How Manager Can Cope with the Rapid Change - Coursework Example

Change Management in Organizations by (Name) Course: Professor: University: City and State: Date: Change Management in Organizations Organizations all over the world are in flux trying to change part or whole of their systems for one reason or the other. One look at the management structures of organizations, productivity level, product quality and many other components can attest to this. With the invention of the internet, ideas change rapidly and knowledge is transferred at unimaginable speed. This paper explores how true it is that organizations today do not look the way they used to five to ten years ago and that they may not be the same in two to three years to come. The paper also gives an insight on how manager can cope with this rapid change and still handle the affairs of an organization with more diligence and efficiency. Lastly, it looks at the problems the managers might encounter in the process of adapting to these changes. In the world we live in today the influx of information makes change to be a continuous subject that must be dealt with at all times. Whether one works for profit making or not profit making organizations change will always be inevitable. Change in organizations is brought about by several factors like government policy, technological advancement, market situation or market place, organizations and country’s economy, cooperate strategy, workforce and employee attitudes among others (Olaf, 2010, 35-40). Government policy can lead to several changes in structure and ways of doing things. For example the new legislation that requires tobacco manufacturing companies to state all the harmful effects of tobacco. Such policy can result to huge economic pressure from tobacco manufacturing companies because when smokers get the information about health risks of smoking tobacco majority of the will stop using the product. The companies will therefore be forced to lay some employees or re-evaluate their budgets. They may also consider investing in other products so that they maintain their profits. Technological advancement can lead to positive and negative changes in an organization. When a new machine is brought in an organization then some of the employees may be forced to learn how to use such machines. In some cases, the machines may lead to cutting down of the work force since the work that was being done manually can now be efficiently done by the machines. Market place and market situation is another factor that leads to major changes in an organization. The world market place created major adjustment to organizations globally because of the internationalization and dynamic situations. An example of a changing market place is the deregulation of communication companies when other telephone companies emerge. This makes the first organization in the market to adjust to challenges and stiff competition which it was not experiencing earlier. Organization’s and country’s economy can lead to several adjustments in an organization. If a country is experiencing serious economic challenges then this is likely to be felt by organizations in the country. For instance if a company deals with consumables then the purchasing power will be reduced and this will in turn affect the profits of the company. In order to survive such a company may resort to drastic measures like reducing the work force and even changing processes so that the production cost can be as low as possible (Burnes, 2000. 67-70). A country with a growing economy always spurs growth in other areas and this makes companies in such areas to grow. When a company grows then it can decide to open branches and even adopt the latest technology in production. Either way, economic factors give rise to changes in organizations. An organization that wishes to expand or change for so as to improve productivity or profit always comes up with strategies. These strategies do lead to changes in an organization. Such changes can include hiring new employees, training the already existing employees, promoting some employees or even cutting down the work force. All the events will create changes in the company. Other strategies may involve partnering with other companies; such cases will force the employees and the management team to learn how to work together to avoid conflicts. Work force and employee attitudes are common challenges that exist in companies. When employees have a negative attitude towards a company then the productivity of the company is likely to go down. In this case the manager will have to make some changes in order to ensure that workers change their attitude. Some companies experience changes due to improper management techniques. Research found that in a certain company where employees were not given proper responsibilities and as such did not feel to own the workplace the turnover rate was 20%. The manager of that company thought that this was because of lower salaries in comparison to other similar companies. Increasing their salaries would have caused a great challenge since the company was working under strict and constrained budget. When a strategy to involve the workers in the affairs of the company was implemented, this percentage dropped to 10%. Apart from the management failure of the leaders of an organization, their stubborn nature can also spur changes in the organization. When the leaders do not work together with the employees or do not take the issues raised by them seriously then change will be inevitable. Such an action by the authority can lead to employee strikes or total collapse of the organization. In this case drastic changes like hiring of a new manager and replacement of some employees might be effected. From the foregoing, it is evident that several external and internal factors can lead to changes in an organization. Managers should therefore be equipped in order to handle such challenges and changes that affect an organization. Change management theories provide the manager with an insight on how to manage change once they come about in an organization. Managers should start preparing for change by mapping out the change process. This involves planning about ways and methods of introducing the plan to the staff in the best way possible. According to Bullock and Batten’s phases of planned change exploration occurs when managers look out for the reason of the planned change and having understood goes ahead to explain the importance of such change to the staff. Chin and Benne’s “Effective Changes in Human System” the empirical-rational approach works effectively at this point because the staff will be informed of the reasons for the changes so that they understand how important the changes are to the company. It is also important to identify the staff members who will be in the forefront to support the change as well as those who will be distracting the others. Beckhard and Harris change formula of ensuring the dissatisfaction of some employees is dealt with during this time is crucial. The 7-S Model shows that managers should strategize so that they don’t fail and the introduction level. Again it implies that at this point the manager should identify the staffs who share the values of the organization(Olaf, 2010. 13-17). Having achieved this it is advisable for the manager to develop consistent message to the staff. Irrespective of the means you are planning to use to communicate the change, the message delivered to the staff should be clear and should give them direction. Each of the staff members should be able to understand their roles very clearly. The 7-S model that in cooperates the structure is necessary in this part. This means that the staff should understand the structure of the changes that are being introduced (Olaf, 2010, 15-17). The news that effects the changes should be shared in a timely manner so that the staff do not feel left out by the management of the organization. It is important that the news is broken to the staff before they start rumors that could cause change of attitude hence make the implementation of the change very difficult. The management of an organization should the rationale for the changes. This in turn will make the staff understand that the changes being talked about are necessary and indispensable. They should be assured that the changes are not a threat to their jobs in any way. Similarly, the organization should introduce the new managers that come with the change. These managers can be individuals who were already working in the company and have undergone training or those who are newly recruited because of their expertise in the area of change. Introducing the managers and explaining their duties will reduce or prevent conflicts that are likely to arise because of competition in the company or due to the fact that some staff may feel that their positions in the organization have been taken. Options and feedback are very crucial during change the top management team of a company should be open to consider other options that are available and that can raise productivity just like the proposed changes (Marquis and Huston, 2009, 34-39). They should also encourage the staff to give feedback concerning the new changes. This is very crucial since these changes may be harmful to the organization or may not increase productivity as anticipated. The 7-S Model on this case employs the systems and style. The system should bring comfort to the staff and raise productivity (Kanter, et al. 1992, 24-28). During transition the employees should be engaged so that they feel part and parcel of the change. Engaging and involving employees’ makes them embrace and accept the change as well as get back to the comfort zone after the change has been implemented. Bullock and Batten’s phases of planned change asserts that during this time, every member of the organization should be involved in the change process so that it becomes a success (Kanter, 2009. 175-185). Lastly the manager should be able to evaluate the progress of the changes effected. This can be done through interviews or observations where the changes that can be observed are noted. If the outcomes prove that the changes were successfully implemented in the organization them the manager should prepare the employees to always be ready to embrace more change because change is one thing which is always inevitable. During the change implementation, the manager is likely to experience several problems and challenges. As a manager it is important to know that just like change, challenges will always be there in an organization. The challenges that a manager is likely to experience are internal and external. Changes bring with them resistance especially from the staff. It is human nature to resist change and managers should be able to deal with this by explaining to the employees the rationale for the changes. Technical and technological problems are usually common when change is being implemented (Mullins, 2010. 54-60). This requires a manager who is very creative and innovative so that the technological challenges experienced can be made less bad and does not threaten to stall the changes being implemented. Lack of enough expertise is common in areas where change is being implemented. The manager should always make arrangement in advance if any changes are anticipated to take place in an organization. In conclusion managers should be all rounded people and should acts as agents of change for an organization to survive. It is very crucial for managers to adopt change whenever they come so that the organizations they are leading can continue to survive in the ever competitive and changing world. In the event of adopting change managers should employ a lot of wisdom and knowledge so that the process of change does not ruin their organizations. It is important to work hand in hand with the staff in the organization so that they own the change. Managers therefore, should ensure that they are the first ones to embrace change and use it positively by being a role model to the other staff members. Embracing and adopting change is a challenging aspect but with the right implementation methods and techniques, a manager can execute it perfectly well and enjoy the benefits such as increased productivity and efficient work force. References Burnes, B.(2000). Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organisationl Dynamics.Third Edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Kanter, R.M.(2009). Managing the Human Side of Change: The Principles And Practice of Change. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. 175-185. Kanter, R. M., Stein & Jick. (1992). The Challenge of Organizational Change. New York: Free Press. Marquis, B. L. & Huston, C. J. (2009). Leadershp Roles and Management Functions in Nursing. 6th Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. Mullins, L. J. (2010). Management and Organizational Behaviour. 9th Edition. London: Financial Times. Prentice Hall. Olaf, P. (2010). Change Management. 1st Edition. London: Bookboon. Read More