Effective Organizational Change - Term Paper Example

Effective Organizational Change By Effective organizational change Introduction Organizational change is generally the approach that is implemented different individuals, teams and firms with the aim of achieving the desires goals in the future. A number of issues that are happening and occurring on today’s world trigger these changes. For instance, globalization has been enhanced by great innovations in the world of technology. This has resulted to evolvement of the ever-changing business environment. Technology has come up with platforms such as the social media platforms that require business to adopt and utilize them in order to live up the expectations of their clients. This is a good example of the need for change in our organizations. Clients are now able to access information, which they require at the comfort of their homes or different work places. This has spurred a lot of pressure to their service providers and media, as they need to live up to the expectations of their clients. Organizational change is an issue that most organizations need to embrace and adopt in order to survive and keep up with the business world today. Failure to do this, such firms and organization will experience a competitive environment that may need to them failing to achieve their goals in the near future. Organizations and firms must learn and embrace organizational change at their different work places. This is very essential and important to them. However, sometimes it is difficult to enhance change in an organization. This is because most employees have adopted a certain culture and routines, which they really embrace at their workplaces. A lot of resistance from these employees may be evident if this kid of change has to be implemented. When parties and stakeholders who are involved follow the right steps, this kind of change can be implemented successfully without much resistance from the employees. Organizational change can affect any department in the organization; hence, the heads of these departments must remain positive and open to any change, which might come along. Structure the problem from an appropriate perspective Opportunity for change Firms and organization are prone to changes in today’s business world that is greatly evolving Armenakis (Armenakis and Harris 2009). Both internal and external environmental factors can prompt change to occur in an organization. External changes can originate from the global business market. First and foremost, competition in the might take a higher notch that may require an organization to make some changes in its entire structure. At such a situation, the organization is supposed to come up with different marketing strategies in order to counter attack their competitors. Further, it has to consider any development and innovation that had led to increased competition in the market. Secondly, government rules and regulations that govern a specific a specific market may have been re-evaluate. This requires the organizations involved to change a few structures within in order to comply with this. Further, numerous technological innovations that have dominated the global market could also lead to needing for change in a particular firm or organization. Most of these inventions and innovations are meant to make work easier in these organizations. Most organizations have tried to incorporate them in their departments in order to move with the latest trends in the world of innovations. This is because most clients and stakeholders in the global market really appreciate and embrace the new technology greatly. Further, internal environmental factors could also prompt change to occur in an organization. A good example could be changes in the management of that particular organization. Normally, in an organization every manager comes up with a certain way of dealing ad handling his employees. This later leads to emergence and growth of a culture that is embraced by the employees in that specific organization. However, this kind of change is not always received well in most cases. There is because the management may not have effectively communicated the need for change at that specific time. Further, other problems could exist in that particular organization. The decision for change might not be appropriate at that particular moment. Poor leadership and management could also be another factor. Finally, employees could also be poorly motivated. Hence, the bid to implement organizational change in such a situation could be difficult. The organizational problem Resistance to change In most organizations today, change always faces a lot of resistance from the people who are involved in the process. Therefore, it is important for the stakeholders who are involved in that particular kind of change to effectively communicate to the concerned parties on time and adequately. This kind of resistance may be caused by different factors within the work environment. Firstly, resistance could be caused by uncertainty. Most employees worry about what will happen when the change will be implemented. This is because it could affect their roles and responsibilities. In most cases, they worry about losing their jobs. With most organizations adopting new technology, there is less paper work in their offices. Therefore, most employees have a mentality that the proposed change will lead to loss of jobs.The proposed change could affect a number of different departments. Restricting might be required in such a situation; hence, employees might be concerned about their person loss. Some of them could end up being retrenched if their roles and contributions are scrapped off. Secondly, member of staff could form a resistance group in the organization. This is because these people have stayed together for a long time, and they effectively communicate with each other. Further, these employees may have lost trust with the management due to previous occurrences where change was to be impacted but it was not successful. Additionally, they could also be aware, or they could foresee some weaknesses in the proposed change. All these factors create resistance from the employees of any organization to any change that is proposed. Develop a problem statement 100 words Organizational change is a topic that has dominated most organizations and firms in the world today. In most cases, most employees do not always welcome this idea. Rather, they create a lot of resistance due to fear of what repercussions the proposed change might come with. A number of factors that influence the well-being of employees normally bring this kind of resistance. Change proposed could bring about positive or negative impacts to both the organization and the employees. Hence, all stakeholders involved and affected by this kind of change must analyze and criticize the proposed change before it is implemented. This will enable the organization to save much time and resources. Recommendations Resistance to change can be solved in a number of ways by the stakeholders involved. Different approaches can be employed to overcome this challenge brought by proposed change. Firstly, the organization should and must communicate effectively with all their employees. This will enable the employees to be prepared mentally and psychologically. It will also give them time to analyze and criticize the proposed change. The management should also give them a reason as to why they should implement the proposed change at that particular moment. Effective and efficient communication can be achieved through open discussions, group presentations by the management or even through reports and other forms of publications. For this to be achieved adequately, they employees of that particular organization must have full trust with their employers. Adequate training may also be required in order to effectively implement the proposed change. As we have seen earlier, numerous innovations in the world of technology has brought many changes in organizations (Dalton and Lawrence 1970). This is because they have to adopt this new technology in order to satisfy the needs of their clients. Hence, the management of a particular organization will have to train their employees on the developments that come across with the proposed change. Experienced personnel must conduct these trainings in the right way. Enough time and resources should also be allocated. When the employees are fully equipped, and they know the reason for the proposed change, there will be minimal resistance from them. Hence, proper communication and efficient trainings play an important role in reducing resistance of the proposed change by the employees. Secondly, participation and direct involvement of all employees should be promoted. These employees should be involved in the entire planning and implementation of the propped change. Planning involves a number of activities (Tidd 2001). This includes assessing and analyzing the proposed change after it is introduced to the other parties. Extensive research may also be carried out to determine its viability and reliability. Their input in the form of suggestions and also criticism is also encouraged. All views and suggestions should be listened by the management that is imposing the proposed change. Later, they should be reviewed and the best of them to be incorporated with the proposed change. Through this platform, the management can be able to identify potential problems and challenges that might be brought by this kind of change. Further, all the stakeholders involved can suggest a number of modifications to solve this. Direct involvement of these employees helps to reduces instances of resistance in the organization. This is because when all employees are involved, they dedicate and commit themselves fully into the process. Additionally, they increase and improve the quality of the proposed change. They are the main implementers of the change; therefore, their inputs and suggestions should be considered before a final decision is made (Mossop 1985). The management should also accord proper facilitation and support. However, the kind and level of leadership that is present in that particular organization directly affects the success of the implementation of the proposed change. A good leader listens to ideas and suggestions of the employees. He should also be approachable and friendly with the employees. These kinds of leaders strive to ensure that the working environment is pleasant and conducive. Also, the management of the organization should also negotiate and agree with their employees on the way forward on the proposed change. They should agree on what time and resources are required to implement the desired change in the organization. Further, the implementation process should occur where a timeline should be allocated. An opportunity for any change that might be required in the course of implementation should also be provided (Konnor and Lake 1988). Employees are the ones responsible in ensuring that the proposed change actually happens. Allocation of an enough and realistic timeline is very important because it ensures all resources and equipment which are required are provided on time. Finally, when the proposed change is implemented, a follow-up process should be incorporated. This provides a room for monitoring and evaluation of the entire change process. The management is also able to assess and determine whether the proposed change is working. Also, they determine whether the expected outcomes are achieved within the allocated timeline. However, in some cases, the proposed change may exceed the allocated timeline before the expected outcome is achieved. This is very normal in any organization and the management should not give up. Rather, they should try to study and examine the loopholes that existed. Necessary adjustments should be made to ensure the desired outcome is finally achieved. This is the most important and final level of assessment in ensuring that the proposed outcome is achieved by the end of its allocated timeline. In addition, the management should also remove all the barriers that are exist within the organization that may affect or negatively influence the change process. These barriers could be unskilled employees, lack of cooperation within departments and employees and lack of the required resources to implement the proposed change. A limited timeline could also be a barrier. It is the role and responsibility of the management to ensure that all these barriers are removed or acted upon. In some cases, the management is forced to remove some employees in their positions in order to achieve the proposed change (Armenakis and Harris 2009). When the proposed change is finally achieved, both the management and the employees should celebrate their achievements (Senior and Swailes 2010). This motivates these employees to participate in other processes. Generally, when the employees of a given organization understand the importance and role of the proposed change in their working environment, likely, they will work hard with the aim of making it happen. Hence, the management should ensure that all employees are aware and understand the expected outcome of the proposed change in the organization. Conclusion Organizational change is a topic that brings many mixed reactions from the employees and management of the organization. The reason behind this is that the entire process brings many changes. In today’s world, technology is really bringing many changes in our organizations. Some of the technology can influence the welfare of the employees in various ways (Shafiq et al. 2012). Hence, most of them tend to be resistant to this kind of changes in their organization. Factors that have been discussed shows reasons for employees’ resistance to the proposed change. Uncertainty and fear of tomorrow is the main cause of resistance by the employees in any proposed change process. Therefore, before the management proposes any change that is bound to happen in the organization, it is important to consult their employees on their views and suggestions. Further, the employees should be flexible and ready to learn what the new technology brings abroad. There are great and numerous inventions and innovations in the world of technology. Most of them make the work easier in our working environments. Hence, the employees should appreciate their existence and be ready to accept changes that might come along with them (Beer et al. 1990). Additionally, it is the role of the management to ensure that the change process is well planned. This may require them to train their employees especially if it is an implementation of an innovation brought by the new technology. Enough timeline should also be allocated to ensure that there is enough time to accomplish this. Further, all other resources, which may be required, should also be provided in advance. Employees’ involvement in planning from the initial them motivates and helps to reduce any occurrence of resistance to the proposed change. Hence, to eliminate any kind of resistance to achieve the desired outcome, the management should apply all the discussed recommendations in the essay. However, this depends with the nature of the proposed change and the working environment where the change is expected to be implemented. In my view, most organization should appreciate and adopt organizational changes especially those brought about by the new technology. References Achilles, A. A., & Bedeian, A. G 1999, ‘Organizational Change: A Review of Theory and Research in the 1990s’, Journal of Management, 293-315. Appelbaum, S., Habashy, S., Malo, J., & Shafiq, H 2012, ‘Back to the Future: Revisisting Kotters 1996 Change Model’, Journal of Management Development, 64-782. Armenakis, A., & Harris, S. 2009, ‘Reflection: Our Journey in Organizational Change Research and Practice’, Journal of Change Management, 127-145. Beer, M., Russell, E. A., & Spector, B. 1990, ‘Why Change Programs Dont Produce Change’, Havard Business Review, 1-10. Senior, B., & Swailes, S. 2010, Organizational Change, Sage Publications: FT Prentice Hall. Lippitt, G. L., Langseth, P., & Mossop, J. 1985, ‘Implementing organizational change, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass’. Connor, P. E., & Lake, L. K. 1988, Managing organizational change, Praeger: New York. Tidd, J., Bessant, J. R., & Pavvit, K. 2001, Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and organizational change. John Wiley: Chichester [England]. Dalton, G. W. Lawrence, P. R. 1970, Organizational Change and Development, Homewood, Ill, R.D. Irwin. Read More