Mutual Engagement and Shared Diagnosis
Organizations must respond to their internal and external environment. Therefore, organizational success heavily relies on leaderships ability to manage change. Unfortunately, many leaders struggle to effectively lead change initiatives. In fact, Ashkenas (2013, para. 1) reported 60 – 70% of organizational change initiatives fail to meet their objectives.
Change is difficult because all organizations cultures, structures, mission, and values are unique. As a result, there is not a “blueprint” that leaders can follow to ensure change initiative success. However, understanding the conditions that promote successful change processes is critically important for leaders. If employees do not support
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They enlisted volunteers to help work on the central problems reported by employees. The team soon began to question the effectiveness and efficiency of standard practices. With the help of all employees, the teams eventually devised a list of 30 suggestion that would greatly improve the working environment.
Not only were the leaders impressed by the employees insights, they took action to address all of the problems. As a result, participation increased, communication improved, relationship between employees and management improved, and access to training and development opportunities were wide-spread. But most importantly, once the original change initiatives were introduced, employees embraced the initiatives, offered insights on how to improve their outcomes, and ensured their success.
Pursuing Mutual Engagement and Shared Diagnosis
Mutual engagement is the process of building a participatory dialogue among employees at all organizational levels. Mutual engagement plays a pivotal role in change initiatives because creates an environment where all employees are committed to consistently act in the best interest of the organization. Shared diagnosis is a process that creates widespread agreement about the need and requirements for change. It is important because when employees participate with diagnosing problems, they understand their
As a result, Zwick (2002, p. 542) has noted that implementing change programmes in organisations that realise positive outcomes remain problematic for many organisations in the 21st century. Ayodeji & Oyesola (2011, p. 235) have postulated that organisational change is a dynamic process, which when taken poorly contribute to employee resistance to it, and eventually leads to failure of the whole process. 3|Page Organisation Behaviour; MGTS 1601; Individual Essay; Employee resistance to change Yuanli Zhang 43401163 Employees resist changes when they occur in the organisations for several reasons. Many organisations when they introduce changes are likely to stick to the ‘top-down organisational change’ process (Awasthy, Chandrasekaran & Gupta, 2011, pp.
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.
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
Employees are the most important, and often, most costly asset within any organisation. Ensuring they are fully engaged and committed to the success of the business is crucial. Listed below are the activities needed to reinforce the connection employees have with their company, job and colleagues, leading to a more satisfied and motivated workforce.
Leadership is critical when executing a strategic change initiative. By differentiating leadership and management, leadership styles and the key factors of change we can better understand what should be done to successfully lead change. Success is not obtained through leadership alone but by developing a group of individuals from all levels of the organization who work together as a team. . (Leban and Stone, 2007)
The need for each individual to recognizing and accepting change has in fact become such a mantra, and been given so much lip service within the organization, in recent years, that it has nearly lost its meaning from over exposure. This may be due in part to the fact that many of the leaders feel the need to affect changes simply for the sake of making changes. Things that they can then lay claim to and take credit and receive potential recognition for. Every leader in turn steps in to affect their own series of changes during their short tinier in change, with little thought to the long term effects on those who must live through all this unnecessary and relatively disruptive turmoil. This is because few of these leaders have taken the time to identify and exact meaningful, necessary and therefore truly lasting positive changes. No, instead the vast majority is change simply for the sake of change and the turmoil that accompanies
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.
It is a difficult task when soliciting buy-in from subordinates in an organizational change initiative due to an inherent resistance to change. This synopsis will present three change tactics that are commonly used to engage employees in the change process and they are: Kotter’s 8-step Process for Leading Change, the Change Management Foundation Model, and Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act model. It will also discuss why organizations should use benchmarks in the change process. This document will conclude with a summary of this discussion.
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.
In order to examine this issue further, this research will look at a number of different sources. Contemporary managerial sources are explored in order to understand how other voices in the field are describing similar methods for change. First, popular structures for change management are examined, especially within their correlation to Palmer & Dunford (2009). This is followed with an extensive
Competitive imperatives of market forces and customer demands in today’s environment have led to the emergence of less hierarchical and more flexible organisations (Doyle, 2001). In working towards this paradigm shift, a distinction and clarification of the relationship between leadership and management in the change process needs to be addressed. According to Caldwell (2003), change leaders are executives or senior managers at the very top of the organisation who envision, initiate or sponsor strategic change of far-reaching or transformational nature by challenging the status quo, communicating a vision that employees believe in, and empowering them to act. In contrast, change managers are usually middle level managers and functional
As defined by Katzenbach (1995), change leadership is “the process whereby individuals who lead initiatives that influence dozens to hundreds of others to perform differently—and better—by applying multiple leadership and change approaches.” Leadership alone is defined as setting a direction and developing the strategies necessary to move in that direction – that is, creating and achieving a vision – leadership is thus a process to do with change (Kotter 1999). Change leadership is critically important to the continuing success of organizations everywhere. Tennant Company understands and invests in change leadership by employing a Sr. Organization Development Manager named Annelise Larson, M.B.A. whose efforts includes setting direction, developing strategies, and leading initiatives through organizational change efforts. An interview was conducted with Annelise Larson to discuss and learn about her change leadership abilities. For the purposes of this paper, the interview questions will be shared, a summary will be provided, and five recommendations are made for Annelise Larson as a change leader.
In order to move forward and keep ahead, I believe an organization need change leaders who have capabilities to have their workforce go from change avoidance to change acceptance. “One of the most significant strengths of an effective leader is the ability to create a positive work climate where people are energized to do their best work, free of unnecessary distractions” (Cronkite, n.d.). During this part of the change process I feel the change leader would have better success if he would be tactful and harness the skills of others by working in a collaborative rather than hierarchical way. Leadership in an organization involves instilling motivation and enthusiasm in the employees. An effective leader knows how to manage and tackle difficult situations and people. Many reasons can cause a force of change in organizations but I feel it’s up to change leaders to manage these planned and unexpected changes. (Word count: 548)
Daft explains organization development as a three-step process of unfreezing, changing and refreezing (Daft, 2014). Overcoming resistance to change occurs during the unfreezing stage where “people throughout the organization [are made] aware of problems and the need for change. This stage creates the motivation for people to change their attitudes and behaviors” (Daft, 2014). Participation of those directly affected by the change has been shown to be the most effective technique in reducing resistance to change and minimizing the disruptive period of organization readjustment that naturally follows any change in the workplace.
In order for a change to turn over successfully, managers in an organization must also consider employees’ feelings and input. People react to changes in different ways, whether they disagree with it or not. It is important for managers to address concerns to help shift the organizational culture in an even more positive direction. Salmond (1998) proposes a 12-step action plan for managing and preparing employees during an organizational change (See Appendix C; p. 40). She notes that these are not progressive steps because it depends on how people react to the changes, and how many changes are taking place simultaneously (Salmond, 1998, p. 40). Each of them fall under 4 different categories: plan for change, manage responses to change, promote new skills and behavior, and reinforce change (Salmond, 1998, p. 40). Knowing the type of change, as described in step 1, will depend on the scope (the degree of change), timing (proactive versus reactive), the degree of behavioral change, and learning that must follow (Salmond, 1998, p. 40).