Reflected Summery - Essay Example

REFLECTIVE SUMMARY The Focus on the Future project provided new insights into what drives organizational change as it relates to the environment. Through research and consultation with literature describing change management theory and process, information was gained about the potential resistance factors to structural or policy-related changes. Most important was new understanding about the McKinsey 7-S model and how all operational components associated with university operation are inter-linked with one another.

By identifying the different key roles and activities that occur within the organizational environment, models like McKinsey 7-S help to secure better methodology for many different university activities. These include marketing, employee relationship development, training, and developing better core competencies to give the university more enrollment and better brand presence. Consultation with literature regarding risk management identified that many for-profit businesses struggle with identifying risks proactively.

However, models like the McKinsey 7-S model provide opportunities to expand beyond just the internal structural and operational environments and view the impact of activities on the outside world. At the same time, it helps to understand what forces pull or push new decision-making when considering external forces, such as customers, partnerships with external consultants, and building relationships with outside stakeholders. These understandings are vital for universities that are always in a constant state of change and for one like Heriot that is looking for new methods to stay competitive and meet student needs effectively.

The core competency of culture is another important identity for Heriot since it is necessary to gain inter-organizational support to meet the objective of a more future-focused and student-centered philosophy. The attitudes, values and activities of staff, administration and students, as well as external partners, require a variety of cohesive strategies to ensure that the entire organization is aligned to meeting tomorrow’s goals. There is so much of strategy involved in university operations, upon reflection, based on the mission and vision of a change objective and trying to project where the organization might be five or even 10 years into the future.

The Focus on the Future project provided knowledge about the long-term consequences of improper change, inability to gain cultural support from within, and putting too much reliance on the expertise of outside consultant partners. The literature which described change resistance as being dysfunctional and irrational emotional responses to new processes and policies inspired a desire to consult with other literature on the psychological dimensions of teamwork and generalized human behavior. The Focus on the Future project motivated a new interest in sociology and psychology, as part of independent study, to assist in better establishing relationships in an organizational environment and the social structures that guide individual behavior.

It seems that once a researcher understands the cause of change resistance, as well as the driving or restraining forces that lead to project or team failure, strengths and weaknesses can be developed in management and administrative style to meet performance goals and mission/value objectives successfully. It is only with analysis and research of the internal organizational structure and external components that can influence success or failure that one comes to fully understand how to build a quality change objective.

The Focus on the Future project taught all of this and so much more in a variety of ways.