The Role of Leaders towards Change in Organizations - Example

The Notion of Change Agency, Traits, and Attributes of Change Agents can have an Important Impact on the Success or Otherwise of a Change Programme Name: University: Course Title: Instructor: Date of Submission: Introduction Organizational change has significant implications on organizations. As such how change programmes are initiated, implemented and managed determines their success or failure. According to Caldwell (2003, p.285), change leaders in an organization are associated with extraordinary qualities such as innovativeness, risk taking, openness to new ideas as well as ability to effectively respond to uncertainty. Organizational leaders who lack these qualities also lack the ability to effectively initiate and implement change programs in organizations that they lead. Ford, Ford, & McNamara (2002, p. 105 & 106) suggest that leaders and top managers as agents of change in organization must exhibit impeccable attributes. Change initiative may generate resistance if people leading change in an organization have questionable traits which generate anger and distrust among their followers/employees (Jabri, 2012). As such, “the notion of change agency, traits, and attributes of change agents can have an important impact on the success or otherwise of a change programme.” This essay seeks to discuss the implications of the above statement in facilitating a climate for the social construction of change and involvement. The Role of Leaders towards Change in Organizations According to Northouse (2010), leadership is all about having a vision for individuals, groups, teams or even an entire organization. Based on the foregoing, therefore, leaders guide or rather influence the behaviour of individuals, groups or teams by exhibiting vision on the progress as well as change in their given organization. Visionary leaders motivate and encourage individuals, groups and teams within an organization towards achieving specified goals or objectives. By creating an environment which encourages both personal and professional development, leaders are able to significantly determine the behaviours of individuals, groups or teams in organizations which they lead. In essence, leaders guide and influence the behaviour of individuals, groups and teams by the fact that they must be able to think in a way which fosters creativity and innovation, development, as well as the betterment of the future within those individuals, groups, teams and the entire organization. Caldwell (2003, p.286), notes that most change initiatives in organizations are aimed at enhancing organizational performance and employee welfare. Leaders who are change-oriented embrace the divergent views held by various stakeholders as far as change is concerned. This is where effective leadership traits and attributes come in handy. Organisational changes in a firm are crucial because they improve the capacity of such firms to handle the rapidly occurring market shifts and operational issues (Jabri, 2012). Various types of environmental pressures force organisations to adapt new management and operational tactics, a practice that may involve numerous changes (Palmer & Akin, 2008, p.150). The contemporary business environment is changing at a rate that is an unprecedented and characterized by stiff competition; technological advancement, innovation and change; privatization, downsizing and restructuring; deregulations, scarce resources (Agboola and Salawu, 2011, p.235), politically-oriented shifts towards neo-liberalism, and globalization. Organizations must embrace change resulting from such a dynamic business environment to realize their vision, mission and objectives/goals, and adapt to the prevailing business environment to gain competitive advantage. In the process, business operations, processes as well as rules are revised; some lines of products are dropped while others are introduced; new equipments replace old ones; and adjustments are performed on the workforce depending on both the external and internal conditions (Agboola and Salawu, 2011, p.236). Change can be regarded as making something completely different from its initial status. It involves loosing the familiar and engaging/confronting the unknown (Jabri, 2012). In an organization, change can result into the alteration of processes of manufacturing and flows; organizational structures; procedures; organizational policies; as well as operation costs. In addition, organizational change influences the allocation of both material and human resources in an organization; and fosters organizational competition which can lead to the heating up of organizational political climate (Agboola and Salawu, 2011, p.236). Ford, Ford, & McNamara (2002, p.105 & 106) indicate that organizational change generates emotions among employees since they experience the change process as well as the impacts. In business organizations, affective culture influences how employees experience and express their emotions towards organizational change. As such, affective culture plays an integral role during the process of organizational change. It is the role of leaders to socially construct the behaviours of their employees in a manner that encourages them to embrace intended organizational change. How effective leaders achieve this mandate has significant implications as far as the success of intended organizational change is concerned. Effective leaders exhibit the ability to convince their employees on the importance of intended change initiative by involving then in the whole process. This is because it is the role of organizational leaders to guide the behaviour of their employees. How well leaders are able to shape the behaviour of their employees significantly influences their social and psychological response to organizational change (Caldwell, 2003, p.287; Northouse, 2010). Agboola and Salawu (2011, p.235) argue that employees resist change due to the fact that it threatens organizational status quo. Employees who resist organizational change perceive it as a significant threat to their organizational positions; skills, patterns of behaviour, as well as status. They may also regard the process of organizational change as one which undermines their competence. These are more often than not exhibited or rather typical of employees who are either in the middle or high level managerial positions. However, new employees especially those less interested in status quo as well as others in the managerial position far from the primary structure of organizational power are more likely to embrace organizational change (Ford, Ford, & McNamara, 2002, p.105 & 106). Resistance to Change Programme In a study conducted to identify personal attributes and functional to resist organizational change among employees in both public and private organizations, Abdulhamid (2011) summed up the following reasons to be key to employees’ resistance to organizational change. The first reason is personal reasons revolving around economic, social and emotional concerns. As such, change is perceived to hold the potential of jeopardizing such concerns. Secondly, organizational reasons such as lack of preparedness, unavailability of skills to implement the proposed organizational change, fear of resultant disorder, weak or poor organizational communication, inability to fully understand the significance of the proposed organizational change, weak or poor coordination between individuals responsible for change and those expected to implement it, and mistrust between the management/administration and the employees. Thirdly, cognitive reasons more so on the part of the employees who fail to perceive the importance as well as the need of the proposed organizational change. In such cases, employees’ resistance to organizational change can be attributed to insufficient employee knowledge and misinformation. Finally, employees resist organizational change for both moral and cultural reasons. This is out of the expectation that proposed change may result into the introduction of a new culture, values, as well as basic organizational principles. As such, employees resist organizational change to prevent such perceived or real moral and cultural expectations. Successful Implementation and Management of Change Programme According to Stragalas (2010, p.3), Kotter’s model plays a significant role in the effective management and implementation of organizational change (Jabri 2012, p14). Kotter’s model involves eight steps in the adaptation and effective implementation of organizational change with the objective of preventing employees’ resistance to the proposed change. These steps the following include: first, establishing a sense of urgency. This involves analyzing potential environmental crises as well as opportunities and enlightening at least 75% of management staff on the benefits of the proposed change and convincing them that the status quo is dangerous as compared to the unknown. The second step involves establishing an effective guiding coalition involving organizational members with power and commitment to lead the change effort. This team should exhibit the ability to work outside the hierarchy and as a team. The third step is creation of a vision to guide the change process, and developing strategies to enhance the transformation of the vision into reality. Fourth, the management communicates the new vision. Effective management of employees’ psychological resistance to organizational change must involve a multi-channelled and continuous communication. This will enable the management to model the new set of organizational procedures, operations, behaviours, as well as actions (Stragalas, 2010). Fifth, the management empowers others in the organization to act on the new organizational vision. This stage will involve changing or eliminating factors as well as process which impede the organizational change process. It also involves innovation, risk-taking as well as action on the newly established strategies. Sixth, planning for and creating wins in the short term (Stragalas, 2010). This is achieved via defining and promoting proactively visible improvement success factors. Thus, to effectively manage resistance the management should reward employees for their positive and active involvement in the change process at this stage. In the seventh step, the management consolidates the improvements achieved so far and produces more organizational change by building credibility based on early success factors through the removal of barriers to change and acquiring additional organizational resources to facilitate the organizational change process. Finally, the management institutionalizes the new organizational approaches. This involves proactively explaining to the employees the relationship between the new organizational approaches and the organizational change success factors. In addition, the management creates succession plans which identify and mandate individual in the organization to foster the new vision in the long term (Stragalas, 2010). Conclusion “The notion of change agency, traits, and attributes of change agents can have an important impact on the success or otherwise of a change programme.” The purpose of this essay was to discuss the implications of the above statement in facilitating a climate for the social construction of change and involvement. Contemporary organizations be they business oriented or otherwise must adapt to the prevailing environment in order to remain relevant, be sustainable, competitive and profitable. This involves implementation of organizational changes in order to achieve organizational objectives and vision. How change leaders in organizations approach this mandate is significantly determined by their leadership attributes and personal traits. It is the role of leaders to socially construct the behaviours of their employees in a manner that encourages them to embrace intended organizational change. How effective leaders achieve this mandate has significant implications as far as the success of intended organizational change is concerned. Change leaders must poses extraordinary attributes such as ability to deal with uncertainty, openness to new and innovative ideas, as well as risk taking among others to be able to effectively initiate and implement change programs in organizations that they lead. Change programs which are not effectively initiated and implemented may generate resentment from employees. Leaders who successfully initiate and implement change in their organizations involve their employees in the various stages of change management. References Abdulhamid, A.M.S. (2011). The effect of personal characteristics and functional to resist change (a field study on workers in some institutions Saudi Arabia). Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(8), pp.42-68. Agboola, A.A. & Salawu, R.O. (2011). Managing deviant behavior and resistance to change. International Journal of Business and Management, 6(1), pp.235-242. Caldwell, R. (2003). Change leaders and change managers: Different or complementary? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(5/6), pp.285-293. Ford, J.D, Ford, L.W. & McNamara, R.T. (2002). Resistance and the background conversations of change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 15(2), pp.105-121. Jabri, M. (2012). Managing Organizational Change: Process, Social Construction and Dialogue. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Northouse, G. (2010). Leadership: theory and practice. California: Sage Publishers. Palmer, I.D.R. & Akin, G. (2008). Managing organisational change: a multiple perspectives approach, 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Stragalas, N. (2010). Improving Change Implementation. OD Practitioner, 42(1), pp.3-38. Read More