Introduction
As Intel Corporation scouts for a new CEO, organizational change in the company is inevitable. The new CEO is expected to bring about critical changes to safeguard Intel’s future success that is under threat from internal and external forces. As King (2015) underscores, the selected new Intel CEO will need to address the firm’s manufacturing delays, meet growth targets, and reinstate the organization to its previous glory. Employees’ resistance is an automatic response to change; thus the CEO and management team will need to gain their trust and cooperation in the process. Intel will overcome employees’ resistance to change by adhering to a change management plan that focuses on overcoming workers’ fears and their diverse needs.
Causes of Employees’ Resistance to Change
Understanding the causes of employees’ resistance to change is key to the formulation of an effective plan to overcome change resistance in the corporation. Demographic factors including age, gender, employment position, and marital status affect employees’ resistance to change in various ways. For example, older employees are more set in their traditional way of working and feel threatened by the introduction of new systems or technologies that influence their working environment and processes. Undoubtedly, employees that have worked in Intel’s manufacturing sector might feel resentful of potential changes that might be introduced to avoid delays.
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Moreover, people with families and financial responsibilities fear for the loss of their jobs and positions leaving them in economic difficulties. Other factors that may cause Intel employees to oppose new changes include uncertainty of the implementation process, unmanaged expectations, personal interests on proposed adjustments, lack of trust, and low tolerance rates. Fortunately, Intel will overcome the above problems by following the plan below written from the perspective of an expert consultant.
Change Management Plan
Open Communication
There are various components in the change management plan. Intel should adopt open communication with the employees concerning proposed changes. Management’s discussion of change should address the type, period, implementation process, potential impact, and how the company will handle the change (Hasanaj, 2017). Timely communication is vital to prevent false rumors about anticipated adjustments and motivate employees by keeping them in the loop about any development. Moreover, the management should address employees concerns within the shortest period to inspire people’s confidence in the process. Viable communication methods include meetings, group discussions, emails, and workshops.
Change communication is a continuous process that can be integrated with Lewin’s change model. Unfreezing is the first step in the model that is characterized by resistance to change; therefore management should provide adequate proof to show proposed changes are necessary (Hasanaj, 2017). Intel’s top management can achieve this objective by using financial and investment reports to show the negative impacts of manufacturing delays on its performance. As a result, employees will get on board with the plan.
Arguably, the moving stage is the most critical management period in the change process. As the organization begins to transition to the desired state, rumors and mistrust between management and workers slow down the process (Hasanaj, 2017). Therefore, it is essential for the management to manage the expectations of all workers including individuals not involved in the change implementation process. As a result, false information under circulation will be effectively eradicated.
Open communication should be maintained until the refreezing phase, which is the last step in Lewin’s model. At this stage, the purpose of communication is to ensure the employees’ permanently accept the changes in their daily work activities (Hasanaj, 2017). Therefore, Intel’s management team should aim to address all the changes raised by employees and celebrate little and major successes accomplished in the organization. Diversity should be considered in the change communication process by giving all employees a say in the new development. For example, all groups of employees should be represented in top management meetings organized to discuss new or ongoing changes. As a result, the management will cater to all employees’ needs and increase the acceptability of change. Through open communication, management will build employees’ trust and commitments to change implementation.
Education
After informing workers about changes, it is vital to educate them about their overall role in the process. Communication and education go hand in hand, but the two concepts are inherently different as the former focuses on information distribution while the latter provides an in-depth explanation of a change (Islami, 2015). Education is particularly important if organizational change imposes new requirements and significantly alters processes.
Intel is a technology company that operates in a highly competitive industry. The rate of technology innovation and development has significantly increased over the years; therefore, it is vital for Intel and its competitors to invest in research and development to keep up with the changes. Undoubtedly, the anticipated organizational change will require employees’ skills improvement, and deep understanding of how they can contribute positively to the establishment of successful change (Bringselius, 2014). As a result, the workers will feel well prepared to handle their jobs and deliver excellent performance; thus fear over loss of jobs will be eliminated.
Participation
Employees’ participation is key in overcoming their resistance to change. The exclusion of personnel from the formulation of change objectives and implementation process builds a deep wedge between them and management (Marchington, 2016). While the top and middle-level managers formulate strategic plans, their execution is employees’ responsibility. Therefore, it is essential to engage workers in the decision-making process and giving them the autonomy to perform their jobs in their new environment.
There are four methods of employees’ engagement. One is high engagement, where employees are treated as equal partners in the change deliberations, and their contribution is given appropriate weight. The second is moderate engagement, where workers are sometimes involved in the determination of organizational needs but are not invested in the process (Marchington, 2016). Moreover, there is passive engagement, where the employees are not involved in decision making. Lastly is active disengagement, where workers feel wholly disconnected from top management actions and goals among other organizational activities. Change management requires high employees’ engagement, where every worker gets involved in decisions if the organization is small or appoint representatives if the employees are many.
The importance of employees’ participation in change management cannot be underestimated. During the involvement process, management will have to identify employees’ perceptions on change and address their fears. Besides, personnel will develop a strong sense of commitment and interest in the change because of their participation (Marchington, 2016). For Intel, employees’ involvement will be critical in the formulation of difficult decisions about the entity without the need to seek expensive consultation. Therefore, all parties will benefit from the participation process.
Leadership Commitment and Support
Intel leaders will play a significant role in change management. Once employees understand the importance of the change and their individual views are taken into consideration, managers will need to create a suitable environment for change implementation (Hasanaj, 2017). The leaders will accomplish this objective by owning and sharing the new organization’s vision statement, maintaining close contact with workers, adopting transparent communication, and encouraging employees to work hard in spite of difficulties.
Additionally, leaders should head the change process and use their positions to influence and convince employees about the need for change. Leaders should use every opportunity at their disposal to show employees the potential benefits that will be realized once the change process is completed. Moreover, leaders should assist their subordinates with their new roles and act as coaches and mentors for the others (Islami, 2015). By overseeing the transition, leaders will make corrective actions to ensure that the changes are kept on track. The collaborative leadership style is arguably the best model for Intel leaders to implement the anticipated changes. Collaboration leads to the development of a close working relationship between employees and managers; thus it is easy for workers to request assistance and provide feedback concerning the changes.
Fair Implementation
Observing fairness in change management helps to overcome employees’ resistance. Fairness is a critical value that affects organizations’ performance especially during change (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2010). Undoubtedly, the entry of a new CEO at Intel’s helm will come with the introduction of new ideas and strategies that will affect employees disproportionally. For example, efforts to cut operation costs may lead to employee lay-offs, while the adoption of lean manufacturing will lead to the elimination of some processes rendering some workers redundant. Therefore, managers will be required to make tough decisions about the employees that will be retained or separated from the organization. If personnel perceive that such decisions will be marred by favoritism and unfairness, they will oppose requisite changes. The worst that could happen is that the workers will be disconnected from the whole process, thus place the company at a disadvantage.
Intel should adopt the following strategies to ensure fair change implementation: First, uniform communication about the change process among employees, thus nobody will enjoy an informational advantage over others. Additionally, handle disputes after listening to each person’s claims and making decisions as per the prescribed dispute solving mechanism in the organization. Third, employees should be given equal opportunities to participate in the change process (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2016). As a result, all the workers will feel appreciated and valued, thus they will learn to trust the management.
Manipulation and Coercion
Despite all the company’s efforts, there is no guarantee that all the personnel will ultimately overcome their resistance to change. However, change is unavoidable for companies that expect to be a going concern in the future. Therefore, the management will need to take a tight position to ensure everybody implements suggested changes irrespective of their individual opinions and attitude. Manipulation will involve issuing threats affecting a group of employees for failure to embrace change, for example, closing whole departments (Yılmaz, & Kılıçoğlu, 2013). On the other hand, coercion will deal with workers on an individual basis, for example, threatening to transfer them or withholding their promotions until they consent to changes.
Role of Change Agents in Overcoming Barriers to Change
As the external consultant, I will play various rules to overcome the barriers to change. The first task is to identify an organization’s characteristics including leadership structure, culture, and communication systems to determine whether Intel is ready to go through a change (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2016). Based on the results of the survey, I will advise Intel management about what needs to be done before the change process is initiated.
The second role is empathizing with employees and positively influencing them to accept change. Change agents interact with employees and management during their tenure; thus they can identify the emotional needs of every party. Empathizing with employees will help them to open up about their fears and difficulties with the change, and the information can be relayed to management to allow them to react appropriately (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2016). The influencing process will involve counseling employees and helping them accept the eventuality.
Conclusion
Although Intel has made a lot of success over the years, the current internal and external changes are a threat to its survival. Therefore, investors anticipate that the new CEO will introduce changes to steer the firm in the right direction. Change management strategies are open communication, education, participation, leadership and support, fair implementation, and manipulation and coercion. However, manipulation and coercion should be the last result for the management, and the change manager will significantly contribute to achieving the desired goal.
References
Bringselius, L. (2014). Employee objections to organizational change: a framework for addressing management responses. Organization development journal , 32 (1), 41-54.
Hasanaj, R. (2017). Importance of communication during change: A case of the municipality of Vlora. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies , 4 (1), 15-19.
Islami, X. (2015). The Process and Techniques to overcome the Resistance of Change Research based in the Eastern Part of Kosovo.
King, I. (2019). In CEO Search, Intel Still Hasn’t Found What It’s Looking For. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-14/in-ceo-search-intel-still-hasn-t-found-what-it-s-looking-for
Marchington, M. (2016). Employee involvement. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management . Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Pakdel, A. (2016). An investigation of the difference in the impact of demographic variables on employees’ resistance to organizational change in government organizations of Khorasan Razavi. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences , 230 , 439-446.
Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2016). Managing organizational change . McGraw-Hill Education.
Yılmaz, D., & Kılıçoğlu, G. (2013). Resistance to change and ways of reducing resistance in educational organizations. European journal of research on education , 1 (1), 14-21.
