Evaluating Change at the Workplace - Essay Example

This paper will highlight a change at workplace and the manner in which the past was honored by paying particular attention to the details of the past that were factored in the reform initiative and stakeholder responses to the change process. Overall, this paper aims to note how we can learn from the past in the active process of shaping the future of organizations, particularly because the past conditions or situations can, and indeed do influence the future organizational scenarios. Change at the workplace is an inevitable phenomenon that often causes a lot of anxiety and confusion for most of the stakeholders affected by the change process will always be comfortable with the status quo, and may not be willing to venture into the future due to its complex uncertainties. The role of change masters in guiding the change process is to examine the present situation alongside the desired future state and to establish the strategic plan towards achieving that objective; however, the most daunting task for change masters is to get others to buy into the change vision and to support it. Most importantly, honoring the past while moving boldly towards the future is imperative for the success of organizational transformation (Hall, 1997); nonetheless, it is not uncommon for many organizations to be insensitive to, and to disregard their past in the change process by thinking that the old is bad while the new is good. During the reform initiative at our workplace, the organizational transformation process was sensitive to, and honored all the past organizational successes and accomplishments, which were all attributed to the smoothness and efficiency of the previous work processes. The change agents were careful not to discard everything about the old processes as bad, especially because they are the firm foundation on which the present position of the organization was built. In this respect, past work designs and task allocation among the staff were hailed as the building blocks upon which the previous successes and accomplishments of our organization were found; as such, the change initiative started off by chatting a way forward from the existing organizational work design. The change masters observed that the prevailing work design was effective and only needed minor adjustments to make it water tight in view of the shifting global business environment because of emerging challenges and threats to business survival and profitability. Nonetheless, the prevailing organizational structure was thoroughly altered to get rid of long ineffective processes that often led to unnecessary delays in the supply chain, thereby negatively influencing the overall organizational performance. The change initiative aimed at improving quality of service and level of output since it is imperative for organizations to respond to market demands quickly by providing adequate high quality goods and services for the ever-growing consumer population in order to survive current competition (Oswick et al, 2005). The change process is never smooth in any organization since however it is packaged, change often nuances additional work, inefficiencies, feelings of incompetence, and maybe a more limited career path, despite the fact that it may result to improved organizational performance hence the resistance it faces (Greenwood & Hinings, 1996). This implies that for the organizational transformation process to be successful, the change agents must convince all the stakeholders that change is indeed vital and help them understand the change vision in order to gain their buy-in for the change process. At our workplace, the change initiative generated a lot of anxiety and confusion as most of us were not certain of the future of the organization, and would have been much comfortable with having things remaining unchanged. There was a certain degree of hesitation and resistance towards the change process, and the change masters had to go an extra mile in getting the rest of the stakeholders to ‘buy-in’ to the change process, and to be committed in taking crucial roles in facilitating the proposed change accordingly. Generally, resistance to the proposed change of restructuring the organization was fueled by the fear that it would imply a considerable number of jobs would be cut as the organization downsized its departments and sections to achieve efficiency in its functions. The change agents had to engage all the key stakeholders that were going to be affected by the proposed changes and to explain to them how they would be affected by the changes, while reassuring them that their contribution to the organization was highly invaluable but adjustments were inevitable in order to prepare for the future. As the Apple Inc. co-founder the late Steve Jobs once noted, you can only connect the dots looking backwards but not while looking forward and borrowing from his insight, the past will always be significant since it establishes the most fundamental principles that guide individuals to the future status. Furthermore, conventional wisdom states that for one to know where they are headed, they ought to know where they are coming from; this implies that one’s past is as significant as their future since it establishes the fundamental framework for their progress. From these perspectives, it is undeniable that the past inevitably informs the future and cannot be ignored and/or neglected entirely in any change process that seeks to transform the organization in response to the current turbulences in the business environment (Oswick, 2005). Both individuals as well as organizations can gain brilliant lessons from their past, which are vital for their future and to remain insensitive to, and ignorant of the past is to be oblivious of its immense influence on the future. As a matter of fact, the past organizational successes and failures alike provide a very significant framework for the future of the organization since by paying attention to the organization’s past, its leadership is able to identify crucial shortcomings that should be avoided in future as well as key success formulas that should be replicated for further organizational success. The organization can learn to avoid critical mistakes done in its past to promote the achievement of its goals and objectives for future successes while replicating previous successes by drawing inspiration from its past successes. Overall, the change initiative at our workplace honored the past by paying attention to previous work designs as the fundamental framework upon which the past successes and accomplishments were based, even as it embarked on rigorous organizational transformation. The past was not all bad after all, especially because the present conditions of the organization had resulted from previous work processes, which were deemed appropriate and effective at that point in time. In the cause of the change processes, the organizational stakeholders responded firstly by resisting the proposed change initiatives, especially because they feared that restructuring the organization would eventually lead to massive job losses as some departments were bound to be cut out to promote work efficiency. The change agents had to convince all the stakeholders that in as much as the change was necessary, it was also inevitable in view of the shifting market environment that called for expediency and effectiveness of production systems. Finally, the past is very significant in any transformation process since it informs the future and both individuals and organizations can draw invaluable lessons from their past to promote success in their future. The past successes and failures provide a vital framework for the future since by avoiding previous mistakes while replicating previous success routes that have been tried and tested, organizations increase their chances of success in future. References Hall, T.C. (1997). An Application of Organizational Development in the Non-Profit Sector: Laradon Hall. In “Leading Organizational Change” (1997) by Phillips, Jack J., and Holton III, Elwood F., (Editors). Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C. R. (1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. Academy of Management.the Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1022. Oswick, C., et al. (2005). Looking forwards: Discursive directions in organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18(4), 383-390.  Read More