Reasons why Efforts to Change Organizations Often Fail - Annotated Bibliography Example

1. Reasons why Efforts to Change Organizations Often Fail Efforts to change organizations can be unsuccessful as a result of failure to engage employees in the change process. It is essential to engage all stakeholders in identifying areas that need change so that they can feel they own the process and to determine a realistic vision hence commitment and success of organization change. A bottom-up approach is therefore essential where employee participation is enhanced (Sminia & Van, 2006). Poor communication of vision can also lead to failure. Failure may also result from organizational culture, beliefs and values. Some organizations have deep rooted cultures that are not easy to change and any change is met with resistance. Burke (2002) recognizes the role played by leadership in shaping organization development. Leaders should have clear value base. Employees should also be able to change behavior in order for change to take place. The employee feelings are often overlooked in planning change, which leads to resentment and non-compliance. This is because they are not adequately prepared for change. Resistance to change can be brought about by changes in reward systems or failure to recognize employee diversity. Employees value reward system differently, some prefer financial while others prefer material things. Some worker’s behavior is shaped by reward system or compensation, if compensation is changed; there is resistance (Gallovs, 2006). Job design is also associated with performance hence some resistance is met if redesigning is involved as they feel their job is threatened. Groupings also influence behavior and determine reaction to change. References Burke, W. (2002). Organization Change: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Gallovs, J. (Ed). (2006). Organization Development: A Jossey-Bass Reader. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons. Pelletiere, V. (2006 winter). “Organization Self-Assessment to Determine the Readiness and Risk for a Planned Change”. Organizational Development Journal, 24(4), 38. Sminia, H., Van Nistelrooij, A. (2006, March). ‘Strategic Management and Organization Development: Planned Change in a Public Sector Organization’. Journal of Organization Change Management, 6(1), 99-113. 2. Organizational Politics Organizational politics involve people representing divergent interests; plans as well as anecdotal standpoints and pervade all activities of the organization especially due to the tendency to focus on individual interests rather than the overall benefits that the organization may achieve. The organization is divided in to groups, and it matters a lot regarding who occupies which group. In such a situation, organizational politics lead to the marginalization of some groups, especially those that are at a greater power distance (Vigoda-Gado & Drory, 2006). Competence is not the basis for rewards and hence people are rewarded on various reasons other than performance. Organizational politics generate mistrust among members of the organization. They dread any rebellious employees and do not encourage open communication. Politics enlarge the gap between the rhetoric and the reality within the organization. So many strategies are developed, yet none is implemented due to the question of who is to play what role. (Buchanan & Badham, 2008). Organizational politics lead to the establishment of strong bureaucracies that lead to inefficiencies in organizational operations. Daewoo is among the contemporary organizations that failed due to organizational politics that were aimed at achieving favor from the government, which was a significant source of protection. The company collapsed in 1999 after the 1988 Asian financial crisis (Baruch, 1999). Nike is also a global company whose organizational structure has been criticized due to organizational politics. Some of the workers feel exploited as the organization tends to integrate neo-liberalist perspectives in production. Neo-liberalism involves a situation in which a company is inclined towards unlimited gains over the needs of its employees (Harvey, 2005). References Baruch, Y. (1999). “Myths and Politics in Organizational Contexts”. Group & Organization Management, Vol. 14 pp 83-103. Buchanan, D. & Badham, R. (2008). Power, Politics, and Organizational Change: Winning the Turf Game, Sage Publications Ltd. Harvey, D. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. London: Clarendon. Vigoda-Gadot, E. & Drory, A. (2006). Handbook of Organizational Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing 3. Role of an Organization Development Consultant Organization development consultants help the organization or clients through the process of organization change. They provide an opportunity to build commitment and help the client develop change model. They do this by engaging in various organization development activities. They engage in action planning in order to develop effective strategies for successful change (Rothwell & Sullivan, 2005). They serve as advisors to the client on the changes required and guide them through the change effort so as to improve organization performance as well as employee performance. As such, they help in setting the vision and developing action plans based on organization change models. They thus help in formulating strategic plans. Consultants are also involved in action research. This is a decision making process that helps to deal with current problems and plan for the future. Consultants in collaboration with the client or organization determines the areas that need change, engage in joint planning, data collection and analysis as well as interpretation and implementation. They also address any resistance to changes by engaging in motivation, coaching, delegation and stress management (Morrison, 2008). This enables the client organization to establish realistic goals and work towards achieving the desired results and avoid failure. Consultants help the client organization in developing high-performance teams and individuals. They help the people to interact by ensuring good communication channels. Setting conflict resolution strategies is also among their major roles (Rothwell & Sullivan, 2005). They help to identify professional development needs of employees and in devising recruitment and selection criteria hence high performers (Cummings & Worley, 2009). References Burke, W. (2002. Organization Change: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Burke, W. (2004). Organization Development in C. Spielberger (Ed), Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 2: 775-772. Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2009). Organization Development and Change. USA: Cengage Learning. Morrison, M. (2008). “Managing Change in Organization Development”. RapidBi. Retrieved October 15, 2010, from http://raipdbi.com/created/changemanagement.html. Rothwell, W., Sullivan, R. (2005). Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Consultants 2 ed. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons. 4. Organization Development Theories and Models Pellettiere, V. (2006, winter). “Organization Self-Assessment to Determine the Readiness and Risk for a Planned Change”. Organization Development Journal, 24(4), 38. Pelletiere is an assistant professor at Aurora University and handling courses in management, organization behavior and leadership and also offers human resource consulting services. He also has PhD in organization development. His study involves readiness and risk for a planned change which involves diagnostic investigation of internal and external factors to determine need to change and readiness and risk involved. According to him, organizations change initiative fail due to failure to operationalize theory concept. He enumerated some useful theories and models for change; The Lewin force field analysis model emphasizes on some sort of equilibrium between driving and restraining forces on change effort. Assessment of internal and external environments is basis of this model. The Phillips model emphasizes on historical success of organization and awareness of need to change. He also enumerates Burke-Litwin model of transaction and transformation change whereby transactional change involve change in attitudes and perception while transformation involves change in organization structure. These should help assess readiness for risk for planned change to avoid failure. Rothwell, W., & Sullivan, R. (2005). Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Consultants. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons. Rothwell & Sullivan have a wider scope of organization development models. They identified four models which can help consultants in assisting the client in change process. These include; critical research, action research, appreciative inquiry and a more developed action research models. Critical research shows relationship between ideologies and actual work. Proponents of ideologies are confronted with conflicting situations so as to effect change. Action research involves collaborative efforts by client and consultant ant in change efforts and is cyclical in nature as data is collected, analyzed, implemented and assessment done. A more developed action research developed by Burke is also evaluated. Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2009). Organizational Development and Change. USA: Cengage learning. The consultative process is emphasized by the authors. They depict consultants as agents of team building by solving communication problems, interpersonal relations hence for understanding client motivation and perceptions. They have dwelt on three models; a more advanced lewin change model, action research and positive model.Lewins theory involves three steps, unfreezing, moving and refreezing. The positive model focuses on what organization is doing right and direct behavior towards it through appreciative inquiry. The authors further expound on the differences and similarities between the models. McNamara, C. (2010). “Organization Change and Development”. Retrieved on October 15, 2010 from< http://www.authenticityconsulting.com/pubs/CN-gdes/CN-pubs.htm.> The author addresses the leaders and consultants who want to learn how to identify and solve problems. The author has also given resources for further reference and bibliography. The article has wide scope of models including; strategic management, action research, lewin’s freeze phases and mackinsey 7s model. It has a wider scope in covering organization change and development and interventions for achieving change. This helps leaders in decision making. Van, A., Marshall, S. (1995). Explaining Development and Change in Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 510-540. Van and Marshall hold the belief that theories operate on different levels of organization. Organization development has borrowed theories from other disciplines as they are interrelated. They identified four theories of organization development where changes are driven by conceptual motors. These include; life-cycle, teology, dialectics and evolution. These are different from other authors who concentrate on process. Van, A. (2007, March). Design Science and Organization Development Interventions: Aligning Business and Humanistic Values. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 43(1), 67-88. Van holds the view that researchers have overlooked the importance of applying theory to practice. Researches are theoretical and not applied on real world hence management tactics are based on experience with one company. In his view, multiple studies with varied subject groups reflected real situation hence use multiple strategies as many changes occur simultaneously. Organization learning is considered crucial if humanistic values are to be aligned with business value. Theories of motivation, learning and personality can be applied. Reviewing theoretical literature is important in making decision as to what theory is most applicable in different situations. Theory forms the basic foundation of research and organization change involves research into problem areas and finding solutions hence theoretical framework is crucial in designing strategies or interventions to use. The theoretical framework most applicable to organization development is action research. This ensures root cause of the problem is dealt with to avoid unrealistic visions and failure. It also addresses problems of all stakeholders and involves collaborative efforts hence most applicable in practice. Read More