Limited impact of change - but the trend is unstoppable
More than half of the UK's large companies have introduced new management and working practices in response to changing business conditions in recent years. But, says Reading University's Virginia Gibson, the impact on employees so far is remarkably limited.
In most cases, change programmes are only being piloted, typically with less than 5% of an organisation's staff involved.
Gibson, speaking on Saturday at Sulzer Infra's annual international symposium on infrastructure issues, reported on recent research to determine the extent to which change has found its way into real business practice.
"There is a lot of talk about changing markets, technology and work styles," she said, "but are these new ideas embedded in organisations yet?" The answer is clearly 'yes and no'.
Despite limited impact so far, however, ideas such as flexible working and strategic approaches to non-core functions, are filtering in and will continue to do so. Within five years, noted Gibson, up to two-thirds of companies in the UK will have taken on board new practices.
"It's a case of evolution, rather than revolution," she concluded. "Continued investment in IT will lead to continued introduction of new working practices, organisational restructuring and outsourcing, as companies continue the search for greater flexibility and adaptability."
Sulzer Infra President Karl Bochsler added further weight to the sense of inevitability about the change process, citing five pan-European trends that are re-shaping business thinking about facilities needs, opportunities and strategy:
- an increasingly sophisticated building services industry is becoming regional, and in many cases global
- infrastructure of buildings and processes is increasingly being integrated into 'plug and play' solutions
- fixed assets need to be turned into flexible assets wherever possible
- technological development is a fact of life
- efficiency - getting more from less - is at the top of the agenda.
Elliott Chase
