Organisational Change Management - Coursework Example

Organisational Change Management Number: Organisational change management Definition Successful organizational changemanagement is critical for every organization in order to survive, and succeed in the contemporary highly competitive environment, as well as, the ever changing business environment. Change management refers to the process of continually renewing an organization’s direction, formation and capabilities to serve the ever changing needs of the firm. Harsh (nd, p 146) defines organisational change management as the process of making changes in a planned and systematic fashion with the aim of implementing new systems and methods in an ongoing organization. Changes to be managed lie within and are controlled by the organisation, although these internal changes may have been elicited by factors outside the organisation. The factors are referred to as the environment. The other aspect of managing change entails the reaction to changes over which an entity exercises little or no control such as competitors’ actions, political and social upheavals and economic changes. Change is an inherent element of an organization’s strategic and operational level. Organisational environments keep on changing and organizations have to be tailored accordingly to make sure that organisational objectives are achieved. Environmental control that manifests in the form of competition, partnership, negotiation or co-optation necessitates the management to initiate changes to alter goals and objectives (Todnem, 2005, p 370). Work groups and teams are utilized in preparing the strategic plans and develop mission and goals to match organisational resources with the changing needs of the outside environment. Strategic management change entails five steps. These are the environmental analysis, establishment of organisational direction, formulation of strategy, strategy implementation and strategic control. Environmental analysis entails monitoring an organization’s environmental to establish current and the future threats and opportunities. These include all components inside and outside the firm that may influence the progress towards organisational goals attainment. Strategic managers have to seize the purpose of environmental analysis, acknowledge the existing levels of organisational environment and comprehend the proper guidelines for performing an environmental analysis. The second step in effective change management is the establishment of organisational direction through organisational mission and objectives. Appropriate recognition of the firm’s mission and goals aids the organization in its adaptability to change. Strategy formulation is the action course for ensuring that the firm attains its mission and goals for a successful change. Strategy implementation entails putting into action policies developed in the previous steps. Managers ought to have a clear idea of numerous and diverse aspects for successful implementation of strategy to be attained. Managers must plainly know the extent of change necessary while implementing a new strategy, how to handle organisational culture in order to ease strategy execution, and how strategy implementation is related to a variety of organisational structures. Strategic control centers on monitoring and evaluation of the strategic management process so as to enhance it and ensure it is functioning appropriately. Operational organisational change pursues processes and structural interventions to bring about changes effectively. Process intervention policies work on changing people’s conduct, attitudes, interpersonal and intergroup and organization communication and information flow. Structural intervention policies seek to change the components of organisational systems like job design, performance management and reward systems. Transformational change entails shifting the organization’s arrangement and culture from the conventional top-down, authoritative formation to a large amount of directing team. This flattens the organization, and managers have less influence and teams have greater influence on the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2009, p 167). Change sponsors, change advocates, change targets and change agent. Change sponsors are people with authority to make change happen to use a clear vision and access to organizational resources such as top level managers. Change advocates are the people in the organization who want the change to occur like middle level managers. Change targets are the individuals who have to do the changing without much interruption. Change agents are individuals or consultants who facilitate change through advice provision and support on change introduction and management (Griffin, & Moorhead, 2011, p 534). While the change in an inevitable component of an organization, it is often characterized by challenges of resistance. The nature of change, individual history, type of individual, organizational history and the consequences of change are the main reasons why change resistance occurs. Technical resistance to change results the pattern of following general procedures and the consideration of sunk costs invested in the status quo. Political resistance occurs when organisational change happens at the expense of influential stakeholders like the human resources, or when change calls on the questioning of the past decisions of a leader (Harsh, nd, p 95). Organizational change means a diverse approach in the allocation of scarce resources like capital and training budgets. Cultural resistance takes the form of procedures and systems that reinforce the status quo, fostering conformity on current principles and norms, and hypotheses on how things need to be done. The nature of change leads to resistance where people think they will lose something of value like financial loss or the job itself. Personal reasons why people resist change are to defend their ego, fearing the unknown consequences brought about by the change, social reasons and pressure from peers. Personal sources of resistance dwell in central human individual features like personality, perceptions and needs. Individual reasons why people resist are; habit, security, selective information processing, changes substitute ambiguity and uncertainty for the known (Dunphy, Griffiths & Benn, 2003, p 278). Discovery Organizational resistance may hinder change management and implementation an immense deal. Several models have been put forward to help organizations address issues and challenges of change resistance. Lewin’s Force Field model for organizational change processes acknowledges that there are often driving forces that push organizations toward a fresh state, and restraining forces that act to maintain the status quo. When driving and restraining forces are almost equal, stability occurs since both forces are acting in opposite directions. The model holds that successful change only results when either restraining forces are abated and driving forces reinforced. The Lewin’s force field model identifies a three stage process of change; unfreezing the existing system, moving to a desired new system, as well as, refreezing the new system. Diagnosis phase has been added to Lewin’s model to reflect the aspect of planning and goal setting. Diagnosis requires a firm to identify elements that require change and those that do not, so as to set patent objectives for the change initiative. Diagnosis involves problem identification; separating its principal causes and devising a proper solution. An example of diagnosis is such as getting the appropriate solution to unmotivated and poor performing workers. Possible solutions could be replacing them for more energized workers, provision of better working conditions, increased duties and salary increment (Phillips, & Gully, 2011, p 495). Unfreezing organizes organization and its members by creating disequilibrium between driving and restraining forces that aids in dissolving the current attitude and conquer defence mechanisms. Defining the organisational problem and acknowledging the need for help to conquer change resistance. Unfreezing also entails formulation of the change plan, means of assessing change outcome, as well as, communication of the change process to the affected groups. Movement is the change implementation that is characterized by changeover and confusion since old ways are being dismantled, though the fresh ways are not perfectly established. This is a difficult phase that requires the facilitation of external experts. The final stage of the Lewin’s model is refreezing, which is the institutionalization of the changes into everyday functioning of the organization. In this phase, al, the systems of the organisation and structures support the desired behaviours, and effects of change are evaluated against the goals of the change endeavour (Phillips & Gully, 2011, p 496). Kotter noted that seventy percent of organisational change programs fail due to the following: allowing too much complacency, failure to create a potential partnership, lack of a clear vision and poor vision communication. Others reasons include allowing roadblocks against the vision, proclaiming victory too soon, and failure to secure changes in the organisational culture. In a bid to ensure that change management is successful, Kotter advanced an eight step model to prevent failure. The first step is creating a sense of urgency by motivating people to initiate the change. Secondly, forming a powerful coalition to convince key people that the change is required to create urgency and drive. The third step is developing a clear vision for change through connecting ideas and resolutions for the entire vision that people can clearly comprehend and recognize. Fourth; communicating the vision by keeping it fresh in the minds of workers helps in demonstrating the change the organisation is seeking. Five; removing obstacles by empowering people to propel the change attempt. The sixth step entails creating short term wins by evaluating success. The reason is that success results help to silence pessimistic thinkers. Seven; building on the change by analyzing what went appropriately and what needs to be enhanced. This may be done by bringing new change leaders into the coalition. Finally, anchoring the change in the company culture to determine what gets done because; change will only stick if it becomes part of the core corporate culture (Martin, 2005, p 809) The nature of leadership in place plays a critical role in the change management process. Goleman introduced an inventive leadership model that incorporates the concept of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to perceive, appraise and express emotion appropriately. It also means accessing and producing feelings in order to facilitate thought, as well as understanding emotions and knowledge of emotions (Williams, 2007, p 60). An efficient leader does not utilize just one or two in which he/ she is most comfortable with. Goleman connects the competence of leaders directly to business results, but also categorizes the circumstances in which each style is effective. Coercive style is fruitful when urgent changes are needed now, though should be combined with other styles for positive results in the long-term. It ought to be utilized sparingly if a crisis occurs as it results in mistrust when overused. An authoritative style is fruitful when a turnaround is needed, and the leader is passionate and believable. This is the visionary style of leadership that yields positive results given the right prevailing conditions. Affiliative style helps repair broken relationships and create trust. It is useful when people are struggling through a harsh change. Democratic style is suitable when the team in more knowledgeable and experienced than the leader as they come up with ideas and plans, and the leader acts as a facilitator. Pacesetting is successful when the team is competent and motivated as leaders set high standards of performance. Coaching is useful if organisational members need to obtain fresh skills or understanding as part of changes being made. Coaching leaders have the capability to listen, communicate efficiently and inspire others (Kubiak, 2012, p 168). Dream For the purposes of attaining solutions for dealing with organisational change management, the team model is noteworthy in highlighting possible solutions. Supporting behavior of team members helps in reaching the team goal. Supporting behavior enables team members correct the errors of other team members, which reduces the number of errors in a team’s performance and results in higher levels of outcomes. This practice also helps to develop the expertise levels of group members as they obtain feedback on low performance. The team approach model enables team members to offer and request assistance and backup when needed. This entails team members monitoring each other’s performance, making out when team members require assistance, and coming in to resolve the unbalanced workload (Bullen, LeFave & Selig, 2010, p 165). Organisational politics such as debates and negotiations are necessary in organisational change management. Organisational politics refers to the process where diverse and interdependent people and/or interest groups exercises whatever authority they can assemble to influence goals or conflicts used in organisational decision-making to advance their own interests. Organisational politics are essential in helping individual, interests, group interests and the whole organisation interests come to a consensus through negotiations, networking and partnerships. Thus, the aspect of organisational politics reflects feelings of fairness and justice in resource distribution. Organisational politics may also be useful in helping the organisation attain its objectives and cope with survival and organisational health concerns. The reason is that organisational politics are effective in coordinating staff and units, as well as decision making. Organisational members will work towards the firm’s goal when they perceive fairness in the organisational politics (Lynham, Chermack, & Noggle, 2004, p 153). In addition, communication is a necessary tool that can be the solution to resistance of organisational change. People oppose change whenever they are unsure about its repercussions. Lack of adequate information creates room for grapevine and gossip, which adds to the anxiety commonly related to organisational change. Effective communication (360 degree) with regards to organisational change and its potential results may lessen this speculation. Different channels of communication may be used to communicate change. Another potential solution to minimize resistance is through involvement and participation of organisational members in change management. Participation may result to designing high quality changes and to overcome resistance during organizational change implementation (Stragalas, 2010, p 33). Members may offer a miscellany of ideas and information, which may contribute to making the innovations effective and suitable to the circumstance. Members’ participation may also help in identification of pitfalls and hurdles to implementation. Involving members in the change planning process enhances the probability that their needs and interests will be accounted for during the intervention. Apparently, members (participants) will be dedicated to executing the changes since doing so will suit their interests and meet the needs. Additionally, for people having powerful needs for involvement, the act of participation may be inspiring, resulting to greater effort to make the changes work (Salas, Ramachandran & Jensen, 2008, p 3). Design Various organisational development theories have been put forward to explain organisational development in relation to changes; these are the systems theory, the complexity theories, action research theories, change theories and social constructionism. The systems theory of organisational development views five levels of a system active in organisations: individual, group, intergroup, organisation and organisation environment. Other subsystems are built around organizational processes such as human resources and other informal elements of organisations such as politics. Changes in one part part of the system are viewed as having an impact on other levels and subsystems. Change theory proposed by Lewin Kurt asserts that the systems in the organisations have to be unfrozen and refreeze again to bring about system change and a new equilibrium system in the organisation. Other theories draw their work on behavioral sciences like psychology and sociology (Amagoh, 2008, p 3). Organisational development theories depend heavily on humanistic psychology stance that people are ends in themselves and that, interventions to change people and organisations are never “value free”. In addition, Maslow’s work still plays a great role in organisational development theories as change has an impact on an individual’s psychodynamics. Maslow’s thoughts on organizations require the development of an entire management philosophy that stretches beyond the grain of Taylorism. The humanistic psychology in the systems approach theory of organizational development has to address the connection of the human aspect of an organisation with the technical concerns. In order to achieve change management, organisation design is needed in order to change tasks, change roles and to change behavior. Culture change and behavior change are invisible to see. In applying development theories concepts, the following strategies may be used. Directive strategy is where the management can use its authority to enforce the required changes swiftly. Expert strategy may be used when a technical problem necessitates solving, such as the introduction of new IT system. Negotiating strategy entails negotiating with individuals and teams affected by the change to accept the changes and compromises to be made. For instance, changing work practices in exchange for higher pay is an illustration of a negotiating strategy. Educative strategy entails changing values and beliefs of organisational members so that they sustain the change and are devoted to a collective set of organisational ideals. Educative strategy is a complex strategy that requires communication, training, persuasion and education. Participative strategy fosters active involvement and participation of people, and is probable to enhance their dedication to the process of change. Both managers and workers have an opportunity to learn from the knowledge and dexterity of participation (Anderson, 2011, p 68). Destiny From the above discussion, it is clear that organisational change and management is a complex exercise that requires a pool of visible and invisible resources. Visible resources include tangible resources like money while intangible resources are such as expertise and excellent leadership. Change management requires high tech knowledge and experience of the various models like the Lewin’s model and the Kotter’s eight process model. Nevertheless, many managers may not have the requisite knowledge to facilitate such a change. In cases where change agents are hired from outside the organization, the financial costs may be so high that many organisations cannot afford to grapple with. Resistance to change is another limitation in applying various approaches as several types of leadership models are necessitated as expounded by Goleman. These leadership styles must be used in sparingly and jointly. However, managers tend to exercise the mode of leadership that best fits them. Apparently, the desired change results will not be achieved. The nature of organisation and the various stakeholders like the top executives may obstruct change management as a result of vested interests. This limits the change, which was sought for in the first place since all stakeholder participation and commitment are key to success in change management. A conventional organisational structure where communication flows from the top management also creates room for grapevine and anxiety on the intended change. Conclusion As part of the solution to these drawbacks, every organisation needs to communicate specifics regarding expected change results, detailing how performance will be evaluated. Building up and breaking down language should be embraced to generate understanding and commitment. The management team facilitating change should need to be highly skilled, and experienced in manager/leader member relationships in a bid to enhance employee receptivity to change. In order to lessen resistance of change, the organisation should support innovation and improvisation. Employees may embrace a change coming from a fellow employee and support its implementation fully, in contrast to a situation where all changes come from the op management. Managers have show support for inventive approaches and endorse actions that do not essentially fall within normal formal channels and processes. 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