CHANGE INITIATIVE

CHANGE INITIATIVE

            Change is an inevitable part of any venture in life and in every venture there is a distinct cause of change. For instance, in my case scenario of community team, change has been fueled by the lack of enough employees as a result of non-replacement of two of the staff members who have left the team. The available staff members will have to work extra hard in order to keep up with the previous situation when the team was full. This has necessitated changes in the working pattern of the available team members in order to coup with the situation (Anderson 2014, p.124).

As it is the case with any other organization, this process is not expected to be easy. In fact, I am expecting a large number of staff members to put up resistance towards this process, a step which may have negative effects on the team at large if not dealt with absolute caution. Some of these negative effects include and not limited to lessened efficiency, lower working morale and disruptive working environment (Trader 2012, p.138).

According to this case study there are several factors which I think will fuel the resistance towards this new working pattern. First of all, it is very important to note that previously the caseload has been 15 and now will upsurge to 20. Although the service user visits have been reduced from ten to six times; still this new pattern calls for a very high level of dedication by each staff member to be achieved. Below are some factors which are likely to create the resistance (Kramer & Magee 2012, p.1293).

Routine changes

In any group or an organization, it is without doubt that employees love comfort zones. They make them feel honored and enjoy working since there is no much struggle. Changing the working pattern from a caseload of 15 to 20 in this case scenario will automatically mean that the staff members will have to work extra hard in order to meet the requirements of the team. Many of the members will therefore stand against this proposal to defend the comfort zone (Agcos 2013, p.917).

Lack of reward

Despite the proposed change to increase the caseload of the staff members from 15 to 20, there is no any proposed increment in the salaries or allowances. Considering that the new pattern simply implies extra dedication, without a proposed increment of salary or allowances will mean lack of reward to the staff. As a result the proposal will encounter stiff opposition from the staff who will be demanding extra reward for the extra dedication (Fenton 2014, p.39).

Low trust

Bearing in mind that the organization before the two staff left was still able to cater for the staff salaries and available allowances, the remaining staff will doubt the top management team as the one pocketing the two left staff salaries and any available allowances. They will therefore oppose the proposal of changing the working pattern by suggesting that the management should hire two more staff members to replace the ones who left instead of imposing extra straining on them to meet the team demands (Todnem 2015, p.369).

The working pattern proposal is likely to encounter many responses arousing strong feelings from the staff members. Firstly, the staff members will demand to know the reason behind the organization not hiring more staff members to replace the two who left. This is because the organization was comfortable in managing the whole team before and as a result it should hire more members to replace the two instead of making changes on the previous working pattern which will make employees strain to achieve the team requirements (Pederit 2012, p.783).

Secondly, members will demand to know whether there will be a salary increment following the proposed change in the working pattern which calls for an extra dedication of members. This is in consideration to the naked fact that the organization was able to manage the whole team of staff members and therefore if the organization won’t hire more staff members the salary of those two members should be used to facilitate salary increment to the available members who will have to work extra hard to meet the demands of the team (Varkey & Antonio 2012, p.268).

Initially, as the leader of this change initiative I received it with varied views and reactions. I experienced an array of uncertainty when the top manager of the team first talked to me about initiating this change. This is because I did not know what to expect and how to adapt well as one of the staff members. However, this was just an outcome of change since I was not sure if we will be able to deal with it well considering that we were used to the previous working pattern. I also opposed the idea because I considered it the responsibility of the management team to hire more staff members to replace the two who had left instead of imposing extra strain on us (Varkey & Antonio 2012, p.269).

In order to facilitate the working pattern change to occur, I will use the ADKAR model. Proposed by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt, ADKAR is an acronym representing the five outcomes any member of my team will have to achieve for this change to be successful: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. This model will allow me to focus my team activities on what will drive each staff member to change and collectively achieve the team results (Hiatt 2015, p.67).

Why I chose ADKAR model

Change is often a complex and difficult process, and what’s more it is also inevitable. Managing change on the personal basis requires new thinking, new models for change and new frameworks and tools to enable the smooth implementation of the desired change. ADKAR can be applied to a wide variety of changes to drive change success (Thomas, Sargent & Hardy  2015, p.22).

This model clearly outlines each member’s successful journey through the change and each step naturally fits into the typical activities associated with this working pattern change initiative (Oreg 2016, p.73).

Awareness- I will explain the reasons behind this working pattern change to all the staff members as outlined to me by the top management.

Desire- I will explain the goal or the outcome of the change if adopted in our team to all the members in order to motivate the willingness to adopt it.

Knowledge-I will give insights on how to approach the change to all the staff members

Ability- I will give the staff members’ insights on the capability to realize or implement the change at this required performance level

Reinforcement- I will ensure necessary measures, corrective actions and recognition to ensure that the initiative is successful.

Conclusion

Organizational change and development is an extremely complex subject that can be a difficult task for many organizations. From small organizations to large organizations, they all are going to have to make changes at some point, and I believe the best way to conquer the transitions is through strong management, good attitudes and being able to follow a model to change. All three of these aspects are equally important when dealing with the change itself and must be put into place. Without positive attitudes management will not be able to motivate employees and without motivated employees, it is essentially impossible to move through change. Both employees and management must give each other the instruments and inspiration necessary to follow a model than to change and complete the transition process. From the research, it is clear that a successful organization utilizes all of these tools as well as open communication and continuous improvement. If all of the above suggestions are executed properly, the organizational change will seem like a breeze for everyone involved.

Work cited

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Trader-Leigh, K.E., 2012. Case study: Identifying resistance in managing change. Journal of        organizational change management, 15(2), pp.138-155.

Fenton-O’Creevy, M., 2014. Middle management resistance to strategic change initiatives:            saboteurs or scapegoats?. Managing Strategy Implementation. Oxford: Blackwell            Publishers.

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Hiatt, J., 2016. ADKAR: a model for change in business, government, and our community.            Prosci.

Hiatt, J.M., 2015. ADKAR: A model for change in business, government and our community:        how to implement successful change in our personal lives and professional careers.      Prosci Learning Center Publications.

Varkey, P. and Antonio, K., 2012. Change management for effective quality improvement: a        primer. American Journal of Medical Quality, 25(4), pp.268-273.

Todnem By, R., 2015. Organisational change management: A critical review. Journal of change   management, 5(4), pp.369-380.

Kramer, J. and Magee, J., 2012. The evolving philosophers problem: Dynamic change management. IEEE                 Transactions on software engineering, 16(11), pp.1293-1306.

Anderson, D. and Anderson, L.A., 2014. Beyond change management: How to achieve    breakthrough results through conscious change leadership. John Wiley & Sons.