Managing Change Issues in Organizations - Essay Example

Introduction Today’s business environment is competitive and constantly changing and the only way to survive is if organizations develop the capabilities to change on a consistent basis. Managing change on a consistent basis, therefore, is considered necessary for all kinds of corporations including private entities, public sector as well as non-profit organizations, consistently making change and moving towards the achievement of goals. It is, however, important to understand that change may not be easy to achieve as it can be relatively difficult for employees to particularly accommodate to frequent changes. Change is, therefore, often considered as disruptive in nature and is difficult to implement and manage. People have some degree of uncertainty associated with the change and the fear of unknown makes them more resistant to change. Considering the overall difficulty and complexity of managing change, it, therefore, requires total commitment from the top management of the firm to strategically deciding how and when change is to be implemented and managed across the whole organization at different levels. How organization can manage the change and achieve the desired results requires a combination of different skills, strategies, tools and techniques in order to reduce the resistance to change as well as to achieve the desired results. Change strategies as well as change management activities can be diverse and may vary from organization to organization. This paper will discuss and explore the issue of managing change within the organizational context and how and what organizations can actually do to achieve the change. Change Management Basics We are living in an era where business practices, trends as well as ways consumers behave are rapidly changing. This rapid change is so fast that established trends and patterns quickly are overcome by new and more innovative means of doing business. The creativity and knowledge based activities of firms have made them so agile that they come up with new ways of doing things at a relatively higher speed. New products, strategies, and ideas are conceived and implemented at a lightening quick pace. In such a changing environment where technology is changing fast and consumer preferences and trends are changing too, organizations need to change at a relatively quicker pace in order to survive. Organizations which fail to implement the change and achieve the required degree of modification at the speed required to survive in the market need a prompter strategic insight and pro-active strategies in order to deal with the change.1 Changes can occur at various levels and are of different nature too, and each organization approaches them differently. Some changes are strategic in nature where organizations have to take certain strategic steps with the passage of time to survive in the environment. This type of change is considered necessary in order to remain operationally viable. Another type of change is considered radical in nature and can often happen once or twice in the overall history of the organization. Organizations also engage themselves into incremental changes which are brought into the organization with a purpose. It is also important to understand the sources of the change as organizations face different situations which outline how organizations are forced to make changes. Sometimes, external shocks such as adverse economic changes force companies to make changes. For example, the current economic situation has required many organizations to actually work on different issues and make changes in order to sustain themselves in the tough economic situation. Changes also often occur from within, where organizations have to actually make changes with the passage of time. Internal sources of changes require organizations to evaluate their capacity in order to make changes to deal with the situations arising internally. Alignment of Resources In order to bring in a change, organizations are also required to align their resources first. Organizations, therefore, need to identify their core competencies and align them with its resources and capabilities before they can actually attempt to manage changes. Since a change often emerges due to external factors, it is important that organizations have the ability to align their resources to face the external challenges and accordingly make changes. In the absence of actually managing such change, organizations may often fail to achieve the required degree of change. Role of Leadership One of the keys to management of a change is the role of leadership which requires leaders to actually anticipate the change. Regardless of from where a change occurs, such change is always considered as disruptive and difficult to manage. In such a situation, it is critically important that leadership play an active role in managing such change. Change management leaders need to be more pro-active and visionary in nature and require an active participation from the senior management of the firm. Leaders need to play a role in which they manage all the resources of the organization and direct them towards the achievement of objectives related with the change. It is, however, important to note that leaders must be trustworthy and competent. Until leaders are not viewed by their followers as trustworthy and competent to manage the change, it is difficult. Leaders need to ensure that they have to generate a certain level of trust and competency in order to manage the change. It is extremely important that follower view their leaders as having the required level of expertise and skills to execute the change and ensure that interests of all the stakeholders are protected under all circumstances. Leaders, in order to manage the change, are also required to have long term vision and ability to see the big picture. Leaders’ ability to actually see the big picture provides them with the vision and ability to see what future will hold and how organizations should tailor the changes in order to meet the new challenges. Along with this, there is also a requirement to have a big vision which is compelling enough to propel the organization ahead. This also means that in order to effectively implement the change, it is critical that leaders must have a vision which is compelling enough to make the change happen. This also means that change should be powerful enough to drive all the stakeholders of the organization in a new direction. Alignment of team members and resources required to implement the change also is one of the keys for leadership to manage change. It also means that leaders must have the ability to develop a team and align the strengths and abilities of team members to actually adapt the change. Team building is, therefore, effective in order to manage change. Empowering Employees Employees are one of the most important stakeholders of the organization and are directly affected by the change. It is one of the leadership challenges to manage the change within the organization if leadership is successful in actually bringing in the support of employees. Since employees resist more to changes, it is important that organization’s utmost energies should be directed towards empowering employees and making them part of the overall change process. In order to manage change, it is important that employees’ feedback is obtained regarding how they perceive change. Leadership shall also make its case clear by keeping open lines of communication and inform the employees on how the change will actually help the organization in the long term and how employees will benefit from this. It is also critical to note that organization should take the feedback of the employees when planning to implement the change.2 When employees are part of the overall change process, they own the whole process of change and become less resistant to change. One of the keys to managing a change is to actually make employees feel that they are part of the organization and their input and feedback are being taken into consideration while bringing in any new change. Organizations also need to make sure that the fear of unknown is subsidized as employees feel that change may render their skills redundant. New technologies, processes as well as systems may render the skills of employees unrelated and outdated. In such a scenario, change management becomes difficult as organizations have to lay off the employees whose skills do not meet the new requirements of the organization. Conclusion Change management is considered a disruptive process wherein organizations have to manage the change in order to survive in an environment which is changing and often difficult to manage. Changing consumer preferences as well as new trends and ways of doing business require organizations to actually continue to engage themselves into change. In order to effectively manage change, it is important that organizations first be able to identify their resources and capabilities and align them with their overall strategic objectives. The role of leadership is also critical because leaders are the ones who actually execute the change. Leaders must be competent and trustworthy in order to execute and implement the change. Finally, employees should also be made part of the overall change process. References Harvard Business School Press, Managing change: expert solutions to everyday challenges, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2009. Edmonds, J, ‘Managing successful change’, Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 43, no. 6, 2011, pp. 349–353. Read More