Reorganisations, restructures and other major changes

Financial considerations

Even changes designed to save your business money, such as automating processes or cutting the workforce, can have high up-front costs. These, like other costs associated with change, are an investment in the future success of your business.

Potential costs of an organisational change include:

• Communicating the reasons for change and the business' new structure - in some cases it may be desirable to carry out a formal public relations strategy to inform employees, customers and suppliers.
• Rebranding everything from stationery to delivery vans - this is particularly important for businesses undergoing a merger or acquisition.
• Redundancy payments.
• Retraining, development and cultural change programmes to help employees adapt to the organisational change and new business practices.
• Resources, and particularly human resources, taken away from other parts of the business to help with the organisational changes.
• Relocation.

It is a good idea to work out a detailed costing of the change programme, so that there aren't any unforeseen expenses that derail or halt the reorganisation. This does not mean that you must rigidly stick to your original plan when implementing any changes - you may need to modify your plans, policies and procedures to take into account changing circumstances in the business and in the market place.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Reasons for changing the way your business is organised
• Different business structures: by function and area
• Different business structures: by product and project
• The importance of planning and communication
• Managing people
• Implementing change
• Systems for delivering change
• Financial considerations
• Special considerations for change
• Here's how I changed my management style as my business grew

 

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