Different Barriers that Affect an Organisation - Essay Example

During the contemporary period, it can be d that organisation operate in a dynamic environment that is characterised by different changes. In order to survive, the organisations ought to keep pace with these changes. However, as going to be elaborated below, there are different barriers that can affect the implementation of the change initiative in an organisation. Change in an organisation is inevitable and is often necessitated by various internal and external factors and this initiative often affects the operations of the company in many ways. Kreiter and Kinicki (2001:659 as cited in Schultz 2003) distinguish between external and internal forces of change. External forces include global and national dynamics that impact on the organisation such as technological changes, market, political, social as well as economic forces while internal factors include such factors as high employee turnover as well as low productivity. Essentially, change is initiated so as to increase competition, increase productivity, increase employee commitment as well as the need to develop flexible organisational and management strategies. However, in most cases, implementing change is not often a smooth task as there are various barriers likely to affect the change initiative. Barriers to change which sum up to resistance to the initiative include fear, lack of knowledge, misunderstanding, lack of trust, peer influence, inconvenience as well as personal factors such as low esteem. Resistance to change is a natural phenomenon but if it is ignored, it will hinder the efforts and likely to result in waste of resources. Thus, the successful management of resistance to change is the key factor in any change process. As going to be elaborated below, the forces against change are multiple and interrelated in most cases and they require a holistic approach (Schultz 2003). In the event that there is lack of understanding among the employees, it may be difficult to implement the change initiative. If the employees are not happy with the new initiative, it can be difficult for them to support it. A strategy that does not have the support of the people who are intended to play major roles is likely to face challenges in its implementation which can result in poor performance contrary to what would be anticipated in the first place. Where there is misunderstanding in an organisation, there would be high chances of conflict among the workers and the management which is not a health situation in the day to day operations of an organisation. For any change programme to be a success, it must be understood by all the employees who will take part in carrying out that exercise. In most cases, people resist change as a result of general fear of the unknown. The employees may also fear for their job security since some changes may result in unprecedented changes that may end up affecting their positions. It can thus be seen that the concept of change has to be diligently dealt with in order to remove fear for the unknown as well as fear for job security. Change is often initiated for the betterment of the organisation as well as the welfare of the employees who are the major drivers of the operations of any organisation. However, some changes may only be beneficial to the organisation and would render other employees redundant. Against this background, employees are often afraid and skeptical to readily accept the change initiative since it may threaten their security at work. Resistance to change may also be a result of lack of knowledge among the workers to be able to effectively carry out the tasks being proposed. For instance, if an organisation is intending to revamp its traditional way of doing business in favour of implementing a new system supported by computer based new information and communication technology, there is likely to be resistance since the old employee may lack computer technology related to information technology (IT) or information systems (IS). The employees would lack confidence in their knowledge about the new system which would make them feel inferior. They are also fearful of changes in job roles and responsibilities and this can also entail that the new changes would result in restructuring of the organisation. Implementing a new system development can result in some of the workers being rendered redundant in the process which also contributes to the source of resistance to change. Another barrier to change is lack of trust among the employees or management in an organisation. In some cases, changes may be intended to benefit only a cliché of well connected members of the organisation at the expense of the majority of the other workers. If there is lack of trust especially among the employees, it may be very difficult to implement change as they would try everything possible to scuttle the efforts. Peer influence in an organisation can be another barrier to change. In most organisations, there are people who are often regarded as opinion leaders and these can influence the other employees to resists any initiative to implement change. On the other hand, people may simply resist change citing that it would inconvenience them in their day to day operations. Simple is it may sound, this is a major challenge to organisations particularly when in comes to implementing change which ought to be accepted by all the employees. In the face of the above mentioned barriers to change, it can be seen that implementing change can be a daunting task that may be difficult unless measures have been put in place to remove them. Training is the most ideal technique that can be adopted in order to successfully implement change as it is concerned with generating knowledge. The CIPD survey 2007 provides some evidence that organisations that provide mediation training receive fewer employment tribunals in the UK. (http://www.mediationagency.com/pdf/cipdsurvey.pdf ). Basically, training is particularly involved with developing the human resources to constantly improve their performance in the organisation. Training is mostly in form of mentoring and coaching. Mentoring is an important support tool that an organisation can use to help young inexperienced employees to develop a better understanding of the work through the guidance of an older, more experienced employee or mentor (Jackson and Schuler 2000). On the other hand, coaching is a planned one on one instruction method where a coach working with only one learner at a time sets a good example of what is to be done (Kleynhans 2006). The difference is that mentoring is concerned with using guidance where a young employee is expected to follow the footsteps while coaching is a one on one process involving teaching and giving instructions to an employee but most importantly, they are all concerned with training the employee to improve performance standards A one on one coaching situation is suitable for this case where there are changes being implemented since there would be likely chances that the employee would quickly understand the dictates of the new ways of operating in an organisation since it would be hands on experience. It would be work as usual but the employee would be gaining experience which would allay fears associated with lack of proper knowledge about the change initiative. A coach motivates an employee, helps him develop skills and provide continuous feedback on his progress which is one effective way of ensuring success in the implementation of the change project against the backdrop of likely resistance from employees due to fear of the unknown. Mentoring can also play a critical role in which an established employee in this particular case can take a leading role in guiding the development of a less-experienced worker in a bid to increase his competencies, achievement and understanding of the new change initiative. This would remove unnecessary fears among the employees as they would immensely benefit from the knowledge of senior and experienced workers in a cordial fashion which encourages growth of interpersonal relationship. Where there is a cordial relationship among the workers, there would be very high chances of successfully achieving the goals of the organisation. Employees are likely to be highly motivated if they are being led by an exemplary person as he would try to establish a free environment in which the workers would not feel betrayed or let down by the introduction of new changes that can threaten their jobs. Misunderstanding in an organisation often leads to conflict. In order to avoid conflict with regards to implementing change, it is important to involve the employees in the decision making process so as to create mutual understanding. The success of involvement is mainly centered on two very important aspects which are organisational structure as well as effective communication as going to be elaborated below. An organisational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated (Robbins, Odendaal & Roodt 2001). The structure of the organisation should be flat where many people can contribute in decision making. Where there is open interaction, decisions can be made at a faster pace and there would be more chances of mutual understanding since the agreement reached would have been a result of different ideas from different people. There ought to be open channels of communication where there is free flow of information and the employees should take a role in contributing towards decision making as a way of creating a sense of belongingness. In a decentralized organisation, the employees are likely to feel less alienated from those who make decisions that affect their daily operations at work. Adaptive organisational forms which emphasize the flexibility to adapt to change can enhance better performance while bureaucratic structures will inhibit it (Kleynhans 2007). It can be noted that communication is very important to the day to day activities involved in an organisation. In this particular case, communication has to be effective in order to convince and persuade the employees to have a positive feeling towards the implementation of new changes. Mutual understanding on the benefits of the change project can only be attained if there are open and effective channels of communication where all the employees would get to know about the new change initiative. There ought to be open channels of communication where there is free flow of information and the employees should take a role in contributing towards decision making as a way of creating a sense of belongingness. Over and above, it can be concluded that organisations during the contemporary period operate in a dynamic environment and are prone to make changes in order to keep pace with the market forces. However, implementing change is not a very easy task as it is likely to be met with resistance. It can be concluded that training and employee involvement are major viable methods that may be implemented so as to overcome different barriers to change. Bibliography CIPD Change agenda (N.D.) Managing diversity: Linking theory and practice to business performance. Available at: http://www.equalitylink.co.uk/downloads/Managing%20Diversity.pdf Accessed on 22 April 2010. CIPD Survey report (February 2007). Managing conflict at work. Available at: http://www.mediationagency.com/pdf/cipdsurvey.pdf Accessed on 22 April 2010. Coaching at work (N.D.) Available at: http://www.coaching-at-work.com/ Accessed on 22 April 2010 Jackson, S.E. & Schuler R. (2000). Managing Human Resources: A Partnership Perspective. NY. South Western College Publishing. Kleynhans R. et al (2007), Human Resource Management: fresh perspectives, Prentice Hall SA Pfeffer J. (1998). The Human equation: Building profits by putting people first. Boston MA: Harvard Business School Press. Robins S.P., Odendaal A.& Roodt G. 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