MANAGING CHANGE
Change is a necessary way of life. It is all around people: in the seasons, in their social environment, and in their own biological processes .Beginning with the first few moments of life, a person learns to meet change by being adaptive. A person’s very first breath depends on ability to adapt from one environment to another. As indicated by the first quotation introducing this essay, each hour is different, offering people new experiences.
Since human beings are adaptive and familiar with change, how is it that they often resist change in their work environment? This question had troubled managers since the beginning of the industrial revolution, and the fast peace of change required by the electronic age has made
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This means that people develop an established set of relations with their environment. They learn how to deal with each other, how to perform their jobs and what to expect next. When change comes along, it requires them to make new adjustments as the organization seeks a new equilibrium. When employees are unable to make adequate adjustments, the organization is in a state of unbalance, or disequilibrium. Management’s general human objective regarding change is to restore and maintain the group equilibrium and personal adjustment that change upsets.
Responses to change
Work change is further complicated by the fact that is does not produce a direct adjustment as in case of air molecules. Instead, it operates trough each employee’s attitudes to produce a response that is conditioned by feelings toward the change. This relationship was illustrated in a series of classic experiments by Roethlisberger and his associates. In one instance lighting was improved regularly according to the theory that better lighting would lead to greater productivity. As was expected, productivity did increase. The lighting was decreased to illustrate the reverse effect-reduced productivity. Instead, productivity increased further! Lighting was again decreased. The result was still greater productivity! Finally, lighting was decreased to 0.06 of a footcandle, which is approximately equivalent to moonlight. According to Roethlisberger, “Not until
Many people may resist change because they fear they will lose their jobs, status or position. It may be because they do not fully understand the purpose of change, or they may have a different perspective on the change than their management. “Individuals, groups, and organizations must be motivated to change. But if people perceive no performance gap or if they consider the gap unimportant, they will not have this motivation. Moreover, they will resist changes that others try to introduce,” Bateman and Zeithaml explained. Many times change for people at work
Organizations do not change, people do (Sullivan and Decker, 2009). A manager’s responsibility is to manage people. Change is difficult for most people and managing through the change process is not an easy task. Many theories on managing change exist, but they basically have four elements: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). A manager’s role is to examine each of these elements and apply them to the people that he or she leads.
The human resources department needs to revisit some of their decisions to strength their portion of the structure and better the company for the future. The high turnover rate has caused lack of employee motivation, low morale and with pay levels below their competitors’standards; there is lack of structure in the performance review process within the entire company. These issues can be corrected by creating a coaching, feedback process, and
Defining Change Change can be defined as an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another, the result of alteration or modification, to lay aside, abandon, or leave for another, become different in essence; to lose one's or its original nature, to make different; cause a transformation, or to make or become different in some particular way, without permanently losing one's or its former characteristics or essence. There are many different views as to the complexity of change. Some may believe change is an illusion and nothing ever really changes. However, the majority, such as the post structuralism theorists, believe that change is inevitable. Change can be viewed
Lippitt’s Phases of Change is an extension of Lewin’s Three-Step Theory. The focus on Lippitt’s change theory is on the change agent rather than the change itself.
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.
After reviewing and researching the literature with respect to organizational changes, I have come to the conclusion that organizations have always changed. When everything in the world is changing, organization cannot remain islands. They must change to face new challenges. Bolman and Deal (2008) claim organizations have changed about as much as in past few decades as in the preceding century. Bolman and Deal (2008) claim means that the change organizations have experienced in the last decade are almost similar to those they experience in at the end of the twentieth century.
Process‐driven change seeks to create a context and environment in which employees at all levels of
it is supported by case studies that the linkage between inability of identifying of retail environmental changes and Zahra’s new rescue plan for David Jones failed because after the new rescue plan of Zahra, net profit and share price continued to decrease. Moreover, the case study said that ‘it may be a good five years before strategy can be assessed properly’ (Waddell Waddell, Cummings & Worley 2014).
After acquired to change management subject, I think that change is a state of transformation which results in an essential shift in the way we observe and interact with the world. The concept of change is more important in our lives as it enables us to face new experiences, either it be good or bad. To be safe from bad experience of change, knowledge to manage the change is compulsory for
Health care organizations that choose to convert to an electronic medical record system (EMR) have several advantages; most important it increases patient safety, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and security. Accepting such a transition also presents with its share of challenges like preparing for the required significant time obligation and resources that will make the transition a successful one. Leadership and management must create an atmosphere that will get the buy-in of all stakeholders. Providing information about the process and what methods will be best to make the conversion to an EMR system is an important aspect of the implementation
Certainly, there are several reasons why people don’t like to undergo a change situation. Firstly, some people are more concerned about the implications of change to themselves rather than thinking of the benefits it could bring for the company for example, I feel more comfortable working where there is more interaction with customers rather than working inside the office. Secondly, it somewhat also depends on the individual’s level of tolerance to change; some people feel more secured and satisfied with current working environment. Furthermore, there might be inadequate information about the benefits a change can bring in to them and the organization. Therefore employees are usually hesitant of undergoing a change situation. However, chapter 6 of Organizational Change looks into how we can minimise resistance to change in an organization which is described as Kotter’s theory. Kotter suggested six strategies for overcoming resistance to change:
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
In order to survive and prosper in a rapid changing environment of business world, organization is often required to generate fast response to changes (French, Bell & Zawacki, 2005). Change management means to plan, initiate, realize, control, and finally stabilize change processes on both, corporate and personal level. Change may cover such diverse problems as for example strategic direction or personal development programs for staffs. In this
Resistance to change is one of the biggest barriers that organizations face in their efforts to implement organizational change. This greatly hampers the uptake of new technologies, new ways of doing work and even progress of organizations. Reviewing on this, the British Journal of