A lot of organizations initiate change programs and action plans that vanish after a while but have had, it’s hoped, some impact on performance, even though one cannot be sure. The first challenge when initiating change is to make sure that every employee understands that this business system is not an action plan; it’s a faith that is about what should characterize a really good company, and there are no option to this faith. It is important to put a lot of effort into making everybody understand this (Ahlberg & Nauclér, 2007). Long-term structural change has four characteristics: scale which is the change that affects all or most of the organization, magnitude which entails significant alterations of the status quo, duration or the length of time it lasts, and strategic importance. Yet companies will garner the rewards only when change takes place at the level of the individual worker. There is no single methodology fits every company, but there is a set of practices, tools, and techniques that can be tailored to a variety of situations. Using a systematic, comprehensive framework, allows executives to understand what to expect, how to manage their own personal change, and how to engage the entire organization in the process (Jones, Aguirre & Calderone, 2004). An official approach for managing change that starts with the leadership team and then engages key stakeholders and leaders should be developed near the beginning, and modified frequently as change moves through the organization. Since change is intrinsically unsettling for people at all levels, when it is on the horizon, all eyes will turn to the CEO and the leadership team for strength, support, and direction. The leaders themselves must accept the new approach... ... middle of paper ... ... of the outlook they seek to create, and the principles and guiding practise by which they hope to get there. The fourth discipline is team learning. Through methods like dialogue and skilful discussion, teams alter their collective thinking, learning to mobilize their energies and ability beyond the sum of individual members’ talents. The fifth discipline is systems thinking. In this discipline, people learn to better understand interdependency and change, and thus to deal more effectively with the forces that shape the consequences of actions (Green, 2007). This means that change must be driven by developing competence within the organization, by managers and workers in each unit creating and taking ownership of their change programs because they are motivated by pride in improving their professionalism and achieving better results (Ahlberg & Nauclér, 2007).
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.
Akin, G., Dunford, R., & Palmer, I. (2006). Managing Organizational Change: A Multiple Perspectives Approach, 1e. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
For a significant percentage of the workforce, change is uncomfortable and unsettling. Just when one thinks they have it all figured out, management deems it necessary to disrupt the current workflow to make way for change. Many in the workforce have a difficult time seeing the advantages of change. Resistance to change is to be expected, but organizations can soften the blow by involving stakeholders early, even before the change process begins.
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
Everything in our world is changing, from technology to marketing to distribution to capital markets. Although it’s not always shifting in the same direction, it is changing faster than ever before. These turbulent times call for individuals with the foresight and insight to guide individuals, employees, and organizations along an often overwhelming and daunting road, while providing guidance and support along the way. Although there are many definitions of what a change agent is, generally, it is agreed that a change agent is an individual or a group who works with processes, physiological effects, and innovative decision making (Ottaway, 1983). This change can occur within an individual, organization, or society (Ottaway, 1983). Change agents can be internal, for instance, managers or employees who are selected to supervise the change process. The hierarchical nature of traditional organizations is left behind in favor of training those who have the ability to oversee change (Lunenburg, 2010). Changes are not always internal. Often employed are external consultants. External consultants are typically not bound by the organization’s culture, bureaucracy, or values, therefore, they are able to bring a unique perspective to the situation and question the status quo. Regardless of whether they are internal or external, successful change agents must have a true understanding of the nature of change and how it affects organizations. There is a deep connection between ‘leading and changing’ the organization. The role of the change agent is imperative for everyone being affected to understand in order to ensure that the change occurs comfortable and effectively. The need for individuals who can lead with this perspective, navigate th...
Change and survival are synonymous. Survival demands change. Managers must be intuitive and read the current and changing situation surrounding them and make the best decision to coordinate work and apply resources. We have discussed what change is, how we depict it and what forces or creates change. Change implemented correctly can unleash employee creativity and potential, reduce bureaucracy and costs, and provide ongoing improvement for an organisation. Given these benefits it would seem a good idea to encourage change.
Graetz, F., & Smith, A. C. T. (June 2010). Managing organizational change: A philosophies of change approach. Journal of Change Management 10(2), 135–154.
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.
Organizational change tends to occur in organizations that deal predominantly with the public or rely heavily on interactions to complete tasks and projects (Rooney et al., 2010). To keep up with an ever-changing world, organizations must be flexible and change with it (Griffin, Rafferty, & Mason, 2004). The business environment changes rapidly and unpredictably with increased competition, technological developments, higher customer demand, and market globalization. In response to these pressures, organizations are structuring themselves for change so that they are flexible and ready to shift in response to threats to their effectiveness and survival (Zorn, Page, & Cheney, 2000; Kraatz & Zajac, 2001). More (1998) argues that, “successful organizations are those that initiate change, respond to change, plan change and implement change as an ongoing...
One timeless factor that has impacted all industries and businesses to some level is the need to deal with and handle change. Change comes in many forms but change always comes and organizations must be able not only to survive change they should learn to manage and even thrive with change. In order to adequately manage change organizations must be able to handle change on two different levels. Organizational change, employee or workforce change. By learning and developing a plan to manage these change factors organizations increase their ability to have sustained success in whichever market they operate in.
This essay focuses on large-scale organization change, not on individual or small groups. The latter are obviously essential building blocks to organization change, but do not assure that a larger organizational unit will itself be transformed. Attention to additional variables beyond the individual and group is required in any organizational change, including such dimensions as multiple levels of authority, relationships between departments, environmental forces impinging on the organization, the climate of the organization, and the nature of the work flow that moves across departmental boundaries.
Only a limited percentage (typically 30-50%) of major change initiatives has a positive outcome (Dent and Powley, 2001, Kotter, 1995). However, this success rate can be greatly increased if “management has a clear strategy and a way to communicate and pursue this strategy with all the employees”, (Kotter 1996).
The ideal approach to creating change in any organization is to apply a realistic and deductive method of planned change. Within the realm of planned change, there is an eight-step process to implementing a program. However, there are four elements that are fundamental to any plan of action that will allow for an environment conducive to planned change. Planned change requires that those responsible for making decisions are not only rational, but must also have access to specific information pertaining to the plan, as well as the lack of constraints on time and resources (Stojkovic et al., 2008). The four key elements of planned change help to guarantee success in reaching a rational approach to important changes.
The world is constantly changing in many different ways. Whether it is technological or cultural change is present and inevitable. Organizations are not exempt from change. As a matter of fact, organizations have to change with the world and society in order to be successful. Organizations have to constantly incorporate change in order to have a competitive advantage and satisfy their customers. Organizations use change in order to learn and grow. However, change is not something that can happen in an organization overnight. It has to be thought through and planned. The General Model of Planned Change focuses on what processes are used by the organization to implement change. In the General Model of Planned Change, four steps are used in order to complete the process of change. Entering and Contracting, Diagnosing, Planning and Implementing, and Evaluating and Institutionalizing are the four steps used in order to complete the process of change in an organization. The diagnostic process is one of the most important activities in OD(Cummings, 2009, p. 30).
Change and innovation is something that a business or organization is destined to adapt. Changes can occur from many reasons, either an expansion of a business (upsize) when good profit is being made or a contraction (downsize) when profits are down. Although changes may happen for the good of an organization, it may still affect the employees adversely. Employees may resist from various reasons like misunderstandings, self-interests or a general intolerance to any sort of change in their lives. This may happen to all sizes of businesses and these resistances to change issues must be addressed and avoided. Managers can develop strategies and techniques such as unfreezing, change intervention and refreezing. Educating misinformed employees about the need for change and communicate change-related information to them. Having employees affected by the change to participate in planning and implementing the change process. Have a discussion and agreement on who will do what after change occurs. And the resistance to change managed through coercion. (Williams & McWilliams 2014)