Organizational Change Essay

Given the complex constitution and competitive environment under which modern formations operate ,the bearing forward for disposal is to take over strategies ,methods and practices which enable them to be ahead of their competitors.Recently global ,political and economic events such(prenominal)(prenominal) as liberations of economics,arising hail of productions ,global economic downtown ,the m whatsoever competing and substitute products in the market place and the spill oer effects of the terrorist attacks in America, retain led many organization to retrench adopt stringent cost cutting measures and to think of appropriate measures of attracting the largest number of consumers and secure a hunting market grapple in a given fabrication .To remain competitive, modern organization should aim at uniqueness and high tonus in all spheres of their operations in technology ,work purposes ,good and services ,approaches to the various management function of formulation ,organi zing,staffing , directing and controlling . These turns ar only possible through creative and innovative thinking . The excerpt and continued relevance of organizations in the market place therefore depends on the strategies and survival tactics evolved by these organizations to respond to alters in the operating environment.One of the greatest challenges facing organizations therefore is the management of miscellanea in a manner that encourages pro activity and covers continued relevance . brass multifariousness offer be defined from various perspectives . One commonly used definition of change is alteration of animate activities ,change trick to a fault be defined as innovative the basic sense of introducing nearlything sweet in the organization. organisational change in the sense of forward motion therefore refers to activities aimed at streng henceing organisational performance such as current technology, work policy ,procedure,product,work attitudes and structura l design .Creativity is the surgical process through which a change can be antedated in an organization. It refers to the generation of new ideas into a real product ,service or method of production . Organization change ,creativity and innovation through creative ideas nearly be overt of being implemented. A creative ideas work therefore be useless unless it is innovative .Organizational change whitethorn be necessitated by pressure from outside or within the organization Cole G. A. 1996), caution Theory and Practice says that external forces for change are those forces which operate from outside organization,These include forces of competition ,for theoretical account competitors ever-ever-changing their strategies and former(a)(a) methods of operations economic forces such as poor economic performance may quest new cost cutting measures political and legal forces such as passage of new laws by the government . Economic liberalization policy which no longer affords prot ection to local firms may require them to adopt new methods in products strategies in order to remain in competitive in the face of the in settle of foreign goods.Technological forces,for example,new technology of a firm obsolete social hea becauseish forces such as change as in societal norms,values and altitudes should be accompanied by same changes in goods and services. For example, a changes in taste require that a come with must change quality levels,feature of living products and services or introduce a completely new product in the marketphysical forces like change in weather and climatic patterns,for example,adverse weather effects may require a company to adjust its production platform.This may be due to shortage of essential artless based raw materials. Other external forces for change may becreditors changing their lending policies which would mean that companies must work harder than beforetrade unions imposing new conditions on matters affecting employeesconsume r protection organizations take a firm stand on specific quality standards hence the occupy to be quality sensitiveconsumer insisting on quality and efficient services other than low prices or fees charged.Internal forces for change includeexisting procedures which countenance become irrelevant and the existing structures which are too rigid hence the need for tractile structurescentralized systems of authority which is no longer effective after major organizational growth and elaborateness negative working attitudes by workers which need to be changed through new policies,rules and procedures,existing technology which may be obsolete and the organization has to adopt the new technology for it to improve efficiency and the competitive edge against other competitorsexisting products and services which are no longer competitive in the marketexisting prepare program which have become irrelevant in light of changes in work methods and technologyexisting compensation policy which i s not motivational such as automatic salary increment not based on merit.Anew compensation method for example payment by results may be adopted or introduced in the organization n facing up these internal triggers for change,management have to visualize how they pass on respond to them. Some potential changes allow have been announced well before go and in these cases planning is taken care of pro actively . Koontz and Weirich (1995)ManagementA global perspective, defined a change component as any person or a group of people who may identify and recommend the need for change in an organization . Examples include, a committee set by the management, a task force, board of directors,shareholders,managers or individual employees. An employee for example may identify a clog or a weakness in the existing work procedures and suggest change to the management.If the change is quite a insignificant and may not affect the final results,an employee may just implement such a change withou t a raise consultations. Organizational change may be introduced in a mean or in reactive manner. A planned change is introduced pro actively when the organization identifies the need based on the benefits believed to come from change without disrupting operational processes. All change will incur some direct cost,for example,equipment costs,relocation costs,recruitment costs and possible redundancy payments. There will be also indirect costs such as communicating the changes to employees ,providing appropriate training and temporarily redeploying key managers and staff on change projects.An organization should also consider what might be the costs of not introducing the proposed changes. The resources required are determine in advance,employees skilled or prepared accordingly adequate measures put in place to mint with the effects of change such as resistance to change. A reactive change on the other hand is normally introduced in an abrupt manner through a piecemeal approache s. A company tarrys until the pressure for change becomes too much and simply reacts through measures which can lead to immediate resolve of a difficulty. For example, when there is cut throat price competition , a company may wait until it finds it unavoidable to reduce its prices when it is not able to survive in the market by maintaining its prices.According to Lewin Schein good example , a model propounded by Kurt Lewin and Edgar Sshein,German Management theorists ,change can be introduced in an organization through the future(a) stepsunfreezing that is,identifying the need for change and making it clear to employees how the organization will benefit by changing the status quochange the transition period in the change process when employees abandon the old practices and adopt the new practices or change from the old to new attitudes refreezing which are the measures taken by the management which would ensure that employees sustain or continue with the changed attitudes or b ehavior.Emotional support,encouragement or financial reward may be provided. Through compulsory reinforcements ,new practices become the accepted counselings of doing things in an organization. One of the principal ways in which organization can bring about planned change is by means of organization exploitation. Organization development is a strategy for improving organizational effectiveness by means of behavioral light approaches,involving application of diagnostic and problem solving skills by an external consultant in collaborationism with the organizational management.Organization development is an organization grand process,it takes an essentially systems view of the organizationit utilizes the techniques and approaches of the behavioral sciences that is psychology and sociologyit also bear ons the intervention of an external third party in the shape of a change agent trained and experienced in behavioral science application in the work situation. Organization developm ent is aimed at organization effectiveness that is,it is something much than management development it is concerned with changing structures and decision processes as it is with changing peoples behavior. Organization development is about change and this change can be horrible especially when it involves peoples attitudes ,beliefs and self image. The organization development is utilized when the senior management of an organization come to have sex that the key comp sensationnts of the organization system are not working harmoniously together.There is no one crush way of introducing and designing an organization development program in an organization. It first takes a front stage whereby the senior management police squad discusses the scope and implications of an a organization development with the change agent. This includes discourse about the aims of a possible program and the means by which it might be deliver the goodsd. It also includes a consideration of the possible implication for the organization arising from the implementation of a programit then define the nature of the relation ship between the change agent and the organizations management that is,whether the change agent is to play the role of an expert , a catalyst for new ideas ,educator or some other concur role.If the agreement is reached about the idea of commencing an organization development program then it goes to the next stage of epitome and diagnosis where the change agent usually takes the initiative by designing appropriate methods for obtaining relevant training for example,interviews and surveys and by proposing a strategy for putting these into operation with the full backing of the management team. The information obtained should enlighten the problems facing the organization,and build up a picture of staff attitude and opinions as well as supplying some important suggestions as to how the problems would be solved. On the basis of information received,the management team and the change agent agree their diagnosis of the situation . The management team in close collaboration with the change agent agree on what are the aims and objectives of the program. These aims could be to improve profitability ,secure a share of new market ,improve staff motivation or other desired improvement.To these ends,specific objectives would be useful,such as to succeed the restructuring of the company along matrix lines over a period of say , one and a half(prenominal) years and obtain the full commitment of all the management staff to an open and democratic way of leadership or to reduce substantially the number of customer complaints about after sale service. The organizations problems have been analyzed ,a diagnosis of the overall situation has been made and agreement has been reached about the aims and the objectives of the exercise,it then behooves a moment of planning the content and the sequence of activities designed to achieve the aims of the programs. M uch of the tactics in the planning stage will be influenced by the change agent whose skills and expertise knowledge in behavioral matters will be brought to bear on the manner of introducing the various organizational development activities.These activities will be examined much closely in bits noting the buildion. Once the plans have been put into action,it is very imperative that they should be monitored at frequent intervals by the management and the change agent. Difficulties and misconceptions are bound to occur and these must be noted as soon as possible and dealt with quickly. If a particular activity is having adverse results,it will have to be amended or even dropped from the programs. From time to time more substantial reviews of the progress towards the aims and objectives of the exercise will be required ,and this often leads to comparing the results against the benchmarks which are the objectives of the whole change process.In light of the major review it is possible that some important revisions of the aims may be important for which further series of plans will be necessary. The success of any organization development concerning change process in an organization depends largely on the part played by the change agent. The change agent is at the core center of the entire organizations development process. If the change agent is not able to build a firm relationship between himself and the management team concerned,or if he fails to establish his credibility with a come in of other groups,his chances of obtaining a sense of commitment required in the whole process are so low.Conversely,if the gains trust and respect both as a person and as a skilled adviser, then he stands a better chance of achieving his own contribution to the aims and the objectives of the program. The roles of a change agent are a multiple ones. These roles range from the highly directive,leadership type of roles to a non-directive counseling role. In the first place,he pre scribes what is best for his clients and on the other hand ,he will reflect issues and problems back to his clients without offering any judgment to himself. Qualities of reasonableness and personality are also important with the change agent in particular the ability to hear and to apply rational approaches to problems and situationsalso a mature outlook in terms of awareness and acceptation of personal strengths and weakness.Abilities required are not only those associated with behavioral science knowledge but more general skills such as interviewing skills,presentation skills and the ability to establish and maintain comfortable relationship with a wide cross-section of people. This combination of attributes suggests that a change agent will not constantly be readily available. It takes a certain kind of character to be able to make the contribution to joint problem solving and decision making that is required in the organization development. The most significant benefits of an organization development program obviously depends on the needs of the organization at the commencement of the program.Organization development enables an organization to adapt to change in away that obtains the full commitment of the employees concerned that is,it instills a mind of change in the employees minds where they perceive themselves as apart of the whole process of change organization development can also lead to organization structures that will facilitate employee cooperation and the achievement of tasks in that it brings about the issue of deprecative thought and mind development whenever the employees swaps between the jobs and the ranks unlike when the the employees would on a particular job and role until the loneliness hence change brings about new challenges to the employee which eventually turns around the status quo and implement the policies of an enterprise into improvement of servicesit also release the latent energy and creativity in the organization b y way of specializationit provides opportunities for management development in the context of real organization problems and the way to solve them by involving all the parties concerned including employees in the decision making processit may also stimulate more creative approaches to problem-solving throughout the entire organization.Finally,change increases the ability of the management groups to look as teams and this will eventually lead to the achievement of longterm goals of the company. Resistance to change has been associated with the change and accepted as a major element of any change process. No matter how change may benefit the organization and individual employees,there will always be a tendency to resist it.Stower J.F (2000) Management,says that change may result from fear of the extraterrestrial being ,for example,potential difficulties or uncertainties which may come along with a new method or a procedurefear of losing power,prestige or status that is fear of percei ved inferiority complex towards the subordinatesfear of losing job link opportunities such as promotion or lack of care growthfailure to understand why a change is being introduced due to poor communicationperpetual differences between individual employees ,managers or work groupsfear of losing a job or going for further training when computerization program is to be undertaken or a major change are to be introduced through business process re-engineering .The management should device ways of reducing some of the resistance to change in an organization such ways asconduct an education and communicate effectively with employees on the need and benefits of changeinvolve employees in planning the change process negotiate with employees or departments which are likely to resist changes introduce change in piecemeal manner and provide emotional support including time off during the most difficult period of the change processselectively use information which gives emphasis on positive as pects of change. Employees likely to resist change may also be co-opted or assigned new positions created during the change process. In order to create an environment in which people think creatively and develop satisfactory ideas for change ,the management of an organization should take the following measuresdevelop an acceptance for change,employees must think strategically and believe that change is inevitable for the organization survivalprovide a clear objectives and freedom to achieve them. Organization members who are given clear objectives would be stimulated to meet them .Their creativity will have a purpose and direction a conducive environment for creativity is enhanced if individual have the opportunities to interact with members of their own and other work groups. Such interaction encourages team spirit ,exchange of useful information,free flow of ideas and fresh perspective on problems,also make it clear in word and deeds that the management welcomes new ideas. Manage rs who closely supervise every action of subordinates encourage them to follow orders rather than to experiment with new ideas. Because of hardy competition ,resource scarcity and high equipment costs,the only way to ensure survival in any industry is change through creativity and innovation. Any idea that leads to more efficient and effective operation should be explored and implemented,hence a new idea may be a boon in an organization.