Causes of Failed Change - Essay Example

Managing Change Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Managing change has been the issue of debate in many organizations. Due to changes in the global market due to economic changes and competition, many organizations are contemplating on how to increase their competitiveness and one strategy is to ensure effective change management. For instance, due to global financial crisis many organizations restructuring their organizations so that they can be able to manage the financial crisis (Waddel & Worley 2002). This is one way in which change is being implemented in many organizations. However, the big question is that has many organizations managed to implement change successfully? There are arguments that many organizations have not managed to implement change in their organizations successfully while others argue that change has been implemented successfully. In this regard, this essay will discuss that change has not been implemented successfully due to a number of factors which affect change. Further, the essay will discuss the procedures and strategies that can be put in place to ensure success in change implementation. Causes of failed change Change implementation has not been successful in many organizations because the management of various organizations lack clear reasons why they need change in their organizations and the objectives of change. The managements of the organizations fail to design SMART objectives and reasons why they need to implement change in their organizations (Baum 2000). Lack of clear goals and objectives of change implies that there will be diversity in interests in the organizations. The stakeholders could not be able to support the change because they don’t understand what will be the benefits of the change to the organization hence they will tend to resist change. However, there are some changes which do not require the opinion of some of the stakeholders like the employees since the change will affect them hence they will automatically resist the change. In this regard therefore, many stakeholders resist the change and the end result is that the change is not successfully implemented in the organization. In addition, change has not been successfully implemented in organizations because the management of the organizations fails to take action quickly. Once the message has been communicated to the stakeholders, the next step which needs to be taken is to take action about implementing the strategy (Baum 2000). Failing to take action quickly implies that there will be mixed messages about the change among the stakeholders especially the employees and they will start making mixed reactions which could lead to resistance to change hence the change cannot be implemented successfully. For example, if the employees have been informed about the change which is likely to take place in the organization, the management should act immediately to implement the change before the employees start contemplating about the negative effects of the change. This will improve the implementation of the strategy before the employees start reacting negatively to it. Moreover, change has not been successfully implemented in many organizations because the leaders in the organizations are not ready for the change. Leadership is the key success in any change. The leadership style should be the one that supports the change and this will help to influence other employees to implement the change (Kegan & Lisa 2001). The leadership of the organization should not implement the change and then go back to their normal routines. This will affect the change that has been implemented and will not be successful. However, the management style only cannot be adequate to implement the change but there should be support from the stakeholders of the organization to ensure the change is fully implemented throughout the organizations. For instance, if the organizational culture is that change can be implemented but after some time the employees and the management go back to their normal way of doing things, then the change cannot be successful due to ineffective management style (Kotter 1996). In this effect, management style can affect the success of the change to be implemented in the organization. In addition, change has failed in many organizations because of the poor approach to the change implementation. The methodology used to implement change in many organizations is not effective and this has made it difficult to implement change in the organization. The acceptance of change depends on the method used to approach change in the organization (Kotter 1996). Effective change should start by formulating effective goals and objectives which should be achieved after the change has been implemented. For instance if the management decides to approach the change from the management without involving the employees, it will be hard to implement such change in the organization since the employees will resist the change and the effect is that the change will not be successful in the organization. Fail in change in the organizations has been also associated with lack of effective training of the employees. Since the employees are the ones to implement the change, they should possess effective skills to implement the change. Without the skills required to implement the change, the management could not be able to achieve the desired outcome of the results (Agocs 2001). Despite the training required to implement the change, there are some changes which do not require training of the employees instead the employees should be sensitized on the importance of implementing the change in the organization. For instance, if the management of the organization is implementing is changing its operations to information communication technology the employees should be trained so that they can be equipped with relevant skills to implement the system. But most of the organizations do not spend their resources to train the employees and this has affected the success of change in many organizations. In addition, failure to implement change successfully in the organizations is due to lack of stakeholder consultation. Many of management of the organizations do not consider the interests of the organizations when implementing change in their respective organizations. This is a wrong approach to change because the employees and other stakeholders are the key components which determine the success of the change in the organization (Miller & Stephen 2002). Failing to consult the interests and the ideas of the employees will make the employees feel that they are not recognized in the organization and they will tend to resist the imposed change. Despite consultation being g the key success factor when implementing change, not all the ideas of the stakeholders can be implemented because some of the stakeholders could provide selfish ideas which cannot be for the best interest of the organization. For instance, restructuring the organizational structure will not be successful if the employees are not involved in decision making about the change to be implemented (Miller & Stephen 2002). In this regard, the change cannot be successful because the employees will resist the imposed change in the organization. Fear of unknown is another reason why changes in many organizations fail. Both the management and the employees may develop fear because they are not sure if the objectives of the change can be achieved as a result of improving the change. On the side of the employees, they may fear that their jobs are at risk and this will affect their commitment towards implementing the change and the end result is that the change will not be successful (Miller & Stephen 2002). However, there are changes which are implemented in organizations and the employees understand that they will benefit but the changes fail. This is not as a result of fear of unknown but other factors like ineffective leadership. For instance, restructuring the organizational structure can benefit the employees but due to lack of top management support and fear of unknown of the outcome, the change cannot be effective thus cannot be successful. In this regard therefore, fear of unknown affects the success of implementation of the change in the organization. Strategies to improve success of change In order to improve successful implementation of the change in the organization, the management of the organizations should train the employees so that they can be equipped with skills which they can use to implement the change (Nadler 1998). Training the employees is one of the strategies which the management can apply to motivate the employees towards implementing the change in the organization. This is because the employees will achieve their tasks better and they will not regard change as a difficult task to implement. For instance, the employees should undergo training so that they can understand how to implement information communication technology. However, some changes which concern the management staff does not require training of the employees but the training should be done on the top management only. Employee involvement is also one strategy which can ensure success of the change in an organization. The employees and other stakeholders should be involved in the implementation of change by allocating various responsibilities and obligations to them. This is one way in which the employees and the stakeholders can be committed to implement the change in the organization (Mann 2006). Each employee will try to achieve its task so that he or she will be rewarded as one of the employees who performed better. In this effect, the employees will offer their efforts to ensure the success f the change in the organization. For instance, the supervisors and the foremen should be selected from among the employees who will then encourage other employees to work hard towards ensuring success of the change in the organization. In this regard therefore, employee involvement helps to ensure success of the change implementation in the organization. Success of change in the organizations can also depend on the management style in the organization. In order to include the employees in the change management, there should be democratic style of leadership in the organization (O’Toole 2005). This management style will help to collect the opinions of the employees and their ideas concerning the change to be implemented in the organization. It will also ensure both upward and downward communication in the organization and therefore the management will be able to understand the issues affecting the employees and how best to address them. For instance, the management of the organization should hold regular meetings with the employees so that they can exchange ideas on how best to implement the change. The employees will not be left behind hence they will be kept aboard thus they will be part of the change. Failing to promote democratic leadership style in the organization will attract resistance from the employees thus the change cannot be successful. Success of the change in the organization further depends on the allocation of resources. The management of the organization should ensure there are resources which are effective and adequate to ensure the various tasks which are required to implement the change are available. For instance, there should be adequate financial resources which can be used to train the employees and the management on how to implement change effectively (Quinn 2006). In addition, the human resource skills should be adequate to implement the change by offering their expertise to ensure effective performance of various tasks. Despite the allocation of various resources to manage the change, there are some other factors which should be incorporated when implementing the change like motivation of the employees through rewards and recognition. Effective allocation of resources therefore helps to ensure success of the change. In addition, change can be made successful if the employees are taught and sensitized on the importance of implementing change in the organization. Acceptance of the change in the organization by the employees helps to determine the success of implementation. This implies that the employees should understand the need of implementing the change and how they will benefit. This can be done by involving the employees during meetings of the management so that they can understand why the management wants to implement the change (Goodstein & Burke 2000). In addition the management should set realistic objectives which can enable the employees understand why the change is needed in the organization. For instance if the change can benefit the employees, they should understand that as this will enable them to offer their best efforts to ensure success of the change. In this regard therefore, sensitizing the employees on the importance of implementing the change can help to ensure success of the change in the organization. Effective setting of the goals and objectives of the change can also contribute to the success of the change in the organization. The management of the organization should be able to set clear goals and objectives which can guide the stakeholders while implementing the change. This implies that the objectives should be systematic, measurable, attainable realistic and timely (Kotter 2012). These will enable the management to guide the employees when setting their action plans on how to achieve the set objectives. For instance, the objective should help to improve the motivation of the employees. This strategy will therefore encourage the employees to be committed to improve their performance thus the change will be successful. Finally, the management of the organization should encourage teamwork in the organization. Teamwork in the organization helps to improve how the employees achieve their tasks. This is because the approach to the tasks will be different and the employees will achieve better results than when they approach tasks individually (Larkin & Larkin 2004). This is because the employees will learn skills from other employees and this will improve their performance in implementing the change. Teamwork is the best approach to implementing change. The management of the organization should implement change by using teamwork approach and this will encourage all employees to be involved in teams so that they can also improve their performance. However, there are some tasks which should not be performed by teams like employee appraisal therefore teamwork should not be applicable to all tasks in the organization. In this regard therefore, teamwork is the best approach to implementing change in the organization it will ensure success of the team. Conclusion Change management has been the biggest challenge to many organizations. In order to ensure success of the change in organizations, there should be careful planning by the management to ensure all the stakeholders are involved in the change and the employees should be motivated to ensure they improve their commitment towards change implementation. The change has not been successful in many organizations because of fear of unknown, ineffective setting of the objectives, lack of employee consultation and lack of adequate resources. In addition, management style also affects the implementation of the change and also failure of the management to take action in advance. However, in order to manage this issue of implementing the change in organization, the employees should be trained to improve their skills, involve employees in the management of the change, sensitize the employees on the importance of change and ensure effective allocation of resources like human skills and financial resources. References Agocs, C. 2001, “Institutionalized Resistance to Organizational Change: Denial, Inaction and Repression.” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 16, No. 9, pp. 917-931. Baum, D. H, 2000, Lightning in a Bottle: Proven Lessons for Leading Change Chicago: Dearborn. Goodstein, L & Burke, W. 2000, “Creating Successful Organizational Change,” Organizational Dynamics Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 5-17. Kegan, R & Lisa L. 2001, How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven Languages for Transformation. An -Bass. Kotter, J. P. 2012, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 59-67. Kotter, J 1996, Leading Change. 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