Major Issues Related to Organizational Change - Case Study Example

Name Tutor Course Date Major Issues Related to Organizational Change Issues related to organizational change Change is a constant which managers should be in a position to manage and hence steer the organization in the right direction as soon as it manifests. The different types of change that exist in organizations are; political, strategic, technological, cultural and human resources. Political change took place in Cin-Made organization as new management came into place. Strategic change took place in the Company as Cin Made was bought by Frey’s company. This was done so as to facilitate independence and therefore the sharing of power and thus self-governance. There was cultural change that took place as the employees were involved more in the strategic running of the organization. Technological change also took place as new skills were imparted into the employees. This went a long way in ensuring that the business processes were conducted in the best way possible and thus more profit for the business. Change is a difficult thing to accept and the employees of Cin-Made had a difficult experience with it. Their reaction followed the transitional process of organizational change. The process transcended through denial, resistance, exploration and commitment. Denial is characterized by withdrawal, apathy, numbness and the “it will soon be over attitude.” Resistance is characterized by anger, blame, depression, fatigue, withdrawal from the team, active non-cooperation, sabotage, slanderous gossip. Exploration is characterized by over preparation, experimentation, high energy, confusion and lack of coherence. Commitment is characterized by cooperation, teamwork, satisfaction, enthusiasm, clarity of focus and sensible planning. The workers showed denial by refusing to participate in power sharing and self governance. They further showed resistance by going on strike and becoming very hostile. They went through exploration by hitting back on the management by complaining about every little thing that happened to them that was not as stipulated in the contract. They showed cooperation and coordination by taking part in decision making and the taking up of learning new skills. In the case study; change at the Cin-Made Organization we are able to see that there were a number of issues that led to the company having disgruntled employees. The issues in Cin-Made were; the organization had a change of management, the new management had a different managerial style that did not appeal to the workers since they were hostile, the new management openly belittled its workers, the management did not grunt the workers the annual pay rise, the workers had a pay cut of 12.5% and lastly the workers were unhappy. Managing Organizational Change The different approaches to change management are; transitional, revolutionary and transformational. The transitional approach is mostly utilized in stable business environments. These are environments in which upheavals are rare. The businesses are usually managed in a slow manner. The revolutionary approach comprises of the re-ordering of an organization’s purpose, mission or strategic direction. It mostly takes place in businesses which are market oriented. The transformational take to change bear a huge risk and entail the use of a lot of effort and organizational will. Change being a constant in life should be managed in a prudent manner. One of the most common ways in change management is through organizational development. The common steps in the survey-feedback organization development process transcend through: Intiation, Focus, Preliminary, Design, Review, Administer, Analysis, Feedback, Action and lastly Results. Initiation is deciding on the process. Focus entails the element of measurement. Preliminary entails the organization of data, interviews & focus groups. Design involves the construction of measurement instruments. Review entails ensuring that clients are in agreement with the process. Administration entails the distribution and collection of data. Analysis is the assessment of results and its implication. Feedback entails sharing results with stakeholders. Action is the planning, identification and steps towards system improvement. Lastly results are the measurement of progress and results. Organizational development can be compared against management consultancy. Organizational development is characterized by focusing on specific processes with results being expected to pass through process enhancement. The consultant is also the coach and champion of change. The consultant stresses the importance of humanism, individual development & democracy. The change manager is the nurturer. Organizational development took place in Cin-Made. This was seen when the new Cin-Made management championed change by; involving employees in decision making. They came up with an elaborate profit sharing plan. They also enticed employees with pay increment when they followed the elaborate profit sharing plan. The new management also worked on employee mentality with regard to their view of the company. They made sure that the employees shared a common interest with the company. The new management further learned human relations and learnt to ignore resentment, take criticism positively; it listened more, treated its employee with respect and learnt to delegate more. The new management was consistent and persistent in ensuring that change was embraced by their newly acquired organization. On the other hand, management consultancy is results oriented and focused in the achievement of specific and quantifiable productivity improvement which is based on targets which are verifiable. That is vendor mindset and bottom line focus. The consultant views change as a strategic move for the well being and survival of the organization. Recommendations Change being part and parcel of the day to day running of organizations should be handled with care and a lot of foresight. Management should make use of human relationship skills in change management. Management should not be seen as mechanical tasks that are required to be implemented in order to make a lot of profit but it should also engage basic human relationships. The human relationships that should be made use of are respect, listening, collaboration and deliberation. When employees are listened to and engaged in decision making then they feel part and parcel of the organization and thus they make a lot of effort in making the passed decisions a success. Management should learn to explain the nitty gritty details that lead to their decisions to their employees. This will go a long way in fostering employee interest in helping to make the company successful. It will also foster the employee’s loyalty to the company and long term commitment to it. This will make the changes made by them more acceptable to the employees as they understand how the decisions were arrived at. The management of organizations should be people who have had hands on experience on the jobs that they manage. This makes it easier for them to come up with plans that work as they have an idea of what they are managing. This will also enable the management to empathize with the employees at the lower levels. Read More