Change Management Impacts - Essay Example

? Change Management Plan Reorganizational changes and impacts Organizational change, the planned or intended activities that aim to change one state of the organization to another often come with many profound impacts on both individuals and teams (Berger, 1992). The two main reorganization changes that will take place affecting the team entail the removal and addition of a new product; firstly, the team will discontinue the designing of cell phone applications for the company’s newest cell phone that is currently not doing so well in the market. Secondly, the tem will start to design and develop applications for a new smart phone, a challenge that will require new skills and experience that some of the team members do not possess in the first place. These reorganizations will affect the team in a number of ways but most importantly, the team will be limited by the lack of skills and experience of some of its members since the designing and development of applications for the smart phone will require new skills and experience. Additionally, since the administration has requested for a reduced timeline, the team will have to put in substantial extra hours to meet the timelines in the design and development of apps for the smart phone. Change Management Strategies Communication of change will be a crucial aspect of the change process, particularly because it facilitates change receptivity (Frahm and Brown, 2007); the first way to communicate the reorganization plans with the team is through staff forums, where team members raise and address all the real issues and concerns related with their work. The second way of communicating change is through site visitation, to interact with the team to find out the particular projects they are working on, and to invite them to suggest innovative ways of doing things differently. Buy-in from the team will facilitate the change process since it will align the team to the reorganization changes; the first way of gaining buy-in from the team is through clarity and consistency of the change message i.e. by offering a solid rationale for the change and passing the key message of change to all team members consistently. The second way of gaining buy-in from the team will be through invitation of dialogue, drawing the team members together in a forum for open discussions to urge their engagement and participation in the reorganization changes; participative management reduces resistance to change because it encourages members to feel valued and their opinions count (Pardo-del-Val, Martinez-Fuentes and Roig-Dobon, 2012). The first way of dealing with resistance from the team will be though fostering openness and two-way communication by asking for suggestions on how change can occur since when team members feel in control of the process, they are more likely to accept change. The second way of dealing with resistance will be through transparency, by providing all the details of the reorganization changes without holding back information from the team. The first way of leading and motivating the team through the change will be by coaching and empowering the members to be part of the change by engaging them in decision-making processes, and to encouraging them to come up with innovative solutions to challenges by giving them responsibility. The second way of leading and motivating the team through the change is through provision of feedback that creates positive reinforcement to team members, and suggesting areas that need enhancement; coaching and feedback are powerful tools for maximizing performance efficiency while minimizing weaknesses (Gilley, Gilley and Heather, 2009). Two specific ways that will be used to inform the supervisor of plans and progress will be face-to-face communications and regular progress reports, which will provide details of progress including quick wins already gained in the course of change implementation. Face to face are the most effective and preferred mode of communication, especially because they allow for immediate feedback (Klein, 1996); keeping the supervisor updated concerning the progress of the project will be central to retaining executive support for the change implementation, particularly because the project will require financial facilitation, which can only be authorized by the executive. Activities Required The first activity is to draw a comprehensive plan for change, identifying the need for change, highlighting the potential threats to the enterprise through scenarios of what could happen in the future, as well as the opportunities that the group can leverage. This should be done through honest discussions that give dynamic and convincing reasons for change, while soliciting for team support for the change, and from external stakeholders such as customers themselves, and other industry people. The second activity is to create the vision for change by determining the core values that are essential for change, as well as the strategies for achieving that vision, and sharing the same vision with the team members through effective communication strategies such as face-to-face communication. Sharing the vision with the team often will promote its acceptability and help in addressing their concerns and anxieties effectively; to establish buy-in from the team is an integral part of garnering support for the vision of change. The third activity is to identify potential obstacles to the plan process and to eliminate them effectively, to promote a smooth transition process; for instance, training the team members in crucial aspects regarding the change will facilitate their participation in the change process. Recognition of team members that are positive about the change and building strong alliances with them will help deliver the change, and recognizing and rewarding team members’ effort will also help push the change idea; similarly, identifying the team members who are resisting the change and bringing them on board will lead to effective change implementation as well. The fourth activity is to identify and allocate the appropriate resources that are crucial for the change to take place effectively, from physical resources, to capital resources, to time; recognition of the investment and the commitment of organizational resources required to achieving the change is a crucial part of plan implementation. The timeframes for the plan will provide a fundamental operational course along which the change will take place, and will ensure it remains a core aspect of the business plan; additionally, quick wins as well as periodic status discussions will help keep the plan upfront and in the eyes of the supervisors accordingly. The fifth action that is necessary for implementation of the change is the establishment of the appropriate infrastructure by defining roles and their players in the team, as well as the course of change or processes; change infrastructure makes those affected by change prepared to accept it (Griffith-Cooper and King, 2009). Task identification and delegation of duties will ensure that all the team members are aware of their roles and are positively engaged throughout the change process since their participation is crucial for successful change implementation. Sequence of processes to be followed is also critical, particularly the mechanisms and frequency of assessing the progress made in the implementation of the change process, and ways of communicating within the team. Risk Identification The first risk involves resistance from the team members, who might find the proposed change process so frustrating on their part, maybe due to the profound anxiety uncertainties associated with change bring. Resistance will be dealt with through clarity and consistency of message to dispel all fears and concerns concerning the change process; for instance, team member’s concerns about their incompetence will be addressed through a proposal of training programs. The second risk is high turnover of team members who will not be able to cope up with the intense and rapid change process; this will be dealt with effectively through incentives that will motivate team members to stay and to remain committed to the change process. The third potential risk involves the lack of sufficient knowledge and skills in developing applications for the smart phone; however, this can be addressed through intensive training programs to empower the team towards achieving their goals. The fourth risk involved is failure to reach consensus on crucial matters regarding the change process in the team, which can be addressed though delegation of roles and empowerment of the team members to provide innovative solutions to the challenges given to them. The fifth risk, communication inefficiencies within the group, which can lead to misunderstandings that further derail the change process, can be addressed through team activities that provide opportunities for members to interact with each other thus creating positive working relations. The sixth risk is failure to meet short deadlines set for the change implementation, which will be mitigated by encouraging collaboration between team members on specific tasks to increase speed of work, as well as through extra working hours to beat the strict deadlines. Finally, the seventh risk that is likely to occur is the total failure of the plan implementation, which can be avoided through comprehensive planning and constant review to ensure everything proceeds according to plan and if not, remedial steps are taken to resolve the technicalities that may potentially arise. References Frahm, J., & Brown, K. (2007). First steps: Linking change communication to change receptivity. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20(3), 370-387.  Klein, S. M. (1996). A management communication strategy for change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9(2), 32-46. Gilley, A., Gilley, J. W., & McMillan, H. S. (2009). Organizational change: Motivation, communication, and leadership effectiveness. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 21(4), 75-94. Berger, A. (1992). Towards a framework for aligning implementation change strategies to a situation-specific context. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 12(4), 32.  Griffith-Cooper, B., & King, K. (2007). The partnership between project management and organizational change: integrating change management with change leadership. Performance Improvement, 46(1), 14-20. Pardo-del-Val, M., Martinez-Fuentes, C., & Roig-Dobon, S. (2012). Participative management and its influence on organizational change. Management Decision, 50(10), 1843-1860. Read More