What Is Management of Change (MOC)?

A Management of Change (MOC) policy is a type of standard operating procedure that allows management teams to address company-wide changes in a structured way.

What Is Management of Change?

MOC provides a safe and systematic approach to managing changes in your organization. These changes can include updating equipment, training a new workforce, opening new facilities, or updating maintenance procedures.

Having a MOC policy in place can help ensure a smooth and safe transition from an existing process to a new efficient way of doing things.

Benefits of MOC

Change can be challenging for any business. Research from McKinsey shows that 70 percent of complex, large-scale organizational change programs don’t reach their stated goals. In addition, when you have multiple people, facilities, machines, and environmental factors, it can be challenging to ensure all employees are equally informed about necessary changes.

This is where Management of Change can help. An effective MOC:

• Helps improve safety outcomes
• Improves the visibility of what is happening in your organization
• Reduces obstacles and roadblocks, creating a more streamlined process
• Designates a central place for all information about the change to be stored
• Encourages collaboration and open communication across the organization
• Contributes to operational excellence
• Produces a paper trail to refer to during audits
• Documents and tracks how fast changes are implemented, how much work is involved, and the level of risk during the process.

A well-structured Management of Change system benefits the entire organization as well as individuals. MOC provides visibility across different departments and work functions, encouraging cross-functional teams to work together on shared goals.

Ultimately, this leads to better and safer implementation of new equipment, policies, or practices.

“A breakthrough approach to change management gives you a different paradigm to implement organizational change so that you can let go of antiquated processes and start to experience real, lasting change in your organization.”

Forbes

Best Practices

To ensure the success of your MOC system, follow these four best practices.

1. Put the Right People in Place

A strong MOC requires an individual or team at the executive level who drives the program forward and needs frontline employees in critical roles. A team of positive individuals to champion the process will help maintain momentum. It will also encourage the broader organization to implement the changes quickly and efficiently.

2. Create a Simple, Centralized Area for Information

Documenting the necessary steps of the change, adhering to policies, and following the correct safety procedures is much easier when all the information is in one place.

A central repository should include:

• the steps required to manage the change,
• project-specific checklists,
• standard operating procedures,
• a way to allocate roles to individuals,
• a way to authorize or approve parts of the process, and
• It should be accessible to every person involved in the change.

3. Create Feedback Loops

A MOC system needs to include a simple and efficient method to keep everyone involved and up to date with the project. This could include two-way communication channels, SOP review processes, and ample opportunity for managing and reporting potential safety hazards.

The system also should include a stage-gate process to clearly document approved steps and allow feedback and reviews. This will contribute to the continuous improvement of the overall MOC system.

4. Focus on Training and Education

The core purpose of a MOC system is to teach a new way of doing things. Approaching MOC with a training and education mindset. This helps teams adapt to a safe, standardized, and efficient way of working. This is especially true with standard operating procedures and preventive maintenance procedures.

OSHA and Safety

One of the best reasons to follow a MOC system is to ensure safety is maintained throughout organizational, procedural, or equipment changes.

While the safety of your team is likely to be the critical driver of MOC, you may also be required to address safety from a regulatory standpoint.

OSHA regulations state that a change involving the following elements can be subject to legal MOC requirements, depending on several factors:

1. Technology
2. Equipment
3. Procedures
4. Facilities
5. Process chemicals

Change management can be implemented at any time. However, it must be implemented for businesses that fall under Process Safety Management (PSM) regulations.

These companies typically deal with specific toxic and reactive chemicals in listed quantities, flammable liquids, and gases in quantities of 10,000 pounds or more.

The PSM standard requires employers to develop and implement written MOC procedures when the process or equipment is not a like-for-like exchange. This also applies when organizational, personnel, or policy changes will change any of the five factors listed above.

For more information, refer to Standard 1910.119 or talk to your workplace Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) officer.

When to Implement Management of Change?

MOC can be implemented in many different situations with the common goal of recognizing and reducing potential safety hazards. These situations include when:

• You introduce new equipment
• You change operating procedures
• You change testing, maintenance, or upkeep procedures
• You add new facilities or substantially change the setup of a current facility
• When temporary changes happen, such as transferring equipment to a new location

Solving MOC with MaintainX

Even for small organizations, the Management of Change has many moving parts. In addition, the various policies, procedures, steps, and people involved can make it challenging to keep track of what needs to happen and when.

A digital solution, such as CMMS maintenance software, will help the process run smoothly. A CMMS like MaintainX schedules, automates, streamlines, manages, and houses your management of change projects. It also helps reduce the complexity of MOC. A digital solution, especially with a chat feature, ensures that everyone involved in the process has access to correct and up-to-date information.

Research suggests that reinforcing behavioral change by using formal structures, processes, and systems leads to better success rates. Documented processes help to change and shape behavior by fostering a deeper understanding of why the changes are taking place.

With a centralized information system, a CMMS provides this formal structure, providing a framework for individuals to understand and carry out their roles confidently.

Interested in managing your organization’s change? Try MaintainX for free.