LEONARDO HRD Project - Organisational Change and Transitions - Case Study Example

Table of contents Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Approach to the use of rich pictures 6 Bibliography 13 Abstract The main issue for discussion is organisational change. Chuckland and Morgan provide methods for attaining this change, in a considerable and feasible manner. Its important to understand the organisation’s culture, involve employees to participate, and manage the available knowledge, to attain this change. The contribution of the methodologies to achieving organisational change is discussed, by giving examples of rich picture use, and participation through the LEONARDO HRD project. Chuckland’s SSM provides the systems concept to be used, while Morgan (1993) describes organisational metaphors available for this change, and how they are used to achieve this change. Conclusions reached include the invaluable need for participation in all the three methodologies, and a review of how to employ the methodologies to achieve organisational change. Change in organisation, according to Senior (2002), is the shift of the organisation from one state, to a desired state. These changes are discussed in this piece which is triggered by both internal and external factors. Internal factors include those changes within the organisation like leadership change, while external factors relate to the environmental changes. The methodologies widely used to make organisation effective and smooth are, system concepts, metaphors, and knowledge management. Systems concepts are based on Chucklands’ SSM, while metaphors are based on Morgan G’s writing. In all the case studies highlighted in this paper, participation is found to be the most effective way to make change effective. Participation is present in all the three methodologies and ensures a well strategise and organized transition. Introduction  This paper is meant to explain reasons for organisational change, as well as provide methods that can be used to achieve this change. This is an attempt to help organisations’ mangers effectively carry out change in their companies, with minimum or no resistance. The first part of the paper gives a definition of organisational change, employee perspectives for change, and some of the reasons why an organisation may go through change. The second part, discusses the triggers for change, followed by a detailed examination of the methodologies used to facilitate organisational change. To clearly demonstrate the use of these methodologies, the paper provides case studies of successful; organizational changes attained by these methodologies. These are therefore followed by a brief conclusion, that explains the discussed agendas in the paper, together with my opinions regarding organisational change, and the approaches employed to attain it. Change in organisational basically means moving the state of operations from the present state to another state (Hussey, 2005), usually after a need has triggered the change. Organisational change is understood differently by different people in different levels hence can meet resistance or acceptance from the employees. It could mean demotion to some, while promotion to others, it could mean facing new challenges to others while it’s the opposite of others meaning career development to another individual, while break another. The basic understanding is that new rules or ways of management and operations are applied in the organisation. Change in an organisation can be triggered by internal environmental factors. Senior (2002) like leadership change, job redesign, changes in work policies like hours, introduction of new strategies among others. External environmental factors (Senior, 2002) that trigger change include but not limited to; Socio-cultural dimensions like demographics, lifestyles and skills among others. Technology - communication technology, transport and production technology, internet. Political-legal factors such as international laws, Human rights, and taxation Economic factors e.g. Globalisation, employment and wages rates, interest rates among others. Another trigger for change is the Environmental turbulence which is summarised in levels of change, (Luecke, 2003). Level 1 includes predictable factors Level 2 includes factors that can be forecasted by extrapolation Level 3 are predictable threats and opportunities, Level 4, containing partially predictable opportunities, and finally, Level 5, with unpredictable surprises. In understanding and successfully implementing change, there are a number of methodologies employed to help managers achieve these processes successfully. The methodologies aid the employees in accepting change and getting educated in the new techniques in operating with no resistance. The three broad methodologies are System concepts/ tool, the use of organisational metaphors and Knowledge management (Morgan, 1993). Systems concept Systems can be defined as a whole concept, made up of different parts, working together in its environment (Checkland, 1981). Systems can be described as either soft or hard systems, or open or closed systems. Hard systems, is a model with specific objectives represented in a quantitative term, to allow mathematical model’s development. It deals more with machines, technologies and their operation, and their quantitative objectives. Soft systems on the other hand, have more to do with the human concept of a system. It deals with qualitative objectives, offering alternative solutions. This approach disseminates the difference between how the system operates currently, and how it should operate (Randall, 2004). Closed systems are completely independent of their surroundings and are not affected by the goings on in it, while open systems are exchange materials with their immediate environments, and are made up of different related parts. Most organisations are open system organisations and employ different strategies to enhance and facilitate change in the organisation. Soft systems are arranged hierarchically, to provide an indication of members at each level, and also show the interdependency of one level with the next. The concepts include; Lower level: Terms, Diagrams and models. 2nd level; methodologies components and 3rd level, the meta-methodology The lower level is the entry point to the organisation, and need to be understood before the next two levels. The second level is the first level’s parent methodologies, which are Soft Systems methodologies by Chuckland, (SSM) and Strategic assumptions Surfacing & Testing (SAST) by Mason & Mitroff. The 3rd level may call for different skills from use, and contains methodologies like SSM and critical Systems heuristics. In a case study for Engineers, (Gillian, 2004) the system employed by the facilitator was use of rich pictures in attaining smooth organisational change. The rich picture answered the question of the company position as at the time specified. It was also used to increase cohesion between the participating engineers. The use of rich pictures can be two way; as a stand alone system or as a component of SSM. When used with SSM, it helps define ambiguous situations where s problem is suspected but cannot be ideally defined. In an attempt to gather information, formal or informal methods can be used. These include interviews, observations, collection of meeting minutes, use of questionnaires, and casual conversations (Itzen & Newman, 2003). Approach to the use of rich pictures The facilitator in the above case study used the guidance from the principles of SSM, to encourage the engineers to draw pictures of their desired organisation. One outstanding principle from SSM was the principle of Participation and learning. The facilitator brought together engineers from all hierarchical levels of the organisation to come together and draw a picture, After a process of heated debate and discussions, the facilitator noticed, form their drawing, that they had different views about the organisation but shared common work dilemmas. He explained that the hierarchical structure of the organisation alienated senior managers from the real organisational problems which are faced by those in the lower level. The contribution of rich pictures was quantified by the process of developing the rich picture, rather than the picture itself; therefore the two can not be separated. One such contribution is that these pictures mediated between the engineers and brought to the surface, some hidden issues that could nit have been expressed in a normal organisation meeting or conversation. With the combination of engineers from different organisational levels, learning took place in a relaxed manner, with top managers not having the pressure to “lead” and provide all answers, and the lower level engineers, seeing the human side of their managers. This improved their relationship, facilitating familiarisation, and enabling them to create a stronger team than before, it also improved understanding between them and made them appreciate each other’s perspective (Pasmore, 2010). This, the facilitator noted, would make the change process smooth, as everyone’s’ needs and interest are put into consideration. Rich pictures was also found to be user friendly as all the participants were able to draw a picture after clarifications of what is really required of them. During the first instance, there were indication of lack of willingness to do this but soon they gained momentum. This principle, (of learning and Participation has brought about understanding which is the beginning of organisational change. This is because with understanding, their thinking also changed. They learned more about their organisation’s culture. Rich pictures are used in the organisations to make decisions, future discussions, and can be shared between internal and external clients like involving customers with change of products. Randall (2004) indicated that another similar case study was carried out with the Social Welfare Services, an Irish company delivering Welfare schemes to their community, family and social; welfare. They carried out a project coined, LEONARDO HRD whose obligation was to provide an opportunity for junior staffing social services to acquire learning skills important in coping with organisational; change. The methods employed here were; a staff attitude survey, an international exchange program and use for focus groups to gather information. With the survey, questionnaires were used; covering customer services, career and training, work environment, among others. The internal exchange programme aimed at providing the junior employees with experience in a distance social organisation, and equipping them with new skills. Focus group includes 13 staff from different offices and the target was to investigate their communication. After the whole process, there was an evaluation interview of all the participants. The objective is to gauge their reaction to LEONARDO project and their willingness to engage in the project. Those who took part in the international exchange programme were to present their organisation to the host organisation and relate their strategies there and on return, they presented their documented experiences to their colleagues and employers as well. Response to the survey was tremendous, and it proved the acceptance for change in the organisation and indicated the low confidence the employees had in senior management. The focus group participation was also amazing, as they actively contributed, and most of them felt that their skills were not fully utilised with the duties assigned to them. Another realisation made at the focus group was that the management was more open communication. The results of the international exchange program was the improved social relationship between employees of the different companies, together with the companies themselves, their confidence was also boosted and the they were better equipped to cope in difficult situations. The employee hosts (those who hosted visitors in their office) also shared their experiences and were able to appreciate the culture of their organisation. Use of metaphors to understand the organisation, facilitates learning, and implementation of change. Metaphors are used in explaining common behaviours in the organisation. Morgan (1993) discussed eight metaphors in an organisation that can clearly make understanding of the organisation and the behaviours exhibited, in the process of learning. The eight metaphors that Morgan discusses in his book, (Images of an organisation) are: _ Organism- the organisation as an organism lives in an environment that it can not do without. Also explores environmental relationships. _ Brain- organisation as a brain controls all the processes like learning, information processing, and intelligence. _ Culture- every organisation, like any system, has a culture that defines its historic operations, norms, values, attitudes. _ Political system- explains the self interest in organisation, conflict, control, power, and structure. _ Psychic prisons- explain the psychodynamic aspect of the organisation and the employees. _ Flux and transformation- this metaphor shapes organisational nature at the level of society. _ Instruments of domination- understand the organisation from the view of being an exploiter. Because of the diverse nature of any organization, you can not use one metaphor to understand an organization. It is advisable to incorporate a multi-metaphor analysis as it represents the whole organisation. The main importance of metaphors is that they can reframe a problem, offering new insights to understanding a problem, therefore facilitating learning. Metaphors promote a paradigm shift by offering new ways of thought. In the case study with engineers and rich picture, the facilitator requested them to use metaphors to visualize their ideal organisation. The results of this was amazing as one group came up with a fantastic metaphor, connecting all parts of their organisation, into one. Thy called it the “voyage to the moon“. This metaphor, as explained by its developers, represented an organisation with sufficient resources, a proper team, good partnership, proper planning, and new technology among others. As the systems concept helped the engineers realise where they were as a company, the metaphor helped them visualize where they want to be. This makes change easy as they all participate and agree on what they want. Use of metaphors was much easier to the engineers compared to the rich picture, as they picked up the concepts quite easily. Participation, as seen in all the above case studies, and others like the public sector by Geraldine O’Brien, is the main key to a paradigm shift. The organisation’s ability to persevere change depends on the prevailing attitudes of staff and management, in a way it is introduced, and implemented. Organisational culture, if not monitored, can impede the change process, as people are always comfortable with what they are used to. It is therefore advisable for implementers and managers to allow participations from the onset, through design stage, during planning and implementation, and at execution stage. This motivates useful behaviour and contains resistance to change. Beer & Nohria (2005) provided two theories to explain reasons for change. Theory E & O, the former emphasizes maximisation of shareholder value, wile the latter focused on development of organisational culture and promotion of learning. Organisational Development (OD), model of change presents the humanistic approach that improves problem solving in organisations (Hussey, 2005). Participation as a vehicle for change improves acceptance. Marchington & Wilkinson (2005) point out that participation is divided into four categories; downward communication, upward problem solving, task participation, team work and self management. The main problems encountered during the change process are the reluctance by managers to give up their powers and their adherence to old ways. An organisation can also use knowledge management to solve problems arising from change, and other performance problems. According to Chuckland 1999, Knowledge management is a human activity system that includes people in the organisation and their activities, and the technology that enhance these activities. There are several views of knowledge management that that allows collaborations these views include, Virtual work teams, community of practice, and expertise networks. Community of practice can be described as a group of people with same concerns, problems and passion in a specific topic. Their frequent interactions deepen their knowledge and therefore tests ideas and develop trusts among them (Bridges, 2009). Virtual work teams on the other hand are a group of people with shared purpose, interdependently working across the boundaries of time, space and organisations. Work teams are divided into homogeneous, (people from different disciplines, working together) and heterogeneous, (people from different disciplines brought together to work). Expertise networks are people recognised by organisations as Subject Matter Experts (SME’s). BPR critique recognises four different types of change, i.e. processional change, which happens in organisational process and control over the processes. There is also the structural change which is the control of functions in an organisation. Cultural change, which are the changes that occur in organisational beliefs, and behaviours. There is also the political change which is the change in power distribution (Langer, 2005). Organisational response to change depends on strength of its culture (its values), conscious and unconscious needs of individuals and groups in the organisation, behavioural patterns, and the vision of the organisation. Changes can either be closed, contained or open ended in nature. Closed change occurs when the reasons for change are determined and the real change is known. Contained change has issues of probabilities, while open ended change has high uncertainty levels, and its reasons, causes and effects are unknown. Another aspect of change that can cause resistance is the rate of change. Change can be discontinuous, smooth incremental, or bumpy incremental. Smooth incremental change happens steadily, in a systematic way, corresponding to the changes of the external environment. Its main characteristics are that it’s predictable, constant and steady. Discontinuous change is sudden and revolutionary, while with the bumpy increment; the change varies, corresponding with uncertainty. Change can also occur due to management innovations. Management innovation is the difference in management, in aspects of quality and state that occurs as a result of change over a period of time. There are certain perspectives on management, including, Institutional perspective, which covers strategic innovations (the long term benefits of change) and socio-economic, which defines the changing nature of societies, and Fashion perspectives (Luecke, 2003). Conclusion In conclusion, organisational change is as complex as the organisations themselves. Because organisations differ in many ways like culture, structure and operations, no one model can be identified to be best in preventing opposition to change. Managers should be careful when planning organisational change as it could promote or degrade organisational growth. However, this paper has shown that in most organisations, participation and learning is the key principle in attaining smooth change. System models help organisations understand where they are, while metaphors help determine where they want to be. Considering the levels and cultures of organisation, the change and transition process of the organisation should be closely monitored to reduce opposition. Changes can be spontaneous, emergent or unplanned. People are less likely to resist closed change with a sooth increment rate. This is because closed change gives employees time to understand the perceived change. Closed change also has perceived solutions, as it is known. Bibliography Banhegyi, S., 2007. Management: Fresh perspectives. Johannesburg: Pearson Bridges, W., 2009. Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. 3rd ed. Da Capo Press. Hussey, E. D., 2005. How to manage organisational change. London: Kogan page Itzen, C. & Newman, J., 2003. Gender, Culture and Organizational Change: Putting Theory. New York: Routledge. Langer, J., 2005. Organizational change in transition societies. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Luecke, R., 2003. Managing change and transition. New York: Harvard Business Press Miller, K., 2008. Organizational communication: approaches and Processes. Belmont: Cengage Learning Morgan, G., 1997. Imaginization: new mindsets of seeing, organising, and managing. California: Berrett-Koelhler Randall, J., 2004. Managing change, changing managers. New York: Routledge. Senior, B., 2002. Organisational change. London: Prentice-hall Smith, J. N. & Merma, T., 1999. Managing risks in constructions projects. New York: Willey-Blackwell. Pasmore, W. P., 2010. Research in Organizational Change and Development. New York: Emerald Group Publishing. Stickland, F., 1998. The dynamics of change; insights into organizational transition from the natural world. New York; Routledge Tander, L. C., 2004. Organisation change; Theory and practice Namibia:Van Schaick Demers, C., 2007. Organisation change theories; a synthesis. USA: SAGE Read More