes when implementing or upgrading the HRIS in their organisations. As more and more academics, practitioners and consultants present information regarding HRIS projects, those of us who are interested in this area appear to be presented with one of two stories. The story of the successful HRIS (and I use that term loosely) or the story of the HRIS project that went terribly wrong. For the projects that experienced difficulties, a common theme is shared, that of the need to manage the associated change processes.

Even if your organisation purchases and implements 'best practice' HRIS software, your organisation should not expect to achieve the most value add from the system if they fail to inform and manage the changes to be experienced by the workforce. People that are involved in your organisation need to be aware that they will experience change, how and why. Without this education and communication it is believed that your HRIS project will be limited in its success. Many of you would agree with this approach and observation which then begs the question: given the importance of change management, why is it that so many organisations appear to invest too little time and resources into managing this area?