Managing Organizational Change During Coronavirus Pandemic: A Guide for Managers.

Covid-19, a communicable disease caused by Coronavirus, has rapidly become a societal and economic disaster within a short span of time – a period of only 3 months. This unprecedented disease is not only rocking the stock market but has also drastically changed our daily routines.

Due to the closure of schools and daycare centers, kids stay at home. A shutdown of businesses demands workers to work from home. Suppliers are hoarding supplies hitting the rise in prices. Toilet papers are short in supply leading to public turbulence in markets. Governments are restricting travel. Briefly, social distancing is enforced and has become the core of the human routine.

Companies have announced mandatory remote work and are experiencing a number of challenges as people practice social distancing. Managing employees’ transition from office to remote work is hard. Managers have to implement and train employees effectively and ‘immediately.’ Employees, on the other hand, are resisting change due to several challenges leading to a loss in productivity and employee morale.

Challenges Faced by Companies and their Solutions

Let’s take a look at some of the challenges faced by companies around the world and how they can tackle them.

1. Decline in Sales

The impacts of Coronavirus are paralyzing the sales aspect of the businesses around the globe. As governments announce lockdown and people practice social distancing, a lot of industries are seeing a sharp decline in their sales. In the UK, theatre tickets dropped sales by 92%, and the smartphone market of China is expected to see a drop of 20% in the sale. Not only this, but Covid-19 is also bad for the automobile industry causing an 80% decline in sales.

Solution:

The best way to cope with this tension is to temporarily cut the organizational costs. Several governments and large businesses are giving out loans and grants for small businesses to weather the storm. Check to see if you’re eligible to receive the loan or grant to help your business sustain in the time of crisis.

2. Digital Transformation

Never in history before businesses had a strong need for digital transformation as they have today due to the novel coronavirus. Although the road to digitalization, particularly in times of crisis, is not easy but it’s worth it. Digital transformation doesn’t necessarily mean to build a high-scale digital company. To start off, it only means that you begin integrating technology and software more into your business.

Solution:

Think of automating your tasks using Zappier – an automation and integration application. How about virtualizing your business documents, storage, and individual works by using Google Suite and other Google services? A healthy amount of research can save you a lot of money, hardware, physical space, and energy in business.

3. Communication

With the changes in work pattern across industries and organizations amidst Covid-19, it has become hard for managers to communicate with employees, customers, stakeholders, and upper management on calls, particularly for those who’re not used to working from home. Lack of effective communication leads to tremendous ambiguity and resistance to change.

Solution:

It is important to understand that effective communication is done face to face. Managers are always encouraged to use video conferencing applications such as Zoom and Zoho for audio/video calls. For short and instant updates, Slack is the best choice where you can build your designated workplace.

4. Employee Layoffs

As most organizations are getting into sales slump, their incoming revenue has been declining since the coronavirus struck. A decline in revenue makes organizations unable to pay their employees and ultimately, decide to layoff them. You might be thinking that it’s the only option left to meet the costs during reduced sales.

Solution:

Talk to your employees and be transparent about the incoming revenue. See if they’re willing to receive a certain percentage of pay cut or if some of them are willing to switch to part-time work temporarily. Encourage them to do this for the organization’s long-run sustainability. Make sure that being a manager, you’ll receive a greater percentage of the pay cut.

5. Remote Employee Management

The art of employee management lies in connection and collaboration. For several organizations, mandatory remote work seems to break this connection between managers and employees and phase out collaboration among coworkers. The challenge is greater than it seems to be. Resultantly, organizational performance is affected and the tasks at hand are not performed well.

Solution:

It is recommended that managers use video calling as much as they can to make employees feel connected. Managers should also encourage calls between coworkers to enhance connection and collaboration. For tasks that require collaborative efforts, use project management software to track its status. Applications such as google docs, sheets, slides, and features like screen-sharing are best for several workers to collaborate together.

Finally,

I wish you lots of success in your endeavors to manage organizational change and sustain your business through the Coronavirus pandemic.

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