Communication and Managing People in Change Projects

Project managers have to be able to effectively manage projects with respect to time, scope and cost but a greater challenge is to manage the project team. People are crucial for the success and timely delivery of a project and managing people issues is an important factor.

The role of leadership in project management is crucial to give the right direction to the project team and the key skills that a leader must possess and tasks that a leader should execute will be explained. Stakeholder analysis needs to be carried out by the project manager to identify key stakeholders and consider their power and influence in the outcome of the project. Communication methods such as Clampitt’s five communication strategies will be analysed and can be used by project managers as an effective approach to communicate the project goals to the team. Based on stakeholder mapping, different communication strategies can be adopted depending on the power and influence of a stakeholder in the project.

Project managers need to create a conducive environment for project members to work together as a team. During the course of a project, there will be scenarios where the employees lose motivation and drive to give their hundred percent. The project team must be motivated and guided in the right direction. Therefore managers must be able to identify sources of resistance from the employees and manage them effectively. The different ways to avoid or minimize resistance will be discussed. Project managers need to understand the behavior, culture and needs of the project team. People behavior such as resistance to change, and conflicts, if not dealt with effectively, becomes a setback to the delivery of the project. To avoid such situations, the use of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation theories from the beginning of the project is recommended and Maslow’s hierarchy and Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene theory will be reflected upon. Different stages of psychological reactions of employees will also be touched upon to develop ways to avoid or minimize resistance from project employees.

Reasons for people to resist change: Parochial Self-interest: Stakeholders put their interests in front of the organisation’s and think that change will cause them to lose something of value. Employees analyse the effects that the change might have on them personally in terms of amount of work, their career prospects, power and status, and the prestige of the groups to which they belong. Managers often fail to see that employees consider change to affect their personal growth.

Misunderstanding and Lack of trust: This situation can occur when stakeholders or employees do not trust the manager or the change initiator and due to this, people misunderstand that there will be no gain out of the change.

Different assessments This kind of resistance can be seen mainly from an external stakeholder where they assess the situation differently from that of the change manager and argue that maybe the change initiator does not have enough data or that external stakeholders are not taken into account.

Low tolerance for change Some members could be limited in their ability to change. They sometimes require a transition period and are so habituated to the old working methods that they are emotionally unwilling to change.These members may require a grieving phase similar to that which happens when someone loses their loved one.

Ways to minimize resistance: • Education and persuasion Educate people about the need for change. This method is based on the assumption that people are rational and the benefits of the change to the organization will be seen by them when facts are presented. Persuasive strategies also work well when the level of motivation to change is low. Repeated advertising and stressing on the positive outcomes of the change can motivate organizational members and increase commitment. Another way of persuasion is by making the employees feel unsatisfied with the currrent state of affairs by reminding them of the better state that the change project can take them to. • Involvement By allowing the participation of the stakeholders and employyees in collection and analysis of data, it makes room for more trust from the employees about the change rather than presenting them with facts of the need for the change. Nadler(1993) suggests that people who undergo change process tend to feel they are victims to change and hence through their excessive involvement in the change process, they are less likely to cry victim. Organisational members who do not participate in the initial stages of change diagnosis are likely to be less productive in the initial stages of implementation as they take longer to understand and accept the change.

• Facilitate and support Change in itself can be alarming to some members, therefore Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) suggest that managers might need to sometimes just listen and provide emotional support to their employees. Managers can also provide training sessions or ask them to take some time-off after a challenging period. It would be the right way to support them to help them let go of the current state and transition to the new state. • Negotiation and agreement A reward to those who are unlikely to agree to the change proposal could a direct method of getting them on board and negotiating certain agreements with someone who is going to lose out on some value for sure would be an easy way to prevent resistance. The downside to this approach is that members who do not oppose to the proposal may consider this as an opportunity on being rewarded. • Manipulation and co-option Some members can be influenced into the change by bombarding them with messages repeatedly and persuasion. Assigning a position or a role in the design or implementation of the change can also gain their loyalty to the change.

• Explicit and implicit coercion 

The use of authority to coerce employees to be on board the change process could be a way of avoiding resistance though it might earn resentment from the organization members. This might get the employees to follow the change, but their commitment and motivation would be low. Power can be used in situations where the change proposal is not suitable to the target group and the organization needs to act fast.

Even after effective communication, there can be resistance from the employees. Managers need to be aware of the sources to resistance and ways to avoid or minimize resistance from people.