[Excerpt] Change is a phenomenon that is vital for growth and is constant in all settings. In the context of business, organizations continually change their strategies, culture, structure and processes in response to markets, technological advancements, and legislation. A recent study highlighted that 90% of change management programs fail, largely due to employee resistance and the lack of management support. However, when employees, human resources (HR) professionals and leadership are invested in change, it is 30% more likely to succeed. Therefore, everyone in the organization holds the responsibility to manage change with transparency and communication

Merila, Alysse

Sotubo, Ebun

English

DigitalCommons@ILR

Cornell University ILR School 
DigitalCommons@ILR 
Student Works ILR Collection 
11-2019 
How to Best Engage and Excite All Employees about HR System 
and Process Changes? 
Alysse Merila 
Cornell University 
Ebun Sotubo 
Cornell University 
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How to Best Engage and Excite All Employees about HR System and Process 
Changes? 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] Change is a phenomenon that is vital for growth and is constant in all settings. In the context of 
business, organizations continually change their strategies, culture, structure and processes in response 
to markets, technological advancements, and legislation. A recent study highlighted that 90% of change 
management programs fail, largely due to employee resistance and the lack of management support. 
However, when employees, human resources (HR) professionals and leadership are invested in change, it 
is 30% more likely to succeed. Therefore, everyone in the organization holds the responsibility to manage 
change with transparency and communication. 
Keywords 
Human Resources, change management, engagement, employee engagement, communication 
Comments 
Suggested Citation 
Merila, A. & Sotubo, E. (2019). How to best engage and excite all employees about HR system and 
process changes? Retrieved [insert date] from Cornell University, ILR School site: 
https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/student/221 
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Alysse Merila November 12, 2019
Ebun Sotubo
Executive Summary
Research Question
How would we best engage and excite overall organization (employees, managers & business leaders)
about an HR system and process changes that they’ll need to use in their day to day work?
Engaging Employees in Change Management 
Change is a phenomenon that is vital for growth and is constant in all settings. In the context of
business, organizations continually change their strategies, culture, structure and processes in response
to markets, technological advancements, and legislation.1 A recent study highlighted that 90% of
change management programs fail, largely due to employee resistance and the lack of management
support.2 However, when employees, human resources (HR) professionals and leadership are invested
in change, it is 30% more likely to succeed.3 Therefore, everyone in the organization holds the
responsibility to manage change with transparency and communication.4 
Best Practices for Change Management
Effective change management involves all employees and presents an opportunity to inspire and
connect everyone to a shared vision.5 Communication is critical to any change management initiative
as it informs, involves, and motivates individuals to participate in the process. It is imperative to
identify all audiences, how these HR process changes will impact them, and address this accordingly.6 
1. Evaluate and ensure readiness for change: Readiness is a vital determinant of the outcome
of a change process because it affects the motivation to implement the change.1 
2. Articulate the mandate and clarify expected benefits of the change: The vision for the
future and the benefits of a change mandate should be defined so that everyone involved
understands the advantages of proceeding with the change.7 
3. Engage senior stakeholders: Get senior leadership buy-in for the mandate and commitment
to actively and publicly endorsing the vision for change.55
4. Prepare managers to own the vision: Engage managers and influence them to demonstrate
commitment to the process by acting as role models and champions of the new 
mandate.5
5. Educate, communicate and link to a broader employee value proposition: People are
more alarmed by uncertainty than the change itself. Therefore, it is essential for them to be
equipped with the necessary information to engage in the change process and know that their
input and involvement are important.8 
Recommendations
This CAHRS partner should identify how the new HR system and processes changes around accessing
compensation, talent management, and employee information will affect different individuals in the
organization. When making these changes, strengthening senior leadership, managers and 
employees allows the company a greater chance of success (See Exhibit 1). Below are recommended 
strategies that this company should adopt to drive employee excitement about its change efforts. 
  
 
 
       
    
     
 
    
  
  
 
  
  
 
 
     
         
  
    
      
  
 
 
  
      
 
   
 
 
  
     
       
  
 
     
   
  
Alysse Merila November 12, 2019
Ebun Sotubo
Employees
1. Ensure that employees are aware of the short and long-term goals before and during a change9 
and educate them to fully understand the reasons for change and contribute their ideas.10 
2. Produce and distribute media and print messaging to the overall employee base. For example, 
inform through corporate homepage branding, e-mail and Yammer chats. Further, create and 
share print and video tutorials detailing how to use new HR processes.11 
3. Manufacturing division: Considering that this division differs from the rest of the organization 
because they lack access to personal computers, consider leveraging on managers/supervisors 
as key communicators early and often to verbally discuss the new processes, the rationale for 
change, and the benefits. Further, posting flyers around the plant is a valuable tool.10 
A study conducted using the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey data across 2,000
companies explored how change management strategies impact employee trust and showed that 
management fostered employee trust through informally including employees in the rollout of changes
through seminars and workplace empowerment programs.11 
Managers
Managers are the most vital participants to leverage for successful change implementation as they are
the first point of contact for employees during such situations. Consequently, a manager’s effectiveness
as a change agent depends on the level of trust that manager has among their team.12 For this reason,
HR must engage well-trusted managers to be drivers of change across the organization. 
1. Collaborate with managers to determine the feasibility of the change and prepare the 
implementation plan, which includes goals, phases, milestones, timing, accountability, key 
risks, mitigating actions and metrics for success. 
2. Provide training to prepare for ongoing administration and implementation of the change, as 
well as tools and resources for monitoring employee engagement and addressing resistance. 
A good reference point is how ING Bank, during a major change initiative, achieved its expected
results by committing time and effort to win over its managers through repeated training sessions that
laid out the expected behaviors and translated them into practical realities and included the
development of an individual plan for each manager.13 
Business Leaders
Research on organizational change indicates that the extent to which an executive leader encourages
participation in a change effort influences the success of that change effort in the organization because
people will tend to follow their leaders actions.12 As such, it is imperative that business leaders are
provided with the support necessary to drive change. This involves consistent communication that lets
them know real-time progress and provides them the resources to continue in their change efforts.5 
Most recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation drove successful change as they transitioned to
using Yammer for mass communication across the organization. Their leaders, supported by the
marketing and communications team, influenced everyone across the organization to jump on the tool
as they leveraged it to send out all kinds of communication.14 
  
 
       
   
  
    
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
Alysse Merila November 12, 2019
Ebun Sotubo
Conclusion
Effective change management drives both holistic and individual growth through constant
communication, organizational buy-in, knowledge sharing, and the opportunity for employee
feedback. As discussed, responses to change will vary in type and in degree depending on employee
level and how the change impacts their job. It is important to keep the lines of communication open, 
include employees in the conversation, and listen, learn and respond to their feedback.9 
References
1. Imran, M. K., Rehman, C. A., Aslam, U., & Bilal , A. R. (2017). What’s organization 
knowledge management strategy for successful change implementation? Journal of 
Organizational Change Management, 29(7), 1097-1117. doi:DOI 10.1108/JOCM-07-
2015-0130 
2. Decker, P., Durand, R., Mayfield, C. O., McCormack, C., Skinner, D., & Perdue, G. 
(2012). Predicting implementation failure in organization change. Journal of 
Organizational Culture, Communication and Conflict, 16(2), 29-49. From 
https://www.abacademies.org/articles/jocccvol16no22012.pdf 
3. LaClair, J. A., & Rao, R. P. (2002, November). Helping Employees Embrace Change. 
McKinsey Quarterly. From https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
functions/organization/our-insights/helping-employees-embrace-change 
4. Ewenstein, B., Smith, W., & Sologar, A. (2015). Changing change management. From 
McKinsey Quarterly: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/changing-
change-management
5. Mercer. (2018). Managing for Change. Mercer LLC. From 
https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/private/gl-2018-career-
frameworks-managing-for-change-mercer.pdf 
6. Caldwell, R. (1993). Is anyone listening? Communicating change to employees. From 
Journal of Strategic Change: https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.4240020204 
7. Turner, C. (2019, October). Change Management Strategy: A Plan for how to Make 
Something Different. Quality, p. 20. 
8. Veazie, J. (2018, August). Change Management Strategies. Health Care Registration 
Professionals Newsletter, pp. 7-8. 
9. Kärnä, E. (2015). Implementing strategy means changes for employees. Change 
management and the human factor: Advances, challenges and contradictions in 
organizational development., 109-127. 
10. Daly, F., Teague, P., & Kitchen, P. (2003). Exploring the role of internal communication 
during organisational change. From 
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13563280310487612/full/html 
11. Morgan, D. E., & Zeffane, R. (2003). Employee involvement, organizational change and 
trust in management. From The International Journal of Human Resource Management: 
https://doi.org/10.1080/09585190210158510 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
Alysse Merila November 12, 2019
Ebun Sotubo
12. Rau, D. (2008). Top Management Team Social Processes And Changes In Organizational 
Strategy. Journal of Business and Management, 14(1), 25-42. 
13. Keenan, P., Powell, K., Kurstjens, H., Shanahan, M., Lewis, M., & Busetti, M. (2012). 
Changing Change Management: A Blueprint That Takes Hold. Boston, MA: The Boston 
Consulting Group. From https://www.bcg.com/publications/2012/change-management-
postmerger-integration-changing-change-management.aspx 
14. Austin, J. (2019, November 3). How The Gates Foundation Employees Became Active 
with Using Yammer. (E. Sotubo, Interviewer) 
15. Herrera, F., Chan, G., Legault, M., & Sharma, V. (2010). The digital workplace: Think, 
share, do. From https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/mx/Documents/human-
capital/The_digital_workplace.pdf 
16. Imran, M. K., Bilal, A. R., Aslam, U., & Rahman, U.-U. (2017). Knowledge management 
strategy: an organizational change prospective. Journal of Enterprise Information 
Management, 30(2), 335-351. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-10-2015-0095 
Appendix
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                               
Alysse Merila November 12, 2019
Ebun Sotubo


How to Best Engage and Excite All Employees about HR System and Process Changes?

[Excerpt] Change is a phenomenon that is vital for growth and is constant in all settings. In the context of business, organizations continually change their strategies, culture, structure and processes in response to markets, technological advancements, and legislation. A recent study highlighted that 90% of change management programs fail, largely due to employee resistance and the lack of management support. However, when employees, human resources (HR) professionals and leadership are invested in change, it is 30% more likely to succeed. Therefore, everyone in the organization holds the responsibility to manage change with transparency and communication.How_to_Best_Engage_Overall_Employees_about_HR_System_Process_Changes.pdf: 27 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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