Concepts of Organizational Change - Research Paper Example

Organizational Change Introduction The business world today is looking forward to meeting the challenges that stand in the survival path of its organizational structure and strategies of communication. Top brass of every large organization runs a search of numerous ways to bring rapid but enduring changes to effectively fit in their business for the sustainable growth in productivity and customer satisfaction by improving the quality standards. In this context most managers need to promote organizational changes by introducing a cluster of small changes applicable to areas varying from business input to ultimate output. Therefore, organizational change is a management strategy by which a framework of new business processes with adequate changes in the organizational structure subject to timely changes in cultural patterns within the enterprise. A change thus formulated can bring optimum results in the field of enhanced outcomes of information processing with the achievement of expectations set for organizational communication orienting consistency of the stakeholders. Organizational Change According to McNamara (n.d.), organizational change management is very essential for almost every business organization and it is important to see that the development of a new idea to be implemented is approved by every department concerned within. This is a specialized work stream and hence requires the implementation of technological changes as part of the project management. The success of the new change is always parallel to the effectiveness of the lead in the process. The basic challenge met by all the management on implementation of a change is the resistance of the stakeholders of it. The process of change, however, has to cross the areas of risk such as the period during the cutover to the placement of new solutions; and the most critical of challenges is the lack of cooperation from the stakeholders – largely because of lack of effective communication. Since the stakeholders hail mostly from the target group of workers at a low profile in the organization, managers at the top level have to strategies to effectively handle the situation. Concepts of Change Organizational change is a vast process which covers the entire area of the enterprise. It requires a comprehensive analysis of the management functions and the culture pertaining to the organizational pattern employed in the enterprise. An effective organizational change management (as cited in ‘Change management, 2011) is possible only if the major decisions are taken while considering the prominence of quality input of strategies and the sequence of steps for the surveillance of a measurement system for the implementation of the change. The foremost element in the change management is the identification of the level of the change required for the desirable results within a stipulated time. Most organizations try to maintain the change with a continuum that focuses mostly on internal training slots and performance appraisal methods along with promotion and deputation. This is, however, a riskier process as the change takes a long time to take the effect in the organizational boundaries; moreover, it may cater the risk of internal disputes among employees. Some organizations, on the other hand, identify the requirement for an incremental change with the faith that monetary benefits could be the most befitting motivational strategy. According to Staudenmayer, Tyre, and Perlow (2002), the organizations that identify the incremental theories as the most effective platform for the change implementation cover less risk zones as they can guarantee the functioning of prompt and incontrovertible change management mechanisms in the organization. However, the companies refraining to adopt a change mechanism believes in the continuum and finally fall prey to indeterminable losses in due course of time. As an example of the failure of the continuum policy of management, IBM once encountered such a scenario that brought it a huge loss in the market share even as it had been a monopoly for a long time until the present-day giants like Micro Soft and Wipro emerged. Goal Indication The goal of the change defines its validity in the organizational management. Every change introduced to the management policies should have a specific objective which has an option for timely amendments of actions involved in it (Business performance). These amendments are the decisive factors for the feasibility of the implementation. While choosing a change, the management should be able to foresee the reward of it as measured in terms of time as effort. Therefore, they need to identify attainable changes that can be applied in the most demanding situations with adequate support of technical as well as personnel elements in the organization. Time-bound declarations of the future prospects of the organization are essential tools for an effective change management. Goal selection is a vital stage in change management as it needs to assure the accomplishment of the target within the time stipulated for taking the benefit of conditions favorable to the business. Employee Involvement in organizational change is an enterprising idea whereby most of the conflicts can be avoided. According to Brown and Cregan (2008), it is also beneficial to call for employee approval of certain decisions as it can avoid their resistance, which is the topmost challenge in change management. Employees have the most significant role among the stakeholders of the business and any attitudinal difference identified among their organizational behavior is the symptom of an imminent challenge to the management. Although there are multiple examples of the success of this approach many organizations still believe in the traditional policy of ultimate management power in which the role of employees is limited to ensuring the base-level implementation of the decisions for strategic changes by the management. However, it is important to engage them in discussions on decisions regarding the change of location, technological improvement and extension of the business to new regions. Employee involvement is usually exercised in organizations dealing public welfare as well as essential service areas such as health care, road and rail transportation and education; while this concept is limited to the execution of specific tasks in organizational structures pertaining to the departments of defense, aeronautics and nuclear technology where the top level decisions has to be confidential. Changing by example The organization we presently manage is ‘SoftSolz’(a name assumed), a software developing and marketing company. The board of directors is of the view that it can grow the business network area by focusing much on the present day trend of production of advertisements and creative media arts and their internet-based sales. It is now an option that the company takes over a profitably running a large scale studio whose headquarter employs a large number of people from various profiles. The organization is focusing a change with immediate effect and planning to introduce new technology into its production department. The plan is so framed that by merging the new firm, the sales volume can be increased with a wider scope of extended business network in the lucrative field of media art business. However, various factors are expected to constraint the deal such as line and staff and cultural differences between the two organizations in the wake of the decision to extend the service of the employees presently working in the studio. SoftSolz is a capable organization with multiple options to manage the crisis possibly acquired from the merger. Henceforth, it decides to formulate a strategy that can resolve the problems and promise the owners of the business a continuous process of improved productivity and sustainable profit after analytically identifying the stakeholders at the disposition of their place in the organization. As UNDP suggests, managing stakeholders is the primary responsibility of the change management because they act as the central nervous system of the organization (Institutional reform and change management (Institutional reform and change management, 2006). Stakeholders of the organization belong to different segments like marketing, branding and corporate social responsibility trials by the management. People employed in different positions in these segments have a vital role to play in the day-to-day management of the organization. They lie in the nucleus of the operational management and therefore, they have an active role in the functioning of the organization. The vitality of the stakeholder community must be identified by the project manager and henceforth decisions have to be taken with a considerable value for the importance of managing them. For the sake of an effective change, the organizational management recruits a change manager to facilitate the functions of the changing mechanism. In the changing structure of the organization, the position of the primary stakeholder always remains with the change manager. He is primarily answerable and is required to appoint portfolio managers and executives for the aid of project manager that formulates and integrates all the activities related to the new strategy put into action. This will enable the management to ensure the success of the organization as the entire system starts working on some values. With reference to Cowan’s views (2005), In the initial phase of any change, the change manager has to convince the operations management and its staff simply as they are the primary target of the change and thereby they are considered stakeholders in the change soon after the position of the change manager (p.1). In the initial phase, it is usually observed that the operation of the organization gets disturbed due a new work ambience. This is due to the time taken for inter-personnel communication. Therefore, the change manager needs to focus more on strategic communication and the effect of which, he should obtain through the operational management. This process involves the application of various theories based on employee behavior. The present change in the organization is directly influential to stakeholders claiming various positions in the business line of the organization. When the company decides to merge its operation with the new entrant, the group basically affected is the employees at lower levels such as accounts officers and software executives through whom the intended operation of the merged company is focused. The supervisory level which constitutes the decision makers like the CEO and the project sponsor are also stakeholders as the change is designed and approved ultimately by them. In this process, they need to focus largely on the welfare of the organization by considering employee satisfaction, undisturbed productivity and sustainable growth. In the focus of our business, our resource holders would find it difficult to handle the increasing demand for more funding as the management will possess a larger number of employees than the previous times with subsequent demands for material input. The finance manager will be the first among the stakeholders at this position along with the operations manager or the personnel manager who has to find sufficient manpower to the sudden increase in productivity demands. As a result there arises an extra burden of both fundraising and recruitment of new employees apart from the cultural challenges in managing the existing employees of the newly merged firm. The personnel manager, therefore, has to be supported with subdivisions of supervisory and training levels of management. More personnel for the training department will be recruited and the functioning will be adequately supported thereof. Another party at this level to form part of the stakeholders is the financial institutions funding the organization, usually, a bank with which the transactions are maintained. The bank also falls under sudden pressure as it requires collecting more deposits to facilitate the increased demand for funding after the merge. In the wake of this scenario, the project manager is directed by the change manager to implement the changes designed after the merge. He needs to bear a heavy risk of coordinating the two differently potent and managed operations of the two originations clubbed together as one unit now. As Brown (2008) points out, the project manager is entitled to take the assistance of all the project team members and certain segments of the personnel and the marketing department for surveys, analysis and project development at least for the initial frame of operation. His challenges basically arise from the departmental restructuring and man power deputation. Since this business is largely a single unit oriented one except for the video production segments, it is considerably easier for him than in the case of most other program managers after merging. He can depute departments of training and impart courses of learning for the new entrants. His ability to depute the project team members at different operational zones can reap accreditation from all stakeholders at different layers of the line of the organization. There are pressures from outside also; the anxiety of stakeholders who do not form a direct part of the organization’s focused party to the change. Softsolz is ethically answerable to the disturbances caused to all existing suppliers and other resource centers that have been working with the merged firm for a certain course of time. While the new business union is on the line of a promotional achievement, the auxiliary firms and other subsidiaries fail to acquire new assignments from other companies. The delay in their business adds ethical pressure to the management and in this event, the change manager is the one who should convince them, or in the worst case, arrange compensation for them. Summary Organizational changes and the work streaming involved in meeting the requirements of the new developments are integral parts of business management of the present day’s competitive arena. Any change that intends to bring a rapid progress with consideration for the sustainability of the success the business has to be implemented after ensuring the undisturbed position of the stakeholders of the organization. Therefore, every change proposed by the owners of the business needs a critical analysis of the amount of risk involved in managing the stakeholders from within as outside the organizational frame. Every management adopts enterprising policies to introduce the change after careful concern for its relevance and effectiveness in the future prospects of the business on the basis of its goals and all the possible measures necessary for managing the stakeholders in the intended target area of the change. Hence the success of implementation of every organizational change depends on the effectiveness of the coordination among monitoring managers at different levels and the efficacy of the communication process employed by the organization. References Brown, S. T. (2011). A project management- based approach to organizational change: Business Process. Global Knowledge LLC. Retrieved from http://www.globalknowledge.com/training/generic.asp?pageid=1740&country=United+States Brown, M & Cregan, C. (2008). Organizational change cynicism: The role of employee involvement. Human Resource Management. Wiley Periodicals, 47(4), 667-686. Retrieved from http://cmapspublic.ihmc.us/rid=1227459657205_731589955_14686/Organizational%20Change%20Cynicism.pdf Change management: Transforming your business it’s what we do. (2011). The Revere Group. Retrieved from http://www.reveregroup.com/Services/Operational-Efficiency/Change-Management Cowan, S. L. (2005). Change Management: Information Lifeline. 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