Executive Summary
Higher education institute is to operate digitally, and it is a significant opportunity for the management team to shape its people force to enhance the visibility of the change. The project is not successful at the initial stage, as there are some issues, which are creating barriers. To understand these issues, the psychological literature has been presented along with several insights. After elaborating the psychological research, some problems, derived from the case study, are developed along with some examples and impact on the project performances. Interestingly, all issues relate to the workforce, and therefore, all recommendations are directed in the context of human resource process. Prominent problems are poor communication, stress, lack of knowledge, employee resistance, lack of motivation, time management, and ineffective career development and counselling. These issues are integrated with the stress theory, reinforcement theory, and Kotter change process (coalition). Top recommendations for this project by external consultancy are right to change agents, desirable change, modern communication, training & development, revision of human resource policy and the proper time management techniques to rationale the difference and finalise the project. The process is also delayed, and there is a need to execute these recommendations immediately.
Introduction
Transformation of higher education institute is a big challenge for the management. There are several issues, which are emerging. In this particular project, it is necessary to engage all key stakeholders to address some issues and finalise the plan in an effective and lucrative manner. Being a part of the expert Occupational Psychology team, it seems worthy to pull out different aspects, critically analyse the psychological literature and make some recommendations that can help the project gain the success (Al Damoe et al., 2017). In the project process, the management has to be aware of different possible issues to implement different solutions. Chances of project impairment are quite high if project stakeholders do not make rapid changes. As a consultant, it is essential to derive several insights, which are causing the issues and creating some barriers to the project success. Central aspects of this study are the evaluation of the psychological literature, elaborations of problems and some recommendation to finalise the project.
Psychological Literature
In the project management process, there are many strategic considerations for the project management to make the difference. With the passage of the time, the project process has to be evolved to address several issues effectively. When transforming the higher education department, the management intends to digitalise their whole operation. Thus, accordingly, the stakeholder engagement is a crucial activity that can carry the project successfully. An expert is a responsible person that gives different pieces of advice to the project manager for the successful containment of the operations. Apparently, the intention is to make business operations effective and efficient to create a good impact on the business performance (Dediu et al., 2018).
The consultancy service comes up with several objectives and goals to improve the business process. For Instance, when transforming higher education institute, these long-term goals and objectives are to be communicated to all key stakeholders. By using both, internal and external resources, consultancy service usually provides practical recommendations. The most important thing is to streamline causes of different issues that can prevent the project management from these resistances in the future. In the transformation of the higher education institutions, many people have experience of the business management process. Thus, the need for professional advice regarding the process, structure and many other business aspects is in the limelight (Bozer & Jones, 2018).
Apparently, the expert has to maintain its skill level to understand different issues and make some recommendations. The big challenge is to create a choice regarding internal and external consultant. If the higher education institute considers the internal consultant, Biases can occur. On the other hand, if it thinks the external, it can gain the new advice though experienced people. However, the outer consultancy service may be expressive for the project, and it may create the impact on other areas of the project process. Usually, the external consultant may have to take much time in addressing some issue. Often, he does not know the business culture and people. Thus, regarding time and cost, the internal consultancy service is better. However, due to the complexity of several issues, it is necessary to concentrate on the external consultant to let company realise several opportunities and motivate people through some new advice to improve the process (Albrecht et al., 2018).
Now, in this particular project, several issues have been identified. The elaboration of these issues is as under.
Issues and Interventions
Communication, Relationships & Examples
The communication process has emerged as a critical issue in this case. In the higher education institute, people, including managers and worker do not integrate with the human resource management. In the context of HR, the organisation is facing the poor communication procedures. Also, it has been revealed that the four change managers from financial, information technology, and two academies. Unfortunately, the relationship was not in the limelight among these change managers, they did not streamline different ideas and take collaborative decisions in the best interest of the company. Fox example, when hiring the change managers internally, it seems no one wanted to apply due to no reward. The management had to communicate some objectives and purposes to people to enhance the visibility of motivations. Communication and motivation are interrelated with each other. Another example is the lack of knowledge. Two change managers did not know that the project director is ahead of the transformation. It was due to lack of adequate communication, which related this misunderstanding, roles, designations, power, authority, and responsibilities were to be communicated to the change managers (Chuang & Liao, 2010).
Reinforcement Theory
The reinforcement theory has been triggered by the behaviour of people in this project. For Instance, the reinforcement theory proposes some punishments and rewards to prevent and promote some behaviour. With the perspective of higher educational institution, the management had to offer some rewards to motivate people to become the change managers and work extra hours. On the other hand, some penalties or punishments can be imposed on people, as it can help to shape the behaviour. For making results predictable, an appropriate reward is to be introduced to increase the motivation and make employee assertive in the change process (Fiedler, 2010).
Stress theory
In the response based model of stress, it has been observed that different stimuli types may result in different kinds of psychological behaviours. If a person does not like work and is forced to do the same job, he may contain the various psychological responses. Similarly, academies are facing the same issues, and it should be overcome.
Unemployment/the Loss of work
The most significant issue was the delayed appointment of change managers, which caused loss of employment. It seems the unemployment process, which can produce the useless action. For instance, the strategy directors wanted to combine efforts of these four change managers to maintain the local responsibility and oversee the work process. Thus, due to this unemployment, work was lost.
Survivor Syndrome
It is related to the employee vulnerability. It is a fact that there is always the threat of redundancies. Instead of knowing the impact of the wrong action, employees in the process may contain excesses. However, it is to be realised later in the change process (Maheshwari & Vohra, 2015).
Change and Development
Another issue, which has been observed, is the lack of change and development regarding employees in the company. Human resource management does not provide appropriate training and development opportunities probably, is also the main reason regarding the change resistance and lack of employee assertiveness.
Resistance to Change
When it comes to the opposition to the change, the issue of ineffective staff comes into the life. The academic team does not relevant knowledge or skills to take part in the strategy executions. It was huge resistance to the change, as academic staff ultimately has to integrate with the digital processing. They contain the fear, and it is making them less participative as compared to other staff members. Even when management communicates the initial strategy data to academic staff, they do not understand it. Thus, it seems a big thing to worry. People advisedly take sick leaves, and it is also significant resistance to the change. It depicts the impaired efficacy, which goes against the change process. Of course, people do not want to take part in the work to change things. An ineffective HR operation is also one of the major causes of it (Gahan & Buttigieg, 2008).
Kotter: Composition of the Change Team (Coalition)
Creating the guiding coalition is critical in the change process. For Instance, the strategy director can make different groups to streamline the power and lead the change according to expectations. It is a fact that different people may have different skills, experiences, and credibility to perform the work. Thus, in this particular project, making the change through coalition is the best approach to eliminate the employee resistance, individual differences, and overall productivity.
Motivation
Motivation is a crucial factor to combine all efforts of different stakeholders. The strategic directors can motivate the four change managers through training and development process. It is to be realised that training and development along with some rewards can help in the career advancements. The role of the human resource management also has to be streamlined to make results predictable (Dediu et al., 2018).
Individual Differences
There is a difference between students, academics and professional staff due to different perceptions. In the higher education institution, the employee diversity is a big challenge, and the strategy directors have to make the strategy, which can gather all skatekde5ts on the same agenda (Fiedler, 2010).
Recommendations
Being an occupational psychologist, I would like to propose some suggestions for the company to overcome these issues and finalise the project. Several points in this project are poor communication, delayed employment, lacking knowledge in the transformation, ineffective human resource operations, poor HR wellbeing agenda, Threats of redundancies, and inadequate career counselling. Accordingly, some recommendations are as under
First, it is necessary for the management of this project to choose right agents for the change. For Instance, there is a need to assess the performance and loyalty of people in different departments. Only those employees are to be selected, which are quite assertive in the organisational development process. Instead of randomly picking change managers, right agents who are willing to work for the company are good options. Thus, immediately, the company has to start assessing a right people for the right task instead of granting leaves to existing change agents or managers (Chuang & Liao, 2010).
Another recommendation for the higher education institute is to make the change desirable. The issue of employee resistance and poor academic staff integration is quite visible. The management has to revisit its communication strategy. The difference must be rational in the company to create the interest among all key stakeholders. It is to be ensured through communication that digitalisation of the whole process can make the work easy for academic staff. They can avoid the student inconvenience through this strategic consideration. It can work as a motivational tool for the company, and it must be persuaded.
Typically, an immense employee resistance occurs when there is a sudden change. It is a right decision for the management to create the change urgency first and implement the strategy. The sudden change may be destructive for the administration. Higher education institute is facing different individual differences, employee resistance, and lack of communication process. Thus, creating the urgency of change at the right time is the best recommendations (Al Damoe et al., 2017).
Concerning the stress and reinforcement theory, another recommendation is to revisit the HR policy or strategy. It is useful to come up with the appropriate reward system or bonus regarding the extra work, which has been imposed by the management of four change managers. Sick leaves are results of stress and overwork, and through a tight human resource control, the company can manage or maintain these employees.
Another recommendation is the training and development of people, including the change managers to make the difference in the bottom line of the higher education institution. In this contemporary business era, people have to develop some skills and traits to embrace the change and organisational requirements. For instance, through IT experts, all four change managers, and staff members are to be trained to execute the strategy effectively (Albrecht et al., 2018).
Developing modern communication tools for all stakeholders is highly recommended. Some people do not have enough knowledge of technicalities, roles, and responsibilities. Thus, the implementation of advanced communication tools can help to create the integrated system, which can help to finalise the project efficiently.
There should always be a learning curve for all people. In the higher education institute digitalisation process, it is to ensure that some learning measures are developed. People cannot embrace the straight change way, as they need time to integrate prominently. Strategy directors, change managers, academic staff, professionals, human resource management and the bottom line of the company must be gathered at the same agenda to address all issues and finalise the project as soon as possible (Chuang & Liao, 2010).
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the higher education institute has a right approach towards the change process. However, in the context of the human resource management process, change strategies have not been implemented successfully. Apparently, it has caused many issues. These issues disrupt the project change. It seems worthy of streamlining the role of occupational psychologists to execute the recommendations. With the passage of the time, it is essential to understand the causes of issues and come up with some strategic considerations. The need for external consultancy emerges due to the lack of new advice. Strategy and transformational directors have to keep all these issues in mind and work with the external consultant to sort out different things. The change in the work process and strategies is to need, and it can make the whole project successful.
References
Al Damoe, F.M., Hamid, K. & Sharif, M., 2017. The mediating effect of organizational climate on the relationship between HRM practices and HR outcomes in the Libyan public sector. The Journal of Management Development, 36(5), pp.626-43.
Albrecht, S., Breidahl, E. & Marty, A., 2018. Organizational resources, organizational engagement climate, and employee engagement. Career Development International, 23(1), pp.67-85.
Bozer, G. & Jones, R.J., 2018. Understanding the factors that determine workplace coaching effectiveness: a systematic literature review. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), pp.342-61.
Chuang, C.-H. & Liao, H., 2010. Strategic Human Resource Management In Service Context: Taking Care Of Business By Taking Care Of Employees And Customers. Personnel Psychology, 63(1), pp.153-96.
Dediu, V., Leka, S. & Jain, A., 2018. Job demands, job resources and innovative work behaviour: a European Union study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), pp.310-23.
Fiedler, S., 2010. Managing resistance in an organizational transformation: A case study from a mobile operator company. International Journal of Project Management, 28(4), p.370.
Gahan, P. & Buttigieg, D., 2008. High Performance Work Systems and the Social Context of Work: The Role of Workplace Climate. Labour & Industry, 19(1/2), pp.1-23.
Maheshwari, S. & Vohra, V., 2015. Identifying critical HR practices impacting employee perception and commitment during organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(5), pp.872-94.
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