Example: A new order placement system
A new IT system has been introduced at the shop. The system will make ordering goods more efficient.
But Birgitte worries: Will it mean changes to the existing teams? She is very happy with her existing colleagues and she would prefer not to see any changes to her daily routines.
Mathias, her manager, assures her that there will be no changes to the existing teams. Only the procedures for order placement will be changed. But he senses some resistance among the employees, so he proposes a joint talk about the benefits and drawbacks of the new system at the next staff meeting.
That was a good idea. It makes everyone feel less worried and more optimistic about the change.
Change is a part of life
Change is part of life at most workplaces today, and change is therefore also a natural condition at shops that develop and adapt to their surroundings.
Changes can be more or less comprehensive and can be about such things as:
- Changes in work procedures
- A new IT system
- Restructuring, for example mergers of departments, outsourcing
- Closing of a shop
- Business development: Takeover of another chain of shops, expansion of business activities (new product range, webshop, etc.).
Changes affect employees and the psychosocial working conditions at the workplace to different degrees, such as creating uncertainty and insecurity about the scope of the change and what it will mean for the individual employee’s daily work routines.
Change should leed to improvements
The better planned a change process is, the better prepared will the employees be to deal with the change, and the more smoothly the process will run.
Therefore, it’s important to deal with changes positively, constructively and in an open and non-discriminatory dialogue between management and staff.