Critical Aspects of Inducing and Managing Change - Literature review Example

CHANGE MANAGEMENT by + Change Management Introduction Change management is a process in which an organization adopts to turn around its operations and model; it is designed to improve a company’s approach to all its operations. This involves providing all the employees with a clear direction on what the management requires of them, the road map to achieving the targeted solutions and the expected results at the end of the whole process. For any successful change process, junior /subordinate staff must be involved fully and their input and participation be directed towards the new integrated business model. (John 2002) portrays that, change management draws the model on open system theory and also presents a process that involves recognizing the need for change, looking deep into what has to be changed, planning, adopting a process to put into action the recommendations, to bring about the change and finally implementing the new working ways in all levels of the organization. Company History and Road to Change In 1981, at the midst of changing times and heightened competition, At the British Airways a new chairperson of the board took on position. Faced by problems of high fuel costs, High employee turnover and an aging fleet, he noticed that the company wasted a lot of valuable time and resources that made the airline so inefficient in the way they were operating. To save the airline from the verge of collapsing, the chair person embarked on a process to restructure the organization to make it more profitable (Charles 1996). Among the key points driving the change were: Improving the financial status and performance of the company. Improving the customer service Painting a new image and perception of British airways in the market. Maintaining a consistent pace that would help them meet the market demands and challenges. He adopted a change methodology management plan as his road map to realizing the change he wanted to achieve. This was not an easy journey for him in that, the company resulted in reducing its work force and company privatization. This would not have been possible without the development of a good and effective leadership and communication. Before the onset of the restructuring process, a few issues were to be addressed like briefing the staff of the upcoming restructuring process and what was expected at the end of the process (Charles 1996). Being a government carrier, British airways was characterized by war like mentality way of working. This put a blind eye to developing new work strategies. People had a mindset that their job was just to fly the planes and land them on time. The government support in the 1970s made it easier for the company not to see the profitability side of the company (Charles 1996). Like in the case stated above, the process of change management is not rational and the endpoint is not known at the onset of the process. This calls for a complex management plan because in its nature, the end of a change is unpredictable and heavily relies on commitment, use of the right resources and a positive mind set across the members or groups involved. If there is no link between the top management and the subordinate staff in terms of commitment, the process is bound to fail. The key to the success of the process is the alignment of the internal and external aspects of the organization, which brings about the concept of the open system theory where input and outputs are integrated. In the case of the British Air ways we can see an intentional or deliberate effort to bring change. The chairperson of the managing board introduces a voluntary workers layoff plan in his survival plan, closing of 16 routes, 2 engineering bases and 8 online stations in an effort to cut down unnecessary spending. Lewin’s in his field theory argues that the state of no change does not refer to a stationary situation but a state where everything is running in a consistent way, where two forces exist to be equal and opposite. That is, a force pushing for change and the other resisting the change. In this situation one makes an intentional move to instill change by either, increasing the positive force pushing for change or fighting to diminish the negative force opposing the change. According to lewin’s both of these ways will amount to change, but, the direction of the change will greatly be characterized by the approach taken. According to lewin’s three step model of change He argues that for a successful process of change one has to first destabilize the existing system by freezing some inputs in to the system that are unnecessary, working with a restrained budget of what is very essential for some time trying to create a balance to achieve what a system really requires, and what it doesn’t require, Then unfreezing the more relevant inputs to create a changed system with minimum losses and high utilization of the resources available with a higher efficiency. In 1982 when British Air ways way still in the restructuring process, this model of change was so evident with the introduction of voluntary retirement, and the closure of routes. Later we see the company increasing the advertisement budget from £19 million to £31million in an effort to painting a new image of the Air line. We also see a later entry of new blood with the hiring of more clew members. In their development, Hayes and Hyde, Identify some of the most critical aspects of inducing and managing change. The process is characterized by identifying the external changes that trigger opportunities available for take, recognizing the organizations need for change that involves an inner look in to the problem, starting the process itself, which involves the diagnosis or the review of the present state of events in the organization and the desired future state of the organization. What follows is the implementation of the laid down plan/ strategies to help achieve what is desire of the organization. And the success of the process is the sustaining of the changes the discipline and commitment to uphold the change. This might not be the actual picture on the ground because change management is an anticipating process no one knows what is to happen tomorrow. To keep a fire burning it has to be fueled regularly, so is the discipline of change that has to be fast racked with a perfect and elaborate formula involving audits to track the growth of the organization and feedback from the market and the employees of the organization. It can also be realized by studying the growth trend of the organization. This process of review must be applied from the start of the process. This could generate useful feedback opportunities for learning. (Mary & John 2002) Change is short lived and it occurs every other minute with the fast changing times therefore in dealing with the change, the behavior of all involved parties should be well entrenched in the listed vision and mission of the organization’s operations. The organizations leadership should enforce the change and reward what is good. Motivation and support is very paramount in sustaining change. Communication and commitment from all levels of the organization should be open to all. Change in any organization is derived by two main aspects, the external aspect which involve external factor such as competition, state laws change of business trends culture and leadership. The internal aspects that involve internal factors such as: change of system, motivation, organization structures and management practices. Organizational change is complex and occurs gradually and it requires a positive attitude good leadership and a commitment from all levels of the organization. Reference John, H 2002, The theory and practice of change management 3rd edition. 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