Managing Change and Creativity in Organizations - Essay Example

Managing Change and Creativity in Organizations November 13, Introduction Creativity has been identified as one of the factors that initiate change in organizations and it can be used to boost the activities of the organisation to achieve its goals. Companies and organizations try to provide an environment that will promote the employees creativity as it’s through it that new ideas that can be banked on to boost the business or the performance of the organisation can be yielded. Over the years many people have tried to understand the dynamics of change in an organisation and how the company and the employees can use it to help the organisation to be better. This has elicited the debate on the myths that surround change management as it has proven to be a hard and confusing task to manage the new ideas that may be popping up in an organisation and to filter the authentic ones from the fluff (Jarret, 2003). Change management practitioners have come up with various change management myths that have been a hilltop task for managers and human resource personnel in identifying individuals who can develop ideas that can be applied by the organisation. The myths include the ease of change; - this discusses how easy or hard it is to initiate and propel new ideas in an organisation. It also discusses how people respond to change especially when a new plan is introduced in the place of work, what is needed on top of a plan to implement change among others. This essay will therefore address the myths that surround management of change in an organisation and the ways that are used to ensure that the organisation does not break after the change. Employees for instance are resistant to change and they may not welcome it warmly no matter how noble the idea or the plan may be (Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2008). It therefore calls for enhanced measures that will ensure that they understand as well as embrace the idea so that they can own it and be part of the whole project. Fostering Change in an Organization In an organization where the individuals working there are supplied with a good environment, they own up the business and work feverishly to ensure that everything works in order. This at times includes installing new ideas or plans that are expected to address the problems or the tasks they are faced with in a better way. The management may also at times decide to make a change in the way things are done to elude a problem or improve the way things are being handled in the organisation. In short the main reason why change may be important in an organisation is to improve performance or enhance productivity of the employees. The initiative to embrace change may come from the employees themselves or the management may see the need to change the way things are done to handle them differently (Span, 2014). At times the change may involve changing of departments where one is used to and at such cases the management may be faced with the resistance from the employees who feel that they are not ready to change the way things are done in the organisation. The management therefore has the mandate to prepare all the people in the organisation psychologically instead of imposing changes on them and then ending up losing more than the benefits that were expected to be reaped from the change. Looking at different organisations and the way the employees and the management handles the cases of change implementation, one realises that there are issues that needs to be addressed before the change is implemented. The myths that surround the same are sometimes the notion in the minds of the ones who want the change initiated and who have not analysed the situation well on the ground to establish the problems that are likely to be faced once the plan is being implemented. Myths about Change Management When change is being implemented or initiated there are people who sit and decide how the process will be done. They also have a well-planned strategy that will be implemented and the results that are likely to be expected once the change is successful. They maybe at times be so much engrossed in the plans they have in mind that they forget that they are working with people and not machines. The problems that are likely to be encountered therefore arise from the implementation of the change that has been drafted especially if the team one is working with is reluctant to change. This is common and in many organisations change will not be so much appreciated unless the employees can see a direct benefit from the way the organisation will manoeuvre after the change has been implemented. The myths that surround implementation of change include;- Thinking that Change is Easy to Implement This is the worst myth that surrounds the whole process. While the planners are drafting the change they will plan the way things will be changed and how the company or organisation will benefit from the change. What they do not understand is that change is not easy to implement. It is therefore more important to use more time trying to articulate the employees minds to embrace the change rather than use most of the time drafting how things will be done after the change has been implemented. If the employees are warm to the change then everything else will follow smoothly. Making people embrace the unknown is what makes change quite hard. Since change involves making people move from what they know to the unknown, one has to convince them that the other side of the coin will be better than the one they are. This will be the only way they can warmly embrace the change and work to make it happen. People/Employees will follow your Plans People in an organisation cannot be ordered around like puppets. It is therefore not possible to just wake up in a given day and serve them with your plans that you feel will help the company or the organisation to achieve new goals or the already set ones. The transition is gradual and trying to force things around will mean that the whole process will be left on you and that will be as good as a fail. Therefore the last thing one should expect is that people will support the change and readily commit themselves to the new ways that are drafted in your plans. In fact this may never happen at all. The timeline to have the change assumed should be unlimited or quite considerable since one may never be sure for how long the people will be resistant to the change. However, in some organisations, the employees are not mandated with the power of deciding how the organisation works and so they will embrace any change without questioning. Their performance may be highly affected and though they will embrace the change they may apply other methods to cripple the whole idea. To avoid such scenarios in the organisation, it is important to let the people know how the change will affect their performance and how the organisation has planned in making their working better in the future (Evans, 2011). This is because in most cases the plans that are put down may be aimed at improving the performance of the organisation without considering the welfare of the employees and other stakeholders involved. Thinking that A Mere Plan is enough Note this does not mean that a good and strong management plan is needed. What it means is that a plan is not enough without the actions that will enhance its implementation. The implementation is therefore what should be banked more on rather than spending all the resources drafting the plan then it fails when it is being implemented. The people in the organisation need to be introduced to the problems that the organisation is facing and the need to have changes implemented. This will ensure that they warm up to the change and the resistance faced will be minimized. Analysis in the field has shown that on top of coming up with a good plan the management must account for the communication in the organisation so that all the people are informed correctly, there needs to be training programs that will introduce people to the new plan and how it shall be implemented. Since the benefits must outdo the limitations, the plan should be well drafted and both sides well explained. The plan should always be realistic and not just aimed at material gains. No matter how productive the plan may be, if it does not work for the betterment of the employees’ welfare it should be redrafted or abandoned. The management should not hijack the plan as it happens in many companies where a noble plan to implement a change is adjusted and the results fail to address the initial problem that had been presented (Tahilramani, 2010). It’s not a must for the Management to be involved in the Change Some changes does not involve the management and so it should avoid meddling with it. The employees who are in given department may realise a problem in that docket and design a plan to address it. The involvement of the management in such a plan may hinder the realisation of the results that were supposed to be achieved or the employees will feel intimidated and withdraw from it (Tan, 1998). This does not mean that the change can be implemented entirely without the knowledge of the management, what is there is that the management should analyse the plan and the change to be implemented and if the plan is noble then give them the limelight to go on. This should be done if they feel they can do it without the assistance of the management. However, since the management will account for any hitches that may arise, they should be aware of the results that are to be expected and the people who will be involved (Murray & Kent, 2006). This will avoid a situation where the plan fails and the management is not able to account to the higher authorities. If the employees have a good environment where they are not intimidated and where they can exercise their freedom of expression, they will not hold new ideas that can help in making the work place better and that should also translate to the performance of the organisation. Thinking that only few People will be against the Change When one is making a plan to implement change, what is in his mind is that even if the change will encounter some resistance, the people who will have embraced it will outnumber the ones who are against and so it will be accepted. However, this is not always what happens. In many situations many people are against the change and this will totally affect the way the others accept it (Mostert & Frijiling, 2011). Some influential people in the team may influence others decision and this can retard the whole process. This therefore calls for the plans that had been addressed above so that the employees will be ready for the change and embrace it. The biggest folly that any organisation would think of doing is retrenching some people on the basis of their stand regarding a given change. If people are resisting then it implies that the strategies laid towards are not the best. If some people are rendered jobless the remaining lot will feel demotivated as they know they may face the same ordeal if they work against the future plans. This will negatively impact on the performance of the organisation and the plans laid may not prove productive. Thinking that Change will happen fast This another myth that surround change management and the implementation of creative ideas into a business. Once the plan has been drafted, the change is then implemented. Some people allocate a short time frame to achieve the change without considering the time that will be needed to introduce people to the new idea and let them change effectively to embrace it fully. This often results to unachieved goals as well as a frustrated management due to the ambitions and/or the promises they had made. It is therefore important to include a flexible time frame while drafting the plan to accommodate for the time that will consumed as the people get introduced to the new idea and the working of the plan (Clark, 2012). However, the time frame should not be left open since that will limit the people and kill their ambitions. The goals set should have a bound time frame (Evans, 2011). The Role of Technology Technology has been helpful and it has been a positive development in the achievement of great things that would not have been achieved under past circumstances. Sometimes the change involved in an organisation may involve the introduction of new technologies to address a given problem. The people who are planning to do it have great hopes that once the new equipment or service is used the problem will be solved. This has been viewed both positively and negatively as in many circumstances such installations have led to the shift of attention from the people working in the organisation to the new equipment that has been installed. This in turn affects the business or the operations negatively. It therefore calls for balancing between the employees one have and the equipment that will be installed as the change may lead to a decline in the production instead of an appreciation (Ferlic, n.d). Using other Businesses’ Models This is quite often. So when one company uses a certain model to propel change in their organisation, another one borrows the same and tries to implement the same to their business. This has been established to be one of the greatest flops that any company or organisation could engage in. In any means it is important to draft a customized plan that will serve the internal problems in the organisations. It is important to consult with other organisations and see how they addressed similar problems and then using those ideas come up with our own to serve our needs. In the making of the plan it would be important to do a survey on the customers if the problem being solved also involves them. Conclusion As seen, there are various myths that surround the management of change in various organisations and which hinder the goals that were meant to be achieved when the change is implemented. These myths which are translated into problems are sometimes attributed to the planners’’ naivety on the people that the change is affecting an act which makes the ideas to face unnecessary resistance and hence the performance of the organisation declines. This therefore calls for a thorough analysis of all the factors that will be involved in the implementation of the change to ensure that the employees and other stake holders in the organisation are not against the change (Amabile, 1997). This is the only way that success will be achieved. Bibliography Amabile, T. M. 1997. Motivating Creativity in Organizations: On Doing what you love and loving what you do. California Management Review. 40(1). Clark, D. 2012. Three Ways to Foster Creativity in Your Organization. Forbes. Available at. Dawson, P. M. B., & Andriopoulos, C. 2008. Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation. New York: SAGE Publications Ltd. Evans, S. 2011. Managing Creative Capacity: Creativity as a Process of Organizational Change. Boston: MA Online. Ferlic, K. Organizational Creativity. Available at. Jarret, M. 2003. The Seven Myths of Change Management. Business Strategy Review, 14(4), p. 22-29. Mostert, N. M. & Frijiling, H. L. 2011. Creativity in Organizations can be Measured and Acquired. Management Insights. Available at. Murray, A. & Kent, G. 2006. The Enterprise of the Future, KM World. Span, S. 2014. Myths about Change Management. Business to Community. Web. Tahilramani, R. 2010. 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