The Change Constant
“Metathesiophobia” a tongue-tying word for the fear of change—a fear which most people, if honest with themselves, will admit to have experienced. Change,even when relatively minor and even when it is wanted can become unsettling and unnerving—and consequently intimidating. And with fear usually comes stress and resistance. For leaders, fearing or resisting change and hesitating at venturing into the unknown can be their own, their followers’ and their organizations’ undoing. It is a truism of today’s business environment that the only thing which remains the same is change—and change is more abundant, rapid and complex than ever before. Mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings or downsizings, increasing globalization and market upheavals are just a few of the dramatic transitions that leaders and their organizations need to deal with at an unprecedented level. Another source of transition is the short life of technology with rapidly increasing rates of obsolescence and replacement requiring individuals and organizations to engage in constant learning processes. In addition to it, the people who make up organizations, work groups, and teams often keep shifting at a breakneck pace. Institutional loyalty is hardly what it was before (the Bureau of National Affairs has recently reported that employee turnover is occurring at the highest rate in nearly twenty years), and it is common for people in organizations to be quickly shuttled in and out of various assignments. Managers’ ability to deal with this type of change—losing well-known team members and working with new and unfamiliar colleagues—has a profound impact on the organizational effectiveness and productivity.
Instead of reshape itself period...
... middle of paper ...
...iness performance. Conscious leaders understand this and recognize the importance of building change capabilities in their organization. Capability to change is the ability of an organization to design, plan, and implement all types of change efficiently with committed stakeholders, causing no negative impacts on people and operations, so that desired cultural and business results from change are consistently achieved and integrated seamlessly into operations to deliver maximum ROI. Figure below shows how building change capability positively impacts an organization. In the figure, Work A denotes the core business activities, that is, everything an organization does to provide value to its customers. Work B is all of the efforts you put into improving Work A, making the organization the best it can be. Work C is improving your ability to do Work B, in other words,
America has completely changed over the years in many different ways. To start off, women’s rights have drastically changed over the years because women have stood up and spoke their opinion of the matter. After World War 1, America went through some bad times, but eventually got through it in the end. They went through the struggles of who was at President and the debts of the people and the country.
Change is a double-edged sword (Fullan, 2001). Change is a word that might inspire or put fear into people. Leadership is challenging when it comes to dealing with change and how individuals react within the organization to the change. Marzano, McNulty, and Waters (2005) discuss two orders of change in their book School Leadership that Works; first and second. Fullan (2001) also adds to the discussion in his book Leading in a Culture of Change, with regard to understanding change. In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individuals throughout the change process.
Kegan, R., & Laskow Lahey, L. (2009). Immunity to change. How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Change is a fundamental element of individuals, groups and all sorts of organizations. As it is the case for individuals, groups and societies, where change is a continuous process, composed of an indefinite amount of smaller sub-changes that vary in effect and length, and is affected by all sorts of aspects and events, many of which cyclic are anticipated ones. It is also the case for organizations, where change occurs repeatedly during the life cycle of organizations. Yet change in organizations is not as anticipated nor as predictable, with unexpected internal and external variables and political forces that can further complicate the management of change (Andriopoulos, C. and P. Dawson, 2009), which is by itself, the focus of many scholars in their pursuit to shed light on and facilitate the change process (Kotter 1996; Levin 1947; et al).
“Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” is an article written by John P. Kotter in the Harvard Business Review, which outlines eight critical factors to help leaders successfully transform a business. Since leading requires the ability to influence other people to reach a goal, the leadership needs to take steps to cope with a new, more challenging global market environment. Kotter emphasizes the mistakes corporations make when implementing change and why those efforts create failure; therefore, it is essential that leaders learn to apply change effectively in order for it to be beneficial in the long-term (Kotter).
Ari Brace Mr. Liepa Honors Global Literature 4 May 2014 Adapting to Change Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, is a story about a society on the verge of a cultural change. The main character, Okonkwo, is driven throughout the story by fear and a drive for success. He relied on the village of Umuofia to stay the same because he used the structured culture to feel safe and appreciated. He lives in a constant state of fear because he wants to find his own meaning in life.
When you are born people are there to take care of you, love you, and guide you through life. As you grow up and life changes, you must take charge of your own life and not become so dependent on others. Throughout the course of life a person will encounter many changes, whether good or bad. In 'A&P';, 'The Secret Lion';, and 'A Rose for Emily';, the main characters in the stories are Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily who face changes during their lives. All of these characters are in need of change. Because of their need for change, their lives will become much better. They are filled with wonder and awe about the world around them. No matter what type of person, everyone will encounter changes. It is part of the natural process. A person is encouraged to make these changes for the good. Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily all encounter changes in their lives that fulfill their need to become something different.
Change is can be evaluated by the effects that it has on the major parties involved. It tends to happen when there is frustration and discontent with the present state of things. Therefore, it will push us to our personal best by causing us to learn from the change as well as our mistakes. It is the changes that we undergo that help us to effectively evolve into our new paths and a better self. Both change models help individuals go through the process of transformation by helping them to acknowledge their feelings and the internal and external factors that can influence the change permanently. The most recent change that I have intentionally made was the decision not to coach past a three year commitment to Rush club soccer. This decision
I really like Linh Do she had a unique way of getting her point across and she didn’t try to elaborate on social norms as like she said its unique for all of us and it hit home about what she said about the fork in the road because I had to make the same decision and my parents didn’t pressure me to do any of the above when I graduated. I got told that I should start making a decision about my future but I wasn’t given the ultimatum of go to college or get out of the house. I was glad that these were not thrust upon me and having the freedom to choose was one that I think made me a better person and gave me the chance to choose my path and make my own mistakes which I think were important in me becoming the person that I am today.
Individuals when faced with any major change will be inevitably resistant and will want to preserve the status quo, especially if they think their status or security within the organization is in danger (Bolognese, 2010). Folger and Skarlicki believe that organizational change produces skepticism in employees which make it problematic and possibly even impossible to contrive improvements within the organization (as cited in Bolognese, 2010) Therefore, management must understand, accept and make an effort to work with resistance, since it can undermine even the most well-conceived change efforts (Bolognese, 2010). Furthermore, Coetsee states for organizations to achieve the maximum benefits from change they must effectively create and maintain a climate and culture that does not support resistance and rewards acceptance and support ( as cited in Bolognese, 2010).
When you are with someone every single day do you notice the changes that happen to that person over time? I bet that you don 't see the day that wrinkle is established and I bet you don 't notice if someone grew an inch. Only when compared with the past is when these changes are clear but to someone that sees that person every day nothing is out of the norm. Writing is similar to this analogy in the sense that the average person and especially the average college student writes nearly every day. Just as an essay from middle school looks nothing like an essay from high school, an essay from high school looks nothing like one from college and so on. In order to understand how these changes happen in the long term I am going to reflect on how they have happened in the short term and what I have improved on through this English 103 course. Reflecting on my writing has shown me that I have been progressing in nearly every aspect of my writing and I have excelled on my transitions as well as with source support integration.
The idea of change is the most constant factor in business today and organisational change therefore plays a crucial role in this highly dynamic environment. It is defined as a company that is going through a transformation and is in a progressive step towards improving their existing capabilities. Organisational change is important as managers need to continue to commit and deliver today but must also think of changes that lie ahead tomorrow. This is a difficult task because management systems are design, and people are rewarded for stability. These two main factors will be discussed with reasons as to why organisational change is necessary for survival, but on the other hand why it is difficult to accomplish.
There are many aspects in change leadership and people’s fear is one of them. Working as team member in a company takes a long time to adapt to other team members and work productively. Those employees who cannot accept changes fast and adapt to new team members may have troubles to work effectively and may be causing stagnation of other workers and a...
What is stated above happens around us all the time. Something might be proven today, but proven wrong tomorrow. Therefore I completely agree to this statement. But how do we accept something to be knowledge, and what makes one thing knowledge and the other thing just a theory? We can look at it from various aspects.
Combinations of different experiences and education have developed a variety of assumptions about how an organisation works. The use of metaphors when describing organisation movements and change is an important way in which we express these assumptions (Cameron and Green, 2012). Gareth Morgan’s (1986) work on organizational metaphors is good for understanding the different assumptions and beliefs about change that exists. He identifies eight organizational metaphors; machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons and flux and transformation (Morgan, 1986).