The Process of Transforming an Enterprise or a Business - Essay Example

?Resistance to Change Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 3 Solutions 3 Answer 3 Answer 2 7 Answer 3 8 Overall conclusion 10 Overall recommendation 10 Reference List 12 Executive Summary Change is inevitable and change is the only constant. Every business or organisation goes through change and managing organisational change is one of the important functions of all organisations. Change management is the process of transitioning teams, individuals and organisation to a future state which is positive for the business. In order to make sure that changes are implemented successfully and smoothly, structured approach are used in the change management process. In the present case study, a food processing organisation is undergoing change. The major objective of the change is to enhance the overall efficiency level of employees working in the organisation. The report will analyse the current and anticipated problems and provide solutions for an effective change management process. Introduction The process of transforming an enterprise or a business into the next advanced phase of operation from the current functional phase is known as organization change (Harigopal, 2006). It involves various changes. These can be a change in the overall processes of the firm, company ownership, and transfer of teams and employees and modification or up gradation of the functional practices. Thus, the task of implementing change, especially in case of organizational transformation can be very difficult and cumbersome. Solutions Answer 1 In the present case, the organization is going through a change. The non-salaried employees will undergo change in order to upgrade their skills and work knowledge. This will require exhaustive training sessions, workshops and pressure among the employees as well as employer. Naturally, there will be barriers to change. During change in a workplace, various types of barriers to change occur. Few of the barriers or obstacles at workplace change, which can occur, can be categorized into organizational and individual barriers, explained below; No involvement of company employees in workplace change management In order to successfully complete the process of workplace change, the management will have to look what employees think of the process. One of the major and serious barriers to organizational change occurs when employees are not involved in the change process. Unclear procedures and processes regarding goals Before implementation of any workplace change, the goals and objective of these changes should be clear in the mind of the top management. The procedures and processes should be clearly defined and proper documentation is required for any references in future. It has been seen that in most of the cases, the management is not aware for the exact objective of workplace change (Beer, M. and Nohria, N., 2000). Since these workplace change order comes from headquarters or another location, these are merely followed as orders without giving sufficient attention to the minute details and criticality of the process. Unclear procedures and processes can also be one of the primary barriers. Inefficient leadership strategies Ineffective and inefficient leadership is another barrier to successful workplace change. In order to manage and implement the change, effective leadership is extremely important for the company as well as its employees (Chen et al., 2013). In the present case it was found out that there was resistance to change even from few of the managers and executives. This has occurred as many of the managers thought that employees undergoing training and development programs might take up their positions in future. Increase in competition and loss of power and authority were other reasons expected to increase resistance among managers. Ineffective employee communication Any kind of workplace change should be properly communicated with the employees. Advance notification of workplace change helps the employees to make up their mind and be more acceptable to change. Ineffective employee communication is another area of workplace resistance which the company can face. Improper Management of resource Improper management of resource is another critical barrier to successful workplace change. Resource management means proper allocation of resources and tasks to selected professionals so that workplace change is implemented. In case of the current organization, if the projects and tasks are not allocated to proficient managers, the overall quality of the change might degrade. Employee resistance This is one of the most common barriers to workplace change. Employees generally resist any change that takes them out of their comfort zone. In the present case, the organization is undergoing a transformation and employees will be involved in various types of training and development sessions. Thus, the manager will find a common resistance to change from the employees as they world not like to divert themselves from the everyday work processes. Employee resistance can occur as a result of various factors such as: Fear and shock of the unknown Fears of unknown changes are the major reason employees resist changing. Without proper information and support, employees might panic about the change. Employees want to cling to the past methods as they are predictable and even though the new methods are proven to be effective, employees feel stranger and resist these changes (Antonacopoulou and Gabriel, 2001). In order to avoid the obstacles and reap the benefits of the new skills and technological advances, Chan must apply effective change management strategies in the organization. A step by step process that can be followed in order to bring successful organization change is described as follows: Leadership Strategies Leadership has an important role in the implementation and effective management of any change within an organization. According to many authors, initiating or leading a change process is the most difficult part, which a leader has to carry out. The role of the leader during the implementation of any change varies along with the nature of the change. Mainly there are two types of changes. One is the planned change and another one is the emergent change (Weick, 2000). In planned change, an organization implements changes in a step by step process. On the other hand, in an emergent change an organization focuses on the current issues and implements the change process but without prior intentions of doing so. The company needs to implement a planned change which will be more strategic and will involve a step by step process for the successful completion of change process (Fourie, 2003). According to the case study, the primary focus of the company is to adapt to the change process which is increasing the efficiency, flexibility and job satisfaction among employees as well as enhancing the overall reputation of the company. The planned change process for the company includes providing training and development to non-salaried employees. This can be done by including the target employees in the decision-making process, increasing the overall technology build-up of the organization, introduction of latest case studies and course materials in the training programs, conduction of live workshops and inviting managers from other organization to provide useful insights about training and its effectiveness. The top level management of True Value Food Processing should have the leadership skills required for handling the resistance of the employees towards change. The managers require possessing such leadership skills which will help them in becoming change agents who will not only direct change initiatives but will bring coordination and also encourage the activities of the organizational members for participating in the change process (Nadler, Thies and Nadler, 2001). The management should take important measures for creating a culture of innovation and knowledge sharing for decreasing the change resistance and preparing the organization for performing the change process (Suran, 2002). Decreasing individual resistance to change In this method, the senior manager of the food processing organization will have to make strategies so that the employees imagine the best possible solution which will help the organization in addressing to the concerns in enquiry in a very successful manner. Identifying the common system of aspiration among the company members will be one of the key activities of this phase (Christensen and Overdorf, 2000). In this phase the management as well as the employees will act together by taking out the positives they have identified in the change management objective and then reinforce them into the organization for building real strengths. The results from the reinforcement will help to go forward in this phase. The managers can build good points based on what others like about an organization and utilize them as an effective message for attracting various potential employees within the organization. In this phase the participants in change process think about the most possible strategy for solving the recent problems in an organization. Thus the manager can focus on the recent issues occurring as a result of less knowledge or skill in a particular operation or functional area. Efficient use of support elements Another important function of leaders is to establish the necessary elements which are required to implement the changes successfully. The support elements comprises of a realistic project plan, a proper organization structure for administering the change implementation, internal change agents, a formal communication plan, a formal training plan, removal of any possible barriers, a management group which is aligned as well as supportive and a system of feedback and periodic audits (Jones, 2004). A support program will involve a group of trained professionals who will be providing assistance to the daily activities of the change process. This team will work in group and their objective will be to ease the overall pressure and burden on the section managers. Answer 2 The section managers of the company will be responsible for bringing the change process. They will act as change agents and provide necessary training and development exercises to the non-salaried employees. Looking at the level of change and amount of involvement required for the completion of the task, it can be said that there will be resistance even from the section managers. In order to avoid these resistances, the senior manager can take few important steps. The first step in the implementation process of a change is to clearly define and communicate the strategies to the section managers. Also the senior management team can visit these section managers in order to communicate and make them understand the objective and mission of the change process. The senior management can notify these section managers about the grounds on the basis of which the company is forced to take this decision. The section managers in turn should infuse hope among the non-salaried employees about their future. In addition, the upper management of the company should also communicate about the reason behind their decision to implement such a change. If the company succeeds to remain transparent, the chances of resistance from the managers will be reduced. Also, making them aware of the real problems and issues behind the change will increase their trust and loyalty for the organization (Savolainen, 2000). Another fear which might lead to resistance among section managers is fear of losing their job or position. Since the change management program will enhance the skills, qualification and overall credibility of non-salaried employees, it is likely that many of these employees will be upgraded to the company’s payroll. Employees performing in the training program might get promoted to senior positions. These changes might induce fear of competition and ego among the section employees. In order to avoid this situation, Chan should inculcate leadership strategies among them. The section managers should be made to understand that the change process is for the overall good of the organization and everyone will be benefitting from this. The section managers need to understand that there is a need to communicate to the workers the present situation of the company so that they may feel the urgency of the organizational change. The leadership skill of the section managers should not only increase the trust among the employees but also develop a culture of innovation and knowledge sharing (Yukl, 2002). It should also help the company in increasing the capacity of production in rest of the manufacturing plants and achieving the economies of scale. The managers should have to ability to deliver change by transforming themselves into the change management process. Answer 3 Change management is an important organizational initiative, involving lot of work, time, manpower and energy. A slight inefficiency in handling the change management process might result in decreased quality of the overall change in the workplace (Kaplan, 2001). In order to increase the skills and competency of Chan, the senior manager of the food processing company, I was hired as a consultant. Various steps for an effective change management process were recommended in order to be followed. These were; Step 1- Creating a bigger message In order to accept any kind of change in the workplace, the employees need to understand what they have in it for them. The most important step in change management is identification of the big message which should be communicated in entire organization (Bushe and Marshak, 2009). This message will be the key business issue resulting in workplace change. These can be up-gradation of technology, training and development exercise for skills up-gradation, collaboration of the company etc. The right message should be in a concise and easy language. In order to fasten the communication process, the manager should deploy teams in small groups. The team members from these groups will transfer the message to all levels in the organization, thus spreading the positive message to almost every corner of the organization (George and Jones, 2001). Step 2- Taking appropriate and efficient feedback from the organization The manager can use a variety of stints and approaches in order to understand the readiness and attitude of the employees towards workplace change. The manager should participate in lunch meetings, round-table conferences and focus group meetings in order to identify the overall sentiment of employees towards the change program (Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson, 2003).These important meetings and conversations will provide useful insights about how to tailor the communication process so that the right message reaches the target group and any misunderstand or misrepresentation of the change process is removed. Step 3- Delivering the right message During official announcement of the change process, it is extremely crucial to deliver the right message. It is important that the audience have a full understanding of the methods, strategies and overall procedures (Bridges, 2003). The manager can use power point presentations, pictures, videos and clippings in order to approach the audiences. Key objective and timing are important factors which should be communicated properly (Reissner, 2010). Step 4- Anticipation of Conflicting Perspectives Conflicts in perspective during work place change will be common. Conflicts will occur between employees and mangers as well as among themselves. The manager should step in directly in issues where he can handle the situation. In case of bigger conflicts, the manager should take immediate help from the human resource team as well as the senior management team, if required (Laframboise, Nelson and Schmaltz, 2003). Step 5- Supporting the move The overall time taken for completion of workplace change might be long. Thus it is important that the motivation level and enthusiasm of the training managers as well as the employees are maintained. During the change process, any immediate issue which is making a hurdle should be removed. The employees and managers need continuous support and help for a smooth transition phase. Here, a support team can be of great use. The manager should deploy a support team which will be looking after the overall smooth flow of the organizational change and development process. In order to provide confidence, the senior manage should himself participate in support activities in order to reach out to employees and managers and help them (Gill, 2006). Step 5- Evaluation of the Process In order to evaluate the success rate of the change management process, the manager should disperse various strategies for feedback and data collection. Information should be collected about the satisfaction level of employees and the overall experience among the employees as well as the managers. The manager can also gather information though casual conversations, interviews and formal surveys. These insights and information can be of great benefit to the practical application of change management in future. The manager can make the next change process more efficient by summarizing the information, documenting it and presenting it to other leaders, senior management and human resource staffs of the company. Overall conclusion Change management is a difficult process. In the present case, the manager faced many resistances to change. The first resistance was from the employees who were to be trained. in order to resolve this issue, managers took various strategies. They first recognised the barriers to change. Sufficient power in decision making was provided to the employees. The managers also involved in one-to one discussion with employees facing problems with change. In order resolve resistance from managers, discussions were held with the senior management. Overall, with the help of effective communication change management can be implemented smoothly. Overall recommendation From the case it is clear that while implementing change in organisation, resistance will be common. In order to successfully implement change, organisations can take few steps. Proper communication within the organisation should be the first step. Managers should make sure that employees are aware of the actual objectives and goals of the organisation. Before formal announcement, managers can informally communicate with the employees in order to understand their perception about change. This will help in designing the right communication message and finding out the right channel to communicate. Once the formal announce is done, managers should organise themselves into small groups and scrutinise every step during the change process, while giving confidence and boosting up morale of the employees. in this way, effective change management can be implemented. Reference List Antonacopoulou, E. and Gabriel, Y., 2001. Emotion, learning and organizational change – towards an integration of psychoanalytic and other perspectives. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 14(5), pp. 43-51. Beer, M. and Nohria, N., 2000. Cracking the Code of Change. Harvard Business Review, 78(3), pp.133-141. Bridges, W., 2003. Managing transitions. Cambridge USA: Pareses Publishing Co. Bushe, G. R. and Marshak, R. J., 2009. Revisioning OD: Diagnostic and dialogic premises and patterns of practice. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 45(3), pp. 348?368. Chen, J., Suen, M., Lin, M. and Shieh, F., 2013. Organizational change and development. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 03 September 2013]. 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Yukl, G., 2002. Leadership in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.   Read More