Deep Insight into Several Issues Associated to Change - Assignment Example

The Queen: Are We 'Hard Wired' Or Can We Change? Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: The Queen: Are We 'Hard Wired' Or Can We Change? Change is a transformation in the behaviors and practices of an individual or an organization. At the modern world, change is inevitable. This is due to the need to take account of the emerging trends in the business and the social world. The aim of change is to make an individual or an organization better with respect to all measures; i.e. socially, financially and physically. Since it is the desire of every organization and individual to make the best out of himself or herself, change therefore becomes a part of life. Change is a difficult task to achieve; which explains the reason as to why many people find it hard to adopt it, in fact most of the people dislike it. People are also hesitant to change due to several factors which will be discussed later. The following paper is a case study which will take a deep insight into several issues associated to change. Question 1 From the case study, several reasons as to why people find it difficult to change have been identified. One of the reasons as to why people find it hard to change is ‘hard wiring’. From the article, hardwiring is the engraving of specific skills, behaviors and beliefs which an individual identifies with. For an instance, a lecturer who is used to giving lectures in the university may find it hard to teach in a primary school. This is due to the fact that the lecturer is hardwired to lecturing. When he/ she is taken to a primary or secondary school, he/ she may find it hard to teach; and more often than not, he/she will lecture, hence not being able to impact knowledge in the students. Hardwiring makes an individual to have a comfort zone, on which he/ she is able to function best. In such a case, it becomes difficult to adopt change since it is hard moving out of the comfort zone. Another reason identified in the case study as to why change is difficult is because change is painful (Annie E Cassey Foundation, 2004, p.3). As pointed out earlier, change involves moving out of one’s comfort zones; hence great courage is necessary. This is a very taunting stage for people who desire to change. Many people do not have the courage to take up new behaviors or practices since they have a fear of the unknown. They find it more comfortable to contend with what they have as opposed to going for what they don’t have. The change process is a difficult one; hence it requires a lot of hard work from an individual. Many are the times when individual slip back into their old ways half way on the change process. This is due to the individual’s lack of perseverance in the process (Obry, 2010, p2). As identified above, change is painful; hence requiring a perseverant person. In addition to this, change does not happen overnight; hence the pain of change is felt over a range of time. For this reason, change becomes difficult since it requires personal courage, perseverance and hard work. Another reason identified in the case study as to why change is difficult is its impact on the brain of an individual. Change is executed in the working memory of the brain. For this reason, the body and the brain need more energy to execute change as opposed to other normal routines which an individual might be accustomed to. For this reason, people find it hard to change due to the demands that come abut with change. For this reason, the article points out that a person must be ready to change in the first place; so as to ensure that the change process is successful (Center for Excellence and Learning, 2001, p.4). Question 2 As identified in the introduction, people dislike change. This is due to several reasons which will be discussed below. One of the major reason as to why people dislike change is that they fear the unknown. This is brought about by the fact that people prefer to stay in their comfort zones which they are contented with. More often than not, people are so much concerned about their security; hence going to extreme lengths to try and retain what they have. On the other hand, change calls for an individual to drop what he/ she have to try and look for something which he/ she do not have. This is the stage that people dislike most; dropping what one has already to search for what he/she does not have. Because of this, change seems to be a transition from an individual’s comfort zone to and unknown zone. Another reason as to why people dislike change is the pain associated with it. As pointed out earlier change does not happen overtime; hence it is necessary for an individual to persevere the pain. In most cases, many people dislike the pain that is associated with change, hence disliking change in the process. The pain associated with change comes about when one has t drop the behaviors and values which he/she previously upheld. Generally, it feels like a loss on the side of an individual. For example, a person who wants to quit drinking feels as if he / she have lost something which previously made him happy. For this reason, the pain associated with change tends to make people dislike change, and in the end making them resist it (Scoott & Jaffe, 2004, p.5). Another thing which makes people dislike change is the hard work which it demands from them. As identified earlier, the process of change requires an individual to be committed towards ensuring that the goals and objectives of the change process are met. For this reason, the higher the goals and objectives, the more the hard work that is needed from an individual. The imagination of the hard work and the commitment to the change is not usually appealing to most people; hence end up hating change. Because of this, it is advisable that an individual sets up reasonable goals and objectives which can be met easily. The change process is supposed to be a gradual one, hence should be undertaken in stages. Easily achievable stages should be established, hence easing the pressure in an individual undergoing through change. The basic principle of the change process should be that if one wants to go to the fifth floor, he/ she must pass via the ground, first, second, third and fourth floors in order to reach his / her destination. But it is impossible for him to jump from the ground floor to the fifth floor. Therefore, it is necessary to set up easily attainable targets in order to ensure that the change process is successful. Question 3 The people’s hesitancy to change is a taunting issue which warrants a cross examination in the field of management. As identified in the above sections, people find it hard to change and consequently dislike change. As identified in the introduction, change is inevitable in an individual’s or organization’s life. Positive change is meant to be beneficial to an individual/ organization. For this reason, it is a surprising issue that one is hesitant to an issue which is meant to be of benefit to him or her. This is the irony of the situation which makes it necessary to study people’s hesitation to change. One of the main reasons as to why this issue warrants a study is that people and organizations are not really as comfortable as they put. The comfort zones which people and organizations exist in are not ideally comfort zones. This is because there are many issues which pose problems to the individuals in their so called comfort zones. Precisely, comfort zone is not the correct word to refer to them; instead it is a content zone. This is because individuals get contented with a situation which is not really comfortable to them. The irony of the issue is that organizations and individuals are reluctant to leave the ‘content zone’ and improve their conditions. The reason as to why this happens and what can be done to make it easier for individual and organization to overcome it is surely a management issue which warrants a cross examination. Another major issue surrounding the whole issue about people’s hesitancy to change is the desire of the people to change. For instance, if an individual is asked to name the top 10 issues that he/she would like to change about himself / herself, he or she would name them within a very short period of time. However, if the same person is asked about what he / she have done in order to change the situation, most of the people would say nothing. This is the ironic issue about people hesitancy to change; they have a desire to change but are doing nothing about it (Munton & West, 2006, p.370 ). The factors influencing such kind of behavior requires a cross examination in the management filed. Question 4: With the changing business world, it is important that an organization is able to keep up with the changes so as to remain competitive in the market. In order for a manager to implement change in his/ her organization, he or she must be able to use the best change management theories in the organization. There are several change theories in management which a manager can use to implement change in an organization. They include the following: Lewis’s force –field theory of change, systems theory and the complexity theory (Kritsonis, A.,2004 , p.1). The best theory to use in implementing change in an organization is the Lewin Force Field theory of change (Amagoh, 208, p.1). This theory encourages the in depth analysis of all the forces that affect the functionality of an organization. In so doing, an organization is able to identify the consequences of their practices and ways in which the organization can change them in order to ensure that organization benefits from the business practices. According to the case study, a manager must use the four A’s of change in implementing change in an organization. The first A is awareness. Awareness is a stage whereby the manager notices that everything is not functioning as properly or as planned. In so doing, the manager acknowledged that there is a need for change. Te second A is analysis. At this point the manager makes an analysis of the business organization and the areas which needs to be changed. This is in accordance to the Lewis’s field-force theory (Lewin, 2012, p1). The third A is alternatives where the manager evaluates the available alternatives after which he/ she makes a decision on the most convenient alternative to use. The fourth A is attack where the manager forges forwards towards change. All the four steps are important. However, the attack stage is the most crucial among the three. This is because it is the stage which dictates whether the organization will meet its objectives or not. In this stage, the manager should seek the cooperation of all the employees and other stakeholders in the organization. There should be a shared need for change in the organization which translates to a successful change process (James, 2006, p.30). At this stage, the manager should make use of the most appropriate management strategies to his/ her organization. As pointed out in the article, the organization should stay focused on the goals and objectives of the change process, thereby ensuring that the organization is able to implement change successfully. In conclusion, this case study has reflected on change. As pointed out in the paper, change is in evitable in the modern day business and social world. However, there are many reasons as o why many people find it hard to change. Some of the reasons have been discussed in the paper. In addition to this, many people dislike change (Warrilow, 2011, p1). The above two elements of change are very ironical since many people and organizations are not satisfied with their current states ; hence have an internal desires for change but do nothing about it. This ironical state is the basis of the need for a cross examination of people’s hesitancy to change as identified in the paper above. The paper has also identified several key elements which a manager should consider while implementing change in his/ her organization. References Kritsonis, A.,2004. Comparison of Change Theories, International Journal Of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity, Vol.8, no. 1 ; pp. 1-7 Amagoh, F. 2008. Perspectives on Organizational Change: Systems and Complexity Theories, The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, Vol. 13, no. 3, pp.1-14 Annie E Cassey Foundation, 2004. Theory of Change: A Practical Tool For Action, Results and Learning, pp.1-34 Center for Excellence and Learning, 2001. Taking Charge of Change, University of Victoria, pp.1-22 James, K. 2006. Theories and models of organizational change, Understanding and Facilitating Organiational Change in the 21st Century, 26- 50 Lewin, K. 2012. Change management model. Retrieved on 7th October 2012 from < http://www.change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin.html > Munton, A., & West, M., 2006. Innovations and Personal Change, Journal Of Organizational Behavior, Vol.16, no. 2, pp. 365-375 Obry, C. 2010. Meditation During Spiritual Transition, The Llewellyn Journal, Vol. 12, no.2, [Online] Retrieved on 7th October from < http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/print.php?id=1210 > Scoott, C, & Jaffe, D.2004. Moving Through Personal Transition, Managing Personal Change, Azzoto Press, pp 3-18 Warrilow, S. 2011. Why is change so difficult? Retrieved on 7th October from Read More