How to Get beyond Change Fatigue - Example

Making change last: How to get beyond change fatigue (Student Name) (Institutional Affiliation) Management (Instructor) April 21, 2013 Introduction This publication was about how managers try to make a specific change in an organization and the employer and employees start to become complicit in affecting the changes needed. This publication highlights ways on how managers make adjustments along the way to propel the change needed and breathe new life to the organizational changes.  The author described how key managers can make those all important changes and adjustments. When a change initiative goes awry The author looks at a case study that involves his consulting firm and a manufacturing company, where five years ago they tried to introduce an IT and planning system to improve on efficiency in the company. The article goes on to state that both initiative miserably failed and did not provide much needed change in the daily business of the company. After consultation with the directors and middle managers there so many complaint but none were among the traditional reasons companies fail like lack of support, resources and will from upper management (Kiesier and Sproull, 2007). What happened in the next months into the initiative, very few people signed up for the IT training and customers kept on complaining about the system thus the initiative completely broke down and managers and employees went back to the old ways. Soon everyone in the implementation team started the blame game begun and change started to be resisted. The writer looks at why this goes on in many companies. The answer lies in 10 years research and interviews with leaders, if one has to achieve the necessary change initial adequate proper planning is necessary for the anticipation of employee dissatisfaction and other unforeseen factors (Beaudan, 2006). This is needed to develop a strategy for getting through the obstacles in the way, this can go a long way to make changes last and implement faster change. In my opinion, the author makes a valid argument for change in the organization and all the perils that come with and how it can prove to be very difficult. According to Kotter (2007) 8 step change model, Step 5 involves the removing of obstacles, as a leader one must be decisive, and determined to bring change to the organization. Planning is essential in any process that is carried on for a long time to ensure results and lasting change. It is worth to note that all the steps in the framework below require significant planning. The Change Framework as proposed by Kotter Stage I): Enhance Urgency For change to happen, it helps if the whole company really wants it. Develop a sense of exigency around the need for change as it could help spark the initial motivation to get things moving. This isn't simply a matter of showing people poor sales statistics or talking about increased competition. Initiate an honest open and appealing conservation regarding what is taking place within the market place as well as rival competitors. When a number of individuals begin to converse the projected change, its urgency develops by itself (Tushman and Romanelli, 2005). Stage II): Establish the guiding force Prove to members of your organization that it is essential to effect change. This normally asks for visible support and effective leadership from executive members of the organization. To champion change within an organization, one ought to organize a team of influential individuals with power sources such as political significance, expertise, status and job title. Upon establishing this team of influential persons, there is need to function as a unit, continuing to create urgency and impetus around the necessity for change (Bromiley, 2001). Stage III): Establish the correct vision When you begin to ponder on change, there is the possibility of having several big solutions and ideas floating around. Hence, it is important that you connect these ideas within the overall organizational vision, which employees would easily remember and grasp. When a vision is clear, it would assist all stakeholders comprehend why you are requesting certain things from them (Boeker and Goodstein, 2008). If people see the sense of what you are working toward by themselves, the instructions which they are provided to them would make much more meaning. Stage IV: Communicating the vision What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. It is highly likely that your message will face stiff competition from the usual daily organizational communications, therefore there is need to communicate your message powerfully and frequently, as well as entrench it in all things that your carry out. You should not only rely on special meetings to pass your vision across, rather communicate it at any place and each time you have the chance. Apply you vision as often as possible to solve issues and make decisions. When you maintain this vision fresh in the mind of each and every person, they will have no option but to act on it, respond to it and remember it. Stage V): Empower Action When you go by these stages and arrive at this phase of the change process, then you have been communicating your vision and developing buy-in from all the organizational levels. Hopefully, your staff wants to get busy and achieve the benefits that you've been promoting. Establish the framework for change, and consistently review for change impediments. Getting rid of change obstacles would empower people you require for the execution of your vision, and it would facilitate change to progress. Stage VI): develop short-run Wins Success motivates people more than anything else. Offer your organizational a feel of victory early within the change process. After a short duration of time (probably within a three months or a year), however this depends of the change type, you would need results which your employees would quantify. If this is lacking, then negative thinks as well as critics could impair your change progress. Develop short-run objectives, as oppose to only the long-run objectives. Smaller short-term objectives are more attainable, since there is minimal room for failure. Stage VII): Do not let up According to Kotter and Cohen (2007) a lot of change projects collapse due to the fact that victory is prematurely declared. Actual organizational change runs deep. The immediate success or victories are merely the commencement of what should to be accomplished in the long-run change. Launching one new product using a new system is great. But if you can launch 10 products, that means the new system is working. To reach that 10th success, you need to keep looking for improvements. Every success offers the experience to build on the best practices and highlight things that need improvement. Stage VIII): Ensure change stick In the last stage, to ensure that change sticks, it has to be core component of your organization. Your corporate culture often determines what gets done, so the values behind your vision must show in day-to-day work. Make continuous efforts to ensure that the change is seen in every aspect of your organization as it would assist provide that change establish a fundamental position within the organizational culture. The other thing is to ensure that organizational leaders are relentlessly supporting the change, comprising both old and new leaders. If the support of these leaders is lost, it is highly possible to retreat to zero (Kotter and Cohen, 2007). How Change Stalls Almost all change initiatives reach a point where it becomes stagnant. This condition is referred to by the author as stalling and continues to describe the warning signs although he appreciates that no company has a warning system to preempt a stall. The leaders have to train themselves to recognize the symptoms of change fatigue (Beaudan, 2006, p3) by finding out what could be the problem. A stalled project can last 2 – 3 months depending on the culture of the organization. Assessing the characteristic implementation curve, there are three phases, comprising the launch stage, where the organizational stakeholders are wholehearted with the change. A mid course phase where the stall usually happens and a third phase, a completion phase where a positive or negative change will occur. Positive change can be seen as 1 out of 5 initiatives. It is worth to note that 3 out of 5 initiatives end up partial successes and 2 out of 5 ends up in complete failure. As we take a look at resistance build up in an organization, which usually occurs in the Second phase. The passive resistance as described as not lethal in small quantities but it can have a very bad effect to the company and in rare case this resistance becomes vocal and employees completely reject change. This situation can be used to try and find out what is wrong and can be fixed in order to complete the change. The writer concludes that organizations can use leadership and change experts to launch their initiative so that can help smooth the transition and more times than not it is unlikely that open opposition is noted during the implementation. If so a leader can try to get back on track. Reviving the change According to Bantel and Jackson (2009) in reviving change within the organization, a number of strategies have been proposed, however four of them have proven to the effective. The first one is to reorganize change expectations and objectives if the original objective could have been unrealistic or even too ambitious, if found to be true, then one needs to reorganize them based on the new circumstances. The first issue is to design the right measures if change is based on reduction or efficiency of the organization as a whole. If these initial numbers or corrective measures are wrong a change leader should adjust accordingly. The second issue is assessing the impact of change to customers and employees, if so then an honest assessment of the situation is warranted and honest conclusions should be done. Next is when new organizational developments have halted the change program, and if this occurs one must discontinue and review the entire program so as to sufficiently plan (Ocasio, 2003). The second strategy is to ‘change speeds’ which has 3 issues to contend with. The first issue is that the leader has been very slow on change or even too fast. The leader has to evaluate if any of the customers or employees have been left behind in the effort and put in measures to adapt to their needs. The second issue is to take time to assess what is working and not working and become diligent and take time to read the warning signs. The third issue is to set appropriate milestones to gauge or track the progress made by the company and employees. The third strategy outlined in this publication is to change the mix of people. There are also 3 issues that a leader needs to contend with. The first issue is to determine if the wrong people are leading the change if so one has to recruit other leaders who can better understand the situation. The Second issue is to find out if experts are needed on the change team, one has to know if more managers, senior leaders or maybe even other professionals from other fields which can lead to fresh ideas in the implementation. The third issue is whether to bring in people from outside the organization because in a real sense these people can bring in a different perspective to the implementation team and transform the company for the better. The fourth strategy is adding the element of excitement in the change process. This approach has four elements, which the organization needs to sort out. The first issue is to make a formal presentation about the change to your management team. This can be stated in the annual report also speeches are also a good way to tell the management doing this may help your agenda become a priority. The second issue is to increase the stake which means that the leader offers benefits and incentives to the team making them immediate thus creating motivation a drive to effect the change. The third issue may be to create a crisis where you as a leader make it clear that the company cannot afford to fail in the initiative which may lead to a sense of urgency, responsibility and also lead to solutions. The fourth and final issue is to make it fun for everyone, incorporate learning and teaching seminars and actively engaging and stimulating the employees. What They Don't Teach You about Change The publisher also outlines what is not taught in most academic institutions 1. All change runs into resistance. One should be prepared to face open and quiet resistance from employees and customers (Hambrick and Mason, 2004). 2. Individuals who support change at the beginning may become neutral, passive or active. A leader should expect the same to happen during the change effort. 3. All change involves a shift of the organization's power structure. Some people will inevitably gain influence, while others will lose some 4. No amount of advance thinking, planning and communication guarantees success. This is so because change by design is unwieldy and unpredicted. Leadership Implications The author looks at the implications of all these underlined lessons, first the leaders need to conserve their energy to confront the problems ahead that pop up and all the ugly symptoms that change can bring to an organization. The problems that arise are numerous to say the least from sabotage to open resistance. All these problems need to be confronted early and dealt with by the change leader which is why these lessons are so important (Kogut and Singh, 2008). The second task of the leader is to recognize the symptoms of change fatigue in the organization and to avoid stalling permanently once people start becoming resistant to that very change they were not long ago enthusiastic with. The leader should come up with a plan of action to deal with the emotions that become high through especially the change mid-course phase. The employees should shift blame on the lack of proper planning (Wieseman, 2012). The third and final lesson is that leadership has to be seen and helps to keep change in the organization alive. All important leaders in the world appreciate that a leader needs to be seen and heard in order to keep an idea alive. The author concludes the article with a powerful statement on change, that change comes slowly it is not something to be rushed and a good leader appreciates this and does the utmost to steer change until it is achieved. Conclusion In my opinion this publication has really shed light on the pitfalls of change and how to overcome them. The author has clearly articulated his ideas on the problems organizations face when trying to change their operations with various case studies and research findings which are hard to dispute but totally sensible. I agree with his affirmations that planning is critical in any company that is implementing change if it is to succeed. It is interesting to note that if a company that follows the Kotter 8 step change model may meet less resistance than another company which haphazardly does its change initiative which may ultimately fail. Also the leader who is constantly at the forefront of changes is likely to succeed and so does the organization as a whole. In conclusion this has been a well written and informative article that may help leaders bring effective and lasting change. References Beaudan, E. (2006), Making change last: How to get beyond change fatigue, Ivey Publishing, London. Bantel K and Jackson, S. (2009). Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference? Strategic Management Journal, 10: 107-124. Boeker, W.and Goodstein, J. (2008). Organizational performance and adaptation: Effects of environment and performance on changes in board composition. Academy of Management Journal, 34: 805-826. Bromiley P. (2001) Testing a Causal Model of Corporate Risk-taking and Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 34:56-83 Hambrick D.C. and Mason, P. (2004). Upper Echelons: The Organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review 9 (21). Kotter, P. and Cohen, S. (2007). The Heart of Change, Harvard Business School Press Boston Katz R. (2009) Time and Work: Towards an Integrative Perspective In Shaw B.M and Cummings L.L (eds.) Research in Organizational Behaviour Greenwich Co. JAI Press. Kiesier, S. and Sproull L.C (2002) Management Response to Changing Environment. Administrative Science Quarterly. 27:78-76 Ocasio, W. 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