Dangers of Clinging to Solutions of the Past - Essay Example

Section/# Change Management: An Overview of Wall Street Journal Article “Dangers of Clinging to Solutions of the Past” One of the interesting facets of change and change management is the many different theories surrounding the ways in which change can and should be integrated within different organizations, within different groups, and via different means. As such, it is oftentimes impossible to come to a broad overarching framework with regards to a fundamental and/or absolute way in which change should be effected within a group or organization. Whereas many studies have been performed and a wide array of viewpoints determined, the application of these theories into real world situations oftentimes lead to entirely different outcomes than would otherwise be expected. As such, this student has reviewed an article within the Wall Street Journal which is specifically directed towards project management and the means by which project managers ultimately succeed or fail. The article itself, entitled, “Dangers of Clinging to Solutions of the Past” approaches the topic of expertise and it applications within project management from a different perspective than almost all other research articles or readings in the press have. Rather than assuming that a great degree of experience is necessarily represents a net asset to the organization, the approach of the author of the article, as well as the information that was reviewed is that the prior knowledge of a manager is not a pre-requisite to success and worse still may represent a very broad range of negative carryovers from incorrect ways that problems had been tackled in the past. As a function of understanding these nuances, the following brief paper will seek to highlight the ways in which traditional understandings of the importance of experience significantly deviate from the perspective that the author of this particular piece of journalism has concluded. Although it is of course incorrect to take a piece of journalism such as the Wall Street Journal and draw a wide range of inference from it with regards to the way in which project management should necessarily proceed, this alongside the other forms of inference that the student can glean from reading management textbooks and a range of peer reviewed articles help to paint the picture of how aspects of so-called “common sense” deviates significantly from what practicality and actuality demand. Whereas our current model of understanding change and leadership center around finding an individual with the sage knowledge to guide a firm, organization, or group of employees towards the new paradigm, the fact of the matter is, as discussed by the article’s author, that oftentimes the change leader with little to no prior experience within such a context can oftentimes evoke a more positive transition than one who has a storied past illustrated during a broad career. As the author notes, this is the result of the fact that few if any change managers that have a broad level of experience have been proven to integrate positive change in an organization. Conversely, those managers that have little if any real world experience have to do what the author refers to as “learn on their feet”. In this way, rather than forcing an approach that has somewhat worked in the past into a situation, department, or business in which it is more than certain to fail. Conversely, the ability of the young and/or otherwise inexperienced leader to invoke a level of positive change is aided by his lack of baggage from previous employers. Although experience in and of itself is not a detriment to the leader’s progress, the reliance and understanding upon this experience as a means of effecting the new change is. As the author of the article states, the fact of the matter is that the inexperienced leader has a definite advantage upon the competition due to the fact that he/she is not polluted by pre-conceived notions of what would ultimately provide a net benefit to the firm or entity in question. Likewise, rather than seeking to point out that the essence of experience in and of itself is bad, the author points to the fact that many a firm relies on experienced leaders to affect change; however, these change leaders are almost invariably those that have not only experienced a great deal within their careers but have had the ability to grow and to learn from it. This necessarily implies a degree of reaction to the demands that different groups, projects, and/or business aspects will demand rather than an overall reliance on a collection of strategies that may or may not be effective for encouraging the change process. The article concludes by stating how firms that had utilized this model of change management had far outperformed those that had insisted upon pursuing the alternate approach of seeking to maximize business profitability. In such a way, the author brings to the attention of the reader the fact that the overall level of appreciation for experience helps to affect the ultimate bottom line (Dvorak 2). However, an alternate way of appreciating such a tidbit of information is to realize that an even more appropriate measure of success and failure would be dependent upon the fact of whether a given business or organization is reactive to stimuli or not. In this way, even those managers that are non-reactive have the ability and retain the possibility to learn from past mistakes and integrate these changes into their management style in the future. Conversely, those mangers that are relatively new and have a low level of overall experience can also experience a high degree of integration and reaction to market demands or organizational needs. In this way, the final section of the paper will briefly discuss what this reader understood to be an alternate approach to that which the author of the piece in question has put forward. Although the article is successful in integrating an understanding of the importance of approaching each and every situation with something of a blank slate, it does however overestimate, in the mind of this reader, the importance that experience can help to lend to the change process. This is due to the fact that there will doubtless perennially be poor managers within the field; however, merely saying that something such as overall experience is a prime indication of success or failure with regards to change management seems to be a bit of an oversimplification. For instance, although it is highly possible that many managers with a high degree of experience would be unable to affect positive change as a function of their inability to realize and understanding the unique dynamics of a given situation, the fact of the matter is that these shortcomings are not the result of the experience that the manager has had but the fact that the manager is a poor manager to begin with as a function. Due to the fact that he/she is only able to repeat past performance rather than drawing upon inspiration that can be realized from the situation at hand, this points out the greater inability with regards to change integration and response. Likewise, such a level of underperformance and lack of abilities can afflict the manager who has little to no baggage or experience from a long list of previous employers. Although the author provides a convincing unit of analysis, the fact of the matter is that without a modicum of responsible experience, it is doubtless that the change leader will be able to integrate with the unique demands that the given group, organization, or marketplace might demand. Work Cited Dvorak, Phred. "Dangers of Clinging to Solutions of the Past - WSJ.com." The Wall Street Journal - Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News & Video - Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com. N.p., 2 Mar. 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. . Read More