Role and Responsibility of Change Agent in Planned Change - Research Paper Example

? Change management Introduction Change is often d as the most apparent and the only continuous process in the modern day business context. In certain circumstances, change is applied in a planned format; while at times, changes within organizational contexts occur voluntarily. Irrespective of its categorization, one of the most apparent obstructions to change had been reluctance of human beings to readily adapt changes. It is fundamentally due to the reason that change is known to bring massive alterations in the already settled system irrespective of the fact that whether it is planned or unplanned. Planned change is a process where the company appoints an agent through strategic rationalization to assess the present issues and problems of the company (Blomme, 2012). It is worth mentioning in this regard that discrepancy analysis act as the base for planned changes within organizations which enables change agents to identify and sort the processes or aspects which should be inculcated or should be excluded from the business process (Goodman, Bazerman and Conlon, 1980). Emphasizing on this particular aspect, the report intends to present the basic need for successfully implementing a planned change in an organization. Therefore, the paper discusses the responsibilities and methods of the effective change agents. Subsequently, the report also intends to reveal some of the sensitivity issues raised by Bridges in relation to the implementation of planned changes within the organizational context. The ultimate aim of the discussion is thus concentrated on evaluating the possible strategies through which, the change agents could be effective in handling the issues raised by Bridges. Analysis of changes in organization In context of today’s market, there is continuous need for change in any organization. At times, changes are observed to occur voluntarily due to the influences created by external forces such as emergence of powerful competitors, change of government policies, consumer demand shifts and similar other variables. However, in certain circumstances, changes in the organizations are implemented through proper planning as per the needs or goals of the organization. For instance, in the modern day context, it has often been observed that companies initiate major changes in relation to its communication processes, the formation of employee-participation teams or establishing new product among others for the improvement of the business in today’s continuously increasing competitive environment. With the competition becoming more intense by the every passing day companies are forced to make changes or initiate innovative ideas in their business processes to attain and preserve a leadership position in the industry (Daft, 2008). As per the current day context, the changes could be in regard to product or technologies or in relation to any other organizational concern. Changes in relation to products can be identified in terms of its quality and services over a certain period of time. In the similar context, technological changes refer to the specific alterations happening in the production or the distribution or communication processes of an organization. It is in this context that irrespective of the type of change, it is the foremost responsibility of the people to put collaborative efforts towards ensuring the desired outcomes. It is fundamentally owing to this particular reason that in order to implement planned changes in different dimensions of the organization, segregated teams of specialists are selected. These segregated teams are further observed to operate following different set of policies and principles to that identified among other usual groups of organizational teams with the sole aim to provide new ideas of change to the business (Daft, 2008). When implementing changes in a planned way, organizations generally tend to follow a three step approach. The initial stage of planned change is often referred as ‘unfreezing’ where the change agents attempt to convey the existing discrepancies or managerial problems persisting within the organization and thus clarify the need for the changes to entire organizational team. In this stage, the change agents are also aimed towards motivating people to transform their attitude of reluctance and actively participate in the change instigated within the organization. In common instances, organizations attempt to introduce an expert, either from within the organizational environment of from the external business context, called the ‘change agent’ to identify the prevailing errors or discrepancies and therefore suggest remedies in implementing beneficial changes in the organizational procedure. In the next stage, i.e. changing, the change agent aims at developing a plan to train the managers and the employees about the existing discrepancies and the possible solutions to those through change options within the organization. Subsequently in the final or third stage, i.e. freezing, the impacts of the new changes are evaluated by the change agent and further alterations are made in order to bring efficiency in almost every dimension of the business. Moreover in this stage the change agent also intends to implement certain visionary changes in the work culture that assists the employees to readily adapt to the changes as a normal process treating it to be an integral part of the organization (Vilkas & Stancikas, 2006). Role and responsibility of change agent in planned change A large number of changes can be observed as taking place continuously in the modern day organizations on a regular basis either in planned forms or in spontaneous forms. In this context, the role and responsibilities of the change agent is termed to be quite vital to encourage the organizational teams to adopt the change and thereby ensure the successful implementation of the planned change process. From a generalized perspective, these agents are selected by the company either from within its working environment or from the external context to analyze the present situation of the company, prepare a discrepancy analysis and suggest as well as implement beneficial changes processes within the company. Change agents are also responsible for understanding the perceptions of the organizational teams towards planned changes and thus convince the individuals to readily accept the changes brought into effect (Bartunek, Balogun & Do, 2011). From an overall perspective, change agents are responsible for the successful implementation of the change process. Hence, they should have the quality to inspire people and to motivate the organizational teams in taking necessary steps enthusiastically towards the successful implementation of the planned change. They should also have to ensure that the already practiced systems in the organization should adequately support the change. It is also the responsibility of the change agent to identify and forecast the possible consequences of the changes planned and implemented to take necessary steps to counter the probable negative impacts. The change agents must also plan regarding the resources to be used and the expected outcomes to the change so as to assess if such changes are required to facilitate the progress of the organization (Bartunek, Balogun & Do, 2011). Sensitivity of the issues presented by William Bridges & role of a change agent in managing those issues According to Bridges (2009), change is a situational issue. The process of transition or change is further noted as a psychological process by Bridges. According to his theory, the change agents should know and understand the loss an individual is likely to face when there is a planned change in an organization. He also depicted that a change agent should also calculate the effects of any kind of change in the organization to the people related with it prior to its ultimate implementation. According to him, the current problem in today’s business organization is not the need of change; rather, it is the change itself (Bridges, 2009). In context of the issues related to a planned change implementation within the organization, Bridges agreed that change agents play a key role in gaining the support of the employees. As suggested by Bridges (2009), to mitigate similar challenges in implementing changes, the change agent can communicate with the employees in order to understand their views on the changes that are planned to be implemented within the organization. The change agents should also offer the employees with the various benefits of the change implemented, to them at the individual level and to the organization as well in a transparent way. The logic behind the whole process of change should also be necessarily explained to them so that they can readily adopt the changes within a short span of time. In this context, Bridges (2009) revealed that the chance of successfully implementing the planned change gets increased when the change agent receives support from the employees. Moreover, it is also crucial that the change agent designs the entire change process by rendering due consideration the welfare of the employees as well the organization. In this regard, the change agent can perform multiple sessions of interviews with the employees along with conducting questionnaire sessions to recognize their opinions and expectations from the change. The change agent should also try to understand the emotional responses of the employees towards the planned change. Once the responses are clear to the agent, effective strategies can be developed to deal with all these issues. Additionally, the change agent should also give extreme priority to the need of the organization along with the welfare of the employees (The University of Adelaide, n.d.). Conclusion From the overall analysis of the report it can be summarized that change is one of the inevitable and continuous processes identifiable within any modern day organizations. It is worth mentioning in this context that the process of any effective change needs an efficient change agent who is quite capable of executing the entire process of change successfully taking into account the various aspects of influencing factors, such as already practiced organizational systems, its vision and mission, employee resistance, need for the change and the probable outcomes (both negative and positive) from the change planned to be implemented. It has been noticed that success and failure of any change largely depend on how it is being conducted by the change agent. As stated by Bridges (2009), the roles and responsibilities of change agents are wide ranging. It not only comprises of assessing and planning the required changes through discrepancy analysis, but also includes effective forecasting and motivating of employees’ as well as other variables’ reaction to the change. References Bartunek, J. M., Balogun, J., & Do, B. (2011). Considering planned change anew: stretching large group interventions strategically, emotionally, and meaningfully. The Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), pp. 1–52. Bridges, W. (2009). Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. United States: Da Capo Press. Blomme, R... J. (2012). How managers can conduct planned change in self-organizing systems: actor network theory as a perspective to manager’s actions. International Journal of Business Administration, 3(5). Daft, R. L. (2008). The New Era of Management. US: Cengage Learning EMEA. Goodman, P., Bazerman, M. & Conlon, E. (1980). Institutionalization of Planned Organizational Change. Tepper School of Business, 895, pp. 215-246. The University of Adelaide. (n.d.). Leading change, transition and transformation. Retrieved from http://www.adelaide.edu.au/hr/strategic/leading_change_toolit.pdf Vilkas, M., & Stancikas, E-R. (2006). Modelling of planned change of organizational work processes in terms of process’ internal structure. Issn 1392-2785 Engineering Economics, 4(49). Read More