Change Management and Corporate Social Responsibility: an expert´s view

Managing a change to drive organizational success is not an easy task. Our lecturer, Dr. Amr Sukkar, explains the fundamentals of the process.

What will students learn in your course Change Management?

The course provides an opportunity for practicing business skills in the real world. It focuses on working effectively in groups to implement positive changes in the organization.

The basic principle of my course is that “Organizations do not change, People Change”. People, in general, vary in personality and social behavior. Change Management deals with sets of approaches that deal with transition individuals, teams and organizations. In addition, it is the art to design and manage the transition as painless as possible in order to reduce friction and inefficiencies. Thus, I am trying to help my students realize how to apply the changes in their organization in order to develop their businesses. All of this with consideration of the human personalities and behavior to reduce the resistance to change.

Can you describe the fundamental elements of the change management process?  

Firstly, you should study and investigate the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behavior within the organizations for the purpose of applying such changes towards improving an organization effectiveness.

Secondly, you should focus on Communicating about Change (5 Communication Points)

1. Why is the change necessary? (rationale)

2. What are we changing into? (vision)

3. How and when do we intend to get there? (plan)

4. What is the personal impact? (what's in it for me?)

5. Is help available to support the transition? (resources)

Would you say there is more uncertainty in the business world when it comes to change?

Of course, uncertainty is always very high at the beginning of any change abled at the organization however we can decrease the uncertainty by ensuring the support from the upper management, create the needs for change and manage and understand the doubts and concerns.

What are the main causes of resisting change in an organization?

The main causes of resisting the change are the lack of communication the problems at the channels and the ways of communication between the leaders and their teams during apply any change may lead to emerging rumors and fake news. That may support group's negative thinking and emerge subculture and obstacles for any developments.

What would you suggest to do to deal with them? 

My suggestion would be to communicate often, for example; if the leaders at the normal situation hold monthly meetings at the change process they should instead hold a meeting every week. In addition, we advise the leaders to open the door to involving people in the process, try to anchor the change in the organization culture, develop ways to sustain the change, proved support and training for the people and not forget to celebrate successful change. 

You also teach Corporate Social Responsibility. How would you say companies are going to incorporate its principles to their change management? What is the recent development?

Overpopulation and the globalization of markets have added to domestic pressures from over-exploitation of resources all over the world. The relevancy of the sustainable development concept has increased in many countries as there is more awareness and understanding the impact of environmental issues on society and economic growth. On corporate social responsibility and natural environment and its relation to business has developed over the years. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the USA are expecting economic, social, and environmental factors to convince the manufacturing companies to consider sustainability more seriously. Nowadays, corporate sustainability is an important topic for both academic research and businesses.

About Dr. Amr Sukkar 

Dr. Sukkar is a lecturer of Change Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Intercultural Communication, International Business, Management, Strategic Management, and Team Management at LIGS University. His accomplishments can be found here. Recently, he published a chapter in an academic journal New Paradigm in Theory Research & Practices in Management on "Climate Change Impact on International Business Case Study - the Latin America Agricultural". 

Would you like to know more about Change Management or one of our many specializations? Check them out here.