Power and Resource Allocation in Organisations - Term Paper Example

Organisational Theory December 30, 2008 Organisational Change and Development INTRODUCTION Hereclitus was the first philosopher to note that change is ironically a constant force in our lives. Change has, in fact, been such an important part of social and organizational phenomenon, that it has developed into planned change management theory, offering a variety of creative theoretical approaches to exploring change in complex organisations. Though it is often argued that certain organisations like those in the public sector are less adaptive to change then organisations composing the for or nonprofit sector (Salamon, 1995), literature recommending a variety of change management styles and procedures have examined nearly every detail of this unique phenomenon across the globe. Organisational theory has compared and contrasted many ways of fostering the types of effective change deemed necessary to improve the production and distribution of goods and services. In addition, a variety of strategic change recommendations have been advanced based on organisational structures, relations with the public, and objectives oriented change to optimally enhance operations. This literature has given concerned stakeholders tremendous insight into the diverse methods available for enhancing the likelihood for successful transformation, all the while minimising risks for productivity, goals and objectives, as well as human resources. Given the turbulent financial environment that managers currently find themselves in, it is unlikely that any element of classic theoretical frameworks approaching problem identification and solution on a start and stop basis will provide the instruments or mechanisms necessary to continuously create the responsive flexibility and adaptability needed to survive in the current environment. Before describing the planned change factors and related resilience and fortitude now needed by contemporary organisations to address perpetual problem solving, it may be useful to describe relevant theoretical frameworks that can help managers understand and guide complex organisations through these turbulent waters of today, through the development of cohesive and responsive change strategies needed to survive and thrive under these challenging environmental conditions. RELEVANT LITERATURE The theoretical justification for organisational change has been reconciled in many ways. Classic organizational specialists argue that organisations should imitate the activities, structures, and operational patterns of those thriving in a given industry. Paradigms that advance these tendencies for organisational imitation are known as isomorphism, believed to be highly beneficial for performance and cultures (Zucker, 1977). In contrast, other frameworks suggest that flexibility and adaptation to fluctuating environments is much more likely to facilitate success (Robertson & Seneviratne, 1995). Still others examine organisational problem-based operations in light of resource mobilization or by the accumulation and maintenance of power structures (Pfeffer, 1977). Change management theorists take the position that change will be needed at certain critical points throughout an organizational lifespan, and that when necessary, constructive transformations might optimally be implemented through rational and judicious decision-making. Throughout the period of critical events when change might be indicated, managers should not necessarily exploit their power or opportunistically capitalize on their authority to impose unnecessary levels of uncertainty. According to Jackson and Carter (2007, p. 6), this could be highly detrimental to process and action oriented objectives. Our belief is that the proper purpose of the study of organisational behaviour is to provide an understanding of it, not to prescribe its uncontrolled manipulation. Such an understanding cannot be achieved independently of consideration of the purposes, practices, and ethical issues surrounding organisational behaviour in organisations and its management. Equally important is the social context in which behaviour in organisations occurs. Therefore, careful and judicious change, exercised with caution, are the key elements driving effective change management in complex organisations. Another factor is the high degree of fairness and ethics that should be exercised while making structural adjustments or otherwise accommodating transformations that might have a profound social, cultural, and environmental impact. Yet the procedures and processes to realize these worthy goals is often elusive and hard to concretely identify in wildly fluctuating business environments facing contemporary managers. Challenges are exacerbated even further when changes take place in vertically and horizontally-integrated complex organisations. Despite the widespread belief that uncontrolled manipulation should be avoided, and that the need for adaptation should be minimized for both structures and people composing organisations; this paper argues that certain optimal strategies for change implementation can be identified while assuring that entities minimise risks, maximize ethics, reduce uncertainty, and otherwise adapt to effectively prepare for any inevitable deleterious consequences that may be associated with strategic plans for institutionalised change. It may be useful to underscore the need for simplification and redundancy avoidance, both of which can be very important to surviving contemporary turbulence. This tactic is not, of course, limited to business firms or charitable organisations. Change management in the public sector has, for example, already been demonstrated to be the key to successful streamlining in government services better serving the polity and thus strengthening democratic civil society. Many creative concepts on establishing the appropriate criteria for governments to implement planned organisational change in the public sector effectively have been advanced by specialists including Robertson and Seneviratne (1995, p. 1). There is a growing recognition of the need for fundamental changes in the way public organisations are structured and managed. With the environment becoming more turbulent, organisational boundaries changing or even collapsing, and the number of constituents in the political arena increasing, many public organisations will require implementation of a broad range of proactive changes designed to improve organisational functioning. In particular, it is frequently argued that organisations need to reduce their managerial structure, allow greater discretion and responsibility among their front-line employees, and operate more flexibly and innovatively if they are to perform sufficiently well to ensure their survival. The field of planned organisational change, based largely on the knowledge and techniques derived from the organisational development (OD) movement, provides a potentially useful set of approaches for implementing requisite changes along these lines. Thus, organisations are compelled to develop flexible systems that enable organisations to respond to changes in their environment immediately, and to do so not only by reacting to external stimulus, but also by developing proactive mechanisms to prepare and predict future solutions for survival. This constant adaptation that attempts to mediate, in advance, organizations to optimally confront environmental changes truly contradicts all the classic approaches to reactionary problem identification and solution-based systems with a concrete beginning and end. Planned change management approaches instead strive to create permanent institutional infrastructures and procedures that prepare and anticipate changes utilizing action, objectives, or problem-centred management. CHALLENGES TO CHANGE MANAGEMENT The pressure for for-profit firms, nonprofit charities, and governments to be more responsive to end-user needs, together with constrained resources and tendencies to outsource or otherwise privatise public sector functions through subcontracts to charities, are some of the correlates that increase pressure for organisations to provide goods and services more efficiently, while minimizing costs for customers and other stakeholders. Staffing needs and recruitment (Farnham, Horton, & White; 2003), the technological opportunities and the risks that accompany them (Pegels, 1988), and the orientation of human resources and other social and cultural factors associated with globalization (Morgan & Zeffane, 2003) render traditional problem-identification and solving management futile and obsolete. Temporal approaches with a beginning and end to change will no longer suffice. Instead, change theorists argue that any given organisation's strategic approach to change is best served by contingencies inherent in their response to the persistently unique challenges facing organisations, with an emphasis on levels of internal and external resistance to change, coupled with the pace with which change must be implemented. These two factors will largely determine the process by which organisations can optimally implement and institutionalise permanent change management that align with stakeholder needs. With such profound uncertainty on the horizon, organisations are usually unaware or unable to predict either the anticipated resistance to change, nor the pace with which change will be needed throughout all the various phases of planned change management. Because contemporary organizations find themselves operating in the current atmosphere often demonstrated to be wildly turbulent yet increasingly responsive to change, the need for effective change adaptation is now considered the most urgent factor for survival in any organisation. Kerber and Buon (2005, p. 3) suggest that the key to smooth transformation deploying planned change strategies typically derive from the top stakeholders, who would be best served by investing substantial resources in the form of time and technical assistance from staff to help design and implement changes as perceived from the bottom up. Such cooperation taking place from multiple levels within organizations was once thought impossible under the hostile conditions historically involved in mergers and acquisitions. Now these challenges and the continuous adaptations needed to address them are perceived to be more harmonious and mutually-beneficial then ever before. The planned change approach implicitly assumes that organisations experience sufficient inertia and that leaders must intentionally create change and consciously attempt to minimise resistance to that change. Yet, observations of organisations today suggest that it is increasingly common for change to arise from all levels in the organisation, for people to make both small and large changes in their work based on trial and error and success and failure, and for changes initiated in one part of an organisation to spread to other parts of the company. The reality is that such continuous change is a natural part of organisational life. Contemporary turbulence is therefore becoming to be an expected element of the daily routine of business operations affecting nearly every hierarchical level, and as such, responsive change is now perceived by nearly all stakeholders to be a continuous and regular element in an organisation's overall mobilization strategy to successfully adapt to its fluctuating environment. Planned change theorists demonstrate that if these stipulations are taken into account, resistance to institutional change management at a discomforting pace may not be inevitable. Nevertheless in the best of circumstances that take into account organisational complexity, sentiments of executives, understanding of threats, and denial of organisational vulnerability; planned change may not be completely effortless and unimpeded either. Due in part to the resilience that organizational stakeholders can exhibit to survive persistent changes demonstrating adaptation and flexibility in the face of adversity; processes, procedures, and personnel can be beneficially moulded by continuous, and even exorbitant changes. The difficulties that might be brought on by these nearly perpetual change management decisions can be mitigated by reorienting staff motivation and reward orientation, skills retraining and restructuring of staff, enhancing absorption potential, and other human factors. With a minimum of costs, risk, and uncertainty; coupled with enhanced growth and development of staff skills within emerging structures, the creative implementation of planned change management can be highly fortuitous to enable complex organisations to survive and even thrive under turbulent conditions for the benefit of diverse stakeholders for the future. CONCLUSION This paper has attempted to demonstrate that planned change management can be implemented by organisations nearly universally, in order to respond to the turbulent environment that these entities are operating in. Government, for-profit, and nonprofit sector organisations are all highly vulnerable to fluctuating conditions, while classic management approaches to ex-post facto problem solving will no longer enable organisations to adapt creatively nor swiftly to their turbulent environments. Responsive modern organisations will be compelled to create proactive mechanisms predicting problems in order to survive and thrive. The paper also attempted to illustrate that planned change management is not necessarily difficult to implement, that staff and structures are now exhibiting unprecedented flexibility in order to adapt to meeting environmental needs. By providing a brief review of some of the benefits of change management, as well as the challenges that organisations might face in resisting its implementation; resilient organisations can be expected nevertheless to minimise the deleterious consequences of change, enhance the likelihood for survival, and create the conditions of courage necessary for leadership under today's highly volatile market conditions. REFERENCES Farnham, D., Horton, S. & White, G. (2003). Organisational change and staff participation and involvement in Britain's public services. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 16(6), 434-445. Hofstede, G., 1984. Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Jackson, N. & Carter, P., 2007. Rethinking Organisation Behaviour: A Poststructuralist Framework Essex. UK: Prentice Hall. Kerber, K. & Buono, A. F. 2005 Rethinking Organisational Change: Reframing the Challenge of Change Management Organisation Development Journal, Fall 2005, pp. 1-12. Morgan, D.E. & Zeffane, R. (2003). Employee involvement, organisational change and trust in management. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1), 55-75. Pagels, H., 1988. The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Pfeffer, J. 1977. "Power and Resource Allocation in Organisations" in Shaw, B. ed New Directions in Organisational Behavior St. Clair Press, Chicago Robertson, P. J. & Seneviratne, S. J., 1995. Outcomes of Planned Organisational Change in the Public Sector: A Meta-Analytic Comparison to the Private Sector. Public Administration Review, 55, pp 1-14 Salamon, L. M., 1995. Partners in Public Service: Government - Nonprofit Relations in the Modern Welfare State. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins. Weber, M., 1930. The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism. London: George Allen & Unwin. Zucker, L. G., 1977. The role of institutionalization in cultural persistence. American Sociological Review, 42, pp. 726-43. Read More