Organizational Change Essay

Change is not something to be taken lightly. "This issue of change is one of the greatest challenges in the workplace today" (Fralix, P., 1998). One of the pitfalls of change within an organization is employees' fear of what change will bring. Will implementing new technologies destroy my job? Will I be able to keep up with the changes in my organization? These are some of the questions that bring about employee apprehension to changes in business. This very apprehension can determine the success or the failure of change within that system. Yet change is inevitable. Much like the Darwinian theory of survival, the company that can adapt with changes in emerging technologies will survive in today's society. So how

Businesses are facing a dichotomy between wanting to chalk out an all-time structure and strategy for their organization, and recognizing that their world is in a constant state of flux [3]. For most of the 20th century they were largely focused on the static elements of this dichotomy. However, in the last decade changes have become more frequent and more dramatic, so much so that a whole branch of management is now devoted to the subject of change itself.

Armstrong (2009) indicated that change is the only thing which is constant in any organization. The work of Kotter (1990) however noted that organizations are in a state of constant flux. The fact that organizational change is inevitable is a constant element of all organizations that seek to adapt to new challenges as well as approaches (Mullins,2010).

In order to bring about a successful change, it is important to first consider the rationale for change. The organization and people being impacted by the change must understand the desire for change, benefits, and importance of supporting the change. After the change has been embraced and implemented successfully, it is essential for the organization to incorporate it as a standard practice, motivate the personnel to utilize it, and adhere to the change to influence positive

Change Leadership: An Evaluation of Change in Cancer Care Treatment and Surveillance at the New Mexico Veterans Administration Health Care Services

Change management according to many becomes essential for the following reason: external pressure; which can encompass competition, new technology, cost, and regulation changes. Furthermore, economic and social conditions can escalate long-term change necessary. This paper will discuss several aspects of change management models, theories, and application thereof. In addition, it will provide overviews of the drivers of change, factors necessary for to implement change successfully, strategies and expectations of management, and leadership styles needed for influence and effectiveness.

Change is a constant in today’s organisations. In a Recent CIPD survey it found more than half of all employees said that their organisation has been going through some kind of major change during the last year. Most organisations more than ten years old look nothing like they did even five years ago. And it is likely that in the next year or two organisations will not look as they do today. Below are 6 factors that drive and influence change In any organisation.

What a manager does and how it is done can be categorised by Henri Fayol’s four functions of management: Planning, Organising, Leading and Controlling. Through these functions managers can be catalysts for change or by definition change agents – “People who act as catalysts and manage the change process.” (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, 2000, p.438) Wether performing the role of the change agent or not, change is an integral part of a manager’s job. Change is “An alteration in people, structure or technology.” (Robbins et al., 2000, p.437) Change occurs within and around organisations today at an unprecedented speed and complexity. Change poses threats and creates opportunities. The fact that change creates opportunities is reason

The Lee & Alexander (1999) study in general showed that when change occurs organizational characteristics following it are

The purpose of this paper is to discuss organizational change and the management of that change. I will talk about the different drivers of change, the factors a leader needs to weigh to implement change effectively, the various resistances a leader may encounter while trying to implement change, and how various leadership styles will effect the realization of change. I will also discuss the knowledge I have gained through the completion of this assignment and how I think it might affect the way I manage change in my workplace.

When implementing a successful change initiative, Kotter stated you must “win over the hearts and minds of the employees” (Kotter, 2011). After all the changes are recognized, the leader and team need to push through the stages and stay on track with the initiative that has been set. Once all the stages of the change initiative have been determined and initiated, behavior in the culture needs to change to compliment the changes that have been put into place (Cohen & Kotter, 2012). It is often difficult to keep employees out of their comfort zone and keep them on track with the change (Kotter, 2012).

Burke (2014) stated that organizations change from day to day. The changes that take place in organizations can be intentional or unintentional. Generally, the changes that occur is accidental. It is important to have a broader and deeper knowledge of understanding organization change. Understanding what is currently happening as well as trends in which the organization is functioning can provide such awareness.

Organizational change, like innovation, is hard to specify. It can be described as any alternation or modification, which occurs in the overall work environment of an organization. Moran and Brightman (2000) defined it as the process of continually renewing an organization’s direction, structure, and capabilities to serve the ever-changing needs of external and internal customers. It tend to focus on the management of formally planned changes and it is indicating a macro- level approach, which is concerned with organisation as a whole (King and Anderson, 2002). Due its complexity, many researchers categorised organizational change in different ways, for e.g. Pettigrew (1987) separated it into strategic and non-strategic change while Goodstein and Warner (1995) divided it into incremental and radical change. However the starting point for discussing variations of change is Grundy’s (1993) three variations of change. The first, smooth incremental change changes slowly in a systematic and predicable way. The second variety of change Grundy terms ‘bumpy incremental change’. This is characterized by periods of relative calmness disrupted by rushing in the pace of change. Grundy’s third variety of change is ‘discontinuous change’, which he defines as ‘change which is marked by rapid shifts in strategy, structure or culture, or in all

The question chosen is based on Exodus Travels, the company which I worked for. During the 15 years at exodus travels I have seen lots of new working systems (systems the company uses to book passengers holidays, costings of the trips and also air ticket booking system come into place. Sometimes the Exodus has found it difficult to implement these new systems. Some employees have found it difficult to accept or adopt these changes because there is lack of clear understanding of the concepts of knowledge change which leads to confusion between the employers and the employees.

Over the past decades, organizational changes have become recurrent. It then became decisive for managers to perfectly understand this phenomenon in order to lead organizations to efficiency.