The Concept of Change Management - Research Paper Example

Working Project Change Management. The importance of properly managed Change Control Aims and Objectives: Following are the aims and objectives of carrying out dissertation on the mentioned topic: To achieve a thorough understanding on change in organizations and its implementation. To understand the approaches that could be applied by project organizations to introduce and manage change. Study the important of communication in managing change control. Understand types of changes in project organizations. Look at the reasons that cause change projects to fail and ways to overcome failure. Synopsis: In this paper, we are going to study how change is introduced and managed in project organizations. Project organizations are different than other organizations thus, change implementation is a difficult process and requires continuous effort from the human side as well as use of better project management tools. Beneficiaries: I express my sincere and deep gratitude to my honorable professor whose guidance, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in making this thesis possible. I have furthermore to thank my parents, siblings and colleagues’ for all their help, support, interest and valuable hints. Research Strategy: Research strategy signifies the approach which the researcher uses to find information on the relevant topic. In this paper, we are using the secondary method of research which means making use of already available information on the given subject. The secondary resources available include books, journals, periodicals, newspapers, websites etc. For the purpose of writing this paper, we have chosen four core journal papers. The reason why we call them as ‘core’ is that these four papers look at the concept of change management from a different perspectives, how change can be implemented in project organizations, how to manage change in project organizations and the factors which cause a project to fail as well as the reasons for bringing project to success. Research Method: For the purpose of studying the topic, we are going to follow the qualitative approach because our research is exploratory in nature. Researchers involved in qualitative research examine things mostly in their original settings and try and make meaning out of it. There are a number of ways which are used to collect data in qualitative research such as case studies, individual stories, observations, interviewing which tell them a lot about people, events and their interpretations (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994, p.2) Research Design: The data we will be collecting for understanding the topic will be in qualitative form and content analysis is the best technique for its analysis. Content analysis can be defines as a technique which is used to making inferences that are not only valid but also replicable from the data into context form (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). Literature Review In the cut throat competition of today, change management holds significant importance. In project organizations, managers face the challenge of integration of change management and project management. Change needs to be implemented in such a way in projects that the results guarantee success (Trehorel, 2007). It appears wise to study literature and build understanding of the concept of change from a historical point of view because this will give a clear idea of the trends undergone by change management (Demer, 1999). First canvas has been formed on the basic similarities between change management and project management whereas second canvas has its base in the first canvas with some addition of findings and theories (Valerie Lehmann, 2010). Kerzner and Berkun proposed that communication is the only tool which project managers can use for implementation of change. Communication not only helps project managers resolve conflicts but also act as a motivating tool for employees. Researchers McManus and Wood-Harper (2007) have shown that some projects fail during execution due to a number of reasons of which thirty five percent are technical and remaining sixty five percent are related to management processes and people. Therefore, people issues need to be handled very precisely. The possible solution is to educate the managers about the principles of change management and encourage them to learn soft skills for carrying out change as well as apply the very basic tools of change in everyday operations. There are a few strategies which organizations can apply in change process to ensure high rate of success. These strategies involve communicating the employees about the change in a two way manner so as to make them clear of the goal, purpose of change and resolve disagreements, if any. Organizations must ensure that when communicating change, it is not necessary that all employees present during the session are willing to accept change; those who are in favor of change show strong commitment towards it. Next, collaboration among team members and participation is extremely important for supporting change. (Robert E. Levasseur, 2010). Kurt Lewin has presented a simple yet elegant model on change management known as the three-step change process. These steps are called unfreeze, process and refreeze. Unfreeze means un-learning, process refers to the communication of change and refreeze is when the change has been successfully implemented with consent and commitment. Projects are majorly affected by the environment in which they operate. For the purpose of understanding, these factors are called as attended and unattended. Attended factors are those which are predictable and affect the project positively or negatively. On the contrary, unattended factors are unexpected and unplanned interventions and have either positive or negative impact on the project objectives (P.E.D. Love, G.D. Holt, L.Y. Shen, H. Li, Z. Irani, 2001). Decision making, technology and processes employed, the response from individuals and teams and the nature of project are planned (attended) dynamics. Unattended dynamics depend on the internal and external environment. Internal environment is generally composed of uncertainties such as financial, human based, project based and interdisciplinary interests. External environment is majorly affected by governmental, economic, social, legal and technological concerns. A case study has shown that changes in a project may occur due to mismanagement in terms of planning and task allocation, wrong assessment of time frame, resources etc. Although the technique of risk management can be incorporated in such failures but a better way is to study all the unattended factors as functions of management that is planning, organizing, commanding and controlling. Other concerns which if addressed properly can lower the rate of project failures such as regulations, design freezing, proper communication, training and development of personnel, timely diffusion of information and collaboration among project members. There are a number of ways to define change. Change reflects the drifting of an organization away from its current state towards a future state which helps to build strong competitive advantage for it (Hill and Jones, 2001, p. 486). Researchers have proposed different change management approaches to addresses different types of change. Change in organizations can be classified into two types; first order change and second order change. In first order change, the processes, technology, reward programs and organizational structure undergo change whereas in second order change involves cultural change (Levy and Merry, 1986). Apart from the basic forms of change, there are further four more types of changes namely radical new positioning, transforming, further developing and organizational learning. These types are based on two factors: the demand for change and potential for change. In radical new positioning, no competencies are required for managing change. Transforming is a form of periodic change which requires experience and can face fluctuations from employees during implementation. Further developing falls under the category of repetitive processes. Organizational learning is a process which can be called as continuous one and helps in clarification of goals, processes and duties. In organizations, radical new positioning is managed by work groups rather than a single project. Transformation requires the involvement of top management to take part in decision making and delegating responsibilities. Setting up standards such as milestones and work package specifications are required for implementation of further developing. Gaining knowledge on everyday basis and incorporating into business processes is a way of managing organizational learning. Implications for the project: We have learned from the literature review that change is a process which drives the organizational processes from a better to best state. Broadly, change is of two types. The first type focuses on daily operations whereas the second type is concerned with a relatively permanent change in the structure, culture and philosophy of the organization. We will be studying our research topic qualitatively and with the use of already available resources such as books, journals and websites. This technique has been used by Lehmann-author of one of the four core papers. The three step process of change management as proposed by Kurt Lewin is of much importance to us. Unfreezing, moving and refreezing will be generally applied when discussing change in our paper. The major causes that lead to failure of change projects in organizations have been discussed and with proper implementation of solutions mentioned, the possibility of failure can be reduced. References: Hsieh, H.-F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Pearson Education Denzin, NK & Lincoln, YS. (1994). "Introduction: Entering the field of qualitative research." In NK Denzin and YS Lincoln (Eds.)Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 1-17). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications P.E.D. Love a, *, G.D. Holt, L.Y. Shen, H. Li, Z. Irani. (2002). Using systems dynamics to better understand change and rework in construction project management systems. InternationalJournalof Project Management. (20), 425–436. Robert E. Levasseur. (2010). People Skills: Ensuring Project Success— A Change Management Perspective. International Journal of Project Management. 40 (2), 159–162. Roland Gareis. (2010). Change of organizations by projects. International Journal of Project Management. 28, 314-327. Vale´rie Lehmann. (2002). Connecting changes to projects using a historical perspective: Towards some new canvases for researchers. International Journal of Project Management. 1 (20), 314–327. Read More