People Change Management

The reforms in the power distribution sector have brought about tremendous changes in the organisational structure. Many erstwhile state electricity utilities have been restructured and in some states power distribution has been privatised. Restructuring the power distribution sector has led to changes in the ways of managing the electricity business, with emphasis on providing good quality service to the consumer, efficient operation and accountability. As a manager, you need to understand the structural and organisational changes and manage them in a manner that the distribution reforms process is smooth and effective. In the process, you may need to adopt a variety of strategies in order that the employees in the restructured distribution utilities accept these changes.

One of the most inexplicable and unmanageable problems which business managers of organisations undergoing change face is employee resistance to change. Indeed, you might have faced resistance to organisational restructuring yourself. As a professional working in the power sector, you would like to acquire a holistic view point and manage this change for the well being of all. We begin this unit by explaining various responses of employees to changes in an organisation including their reluctance and forms of resistance to change. We then discuss ways of managing resistance and different models of change management. In the next unit, we explain the roles of key players in managing change and describe the key competencies required for this.