Organizational Change Management - Essay Example

Business Culture Introduction Organizational change or organizational change management refers to a process in which individuals, processes, practices and whole organizations are transformed from their current position to a new desired position. It has three stages or phases, viz. design, planning and implementation. As much as organizations differ in their internal leadership and cultural set up the theoretical approaches to change also differ. For instance there are entrepreneurial, bureaucratic and autocratic organizations or/and leadership styles. They need equally diverse and effective theoretical approaches for change. Analysis Organizational change or change management has become a very important aspect in the modern day management practice. Change is desirable when everything else has failed to ensure the continuous survival of the business. However change in itself might not be desirable when the degree of resistance to change become stronger because when resistance gathers momentum that in itself is an indicator of the existence of other solutions. If organizational change were focused on improving critical success factors related to financial management, Human Resource Management (HRM), employee relations, supply chain management, quality management, marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR), then the organization would have to face considerable resistance. In the first instance when change involves people it is all the more difficult to manage the process of change smoothly because employees depending on their attitude to change would not remain silent. Thus as much as the active management of the change process involves attitudinal changes, there are predefined objectives that would require far reaching changes at each level before a final changes brought aboutAlbert Breton (Author) › Visit Amazons Albert Breton Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central . Organizational change also requires a far greater commitment on the part of management to initiate change. However once it is initiated the degree of participation by other employees alone would determine the success or the failure of the program. Thus organizational change theories have evolved overtime with particular emphasis on the change management process of employees in general. Lewin’s theory of organizational change is based on a three tier change management process in which a system of continuous replacement is adopted. Thus it is known as unfreeze-change-refreeze model. For example in the first stage the existing organizational setup is unfrozen or dismantled. In the second stage changes are introduced. In the third stage those changes are cemented. The assumption that Lewin makes about the power structure of the organization is basically related to an autocratic or bureaucratic organization and therefore the top management of the company will assume all the powers, be they concerned with day-to-day management decisions or organizational change (Lewin, 1968). This is rather simplistic in the modern day organizational context where power relations between managers and subordinates are much more complex. Despite this theoretical postulate fitting in to autocratic and bureaucratic organizational structures and leadership styles, there is a still greater doubt about entrepreneurial organizations and leaderships accepting such change. In a business organization where an entrepreneurial leadership styles prevails, change management process becomes much easier because motivation of the workforce would be based on rewards for good work. Lewin does not seem to place emphasis on entrepreneurial organizations in his theoretical approach because according to him powers are predefined and given. Resistance to change is inherent in subordinates because irrespective of the leadership style, organizational structure and culture, employees tend to look at change as something that would unfreeze their existing arrangements. According to Kanter power is not predetermined and organizational change comes from the participation of employees at all levels (Kanter, 2009). It is a collaborative approach that recommends change to subordinates who otherwise would have doubts about the sincerity of their superiors. According to her the manager is the conductor of an orchestra and those employees are the musicians. While individual musicians have their own personal goals, the conductor himself has to make use of those individual’s skills of the musicians. In other words it is a horizontal process and a not a top-down process of change. According to her managers have to work closely with employees to achieve management goals and any change. Kanter’s theory has become very popular with all varieties of organizations including the bureaucratic, entrepreneurial and autocratic. This success has been attributed mainly to the democratic principles that underlie change. According to her theory perceptions of managers and Subordinates do not differ much. In fact they have the same perception of what others would think of their position and power. As a result those at the top would not know exactly how those at the bottom would respond to change but nevertheless they know for sure that resistance to change comes from their individual perceptions of power relations and structures. If those at the bottom feel that those at the top are more authoritative the degree of hesitation to accept change will be greater. However neither group has a clearer perception of but the other things and how the other interprets change. There has been a perceptive increase in organizational change related methodology in the recent past. For instance the psychological aspect of methodology was ignored in the past. However with Edgar Scheins suggestions mentioned about the scenario has changed (Schein, 1993). Despite an ever increasing interest in the psychology of resistance to change by subordinates at different levels of the organization, very few critical works have come out on the subject. A very recent perspective on organizational change identifies some critical success factors as the essential elements on which organizational change must be focused so that methods would not be so divergent. Resistance can be reduced by offering more incentives, both monetary and non-monetary. For example according to Schein resistance to change is based on the fear factor that change would entail losses such as existing power relations and privileges. So there must be a positive relationship between managers and subordinates. Such a well coordinated convergence in methodology on organizational change has to come from the entrepreneurial or the democratic organizational or management structure and therefore it is essential that the relationship between managers and subordinates should be determined by a comprehensive approach to change as suggested by Philip Kotler (Kotler, et al.1972). Finally a synthesis between Kanter’s theory and Wheatley’s theory can be drawn on the following assumption. If as Wheatley assumes participation is not a choice then what Kanter says is true that subordinates resists change because they do not know how powers are dispensed within the organization (Wheatley, 2008). In other words the methodological approach has suggested by Wheatley depends on two factors. In the first place it is essential that subordinates have to adjust themselves to the changing organizational change environment. Secondly they have to accept incentives even if they do not like change. This is because compliance increases the chances of survival. Conclusion Organizational change has been one of the most discussed topics in the modern business world. Beginning from Lewin’s theory based on the two forces of drivers and restrainers to modern day variants as those of Wheatley’s organizational change has become a central issue in not only changing structures, people, processes and organizations but also the very methodology of constructing models. Katherine Catlin (Author› Visit Amazons Katherine Catlin PageFind all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central In fact Lewin’s theory was associated with autocratic and bureaucratic organizational and management structures, though Edgar Schein introduced some modifications. Resistance to change can be overcome by using both monetary and non-monetary incentives. REFERENCES 1. Kanter, R.M. (2009). Super Corp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good. New York: Crown. 2. Lewin, K. (1968). The Conceptual Representation and the Measurement of Psychological Forces. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation. 3. Kotler, P., Zaltman, G., & Kaufman, I. (1972). Creating Social Change. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 4. Schein, E. (1993). Organizational Culture and Leadership in Classics of Organization Theory. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers. 5. Wheatley, M.J. 2008, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc. Instructions: Scenario: You are the assistant to the Director of Marketing at Excelsior Sales Corporation. In addition to your regular tasks, you will serve on a project staff team that is currently being formed. Other project staff will include the assistants to other departmental Directors. The directors will routinely delegate new projects and initiatives to the project staff team to discuss and submit recommendations. In addition, you will supervise one clerical assistant to the Marketing Department, as well as carry out a myriad of individual assignments delegated to you from the Director of Marketing. You will need to apply what you know about organizations, their structures, change management, and how individuals work within organizations. The essay should cover the following below with proper APA style applied(references,citations): Organizations have distinct structures and cultures that influence their direction and reactions to change. Your director is thinking about proposing a new process for sales that represents a fairly large shift in the way things are currently done. The director would like to meet with you to discuss any possible resistance to the change that may originate from your organization’s culture and structure. Prepare a general discussion document you will use to inform your director of the types of resistance to change that can come from different structures and cultures. Select one type of resistance to change that can come from organizational structure or culture and offer some suggestions on how to decrease the resistance. Provide examples that support your points to your director. In this assignment you need to identify several types of resistance to change as they related to specific cultures or organizational structures and then selecting one type, identify ways to reduce that resistance. Again here you are using a theoretical foundation and should support your conclusions with sound theory (cite and references – APA). Read More