Beaudans Argument on Leadership and Change - Literature review Example

Beaudan’s Argument on Leadership and Change Introduction Change leader has the responsibility of bringing about change in any organization. Scholars such as Holdbeche (2012: 42) note that, it is the role of a change leader in a company to challenge the people so that they can align their mastery, identity, and purpose with the needed organization change. Change is a challenging business and it has to take place in a safe environment. Based on research and interviews undertaken in ten years, it was found out that, leaders planning to bring change efforts back on track have to consider that initial planning is well done. However, the plans to initiate change fail because of failure to anticipate unpredictable factors or internal resistance that delays the implementation of the change process. That is, since leaders do not adequately anticipate the reception of change, it leads to derailment of change initiative (Beaudan, 2006). Beaudan’s Argument on Leadership and Change Whether an organization is undergoing radical change or not, the leaders are supposed to be role models, they are expected to tackle all forms of resistance and create readiness for change by triggering commitment in all levels of organization. Holbeche (2012) continues to mention that, “leaders must prepare people for ongoing change to provide long term growth and variability” (p.42). In that effect, leaders have to create a change process that is constructive by getting people to positively engage in the change process in order to allow resistance to change to facilitate for new development. Therefore, it is important for leaders to provide obvious change targets and goals so as to develop the kind of culture that supports learning and experimentation (Porter, Smith & Fagg, 2012). In other words, leaders should lay a foundation from which the group can learn and embrace change rather than resisting it. Apparently, kinds of change initiatives have been argued to research stalling point. This is the point when the leader starts to sag while the employees get out of touch. Based on that, it is argued that, leaders should engage in adjustments that will not only give momentum to change initiatives, but will also give them new life and in turn be embraced in the organization (Beaudan, 2006: 2). Primarily, Beaudan’s argument is that, it is common for change to reach a point when it is no longer progressing, but leaders have the power to turn things around and make it possible for the change to occur. According to Holbeche (2012), the main challenge for leaders in driving for change and development in an organization is to implement change initiatives and still preserve the core of the firm. An organization can be able to meet the challenges that come with the changing world by preparing itself to change everything except its key philosophy of doing business. Ironically, leaders have to create not only a sense of stability to facilitate for employees’ security, but they also have to promote progressive changes in order to achieve a secure future for the organization. Beaudan (2006) argues that, during unstable times, managers have to ignore change and focus on motivating, rejuvenating, and directing employees to focus on the present. In that case, Beaudan is stating that, employees have to be considered during change initiative and implementation. Stall Point of Change Beaudan (2006) believes that, at one point in time, change reaches a point where it is no longer energetic. (Beaudan refers this point as stall point). While in airplanes there are warning devices to detect stall points, such devices do not exist in organizations. Change unravels without warning the managers and executives and thus, it is upon the leader to train themselves so that they can detect symptoms of change fatigue. Symptoms of change fatigue have been outlines in table 1). By identifying the symptoms, it is possible for the leaders to act appropriately. normally, it takes about three minutes for an airplane flying 40,000 feet off the ground to hit the ground if a stall is not corrected. In an organization, it can take weeks or months before an organizational change can be stalled depending on the performance culture of the organization. This is such that, for high performance culture organizations, the duration before the change initiative is stalled is bound to be shorter than in low performance culture organizations (Beaudan, 2006: 2). Table 1: Symptoms of Change Fatigue Symptoms of Change Fatigue Outsiders keep questioning about the objectives or the value of change effort Change leaders are depressed or are leaving the change effort Reluctance to mention or share data on change effort Resources and budget are diverted to other developmental initiatives Customers become impatient with the length of time that change effort is being implemented Principle leaders being absent from progress reviews Source: Beaudan, 2006, p.2 Resistance builds and manifests itself during the launch phase. In most cases, the resistance remains underground as employees and leaders make a decision on whether or not to support change. The people give excuses of lack of sufficient training for the introduced system or that the new system has not been used by other companies and other similar arguments. In addition, passive resistance may not cause immense damage if it occurs in bits but eventually leads to the disastrous crippling down of the effort to embrace change in an organization. In other cases, passive resistance contributes to change reaching a stall point by passive resistance gradually developing into active and verbal resistance to change. Active resistance involves declared opposition towards change and engaging in activities that will hinder change (Haberberg & Rieple, 2007). Generally, there are different reasons why change efforts fail as shown in Table 2. Table 2: Why Change Efforts Fail 1. Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency 2. Not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition 3. Lacking vision 4. Under communicating the vision by a factor of ten 5. Nor removing obstacles 6. Not systematically planning for and creating short- term wins 7. Declaring victory too soon 8. Not anchoring changes in the organizations culture Source: Wonderlich, S. & Jones, R. (2007), p.37 Leadership: Dealing with Change Fatigue There is a general agreement among scholars such as Beaudan (2006) that, change fatigue can be addressed through prevention or reduced. Effective strategies used to address change fatigue also contribute to general success in organizational change. To effectively manage change fatigue, leaders are expected to carefully contemplate the continuum from hard system to soft systems approach to an approach that allows for preparation, planning, implementation, monitoring, and change embedment. In particular, change fatigue in a company can be addressed through various strategies associated with communication, leadership and participation (sites.google.com). The Figure 1 below shows the interrelationship between communication, leadership and involvement/ participation in management of change fatigue Figure 1: Communication, Leadership and Involvement Interrelationship in Change Fatigue Management Source: https://sites.google.com/site/changefatigue/strategies-for-managing-change-1 Leaders have to develop a wide range of leadership skills in order to ensure that the change efforts become successful (Wonderlich & Jones, 2007). There are different strategies used to sustain change and to avoid possible implications of resistance to change effort. One of the strategies pointed out by Beaudan (2006: 5) is rethinking change expectations and goals. The change leaders have to consider the possibility of the vagueness, unrealistic or ambiguity of change effort in order to redefine the change efforts. The other strategy is to adjust the speed of implementing change. The speed of implementing change may too fast or too slow making the change effort ineffective. Beaudan (2006) continues to suggest that, change can be stalled in case the wrong people are leading the process of change hence; to curb the potential of change being stalled; the correct expertise should be given the role of managing the change team. Adding excitement to change effort is another strategy noted by Beaudan (2006: 6) to ensure that the implementation of change effort becomes effective. Based on these strategies, it is evident that leaders have a great responsibility of initiating and implementing change in an organization. This argument has been supported in literature due to the effectiveness of involvement or participation. In sites.google.com (web) for example; it is noted that change management in planning and implementation should involve all the people that are most affected by the initiative. As indicated by literature, a large number of front- line managers and employees usually feel that they are passive recipients of conceded change instead of being active and involved agents. Purposeful participation of these groups of people will reduce change fatigue by first; fostering a higher sense of control by employees, and secondly, encouraging informed designing and implementation processes (Haberberg & Rieple: 2007: 746). For example; the leaders can use appreciative inquiry approach by inviting leaders and employees so that they could describe what they believe is being done well in the organization or suggesting the ideal future situation of the company as a result of change implementation. Basically, involvement of the employees in an exciting manner will attract the stakeholders to the strategy and in turn, embrace the strategy (sites.google.com). In essence, leaders can overcome change fatigue by initially recognizing and preparing response designs by setting goals. The change effort design should outline the processes in relation to allocation of resources to avoid change fatigue in case the change effort fails. It has been noted by Wonderlich and Jones (2007: 37) that, change leaders should not focus on details in advance to influence the future. When a change leader avoids detailing change in advance, he will avoid demoralization that can result in the event when the change is not reached in precision. In sites.google.com (web) it has also been noted that, leaders have to be selective when they are reflecting on the potential of the respective change initiatives. Careful reflection can contribute to increased opportunities that will reduce or curb change fatigue by slowing down the sped of change and combining fundamental initiatives so that they can be able to reduce the total number of changes. Therefore, change leaders should outline the objectives of change effort at the beginning and continue improvising as the change effort project continues to develop. In particular, there are various specific strategies that can contribute to decline or elimination of change fatigue in an organization. Leaders are expected to shift away from being project –based, towards holistic system approach. Whole system strategy recognizes the interrelationship that exists between change efforts and daily business. At the same time, managerial reflection can be supported through the creation of organizational change map to be used in the generation of a snapshot of change efforts being addressed in the present. The snapshot should also include the resources and individuals involved (sites.google.com). Often, it has been found that poor communication can result to change effort reaching a stall point. In that regard, it is important that change leaders should be ready to communicate the same information about the change effort several times to make sure that the information reaches all the people. it is vital that the employees are informed about the pros and cons of the change efforts and that they will be supported by the organization throughout the process of change (Wonderlich & Jones, 2007). This means that, leaders have a great responsibility of making sure that the most appropriate form of communication is used in informing the people about the change effort. In sites.google.com (online) it has been added that, leaders have to exhibit self efficacy while being open to experience and tolerant towards ambiguity. These factors will help in mitigating change fatigue. When a leader fosters these qualities, they can augment change capacity among the people and in turn, within the organization. Apart from that, surveys have found that, the perceptions of individuals towards the value and amount of organization change are affected by the individuals’ ability to comprehend the reasons behind the change implementation process. Accordingly, it is fundamental that the need for change as well as the anticipated outcomes is communicated in a way that the stakeholders are able to understand (Porter, Smith & Fagg, 2012). To make it easier for the stakeholders to understand; the leaders should speak specifically about the impact of change effort. The leaders should use terms that are familiar to the audience instead of using acronyms and language associated with specific level of organization or role. It has also been found by scholars such as; Porter, Smith & Fagg (2012: 98) that, an effective change leader has to acknowledge that all the change that occur include not only discrete and predetermined change event, but also a longer period of transition. This means that, effective change leaders should be able to use new assessment form of development and implementation, and at the same time, they should integrate the new assessment for into the daily business practice. In essence, the leaders can address the problem of change fatigue embracing the event and aspects of change efforts for leaders and front- line managers. Additionally, they can allocate sufficient time and resources for the group to successfully progress through the transition process (sites.google.com). as argued by Beaudan (2006), leaders have to rethink about change expectations and through assessments, they can initiate and implement change successfully. In addition, leaders have to engage in substantive improvements to create an environment whereby; change is made to become part of the organizational culture. The change effort should be done continuously, gradually, and at low level. According to Wonderlich and Jones (2007: 37), “change is more effective and sustainable if it relies on staff motivation rather than directives downwards from the top of the organization”. In that regard, it is important that a leader is keen about various events as they happen in the organization. Processes such as; recruitment, hiring and recognition of people with self efficiency, open to experience, and tolerant to ambiguity, increases the chances of eliminating change fatigue (sites.google.com). Furthermore, the change effort has to be effectively managed by change leaders without which, the change process can came to a halt. The change leader as the role of making sure the solutions are holistic and the change initiatives are embraced by the people. The leaders should not just seek to find out whether change fatigue exists or not, but to understand ‘why’ change fatigue exists in the company. Like other forms of resistance in other fields, effort to prevent change fatigue has to be tailored to link the factors that contribute to it (sites.google.com). According to Haberberg and Rieple (p.746), potential measures to address change fatigue should focus on addressing the concerns that trigger change fatigue and seeking to find out the opinions of people about possible measures to address the issue. Therefore, scholars agree that leaders have to engage extensively in change effort initiatives during designing, implementing, and management. Evidently change effort does not end with planning and implementation because; possibility of change fatigue can occur at any stage of change initiative. After implementation, management of change effort is necessary. Considering the impact of organizational change on general energy, it is vital for leaders to monitor for symptoms of change fatigue to effectively respond to them progressively (Porter, Smith & Fagg, 2012). Beaudan (2006) suggests that, internal states of the leaders should be attended –to and their responses to change resistance to identify their will to curb change fatigue. Tools such as change fatigue scale can be used to monitor change effort implementation in an organization. By and large, monitoring strategies implemented are also crucial in identifying the progress of change effort and developing strategies to address the causes of change fatigue. Conclusion Organizations in the modern world are faced with intense global competition due to global changes. In response, organizations have been forced to adjust the way they are governed to deal with arising challenges arising from global change. In essence, organizations need change in order to remain competitive and to realize profitability. However, in the process of designing and implementing change, the stakeholders may experience change fatigue and resist change. Therefore leaders have the role of not only designing, introducing, and implementing change, but monitoring the response to the change so as to develop strategies to curb change fatigue. Leaders have to be keen and dedicated to successfully implement change in any organization. Works Cited Beaudan, Eric. (2006). Making Change Last: how to get beyond change fatigue. IVEY Business Journal, p.1-8 Haberberg, Adrian & Rieple, Alison. (2012). Strategic Management: Theory and Application. Cambridge: Cambridge university press Holbeche, Linda. HR Leadership. (2010). London: Routledge publishers. print Porter, Keith, Smith Paul & Fagg, Roger. (2012). Leadership and Management for HR Professionals. London: McMillan publishers Sites.google.com. (2013). How Do You Manage Change Fatigue? Accessed from, https://sites.google.com/site/changefatigue/strategies-for-managing-change-1 Wonderlich, Stephen & Jones, Robert. (2007). Understanding and Supporting Professional. 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