Managing Organizational Change - Essay Example

Week forum: In your Original Post discuss either negative or positive changes youve seen in your organization since the economic downturn that began December 2007.  Refer to Table 1.1 in the text and select one or more that apply to the change you are discussing.  Include your reactions/impressions about your organizations change and whether/how it affected you, other employees, production, etc The economic downturn that began in December 2007 had immense repercussions on my organization. Following recession, my organization went through organizational downsizing. The step undertaken was a management strategy to promote organizational efficiency in the light of recession. It was taken to ensure that the organization remained productive and competitive irrespective of the negative effects of recession. The move was an intentional one to ensure that the organization is able to resurrect itself from a loss of market share, loss of revenues and unwitting loss of employees that may take place in case the organization undergoes an organizational decline. Downsizing in my organization led to employee and personnel reduction only. However, resources are also brought down in some other organizations. The goal is to improve the efficiency of the organization. According to Freeman and Cameron (1993), downsizing affects the way work is accomplished. The overall workforce declines when downsizing takes place and hence less number of individuals is available to do the same amount of work. The same happened in my organization. As a result of downsizing the overall work load on one individual increased. This led to burnout, lower morals and inefficiencies. Thus the change within my organization was directly related to marshalling and channeling of resources. This has also been referred to and explained in the IBM change story of Table 1.1. The story depicts how it is important for resources to be channeled appropriately when an organization is undergoing an organizational change. (Alexander, 2003) Reference: Alexander. (2003, Feb). From the President. Retrieved Jan 12, 2009, from Leadership in Action: http://www.ccl.org Week 2: Forum 2 Over the course of last couple of decades internet has changed the paradigms of media. News is no longer restricted and limited to print media. Electronic media has emerged on the forefront and now it is being regularly referred to by many. Its integration on the media front is also coupled with the fact that technology has embedded itself in the society today. Today’s man is more dependent on the web then he was ever before. In a recent study conducted by a firm, it was claimed that over three quarters of American adults make use of the Internet while more than half of them connect to the net through wireless connections either through laptops or through their handsets. Over 60% of these broadband connections are consumed at home. This in itself is indicative of the fact of the extent internet and with that how e-media has integrated itself in today’s society. I believe that both news print and online media are important in their own right though in my life I won’t deny the fact that the latter holds more significance. This is because I am always on the go and hence it becomes easy for me to read the news on my handset then piquing it down through newspapers. I very seldom read news on newspapers. Most of the time I find myself logging in on websites like nytimes.com, washingtonpost, bbc.com and cnn.com In the given article, the demise of TDI is illustrative of the growing influence of e-media in our society today. Reference: R.E.Goodin. (1975). How to determine who should get what. Ethics , 310-21. Week 3: Forum 3 Post economic down turn and recession, leadership roles and leadership perception across the board has changed significantly. There are innumerable issues and challenges that confront the leaders of today, each of which is engrossing and highly intimidating. Empowerment of work forces, cultural and ethnic diversity, demands of the labor unions are some but of all these issues the most pressing one is the integrity of the leaders in command Numerous leadership theories and various business scholars have emphasized on the importance integrity for the success of an organization. Maxwell cited that integrity as the most essential component of leadership. Goleman pointed out that Integrity zeroes down on only one question: that is seeking to know if what one does correlates with his values or not. Covey on the other hand calls integrity as “one of the seven chronic problems” the corporate world of today faces. (Covey, 1990) Good character and attributes has a direct impact on productivity and integrity likewise cultivates trust cum confidence in oneself. It instills in one the self-conscience that would direct an individual to do his utmost for the success of his company. On the contrary, absence or lack thereof could do serious damage to company’s reputation, employee morale, the organizational structure and customer confidence. (Maxwell, 1993) (Goleman, 2002) The employees don’t feel as respected as before any more. Leadership held its own aura in the yesteryears. Now everyone is all in to bring each other down and leadership does not exercise the power and integrity it did before any more. In a poll conducted by USA Today/CNN it was discovered that 70 percent of the poles exercised little or no interest in the CEOs of their companies and would not be surprised if they discover them involved in illegal activities while subduing the rights of the stake holders.( cited in Herne-Broome, Steed and Lundberg, 2004). The general public is of the view that their leaders will easily fall prey to the temptations of personal greed. Stake holder rights with respect to integrity and morality would stand meaningless for them. Similarly the urge to move up the corporate leader for monetary and other rewards may cause one to compromise his character and integrity for more material gains. Some stereotype notions such as the belief that a person is determined by what he was during his youth so why bother changing? Have severely tarnished trust and confidence in the institution of leadership – an issue which needs to be addressed the earlier the better. References: Goleman. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Covey, S. (1990). Principle-centered leadership. NY: Fireside. Maxwell. (1993). Developing the leader within you. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Week 4: Forum 4: I don’t think smaller companies are doing enough today to diagnose change and to tackle it as well. Change is complex and it has to be simplified to be addressed. Most companies fail to understand what change is. Managers need to understand how to change something and what to change. For instance if the manager finds out that a computer system is not working then how should he proceed with it? Should he install a new one or should he repair the current one? Difficulty in accomplishment of change stems from the resistance to pursue different practices from what they were in the past. This is often referred to as the “failure of success”. Organization need to learn and understand what works and what doesn’t. They end up following a set framework and give way to rules, policies and procedures that capitalize on success. Most of the responses and their way of approaching things remain habitual. They develop patterned responses, assumptions and expectations that influence the way they think the world works. As a result, resistance to pursue change increases tremendously and so does the urge to follow set old patterns. The model that I would like to choose and discuss would Kurt Levin’s Unfreeze, Change Refreeze model. Lewin explained his model by suggesting that managers need to understand the system and the circumstances as mere components that make up the system. Before a change can take place, an unfreezing process must take place within the system. The unfreezing process could be due to any crisis. The aim of this process would be to give rise to the belief that change is important. Once the unfreezing process has been realized managers should go ahead and pursue change and once that is accomplished, change must be refreeze. References: Gareth R.Jones, J. M. (2009). Contemporary Management. Mc-Graw Hill Irwin. WEEK 5: FORUM 5 People resist change because they are so habitual to their old ways, they find it difficult to adapt to new ways. They are skeptical about change and if the change will work. They don’t have enough confidence in themselves to deal with change. Of the three reasons discussed in the video, the most important reason behind resistance to change, I feel is the fact that they don’t like it. This is reason number 2. They tend to wean away because they are fearful. They don’t like the change. They are not confident of its prospects. They don’t know if it will work. They fear that they are likely to fail if they were to change. What needs to be done by the manager is the fact that they need to channel the energy of fear into support energy. They need to ensure that they are able to remove the fear from the minds of their employees and encourage them to the point where they feel that change is for the good. It’s for their own benefit and it will work well in their favor. (George, 2005) Reference: George, B. (2005). Becoming an Authentic Leader. Retrieved Jan 12, 2009, from http://www.authenticleaders.org Read More