Organizational change is inevitable and it is important for companies to embrace and implement change without suffering severe consequences. Change can occur for several reasons, but first let’s discuss two different categories where change comes from. Change has two drivers: external and internal. Things such as laws, demographics, competition, or the economy drives external change; while internal change is driven by internal factors such as new management systems, increase in morale or the implementation of new technology. People naturally fear change and most will resist it. In order for a company to transition smoothly, it will need to do extensive planning from beginning to end. There are several steps a company can take to make the adjustment easier, starting with managing the change appropriately.
It is extremely important to manage change appropriately from the very beginning in order to eliminate any immediate negative side effects. The first step is to select a management team to lead the change. A plan of action needs to be in place and it must address issues that are likely to occur, such as employee resistance. The management team should be active, visible and approachable by all employees. Talk and discuss the changes that will be taking place, give reasons of why the changes are happening. David Jones, change consultant, said “Get clear about why you need to make a change. Is there a business imperative?” (Robinson). Employees are more understanding when they
To successfully implement change, employees need to understand how this will benefit them and impact their daily work. One of the things is that something might look good on paper can have drawbacks that are not realized by the planners, but can be easily identified by the employees who must implement the change. Therefore as a manager you need to bring the idea to the employees and get their feedback and continue to empower the employees to make the change that will work for them. Since change doesn’t happen overnight a manager needs to continually in monitoring the process and to assist the
Step 2 is forming a powerful guiding coalition. Leadership will have to be on board and on the same page in regards to the change. Kotter and Cohen reveal the core problems people face when leading change. Their main findings are that the central issue concerns not structure or systems but behavior and how to alter it (Farris, 2008). The success of the changes will depend on the ability of the managers to show their commitment to change and motivate the employees to do the same. Without any process to track the implementation, the change can also fail.
In order to successfully and effectively implement change all of the employees should have a good understanding of how the changes will benefit the organization, their positions, and how it might impact their routines. To many employees the implementation of change is not always properly communicated, and the process of change on paper as it is being implemented can be threatening as well as confusing. Also, the people behind the scenes making the changes may not have taken specific details into consideration regarding effective changes that perhaps the employees
Implementing change in an organization is complicated. It is important that a manager understands their role and responsibilities for which could very well be the success or failure of an organization. A manager should know how to handle staff resistance, and the areas that require change. There are processes that help management with assisting their staff members with adjusting to change and concentrate on the areas of importance. This process includes planning, assessment, implementation, and evaluation. The difference between a failed organization and a successful manager is when the manager has the ability to implement change with little disruption to
The more active the participants are in the planning, the less resistance there will be later (Sullivan & Decker). If staff does not trust leadership, does not share the organization's vision, does not buy into the reason for change, and aren't included in the planning, there will be no successful change, regardless of how brilliant the strategy (Goman, 2000). How people react to change is important to understand. Change takes an emotional toll on people, some more than others. It is important not to underestimate that toll and understand who will have a harder time adapting to change. Fear of change has many roots. Those roots can be a lack of trust, fear of failure, fear of loss of income or a belief that the change is unnecessary (Sullivan & Decker). By understanding the reason for the resistance a manager can help the employee overcome his or her fear and become a supporter of the change. The last two steps are to provide feedback mechanisms to keep everyone informed of the progress of change and evaluate the effectiveness of change (Sullivan & Decker). People need to be kept informed of the change process to minimize anxiety. Sometimes there are unexpected consequences to the change, and it is important to have a system in place for those consequences to be discussed and if needed more changes made in order to accommodate those consequences.
Managers need to determine the best method of communicating the changes to the employees that are directly affected. This material presented in last weeks class and in the course material helped us understand how important communication is when implementing changes in a work environment. The course book identified four main approaches to managing change in an organization. Lewins’ Three-Step Model argued that successful change in an organization follows three steps: Unfreezing the status quo, movement to a desired end state, and refreezing the new change to make it permanent. (Robbins & Judge, 2011). This approach requires manages to evaluate the need for change and implement a plan of action to help the organization manage changes effectively.
Communication – Talk about the change vision, if people have anxieties then address these openly and honestly. Tie in the vision to all areas of the business from training to performance reviews
Week 3, the lecture on Managing Change describes organizational changes that occur when a company makes a shift from its current state to some preferred future state. Managing organizational change is the process of planning and implementing change in organizations in such a way as to decrease employee resistance and cost to the organization while concurrently expanding the effectiveness of the change effort. Today's business environment requires companies to undergo changes almost constantly if they are to remain competitive. Students of organizational change identify areas of change in order to analyze them. A manager trying to implement a change, no matter how small, should expect to encounter some resistance from within the organization.
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.
You also must form a powerful coalition and create a vision for change. This begins with strong leadership and effective communication skills in order to communicate your vision. Another step in the process is to remove obstacle or barriers that may block or prevent change from happening. You must also motivate the team along the way by creating short term goals, building on change and anchoring the changes in corporate culture. Kotter put an emphasis on step one which is creating urgency for change. You must be convincing and open when presenting this change to your team to gain their support. It is important to give scenarios, show the benefits of making this change and the drawbacks of not making the change.
Introducing organisational change is often hard, the main reasons for that can be variation in perceptions of the employees, fear of disruption or failure and underlining the right approach to apply change. Then even if the change in a specific organisation is projected successfully there is still lot to be done to manage it in an appropriate way (Oakland, 2007).
Change in a business is inevitable and typically only the strongest thrive. With a fluctuating economy and constant technological advancements, organizations are expected to adapt in order to survive. When a business is posed with an issue or change, it must develop new business and strategy structures and implements those developments throughout the entire company. Communication, education and participation are all required for a change model to be successful. Though change and adaptation may be needed to better the company, with implementation of change comes resistance. Most companies face resistance on an organizational and individual level during a transition. However, it is how the company is able to overcome
The change is managed through developing a detailed analysis of current and prospective situations within an organization. It is necessary to address all relevant aspects of change in order to develop a plan for incorporating change in
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.
In this dynamic business environment, change is inevitable. Changes can be planned, or unintentional: depending on the driving forces behind. The major forces for change can be derived from the nature of the workforce, technology, economic shocks, competition, social trends, and world politics (Robbins & Judge, 2011). In this post the author will explain the Kotter’s eight –step approaches to managing organizational change and discuss how his company handles the planned changes in term of organization reconstruction.