Joining the industry of the future with all the transformations it brings requires adopting a change management approach in order to involve the various actors in this transition. In fact, the human capital of each company is crucial to the success of any transformation. Thus, change management must be put in place to ensure the right evolution towards industry 4.0.

What is change management?

Digital transformation affects the industrial company in all its aspects: from organization to factory to fieldwork. Thus, to integrate these transformations, the industry must adopt a tailor-made change management approach. In fact, it is all the operations that allow the company to adapt to new tools and approaches and evolve in the connected digital universe.

Change management is often referred to as change management or innovation management. It aims to facilitate the acceptance of the evolution towards a certain direction by putting in place an appropriate learning strategy.

Why do we have to lead the change?

In fact, humans by nature resist any change that pushes them out of their comfort zone. He is therefore anxious about any major transformation. In industry and in the professional world, this is always the case. As human capital is a determinant of the success or failure of any business, it is also a determinant of the success of any transformation.

This is why manufacturers are concerned when it comes to the digital transition. The latter, which means the transformation of all aspects of work in the industry, is often accompanied by resistance from operators who have become accustomed to doing things differently.

Thus, to ensure the success of digital transformation, manufacturers are implementing change management strategies. By setting up training systems, manufacturers are able to drive change in their workplaces and successfully digitalize the company.

What tools to manage change?

Change is, in itself, a psychological transformation. Some theorists propose models and tools that facilitate change management:

Force field analysis

This method simplifies situations due to a blockage in order to resolve it. It consists in analysing the positive and negative forces involved in the blockage.

The change equation

This is the analysis of the situation by taking into consideration the different possibilities that can result from the transformation.

Leavitt’s diamond model

This tool makes it possible to identify and measure the impact of any change on the different levels of the company. Indeed, it consists in identifying the different actors of the company and studying the impact of change on the interactions between the different actors. The purpose of this tool is to set up an action plan to manage change.

The Burke-Litwin change model

This tool explores 12 organizational elements that make up any change. They are divided into transformational factors, transactional factors and performance factors. It consists in studying the relationships between the different components of change.

In which case should the change be led?

Let’s take, for example, a digital work instruction software like Picomto. This will change operators’ habits: from paper to tablets. You suspect that the transition will not happen in 1 day. For change to take place, it is necessary to explain the ins and outs to the people concerned, the reasons for the change and what changes have been made in their daily lives.

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