Successful management of organizational change

Successful management of organizational change

Introduction

Successful management of organizational change is a necessity for most modern organizations due to the dynamic and highly competitive business environment. Organizations should implement suitable change management strategies to survive, adjust to the system, and gain a competitive advantage. Change involves transitioning from the current state of organization to an anticipated desired state. Change management refers to a cyclic and comprehensive approach that consists of the application of various tools and processes for renewing the current state of groups, individuals, and organizations to a desired future state that aims at benefiting the business. The method of change management is comprehensive as it takes a broader perspective of the organization, including the organization’s infrastructure, processes, culture, technology, and people. Change in the organization happens at the individual, project, and organizational levels. At personal levels, leaders support a particular amendment to allow individuals to adopt new methods, values and start working in different ways that would enable the organization to achieve its objectives. Change management supports employees of all departments to understand their roles, adjust and implement change to perform their daily activities to achieve organizational goals. Every organization has specific motives for implementing change management, which is entirely to attain their future desired state with a particular outcome (Yousef 2017, p. 78). In regards to this, the paper aims to review the organizational change process from the existing literature and by interviewing Mr. XXX, an employee of YYY Company Limited, to analyze the aspects of corporate change management in regards to planned changes in marketing, production and human resource departments.

Literature review

Organizations undertake planned organizational change to enhance and make improvements to their current ways of operations. A planned change is often calculated by the responsible managers within the organization to achieve a particularly desirable outcome and make the organization adapt to both internal and external environmental forces and demands. A planned internal organizational change involves the use of strategic decisions by managers to alter business operations. For instance, a planned decision to change the marketing strategies necessitates changes in the organization as this decision tends to give the business a new direction, drop old and adopt new ways of promoting products and services. Changes in the employee compensation system also necessitate internal change. Such modification may arise as a result of trying to motivate employees and ensure employee retention. Planned external organizational changes may include the introduction of new technologies to speed up the operation speed of corporate activities. Changes in technologies alter the way people perform their jobs. Leadership competencies have a significant influence on planned organizational change (Battilana et al. 2010, p. 434). The results of the study found out that more effective leaders on task-oriented behaviors are more focused on evaluation and mobilization of activities related to the implementation of planned organizational change. While another finding was that leaders who are efficient at person-oriented behaviors focus more on the communicating activities associated with the application of proposed change (Battilana et al. 2010, p. 434).

Studies have been conducted on organizational change management and various models of illustrating the organizational change processed (Cameron & Green 2019; Pollack & Pollack 2015). Change initiative in the organization begins with a vision that sets clear the direction to which individuals work towards and motivate those who participate in the change process. The vision also guides the efforts and strategies for achieving the desired output. A compelling vision should have features such as flexibility, focus, desirability, feasibility, and transferable to the members. Setting strategic plans play a crucial role in achieving the vision as they consist of unified and integrated strategies that provide a roadmap and act as a link between the current state of the organization and the vision. The argument is consistent with Kotter’s model of change, which represents a linear model with eight distinct steps; each clarifying influential step leaders should adopt to influence change within the organization effectively. Kotter’s third step requires leaders to create and build a vision and a strategy to direct and clarify what needs to be done to achieve the desired outcome (Kotter 1996). Kotter’s structured linear steps is a complex process and do not only involve leaders to execute changes within the organization. Modern organizations have different groups of stakeholders who are engaged in change delivery who start the change process in various instances and times. Kotter’s description, however, does not provide an explicit allowance for the participation of different levels of stakeholders to deliver change. Instead, it is only suitable for giving change at an individual group level (Pollack & Pollack 2015, p. 11).

For effective implementation of organizational change, specific elements are crucial to consider to achieve the entire process of change within the organization. Firstly, there is a need for managers to find out the effect of planned change in defining the acceptable behavior of employees. A successful change should significantly influence employees to change their actions in a way the organization requires them to conduct themselves and carry out their roles. When shaping a shift in employee behavior, it is essential to consider if the new policies will be in line with the prevailing corporate culture and do not conflict with the existing norms of the organization policy (Raizada, Verma & Agrawal 2014, P. 112). This is consistent with the behavioral approach to change, which suggests how individuals influence and change each other’s behavior to achieve desired results using rewards and punishment. Failure to meet the intended results would call for additional analysis of employee behavior to determine what contributes to the success and what contributes to failure (Cameron & Green, 2019 p.19).

Similarly, the planned change should be easily understood by the various departments within the organization and how the new rules will influence their procedures and operations. Secondly, the manager defines the specific new roles and responsibilities of the employees and departments. The planned change should confirm that the desired change clearly indicates the responsibility of each affected employee and department and also specifies the required steps to observe while implementing the new rule or policy.

After defining roles to respective individuals and departmental leaders, the manager communicates the new mission of the organization that the change intends to influence. The manager also gives the requisite training and set the policy rules to make sure that the change is implemented as per the organization’s framework and timeline (Raizada, Verma & Agrawal 2014, P. 112). This is following the cognitive approach of change that supports the need to set clear goals for the easier achievement of results. The cognitive approach is more concerned with the intended results individuals plan to achieve and the strategies they put in place to attain the success of the process (Cameron & Green 2019, p.26). The fourth test of planned change requires decision-makers in the organization to be brought on board by the managers. The proposed amendment should be presented for approval by the top managers before implementation. Lastly, the managers should measure and determine whether the change has been effected or not. Follow-up is crucial as a way of monitoring the entire change implementation process, evaluating the effects of change, and determining if the plan works as expected (Raizada, Verma & Agrawal 2014, P. 113).

Methodology (200)

Results (350)

Interview (500)

Raizada, D.A., Verma, D. And Agrawal, M., 2014. Organizational Change Management—The New Imperative.

Cameron, E., and Green, M., 2019. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools, and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

Yousef, D.A., 2017. Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and attitudes toward organizational change: A study in the local government. International Journal of Public Administration, 40(1), pp.77-88.

Pollack, J., and Pollack, R., 2015. Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organizational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), pp.51-66.

Kotter, J.P., 1996. Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Kouzes, JM, & Posner, BZ (2002). The leadership challenge. San Francisco, CA.

Battilana, J., Gilmartin, M., Sengul, M., Pache, A.C., and Alexander, J.A., 2010. Leadership competencies for implementing planned organizational change. The leadership quarterly, 21(3), pp.422-438.