Change Management or Change Leadership - Essay Example

?Change Management or Change Leadership? Which is more important? Introduction Change management and change leadership are two widely misinterpreted terms. Even some management professionals believe that the difference between these terms is just a matter of semantics. However, these are two different broad terms reflecting extremely different ideas. In today’s organisational environment, business executives give particular focus to change management and talk less about change leadership. In addition, there are fewer literatures that discuss the difference between change management and change leadership. This paper will particularly examine the two terms ‘change management’ and ‘change leadership’ and suggest which is more important in today’s highly competitive business environment. Change management Vs change leadership John Kotter (2011), the chief innovation officer of the Kotter International, has deeply researched into the difference between change management and change leadership. The author strongly says that these two terms are not interchangeable under any circumstance. According to Kotter, change management “refers to a set of basic tools or structures intended to keep any change effort under control” whereas the change leadership “concerns the driving forces, visions and processes that fuel large-scale transformation” (Kotter 2011). The major goal of the change management is to reduce the distractions and effects of the change maximum while the main objective of change leadership is to identify and promote various change driving factors that would fuel the planned change. Change management encompasses areas like planning, organising, and project management (Davis 2012). Change leadership tries to communicate the vision and the nature of the change process (ibid). Active participation of staff and other stakeholders is necessary to make the change leadership effective. Adapting to the newly introduced changes in the workplace is the core of any change management program. A potential change management strategy must address elements like communication, discussion, and involvement (Gustin 2007, p.209). The planned change must be properly communicated to its beneficiaries including employees. Discussing what the change is going to address is vital to give employees a clear view of the planned change and hence to make them less anxious. Similarly, effective employee involvement is necessary to ensure greater commitment and support from their part.. Definition, explanation, and progression are crucial prerequisites to a successful change management program (ibid, pp. 209-210). It is identified that change management is a loosely defined term and hence different authors present different views to address this concept. Under the change management process, a range of ideas from areas like business, engineering, and psychology are applied to achieve desired outcomes (Hiatt & Creasey 2003, p. 11). In today’s business environment, many organisations fail to adapt to various changes properly because of various reasons. Change leadership is a primary solution to make the change management effective and to adapt to different organisational changes quickly and efficiently (Daft 2008, p. 454). Leaders have an inevitable role to play in promoting the change because they are the persons responsible for providing motivation and communication essential to keep the change efforts in the apt track; hence, strong and proactive leadership is a major factor determining the success of the change (ibid). A better change management model itself would not guarantee a successful change; instead, better supervision of the change management programme by an efficient and committed leader is vital to achieve expected goals (Orridge 2009, p.19). It is clear that a leader often needs to go beyond written check lists and fundamental operational models to understand his/her followers and their concerns and the feelings of the change. Therefore, under any circumstance, change leadership is the key to get the change implemented in the planned way. The concept of change leadership works primarily on the principle of trust, which can be attained only by “consistent ethical behaviour and clearly defined values” (Marshall 2010, p.91). Which is more important? Recently, there have been a few debates and studies conducted and literatures published to determine whether change management or change leadership is more important. From a close evaluation, it seems that change leadership is more important than change management. John Kotter conducted a deep research on this topic and claimed that change leadership is of more significance in an organisation. When giving focus only to change management, firms try to push things along and do not mitigate disruptions. Under a change management process, an organisation just tries to ensure that the planned change is executed efficiently so that it would not go over budget; and at the same time, change leadership is an engine and is more about urgency and big visions (Kotter 2011). Change leadership is a broader idea that reflects combined efforts of masses of people to make something happen and empowerment of organisation’s stakeholders (Alimo-metcalfe & Alban-Metcalfe, n.d.). As compared to change management, the level of uncertainty is more in the case of change leadership. More precisely, there is a slight possibility of going things out of control while practicing change leadership strategies. However, a strong, efficient, and committed leader would assist the organisation to ensure that its risk factors related to change leadership are minimal. Since the level of risk associated with the change leadership is relatively high, firms must give prime focus to this practice. In addition, change leadership is highly associated with an array of opportunities and some bigger leaps. Since change leadership is a demanding task and majority of leaders are not concerned about it, this task can be the big challenge for management professionals in the near future. Kotter has proposed an eight steps model to achieve successful change. They are; establish a sense of urgency, form a powerful guiding coalition, create a vision, communicate that vision, empower others to act on the vision, plan for and create short term wins, consolidate improvements and keep the momentum for change moving, and institutionalise the new approaches (cited in Coutts, n.d.). While planning any type of change, it is one of the primary duties of the leaders to create a sense of urgency among his/her followers. Organisational studies indicate that majority of the leaders fail to create such a sense of urgency to drive the planned change. As a result, many organisations are forced to raise more funds than what they have set aside for driving the change initially (cited in Sabri et al 2006, p.177). According to the Kotter’s model, leaders have to develop a strong group of people who believes the planned change is necessary. In the next phase, leaders should form a clear vision for the change and communicate it to stakeholders concerned. In addition, leaders have the duty to empower their audience to act on the vision and thereby to drive the change immediately (Kotter International). The communication and empowerment strategies chosen by the leader would greatly affect the flow of the change (ibid). The leadership strategies constitute the core of the remaining four steps too. The Kotter’s eight steps model provides a theoretical framework to manage the change in an effective way. However, the efficacy of this model would greatly depend on the way the change leadership is practiced. The Lewin change management model suggests three stages, including unfreeze, change, and freeze, to make a change successful (Kurt Lewin Change Management Model, n.d.). The unfreezing stage is about understanding the necessity and urgency of change and getting ready to go out of the current comfort zone. In order to start various jobs associated with the change before the deadline, leaders may use some sorts of rewards or punishments. The second stage, change or transition, appears to be the hardest one to implement as people may be extremely anxious or fearful about the change at this phase (Blokdijk 2008, p.16). In order to execute this stage effectively, a leader must provide his/her followers with constant support in the form of training, motivation, and empowerment (Sharma 2006, p.44). The freezing stage is all about establishing stability once the desired change has been achieved (ibid). In short, both the models reflect the idea that the concept of change leadership is the key to making the change management process successful. Evidences suggest that even a well planned change management program may fail to achieve its objectives unless the leader who is responsible for change management develops strong and proactive policies to drive the proposed change. A change leader often goes beyond his duties and responsibilities to get things under control (Huff 2011). It can be undoubtedly stated that change management would not bring the desired results in the absence of strong change leadership. Therefore, organisations have to give more focus to change leadership because change management will automatically be promoted in the presence of the former. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that change leadership is more important than change management. Change management indicates everything that tries to keep change efforts under control whereas change leadership is about the visions and processes that would drive the planned change. The Kotter’s eight steps model and the Lewin change management model clearly point toward the fact that an effective change leadership is vital to achieve the expected change management outcomes. Hence, modern firms have to particularly emphasise change leadership to successfully deal with their organisational change needs. References Alimo-metcalfe, B & Alban-Metcalfe, J. 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