The Role of Empathy in the Management of Organisational Change - Essay Example

THE ROLE OF EMPATHY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Introduction Managing change within an organization is an integral part of improving organizational performance. As a process, depending on how change is managed, the impact on performance can be positive or negative. In any organization, it is imperative to reassess the strategic priorities since, there are factors that may impact on the firm’s performance and its competitiveness in the market. The strategic environment is not static and continues to change frequently. As a result, managing change should form part of a firm’s strategic plan. On the other hand, since change management involves embracing cooperation and coordination among the personnel tasked with implementing a firm’s strategic plan, receiving support is critical. Support in this sense may involve communicating the organization’s strategy at all levels and in regard to the personnel implementing the strategic plans (Cocks 2014, p. 88). The change process is an activity that engages the people within an organization and hence; empathy forms an integral part of managing change. Empathy as a process associated with the management of organizational change creates a strategic environment for improved communication. In addition, empathy improves understanding that exists between the change agent and the personnel working for the organization. The change agent further needs to understand their employee’s concerns by establishing an empathetic relationship with them. This is important, especially during periods of effecting changes in the organization. Developing an empathetic relationship with workers assist managers to anticipate any discontent among their employees. In addition, it is the manager’s role to support their employee’s and make them feel valued in times of making changes in an organization. Empathy further allows the change agent to understand the employee’s needs, and this helps the managers to plan for the change process. Providing support as a way of managing change also strengthens commitment and loyalty. The role of empathy in managing the organizational change means that the change agent at all levels of the organization should provide support for each other. Building understanding between the change agent and personnel during the change process plays a role in improving organizational performance (Cocks 2014, p. 95). During periods of change, organizations often face certain challenges that include, for example, retention or moral issue and maintaining a high performance level. During change, the productivity of an organization is often affected. This is because most projects to be completed remain pending as a result of workers being confused or demoralized by the changes taking place probably without their prior knowledge. As such, it is important to communicate any change within an organization to all employees. In essence, the personnel involved in implementing changes should take into consideration the important aspects of a firm’s change. This is important in producing better results in regard to organizational change. When change is under managed, it tends to be stressful, however; during the process of effecting change, new opportunities arise that enable the management to deliver results. In order to deliver results, the management needs to cope with the process involved in managing organizational change (Burnard & Bhamra 2011, p. 5582). Further, the change process requires management to create awareness, instill discipline and motivate the personnel they lead. Without proper channel of communicating organizational change, the employees are bound to resist such change. As such, it is important for the change agent to embrace an empathetic approach in effecting organizational change. This involves making sure that the changes in an organization are communicated to every person, and there is consensus regarding the new changes. When making changes within an organization, the change agent should consider the feelings of other workers not engaged in the implementation process. This ensures that workers become part of the process of implementing changes within the organization. In order to understand the needs of personnel within an organization, adopting an empathetic approach plays a critical role in ensuring the employees understand and adopt new changes. An understanding of implementing new changes by employees enhance support for the personnel implementing changes which, in turn, improve an organization’s performance (Burnard & Bhamra 2011, p. 5589). In understanding the role of empathy in the management of organizational change, the process of change is a people’s process, and their input in that process is critical. In this sense, change that involves people require cooperation and coordination at all levels of an organization. This means that, empathy as part of implementing change management fosters understanding among the various personnel implementing change. To enhance the understanding, it is important for the organization to establish proper channels of communicating the organization’s strategy. When the communication between various levels in an organization is smooth, it is easier to implement changes. This is because, the various persons charged with implementing change understand each other. In addition, this understanding involves awareness of each employee’s needs and how the new changes will affect their performance. The change agent when implementing changes, needs to put themselves in their employee’s shoes. This is important in understanding the needs and aspiration of employees in the work environment. The change within an organization has to take into consideration other aspect of the employee’s life and how the changes affect their life other than office work (Burnard & Bhamra 2011, p. 5592). Performance and success of an organization depends on the working environment and in terms of being conducive or unbearable for the employees. Creating a strategic environment within an organization depends on the approach taken to make organizational changes. Where the changes are made based on understanding each other’s needs, then, the performance of an organization can improve in regard to the strategic plans. It is often a hard task for an organization to meet its strategic priorities when employees are demoralized as a result of the new changes that did not consider their concerns. In order for a strategic plan to work efficiently, the employees need to be part of the process from the beginning. As a result of the employees being part of the change process, the change agent can adopt an empathetic approach in reaching consensus with employees regarding how to implement the new changes. Being ignorant of the employee’s feelings regarding the implementation of new changes can impact negatively on an organization’s activities (Haffar, Al-Karaghouli & Ghoneim 2013, p. 694). In essence, empathy plays a significant role in improving an organization’s performance. This is because, an empathetic approach towards making changes in organization ensures that employees are not sidelined by the change agent. As such, arriving at a consensus with employees after understanding where they come from, help to improve performance. This is because they feel as part of the new change and have a role to play in implementing the new strategies meant to improve organizational performance. Without the change agent understanding the feelings of employees who are affected by the changes, may lead to confusion in implementing new strategies. This is because, a lack of support for the new change results in conflicts and delays, in effecting changes necessary to improve an organization’s performance and competitiveness in the business market (Haffar, Al-Karaghouli & Ghoneim 2013, p. 698). Many factors are connected with success or failure to meet the organization’s strategic objectives. In this sense, empathy as a factor should not be ignored in the management of organizational change. The change agent needs to engage its personnel in understanding their views regarding the established priorities to improve the organization’s performance. As a communication strategy, understanding employee’s views regarding new changes assist the change agent to focus on the strategies that resonate with the majority in the organization. As a result, incidents of resistance to new strategies to effect change in the organization is reduced because every person is aware of the new changes. On another note, empathy when associated with change management, results in a good working alliance. This is because the management and the staff can develop a mutual understanding in regard to the changes to implement the plans of the organization. Performance in an organization depends on how the various levels within an organization relates to one another. In addition, the working relationship within the organization and in regard to new changes depends on cooperation and coordination in implementing the change process. In essence, everyone in the organization has to agree with the strategies adopted to effect change. Consensus by everyone is important in making sure that the organization meets its objectives. Other than empathy playing a role in improving communication, support and consensus within an organization ensures employees are not affected negatively by new changes (Haffar, Al-Karaghouli & Ghoneim 2013, pp.702-704). Change is something that happens in any organization, and this change is influenced by the trends in the market. Various reasons are often raised concerning change management; however, the main reason for effecting changes in an organization is to improve performance. Performance in any organization can only improve with properly implemented plans. Such plans need to consider the input of everyone to come up with an agreeable formula to improve an organization’s performance. In this context, a number of issues often arise during the change process that can impact negatively on an organization if not solved. For example, a change in an organization without the knowledge of other employees may impact negatively on work and productivity. This is because, the employees were not contacted for their opinion regarding the new changes. As such, it might be difficult to implement new plans in an environment that does not accommodate the new changes. In this regard, adopting an empathetic approach enable the change agent understand their employee’s world view and include such views in the change process. Empathy further plays a role in understanding the type of the change desired by the organization as a whole. Taking into consideration what other people want and not being subjective helps in coming up with a more stable strategic plan. Through an empathetic approach, the change agent can explore the potential consequences that may arise as a result of making organizational change prior to announcing such changes. In addition, an empathetic approach in change management improves feedback from major stakeholders and others outside the organization. In essence, their thoughts and feelings in regard to change management is important in setting out an organization’s priorities. Since organizational change result in the movement of workers from one department to another, taking an empathetic approach has played a role in handling the process sensitively (Chidiac 2013, p. 465). Conversely, when undertaking a change management process, it is important for the change agent to realize that the process can be chaotic and tend to affect people negatively. In such a case, leadership plays a critical role in moving the organization in the right direction. This is because not everyone is going to receive the proposed changes in a positive light. In this regard, the leadership plays a critical role in making the employees within an organization understand the need for the proposed changes and to listen to other views on the way forward during the change process. According to Kotter (2014), there are various steps that change management can adopt for purposes of leading change. These steps in essence assists in overcoming failures and carry out a successful organizational change. In order to become adept in the process of change management, the change agent needs to adapt to continuous changes in the organization structure. This allows for flexibility in implementing new strategies geared at moving the organization forward. Among the steps proposed by Kotter (2014) that can assist in leading change include carrying out the organization’s affairs with urgency. In this sense, the management need to orient other staff on the need for change. This plays an important role in convincing the staff in the organization to act with urgency in regard to the change management process. Further, to realize a successful organizational change, it is important for the management to encourage group work. This is important in the sense that it is easier to reach a consensus in regard to the changes implemented by the organization. Group work also encourages support among personnel carrying out organizational change because, support from other staff acts as a motivator to improve organizational performance. In avoiding failure with a new strategic plan, the management need, to set a clear vision to assist in directing the change process. This vision should be communicated to all members of an organization as a way of enhancing understanding in regard to the organization’s proposed strategic plan. On another note, it is important for the organization to change structures that impact negatively on the set vision. Change management further requires risk taking and adoption of unconventional ideas so long as they are in tandem with the organization’s plans to improve performance. The strategic plan adopted by the management should focus on realistic goals as a way of avoiding failures with untested plans. Employees, on the other hand, play a significant role in the sense that, their competency impacts on organizational performance. As such, a successful change process requires the input of employees with the ability to implement the organization’s vision. In any organization, success in implementing changes depends on introducing the new changes to the organization’s culture. This is made possible by encouraging leadership development in the organization (Kotter 2014). Smith (2014), on the other hand explain that chaos resulting from a lack of control. This lack of control is caused by maintaining the status quo. In the context of an organization, when things stay the same for some time, this can lead to chaos. The chaos may be caused by an outcry for change in management. Organisations need to adapt to new changes and not maintain the old ways. This is because organizational structures change with time. In addition, the behaviors of personnel also change with time. As such, maintaining the old system may result into frustrations and affect the performances of an organization. As suggested by Smith (2014), organizations can avoid chaos by embracing transformational ideas. Such transformation requires good leadership that can inspire other members to embrace new changes. In order to avoid failures or chaos with the existing system of organization, it is important to explore new possibilities to improve performance. Further, changing from the old system should take a gradual process to avoid resistance to the new process. A gradual process of transition ensures that a new status quo is formed and integrated into the organization’s present and future plans. Conclusion In conclusion, change management is important for any organization because it helps in reassessing the organization’s plans. However, changes come with setbacks, and it is important for organizations to come up with ways of managing such setbacks that interfere with organization’s performance. To implement a successful change management, the change agent needs to adopt efficient techniques to manage the process of organizational change. Such techniques include embracing an empathic approach, consensus building and leading change. In addition, the process should be inclusive to ensure all staff participate in managing change. Reference List Burnard, K & Bhamra, R 2011, Organisational resilience: development of a conceptual framework for organisational responses. International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 49, no. 18, pp. 5581-5599. Chidiac, M 2013, An organisational change approach based on Gestalt psychotherapy theory and practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 458-474. Cocks, G 2014, Optimising pathways for an organisational change management programme. TQM Journal, Vol. 26, no. 1, pp.88-97. Haffar, M., Al-Karaghouli, W & Ghoneim, A 2013, The mediating effect of individual readiness for change in the relationship between organisational culture and TQM implementation. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 24, no. 5/6, pp. 693-706. Kotter, J 2014, The 8-Step Process for Leading Change. Available from www.kotterinternational .com/our-principles/changesteps [3 March 2014]. Smith, S.M 2014, The Satir Change Model. Available from http://www. http://stevenmsmith .com/ar-satir-change-model/ [3 March 2014]. Read More