Business Development and Change Agent Knowledge - Assignment Example

Questions and Answers: Organizational Development Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Questions and Answers: Organizational Development Question One: Characteristics of Organizational Development Organizational developers spend months or even years to constructing companies so that they fit a given strategic design (Anderson, 2010). In some instances, such specialized are forced to develop new companies or restructure the existing ones. However, in order to ensure success in the development of organizations, the process needs to incorporate specific characteristics including attracting and retaining of intellectual capital (Waddell et al., 2014). In order for any organization to be securely strategized in a new business environment, it is critically important to attract highly skilled and specialized personnel. The key objective of such persons is to drive the much-needed change and integrating all systems that will support the productivity in line with the existing competition (Cummings & Worley, 2009). In this process, the underperforming employees may be laid off while senior and skilled personnel such as highly qualified engineers are employed or retained (Waddell et al., 2014). Secondly, organizational development requires that employees be trained on various aspects. for example if the development has introduced new policies, the new and existing employee will undergo training of how to implement the rules and integrate them in all organizational processes. Thirdly, cultivating and marketing competency must be involved in the organizational development process (Waddell et al., 2014). Notably, developing and new organizations strengthens the traits in which the senior executives would like the company to be known for (Cummings & Worley, 2009). Such key traits are called “core competencies”. For instance, a new company that wants to have a competitive advantage may want value, innovation, quality, and customer service to be its core competencies. Lastly, the development of an organization should incorporate future strategy in its planning. The key objective of planning is to study the market trends and consider the eventual path that the organization needs to take (Waddell et al., 2014). For example, an organization that deals in clothing may decide to open new franchises in the next five years in order to cover more market segments geographically. Question Two: Action Research Model and Positive Model Action research model is one of the strategies that can be used in making changes in an existing organization as well as directing operations in a new environment (Waddell et al., 2014). The process of action research model starts by identifying the needs or the problems that should be solved or met (Waddell et al., 2014). For example, in an existing organization, the management may have noted the decline in the productivity, which could be due to many interrelated reasons. The next step in this model would be to design the research methods in order to identify the problem in an organization. The next stage involves collecting of the data that would guide the implementation of the solution (Waddell et al., 2014). Therefore, the management may start by carrying out their own research to know the cause of the declined productivity, after which they can design ways of addressing the problem. For example if employees are not motivated, the management may recommend incentives to boost their morale. The fourth stage is analyzing the data collected. The most suitable method of data interpretation must be used. The implementation process may be started based on the results of the data as which is followed by reflecting, revising, and repeating. Positive model of change involves five phases that start with initiating the inquiry (Waddell et al., 2014). Initiating inquiry requires that members understand the issue that need change. For instance, the management may be concerned about the low levels of quality of organization’s product. The second stage involves seeking the best practices of assembling data such as carrying out interviews to determine where the cause of poor quality of products. The third stage is where the members need to discover the main themes in the data collected. For example, the main problem in all ideas brought forward could be poor job design that does not encourage competitiveness in the organization. The next level should be to determine the future of the company based on the issue at hand under the “envision a preferred future” stage (Waddell et al., 2014). In this case, the management may be willing to ensure that in the next five years the products of their company meets all set standards in order to attract customers. The last stage involves designing and delivering the desired future of an organization based on the best strategy. The main differences action research model and positive model is that action research model can be applied in both existing and new organization. However, positive model is most applicable in an existing organization where change is required. Question Three: Data Collection Method for Change Process An organization or a company that needs to carry out some changes in the way business operations are done can use various methods in data collection, which included unstructured observation, individual interviews, group interview, and use of questionnaires (Waddell et al., 2014). Unstructured observations involve a personnel or a team observing how activities are conducted in a business environment. For instanced a manger can be tasked to randomly observe how supervisors are controlling their junior and if targets are being met. Individual interviews involve interviewing an employee and trying to understand the problem while group interviews entail interviewing several people in an organization. On the other hand, questionnaires refer to structured questions that are distributed to employees (Waddell et al., 2014). Employees are required to return the papers after they are though. Question Four: Four Contingencies for Target Change The development of organizational change requires two main categories of contingencies including those that target the change situation itself and those that relate to the target change (Waddell et al., 2014). Strategy issues focus on a bigger picture of ensuring that the company becomes or retains its competitive advantage (Waddell et al., 2014). For example, an organization can decide to invest in corporate social responsibility in order to market its product and its brand, which will boost its reputation. Thirdly, human resource issues include attracting the most qualified individuals as employees, which needs competitive recruitment process especially at executive level (Waddell et al., 2014). Finally, interpersonal issues refer to developing interpersonal skills within employees in order to work as team in achieving individual and organizational goes. For instance, an organization can start training programs on leadership skills among its personnel to boost their individual and collective performance. Question Five: Two Reasons for Change Resistance and Two Strategies Many reasons determine in employees will embrace proposed change in an organization. One of the main reasons why worker may resist change is the fear of unknown (Daft & Marcic, 2009). Employees fear unknown impacts of any change in an organization if they were not involved in the process. For instance if management seeks to introduce incentive programs based on targets and does not involve employees’ representatives, workers may oppose the program for fearing the impact of the program on their job security. Additionally, mistrust can as well make employees resist change. for example if a manager in a finance department is corrupt, employees may resist any proposed change in the mode of payment from using checks to using cash from the department. Although there are many ways in which resistance to change can be addressed, the most common strategy is ensuring that all relevant parties are involved in the process (Daft & Marcic, 2009). Therefore, an organization should ensure that affected people and parties participate in the designing and implementation process. All concerns can be addressed before any implementation is done (Daft & Marcic, 2009). Secondly, employees need to educated and well informed about the new change. For example, in the case above, it is advisable to inform employees that all corruption loopholes have been sealed, but most importantly explaining the logic behind the new changes. Question Six: Four Categories of Change Agent Knowledge and Skills According to Waddell et al., (2014), there are four types of change agents including outside pressure type, people-change-technology type, analysis-for-the-top type, and the organization-development type. The “outside pressure” type of change agents mostly provide more radical changes while the “People-change-technology” type focus on changing people’s behavior for an organization to experience overall change (Waddell et al., 2014). On the other hand, the “analysis-for-the-top type” is more concerned on changing the structure of an organization in order to improve on efficiency and output while the “Organization-development type” concentrates on internal processes such as interpersonal group relations or communication. As a change agent, I prefer applying “analysis-for-the-top type” strategy in addressing change in an organization since structural change is instrumental in influencing leadership skills (Waddell et al., 2014). Consequently, leadership skills determine the change aspect in people’s behavior, which improves service delivery and general performance. Question Seven: Transformational and Transactional Leadership Transformational leadership focuses on effecting revolutionary change in an organization (Iqbal, 2011). The major characteristic of transformation leadership is the idealized influence. The objective of a transformational leader is to engender admiration, trust, respect, and loyalty from the followers by applying charismatic behavior and vision. Secondly, transformational style of leadership involve inspiration in order to motivate followers though new ideas (Iqbal, 2011. For example, a leader can involve employees to work on their leadership, as it is through such skills they will be able to own their own companies and achieve success. On the other hand, transactional leadership is based on the concept that an employee will only be rewarded after doing what he is expected by an employer (Iqbal, 2011). Therefore, unlike transformational leader, a transactional leader is more practical, which means that the leadership style depends on the exchange between a leader and an employee. For example if an employee is paid after meeting a certain target of sales, a transactional leader will be expected to stick to the agreement. Secondly, transactional leader is less flexible compared to a transformation leader. In the above example, a transformational leader may want to know what happened and the weakness or challenges an employee is facing. Thirdly, transactional leader is considered as change resistant (Iqbal, 2011). The wishes of such a leader are that the status quo should prevail and no need of transforming the working environment. A transformation leader not only changes an individual but also an organization performance. Finally, as opposed to a transformational leader, a transactional leader makes all decisions and expects subordinates to follow (Iqbal, 2011). For example, one may decide that all employees come to work from six in the morning without questioning. Question Eight: Four Strategies in Integration Responsiveness Framework Integration responsiveness framework is a model that provides ways in which an international business can venture into the global market while at the same time retaining local businesses (Peng, 2014). One of the four strategies in the framework is the Home Replication Strategy (Export Strategy or International Strategy). Any firm using this strategy believes international business is separate and secondary to its domestic one and should be used to generate more sales to support the local business. The product is designed with domestic customers in mind but international business is sought to extend sales for the product. For example, a car-manufacturing firm in the UK can decide to open its branches in china in order to increase its sales. Secondly, the Multi-Domestic Strategy (Multi-Local Strategy) is incorporated in the framework. In this strategy, headquarters give a considerable autonomy to country mangers where they work independently (Peng, 2014). In the above example, after opening car assembly in a foreign country, the manager of the new subsidiary is allowed to work independently by using different marketing or selling strategies. In most case, the mangers come from the host country. Thirdly, the framework also included the global strategy, which supports centralized control of operations (Peng, 2014). Therefore, the headquarters in the UK will determine the design and other strategies that mangers will use globally. Finally, transnational strategy is the application of a coordinated approach in order to internationalize a firm (Peng, 2014). In this case, a firm tries to be responsive to local market but retaining control of international business. In the above example the firm will ensure that it does not lose UK clients but at the same time putting measure of market its products in China. Question Nine: Organizational Environments Organizational environment refers to the internal and external factors that after the operation or performance of a business (Aldrich, 2008). There are three main categories of organizational environments including general, task, and enacted environment. The general environment consists of all conditions in the external environment that forms a background context for managerial decision-making (Aldrich, 2008). General environments can subdivided into economic, social-cultural, Technological, Demographic, and Political and legal conditions. General environmental factors affect everyone in an organization in more or less the same manner. On the other hand, task environments refers to the factors or conditions in a given industry such as the competition, market volatility, and availability of raw materials, demand and supply forces, and others (Aldrich, 2008). Finally, enacted environments are the structures and way of doing things in a given organization (Aldrich, 2008). For example, the one of organization’s policies could be that it must employ highly competitive employees, which determines the business performance. Question Ten: Workforce and Organizational Changes Study shows that the workforce is changing, which is may influencing the employers’ dilemma. One of the key trends in the job market is that fewer people are entering the workforce. Study indicates that in the last ten years, there has been 20% drop in the number of people entering the workforce. The research shows that this is informed by the increased rate of retirement in the developed countries as well as reduced birth rate (Cummings & Worley, 2009). Secondly, the market is not filled with unquailed applicant of jobs. Employers are more concerned on the increased number of applicants who do not have required credentials to take up the job they are applying for. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years. In order to prepare for many changes in the workforce, many companies are adopted in-training programs that will make the majority of unqualified applicants considered in employment (Cummings & Worley, 2009). The objective is to select the most qualified but at the same time provide specific training based on organizational roles and responsibilities. Further, companies are upping their games by offering attractive incentives in order to recruit highly qualified personnel. Consequently, companies are now competing in providing the most suitable working environment in order to also attract the retiring persons. References Aldrich, H. (2008). Organizations and environments. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Business Books. Anderson, D. L. (2010). Organization development: The process of leading organizational change. Los Angeles: Sage. Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2009). Organization development & change. Australia: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2009). Understanding management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Iqbal, T. (2011). The impact of leadership styles on organizational effectiveness: Analytical study of selected organizations in IT sector in Karachi. Munich: Grin Verlag. Peng, M. W. (2014). Global business. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning/South Western. Waddell, D.M., Creed, A., Cummings, T.G. & Worley, C.G. (2014). Organisational Change, Development & Transformation (Asia Pacific 5th ed.). South Melbourne Vic: Cengage Learning Australia. Yaeger, T. F., Head, T. C., & Sorensen, P. F. (2006). Global organization development: Managing unprecedented change. Greenwich, Conn: Information Age Publ. Read More