Time Management - Essay Example

of Purpose of the Meeting: Location: Chair: Present: CZY, GLF, HX, MYH, YWH, SA Apologies Minutes of the last meeting held on....... were accepted 2. Barriers to change and how a leader can provide psychological safety in times of change The group had a lengthy discussion on the barriers that get in the way of achieving effective organisation change. The group concluded that there are six major barriers to change. The group cited lack of employee involvement as a major barrier to change. MYH suggested that involving employees in every step of the change process is key to attaining engagement and commitment to change. SA added that employees feel they own the process and that their contribution is valued hence are less likely to resist change. Organisation culture was also found to be a major barrier. Culture is the established way of doing things and reflects the values and beliefs people hold. Change often involves changing the way people behave and this is recipe for resistance. MYH suggested that people tend to prefer stability to change and would accept even the minimum conditions provided change does not occur. The group concurred with this view. Ineffective communication hinders change efforts. The leader needs to articulate goals clearly and give frequent feedback on the change process. Moreover, the group agreed that leaders need to communicate the reasons for change and how it will affect those involved. This eliminates fear, uncertainty and doubt about the change. The group agreed on lack of efficient leadership and leadership strategies as a key barrier to change. They advocated transformational leadership as the best style of managing change. Another barrier is unclear processes and procedures. HX observed that if carried out in a haphazard way, change could fail. It makes people to lose direction of where they are going and what is expected of them and consequently lack of commitment and resistance. Lastly, the group cited not paying attention to people issues as significant to success of change management. Leaders need to pay attention to psychological processes that people experiences in dealing with change hence help them to overcome. The group also discussed how the leaders might provide psychological safety to individuals in times of change. It was agreed that leaders need to create an environment of accepting failures. Employees need to feel that they can air their views and give input regarding the change without fear of reprisal. Leaders also need to be transparent hence encourage participation, share their mistakes and inspire trust. This in turn helps employees to feel secure and learn more leading to positive change. 3. How an understanding of how people react to change and conflict, help leaders to enable their people to manage change in a productive way. The group discussed how the understanding of how people react to change and conflict helps leaders to manage change in a productive way. ZYK noted that finding one method of solving all problems of resistance to change is difficult. Understanding resistance to change and conflict enables organisations to develop the right policies and procedures, and appropriate training for managers and employees in order to manage change in a productive way. Education and communication are essential ways of solving problems of resistance to change. It enables the organisation to train its employees and managers on how to manage change. Understanding how people react to change and conflict is important for educating and communicating to different members of the organisation about change. The group also noted that participation and involvement is also important in dealing with resistance to change. YWH cited Thomas and Hardy who argued that organisations do not do new things but rather build the abilities of their employees and managers to do new things. ZYK agreed noted that Rock and Shwartz (2006) concur with this view by suggesting that ‘fixing and design system’ does not help in change management, but organisation-specific culture should be used to manage change. GLF also supported this view by arguing that the failure of managers to pay attention to culture, people issues and adaptation to the environment causes inability to manage change. Therefore, the group noted the importance of understanding how people react to change and conflict in order to enhance a specific focus on people, culture and the environment. The group agreed that understanding the way people react to change and conflict enables the organisation to change the way its people think and behave throughout the organisation. Members of the organisation need to change their thoughts, aspirations, values and behaviours to reflect the shifts in strategy, process, systems and practices of the organisation. SA supported this argument by suggesting that leaders of the organisation should develop the right behaviours needed to manage change and conflict in the organisation. Leaders who understand how people react to change and conflict are also able to address the right issues in good time and appropriately. MYH argued that leaders should outline the key issues around change and conflict, and communicate the benefits of change to the organisation’s employees. The group concluded that understanding how people react to change and conflict allows leaders to explain the benefits of change in way that that people will appreciate and support change in the organisation. Furthermore, resistance to change can be overcome by establishing a good relationship between leaders and staff. This addresses the issue of preparing the consciousness of the people in order to prepare them for changes and enhance acceptance of change across the organisation. YWH cites Rock and Shwartz (2006) who claim that change is pain. The group agreed that change is a difficult process which requires the leaders of the organisation to prepare the people psychologically about change. Date of next meeting Any Other Business There having no other business the meeting adjourned until (Date). The meeting ended at (Time). Conclusion The meeting was successful and all members participated. Group members provided different ideas and collaborated throughout the meeting. Each member also listened to the views of others and challenged each other through organised arguments and counterarguments that led to collective conclusions. We used a wide range of materials to prove the ideas of each member and determine which ideas were more relevant and important to the topic of discussions. Therefore, the things that worked well include cooperation, effective discussion, and contributions from all members. However, we had a few problems of time management. Sometimes it took us a little more time than the amount of time allocated to each issue discussion. Read More