Two in five CEOs would rather quit than lead a large-scale workforce transformation

• Senior executives divided on attitudes to risk and organizational change, finds research by Orgvue 

• 35% of CEOs believe a lack of shared vision among senior decision makers is the biggest barrier to achieving a successful transformation

• 60% of senior decision makers think decisions about workforce transformation are driven by human emotion rather than rational analysis

Orgvue, the organizational design and planning software platform, today published research findings on C-suite attitudes to workplace transformation. Surveying 700 senior decision makers of organizations with more than 1,000 employees, the research found that two in five (38 percent) CEOs would rather quit than lead a large-scale workforce transformation project.

As pressure in the modern business environment intensifies, C-suite leaders see event-based transformation as a blunt instrument for cutting costs. 60 percent believe decisions about workforce transformation are driven by human emotion rather than rational analysis and 61 percent said they don’t give enough thought to planning transformation projects.

The research shows that cost take-out remains a top concern for C-Suite leaders. 63 percent of say cost cutting is the primary motive behind their transformation and 74 percent are willing to go through transformation for this reason. Additionally, 64 percent of CEOs would rather conduct layoffs than miss earnings targets.

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As part of the study, Orgvue identified two different cohorts of CEO with opposing views on transformation. Conservative CEOs are change-sensitive and represent the two in five that would rather quit than go through transformation. Only 29 percent of these CEOs are willing to lead major restructuring initiatives for their organization, and only 25 percent are willing to dismantle traditional hierarchies and management tiers to optimize workforce efficiencies.

Conversely, Agile CEOs are change-agnostic and are likely to embrace workforce transformation. 97 percent of these CEOs say they’re willing to lead major restructuring projects for their organization. They also say they’re willing to take a continuous approach to organizational change, rather than disruptive, timebound project approach.

Oliver Shaw, CEO of Orgvue, said: 

“Our research suggests that transformation fatigue has the C-suite in its grip. We think this is for two reasons: only 23% of transformation projects succeed; and many organizations are forced into crisis-response or event-based transformations.

“Organizations are taking the wrong approach to transformation, creating anxiety around these large, arduous, risky projects that invariably don’t return the cost savings they promise. Encouragingly, the research shows there’s a cohort of CEOs that see transformation in a different way and they’re more willing to lead major restructuring programs as a result. They see transformation as a continuous, iterative process that takes the pain out of organizational change and makes it more sustainable.”

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