Reasons for an Organisation to Change - Essay Example

HRM Assignment 2 Introduction The essay is based on the importance of change management in business environment. Change management can be described as a systematic approach for transitioning of different resources and assets of any organisations to ensure the future growth. These changes can be done from organisational as well as individual perspectives (Hiatt and Creasey, 2003). Organisations need to match the pace of change with the current fast moving business environment. Organisations that are not focusing towards the proper change management can lose their competitive advantage in the present fast moving market (Hiatt and Creasey, 2003). The study has described various internal and external forces which influence organisations to change. It has further discussed about different resistances to change management and the consequences of failing to the organisational changes. Therefore, a particular change management model has been elaborated to recommend different ways of managing resistances. 2. Reasons for an organisation to change A typical organisation generally faces a number of forces which influences their organisational changes. These forces can generate from different external sources as well as internal sources of the organisation (Harsh, 2011). 2.1 Internal forces Internal forces for change generally come from the different operations of any organisation. Different kind of internal forces for change can generate from managerial behaviours and human resources problems (Harsh, 2011). a) Managerial behaviour: Excessive conflict and disagreement within a team and their manager is a sign for the requirement of change. This type of team needs to undergo interpersonal skill trainings. The team members as well as their superiors need to be relocated to different departments to reduce the conflict (Harsh, 2011). B) Human resources problems: This kind of problem generally initiates from the differences between organisational and individual desires and expectations. Differences between the expectations of management and employees can cause dissatisfaction within the employees which further results in higher turnover rate and absenteeism (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). Changes in career design are required in this kind of situation to minimize the role conflict and ambiguity within the employees (Harsh, 2011). 2.2 External forces There are mainly four external forces which influence the need of change in any organisation such as demographic characteristics, market changes, pressures from political and social issues and technological advancement (Harsh, 2011). a) Demographic characteristics: A huge section of international organisations face this force to change as they are consist of a large number of culturally diversifies employees. This type of organisations needs to change their work patterns and diversity management programs as per the requirement of employees from different cultural background (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). b) Technological advancement: Organisations of service and manufacturing industry are adopting different technological advancements to improve their productivity and performances. Most of the organisations need to continuously update their operations as per the rapid technological advancement. This requirement influences the need of change management in these organisations (Harsh, 2011). c) Market changes: The fluctuation in global economy is one of the major forces which influence the need of changes in any organisation. Companies need to restructure their operations and relations with investors and suppliers to ensure organisational growth in any kind of economical situations (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). d) Social/ Political pressures: External forces generated from different political issues also cause changes in organisations. Personal values of various employees from multiple social backgrounds create the necessity to adjust the managerial style as per these differences. Many organisations face difficulties to analyse the political issues affecting their organisation. They prefer to hire lobbyist or consultants to assist them to understand these issues and respond to them (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). 3. Consequences to organizations which Fail to Change Business which fails to change faces different kinds of individual and organisational consequences. These consequences can hamper the individual motivation and performances as well as the overall productivity of the organisation (Burke, 2013). Few of these consequences are discussed below: Fail to change as per the changing economical conditions can cause various financial losses to any organisation. During the phase of recession and inflation proper changes in management and operations is very necessary to sustain the profit margin of the organisation (Burke, 2013). Failing to properly change the management operations in any organisation can delay the process of addressing employee issues and concerns. This situation can decrease the motivation of employees and therefore reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation (Burke, 2013). The incapability of organisations to change their operations as per the advancement of global technologies generally hinders the pace of their organisational growth. Rapid development in technological approaches increases the demand of customers while the organisation fails to deliver the same. Therefore, the situation affects the profitability and sales growth of the organisation (Burke, 2013). Organisation’s inability to modify its processes and operations as per different social and political issues also adversely affects its business sustainability. Political issues and regulations can restrict different ventures of the organisation which therefore results in financial loss (Burke, 2013). Organisations that are not focused to change generally faces increased conflict within the employees. Lack of modification in the work process and team structures causes de-motivation within the employees. This situation can reduce the productivity of those employees. It can also cause increased turnover rate of the organisation (Burke, 2013). Absence of proper change management also affects on the ability of understanding the demand of organisation as well as employees (Burke, 2013). Change management is required to develop the skills and competencies of employees as per the changing needs of the market. Failing to these changes can affect the consumer loyalty towards the organisation (Burke, 2013). 4. Reasons for resistance to change 4.1 Individual resistance Various reasons of individual resistance mainly initiate from the basic characteristics of human such as perception and personality (Harvey and Broyles, 2010). There are four major reasons behind individual resistance for changes The habit of individual’s to follow the day to day processes and programmed responses, hampers the change management processes. This tendency of response causes huge resistance towards different organisational changes. Adjusting to new work atmosphere and operational processes cause various complexity in the initial phase. The habit of neglecting complexity influences the resistance towards the organisational changes (Oreg, 2003). Individuals who demand security in the workplace always tend to resist changes. Different organisational changes threaten the feeling of safety of these individuals. As per example, a number of employees of Ford Motors had shown resistance to the introduction of robotic equipments as they were afraid that this facility may cause job cuts (Oreg, 2003). Economic factor is another reason for individual resistance. Changes in work patter, designation and job tasks can create economical fear within employees as they are not very certain whether they can deliver same level of performance in the new profile (Diamond, 1986). Changes in the organisation create uncertainty and ambiguity about the different processes and operations. Introduction of new systems creates worry within the employees about the complexity to learn the new process. This situation also causes resistance within the employees to accept the changes (Diamond, 1986). 4.2 Organisational resistance Most of the organisations have a conservative nature and they generally tend to resist changes (Bovey and Hede, 2001). There are mainly five reasons of organisational resistance, such as- Resource management team in any organisation observes changes as a threat. Various changes can cause increased budget and reduction in the stuff size. These changes increase the uncertainty in the future resource allocation (Bovey and Hede, 2001). Changes in the structure of decision-making authority can change the long-term relationship of the management with the organisation. This situation normally creates threats to the top management authorities which further results in resistance to the changes (Bovey and Hede, 2001). Changes can affect the expertise of different group members. Intranet system and decentralized computer facility has provided the access to the managers to monitor every activities of subordinates. This change was resisted by different departments during the year of 1980 (Bovey and Hede, 2001). Group activities sometimes resist the changes of organisation while an individual is ready to accept the same. The tendency to follow the decisions of the majority of the group influences individual to resist organisational changes (Bovey and Hede, 2001). An organisation is made of different subsystem. If an organisation needs to incorporate any changes to its subsystem it also need to modify other dependent subsystems. This generally takes a lot of time and incurs a huge cost. Management sometimes resist these changes to eliminate theses cost and complexity (Bovey and Hede, 2001). 5. Change management model to manage the resistance to change There are mainly three change management model which any organisation can follow to successfully introduce change to their organisation. These change management models are- a) Lewin’s change management model b) McKinsey 7-S Model c) Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model Out of these three models the most suitable model is Lewin’s change management model which ensures proper management of resistances while introducing changes to the organisation (Cameron and Green, 2012). 5.1 Lewin’s change management model This change management model was introduced in 1950s by Kurt Lewin. Before introducing this model, Lewin has conducted few researches about different resistance of organisations and individuals towards the change management. Lewin’s change management model involves three major steps which assist organisations to eliminate resistances before introducing changes within the operations. These steps are termed as unfreeze, transition and refreeze (Schein, 1996). 5.1.1 Unfreeze The first step of this model includes various activities which helps an organisation to prepare it stakeholders to accept the essential changes. To successfully execute this step organisation needs to develop few messages to convey the information to their stakeholders. It will assist them to properly educate the stakeholders about the disadvantages of the current procedure and the importance of the change. These messages need to be incorporated with the declining sales figure, poor financial performances of the organisation and survey reports which are showing dissatisfaction of employees. To eliminate resistance of all levels of stakeholders, the management needs to start from the core. They need to challenge the values, believes and perceptions of employees which are supporting the current status of the organisation. They also need to produce proper evidences which support the need of change. This step always proved to be difficult and stressful for any organisation. The efforts to change the general perceptions and values of the employees of any organisation can create huge crisis within them. On the other hand this crisis will assist the organisation to motivate the stakeholders to seek out new alternatives (Levasseur, 2001). Different steps of unfreeze- Determining the requirement of change and surveying the employees to understand the present status. Ensuring the strong support from the key management of the organisation. Presenting the issue as the most importance phenomena of the organisation. Create a strong message which acknowledge the importance of change utilize the vision and core values of the organisation to support it. Communicate the vision effectively and manage the doubts (Levasseur, 2001). 5.1.2 Transition After the uncertainty of the unfreeze stage, management should follow the transition stage. In this stage employees tend to solve their uncertainty and seek for new ways to perform their tasks (Burnes, 2004). The practical steps of transition involves- Frequent communication with stakeholders throughout the planning and execution procedure of the change. This communication will involve the information about change procedures and their benefits. Management need to answer all the queries promptly to discard all the doubt and rumours. They need to provide opportunities to all the employees to get involved in the process. They also need to be involved in time to time negotiation with their external stakeholders (Burnes, 2004). 5.1.3 Refreeze After successfully implementing the changes within the organisation the management needs to refreeze their stuff so that they can efficiently follow the new rules and regulations (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). The steps of refreeze includes- Anchoring the changes into the organisational culture by identifying and eliminating barriers which oppose the sustainability of those changes. The management needs to create reward programs and introduce feedback processes to ensure the sustainability of the changes. They also need to provide trainings and supports to the employees (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). 6. Conclusion The easy has conveyed all the forces which influences change in organisation. It has also discussed various problems that an organisation can face due to the absence of positive changes. The study has elaborated various resistances that an organisation faces to introduce changes. Lewin’s change management model has been analysed to understand the effective ways to handle these resistance while changing different operations or processes of any organisation. Reference Lint Hiatt, J. and Creasey, T. J., 2003. Change management: The people side of change. Colorado: Prosci. 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