Communicating with Employees About Significant Company Changes

Change management is a crucial process for any organization, and effective communication is key to its success. This presentation discusses the contemporary communication issue of communicating significant company changes to employees and provides real-life examples and solutions. The McKinsey 7-S Model and the ADKAR Change Management Model are discussed, along with the importance of employee involvement and maintaining consistency in communication. The presentation also includes a reflection on the presentation and an action plan for improving public speaking and academic writing skills.

Communicating with
employees about
significant company
changes

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
CONTEMPORARY COMMUNICATION ISSUE.........................................................................3
REFLECTION....................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION
Change management is the process of making, planning and implementing the changes both

externally and internally in an organisation as managing change helps the employees to grow in
their role and achieve the organisation targets effectively (Whittaker,and Davison,2020). Good
communication is the key part of the company’s change management process as it helps the
manager to take better decisions and also updating the employees regarding new policies and
resultant changes helps in the smooth administration of change. In this presentation we will describe
the theory of change management along with it we also give some real life examples and solutions
to solve the problem of improper communication regarding organizational changes.
CONTEMPORARY COMMUNICATION ISSUE
Background
Change management involves plans which helps the manager to take smooth decisions and
it refers to the process of planning and executing the work with a systematic approach to handle the
changes which are brought about due to new policies and transforming them to achieve the
company goals (Alkhazali, 2021). The major problem in this department arrives from
communicating employees about significant company changes which has a major chance to disrupt
their working in a way which makes them voice disagreements and leads to large scale resistances.
Link to theories
Various models and theories of change management have been proposed and formulated by
experts over the years which have been applied below in context of this business communication
problem.
 McKinsey 7-S Model - This model has seven distinct elements such as strategy, structure,
systems, shared values, style, staff and skills which help to comprehensively analyse the
business problem at hand and allow the firm to develop measures of proper employee
communication.

Apart from strategy, structure and systems, the other 4 factors are also called soft elements are play
a major part in managing change as it takes into mind the staff considerations at play which are
major factors in chance as they are the most affected ones and pose a chance at resistance.
The ADKAR Change Management Model - This model was created by Jeffrey Hiatt and it
focuses on the staff and whether they are comfortable with the changes being communicated to
them. This model focus on creating awareness among employees regarding the fact that all changes
are not bad and sometime it is needed to change the policies to achieve better performance.
Companies can use this model to better study the workforce dynamic in their workplaces before
communicating about the upcoming changes.
Real life examples
This problem of communicating about organizational changes to employees has various real
life implications and many firms have been found in trouble due to this problem of communication
and some examples have been listed herein.
 Google – This establishment also faces the trouble or communicating about significance
company changes to its workforce as Google diversifies its operations a lot which takes a
toll on its employees. Communicating about wage cuts to their workforce in light of the
pandemic despite being financially robust has also resulted in the internal environment of
the company being toxic and employees not being comfortable with the office policies of
Google which can be observed in the Dublin branch of Google which is supposed to become
a tech hub but improper change communication has rocked the company
 Apple – The tech and electronics a sector behemoth has been attracting a lot of unwanted
attention because of the fact that it wants its employees to start their regular physical office
work routines post pandemic and it is finding grave difficultly in communicating this to the
employees. The employees are resisting this sudden changes they feel that is very abrupt on
part of Apple as most of their work can be done from any location with minimal technical
requirements.
Solutions
Communicating to employees regarding change is not a big issue but if the firm is doing it
incorrectly then these issues can quickly scale up and make the company deal with resistances
towards their brought changes on a large level. Some solutions have been devised below to help

companies streamline the way to communicate to employees about significant changes.
 Employee’s involvement – If the organizational leaders and senior management decide to
involve employees in the change making and policy formulating process by valuing their
input then it helps them understand the reasoning behind the changes. This makes it very
easy to communicate to them regarding any major changes that the company brings in the
future.
 Maintain Consistency – The communication line and method through which companies
communicate with their employees must be kept consistent at all times and should contain
professionally drafted messages and responses to ensure no confusion takes place.
 Helps them understand the company’s goal and vision – Whenever employees are
communicated about the changes which are coming to the company, the information and
conversation must not be generic and should be focused on showing them the benefits of the
move and relate their importance in the company’s grand future vision.
Conclusion
In above presentation, business communication problems were discussed in detail regarding
the ways in which companies face problems in communicating to their employees regarding the
significant changes that are being brought by the company. In this presentation we also gave real
life examples to understand this problem which is faced by the employees of established companies
such as Apple and Google due to lack of proper communication and we also provided some
solutions to solve this issue such as maintaining consistency and involving employees. It was
concluded from this report that change management is thoroughly dependent on proper
communication.
REFLECTION
What went well in presentation?
In this presentation I learned about a lot of things which helped me to improve and gain my
skills and also gave me an opportunity to develop my knowledge. By doing this presentation I felt
more confident and motivated because I learned the proper format to make such presentations and I
didn’t feel any work related pressure as I got to learn about project management basics which
helped me deliver each stage of the project including the presentation on time. After completing this

presentation I analysed myself and I got to also know that I developed a very detailed knowledge of
change management which is sure to help me in my future career development. The report and
presentation structure which was followed by me was immaculate and I even got praises for it and I
learned about project structuring as well which is an important skill to have to succeed
academically. I also got to know how to properly develop a presentation from the scratch which is a
very valuable skill to have in the business world as most companies communicate important
information through such presentation and this skill will help me exceed in this regard, for which I
am grateful.
Feedback based improvements
After completing my presentation I got some valuable and constructive feedback which will
help me in my future learning and consisted of glaring weaknesses such as me feeling a little
nervous when I spoke and also started murmuring. This was partly due to the fact that I got really
nervous in front of a packed crowd and I lacked the ability to maintain my composure and mental
solitude in times of public events which really made my presentation suffer despite me structuring it
and putting well researched content in it in an excellent manner. In order to give better presentations
in future, I will have to develop better public speaking skills. I also got another major feedback
which was regarding my quality of academic writing which is also a skill which I have to improve
because it is needed to succeed in academics and ace all the tests and projects which will help give a
competitive edge in the job market. I got critiqued for posting long and unclear sentences which
lacked proper punctuations and weren’t broken down and I also used a lot of technical words which
made the content way too technical to be delivered as a casual presentation.
Action plan
After completing my presentation I knew about my mistakes that were committed very well
so I developed a comprehensive action to work on it and improve these mistakes so that I may not
repeat these mistake in future and boost my employability in the process. This action plan was
developed using the SMART framework which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Relevant and Timely and this framework helps ensure that the goals set forth are achieved in a
timely manner and are relevant to the problem at hand. A detailed action plan has been given herein
to help tackle the identified problems.
Skills to be
developed
Current
proficiency
Target
proficiency
Activities to
be
undertaken
Evaluation
criteria
Time needed

Public
speaking skills
Poor Strong Participating
in public
competitions,
joining
specialized
courses by
experts
The progress
will be judged
by the way I
speak and
gradually
improve in
public
speaking skills
and its impact
on my future
presentation
handling
capabilities
2 months
Academic
writing skills
Poor Strong Writing and
practicing on
projects and
research
assignments,
join academic
writing classes
and guides
The way in
which I write
professional
projects and
assignments
will be used as
judging
metrics along
with official
tests and
competitions
3 months
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Alejo, L.A. and Alejandro, A.S., 2022. Changes in irrigation planning and development parameters
due to climate change. Water Resources Management, 36(5), pp.1711-1726.
Alkhazali, W.H., 2021. Domestic Instability and Lack of Communication In Edward Albee's
American Dream and Delicate Balance. Ahl Al-Bait Jurnal, 1(28).
Cehelsky, M., 2019. Land reform in Brazil: The management of social change. Routledge.
Dong, S.,and et al.,2020. Enhancing sustainability of grassland ecosystems through ecological
restoration and grazing management in an era of climate change on Qinghai-Tibetan

Plateau. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 287, p.106684.
Raza, S. and Waheed, U., 2018, November. Managing change in Agile software development a
comparative study. In 2018 IEEE 21st International Multi-Topic Conference (INMIC) (pp.
1-8). IEEE.
Smallfield, J. and Kluemper, D.H., 2022. An explanation of personality change in organizational
science: Personality as an outcome of workplace stress. Journal of Management, 48(4),
pp.851-877.
Sveningsson, S. and Sörgärde, N., 2019. Managing Change in Organizations: How, what and Why?.
Sage.
Whittaker, J.D. and Davison, I., 2020. A lack of communication and awareness in nontechnical
skills training? A qualitative analysis of the perceptions of trainers and trainees in surgical
training. Journal of Surgical Education, 77(4), pp.873-888.