Abstract
The literature points to various planned change theories as ways to assist organisations with strategic human resource management of organisational change. However, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly confronted organisations with a new normal of forced, unplanned changes. This chapter describes the impact of these unplanned changes with reference to six evidence-based case studies. This chapter adds to the current body of knowledge regarding change management, by specifically focusing on how the six organisations dealt with the unplanned changes. This chapter commences with an overview of the importance of organisational change and contextualises what organisations were confronted with during the pandemic. This is followed by an exposition of current planned change theories. Thereafter, this chapter unpacks the changes experienced by these South African-based organisations during the pandemic, illustrating how they responded to these changes and reflecting on the specific lessons learned. This chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for HR when managing unplanned changes in the future and within the new normal.
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Olckers, C., Koekemoer, E. (2022). The COVID-19 Pandemic: Managing Unplanned Change as the New Normal in the Workplace. In: Potgieter, I.L., Ferreira, N. (eds) Managing Human Resources. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09803-1_3
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