Diverse Views of Organizational Change - Example

Running head: Organizational Change Name Course name Professors’ name Dat e Introduction This paper presents diverse views of organizational change. Change is viewed by one group as continuous and is a response to social, political, technological demographic and economic transformation. Change procedure is usually met with chaos and resistance consequently making it hard to implement. On the contrary, change may take the form of “change without pain”. The essay further enumerates how change without can successfully occur through a process of tinkering and kludging. Other researchers have also discovered change which takes the form of persuasion. All these dynamic views are integrated in this presentation. Thesis statement: global competitive environment has forced organizations to continuously change its structures, policies and process in a bid to thrive in the market. Characteristics of great managers Organizations in the business world are presently recognizing value that accrues from human interaction between a manager and subordinates. This is a move from the past experience when employees were seen as objects to manipulate. In a study by Teal (36), management is seen as human interaction and not a mechanical undertaking. Great managers have courage and persistence when pursuing organizational goals. It is essential that the manager builds his or her imaginative skills such that they can formulate vision and strategy appropriate in a competitive world. Another characteristic of great managers is integrity which refers to being responsible, communicating clearly across organizations, and practicing honesty when conducting daily activities (Teal, 37). In respect of great managers, business integrity goes beyond just accepting consequences of firm’s action to include taking personal responsibility of the action. Necessity for continuous change instead of discrete Before commencing organizational changes, it is essential to understand motivations behind the change. A research by Oren (30) reveals that managers continuously encounter haphazard and uncontrollable events. This situation has forced them to do things differently in order to survive in the rabidly changing environment. While making efforts to learn and adopt new experiences, managers find themselves utilizing learning resources, seminars and consultation. The next event is an explosion of activities branded re-engineering or restructuring. Oren (31) illustrates how an organization had reorganized itself five times within a time span of years. Although managers feel the need for change, there are numerous impediments to change. Elimination of mediocrity is among the elements of a continuous change. Those people who tolerate mediocrity are not flexible to change. Oren explains how managers who tolerate mediocrity end up creating a strong barrier to change (31). Mediocrity makes people numb and passive consequently creating an environment of inertia that continuously frustrate efforts of those who want to bring new experiences. Elements that explain mediocrity are: aimless meetings, poor quality products among others. People become reactive and defensive instead of building their creativity. Bureaucracy in the system perpetuates irresponsibility that leads to insurmountable customer complaints. The long run effect of mediocrity is that no change occurs. The pursuit for quick fix blocks genuine change from taking place. This is why organizations are investing resources in research which will bring about continuous change. Longing for quick fix is demonstrated by the desire to avoid pain, uncertainty, and risk. Issues such as reengineering and quality are appealing and essential for any business focusing on success but it calls for personal commitment, persistence and courage to execute it satisfactorily. Real change is appreciated by confronting mediocrity and quick fix through building a new leadership role, new decision rules, and new approach of dealing with human resources. Continuous approach to change In the present rapidly changing and competitive economic environment, change is continuous while steady state does not exist. Discarding old tool of inspecting for quality and incorporation of new total quality management gear was a great leap in the area of management. Total quality management maintains that quality was capable of continuous improvement through expansion processes. The idea is applicable when managing a change process in an organization. Change therefore is not considered as a project with a beginning and an end but an ongoing management role. Sauser (34) revealed five statements depicting change in an organization. These statements are discussed in subsequent paragraphs. Successful organizations continuously acclimatize to changes hence is good for current business: The need for continuous adoption to competitive environment for success in the long run basis is currently accepted by strategic management and organizational design theories. An effective management is always prompt to detect environmental changes and subsequently make necessary repositioning steps. According to Sauser (34), people must not only react to change but anticipate or even take up the role of creating the change. A good competition strategy for an organization is to create change and leave the competitor reacting to it. This is a reason why successful organizations are busy conducting intense research in order to introduce new changes which will be followed by other organizations Existence of diverse forces for change in a competitive environment has forced business to adopt continuous change: The speed of doing business is always increasing as businesses try to survive in the global competitive environment. Sauser (35) highlights changes faced and its precursor. The first driver of change is organization under siege due to global competition, increased customer awareness, demand for quality at a reduced price level, and growing doubt towards expanded commerce, regime change and employment. Many business organizations have resorted to reengineering and downsizing due to competition and external pressure for efficiency. Other organizations are reducing the number of employees with an objective of reforming functions. Technological advancement like introduction of fax machine, microchip computers, internet, software and other information technology equipment is a major issue for employees and management as they try to keep up with the pace of its development. Ability to protect and keep safely technological assets is a growing concern for organization in recent times. Another driver of change in the current business world is frequently changing professional standards, laws, and procedures therefore people find it difficult to survive in such an environment. A prospecting organization is always adopting to change as new case laws, professional standards and reviewed organization policies and procedures come into play. Current use of e-mail and fax machine is a leap away from classical approach to communication process through postal mail (Lee, 502). The electronic devices have bridged time and space consequently putting pressure on managers and employees to record greater output within a short period of time. At the moment, change should be managed as a continuous event instead of discrete approach: Sauser (36) describes three stages followed to bring about effective change. The first stage is unfreezing which involve reducing forces that preserve the status quo of an organization. Unfreezing is mostly accompanied by disseminating information that will discriminate present employee’s behavior and desired one. The second stage is moving and is meant to shift behavior of an organization to a new level. It will entail introduction of new codes of behavior and values by changing organizational structures and procedures. Thirdly is the refreezing stage that will stabilize the organization at a new balance. The state of balance is attained by using norms, structures and policies. Nevertheless, organizations seeking to succeed in the competitive environment are enquired to continuously change instead of sustaining discrete organizational change. It is critical for managers to build the culture of creating and driving change in their organizations instead of visualizing change as discrete or a sequence of distinct activities. Adoption of continuous improvement philosophy to reflect on total quality management: Before invention of Total Quality Management, quality control units were used to inspect products and return substandard ones back for reproduction (Pyzdek, 12). Furthermore, customer services offices were stationed where customers placed their complaints for attention. When TQM concept came into play, organizations adopted an aspect of continuous improvement by making total quality operations a way of life. To actualize competitive advantage, the management ought to integrate quality values into their daily activities. Training workers, meeting customer’s needs and ensuring that the organization’s quality systems yield substantial results are part improvement strategies. Change without pain Abrahamson (75) observed that continuous change in an organization can be counter productive and therefore recommended dispersing change initiatives across time periods. Organizations will consequently gain ability of managing change by dynamic stability. This process involves reconfiguring existing business models and practices contrary to creation of brand new ones. At this instance, we will focus on discrete processes of carrying out change without pain. Kludge simply means organization’s resources that are not being utilized. Since the kludges are so large, it can lead to creation of a new division (Abrahamson, 77). A good example is a company whose contract was cancelled and hence employees are idle. To counter this problem the company may decide to send employees to other assignments and recall them when required. The success of the initiative was registered during creation of a subsidiary company mandated to hire and send employees on short term contracts. This process of change is seen to be deficit of pain. Kludging is effective when an old organization is considering embracing new economies. In respect of pacing, people propagating change management have a conviction that change must be done spontaneously if the objective is to stay competitive. Whilst companies that have evaded change for a long time undergo hasty and harsh change, those that already have change initiatives goes through small and stable changes. To avoid pain, firms need to move from rapid changes to tinkering and kludging. (Abrahamson, 77) provided operating guidelines necessary for dynamic stability. Rewarding shameless borrowing is a common experience when carrying out change without pain: This means that a company uses own existing resource and only resort to invention as the last resort. In many societies, an organization which perpetuates imitation is considered weak and therefore should be disregarded. Dynamic change emphasizes the need for originality and creative imitation but if the new invention is not useful, it is discarded summarily. In the tinkering strategy, an organization captures the best elements of a resource, structure, or process then reconfigures it to give the best resources. If a company exercises excellent knowledge management skills by capturing, sharing, and distributing expertise, it will manage to reach the goal of change without pain. Leading organizations like Microsoft Inc selects own chief memory officer: the process of tinkering and kludging calls for selection of a chief officer who will ensure that past mistakes are not repeated. Dell Inc encourages its employees to build distinctive and affordable personal computers that meet customer’s needs. The office of chief memory officer will be responsible for taking note of past failures so that employees in the company explore new avenues. Since chief memory officer reflects on past experiences, chaos and pessimism is avoided. Companies which forget the past will waste resources going through what failed consequently endangering dynamic stability. Management of dynamic stability is easy if an individual stays inside the organization. This is referred to as internal kludging and tinkering. Tinkering is perfected by embodying participative management, and quality management within the organization before trying to outsource the services. Over 70% failure in acquisition proves that Kludging is even difficult to conduct externally. A series of Kludges in Virgin Atlantic Airlines elevated the company among leading airlines. Generalist class of individuals have varied skills that enable them combine ideas, processes and cultures in at attempt to tinker and kludge. They have an open mind and less biased as compared to specialist. A good description of a generalist is a person with diverse friends and does things differently every time (Meyer, 220). Change through Persuasion Garvin (105) elaborated that change happens through persuasion. This change process starts with setting up stage requiring a manager to analyze whether employees are ready for change. It is wise for the manager at this stage to emulate and embody core values and rules of the organization instead of imposing own policies. A change manager who is looking forward to bring about real change ought to develop bold message that will provide good reasons as to why change is imperative. Setting up the stage is a move to create acceptance before change is executed. When the stage for change has been set, frames to help employees interpret proposal for change are constructed. Managers employ the use of frames to assist employees digest issues in a specific approach. A frame can be organization’s lecture to prepare employees before a change comes to effect. Manager may also send an e-mail to employees highlighting on key plans, its impact and expected outcome. The third step is management of moods which recognizes the fact that continuous change is sometimes depressing contrary to discrete change especially when it deals with a reformation or downsizing procedure. Reformation disrupts social organization of the people e.g. friends are separated, resources are redistributed or even departments are integrated. This setting calls for leaders to pay attention to feelings and moods of their employees. Reinforcing good habits is probably the greatest challenge facing employees. Point of focus at this stage is to prevent employees from going back to previous routines. At this point, effective managers empower employees to practice on new experiences and further provide coaching and support. Reinforcement is continuous and cuts across all departments in an organization. Conclusion Change can be defined as continuous process without a defined starting point or ending. This change is necessitated by rapidly changing social, political and economic environment. Mediocrity and pursuit for quick fix are some of impediments to continuous change. In is evident that many organizations are now investing in training its employees on total quality management. Other people support change without pain that makes use of tinkering and kludging while other great thinkers propound for change through persuasion. Nevertheless, continuous change is suitable in the shifting business atmosphere. Read More