COVER STORY:HR manager Niall Saul provides a road map for change management in crisis situations

ONE IRISH HR manager who has seen more than his fair share of challenging change management initiatives over the years is Niall Saul. His CV includes spells working for Packard Electric, Waterford Crystal, Grafton Group and Irish Life & Permanent. He is currently working as HR director for McNamara Construction.

Saul says that the first critical stage is identifying a clear need for change before a full-blown crisis. "The really successful companies are the ones that identify a problem before it arises. They are not looking at historical management information. They are picking up trends from the market through being close to their customers, and are seeing what's coming down the track."

Achieving buy-in across the company at this stage is not always as simple as it seems. In one firm Saul worked for, a senior sales manager refused to accept that customers were making a long-term shift towards ordering a cheaper product in the market and that the company would have to respond. The manager's hunch that customers would return to the higher priced product proved wrong, and it cost him his job. "I have never come across a situation where problems resolve themselves by doing nothing," Saul observes.

Accurate analysis of the challenges facing the business should lead to the formulating of a plan that stands up to scrutiny, that tackles the real issues in identifying what must be changed, and that presents a clear vision of the new reality. "The plan should clearly define the benefits and necessity of the sacrifices involved, and set out the new structure versus the old one. This would range over issues such as the work practices and new flexibility required, and should identify what competencies are needed to make the business competitive," he says.

Before embarking on a difficult exercise of reducing headcount, Saul says management must decide whether the exercise is worth the potential disruption involved and must determine how much hassle they are prepared to take. "In a redundancy situation, you need to decide if you are prepared to face industrial action in order to obtain the numbers you need. You need to look at the worst case scenario."

In the implementation stage, you need to select a negotiating team and clarify the negotiating authority parameters. Direct involvement of senior management is vital in this process. Saul says his experience is that top management should speak directly to the workforce rather than having communication channelled through trade unions. "Management need to present the rationale for the proposed changes and their vision of the future. This means that everyone is hearing the same story and can see the context. You need to be prepared to listen and respond to questions directly as well."

Even when delivering bad news, the company can communicate positives about the enhanced job security of remaining workers if a plan is adopted. Public relations is extremely important, both inside and outside the organisation. The days of management having no comment to make, are over, Saul says, and the company should identify a spokesperson of sufficient authority.

When getting down to the detail of negotiating a change in numbers or more flexible working conditions, managers need to avoid getting distracted. If a counter-proposal to achieve the required level of cost savings is put by a union representative, Saul advises taking this to one side and dealing with it in a parallel process. If the proposal stacks up, it can brought back into the central discussion but it should not be allowed to halt or deflect the process. "Keep area for compromise to a minimum. Don't use the number of redundancies as a bargaining chip, as that it is disrespectful. Identify the figure you need to achieve as accurately as possible and stick to it."

However, this does not mean that management should not show generosity where possible. In Packard Electric, for example, Saul says that as part of a process of convincing people that new HR practices being implemented - including a no-strike clause - were not an attempt to make it easier to sack workers, the company wiped the slate clean for all employees who had warnings on their file. This allayed a lot of worries on the part of workers.

Saul is also clear that a reasonable time-frame should be set for achieving change management initiatives. "My experience suggests that you should be looking to achieve results within a period of 16 weeks. It's not helpful to allow it to drag out over a much longer period."