Organizational Change - Essay Example

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE By Students Name Course Professor University State Date Part A: Personal experience of organizational change Change in any organizations should be part of corporate planning for it to be efficient. All the departments and the corporation as a whole should develop and cultivate a culture that accepts change. This can be achieved through communication, as well as, conducting a comprehensive training session to enable the user the change (Burke, 2002.). From a personal experience point, working in a small corporation located in among the developing countries where job security is a critical factor is not an experience many people would wish to experience. Working as a cashier in a small developing financial institution is challenging where every penny is accounted for. Any organization change acts as a threat to the job security of cashiers in this small financial institution and it is likely to be faced with a lot of rejection and rebellion (Cameron, & Green, 2004). One rememberable organization change was triggered by overcrowding within the banking hall and due to lack of enough space, an important security concern for the institution emerged. The ball rolled between hiring more security officers, increasing the number institution cashiers, or introducing a new computer system. This system was to enable customer’s withdrawal or make a money deposit through their mobile phones. The management agreed to go for a new computer system for a number of reasons. It was efficient; the waiting time customers wasted to be served would improve (Cummings, & Worley, 2005). The operations of the institution and service to its customers were to improve significantly. The crowding issue in the banking hall was to be manageable, and the security issues, as well. The change process was managed in the following steps. The management made it intentional to every one of the changes they intended to make. This enabled to keep the whole organization, feedback from organization leaders. Seek to have support from the organization by making it clear the reason behind organization change The changes were clearly communicated through face to face and email method A positive response to the organizational change was modelled as part of managing the anticipated change The introduction of a new computer system was followed by rumours that the number of the cashiers will be reduced to give room for the system. This was also a method of reducing operations cost. In regard to these reasons, the only option was to reject the new proposal or change as a measure of job security. The system faced a lot of critics and rebellion from employees as a show of solidarity to their colleagues. The entire employees’ community did not welcome the organization change. However, when it came to its implementation, the management held meetings and training sessions for all employees to show and orient them on the aim and operation of the system (Burke, Lake, & Paine, 2009). Every aspect of the change was made clear where no one was to lose a job because of the change. The system was implemented successfully, and the operations and service to the customers have fully improved. Part B It is the dream of everyone to work a large corporation or a great employer for some reasons and the most obvious one being the amount of salary offered for labour services. British Airways are a full-service world airline, and manage to offer a year round low fares and has an extensive global route network that flies from centrally located airports. It’s one of the UK largest international airline and operates over the best 80 countries (Carter, Ulrich, & Goldsmith, 2005). The airways sometimes back brought on board a new chairperson. At this time, a relative worked as a flight attendant. According to this chairperson, the company was not efficient where most valuable resources went to waste (Laszlo, & Laugel, 2000). In order to make the organization more profitable, there was a need to restructure the whole organization. The only best way to bring along the change was through a plan referred to as methodology management. The change was to see a reduction in the number of its employees. The proposed change faced a lot of resistance, ignorance, and denial to change. Like any other place where people hear of change management in the workplace, there was increased anxiety, lack of enthusiasm and fear mixed with some curiosity (Olson, & Eoyang, 2001). On the other hand, to overcome a resistance to change is an issue to contain deeply. Losing a job is not something that an employee can take lightly. Therefore, for the organization to succeed in this proposed change, the implementation of the change required professionalism. The change was undertaken in a systematic way where the company started reducing the number of its employees. According to the flight attendant, before the change was introduced the change leadership, the organization chairperson, and others involved took time to explain the reasons for the reshuffle and privatization of the company in order to organize them for the upcoming change (Anderson, 2010). For the chairperson, through the use of communication and leadership he was able to direct the organization through this difficult time. The change would have disastrous without proper and adequate change management resistance communication (Sibbet, 2013). After undertaking the entire necessary step to enable the implementation of the change the company did away with a part of its workforce. As a result, aspects such as labour cost and resources that were going to waste were reduced this eventually added on to the company profit. Part C Part A and B Findings It is clear from the cases A and B managers must contend with the factors that affect the organization. Organization changes can result from internal and external changes. On the other hand, societies are experiencing a continued evolving change that is demanding the need for new and better services. It is notable that the two organization were concerned with their survival and growth thus there was need to adapt to change (Kotter, & Cohen, 2002). In both A and B, there are a number of factors that forced the businesses to re-evaluate their operations. The most crucial ones include; Technology Technology innovations forced the first company to adapt to change in order to keep up. In this case, employees who were not in case conversant with a computer system needed training. The technological change benefited the business in that there were increased customer services through little customer resistance. Growth desires In order for a business to attain growth, there is a need to change their operation methods. In both part A and B the operations of the two organizations improved. Apart from reducing operations cost from labour cost was reduced in the Part B the primary aim was to increase profits. Need to Improve Processes There is a need for businesses to implement new production procedures to become more efficient with an aim of eliminating waste. These changes are implemented as part of a policy to attain an overall goal. The change success can be borrowed from the failure-induced change. According to this theory, an organization change in strategies, culture, technology and other features are used in response to failure in an effort to reach its goals (Paul, & John, 1995). For instance, the issues of overcrowding in the banking hall in case A raised concerns for added security agents. In case B, waste of resources affected the profits of a company. In response, these companies brought about organization changes as a way of upgrading their operations to reach productive goals effectively. Routinization the activates of an organizational is important in that standard procedures, programs, and custom provides stability to an organization. Therefore, once a change occurs in these standards, an organization change takes place (Sherman, Rowley & Armandi, 2006.). These custom standards can assist with organizational change concerning the vibrant capabilities approach to management. Key conclusions on how organizational change should be managed Organization changes are significant while resistance to this change is irrational in a way. However, employees and peers resist a change from a perspective that makes sense to them. The way these changes are held means a lot to their success. In conclusion, it is clear that a change should not be forced. From employees’ perspective, a change is always harmful to them in the context of job security. Managers should focus more on the effectiveness of the change approaches that they apply (Caluwé & vermaak, 2003). This is because without a concise and well-organized change strategy that addresses the area of job security triggering a sturdy organization turnover and resistance is possible. The organization should be made fully conversant with the change and its effects in order to reduce fear and surprise of the unknown. In addition, clear communication from the organization leaders regarding a change helps in reducing grapevine rumours that may interfere with the change effort (Edwards, Woodall & Welchman, 1996). Mistrust should be avoided in the course of an organization change. This trust involves aspects such as faith and behaviours towards the change intentions. Proper tactics and good timing for a change are crucial in the management of organization changes. Resistance to change does not only result from what leaders do, but how they do it means a lot. Changes must not be introduced in an insensitive manner or at an awkward time. This implies that for any considerable organizational change leaders should come up with a comprehensive change strategy to address all the possible barriers connected to it (ŠKerlavaj, et.al, 2007). Recommendations Managers should try to make sure that there is a good understanding of the change effects on the people. This can be achieved by making sure that a clear illustration of the intensity for every group of employees, as well as, a description of the changes each role would need to deliver. The change manager should also make sure that the whole leadership team acts as a role model for the change. Transformation must start from the top level where all executives should be part of the change program and model the new intended behaviours they are requesting their people to adopt and hold one another responsible for the initiative’s success (Gilley, 2005). Changes must be navigated successfully; this involves having a clear and definite business objective that the change is intended to deliver. The next thing is on understanding the present organization, capabilities, culture, and its experiences. The final step is to conduct the change effects analysis and make a clear case for change, including the rationale why change in people’s behaviour is desirable Reference List Anderson, D. L. 2010. Organization development: the process of leading organizational change. Los Angeles, Sage. Burke, W. W. 2002. Organization change: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications. Burke, W. W., Lake, D. G., & Paine, J. W. 2009. Organization change: a comprehensive reader. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Caluwé, L. D., & vermaak, H. 2003. Learning to change: a guide for organization change agents. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications. Cameron, E., & Green, M. 2004. Making sense of change management a complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organizational change. London, Kogan Page.. Carter, L., Ulrich, D., & Goldsmith, M. 2005. Best practices in leadership development and organization change: how the best companies ensure meaningful change and sustainable leadership. San Francisco, Pfeiffer. Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. 2005. Organization development and change. Mason, Ohio, Thomson/South-Western. Edwards, C., Woodall, J., & Welchman, R. 1996. Organizational change and women managers' careers: the restructuring of disadvantage? Employee Relations : the International Journal. Vol. 18, pp. 25-45. Gilley, A. M. 2005. The manager as change leader. Westport, Conn, Praeger Publishers. Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. 2002. The heart of change: real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, Mass, Harvard Business School Press. Laszlo, C., & Laugel, J.-F. 2000. Large-scale organizational change an executive's guide. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann. Olson, E. E., & Eoyang, G. H. 2001. Facilitating organization change lessons from complexity science. San Francisco, Calif, Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. Paul Milgrom, & John Roberts, 1995.Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, andorganizational change in manufacturing. Journal of accounting and economics Vol, 19.No, 2.pp, 179-2008 Sherman, H., Rowley, D. J., & Armandi, B. R. 2006. Strategic management: an organization change approach. Lanham, MD, University Press of America. Sibbet, D. 2013. Visual leaders: new tools for visioning, management, & organization change. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons. ŠKerlavaj, M., Indihar ŠTemberger, M., ŠKrinjar, R., & Dimovski, V. 2007. Organizational learning culture - the missing link between business process change and organizational performance. International Journal of Production Economics.Vol.106, pp. 346-367. Read More