1. Introduction
From the definition point of view, a strategic change is defined as a persistent influence focused on the recurrent transformation of one form to another (Wiersema and Bantel, 2012). According to Goodstein (2014), a strategic change is “an inexorable part of both social and organisational life.” Various organisations find hard to implement strategic change due to resistance to change. Most prevalent resistance to change comes from middle managers as compared to the other leadership hierarchy in an organisation. Resistance to change can be better understood when taking into account behaviour change theory. This theory states that, “it can be difficult to get people to change their behaviour, even where there are good reasons
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According to Floyd and Wooldridge (2013), many organisations across the world prefer to use middle management to implement a strategic change. Guth and MacMillan (2011) posit, “it is well known that middle managers’ hold great importance as they act simultaneously as change recipients; absorbing change and as change implementers; applying change.” However, middle managers see the introduction of strategic change as obsolete, terming it, “The death of middle management.” There are various reasons why middle managers resist change. To start with, middle managers resist strategic change due to increased workload. According to Piderit (2012), aspects such as “larger workloads”, “replacement of permanent by temporary contracts”, “increased insecurity and surveillance”, and “a decline in lifetime employment” creates pressure at work and this brings about emotional dissension, tension, anxiety and uncertainty at work. Uncertainty creates fear for middle managers since they feel their positions are at risk, thereby resisting strategic change …show more content…
Strategic change is successful supported by middle managers when bottom-up change approach is adopted by an organisation (Kan and Parry, 2014). A bottom-up change approach usually involves middle managers in every aspect of decision and strategic change and these acts as a motivation as far as change process is concerned. According to Lorenzi and Riley (2012), “middle managers who had strategic involvement as Creators and Designers were more certain about the role within the change process and thus more likely to support strategic change within the organisation.” This shows that when a bottom-up change approach is implemented, middle managers support strategic change since they feel as the creators, designers as well as
Leading Change was named the top management book of the year by Management General. There are three major sections in this book. The first section is ¡§the change of problem and its solution¡¨ ; which discusses why firms fail. The second one is ¡§the eight-stage process¡¨ that deals with methods of performing changes. Lastly, ¡§implications for the twenty-first century¡¨ is discussed as the conclusion. The eight stages of process are as followed: (1) Establishing a sense of urgency. (2) Creating the guiding coalition. (3) Developing a vision and a strategy. (4) Communicating the change of vision. (5) Empowering employees for broad-based action. (6) Generating short-term wins. (7) Consolidating gains and producing more changes. (8) Anchoring new approaches in the culture.
Healthcare is one of the most dynamic industries in our great nation. To truly understand just how dynamic the industry is, one needs to understand that healthcare in and of itself is a living, breathing industry that is ever changing and conforming to meet the ideals set forth from a broad group of stakeholders. When one looks at the evolution that healthcare has undergone in the past 165 years, the picture of the true dynamics of this industry is painted. One must take this evolutional history into account when looking at the next ten years in our industry. When looking at these evolutional processes, one can see that the systems have changed as our country and its people have required it to (Williams & Torrens, 2008). When looking at how this industry will change or evolve over the next decade, one can ascertain that it will be by the demands of those involved that change will come.
Change is the only constant in life. And therefore it should be understood as part of a continuing work in progress that calls for a much broader canvas that seeks out competing voices, and works with the resulting ambiguities, contradictions and tensions of messy reality (Graetz, F. & Smith, A., 2010). In this submission I try to show that organizational change is majorly based on the environment surrounding it much more than the desire of the members or change agents working in that organization. This view diverts from that of Lippitt, (1958) who suggests that implementing planned organizational changes successfully depends on premeditated interventions intended to modify the functioning of an organization. It also diverts from the traditional approaches to organizational change that generally follow a linear, rational model in which the focus is on controllability under the stewardship of a strong leader or ‘guiding coalition (Collis, 1998). In this discussion therefore, comparison made between the different philosophies of change and I try to show that successful change implantation largely depends on an organizations appreciation of what goes on around it rather than what they have planned as a strategic direction.
In today’s ever changing world people must adapt to change. If an organization wants to be successful or remain successful they must embrace change. This book helps us identify why people succeed and or fail at large scale change. A lot of companies have a problem with integrating change, The Heart of Change, outlines ways a company can integrate change. The text book Ivanceich’s Organizational Behavior and Kotter and Cohen’s The Heart of Change outlines how change can be a good thing within an organization. The Heart of Change introduces its readers to eight steps the authors feel are important in introducing a large scale organizational change. Today’s organizations have to deal with leadership change, change in the economy,
Changing situations throughout the world affect all organizations in business today. Therefore, most organizations acknowledge the need to experience change and transformation in order to survive. The key challenges companies face are due to the advancements in technology, the social environment caused by globalization, the pace of competition, and the demands regarding customer expectations. It is difficult to overcome the obstacles involved with change despite all the articles, books, and publications devoted to the topic. People are naturally resistant to fundamental changes and often intimidated by the process; the old traditional patterns and methods are no longer effective.
Kotter, J. P. (2007). ‘Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail’. Harvard Business Review, January: 96-103.
The transformation of a company requires hundreds, sometimes thousands of employees to adopt a new view of its future, a future they must regard as essential. Change management involves managing the process of achieving this future state. Change can be viewed from two vantage points, that of the people making the changes and that of the people experiencing the changes. In the top-down, or strategic viewpoint associated with management, the focus is on technical issues such as the investment required, the processes for implementing the change, how soon the change can be realized, and the outcome. In the bottom-up viewpoint of the employee, the focus is on what the change means to the ...
Middlebrook, B., Caruth, D., & Frank, R. (1984, Summer 85). Overcoming Resistance to Change. Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 23.
The change process within any organization can prove to be difficult and very stressful, not only for the employees but also for the management team. Hayes (2014), highlights seven core activities that must take place in order for change to be effective: recognizing the need for change, diagnosing the change and formulating a future state, planning the desired change, implementing the strategies, sustaining the implemented change, managing all those involved and learning from the change. Individually, these steps are comprised of key actions and decisions that must be properly addressed in order to move on to the next step. This paper is going to examine how change managers manage the implementation of change and strategies used
Recent studies have started to reveal the importance of the middle manager’s role when an organization is experiencing change. In Balogun’s article “From Blaming the Middle to Harnessing its Potential: Creating Change Intermediaries” the author states that middle managers make a strategic contribution as a “change intermediary,” referring to their role during implementing strategy, or change implementation.
ANALYSIS ON FACTORS THAT COTRIBUTE TO THE INCREMENTAL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL QUANTUM CHANGE IN SELECTED ORGANISATION
Toribio, C. T., & Hernandez, R. G. (2011). Coping with resistance to change in organizations (Unpublished masters thesis). Linnaeus University, Sweden. Retrieved from http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:425506
In every business offered by any organizations, it is very important to ensure that the customers will always satisfied with services provided. People nowadays are looking for the new technologies, new markets, new ideas and also new inventions. Thus the organization must always keep up with the current changes in demand to ensure that their services are still relevant to the customers. The changes of demand also called as an evolution and to achieve these, the organizations are advised to have a process that we called as “Business Transformation” (“Business Transformation: The Importance of Change,” 2014).
Individuals go through a reaction process when they are personally confronted with major organizational change (Kyle, 1993; Jacobs, 1995; Bovey & Hede, 2001). Within this process there are four phases that it consists of: initial denial, resistance, gradual exploration, and eventual commitment (Scott & Jaffe, 1988; Bovey & Hede, 2001). Resistance to change is the initial area to focus on. The issues of organizational change and resistance to change have received a lot of attention over the past decade (Macri, Tagliaventi & Bertolotti, 2002). The perceptions of individuals play a fu...
Change is a constant and ingoing process in an organization. Change can be defined as one of the many characteristics of organization development. The change efforts are based on the analysis of particular problems and their purpose is to attain specific goals. Change is not an easy thing to implement and anticipate. It is a difficult and a challenging process; therefore the management has to take certain steps in order to prepare them for antedating the change in business environment. The senior management can prepare themselves for a change through studying and researching about change, by having a sound awareness about the change process and by understanding the necessity of change and by being mentally tough about the change process. All in all, a constant change is ...