3.3.6: Implications of ICT

1. 3.3.6: Implications of ICT Importance of communication, consultation and participation

2. This presentation aims to: • Help you understand how to discuss the importance of: • Communication • Consultation • Participation when managing change.

3. Introduction • In the last lesson we looked at managing change. • A part of the lesson looked at the importance of staff and their views. • This lesson will focus on how we gather staff views and why it is important to listen to them.

4. Communication • Change that occurs without communication is doomed to fail from the start. • All communication that takes place should be: • Continuous • Relevant • There should be no secrets or surprises! • All changes should be explained clearly to the staff that it will affect.

5. Communication • When a change does take place, and staff are aware of a possible change, the change should be communicated quickly… • The communication should aim to eliminate most fears from the staff. • If change isn’t communicated quickly, rumours may start circulating which can cause staff to become fearful of the change…and thus resistant to it.

6. Some rules… • Communicate the following: • Why the change is taking place • Make sure people are fully aware of the benefits • How will the change affect staff • Explain that if new skills are required then training will be provided

7. Redundancies? • If there is a need for redundancies, organisations should look at the following first: • Are there any people willing to take voluntary redundancy? • Is it possible to fix the staff problem through natural wastage? • Note:Natural wastage = people retiring, leaving for new jobs and not renewing temporary staff contracts.

8. Activity • Imagine your school decides to change the uniform policy and introduce a new one. • How would you feel if you were not told about it and were expected to change uniforms at the start of the next term? • How would you react?

9. Consultation • After the intended changes have been proposed, it is important to have a period of consultation. • During the consultation period, staff should be able to communicate any fears or possible improvements to the suggested change. • Allowing this consultation period also has two benefits for managers: • Firstly, it gets people involved and allows them to take some ownership over the change. • People who don’t get involved in the consultation can’t really argue about the change when it happens.

10. Consultation • Having consultation is worthless though if staff views are not taken on board. • This can make people feel resistant to the change. • If staff views are taken on board people will be happier with the change. • If a suggested change isn’t accepted then the managers should be able to provide a valid reason as to why it wouldn’t be implemented.

11. Consultation • It is important to have consultations because it can make staff feel valued. • In large organisations, consultations take place via trade unions. • In education, consultation can take place through union representatives and the consultation window remains open for 30 working days.

12. Participation • Ok, so you know you want to communicate change. • You know you need to have a consultation period… • But how do you get people to participate in these discussions?

13. Participation • Motivation is key. • To motivate someone you could try: • Getting them involved in the change process • This is especially important for those staff members who are resistant to the change. • Offering them a reward: • Financial • Time off • Staff bonding schemes

14. Participation • Some staff may say “its not in my job description” when it comes to working towards the change. • Others might be more than happy to help to show management that they are capable workers.

15. Participation • Although staff participation is important, it is also just as important not to get too many staff to participate as this could cause conflict as there will be lots of ideas. • One way around this is to have working groups. • Working groups allow small numbers of people to think up ideas and then feed the best ones to staff. • In our school, some of the working groups are for: • Outstanding Learning • Breakthrough Boys • Behaviour

16. Activity • A new sixth form common/study room is to be built at school. You are on a committee who has to decide on how it should look and how it should be used. • What contributions could you make to the discussions? • When the common room is built, do you think you will be more likely to use it if you’ve been part of the committee? Explain your answer.

17. Questions • Describe three reasons why employees might be resistant to change. • Describe three aspects of change that people within an organisations should be told about. • Explain why consultation is an important part of change management. • Describe two ways in which people within an organisation could participate with the management of change.

18. Questions • Explain how participation can be used to assist with the introduction of a new system. [6 marks] • Explain the importance of consultation when designing a new system. [4 marks] • Discuss the impact that communication, consultation and participation has on the development of a new system. [11 marks]