We live in an ever-changing world and the future appears to be less and less a projection of the past. Change is inevitable even though it can be relentless, multidimensional, subversive, and even on occasion shocking. Today, venerable companies are at risk because many are not changing as quickly as the world around us.
What feedback did you find most helpful from the results of the “How Good Are Your Change Management Skills” assessment?
To implement change in an organization a good manager needs to not only see the big picture but must also understand how people will react to change. Once a manager understands how people will react to change, he/she will be in a much better position to plan proactively for the various stages of change.
Understanding Change
Change can be traumatic for people and can lead to loss of prestige, power, and sometimes employment. Organizations do not change just because new processes or structures have been implemented. Organizations change because the employees within the company have adapted. It is only when the employees have made their individual transitions will a company benefit. The journey toward change needs to be as easy as possible.
The Change Curve model is a popular method in understanding personnel transition and helps to predict how employees will react.
The first reaction to change may be shock or denial. When the change becomes a reality employees tend to react in a negative fashion and go to the second stage. Here
One of the most important jobs of a change leader is to ensure the correct people are involved in the change, the followers. The followers are such an important part of change. Actually a leader would be pretty inadequate in implementing change without followers. Therefore, communication is utmost important. Open communication between all individuals is imperative to a smooth change. A change leader can have a vision, but they must share the vision with their followers. With change there comes new ways of thinking and
Change in an organization can be and usually is difficult for various reasons. Much of the difficulty is in the approach used to initiate change and the willingness to stay engaged and stamina to sustain change through to the end. Organizations can choose to lead by recognizing and implementing change, follow in the shadow of organizations leading the market, or get out of the way by standing still and eventually going under. With this said; if change was easily done and successful for every organization there would be no need for change management specialists and years
Organizational change encompasses many challenges to both the individual, and the organization. An organization is a living system, as Flower (2002) states “living systems cannot survive without change, challenge, variety, and surprise” (Flower, 2002, p. 16). An organization requires the ability to adapt in to survive as Darwin states in The Origin of Man, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” (Read Me First, 2013, p. 1). It must adapt to the changing market, global economic pressures, stakeholder demands, and the diverse needs
People tend to oppose change, despite that the change is beneficial and will result in improvements for those affected. Staff resistance to change creates hindrances for those in managerial positions. Resistance to change is inevitable. Management must respond to it in an adept manner so it does not accelerate further into a severe problem. To effectively manage resistance to change, a manager must understand why the employee‘s initial reaction was to reject the proposal before it accelerates further and causes subpar job performance (Baker, 1989). Often time when a staff resists change, he or she is resisting coercion rather than change itself. Providing information is the most powerful approach a manager can take to assuage anxiety related to change. A manager can alleviate any fear of change by answering questions, acknowledging
Change is particularly difficult if it is unexpected. It is far easier to accept change if an employee has time to digest the news and prepare to take action once the change has occur. Some of the concerns that worry employees may be address by creating clear goals and timelines that employee can easily follow. As well as addressing the chief objective “why are we changing?” Once these questions have been answer and employees buy in to them change will be easier and resistance will diminish (Strebel, 1996).
Considering the tangible impacts of change, it 's important to consider the personal impact on those affected, and their journey towards working and behaving in new ways to support the change. The Change Curve is a useful model that describes the personal and organizational process of change. Change management focuses on people, and is about ensuring change is thoroughly, smoothly, and lastingly implemented.
to change behavior” (Mc Carthy and Eastman, 2010, p.3). The positive outcome from the implementation or “benefit realization is dependent, not on technology, but on people agreeing to go through personal disruption, learn new things, change established patterns and confront their fears (Mc Carthy and Eastman, 2010, p. 16). According to Lorenzi and Riley (2000), “one of the most difficult problems organizations face is dealing with change … the ability to change rapidly, efficiently, and almost continually (this) will distinguish the winners from the losers” (Lorenzi and Riley, 2000, p. 120). According to Jarrell (2010), top organizations understand the importance of change management and utilize these methodologies in their daily operations; “utilizing a change management methodology enables the implementation and leadership teams to
Change has become necessary for every organisation there is. World is moving rapidly towards better technologies, efficient systems, new techniques, compact profits, different friendlier environments and organisations are always in the race to reach new heights by thriving effectively in this competitive environment (Kotter, 1996).
Change is described as an attempt that consists of actual physical changes to operations in an organization and how the change has different emotional stimulation to employees. Change can be a painful process in the workplace because it means going from what is certain and known to the unknown. Employees who have worked for an organization for a long time will lose his or her comfort zone of what has become familiar, capabilities he or she has become used to, the status or financial security that was once an advantage, and networks the employees have taken a long time to build (Top 10
After acquired to change management subject, I think that change is a state of transformation which results in an essential shift in the way we observe and interact with the world. The concept of change is more important in our lives as it enables us to face new experiences, either it be good or bad. To be safe from bad experience of change, knowledge to manage the change is compulsory for
In order to evaluate organizational change, it is crucial to understand the models of organizational change. Change models can reveal the compelling forces of change, what will happen, and how it will happen. It is sometimes difficult to find a model that best fits the nature of the organization. However, the use of any change model is beneficial because it offers a guideline to follow and predict the presumed results of the change initiative (Mento, Jones, & Dirndorfer, 2002). While there are many change management models, a few of the well-known models are: Lewin’s change management model and
It is often assumed that planned change will be beneficial for those involved. Innovation, however, in altering existing arrangements, is both personally and organizationally threatening and brings losses as well as gains. Any change, however small, is likely to disadvantage one or more of those concerned.
This research work was designed to examine the who, how, and what of managing change in the workplace. The information selected was not segregated according to industry classification. Nor was the change categories specifically focused defined and researched. The study was also none geographical region specific. The data collected was not specific in respect to organization size of revenue or employees
For any business in the rapidly evolving world of business, planning and implementing successful organizational change is indispensable. Essentially, organizational change refers to a process whereby an organization strives to optimize performance in order to achieve its ideal state characterized by high performance and profitability (Côté & Mayhew, 2014). Any business would be more likely to lose its competitive edge, as well as fail to meet the demands of its loyal consumers if it doesn’t plan and implement change. Weiss (2012) emphasizes that all organizations ought to embrace change, and it’s imperative to note that successful organizational change doesn’t involve simple process of adjustments; instead it requires appropriate change management capabilities.
Defining the change process in an organization is an important aspect in determining whether the change was successful and how the process can be improved. It is also important to understand why change is necessary. According to Goodstein and Burke (1999) the