Topic 8

Evaluation and Quality Management

TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR, CHANGE THE
CONTEXT
On the whole, people tend to behave rationally and
are influenced by the behavior of others; seldom
does anyone intentionally act to the detriment of
corporate goals and values.
In order to raise performance and quality,
employee behavior has to change. But this
approach tends to trigger self-defense mechanisms.
People prefer to stay within their established way of
working—if they see no rational reason to change.
Simply telling them to change is not enough.
TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR, CHANGE THE CONTEXT
To change the behavior of employees,
adjust the context in which they work. This
might mean making change within
processes, organizational structures,
performance metrics, incentive systems, or
the distribution of roles and tasks. In the
medium term, values and attitudes will
shift, which then leads to a sustainable
improvement in quality.
 SIX WAYS TO FOSTER
COOPERATION
 These simple rules can help foster
cooperation and reduce complexity,
often leading to a noticeable change in
behavior within a short period of time.
(1) Understand what employees do
 A crucial first step is to gain a true
understanding of the work that
employees and colleagues do and why
they do it. Cross-regional and cross-
functional roundtables can be a helpful
method for developing a common
understanding.
(2) Reinforce integrators
 Cooperation will thrive when the right people
from different functions are at the table, all with
clearly defined and understood roles and
responsibilities. For example, include R&D as
well as quality-department people within the
development process. Flatter hierarchies will
increase the power of individuals and therefore
minimize escalations and increase the speed of
quality-related decisions.
(3) Increase total quantity of power
 By creating new power bases, such
as operator self-control in
assembly lines—and not just
shifting existing power—
ownership of quality is spread
more broadly.
(4) Increasing reciprocity
 Set rich objectives and
eliminate internal monopolies
in order to foster cooperation.
Shared incentives among
different functions can go a
long way.
(5) Extend the shadow of the future
 Leaders can encourage a long-term
perspective in employees and
ensure sustainable solutions.
(6) Penalize those who don’t
cooperate; reward those who do
 Measures such as implementing a
penalty for hiding failures—since
failures can be great sources of
improvement—can help eliminate
silo-like thinking.
 Topic 9
Mitigating Resistance Through Effective Change
Management Strategies
(Liza Kempton, Feb. 21, 2024)
What is Change Resistance?
 Resistance occurs when a fear of the unknown exists.
When employees are unsure if a new process or solution
will benefit them, they are more likely to resist the change,
reverting to old methods and refusing to adopt the new
processes. As a result, organizations will experience barriers
to project success, including potentially increasing project
costs, delayed benefits realization, or abandonment of the
solution. Whatever the cause for the change, organizations
must get employees to adopt and utilize the new system
quickly to achieve the desired return on investment (ROI).
Change management aims to
prepare, equip, and support employees through change by
minimizing disruptions to the business.
Change Management Strategies
to Overcome Resistance
Debriefing Questions to Change Management Strategies to
Overcome Resistance
• Who are the people impacted by the change,
and are they educated and prepared for it?
• Do employees understand how the change
impacts them, and can they articulate the
WIIFM (what’s in it for me)?
• Do employees know what resources are
available to support and sustain the change?
Suggested Strategies to
Mitigate Resistance and
Increase Employee
Adoption
• Clearly articulate the vision and benefits
 Be open, honest, and genuine about what
changes and challenges employees can
expect. Communicate the shared vision
and strategic intent for the change.
Convey the WIIFM so employees
understand why the change is occurring,
the time commitment, and how the
system will improve their job.
• Have a plan and be flexible
 Without a robust change management
strategy and communications strategy,
you’ll struggle to get employees on board
with the new solution. Thinking through
a strategy that provides flexibility when
things don’t go as planned is critical for a
successful transition from the current
state to the future state.
• Be active and visible
 Executive leadership should make a
concerted effort to be present and
engaged with employees. Visible
sponsorship of the change initiative
builds employee trust and creates
the sense of support employees
seek.
• Provide a feedback loop
 While some project decisions can’t
be altered, organizations must listen
to employees’ concerns. Surveys,
stakeholder interviews, and focus
groups can provide invaluable
insight into employee hesitation and
resistance.
• Celebrate the milestones
 Look for quick wins and
celebrate project milestones
with employees, whether big or
small, to demonstrate
commitment and sustain
momentum.
Managing resistance effectively is critical to
success with organizational change.
Emerged from Prosci’s Best Practices in
Change Management research over the last
twenty-five years, the following are
suggested:
• Do change management right the first time
• Expect resistance to change
• Address resistance formally
• Identify the root causes of resistance
• Engage the “right” resistance managers
(1) Do Change Management Right the First Time
Although resistance is a normal human response to
change, we can avoid or mitigate a significant amount of
resistance by applying effective change management from
the start of a project or initiative. Change management is
not just a tool for managing resistance reactively. It is most
effective as a tool for activating and engaging employees in
a change. Capturing and leveraging the passion and
positive emotion surrounding a change often prevents
resistance from occurring in the first place.
They can actually prevent resistance from happening when
they happen early in the project lifecycle because they help
front-line employees understand the "why" behind the
change and see the commitment from leaders throughout
the organization. This also prevents resistance later in the
project when it can adversely impact benefits realization,
project schedules and budget.
Actions for addressing and mitigating
resistance include:
• Utilizing a structured change management
approach from the initiation of the project
• Engaging senior leaders as
active and visible sponsors of the change
• Recruiting support from people managers as
advocates for the change
• Communicating the need for change, its
impacts on individuals, and the benefits to
employees (i.e., answering "What's in it for
me?")
(2) Expect Resistance to Change
Do not be surprised by resistance! Even if the project
solution is a wonderful improvement to a problem that
plagues employees, there will be resistance to change.
Comfort with the status quo is very powerful. Moving into
an unknown future state creates anxiety, fear and stress,
even if the current state is painful. Project teams and
change management teams should work to address
resistance and mitigate it, and always expect it.
Research on human brain function shows that resistance
is not only a psychological reaction to change but also
physiological. To act in a new way requires more power
from the brain. When presented with a new way of doing
something, the physiological reaction is to revert back to
what the brain already knows. Human beings can adapt
their behavior, but it is a difficult and painful process—
even for the brain itself.
(2) Expect Resistance to Change (continuation…)
 When preparing for resistance, spend time
before the project launches to look at likely
sources of resistance. All too often, a project
team will reflect back on resistance and say,
"We knew that group was going to resist the
change," but nothing was done to address it
upfront in the project. When the project is
getting started, be proactive and specific about
where resistance is likely to come from and the
likely objections that drive this resistance. Then,
act on this knowledge ahead of time before the
resistance impacts the project.
Sources of resistance include:
• Employees who are highly invested in the
current way of doing work
• People who created the current way of doing
work that will be changed
• Employees who expect more work as a result of
the change
• Those who advocated a particular alternative,
(e.g., they wanted Option B, but Option A was
selected)
• People who have been very successful and
rewarded in the current way of doing work
3. Formally Manage Resistance to Change
Managing resistance to change should not
be solely a reactive tactic for change
management practitioners. Resistance
prevention enables you to address and
mitigate resistance early and should be
incorporated into your change
management approach for projects and
initiatives.
Resistance management is addressed with
specific actions and activities in all three
phases of the Prosci 3-Phase Process:
 Phase 1 – Prepare Approach
Begin planning for resistance
prevention while creating the
Change Management Strategy
deliverable in this initial phase.
Actions center on early
identification and anticipated
points of resistance, and special
tactics for addressing them.

Identify specific risks by

conducting Risk Assessments
during Phase 1 – Prepare Approach.
 Phase 2 – Manage Change

Develop resistance
response activities for
persistent, pervasive resistance
when it occurs.
During this phase, you
may also decide to develop a
separate Resistance
Management Plan to develop
additional tactics and
complement your core
Change Management Plans.
 Phase 3 – Sustain Outcomes
Review performance to understand
the initiative progress and status of change
management activities. It consists of
assessing performance of resistance
management activities and documenting
lessons learned for the future.
Formally addressing resistance
ensures that it is understood and dealt with
throughout the lifecycle of the project. This
moves managing resistance to change from
simply a reactive mechanism to a proactive
and ultimately more effective tool for
mobilizing support and addressing
objections.
4. Identify the Root Causes of Resistance
to Change
 Managing resistance is ineffective when it simply
focuses on the symptoms. The symptoms of
resistance are observable and often overt, such as
complaining, not attending key meetings, not
providing requested information or resources, or
simply not adopting a change to a process or
behavior. Although they are more evident, focusing
on these symptoms will not yield results. To be
effective, you must look deeper into what is
causing the resistance. Effective resistance
management requires identifying the root causes
of resistance to understanding why someone is
resistant.
 Results from the 2019 study revealed
important themes in the top reasons for resistance,
which reaffirms the results from previous studies.
When asked to identify the primary reasons
employees resisted change, study participants
identified several root causes:
• Lack of awareness of why the change was being
made
• Impact on current job role
• Fear rooted in uncertainty due to past failed
changes
• Lack of visible support from and trust in
management or leadership
• Lack of inclusion in the change
5. Engage the "Right" Resistance Managers

 The "right" resistance managers in an

organization are senior leaders and
people managers, and they have
different roles to play.
 Senior Leaders
At a high level, senior leaders help
mitigate resistance by making a compelling
case for the need for change and
demonstrating their commitment to a change.
Employees look to senior leaders when they
are deciding if a change is important—and
they judge what they see and hear from this
group. If senior leaders are not committed to
a change or waver in their support, employees
will also consider the change to be
unimportant and resist it.
 People Managers
People managers are the other key
group responsible for managing resistance
because they are closest to the employees
who must ultimately adopt and use a change
in their daily work. If a people manager is
resistant to a change, or even neutral, their
direct reports will probably follow suit.
Fortunately, the reverse is also true. An openly
supportive people manager who advocates
for a particular change is likely to see the
same behaviors in their employees' reactions.
 The Senior Leaders and People Managers
The change team or practitioners can do much
of the legwork in understanding and addressing
resistance, but the role or face of resistance
management within the organization belongs to
senior leaders and people managers. The change
practitioner's role is to enable the "right" resistance
managers by providing data about where resistance is
coming from, identifying likely root causes, offering
potential tactics for addressing resistance, and
providing tools to identify and manage resistance. But
the "right" resistance managers must take action to
address objections and help employees move
successfully through the change process.
Thank you!