| | NOVEMBER 2021MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8In MyOpinionOnly 30 percent of organization transformations are actually meeting their objectives. We all know examples of this, some of them quite public, with mergers or acquisitions turning out badly. In recent years, it has become more and more apparent that the reason organizational change does not succeed is largely due to human factors, be it that company cultures were not compatible or that the resistance against truly adopting a change was greater than expected. There are many other reasons, of course. For example, with regards to strategic fit, poor design, or simply that the objectives had not been realistic from the start.In this article, I would like to focus on the adoption of change and how we could rethink change management for digital transformations.Imagine you were watching a documentary showing you how to floss your teeth and providing you with data on how flossing your teeth will reduce your risk of developing cavities. Will you start flossing for a day, a week, regularly or maybe not at all? What matters in the long run is that you create a new habit, but as with flossing, it seems a new habit is hard to adopt.Behavioural economics/science has researched how humans do not always behave according to data considerations and follow rational decision-making--for more information on this topic, reference books such as "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely. The concepts of nudging, setting triggers to form new habits, and creating a winning choice architecture are used in behavioural economics research to support people to make better choices.I would like to illustrate the behavioural economics concepts with a wonderful example, recently gone viral from German supermarkets during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the panic hoarding of toilet paper created a shortage, some supermarkets were charging the normal price for the first pack and then increasing the price for additional packs (additional 5 EUR for second package, 10 EUR for third etc.), with the excess income going to Covid-19 aid programs. This is an excellent example of a choice architecture that dissuades people from making a choice that causes harm to their fellow citizens. It does not just use data declaring how much toilet paper you actually need, nor does it involve prohibitions or security forces, as some other countries have seen. These German supermarkets just made it significantly less attractive to hoard toilet paper and, thus, create an artificial shortage. It was a nudge to do the right thing, a choice architecture that made it harder, not impossible, to do the wrong thing.Back to the flossing example. If we want to create the habit of flossing, we could use simple reminders like putting the floss in front of our toothbrush to make it harder to brush our teeth without thinking of flossing first. We could also put flossing in our calendar with a voice message reminding us how unpleasant cavities can hurt or with just the noise of a dentist drilling. We could ask our partner to remind us, adding a social element to the trigger. This would need RETHINKING CHANGE MANAGEMENTBy Viviane Minden, MBA, Change Management & Communications Head, Enterprise Operations Simplification, Novartis [SWX: NOVN]
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