The Significance of Communication and Motivation in Change Management Programs

The assignment content discusses the concept of resistance to change, which occurs when stakeholders become aware of an upcoming change that may pose a threat to their work lives and routine. The article highlights two prime reasons for resistance: lack of proper communication channels and the inability of senior management to keep employees motivated. A personal experience is shared about a change management program implemented at ABC Hotel, where the author noticed a failure in communication and motivation, leading to employee resistance and ultimately, the failure of the program. The author also discusses William Bridges' transition model, which emphasizes the importance of communication and motivation during the three stages of transition: ending, losing, and letting go; the neutral zone; and the new beginning.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND
DEVELOPMENT – 618984

Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
The change program at ABC Hotels................................................................................................3
Reflective Writing....................................................................................................................3
Lack of communication and motivation amongst the staff members...........................................4
Personal experience...........................................................................................................................4
Effect of change program on my learning.......................................................................................5
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................6
References.................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
ABC Groups of hotels is a chain of hotel based in Australia that was founded in 1987. The
hotel was initially a 3-star hotel that had around 25 rooms and later on expanded to 45 rooms
and introduced new services and amenities that helped it in falling under the 5-star hotel
category. In 1996, the hotel started to expand its business operations by opening new
branches in different parts of Australia. At present, the chain of hotel has around 32 5-hotels
in different parts of Australia and is emerging as an industrial leader because of the services
and amenities that it offers to its clients.
The change program at ABC Hotels
In the past few months, the hotel group had noticed a steep rise in the number of guests that
check into their hotels, which was having an effect on the management of the company. Due
to holiday seasons and too many check-ins and check-outs, the management was not being
able to cope up with the high demand and the customers were made to wait for a couple of
hours before they could be allotted a room. To to upscale the quality of services, ABC
Groups of hotels took an initiative so that it could digitise the check-in and checkout system.
Digitising the check-in and check-out process could help the hotel group to avoid cases where
the guests were made to wait for hours before the house keeping staff to get their rooms ready
so that they could check-in into their rooms. To ensure even better services, the hotel group
has planned to implement an ERP Business suite that will be especially designed to make the
process of check-ins and check-outs much faster. The ERP business suite was supposed to:
 Keep a track of new hotel bookings and compare them with the existing bookings to
send confirmation to the clients and allocate them their room numbers in real time.
 To send regular reminders to the housekeeping staff about upcoming check-ins and
check-outs
 To keep the guests informed about the status and availability of their room through
text messages or status updates on the official application
 To ensure that there is an appropriate time window for the housekeeping staff to
prepare the rooms for the new guests after the guests check out.
To achieve perfection in its objectives, the hotel management thought that it would
implement an ERP Business suite and would make its housekeeping staff undergo extensive
training and development sessions so that they could learn how to use the new software and
use it efficiently to manage the check in and check out processes. The company also decided
that it would test its plan by initially implementing the change program at the Sydney
franchise of the ABC Hotel.
Reflective Writing
Luckily, I was working as a part of the housekeeping team in ABC Hotel, Sydney, when the
company decided to implement a change program in our hotel. We, as a team, were aware of
the fact that the increase in demand for our services had disturbed the smoothness of our
operations to some extent and that the senior level management was trying to come up with a
solution to the ongoing problems but the change program came as a complete surprise to use
and also to some of the top officials of our hotel. The change management program
implemented by the management of the hotel greatly helped me in gaining a better insight

into the process of change management and certain important challenges that can be faced by
the managers while trying to implement an organisational change.
During the implementation of the change program in ABC Hotel, an important issue,
according to me, which had an impact on the stakeholders involved was the communication
of change and lack of motivation.
Lack of communication and motivation amongst the staff members
Due to globalisation, the business world has become highly competitive and complex.
Business organisations are now vulnerable to a number of internal and external environment
factors that can undergo changes in real time. In order to survive in the market, business
organisations have to continuously implement workplace changes that can help them in
competing with the market trends.
It is often said that change is the only constant thing but it is never easy to implement changes
in the workplace without proper communication and motivation. Contemporary business
organisations are facing a number of issues related to change management and resistance to
change is one of the main issues behind the failure of change management programs.
Resistance to change is the behaviour or the action that the stakeholders demonstrate when
they become aware of an upcoming change, which might pose a threat to their work lives and
routine (changingminds.org, n.d.). Though resistance to change can occur due to a number of
reasons, lack of proper communication channels and the inability of the senior level
management to keep the employees motivated are two prime reasons that give rise to
resistance to change. Lack of communication instils fear in the mind of the employees and
they are more likely to perceive a change as a threat to their work lives. on the other hand, the
inability of the managers to keep the workers motivated to accept the change and demonstrate
a change in behaviour also reduces employee morale and they become more likely to resist
the changes being planned for their betterment.
Personal experience
As discussed above, I got to be a part of the change management program that the
management of ABC Hotel had planned to implement, which gave me an opportunity to gain
a deeper insight into the process of change management and the issue of lack of
communication and motivation associated with it.
Though the workforce was aware about the prevailing problems in the hotel i.e. delays in
check ins and check outs, but none of us had thought of such a large scale change program
upcoming for the entire housekeeping staff. The decision of implementing a technological
solution to deal with the problem was a complete surprise to the entire hotel workforce and
the fact that the housekeeping staff will have to undergo training and development to operate
the new technology made the situation even more complex. I could clearly notice that the
senior management had committed a blunder in the very first step of the change management
process as it failed to communicate the change in an appropriate manner. The information
regarding the change program started taking rounds as a rumour and had already created a
fear in the minds of those employees who were going to be affected as a result of the change
program. The workforce started creating panic when the information was officially approved
because it had no idea about the change in their roles and responsibilities that would result
due to the changes being planned for the workplace. I could feel a lot of negativity in the
minds of my co-workers because they had developed a fear of the unknown in their minds
and the failure of the management to communicate the change program to them was

demotivating for the entire workforce. As a result, we ended up resisting the change, which
posed a great challenge to the managers of the organisation and prevented them from
successfully implementing the change in the workplace. The failure of the management to
properly communicate with the employees and to keep them motivated did not go well as the
management ended up wasting a lot of its importance resources and time. Further, the change
program was not successfully implemented and the productivity and efficiency of the staff
also got hindered. Therefore, the change program initiated by the ABC Hotel was very
helpful for me as it made me realise the importance of communication and motivation when
change programs are being implemented in the workplace.
Effect of change program on my learning
I had heard a lot about workplace changes, resistance to workplace and also that
implementing changes in the workplace is not an easy task. It was only during my job at ABC
Hotel that I realised the difficulty that the managers as well as the workforce faces while
change programs are being planned and designed for a workplace. It helped me in learning
the importance of communication and motivation in change management programs. I was
keen on knowing the reasons for the failure of the initiative, so I started researching and
found some interested change management models that helped me in gaining a better
understanding of the entire process and the strategies. that the company could have used to
successfully implement the desired changes.
One such model that greatly grabbed my interest was William Bridges’ transition model. The
model was developed by William Bridges and was published in 1991. The strength of this
model lies in the fact that it stresses more upon transition rather than stressing upon change.
The model defines three different stages in the process of transition. These stages are:
1) Ending, losing, and letting go
2) The neutral zone
3) The new beginning
In the first stage, the people who are likely to get affected by the change will show resistance
to the change because of fear, anger, sadness, frustration, etc. it is important for the managers
to accept the resistance shown by people, find its root cause and eliminate it in order to make
a positive progress (Mindtools, n.d.). Communicating with the people is of utmost importance
in this stage.
In the second stage, the people who are likely to get affected by the change are often
confused, uncertain and impatient. Even though they offer lesser resistance to change, they
are more likely to feel higher workload as they have to cope-up with the new systems and
technology. In this stage, the employees might demonstrate anxiety, low morale, low
productivity, etc. (Bridges & Mitchell, n.d.) In this stage, the managers or the change agents
should ensure that they are able to keep the employees engaged and are able to keep the
motivated to make a transition from one stage to another.
In the third or the final stage, people are likely to start accepting the changes. They start to
demonstrate a change in their behaviour. In this stage, it is important for the managers to
reinforce the changes that they have been able to achieve so far by rewarding and
appreciating those people who show a change in their work and behaviour.

After studying the above model, I got a greater clarity of the entire change management
procedure that was adopted by ABC Hotel and I was able to pin point the reasons of failure of
the program. The management did not prepare adequately for the change implementation and
offered no support to the people involved in any stage. In the very first stage where the
employees were supposed to be angry, frustrated, etc. the management did not communicate
properly with them. Even if some of the people were able to make a progress to the second
stage, the lack of motivation prevented them from accepting the change and nobody was able
to enter the third stage at all. As a result, the change management program failed and the
productivity and efficiency of the hotel also suffered as a result of it.
Conclusion
Change management is one of the toughest processes that business organisations have to go
through and also for the managers who have to implement changes in the workplace.
Workplace changes are a necessary evil, which have helped many companies in becoming
more competitive while the failure of change management programs have also thrown a
number of industrial leaders entirely out of the competition.
From my experience, I learned that the management and implementation of change is easier
said than done. The change models designed by the pioneers of the subject, which are
available to us from the past, should definitely be used before designing and implementing
workplace changes so that the chances of success can be enhanced.

References
changingminds.org, n.d. Resistance to Change. [Online] Available at:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/resistance_change/
resistance_change.htm[Accessed 15 September 2017].
Bridges, W. & Mitchell, S., n.d. Leading Transition: A New Model for Change. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.crowe-associates.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/WilliamBridgesTransitionan
dChangeModel.pdf
[Accessed 15 September 2017].
Mindtools, n.d. Bridges' Transition Model. [Online] Available at:
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/bridges-transition-model.htm
[Accessed 15 September 2017].