Change in Organisations and Contingency Theory - Essay Example

Change is a normal phenomenon. Everything goes through this process. Change causes things to move out of normal process. It can either benefit or make things worse. This depends on how the person wants to take it. This makes it important to be flexible. It makes one to do their best. It paves out way for new things. Organisations change continually. Several factors cause it. It prepares for the future. Change can be in various types. Some are Change from “small company to a large one like growing from a sole trader to partnership to companies”. (Lewis, 2008) This is because companies accept it. They face the wind and take it positively. Change in “growth process by using back the profits earned instead of introducing new capital” (Lewis, 2008) is a change organisation are witnessing. Change form “product orientation to customer based marketing” (Lewis, 2008) is a change. Companies are moving in that direction. Thus, we see that change is part and parcel. Many researches also propagate it. A research shows that “change is bound to happen and organisations who manage the issues of attitude, beliefs in a better way by inculcation those with the organisation nature achieve success”. (Chapman, 2002) Organisation should brace them for it. It will give positive result. Another study also reveals that “organisations that have expectations about changes make their employees ready for it as employees are reluctant to change by changing the perception of managers and employees who work”. (Chiang, 2009) This prepares them. They have things ready to face it. It results in a step in the forward direction. These changes affect due to internal and external factors. Changes in the environment are bound to happen. Some of the internal factors which affects are Change in policy: A change in organisation policy is an internal matter. For example a company changes its policy from “product orientation to customer based marketing”. (Lewis, 2008) This brings changes. The organisation has to change the entire structure. Line of production: A shift in the line of production also brings change. For example, “when a company introduces a new product it brings about a change in the entire process”. (Lewis, 2008) The affect is more due to external circumstances. These are not under control. The external factors are Social Factors: “Change in the buying pattern or change in the demography of population affects an organisation”. (Lewis, 2008) The company has to come with new ways. To combat it better companies need to anticipate it. It should be continuous. Legal Factors: “Changes in law and government regulation forces organisations to change like environmental regulation is putting pressure on organisation”. (Lewis, 2008) This is beyond control. “Organisation has to comply with it”. Economic Factors: “Changes in factors such as inflation, interest rates, boom and depression affects the decision and strategy of organisation”. (Lewis, 2008) For example a continuous rise in interest makes loan expensive. This force companies to raise price. Thus, it brings change for companies. Political Factors: “Changes in government policies and new government affects organisation as different laws are framed and organisations have to follow suit and match those”. (Lewis, 2008) This increases pressure. Technological Factors: Changes in “technology also brings about a change in policy adopted by companies”. (Lewis, 2008) For example new software to find sales and demand pattern causes company to change its framework. Change is very vital. It helps to keep abreast with latest development. Meeting this change helps “companies to tackle the complexities of transformation to achieve long term success”. (David, 2008) In competition coming with newer ways help. This also improves communication. Today organisations are using this as a tool. Company which are reluctant fail. Change also helps to grow. Companies who change and are prepared for it know ways to tackle them. It is important that change is in correct direction. For this, organisations develop strategies. The steps they use are “unfreeze the present way to do work and then change in the desired direction and use it continually to grow”. (Lewis, 2008) Change is taking place due to development. This changes are brought by “building work systems which helps to achieve the vision and mission of the organisation”. (Lewis, 2008) Thus, we see that change is beneficial. It helps to deal with future. It helps to bring new methods. This also improves morale. Employees have to be at their feet. This even keeps companies abreast to information. This gives them an opportunity to grow. The company which is able to build on this has advantage. Thus, change in an integral part. References Chapman J, 2002, “A framework for transformational change in organisation”, Journal of Leadership and Development, Volume 23, Issue 1, page 16-25 Chiang C, 2009, “Perceived Organisational Change”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 29, Issue 1, page 157-167 David H, 2008, “Organisation and Change Management”, Booz & Company Inc Lewis M, 2008, “The organisation and Change”, Tata McGraw Hill Success for every business has some critical factors. It is important that these factors are molded. Motivation is one of them. It is important for success. “Motivated people are more contend. They have focus. They have higher satisfaction. Employees feel a part of the company”. (Smith & Robert, 1994) As people are scarce it is important to manage them. This is more for learned people. Strategies need to be in place to guide and motivate them. There are many theories. A research shows that “when an employee is motivated the communication process passes without any barrier and information flows freely through the organisation as the employee feels a part of the organisation and share the same common goal”. (Alexander, Page & Wentling, 2003) This shows that satisfaction is high. It leads to good concentration. Thus the message passes out without any hiccups. Equity theory is a motivational theory. “It describes the relationship between how fairly an employee perceives he is treated and how hard he is motivated to work”. (Cory, 2006) According to Lively, Powell, Claudia & Carr “when there is inequity among inmates it gets reflected in the family environment as productivity gets hampered”. (Lively, Powell, Claudia & Carr, 2008) The study finds that when as employee does not perceive equity it gets reflected elsewhere also. When the inmates don’t perceive equity performance gets affected. Another theory the goal setting theory helps the organisation. Here “the employee is given a specific goal he has to achieve and the goal is made in such a way that it brings the best out of him”. (Jacob, 2008) Since organisation deal with human it is important to realize their importance. This theory helps. Since, the goal is made in such a way “it helps to achieve both the individual as well as the organisational goal”. (Jacob, 2008) As what the employee are expected to do is stated there is clarity. Even a research has shown that “when the goal is set then it also helps to achieve difficult tasks which were not possible otherwise as the employee knows what he has to do”. (Jacob, 2008) This thus gives direction. It also gives accountability. Considering, “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs we see that when a person’s basic needs is satisfied which is his physiological needs he gets motivated and want to move up higher up in the hierarchy and achieve safety needs and then climb up the hierarchy as one need is satisfied he gets motivated to move high”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) For example, suppose a person earns 20000. This is enough for his basic requirement. Now he wants recognition. So, he works to achieve those. Thus it motivates him. It urges him to work harder. This motivates them. Even the “Frederick Herzberg Two factor theory states that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are driven by motivation and hygiene factors and motivation factors makes the people work and provides him satisfaction for growth opportunities thus motivating him”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) Thus again we see that there exists a relation. When we look at “expectancy theory model it also shows that when a person achieves a specific goal he gets motivated to work harder to move ahead and achieve more. This satisfies him and motivates him to achieve future goals”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) There exist a relation between the internal needs and effort. “Expectancy is the belief that increased effort will result in better performance thus motivating the employees to work harder and grow”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) The following diagram illustrates it It shows that effort leads to performance. This is because employees perceive equity. They expect that their effort will be paid. This leads to positive outcome. Employees know their effort is realised. This makes them work hard. Their efforts are directed. This helps the company to get better performance. This is one of the most successful models. Nearly, all organisations make use of it. This theory brings change in behaviour. It is also seen that “a person gets more motivated when that feel comes from inside him rather than the external factor. It motivates him more. So, it is essential that a person is able to motivate himself who only comes when a person feels satisfied and this results him working harder”. (Aswathappa, 2008) This theory thus brings the best. It helps companies achieve their goals. They are able to get better out of employee. Even employee feel contend. They feel part of the company. They know their efforts are realised. If used in the correct direction it bears fruit for both. Thus, we see that “motivation arouses, energises, directs and bring a sustained behaviour to achieve the goals which provides satisfaction and make them more committed to the job thus increasing his efficiency and helps to achieve the goals”. (Tella, 2007) Motivation thus helps to achieve goals and make companies grow. References Aswathappa K, 2008, “Human Resource management”, 5th Edition, Tata-McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi Alexander A, Page V & Wentling T, 2003, “motivation & barriers to participation in virtual knowledge sharing”, Volume 7, Issue 1, MCB UP Ltd Cory C, 2006, “equity theory and employee motivation”, Buzzle, US Jacob M, 2008, “Locke’s Goal Setting Theory”, Understanding SMART Goal setting, Mind Tools Ltd Lively J, Powell B, Claudia G & Carr L, 2008, “Inequity among inmates: applying equity theory to family”, Volume 25, page 87-115, Emerald Group Publishing Limited Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008, “Organisational Behaviour”, 5th Edition, Pearson Education Smith, Robert D, “the psychology of work and human performance”, 2nd edition, New York, Collins, 1994 Tella A, 2007, “Work motivation, job satisfaction & organisational commitment”, Department of library and information studies, Nigeria Contingency theory is widely used. Today, many organizations are using it. Slowly this theory is gaining relevance. Organizations using this find it valuable. This is helping them to cover lots of areas. This has resulted to fetch better result. Contingency theory is a theory which states that “there is no way which is best to lead an organization or a company and decision are dependent on internal and external situations”. (Martin, 2008) Many new approaches towards this have been developed. The model looks as follows Here, we see that it looks into every factor. It looks into the environment. “This included both internal and external which helps in the organizational performance and helps to build strategies for the company”. (Weill, Peter, Olson & Mororethe, 1989) As this looks at a lot of things which define success result is better. It also looks in the sub units which are departments. Now we have a look at some of the theories The contingency theory of leadership says that “the success of leader depends on various tasks, variables, and the situation they have to face in different situation and its effectiveness depends on situation”. (Smith, 1984) A look at the diagram helps to understand it better Here, leaders look at different traits. It helps to find out the type of leader they are. Organization can make policies accordingly. “It is based on finding the orientation the leader has, the different situation, and it was seen that it is most effective when moving from moderate to high” (Weill, Peter, Olson & Mororethe, 1989) which is seen in the below diagram. This theory is thus widely used. It gives four ideas. Firstly, “there is no way which can be judged best to manage”. (Fiedler, 1996) Secondly, “the organization and its sub units should fit with the system”. (Fiedler, 1996) Thirdly, “to be effective organization should have a proper fit with the environment and its sub units”. (Fiedler, 1996) Lastly, “results are best achieved when the design matches with the style the management has and goes well with the group”. (Fiedler, 1996) This theory concentrates on many “management variables like professionalism, centralized process of decision making, complexity involved in work and so on and based on that factor a strategy is developed”. (Martin, 2008) This increases it uses. It looks into many factors. This helps to get better results. This theory is still criticized by some. People argue that it considers too many “factors which hold little or no relevance to decision making”. (Martin, 2008) This complicates matter. Leaders find it difficult. Having so many things together makes work clumsy. Some also put forth that “it reduces the morale level as having so many factors together confuses employees and their desire to work gets hampered”. (Martin, 2008) This has also caused many to suffer. It has impacted many. Still, this theory has relevance. “It focuses on high degree of cognition to manage risk and remove those complexities from the surrounding so that better decisions are arrived at which covers all the aspects”. (Galbraith, 2002) This has improved the focus. It has made people use it as it gives them advantage. This works the best in “homogenous environment which is stable and hierarchical approach is followed thus making environment a very important factor as it reduces volatility”. (Galbraith, 2002) Thus, we see that this theory is used widely. Companies are using to understand better. This will help in the long run. Strategies on this will be better. As, it covers a wide area decision will be sounder. This is increasing its usage. Reference Fiedler, 1996, “An empirical derived taxonomy of information technology structure”, Journal of Management Information System, Volume 13, Issue 1, page 9-34 Galbraith J, 2002, “Designing Organization: an executive guide”, Jossey-Bass Martin J, 2008, Contingency Theory”, Management and Accounting Web Weill, Peter, Olson & Mororethe, 1989, “An assessment of Contingency Theory”, Journal of Management Information System, Volume 6, Issue 1, page 63 Read More