Analysis of Change in Organisation - Example

Managing Change in Organisation Name Institution Course Professor Date Managers in organisations hold important positions as they are tasked with providing direction for future operations. They have to consider the complexity and dynamicity of the situation before any decision can be made. These decisions implement actions and strategies that an organisation considers important in influencing efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. In undertaking their functions, managers have to deal with various changes that occur on a daily basis. In essence, change is inevitable. As a leader in an organisation, a manager is responsible for management of change. Change in simple terms means doing things in a different manner. Fincham and Rhodes (as cited in Reeves & French, 2013, p. 102) asserted that management of change is provision of direction and leadership in organisational transformation process- and more particularly in overcoming of change resistance and human aspects. This essay outlines and discusses the recent change that occurred in my organisation and ways I would managed it as a leader. It starts by highlighting forces, forms, stages and types of change in an organisation. It then incorporates overview of leadership and management of change. Lastly, it outlines and discusses the change that has occurred in the organisation and how to manage it. Changes in organisations are brought about by various forces. Forces for change can be internal and external. Internal forces include employees’ needs, top management changes and change in organisational size (Sengupta & Bhattacharya, 2006). When an organisation size is increased, it leads to changes in the internal structure and operations become more complex. Employees changes their needs and values from time to time depending on the circumstances forcing the organisations to undertake changes in their policies. Vertical growth opportunities and attractive financial incentives, for example, may be given by an organisation so as to attract as well as retain the effective employees. Leadership in organisations normally changes which consequently lead to changes in ideas and manner in which an organisation is run (Sengupta & Bhattacharya, 2006). Hence, changes in the structure, systems and processes are also realised. Apart from the internal forces, there are also external forces necessitating change in an organisation. Technology, business scenario and environmental factors are among the external forces of change (Saka, 2003). Environmental factors forcing changes in organisations include economic, demographic and political factors. They play a crucial role in formulation of organisational strategy and policies. An example is change of employment policies by an organisation in accordance with the policy of the government, change of country’s economic conditions or non-governmental demands. Business scenario is not static and it is characterised by rapid changes (Sengupta & Bhattacharya, 2006). Couple with increasing competition and globalised economy, suppliers, customers’, creditors and other stakeholders’ needs and demands are also changing. Therefore, organisations are required to make changes on their operational methods in meeting the stakeholders demand. Technology has become an important driver in many organisations due to its numerous benefits. It is changing the way jobs are performed in an organisation with many of them increasingly depending on technologies for execution of various functions. Organisations normally undergo some changes which takes various forms. It may undertake various types of planned changes which are varying in both timing and their degree. It may be radical or incremental. In essence, some types and forms of organisational change are easier to plan in comparison with others. When an organisation carries out major adjustments in the way it operates, it often creates necessity for radical change (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner 2008). A radical organisational change may be required in various circumstances. Examples include adoption of a new structure in the organisation, changing to a publicly owned company from a privately owned status and merging of an organisation with another. Jackson et al., (2008, p.75) asserted that radical change in general takes a longer period of time to be completed and is relatively infrequent. Radical change affects everyone and everything in the organisation as it changes the employees’ daily lives as well as that of stakeholders such customers, business partners and creditors. It usually needs huge investments in order to plan and implement the change and leaders should be aware of this when undertaking this kind of change. An organisation changing to a publicly traded company needs to comply with various statutory laws and regulations governing the companies listed on a stock exchange. This needs large amount of money in undertaking the required changes. These organisations are more regulated and have to conform to certain regulations as compared to private companies. In contrast to radical change, there is incremental change. It is a process of evolution in progress over time, in which there are many routine small changes (Beerel, 2009). These changes may ultimately transform the organisation totally at the end. While these changes occur in an organisation, it seems that they are normal aspect of performing revision and improvement of the manner in which work is done. An approach that majorly relies on incremental change is total quality management (Jackson et al., 2008). Here, employees constantly search for ways of improving products and services. They also suggest changes on a daily basis. Small organisational changes are undertaken in a bid to improve performance in a continuous manner and stay well ahead of competition in the market (Beerel, 2009). In fact, successful changes in organisation must focus on making organizations become responsive to developments such as economic shocks, regulatory norms, technological innovations and customer preferences (Sengupta & Bhattacharya, 2006, p.3). Organisations that have the ability to develop and implement suitable change programmes are the only ones that survive and sustain in a world that is changing and demanding. The changes that an organisation may witness can differ in its magnitude as discussed above. Apart from this, there are also differences pertaining to change timing. Jackson et al (2008) explain that reactive change happens when an event in organisation or outside environment forces changes in responding to it. The common reasons why reactive change is adopted include technological advancements; competitors have adopted new strategic moves; and performance problems are affecting the organisation (Jackson eta al., 2008). Reactive change can be incremental when an organisation quickly adapts to environmental changes with little strategic or values reorientation. In other circumstances, leaders in an organisation foresee that in the future, change will be needed in order to succeed. This is due to upcoming events that are predictable. It is an anticipatory change as organisation takes the necessary steps and actions in anticipation of the changing circumstances. Change in organisation occurs in four stages of denial, resistance, exploration and commitment (Dalglish & Miller, 2010, p. 263-264). In denial phase, employees have fear and mistrust about the proposed change. Leaders should encourage its followers to accept change through initiation of trust-building activities. In the second phase, it is widely common for employees to start resisting a change initiative. Here, employees try to derail the process of change through various tactics like go slow. An effective leader should be able to identify resistance and formulate efficient strategies in order to overcome them. In many cases, resistance to change by employees is through denial (Durant, 1999). They do not acknowledge that there is existence of a problem. Management should explain in full details to its employees’ reasons for change so that they can understand the necessity of embracing change. Exploration involves exploring of new roles by employees when they are not successful with inhibiting occurrence of change (Durant, 1999). It is important at this stage that unresolved issues should be addressed. Commitment is the final stage of change initiative. For purposes of change effort, establishment of mutual commitment is done. Obstacles to change have been eliminated and the organisational focus is on implementation of changes in a successful manner. Organisations undergo various types of change. Dalglish and Miller (2010, p. 261-262) explain four types of organisational change: process change, functional change, culture change and change in distribution of power within an organisation. The change that occurs in organisational processes involves transformation of inputs flow into outputs. It applies to products, services and information. In addition, it may entail changes to activities of the functional departments or other areas that are present within the entire organisation. Functional change involves changes to the organisation’s horizontal or vertical structures (Durant, 1999). Example includes policy changes, changes to the organisational manner of people in teams or the way they are related to each other. Organisations which are run in an effective and efficient manner are constantly looking for better ways of doing things and staying ahead of its competitors. Technological improvements are at times introduced by organisations in a continual basis in order to keep their operational costs to low levels. On some occasions, anticipatory change in an organisation is radical (Rees & French, 2013). Leaders who are visionary become convinced even though no apparent crisis exist that major changes in the business are needed. These changes are planned in a careful manner and are implemented gradually because no crisis is apparent or exist. Organisations that are successful are adept at all the changes that can occur. They fully understand the importance and need for assessment of human resource policies and practices. Moreover, they undertake assessment to establish whether there is alignment of human resource policies. Transformational and charismatic leadership are generally about changing organisational culture. In this case, an approach for making change may pertain to influencing of people’s behaviours, values and norms in an organisation for purposes of instilling new ways of undertaking activities. Leaders are important here as their capacity to influence, engage and influence culture determines the success of change (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). They need these concepts so as to be able to promote change which consequently lead to increase in organisational effectiveness. Furthermore, this plays a vital role in bringing success to management of change. At times, an organisation needs to re-organise itself and distribute power. This kind of change require well thought plan and a strategy as it affects how the organisation is managed. In times of rapid change, remaining competitive is paramount to organisations as mistakes can be costly such as bankruptcy and huge losses. It does not matter whether the change is caused by globalisation or any other factor, having strategies which are elastic and adaptable are crucial in enabling an organisation to change direction, learn quickly and speedily adjust (Cummings & Worley, 2014, p.196). Leaders’ skills and attributes are imperative as they need to gather and include all employees’ views at all organisational levels. A leader should posses some leadership traits. Dalglish and Miller (2010, p. 93) identified drive, honesty, self-confidence, business knowledge, integrity, desire to lead and cognitive ability as some of the leadership traits. These characteristics are used by them in making and implementing a change plan or strategy. This plan is used in ensuring that change is carried out in a manner that is organised and agreed - and no derailment in the strategy is encountered. Leaders that drive change are typically involved in identification of problems that are to be addressed. Beerel (2009, p. 22) asserted that leadership concerns facilitation, guidance and management of change. In addition, leaders are not needed in circumstances that change is not there. The change needs a clear articulation to the personnel involved with an honest assessment of the likely impact that change will bring to an organisation. In this case, leaders should be emphatic to others and communicate appropriately to the organizational members. They should embed sense of urgency through creation of shared vision and help build resilience in the organisation. In sum, a leader should ensure that its organisational vision is created in a consultative manner. It should be clear, brief, focused, supports decision making and inspires organizational members. The importance of leaders in times of change cannot be overestimated or overemphasized. In some instances, organisations change happens due to leaders who have impetus of enlightened (Jackson et al., 2008). They are the first ones to recognise and exploit the new potentials that have not been utilised in the organisation. Although this is true, leaders need some more skills and practical ideas in changing times. Assertiveness, interpersonal and instrumental skills are needed by leaders in organisations. Managing change in an organisation is a management control that involves application of management interventions that are systematic in nature. It involves people as they are responsible for undertaking these changes in achievement of the desired future state. In this case, there exist defined performance results which conform to strategy of the organisation. It can be deduced here that a strong link between strategy, performance and changes in an organisation exist. International competition is increasing at a faster pace as well as rapid technological change which put performance and adoption of changes in an organisation at high expectations (Sharma, 2006). In addition, globalisation and deregulation are exerting a lot of pressure to organisations. The landscape that organisations used to operate long time ago has been changed by a number of factors. Privatisation, deregulation, mergers and acquisitions, liberalisation, economic globalisation and technological development are some of the factors changing the way businesses operate (Sharma, 2006). Accessibility of other economies and the speed at which this is achieved has resulted in organisational paradigm hence leaders in organisation have been presented with unprecedented levels and challenges of change (Durant, 1999). They are attempting to tackle the impact of the factors listed above in their organisation. Today, the important challenge that an organisational leader faces are ways of managing change in a world that is increasingly changing. The most challenging responsibility that any organisation faces is the need for identification of organisational change and way of leading and overcoming it. Ideally, the main problem pertaining to change is how maintenance of congruence of organisational components during the implementation of change should be carried out (Beerel, 2009). A forward looking organisation should identify and mitigate the effects of these challenges by putting in place mechanisms for dealing with them. Recently, a change has occurred in my organisation. The company deals with manufacture of paper and forest products. It has been a successful business until the global economic crisis of 2008 affects major industries in the country. The national economy of Australia entered into recession with housing industry receiving rebates from the government through the home insulation program. Generally, the paper industry was characterised by overcapacity as a result of the booming insulation industry. This led to a slump in the housing industry. As a result, the organisation strategy of becoming a large paper company was thwarted by the emergence of new and small competitors whose focus was on the profit and consumers. Due to this, the organisation was faced with a major crisis that could have led to liquidation of the company. In dealing with this, the top management undertook restructuring process in the organisation. Paper and forest products divisions were created. In addition, the organisation’s core values were clearly specified and spelled out to all organisational members. Importance of customers, financial responsibility, accountability and people were highlighted in the company’s values, mission and vision objectives. In order for employees to undertake and incorporate these values in their work, change of behaviour was a priority. Human resource management (HRM) is important to success of any organisation and a new HRM system was developed in supporting the new needed behaviours in the organisation. Changes were also needed at the top management in shifting and adapting to new realities in the organisation. Training of managers was seen as a necessity. The aim of this was to make managers understand the new organisation’s strategy and the implications it had on how management of new business units would be conducted. Employees and managers are human beings who need to be rewarded sufficiently for their contribution to the organisation. For this reason, revision of compensation and performance appraisals was carried out in evaluating and rewarding customer focus, environmental responsibility and team work of the employees. Businesses are not static and changes depending on the conditions (Rees & French, 2013). Therefore, the organisation structure and strategy will ultimately continue to evolve. So, human resource management policies and practices may need further alignment and revision. The organisation will continue to produce strategic business plans, systematic scanning of environment and setting of objectives in accompanying the continuous human resource planning. The change that has been undertaken in my organisation needs to be managed for realisation of the desired future state. Today’s economic conditions are uncertain and changes are imperative for survival (Edmonds, 2011). Reaction to global revolution should be undertaken quickly while at the same time keeping up with competition and technological advancement at national and local level. This is important in staying ahead of competition and ensuring viability and survival of the organisation. Edmonds (2011, p. 350) contends that change cannot be entirely managed and therefore establishment of stakeholder engagement and project management are needed in developing capability for change. Furthermore, Gupta (2003) explains that reorganisation is necessary from time to time in keeping up with the changing circumstances. Reorganisation aims at adapting the existing system for purposes of making it more effective in achieving goals of the organisation. In my organisation, change is being managed through the two divisions created, that is forest and paper products. As leader, this was necessary in transforming the organisation and changing its fundamental characteristics. An organisational leader is an important person in instituting and managing change in the organisation. Managing change needs leader to be a strategic thinker, visionary and an inspiring person. Burnes (2003) explains that understanding guidelines for success and reasons for failure in bringing organisational change is important to a leader. In addition, it is equally important for leaders leading change projects to have the necessary skills, aptitude, and competencies in implementing these guidelines. It is for these reasons that as a leader in my organisation, I have prepared guidelines for achieving success in change management and factors that can bring failure. Special structures for management of change should be created as organisational transitions are likely to be ambiguous therefore needing direction (Cummings & Worley, 2014). These structures have been created in the organisation through restructuring of management who mobilise resources in promoting change. They possess political and interpersonal skills in guiding the process of change and successfully managing it. Lastly, it has been identified that some individuals are more committed to change in the organisation than others while some are resistant and negative. For this reason, a strategy has been crafted and put in place for purposes of dealing with potential and real conflicts. In conclusion, change is inevitable for an organisation as change may at times be driven by factors beyond the organisation’s control such as globalisation and change in economic conditions. Radical and anticipatory changes are various forms of change that occur in an organisation. It occurs in four stages of denial, resistance, exploration and commitment (Dalglish & Miller, 2010, p. 263-264). Furthermore, change is of four types: process change; functional change; culture change: and change in distribution of power. Effective and efficient leadership is important to a successful organisation more so in times of change. A leader should be visionary and inclusive. Organisational leader should possess various skills and attributes that are necessary for successful management of change. It includes interpersonal skills, assertiveness and possession of power and change. Change should be effectively managed for realisation of the desired future state. References Beerel, A. C. 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