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So, I think you need buy-in, get the motivation that you want to change, and also a cognitive element that, I need to understand it and to develop the competencies needed in order to drive this change. If you don’t have these two things change implementation will not be successful.
Respondent F:
Well, for me I believe the role of leadership in the case of change management when implementing change is that; it requires care, it requires communication, I believe it also requires commitment. And as a leader you expect also to bridge between your organisation and the envisioned change where if you understand your role and the expectations around it that, means you are able to clarify your vision, you are able to communicate effectively you know, and yourself as a leader you are accountable you to people around you and the whole process…..
Respondent G:
Well, for management the important thing is, the buck stops at management so, they have to take the full responsibility of everything that they are going to implement. But they do not have to do it themselves, they have to delegate to other people to help them but it’s still their responsibility to check it up and see that people that they have delegated to are executing what they planned and everything like that. So, it’s their responsibility but they do not have to do it themselves.
The respondents A,B,C,E, F and G shared different views about tasks related to the implementation of change and respondent and respondent D seem to share a different view point from other respondent’s views.
4.1.7 Theme 3 How leadership influence the change process/ change
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they need to get them to buy-in. if employees disagree with the change idea it would be difficult to change. The respondents explained their experience below;
Respondent A:
In my opinion and my management style, you can only get somebody’s buy-in when they feel that they were part of the plan. In other words that they were given enough chance to provide their own input, not just on a tactical level but on a strategic level. In other words, if we plan to do something which will require everybody to be on board, then you have to make sure that everybody who is on board was allowed to give input.
….The most important way for me to handle change management is to get buy-in from those people who will be not only responsible for the change but affected by the change.
…I think I am sensitive, as to how people perceived the potential of their roles being negatively influenced when there is a drastic strategic change in direction.
…You have to start by getting the buy-in from your team, in other words, do they believe that the change in direction will lead to success or to the company growing or being more successful. Because if you do not get their buy-in then you basically fail. I hope that describes my attitude towards change management. ….But the responsibility really is to ensure that we are on track, and we continue to have everybody’s buy-in as to where we are and where we want to go.
I think this once again runs through every answer that I provide, and that is complete inclusivity and ensuring complete buy-in from everybody, whether or not they will be directly affected by a particular change. …So, if we do not have your full buy-in and your full commitment you have every opportunity to voice the reasons why you believe that the change will not be good.
Respondent B:
Buy-in and commitment of employees is purely through engagement, in other words it’s not like, you will do the following, you discuss with them of the new direction, the topic or concept because it’s part of the dynamic of where we are focusing remember. ..Once you know the strategy you can engage your staff, so they buy-in because they are part of the
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solution they give input, they have to finetune a bit. So, we are not in an environment where you can say, this is what you are going to do and not this and not that as management. So, whatever you do you will have to sell it to your staff to get buy-in because that will be the driving force for engagement with staff.
…it’s a bad idea to get the buy-in for change management through financial rewards, because the commitment might not be an inherent believe but the financial believe that you derive from it. Buy-in comes from negotiations, inter-action, discussions and so forth Respondent C:
There are different reactions to change from employees, sometimes employees might differ, … people don’t always buy-in, its normal and one has to deal with that. So sometimes employees develop the insight and they buy-in. If employees differ we then need to deal with that, we have an open discussion with the objective to come to a consensus. And other time we get employees buy-in, so again, the important part is that everybody is involved, and must buy-in towards the specific change whenever specific or on a broader level.
But it’s my opinion that you have to make employees as far as possible part of the process because they get ownership and buy-in. So, employees have to be part of the process as far as possible to buy-in and core-ownership. Involve them and help them to get a good understanding and then make them core-responsible and help them to buy-in and then just monitor the process.
Respondent D:
It depends what relationships you have with your member of the organisation. If it’s a good open relationship, then everybody can trust you trust is important, if there is no trust then forget about it. Trust is important, if there is no trust, then people are not going to go with you.
Respondent E:
To get buy-in we need participation from stakeholders, and we got that participation through various forums at different levels and we also involved stakeholders and then
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give feedback to various stakeholders. I think there are two very specific things that are important, so number 1 is buy-in to the change and to understand the reason behind the change, employees need to be fully on board with the change. If you don’t get the buy-in at all levels, obviously you will get resistance and that will make it difficult.
Respondent F:
Like I said in terms of communication, leadership has to engage you know, leaders have to provide motivation to change and get people involved, that’s what I believe. I also believe that leaders have to communicate the urgency and importance of change and what is the change about change, they also have to show commitment and they have to show passion about how things are going to be done. So, you have to get the staff to participate and make sure that everyone realises the change.
Respondent G:
If there is change there is growth, and if you can explain to people and say, ok while we are going through these difficult times and we are going to start doing things may be a little bit different we are all going to grow in the process as individuals. And all the people that I speak to eventually say they want to better themselves. They want to grow as human beings. And if you explain it that way to them, they will start buying-in to it.
The respondent A,B,C, E, and G correlate and agree on the importance of buy-in and on what leadership should do to get the buy-in. However, although respondent D and F do not disagree with the rest of other respondents, they expressed their views differently of how buy-in can be achieved.
4.4.9 Sub-theme 1.4 Employee motivation during change