The Need and Role of Planned Change - Term Paper Example

Planned change for Toastmaster International Organization Introduction Change implies an alteration particularly in circumstances and operations which focuses on achieving pleasing goals or improvement on the current situation. In any field of organizational development, planned change is one of the fundamental and foundational definitions of focus. Dr Pradhan Asutosh (2009) defines planned change as the conscious initiative made by managers and leaders to alter the circumstances, situations, and factors that will ultimately lead to pleasing outcomes by the initiators or actors of the change process. Organizational development refer to an effort planned organizational-wide, which is managed from the top so with an aim to increase organizational effectiveness and health through planned intervention in that particular organization’s processes, using behavioral-scientific knowledge, says Beckhard (17). Toastmaster International is one of the organizations that have undergone significant changes since its development up to date. Therefore, this paper is designed to evaluate the need and role of planned change in reference to this organization and what it has helped the company to achieve in its long-run. Planned Historical change in Toastmaster International Toastmaster International organization is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs globally with the intention of helping its members progress their communication skills, public speaking, and leadership skills. It offers leadership projects and a program of communication designed to help women and men learn the art of speaking, listening and thinking through its thousands of member clubs. To reflect on planned change, the organization grew out of a single club, i.e. Smedly Club Number One, which would become the first Toastmaster club in the world. Ralph Smedley founded the club, in the year 1924, at the YMCA in California, United States. It was then incorporated under the California law on December 19, 1932. The club has served more than four million people throughout history, and it serves over 260,000 members today in over 113 countries, through its member clubs exceeding 12,800. For effectiveness and efficiency in Toastmaster International management and leadership, the company has recognized and effectively put into use an eight-step process of planned change for successful implementations. These steps where identified by Golembiewski (67), and are specifically directed to organizational development, with a clear set of principles concerning how organizations ought to be changed and grow to become accustomed to a dynamic environment. The steps are: Recognition of the need for change This may occur at the top management level or the nonessential parts of the organization. The alteration may be either due to external forces or internal forces. As will be clarified later in this paper, Toastmaster International recognized the need for change when they sought to expand their marketplace all over the world. It has formulated a policy on non-discrimination, including based on nationality, ethnicity, and gender. Initially, the club was formed as a male-only organization, but after recognizing the need for change, membership was opened to women. As of 2011, there were more than 270,000 members and over 13,000 clubs in 116 countries. Membership particularly in the United States grey by 3% in the year 2007 and still continues to grow rapidly in many other nations (Welcome to Toastmasters). Briefly, Toastmaster members belong to local clubs, which have between 10 and 40 members, with 20 members being a typical size. These local clubs meet on a regular basis for their members to practice various new skills useful in public speaking, listing skills, and providing each other with feedback and evaluation. Further, membership is now open to all people aged 18 and above to improve on their communication skills. The organization has also displayed an element of change by developing youth leadership program, which is an eight-session program that has been observed to introduce school aged children to public speaking (Welcome to Toastmasters). These are conducted by members of the club in the local area and allow devoted members to gain expertise and confidence in the art of public speaking. Development of goals of the change Before any action is taken, it is important to determine why the change is necessary and know all of its implications in terms of products, structure, technology, and culture. Both problems and opportunities need to be evaluated. To comply with this planned change step, Toastmaster International has responded by developing goals in various capacities including in the educational program fields, communication training, and leadership training among others. It is devoted to making verbal communication a worldwide reality and has a goal to be the leading movement in doing this. It continually expands its worldwide network of membership and member clubs, thereby offering more people the chance to gain from its programs. The goals of the organization are also clear in their core values; integrity, service to the members, dedication, and respect for the individual. Actually, these are values worthy of such a great organization. I believe we should incorporate them as anchor points in decisions. These values provide the organization not only with the means of guiding, but also assessing their planning, operations, and vision for the future. Toastmaster with their eyes focused in the future and with the help of developed goals has grown from being and English-only organization to an organization that develops communication skill in several languages. It has now established clubs in many different languages including Chinese, Japanese, German, French and Tamil, among a number of others. Selection of a change agent The change agent refers to the person chosen to take leadership responsibility to implement plan change. The planned change agent needs to be alert of things that need to be changed, be open to good ideas, and also be supportive of the implementations of those ideas into actual practice. In Toastmaster, the primary membership is the club and the responsibility pertaining planned change is bestowed on it. The average club has approximately twenty members in Toastmaster, and six of officer positions are filled. The order in office is; president, vice-president on education, vice-president on membership, vice-president on public relations, secretary, treasurer, and Sergeant-at-Arms (Welcome to Toastmasters). The agents of change are the leaders in various ranks who also serve an advisory role particularly the immediate past president. Usually, in any organization the responsibility pertaining change and management is given to leaders particularly those at the top of the hierarchy. The chief executive officer is usually looked upon, and much trust is put on them for smooth running of any organization. There are also specific internal and external members particularly experts in various fields selected to trigger change and spearhead the company. They are usually given special training and particular and specific knowledge about the organizations in which they work. For instance, Toastmaster International Company often hosts an annual convention every August, in different cities every year. These international conventions are known to conduct business activities such the election of international officers, hosts the final rounds of speech contests, and also hosts educational sessions for Toastmaster members. These are the cases that trigger the realization of need for change in most organizations where Toastmaster in no exception. Diagnosing the current climate In this step, the selected change agent sets about gathering data about the climate and conditions of the organization in order to help employees to prepare for change. Usually in any organization, preparing people for any kind of change requires forceful and direct feedback on the negatives concerning the present situation of the organization, as compared to the desired future state, and sensitizing the people to the forces of change that exist in their environment. The growth and prosperity of Toastmaster International is greatly attributed to the diagnosis of the environment. The CEO had to found out what was exactly not going well in the organization and fearlessly communicate it to other members regardless of it being negative or unpleasing to the ears of other. This is typically what has to be done in virtually all organization to improve in terms of performance, leadership and management. It is clear that Toastmaster International has changed in a number of ways. For instance, Toastmaster was initially male-based and discriminate in gender and maybe nationality, but it is now evident that membership is open to all gender and nationality. It has been ascertained in a number of countries including China, Japan, German, and in many other countries summing up to 116. Selection of an implementation method This step requires a decision on well established methodology and the best possible way to bring change. According to Golembiewski (90), managers can sensitize themselves more particularly to pressures for change by using various networks of people and different organizations that have different perspectives and views, by visiting other organizations exposed to new ideas, and by using external standards of performance such as competitor’s progress. This step is well articulated and used in Toastmaster International in achieving their goals and desires for the organization. Beyond clubs and conferences, Toastmaster International offers many programs available to a number of members. The programs are controlled and run by Toastmaster members, for credit towards their curriculum awards. Basically, the communication success and leadership success module series is promoted for presenting to people outside of the organization. Each series is composed of a collection of six modules devised to be presented as seminars and is facilitated by an active club member. The organization encourages the presentation of this module within the club with an aim to improve abilities, and out of the club to promote and boost Toastmasters. Generally, Toastmasters do promote its speech-craft module as the first membership-building tool, since the module provides participants with experience in presenting speeches as well as writing, with the aid of other participants and the coordinator. The organization also offers the accredited speaker program for recognizing members of its clubs who are professional speakers. Developing a plan This step in planned change involves actually putting together the plan with the help of gathered information and knowledge about the company. A plan acts as a roadmap and benchmark that signals progress and gives guidance on what is to be done where and with what intensity of effectiveness. Plan notes the specific activities and events that must be timed and integrated to produce the desired change. Moreover, a plan assigns responsibility for all objectives and targets of the organization. This step is well incorporated in Toastmaster International organization. It is shown where the organization has established particular dates when to have conventions and meetings. For example, it offers teaching opportunities through events arranged at international and district levels. Different districts are responsible for hosting a minimum of four events every year; that is, club officer training in June to August and in December to February, and two district conferences in spring and fall (Welcome to Toastmasters). Further on the plan, the organization hosts an annual convention every August in different cities. This is a clear indication of an organized plan that typically helps to propel a company toward its success and towards realizing its goals and objectives. Implementing the plan After developing a plan, the next step in putting it into effect and operation. Generally, once a plan becomes implemented and a change begins, initial excitement can dissipate in the face of daily problems. To maintain the momentum for change, the change agents should be ready to provide resources, develop new competencies and skills, reinforce new behaviors, and build a support system for those initiating the change. Toastmaster International aids in implementing its plan using different approaches. One of these is by electing national, local, regional, and international officers who are given responsibility to ensure the organization is run in smooth and organized way (Welcome to Toastmasters). It further directly involves its members in leadership and management in various levels. It also does it by the use of motivation tactic by rewarding members who show and achieve desired results in the organization, particularly in speech presentation skills and confidence in presenting outside Toastmaster. Following and evaluating the plan During this step, managers need to compare the actual results to the goals established in step 4 of the planned change. It is very crucial in any organization to determine whether the goals were met and whether or not they produced positive results. This is achieved in Toastmaster International by its reflection in results. A comprehensive model of planned change should incorporate a set of activities that managers must engage in to manage the change process effectively. Conclusion Planned change is a key part and plays a fandumental role in any growing organization that desires prosperity. For any organization to be effective in leadership and management, then it has no option but to embrace all the steps of planned change. Any organization needs order and planned change offers this, without which, undesired results can be found. Manager or the change agents must recognize the need for change in their organizations, create a vision, motivate the change, develop political support, manage the transition effectively, and sustain momentum during the change. Once the change agents and the organization commit to planned change, they generally need to create a logical step-by step and systematic approach in order to accomplish the objectives and meet the set goals of the organization. They further need to be knowledgeable and have excellent leadership and management qualities. Works Cited Beckhard, R. Organization development: strategies and models. Boston: Addison-Wesley. 1969. Print Devine, Irene & Dimock, G. Hedley. Training for planned change. North York: Captus Press. 1995. Print. Golembiewski, T. Robert. Approaches to planned change: orienting perspectives and micro- level interventions. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. 1993. Print Pradhan, A. “Planned Social Change.” In Planned Change, 1 April 2009. Web Retrieved 24 April 2012 from https://www.google.co.ke/search?q=Richard+Beckhard+%281969%29&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a Welcome to Toastmasters. 2012. Toastmaster International. 23 April 2012 from http://www.toastmasters.org/ Read More