Why the Execution of the Change Strategy Is So Difficult - Essay Example

Leadership and Change Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction Several studies have been done on leadership and change in the organization and yet most of the firms have struggled to achieve the changes they have sought to achieve. In developing a change to an organization, there is a need to incorporate elements such as leadership, and employee involvement in order to enhance consistency in the strategies for successful implementation (Montgomery 2008: pp. 1-5). Recently, business strategies have become more complex thus leadership should entail the ability to inspire individuals and direct teamwork in an organization. This will help in delivering the expectations of organizations’ stakeholders and shareholders hence respond positively to the growing dynamics of market changes hence transforming leadership in both public and private firms (Stuart & Joseph 2011: pp. 139-144). The problem is that, the strategy is always easy, but the execution of these strategies becomes difficult to implement hence good results are hardly achieved. This paper seeks to explore various reasons why the execution of the change strategy is so difficult and later make recommendations of how to minimize these obstacles to change thus enhancing organization change. This paper also explores the role of teamwork, leadership and communication approaches in facilitating the anticipated change in the organization for effective operations and success of the organization both in private and public sectors. Organizations have persistently continued to grow in the world, and there has been a change toward increased teamwork to influence knowledge, information and resources. This prompt change has led the leaders need to re-evaluate their leadership strategies and understand the impact of those strategies on their teams in realizing the firms’ goals and objectives (Gregory-mina 2010: pp. 60-65). It is through the teams that organizations can develop new knowledge for processes, products and services that meet the needs of customers and expectations. When a firm, company or a corporation incorporates an initiative for change, it becomes easy to retain its competitive advantage with the changing environment and is later able to adapt to the changing internal behaviour. In the implementation of a successful change initiative, there is a need to have teamwork among people in all departments of an organization (Montgomery 2008: pp. 1-5). This enhances transparent and organized networks of communication and cooperation hence the employees will be less resistant to the change initiatives leading an organization to achieve its goals and objectives. The increased communication and employee involvement enable the employees provide knowledge to management about daily work processes and hence the areas that require improvements are recognized and appropriate actions taken. The commitment of workers to an organization help scale up the organizations’ levels of performance thus the strategic objectives are met more efficiently as compared to an organization without workers commitment (Hotho & Dowling 2010: pp.609-625). The anticipated change for an organization usually fails due to poor leadership in all levels of management. Good leadership creates a social arrangement of shared values that hold the organization together while spearheading it. Good leaders follow their leadership plans and make adjustments on the plans in response to the changing climate. In addition, they evaluate their performance to ascertain that their leadership approaches conforms to their beliefs and values (Gregory-mina 2010: pp. 60-65). They also need to be socio-centric instead of being self-centric to ensure that they lead in an ethical manner thus avoid disputes between themselves and employees in an organization. Leaders should maintain the trustworthy in the firm to enable employees’ commitment in realizing the organizations’ goal (Montgomery 2008: pp. 1-5). This is achieved through dissemination of accurate information to the workers as well as encouraging the followers to seek for new helpful knowledge that may help improve the organization's performance. Poor leadership results from quick fixing of the majority of change initiatives instead of initiating a long term implementation strategy (Hotho & Dowling 2010: pp.609-625). In addition, the unwillingness of senior management in the commitment to the change process results to disputes and resistance to change. A successful leader is capable of managing a change within a team by involving all the team members in delivering information about the change initiative thus making the team to minimize resistance to change. Moreover, the leader should include the team members in the implementation of the change process in order to maintain trust within the team members and keep them committed (Gregory-mina 2010: pp. 60-65). It is critical for the team leader to deliver relevant information to the team members and inspire them to contribute in decision making and the implementation of the change initiative. This makes the team members feel they are part of the idea instead of feeling obligated upon the whole task of the change initiative process (Stuart & Joseph 2011: pp. 139-144). In addition, a team leader is responsible to maintain the morale in the team since teams with greater levels of morale are more efficient and productive than low morale teams. This keeps the team members in satisfaction of the change initiative as leaders do not influence the team with self-ideas and thoughts but rather act as a role model in the execution of the change initiative. Team works more effective in collaborations than individuals performing the same task alone. This effectiveness of the team is held by team members possessing the knowledge skills to perform the normal operations of an organization. This is because, team members have varied sets of skills whereby ones' strengths and weaknesses are recognized and understood during the formation of a team (Gregory-mina 2010: pp. 60-65). By this, the team members build on each member’s strengths while out doing each of the members’ weaknesses thus enhancing competency, experience and individual personalities in the team. In realizing the initiative change within an organization, the team needs to have clearly stated goals and objectives that align with the organization objectives. This ensures that the team and the organizations’ objectives are harmonized, and thus the goal in achieving the change initiative is realized. In addition, the way the team functions and manages its processes is greatly influenced by the organization culture. This is because the culture affects what alarms the team to react to, measure and promote. Therefore, it is necessary to have suitable people in the appropriate place in order to enhance relevant strategic plans that are useful and satisfy the organizational objectives (Stuart & Joseph 2011: pp. 139-144). In fostering the initiative for change in the organization, it is important to lay an intensified communication network strategy between the management and employees (Hotho & Dowling 2010: pp.609-625). Communication acts as an approach to appeal for support of employees as well as ensuring that employees are committed in meeting the goals of an organization. In addition, communication strategy aligns with the transformational and captivating leadership strategies of the managers of an organization. The current growing globalization demands an increased communication strategy between the external and internal resources in order for an organization to maintain the market competition (Montgomery 2008: pp. 1-5). A good leader must determine the extent of sharing information with the external resources to avoid leaking vital secrets of the organization's success. There should be a vertical and horizontal flow of information between the management and employees to ensure that knowledge and guidelines are abundantly shared within the organization (Stuart & Joseph 2011: pp. 139-144). This helps to build trust within the internal environment of an organization as well as helping in achieving the expectations of the stakeholders and shareholders. During communication, leaders should provide a favourable environment that enables the team members to feel secure when sharing information and encourage members to contribute in discussions that align with the organizational objectives. This enables members to appreciate the contributions of others thoughts and ideas thus creating trust among the team members when sharing information (Gregory-mina 2010: pp. 60-65). The organizations’ framework design and design are critical in realizing the initiative of change as well as achieving the set goals and objectives (Montgomery 2008: pp. 1-5). A leader should have the responsible in connecting people in the organization so that people can share knowledge with each other through the developed social networks. The structural design of an organization determines how the team copes with the externalities and internalities in accomplishing the allocated tasks in the organizations (Stuart & Joseph 2011: pp. 139-144). This is because, a team effectively functions by establishing and maintaining the communication borderlines with the host institution and the externalities. The design of the team should enhance management of knowledge, skills and activities by the members of the team thus leading to empowerment, expertise, diversity and credibility. The organizations’ mission, vision and values help guide members to the same direction and increase participation among team members in achieving the change initiative as well as the organizational objectives (Hotho & Dowling 2010: pp.609-625). Conclusion In realizing the initiative change process in an organization, good leadership is critical in fostering the execution of the strategies developed for the organization. Good leadership qualities are significant in managing the team members, involving the team members in decision making process through active contribution and sharing of ideas. The organizational framework and design, as well as intensive communication between the management and the employees, facilitate organized operations and processes within the working environment of an organization. This result in improved performance of the organization adapting to the initiative change and thus help to keep the organization in a competitive advantage in the global market. References Gregory-Mina, H. J. 2010.The Importance of Teams and How to Lead Teams through Change Initiatives in 21st Century Organizations: The Business Review, Cambridge. 16 (1) pg. 60-65 Hotho, S. and Dowling, M.2010.Revisiting leadership development: the participant perspective. Emerald insight, U.K pg. 609-625, www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints. Montgomery, C. A. 2008.Putting Leadership Back into Strategy: Harvard business review. Harvard business school Publishing Corporation.pg.1-5 Stuart, R. and Joseph, M.2011.Breaking Down the Barriers to Organizational Change: International Journal of Management and Information Systems; 15(3) Monmouth, U.S.A, pg. 139-144 Read More