Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Module 10 - Organisational Change (Types of Change (Radical Change -…
Module 10 - Organisational Change
Types of Change
Radical Change
- results in a major make-over of the organisation and/or its component systems. E.g. incoming new CEO, a change of ownership, a merger or take-over.
Incremental Change
– occurs more frequently and less traumatically as part of an organisation’s natural evolution. E.g. New products, new technologies and new systems.
Planned Change
- deliberate internal changes to meet specified goals, and is lead by a change agent.
E.g. change of structure to meet given objectives or pursue cost-cutting strategies.
Planned change is a direct response to someone’s perception of a performance gap.
Uplanned Change
- is usually triggered by some external driver, such as market forces, economic crises, economic opportunities or social changes.
These changes occur spontaneously or randomly, and without a change agent’s attention.
Once the change is recognised, the goal is to act immediately to minimise any negative consequences, and to maximise any possible benefits.
Change Agent
- individuals or groups that take responsibility for changing the existing pattern of behaviour of a person or social system.
Causes of Change
The major forces causing organisational change are:
A sufficient dissatisfaction with the existing situation, or state A.
A strong attraction to moving towards a more desirable position, or state B. This new position is frequently described in vision statements.
A desire to formulate a well-thought-out strategy that will realise the vision. i.e. how the company can move from A to B.
All three of these forces must usually be present for managers to feel compelled to seek change. In the absence of any one of these three, there is little or no motivation to take action.
Change may be triggered by internal or external forces.
External forces include politics, laws, markets, and technology.
Internal forces include change of ownership, products, services and processes and measures of effectiveness that can happen in an organisational setting.
Framework / Diagram for planned change
Managers need to ensure that any change effort properly addresses each of Lewin’s three phases of planned change
Unfreezing
– is the first stage of the planned change process - the situation is prepared for change.
Creating a need for change (generating energy for transformation).
Minimising resistance to change
Unfreezing is facilitated by environmental pressures, declining performance, the recognition of a problem, or awareness that someone else has found a better way.
Many changes are never tried or fail because the situation was never properly unfrozen to being with.
Changing
Involves a managerial responsibility to change people, tasks, structure and/or technology.
Two forces that affect people’s degree of readiness to change: within the person, and external within the system (leadership, culture, climate of the organisation etc.).
The combination of these factors affect the individual’s degree of
felt security
.
If the degree of felt security is high or low then the efforts to introduce change will most likely be rejected.
Only the middle ranges of felt security is the response to change most likely to be positive.
Refreezing
Positively reinforces the desired outcomes and provides extra support when difficulties are encountered.
Evaluation of results - provides data on the costs and benefits of a change
Make constructive modifications in the change over time.
Improper refreezing results in changes that are abandoned or incompletely implemented.
Approaches (strategies) to Change
Top-down strategy
Executives and managers force compliance with change directives, believing their formal authority of their position is enough to implement change.
Akin to the military model which assumes members lower down in the hierarchy will understand and follow through the change exactly as requested.
E.g. Organisations in the public sector may have a change process imposed on them by drastic changes in government policies and legislation. In this situation, change may be more directive and less participative.
Force-coercion strategy
Tries to command change through the formal authority of legitimacy, rewards and punishments. The change agent tries to ‘command’ change through the formal authority of their position, by offering special rewards, or threats of punishment. People respond to this strategy mainly out of fear of the punishment, or the desire for the reward.
In this type of change strategy, the compliance is usually temporary and will continue only so long as the change agent remains visible in their legitimate authority.
Rational persuasion strategy
Change through persuasion based on empirical facts, special knowledge and rational argument.
It assumes that rational people will be guided by reason and self-interest when they are presented with facts to show the cost-benefit of the change is high and that they will be better off than before.
If successful, this strategy results in change that is longer lasting than forced-coercion strategy.
Shared-power strategy
Actively and sincerely involves other people who will be affected by a change in planning and making key decisions in respect to it.
E.g. a leader may meet with all managers and employees to explain reasons for the change, and generally how it will be carried out.
A plan may be developed and communicated. Staff forums may be organised to give members the opportunity to express their ideas about the proposed change. They are also given the opportunity to express their concerns and frustrations.
Resistance to Change
Why do employees resist change?
Change initiatives are often met with resistance because employees are often afraid of the unknown.
Felt-security
- Many may think things are already just fine and do not understand the need for change, while others may be cynical about change. Some may even think the change goes against the values held by members in the organisation.
Resistance to change is attitude or behaviour that reflects a person’s unwillingness to make or support a desired change.
Methods to deal with resistance
Education and communication
– discussions, presentations to groups, memos, to educate people about a change before it is implemented.
Participation and involvement
– allowing others to help design and implement the changes through task forces or committees.
3.
Facilitation and support
– provide support for the hardships of change, listening to problems and complaints; providing training in new ways
Negotiation and agreement
– offering incentives; working out tradeoffs in exchange for support for the change.
Manipulation
– using covert attempts to influence others; selectively providing information and consciously structuring events so that the change will receive the maximum support.
Coercion
– using force to get people to accept change; threatening with undesirable consequences if they do not go along as planned.
Stress
Stress due to change
Organisational change can often be stressful. When experienced for a prolonged period of time, stress can lead to employee illness and even death.
Change in any organisation is accompanied by increased stress for the people involved.
Sources of stress
*Stressors are things that cause stress.
People worry about losing their jobs, about family and social pressures, lack of autonomy and poorly trained employees. Others worry about work overloads, interpersonal relations, competition for promotion and lack of autonomy.
There are three categories of stressors;
work
(role dynamics, task demands),
non-work
(family, economics, personal affairs), and
personal factors
(needs, capabilities, personality).
Strategies to manage stress
Family difficulties may be relieved by a change of work schedule.
Family concerns may be reduced by knowing that your supervisor understands.
Role ambiguities, conflicts and overloads can be prevented by good supervisor-employee communication, a willingness of employees to ‘speak up’ when role dynamics are creating difficulties, and sensitivity on the part of supervisors to behaviours from employees indicating they are experiencing problems.
Turn off mobile phones and limit the use of emails when you get home from work.
Innovation
To survive and prosper, organisations need to build capabilities to make changes that ensure economic competitiveness and responsiveness to the environment. This involves continual innovation.
Innovation is the process of creating new ideas and putting them into practice.
Innovation expressed in the equation: Innovation = invention + application.
Invention is the act of discovery, while application is the act of use. Both are critical in the innovation process.
The introduction of new products and services is an example of incremental change, and the implementation of these changes will be via planned change.