Changes of Organization and Management Practice - Essay Example

CELEBRATING CHANGE In everyday organization and management practice, the process of change cannot be avoided in any way. Day to day management requires establishment of various process and strategies through which organizational goals and objectives can be achieved. This means that in this process new ways need to be adopted and old ones discarded. This transition is not always smooth as it sounds, there are people who prefer sticking to old systems and approaches of doing things while some are dynamic and may be willing to try new approaches. Unfortunately, for those who prefer statusquo, change is an inevitable process, and everyone must forge forward and adopt new ways to manage life’s processes. One way to evaluate the usefulness of steps undertaken to effect change is looking at the outcomes of the implementation process. In this process, organizations apply a professional approach which involves reflective practice (Osterman & Kottkamp, 1993). This practice is viewed in its greater sense as a way in which its practitioners can have a much greater level of self-awareness of their nature and the extent of their daily work. This sense of awareness is known to elicit a much greater level of growth and development in the chosen field of professionalism. Any thinking about change must have its foundation in the organization awareness of the existing practices, culture and systems. It is only through this awareness that what is not effective can be analyzed and what is projected as a better way can be adopted. By undertaking a reflective practice, practitioners take a very importance position, first they are actors in the process and secondly they are critics and judges of the process itself. This makes them able to look into the behaviors and actions and correct what is undesirable. Taking this position is not always easy because they have to be accountable for those systems they have employed which have not worked. While at the same time come up with new strategies that can work. Change in organizations is not just about rolling new plans and opening new pages, it is only when employees and other workers in an organization have internalized the entire change process and it can be seen as sustainable. This is the only point at which positive and expected outcomes can be realized and celebrated (Brusse, 2012). Internalization can therefore be seen as the only way to achieve desired outcomes in organizations. But the big question always remains; how do you tell whether change has been effective? And how can you tell whether the process has been internalized by the organization workers? This raises the issue of which tools can be effectively used to measure the change process in an organization. The use of metrics and performance is gaining popularity in many organizations as a way of measuring change. These tools are being described as able to give organizational leaders a clear picture of the extent to which change has been adopted and internalized by employees. It provides visibility into the organization’s key areas that need to be improved and the best way to do it. The responses given in these tools by employees are able to tell the way processes are being implemented and followed. These tools appear credible because their information comes from the employees who are tasked with implementation of the new strategies in perspective. The quality projected in such records is a good indicator of how organization employees are embracing and working in the new directions. Through this, it is possible to tell whether the change process has been effectively internalized by workers by looking at such aspects as fidelity, speed and quality of service being executed (Brusse, 2012). Use of these tools is able to reveal the existing task difficulties in the process of change. The records are able to show problems and any underlying challenges which employees are facing. With this realization, organization leaders can make necessary adjustments in order to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Measuring the level of change therefore may require the use of objective measures which include records and logs or use of subjective measures like surveys to determine the level at which the change has been internalized and being effected.Take for instance, to improve overall efficiency in organization, the kind of tools, processes involved and the people in practice need to be checked since service involves an interplay of these three factors. Changing and enhancing efficiency means that the three be changed. When new tools and process are introduced, a new set of employees are required to work with them, further, the idea may also be to have the employees a certain new culture which justifies the action. Educational researchers have heavily criticized educational institutions with respect to the way they are addressing current dynamics in the field of education. Shirley (2011) says that the current professionalism exhibited in educational institutions is severe that it used to in the recent past. Most institutions offer extremely high stakes testing with an aim of improving quality in institutions but the reverse happens, it ends up constricting it. Programs and systems that are created in order to enhance proper learning of students sometimes end up backfiring. These findings project the need for effective change processes by education stakeholders. Change in educational institutions is something which needs to be undertaken by everybody, leaders, teachers, learners and the community in general. Celebrations of successful strategies and change process are an important function of all the stakeholders. Therefore, no particular individual can claim personal effort in streamlining the system. Acknowledgement of breaking from the past is a major milestone in the educational process. To celebrate these stride activities involving lessons derived from the process, honoring and appreciation of peoples commitments have to be observed. This and other tasks need to be done in a bid to relax and celebrate achievements. This celebrations and acknowledgements are important since they help to inspire and fuel motivation for the stakeholders for better results in the coming future in the organization. Whenever such celebrations are done in an educational reform process it is important to appreciate the efforts and accomplishments that the entire team and colleagues have put in place. A good feedback mechanism enhances repeat behaviors, boost confidence and morale. Change which is power by strength is powerful and very energizing and helps in mental renewal of the employees. Institutional leaders need to realize that people who make great contributions towards organization change require praise and acknowledgement. Alternatively learning from the past should never be overlooked. Remember, daily processes in practice sometimes take a trial and error approach and therefore those which prove effective should be carefully reinforced for future use. This consideration is usually impactful and very fruitful as far organizations or institution’s mainstay is concerned (The Organizational strategist, 2011). Another important follow up activity involves building and establishing confidence, reliability and general effectiveness in the team. It is general knowledge that efforts of a successful team are always greater than the individual efforts of the team players. In a team, efforts of individual players are important; nobody is better or greater than the team. When team efforts are consolidated, educational institutions can achieve overwhelming results in future educational endeavors. Therefore leaders should be cognizant of this realization and put it into active practice. Educational institutions are made to serve the current and future generations, therefore success celebrations for effective change process should be done regularly after process to advance towards the same have been effectively tackled with. Producing an institutional change in an intentional change in an organization requires a deviation from the past which does not take a single phase or instance. Some theorists claim that the process involves balancing the level of management in the top managers, the intervention strategies and the readiness of the people for that particular change (Ford, 1995). All these perspectives point to the fact that effective change requires a framework of communication-based and communication drive strategies. It is clear that these processes require several processes whose success is an ongoing process. Achievement at every level should therefore be analyzed and celebrated. Through such celebrations the stakeholders have to take stock of the strategies employed and their effectiveness so that what worked should be enhanced and what went wrong should be replaced. The success of any organization is measured by its ability to maintain top performance in the future of the organization. It is therefore the duty of institutional leaders to ensure that they reinforce attributes of any steps taken to enhance positive change. This means that celebration of successes should be a continuous process out of every good step implemented. References Brusse, J., (2012). How to measure internalization; Retrieved from; Ford, J, D, (1995). The Role of Conversations in Producing Intentional Change I N Organizations, Review. Retrieved from; Osterman K, F & Kottkamp, R, B., (1993).Reflective Practice for Educators Improving Schooling through Professional Development; Retrieved from; Shirley, D., (2011). The Fourth Way of technology and change. Retrieved from; The organizational strategist (2011).Celebrate Success to Build Momentum, Retrieved from; Read More