Managing Successful Organizational Change - Literature review Example

Literature on Organizational Change This review candidly examines the empirical and theoretical literature on organizational change for the period 2000 to 2011. The research themes which will be discussed in this review include the change management skills. The literature review will determine what skills an individual change leader would require to enable that change leader to take part in change management programs in different contexts and develop new ways of approaching organizational change. In addition, the review will identify skills that directly transfer across those contexts and also identify skills that are required –if any- but are not evident in the literature. A viable conclusion will also be offered and it will focus on general observations. As pointed out by Stewart (2003) organizational change is the adjustment that is done to an organization’s culture, structure, technology, environment or people. Organizational change is usually stimulated mainly by an external force such as reduced market opportunities, significant cuts in funding as well as huge increases in the services. According to Filicetti (2007) for organizations to evolve to different levels in their life cycle, they typically need to undertake strategic or structural and technical shifts in the organization. Organizations are rapidly changing as a result of the dealings that affect their status quo for instance organizational restructuring, process improvements, as well as the introduction of new skills and machinery. However, despite organizations recognizing that change is required, acquiring the management or leadership skills which are important to attaining the desired goals has proved to be difficult. Moreover, organizational change does not just occur. It requires that the organization has an initiative that has a direction, very clear goals, good leadership as well as an effective and timely communication that informs the stakeholders the reason for change, the benefits to be accrued from successful implementation and a detailed report for the change (McKinsey & Company, 2006). It also requires that these are well communicated in a timely manner (Wallington, 2006). Furthermore, for an organization to succeed within the constantly changing environment, it needs not continue relying on past practices to achieve for these practices are no longer valid and may not work in the present context but should ensure it adopts skillful communication, develop a comprehensible change strategy as well as have creative planning that will help it attain, maintain and sustain the change it requires (McKinsey & Company, 2006). It is evident that in the contemporary society, organizations and teams are facing rapid change like never before. Some of the examples of organizational change include strategic changes, missionary changes, operational changes encompassing structural changes, technological changes and modifying the behaviors and attitudes of the employees. According to research, globalization has amplified the opportunities and markets for more revenues and growth. Nevertheless, increasingly varied markets have offered a wide variety of expectations and wants that should be understood in order to make sure that they become strong collaborators and customers. At the same time as, stakeholders scrutiny has amplified as some top management have been condemned of illegal acts in their organizations, while at the same time their wages have been increasing drastically compared to the compensation of other employees. As a result, the capacity to manage organizational change while meeting the stakeholders’ needs is a very essential skill needed by today’s managers and leaders. Studies have proven that, change management programs allow organizations to control the installation of new processes to improve the realization of business benefits (Harvard Business School, 2006). The programs entail generating organizational buy-in; devising change initiative, implementing the initiative, and generating a repeatable model that ensures continued accomplishment in future change management efforts. It is apparent that, change management program enables leaders and managers to assist in the success of individuals, indicating when and where trouble is probable to take place and putting forth a strategy for alleviating risks and monitoring development. According to Kotter and Cohen (2002) change management programs necessitate managers to undertake the following responsibilities. Leaders should be result oriented meaning that they should maintain a goal oriented mindset by setting up non-negotiable and clear goals and design incentives which will ensure the achievement of these goals. Leaders should also identify and overcome barriers to change. This implies that, organizational leaders should identify personnel most affected and in addition, work to forecast, gauge and manage the risk of organizational change. Moreover, change leaders should continuously communicate powerful and simple messages to the personnel. In times of organizational change, change leaders usually modify communication methods and frequency in order to manage how shaken personnel identify and react to information. This can be achieved by developing a system for making out, and executing the most vital decisions. Lastly, change leaders should have the skills of monitoring progress. By following through and monitoring the progress of every change initiative, it is possible to tell whether it is following the right and anticipated path or veering off course. As pointed out by Harvard Business School (2006) organizations use change management programs to implement key strategic initiatives to adjust to changes in customer preferences, markets, competition’s strategic plans and rapid technologies; and implement new initiatives. As pointed out by Axelrod (2000) effective change management necessitates effective change management skills for change leaders in order to enable them move a team through the change process smoothly and achieve a positive outcome. These skills are also essential for change leaders to enable them to take part in change management programs in different contexts. Sometimes nevertheless, change leaders lack the vital skills sets required to manage change or involve themselves in change management programs. Indeed literature by Axelrod (2000) suggests that there exist gaps for the necessary skills needed for efficient involvement in change management programs. According to a leadership research carried out by Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL), which is known for its work in the area of leadership challenges faced by companies globally, there is a major gap in the skill base for leading an organization through change management especially in the IT and finance sectors in the United States, India and Singapore (Lawler and Worley, 2006). Fernandez and Rainey (2006) incorporated that team building skills are vital for a change leader to participate in change management programs. According to these scholars, any type of organizational change requires change leaders who are effective team builders, since various driving forces have to be addressed. Fernandez and Rainey (2006 notes that team building is cost effective and essential in meeting several demands posed on the change leaders while undertaking change management programs. They put forward that various strategies should be taught for teams to be efficient; shared responsibilities and roles; knowledge of decision making skills and problem solving; strategies to start dialogue; team evaluation in the process of decision making; and monitoring initiatives. Fernandez and Rainey (2006) further puts forth that process skills enable change leaders to work together productively in implementing the change management programs. Moreover, team- building influences certain objectives such as trust, communication, and support and these are examples of attitudes and skills (Senge, 2006). According to past researches, communication skills are very essential management skills during the times of change. It is key to all the happenings both the success and failures of an organization. Effective and timely communications bring out the difference between failure and success of the organization. Studies show that if a leader is not effective in providing adequate information to people during the transition period, then he gives room for the rapid increase in the levels of anxiety and uncertainty. Moreover, it is evident from the researchers that this in return results to an unproductive behavior, high resistance to change and the lack of full support from the people. According to the past researchers, for a leader to be an effective communicator when communicating change, he requires to clearly explain to people that the change that the organization is taking is important for the organizations development. He needs to tell the people how they will also benefit from the change as well as how each person’s performance will contribute to the organizational change. In addition the leader needs to be straight forward in defining the possible risks and downside that the organization is likely to experience from the change. Whether the change will mean a loss to certain individuals or work unit the leader should be candid in letting people know the truth since this way they will be able to provide their full support. Moreover, the leader should conduct regular meetings with the people most affected by the change to notify them with how the anticipated change is going to help them personally and the organization to achieve the desired success. It is also required that the leader should encourage the affected people to question as well as voice out their concerns and avail himself to clarify these uncertainties. Another very vital skill that is needed by today’s managers and leaders is the capacity to manage change while meeting the stakeholder’s needs. According to Schneider, 2006, managing change effectively necessitates the leader to move the organization at a very minimal cost from its present state to a desired future state. To be able to achieve this, leaders should clearly understand the present status quo of the organization. This means that they should be able to identify the problems that face the company, assign a certain level of significance to each problem, as well as assess and evaluate the types of changes that are required to help solve the problems. In addition, the leaders should proficiently envision and lay out the projected status quo of the organization. This requires having and understanding the clear picture of the company’s situation after the implementation of the desired change, letting everyone contributing to the change know the vision as well as designing the means of change to the acquired state. Moreover, the most important of all should be ensuring that the organization’s aim and objectives as well as key personnel remain stable despite any turmoil to reduce anxiety among the people. As pointed out by Wischenvsky and Fariborz (2006), to manage change effectively, it is of paramount to allocate resources, draw a plan as well as assign persons to be in charge of the transition process. Also from the researchers’ point of view, the leaders should develop the enthusiasm for transition by acting as the role models as well as sharing their goals. According to past research, managers and leaders should have the ability to manage resistance to change (Marsh, 2001). This is because, despite a change being small, its realization will encounter some resistance from within the company since people tend to cling to the old habits and the status quo. Managerial actions can either reduce or arouse resistance. Leaders and managers should be able to motivate people to shake off the old habits. In addition, the leaders should ensure that the future change is perceived positively for this will help to minimize the anxieties people may have about the future (Murray and Kent, 2006). According to Schraeder et al 2006, the key ingredients to reducing people’s negative reactions include communication and education. Managers and leaders should inform their employees through group representations, reports, memos or individual discussion what the change entails, the projected benefits of the change to the individuals as well as the organization at large. In addition, inviting employee participation as well as encouraging their contribution at the implementation and design stages of the transition effort is yet an important component that managers can use to overcome resistance to change. Moreover for the change to be effective, facilitation and support of the employees should be employed. This means that the managers and leaders should ensure that they avail themselves to give explanations whenever they are required to as well as be around during this period to help reduce the tensions arising from the pressures of change. Furthermore, managers should be able to overcome the resistance to transition through rewards and negotiations with the employees. They should offer the employees incentives to ensure they are in full support of the change (Lawler III, 2006). Consequently, some researches point out that manager can also use force or punish people who resist change to ensure that they cooperate to bring about the desired change (Clark, 2008). This method can only be of importance where speed is required. However, it can lead to continuous negative effects to the organization. It is apparent that since 2000, ample literature has been carried out concerning organization change. This may be as a result of the radical change in the contemporary society which is necessitating change leaders and managers to have the necessary skills to adopting and implementing change. From the above review, various scholars have pointed out the necessary skills required by individual change leader to enable the change leader to take part in change management programs in different contexts. Change management programs which encompasses strategy formulation, devising change initiative, and implementing the initiative among others necessitates change leaders to have such skills as effective communication skills, team building skills, ability to manage change, and ability to manage resistance to change. Overall, our evaluation of the past eleven years of theory and research on organizational change designates clearly that the field is large and continues to respond to the current organizational demands. As it is evident from our past contributors on organizational change and the skills required for change leaders to participate in change management programs, it is evident that much has been attained though further studies into the field is required. Skills matrix Stages of change A =pre –change, B = change implementation and C= post implementation Skills identified Radical or revolutionary Incremental or evolutionary Punctuated equilibrium Continuous transformational   A B C A B C A B C A B C Communication skills 2 6 2 5 3 2 1 6 3 5 4 1 Ability to manage resistance 7 1 2 6 2 2 4 5 1 3 2 5 Team building skills 5 4 1 3 4 3 5 1 4 2 5 3 Capacity to manage change 6 1 3 2 3 5 4 4 2 2 6 2 References Axelrod, R H. 2000. Terms of Engagement: Changing the Way We Change Organizations. London: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Clark, T R. 2008. EPIC Change: How to Lead Change in the Global Age. New York: Jossey-Bass. Harvard Business School. 2006. Harvard Business Review on Leading through Change. 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