Time for change

Abstract

This report describes the research towards and the design of a tool for informing and involving employees during organisational change. More than half of the change programs that are started are not completed successfully. One of the most influential factors to this low success rate is the resistance of employees. Informing and involving them in the organisational change is essential to gain their support and understanding for the change.

The design is specifically aimed at the employees of KLM Component Services. Roughly 800 employees will be affected by a move, renovation and a revision of all processes. What makes this context specific are the large number of non-desk workers and the relatively high average age (52). Many of these employees are not comfortable using modern technologies such as social media and smartphones and spend most of their workday on the repair of aircraft components. Not being able to read all newsletters or spend time searching the intranet, an alternative communication channel is needed. Based on this need, the design goal for this project was established: to design a tool to keep all employees at Component Services informed on relevant developments and help to overcome resistance by involving them in organisational change.

Current trends and existing solutions for communication during change were explored. Increasingly, digital media are used and a strong emphasis is put on visual content. Several other qualities were drawn up, setting requirements for the final design. Usability being the most important quality, experiments with various design solutions were conducted. The outcome of these experiments was the basis of a design concept; a large timeline showing the stages of the change program, situated in a central location in the building.

This concept was further detailed, resulting in a large interactive timeline, projected onto a wall. The key element – using motion sensors to establish an immersive interaction – was tested with a simplified prototype. The results were used to further optimise the design.

Still, there is still considerable opportunity for detailing this design, as several deficiencies were identified regarding the prototype used in the user test. The most influential of these was that the design had to be explained to participants. In further testing, it is suggested to have an autonomously operating prototype, to allow the researcher to observe if employees will also be able to use this design without any further guidance. A potential opportunity for the design lies in the customisation of the content shown in the timeline, using a smartphone. Further design and testing is needed to fully develop this idea.

Despite the limitations, the design was positively received by employees. These positive results indicate that this design has the potential to be an appropriate tool for informing and involving employees during organisational change. The design will stimulate conversations among employees and helps to reduce uncertainty. This helps to gain employees’ support for the change program and thereby reduces their resistance to change.