Change Management Process within the Oman Public Sector - Research Proposal Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2014 Introduction In the present-day climate of increasing economic pressure as well as changing political priorities, organizational change within public organizations is turning out to be a significant priority. Against a backdrop of increasing technological progress, a rising knowledge labourforce and the changing traditional work practices, there is no doubt that change has become an important feature of organizational life (Kotter International,2012). On the other hand, as Jones et.al (2008) highlight, change is a very complex course of action that may result in not only positive but negative outcomes as well. In fact, according Barnard & Stoll (2010), whereas many organizations acknowledge its importance, about 70 percent of organizational change programmes do not often attain their expected outcomes. As such, successful organizational changes are not just a process of initiating adjustments, but require sufficient leadership or management capabilities as well. Even though studies have offered a lot of information as regards leadership, Bolden (2004) argues that defining, monitoring and quantifying leadership skills and approaches/styles are still far from being achieved. As such, various leadership models ought to be further integrated to offer a significantly richer as well as a comprehensive view of leadership. The purpose of this particular proposal is therefore to offer a conceptual model that integrates various views to understand leadership and change management. Background of the Study Over the last two decades, technological developments as well as other marketplace drivers have significantly changed the actual nature of organizational change. While organizational change was previously an easier to manage as well as a restricted transactional happening, it is presently more unrestricted, complex, radical and continuous. In fact, a large number of organizations are currently forced to come up with changes so as to ensure long time survival. The organizations are actually required to react rapidly to not only the national but also the global technological developments and competition, if they indeed want to continue surviving. According to Ajmal et.al (2010), change management has significantly focused on individuals, identity as well as the human interaction patterns. On the other hand, lack of management (leadership) concentration on complexity of organization change and poorly-developed strategy and structures make the change management process to be ineffective. It is therefore necessary that organization leaders pay attention to people within an organization in order to make the change management process successful (Kuipers et.al, 2010).According to Van der Voet (2013) and Anderson & Anderson (2010), transformational change is what has currently emerged, and is considerably the most complex and common type of change occurring in many public organizations today. In general, many public body leaders do not really comprehend transformational change or even understand how to direct it, a factor that is argued to be causing nearly all the change-related issues organizations that they are currently going through. In reaction to the highlighted importance of leadership in organizational change ,there is increasing need to investigate various concepts as well as processes regarding organizational change management and the various factors that play a part to its success. Purpose of the Study The main purpose of this particular study is actually to develop a proposed model that is intended to offer a comprehensive understanding as regards how leadership can facilitate change management process within the Oman public sector Research Questions The motivation behind this particular study is focused mainly around three basic questions as regards leadership and change management. Can scholars or even practitioners ever identify any given approach /style to leadership that can be applicable under all or even under specific situations/conditions? Secondly, has previous and current study efforts only observed as well as quantified pieces of a much bigger and significantly complex unit and if yes what is that particular unit? Lastly, is there really a necessity to integrate classical leadership, behavioural views as well as system processes so as to come up with a more precise definition, description alongside a measurement of leadership aimed at future generations? Literature Review One of the current major concerns of leaders within public bodies is managing change. As highlighted by the OECD (2001), the necessity for recurrent improvement as well as adaptation within many public organizations is no doubt increasing. These re-adjustments often entail radical changes, including staff reductions, downscaling of departments or units, and major re-orientations regarding associates, among others. Alternatively, Ajmal et.al (2010) argues that every human being is often reluctant to change, whether planned or accidental. Respondents of organizational change are often affected by not just the external but internal factors as well. According to Al-Abri (2007), the internal factors are normally the style of management as well as the leadership influencing the change process. Smith (2005) regarded people (an organization’s human resource) as both a significant factor in the organization change and, at the same time, as the biggest hindrance towards the achievement of change. Thus, Smith (2005) concluded that an important element in as far as a successful change management within an organization is concerned is leadership. Smith (2005) described organization leaders as the champions of change arguing that it is management of any kind of organization that keeps the change process going on in addition to maintaining the organization’s reliability. According to Bertocci (2009), change management can be described as a systematic approach aimed at handling change not only from the organization perspective but on a personal or individual level as well. Its goal is usually to curtail distractions as well as the impacts that come with the change process within organizations. Leadership, on the other hand, involves the processes, visions as well as the driving forces that stimulate large-scale transformation (Bertocci, 2009). Change management generally involves dealing with the complex processes including the evaluation, planning and the implementation of operations, strategies/tactics while also ensuring that the changes made are meaningful and relevant. It is thus not just a complex and dynamic process but also a challenging process as well. Bertocci (2009) actually equates it to diagnosing the organization problem solving, a process which in effect determines the scope of the challenges that may come along with this process. According to the OECD (2001), the challenge for public organization leaders is in fact made more difficult by the fact that a great number of not only participants as well as other agencies have an interest in how they are managed, but also the rising interest of media, the tighter control associated with the public sector as well as the usual focus on policy issues in the daily operations of such bodies. According to Al-Abri (2007), effective change management has been described as unfreezing the old behaviours, adopting new ones, and refreezing them. On the other hand, Liou (2001) highlights that the potency of a public organization’s management commitment, involvement within the process of change as well as the communication networks forms prime factors in as far as enabling various public bodies to be successful at initiating planned change is concerned. Liou (2001) argues that the quality of the leadership’s inter-personal communication, through not only formal documents but also informal meetings often affects the outcomes of interventions. The leadership style, especially within an organization’s cultural settings is also argued to play a significant role in as far as how the followers receive in addition to how they commit themselves to the planned organization change. In general, Carter et.al (2004) states that a leadership that promotes participation especially in matters involving organizational change creates openness whereby followers are able to not only discuss various issues but also contribute various creative suggestions. Methodology This particular chapter explains the methodology to be employed in this particular study. It will commence by a description of the study area, then the target population, sample size and research design. Study Area This particular research will be carried in Oman’s Sports Affairs Ministry, a specialized organization within the Oman public sector. The ministry has different departments running the affairs of the ministry. Various respondents will therefore be randomly selected from these particular departments to aid in this study. Target Population This study will focus on utilizing participants from the top management and middle management. The study will actually target various selected employees from the entire sports ministry including the executives, senior management/leaders, middle managers, line supervisors and other employees within the ministry who are definitely affected by any form of organizational change. Sample Size The most important consideration while making a decision on the study sample is normally the purpose for which a given study is being carried out (Patton, 2002).This study will consists of about 85 respondents, all of whom will be employees of the sports ministry. The respondents will be selected using a simple random sampling method. Purposive sampling technique will be used to enable the study use respondents who will offer information relating to this study. Purposive sampling method was applied as it allowed this particular study to use respondents that provide information concerning the study. Research Design This particular research will employ the use of a convenience technique of sampling whereby a random interview targeting various selected employees from all of the organization including the executives, senior management/leaders, middle managers, line supervisors and other employees within the ministry will be carried out. Simple and well structured questionnaires will be employed in the collection of information. The questionnaire will entail various views on aspects relating to leadership and change management from the target population. Conclusion This particular research proposal is the initial stage of an effort to initiate a comprehensive research on leadership and change management within the Oman public sector, and specifically in the sports affairs ministry. It is expected that the outcomes of this particular study or research will be of significant benefit to all the concerned parties while simultaneously contributing to knowledge enhancement within the academic field. . References Ajmal et.al, 2010, Role of Leadership in Change Management Process, Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 2 Al-Abri, R. (2007).Managing Change in HealthCare, Oman Medical Journal, 22(3):Pp.9–10 Anderson, D & Anderson, L, 2010, Beyond Change Management: How to Achieve Breakthrough Results through Conscious Change Leadership, John Wiley & Sons Bertocci, D, 2009, Leadership in Organizations: There is a Difference between Leaders and Managers, University Press of America Barnard, M & Stoll, N. (2010).Organizational Change Management: A Rapid Literature Review Bolden, R, 2004, “What is Leadership”: Leadership South West Research Report 1, University of Exeter Center for Leadership Studies Carter et.al, 2004, Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change: How the Best Companies Ensure Meaningful Change and Sustainable Leadership, John Wiley & Sons Jones et.al, 2008, Employee Perceptions of Organizational Change: Impact of Hierarchical Level Kuipers et.al, 2010, The Management of Change in Public Organizations: A Literature Review Kotter International, 2012, Change Leadership, Retrieved on 21st May, 2014 from Liou, K, 2001, Handbook of Public Management Practice and Reform, CRC Press OECD, 2001, Public Sector Leadership for the 21st Century Governance (Paris, France), OECD Publishing Patton, M, 2002, Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, Sage Smith, I. (2005). Achieving Readiness for Organizational Change. Journal of Library Management, 26 ;( 6), Pp.408-412 Van der Voet, 2013, The Effectiveness and Specificity of Change Management in a Public Organization: Transformational Leadership and a Bureaucratic Organizational Structure, European Management Journal Read More