Change has become a buzzword in today’s organizations. In this era of globalization, organizations are driven to change and innovate to outwit the competition and survive in the global economy. Unfortunately, the Philippines continues to lag behind other countries, even our Asian counterparts, in terms of innovation systems, both in the public and private sector.
Given this, there must be something missing or overlooked that might help organizations change and innovate. In order to understand how to make employees change-ready, the Ateneo Center for Organization Research and Development (Ateneo CORD) conducted a survey of 1,482 respondents across 29 organizations in various industries, the academe, government utilities and medical institutions.
The survey included sections on change management processes, employee engagement, employee readiness for change and samahan, or teamwork.
Change management and samahan
The findings showed a position relationship between samahan and change management practices. This means that it is easier for change management practices to be effected if the relationships within an organization are good. Organization leaders will find it easier to instigate change when people support and trust their leaders.
On the other hand, change management processes can also help promote samahan. Change management focuses on planning and communicating the rationale and plan for change. It also includes involving people so they understand better the rationale behind the change, the benefits they can reap, and the impact on their work. The more participative and transparent the process of change, the more trust and better the relationship, especially between management and employees.
Making employees change-ready
We found that both change management processes and the culture of samahan influence employee engagement, making employees ready for change. However, between these two factors, samahan had the greater influence on readiness for change. Thus even as change management principles and processes have an impact on employee engagement, samahan enables employees to become more engaged and more ready for change.
The results of our study suggest that although Western change management practices and processes may be useful in guiding Filipino organizations, understanding the Filipino culture is a fundamental ingredient in leading change. Rather than focusing solely on the process of change and desired results, it is important to cultivate good relationships within the organization.
This suggests the importance of culture building and investing in effective employee relations. Leaders often think about these efforts as inconsequential to the bottom line. Yet, as our findings show, interpersonal relationships play a crucial role in engaging employees to make them ready for change.
(Emerald is a Ph.D student of the Leadership Studies program and Sarah is taking her Ph.D in Social-Organizational Psychology, both at the Ateneo de Manila University. For comments or queries, please contact ateneocord@admu.edu.ph.)