How Leadership Skills Contribute to Change Management - Essay Example

Change Management Case Study work Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Characteristics of the office move as a change situation 4 How leadership skills contribute to change management 5 Ethical considerations 9 The impact of flexible working on the behaviour and culture of KI 10 Recommendations for the Change Agent 11 References 14 Introduction Organizational change is a strategic process that is taken up by enterprises across the world to ensure sustainability, competitiveness as well as long term success in their respective businesses. Organizational change is a complex and dynamic process. Any change made at the organizational level is usually a long term change and is multifaceted in nature. Thus, an effective change management plan has to be developed in order to ensure that the change in the organization is brought about in an easy and value generating way. A change management plan is a critical plan that is designed to decide the course of activities which would support the organization in moving from its current stage to the desired future stage. The change management process is a planned activity which acts as a link between the various phases involved in the process of change planning, change implementation, assimilation and review. This also includes the setting up timelines and priorities, assigning responsibilities, allocating resources and capacities, managing the human resources for accepting and aligning with the change initiatives and establishing the suitable mechanisms for the periodic revisions and review of the effectiveness of the change management process. In this coursework, the case of a market intelligence and content delivery company named as Know-Inform is studied with the respect of analysing the feasibility of a change that has been planned to be implemented in the organization. This company aims to introduce certain cost control mechanisms within the business with new changes made in the working of the organization. These changes are particularly focused on moving towards a more planned and compact working process which makes higher use of technological advancements. This would also include the starting of remote working system for a group of the employees, restructuring the employee teams, facilitating the growth of collaborative efforts among the different teams and decreasing the area of the premises of the office. These changes are expected to develop the company into a leaner, more efficient and cost effective company, thereby increasing its competitiveness and productivity in the industry. However, the process of change management being a diverse and complex process, the roles of the different entities in the company, the benefits and challenges related to the change management process and other ancillary factors like the existing organizational culture, organizational structure, leadership, ethical significance, employee behaviours and acceptance levels for changes and the particular requirements from the change agents are to be assessed in order to develop a sustainable change management plan. Characteristics of the office move as a change situation Office move including flexible working hours and remote working systems can be considered as major changes on the part of the organization as well as on the part of the individual employees. The change in the work patterns like the introduction of remote working system in Know Inform Company can be considered as a main organizational change. This initiative is likely to be faced by two main challenges which are the cultural challenges and the structural challenges. The structural challenges include the consideration of the human resource policies, the management structures, performance measurements system and performance evaluation and appraisal systems. On the other hand, the cultural challenges include the consideration of the organizational climate, the organizational behaviour, employee relations and the overall work environment conditions pertaining to the organization. The office move can have both positive and negative effects on the efficiency and productivity of the employee groups of Know-Inform depending on how well the change management plan is designed and implemented (Andrews, Cameron and Harris, 2008). Also, the process can call for the introduction of new policies and structures in order to manage the effects of the change in the enterprise and provide adequate support to the organization resources and entities in the change management process. The structure of Know-Inform as an organization should be taken into account because it can support the process for ensuring the creation of an easy and value reaping change. The organizational design of Know Inform would directly influence the level of success of the change management plan. This can be supported by the use of the Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling (POLC) framework. The restructuring of the work systems of the case company can be identified to be a major organizational change which should be properly implemented through the establishment of a change management plan developed on the basis of the POLC framework (Callan and Latemore, 2004). How leadership skills contribute to change management Change in an organization has to be implemented in three different levels. These include the individual level, the group level and the organizational level (Anderson and Anderson, 2001). The leaders of an organization act as influential change agents and facilitate the change management processes at every level of change implementation and change assimilation. Leadership acts as a crucial determinant of the success of change management by enabling better management of the people resources and by developing a strategic outlook that acts in a favourable manner for the organization. The leadership skills of the managers and leaders of an organization play a dominant and significant role in the process of organizational change management (Bradford and Warner, 2004). Any kind of change within an organization faces a certain level of resistance from the human resource groups of the organization. This may be a main challenge for the effective implementation of the change in the organization. As such, the leadership factor assumes higher significance because the leaders of the company prepare the personnel working in the company to accept the changes by identifying the positive effects and need for the change and also by enabling the human resource groups to align their personal interests and benefits with the changes that are being introduced in the organization. The leaders of Know-Inform can steer the change management process in the most beneficial and desirable direction by supporting, preparing and developing the people resources and their skills. The primary objective of leadership in the case organization should be to ensure that the changes to be brought about in the company are accepted and assimilated by the employee groups. This would prevent the changes like smaller office premises, home working and virtual meetings etc. from acting as de-motivating factors for the employee groups. The leaders can give proper training and support to the employees and some levels of managers regarding the ways in which the personnel working remotely can be managed and motivated in a better way and in which the efficiencies and productivities of the employees are not compromised with (Wanberf and Banas, 2000). Figure 1: Leaders as change agents in the change management systems (Source: Armstrong, 2003) The success of a business depends largely on how innovative it is and how quickly it can adapt to the changes in the internal and the external business environment. For this purpose, the leaders of Know-Inform have to ensure that the company is able to manage and motivate its people to embrace change with a positive and value adding manner which can be done by providing them with proper guidance and leadership throughout the whole process of change implementation. The leaders of an organization are the most influential personalities within the enterprise. As such, their say and influence on the followers are important for deciding the success of any strategic initiative taken up by a company. The leaders in Know-Inform who have the necessary skills, capabilities and knowledge for managing changes within the enterprise can act as the key change agents in the change management framework (Marshak, 2005). Figure 2: John Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model (Source: Kotter and Cohen, 2002) As per the Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model, there are 8 main stages which are necessary for the success of a change management process within an organization (Figure 2). These 8 steps include the establishment of a sense of urgency, creation of a strong guiding coalition, development of an organization wide change vision, communicating the vision to all the internal stakeholders of the company, empowering the people to take broad based decisions and actions and develop a positive attitude towards risk taking, generating the scopes for short term winning situations, employ higher credibility among the workforces related to the change that is to be brought about and lastly, incorporating and embedding the essential features of the change in the organizational culture (Kotter and Cohen, 2002). All these factors cannot be achieved without proper leadership and management roles present through the process of change management in Know-Inform. Ethical considerations The identification and consideration of the potential ethical impacts of the changes made in an organization are essential for developing a successful organizational change management process. An ethical foundation should therefore be developed while developing the change management plan for the company Know-Inform. The change in the work systems like the introduction of home working and remote working methods in Know Inform is a process of a major long term transformation change. Thus, the short term and long term ethical impacts and consequences of these changes may have major impacts on the efficiency of the company. The ethical aspects like the alignment of the personal interests and the organizational values, the consideration of the moral and ethical principles of the employee groups, the streamlining of the organizational philosophies and the objectives of the change management process are to be done in Know Inform. The management of the company should evaluate the ethical values of the work systems and assess the potential ethical implications of the introduction of new work systems. The managers should not try to impose their beliefs and systems on the employee groups. Rather a supportive and directive approach should be taken up so that the employees are provided with the moral incentive to accept the changes as well as actively participate in the changes for individual and organizational benefits. The primary objective of the introduction of the home working system and flexible working techniques in the company is to reduce the operational costs while maximizing the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the company at the individual, groups as well as the organizational levels. However, this is the main objective from the perspectives of the management of Know-Inform and not from that of the employee groups. Therefore, the leaders and managers as well as the change agents of Know-Inform have to consider the interests of the employee groups and include these interests as the ancillary objectives of the change management plan (Manikandah, 2010). This would ensure a higher level of ethicality and morality in the process of the change implementation and management in the work processes of Know Inform. The impact of flexible working on the behaviour and culture of KI Flexible working arrangements can act as positive influencers of the performance levels of different groups of employees in Know-Inform. This kind of change can lead to increased levels of motivation among the employees because they can achieve better work life balance through the flexible and home working systems. The performance levels can be enhanced both in terms of quantity and quality of work output derived from each of the employees. Both the implementation of the new work system should be made assimilative and easy to comprehend for the employee groups so that they are not de-motivated by the challenges and barriers associated with the transition from a fixed work system to a flexible working system (Michaelis, Stegmaier and Sonntag, 2009) On the other hand, the employees who are put into the flexible and remote working system may start o have a feeling of alienation from the mainstream employee groups of the company. This may result in loss of a sufficient degree of involvement and engagement of the employees in their respective job roles. Another challenge that may be faced by both the employees and the managers of Know Inform is the assessment and review of the work performances. The remote working system may lead to lesser control over the working hours of each of the employees which means that the performance measurement and monitoring system may not act effectively due to which the rewarding and appraising system of the company may start including difference loopholes. The symmetry and uniformity of performance in the company may also decrease and the human resource management policies of Know Inform may become more complex to manage and design (Reay, Golden-Biddle and Germann, 2006). Recommendations for the Change Agent The concept of introduction of changes is familiar in the modern organizations because innovation and improvement act as the main drivers of success and sustainability for the enterprises functioning in a globally competitive and dynamic business world. However, the ways in which a business manages the changes vary greatly because the change management process is dependent on a number of heterogeneous factors. Thus, the change agents functioning in the company, Know-Inform should take careful steps to identify the resistance levels and design the suitable solutions for minimizing the resistance towards change so that the maximum benefits and values of the change in the work systems can be extracted. The change agent should start by identifying the exact type of resistance that is being demonstrated by the distinct groups of employees of Know Inform. As per the view of Marquis and Tilcsik (2013) the involvement of the employees in any kind of organization change can be gauged on the basis of four main types which are active resistance, passive resistance, compliance and enthusiastic support (Figure 3). Figure 3: Types of resistances that may be faced during change management (Source: Marquis and Tilcsik, 2013) In case of Know Inform, if the type of resistance is active or passive, then the managers should focus on training and developing the employee groups and communicating the objectives of the change so that the employees can relate to the benefits and objectives of the transformation. The interests of the employees should be focused upon and the employees should be encouraged to become active components in the whole change management process starting from the planning phase, introduction phase, and implementation phase to the post change monitoring and reviewing phase (Michelman, 2007). The Lewin’s three stage change management theory can be effectively used by the change agent in Know Inform to ensure that the resistance of the employees towards the changes in the working system and methods are lowered to the maximum possible extent (Figure 4). Figure 4: Lewin’s three stage model for change management (Source: Branson, 2008) The unfreezing phase of change management should be focused upon preparing the employees mentally for the changes that would significantly affect their performances and productivity levels. In such situations, remaining ethical and fair towards all types of employees is critical to ensure an easy transformational and transitional process in Know Inform. Once the changes have been made to the work systems, it is vital that the change agents take all the necessary steps to provide continuous support and guidance to the employees so that they do not experience loss of direction in their specific job roles (Tata Consultancy services, 2014). The change phase of the Lewin’s model of change management can be implemented once the unfreezing of the employees is done and the employee groups show an open attitude towards the changes. In the second phase of the Lewin’s change management model which is the change implementation phase, the intended change should be made into the company, Know Inform and the employees should be adequately communicated about all the major and minor changes in their job roles and work systems and the exact outcomes that the organization expects from them. The refreezing state can be employed by the change agents in Know Inform by embedding the new work principles and methods as a general part of the organizational culture and norm. References Anderson, D. & Anderson, L. A. 2001. Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for Today’s Transformational Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. Andrews, J., Cameron, H. & Harris, M. 2008. All change? Managers’ experience of organizational change in theory and practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management. Vol. 21(3). Armstrong, M. 2003. A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. 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