Managing Organizational and Personal Change - Coursework Example

MOIC by Student’s name Code+ course name Professor’s name University name City, State Date Abstract This essay analyzes my experience in relation to managing organizational and personal change and its implications for organizational practice, management theories and how it will help me in the future. In doing so, the first part of this paper will attempt to highlight my learning journey through this course. The second part will focus on multiple perspective theories; that is, scientific theory, organic and brain metaphors. Finally, the document concludes how these models will help me in the future. The essay will begin by giving brief explanations of the terms of multiple perspective frameworks. Problem Statement To begin with, we need not look far to discover challenging problems in the field of human resource management. I have noted that managers may ignore or attempt to bury human resource problems, but these will not lie dormant because of the very nature of the problem component. Many problems arise from constant changes that occur both within and without the firm. Among the many major changes that are occurring, the following will illustrate the nature of the human resource challenges. The changing personal values of the workforce The changing workforce inevitably leads to an introduction of new values to organizations. The workforce has been, heavily imbued with a set of values characterized by the term "work ethic". Work is to have spiritual meaning, and is stressed by various behavioral norms, for example, punctuality, honesty, diligence, and frugality. One's job is a central life interest and provides the dominant clue I interpersonal assessment. A workforce with this set of values is highly adapted to use by business organizations in their pursuit of the values of productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Instead of organizations providing the basic guides to living persons are responsible for exploring and determining, on their own, whatever they intend to do and become. With this philosophy, work becomes one of the options of being a complete individual so as to attend to personal things. The absolute worth of the individual is a value that is merged with the concept that all people are members of the great human family. Concerning specifics, full employment gives way to the full life. Climbing the organization ladder of success for its accompanying materialistic symbols becomes less important than self-expression through a creative accomplishment. Private lives outside the job and firm are relatively autonomous, accompanied by an increasing reluctance to sacrifice oneself or one’s family for the good of the organization. Quality of life is preferred to quantity, equity to efficiency, diversity to conformity and the individual to the organization (Dessler 2004). With respect to an increasing emphasis upon the individual as compared with the organization, a number of changes in personnel programs have been tried. Attempts have been made to redesign jobs to provide challenging activities that need the human ego. The changing mix of the work force Through each person, is unique and consequently presents a challenge to our general understanding. One can also appreciate broader problems by categorizing personnel to delineate and highlight trends. There are various main changes in the mix of personnel entering the work force. These include: increase in number of the minority individuals entering occupations that require greater skills, increase in level of formal education for the whole work force, more female employees, more married female employees and more working mothers (Luis et al. 2008). An increase in majority in white-collar workers as opposed to the blue-collar The challenge has had much to do with many of the above-listed changes. Prohibition of discrimination and requirements for positive action to redress imbalances in work force mix have led to greater numbers of minority personnel being hired for all types of jobs. According to, Burns and Stalker in their organic theory, organizations exist dependently, in other words, the organizations consider the needs of their staff, and this results to team leadership as well as team-work. In team leadership, the control of the work-place is shared by various individuals, other than one individual giving instruction to other on what is expected of them. Organic organizations consider the concepts of the staff, giving room to teamwork amongst the staff, other than competition or feelings of being powerless. The usage of an Organic Organization is believed that it provides incentives to the staff to have a remarkable co-operation and performance to their optimum (Dessler 2004). Burns and Stalker asserted that the organizations that face a changing environment might be required to use the idea of organic organizational structure as a way of promptly adapting to the various changes. These organizations have decentralized decision-making method as a way of facilitating a fast adaptation to the dynamics in the marketplace. Organization that operate in the environment that has a significant stability, benefits from the practice of a mechanistic organizational technique, where policies are made and remain for a long duration of time. The responsibility of decision-making is left to a few individuals and responsibilities remain unchanged (Luis et al. 2008). Management entails the process of having things being done by use of other people, which are unique in respect of aspirations, attitudes, perceptions and many others. Their differences are so obvious that standard results may not be achieved in otherwise similar environment. The behavior of human beings cannot be predicted accurately and therefore standards and readymade solutions cannot be prescribed. Management is concerned with the future that is complex and unpredictable so that if there are changes in the environment, the management plans will be affected. Management plans are prone to change due to the changes in the external environment e.g. technological changes, economic and socio-cultural changes Second part Organizational Change Managers must give justification for decision-making based on scientific perspective. The aim of the theory was to change the attitude of the employees and the managers towards one another and work. The principles of task idea states that favorable conditions at work will make the workers perform miracles and increase productivity. Management within a contact institution employs various strategies in the promotion of a favorable workplace environment for the staff. The approach falls into three basic classes: the programs that enhance a favorable work-life balancing, techniques to enhance employee's engagement, and initiation that creates a trend of appreciation for recommendable employee performance. It is also important to relentlessly invest time and resources in building a trend that enhances the satisfaction of the staff. Staff members are considerably more persistence to the effects of financial downturns on their remuneration whenever they realize that sincere efforts are being made in prioritizing their needs (Dessler 2004). There is also selection and training of new employees where proper policies and guidelines be formulated to ensure that only qualified personnel are hired, and those without the skills be trained. The organization's resources, both human as well as physical should be put to proper use. The managers should minimize their misuse. At least 5 percent of the training programs have their assessment based on their financial benefits in the organization. However, this differs amongst the organizations renowned for their committed training. Division of work should be undertaken because it leads to specialization that further leads to increased production. Planning should be the first function for any manager because it helps to achieve the organizational goals with ease and without conflicts. (Luis et al. 2008). A substantial characterization of whatever is known by an individual calls for abstract mental techniques to which there isn't a deliberate access and that significantly conceptual and propositional, instead of sensory or pictorial methods. The above mentioned illustrations are usually more accurately believed to be more of symbolic descriptions as opposed to images. The effects of using imagery vocabularies are accessed, and the picture metaphor, that underlies the past theoretical debates, has been misleading, particularly when suggesting that the images are entities to be for perception. Iain (1996) emphasizes that people don’t, like Morgan (1986) asserts, come up with newer metaphors to the extent of: illuminating personal minds and one’s practice through the extension, elaboration, questioning of basic, daily usual, theoretical metaphors. Defending the above assertion, Mangham refers to the Lakoff's (1993) essay about the current theory of metaphor, in which the concept of "cross domain mapping" remains fundamental in the common languages. It entails our examination on: the means through which we conceptualize one mental domain based on another (Lakoff 1993). The approach of Mangham (1996) is on the basis of the organization as "one overarching metaphor”, in Lakoff's reference as an expedition. The account of Webb (1994) on the management of change applies the concept of Water color painting in his metaphor: (even, perhaps especially, planning) isn’t jigsaw in what all things have an exact place to which they have to be slotted, though a water-color paint, such that a usual intent is altered as liquid color, collides and merges in unexpected manner. Other conception in regard to the usage of metaphors in the interpretive applications comprise of the research of Sackmann (1989) about the adaptive as well as the targeted metaphors. She makes a suggestion that the metaphors could be of use in the accomplishment of drastic changes within the organizations and argues that prosperous managers effectively use the power of metaphor as they render vague as well as the abstract concepts more realistic; embracing the concept of Bennis (1984) about the common things about effective managers is being capable to "manage meaning". As the case study mainly concentrated on the challenges encountered in the translation of vision into viable activities, it was suitable to investigate the usage of metaphors as an interpretive as well as a management instrument. Sackmann is commending the metaphors as a managerial device due to its abilities in communication. Metaphors are easy to be recalled, compacted, incorporate the audience as well as highlights particular matters by the use of relation with the feelings and observations. Sackmann gives a demonstration of the adaptive metaphors: connoting an activities and behavior that tests, explores, searches and is tentative. A metaphor gives a considerably realistic and exclusive image what happens as opposed to single metaphor, and backs up their ethical application in circumstance in which interpretations of occasions is needed. The concept of Barrett and Cooperrider (1990) on generative metaphors is similarly, dealing with the essence of metaphors in the organizational revolution. Their paper is elaborating the ways in which metaphors were being used in liberating groups from the dysfunctional conflicts and defensive routines. Using a case study that was focusing on hotel facilities, being under the ownership of a clinic, they stressed out their concept of metaphors as being an invitation to seeing the world differently; enhancing individuals to learn new information,. They also stated that metaphors proved steering functions for future activities and concepts and invitation of active experimentations in zones that are highly rigid. The paper of Barrett and Cooperrider (1990) gives an illustration on the means through which generative metaphors enhance the facilitation of genuine conversations with the aim of coming up with an innovative and imaginative ideology geared towards the improvement of any organization that supports the possibility of cognitive re-evaluation and new scheme improvement. Brown and Duguid (1996) come up with a critical relation between the literature related with the metaphors as an interpretive help. According to Brown and Duguid, metaphors are substituted with storytelling (Orr's "antiphonal recitation"). After analyzing Orr's (1987) substantive of the activities of a photocopier technician who attempts to find out a fault in the machines, they found out the significance of non-canonical activities that respond to a circimstance. Conclusion In conclusion, effective management of change as explained above by the theories of management and organizational change shows; a recommendable use of facilities by use of scientific approach that is, scientific selections and trainings of the workers which results to an improved teamwork to ensure there is improvement in effectiveness, harmonious co existence amongst the employees and the managerial team, regularity of apparatus, materials, methods, tools for enhancing effectiveness and overall decrease in cost of production. When employees are provided with a chance for scientific guidance and growth, they improve their abilities, know-how and proficiency. The usage of scientific approach and criteria in a favourable working environment minimizes fatigue. We also have the usage of the brain as a metaphor in the generation of insight about the way in which an organization could successfully design flexible production system. We make a choice of the brain as a metaphor due to the fact that it is a self-organizing system that has the ability of reacting exponentially to various external stimuli. The metaphor of the brain yields a suggestion that flexibility could be facilitated through the employment of practices that enhances distributed processes that occur in parallelly. The abovementioned practices differ with those used by the production systems grounded on scientific management criteria that facilitate sequential localized processes. Through the exploration of the contrasting means of operation, it is evident that the brain, being a metaphor, is capable of opening up many new opportunities for theory development in relation to the designing of flexible production systems. The experience in relation to the management of organizational and personal change and its effects for the organizational practices by use of management theories is helpful in the shaping of the organization's standards. Reference List Barrett, F. and Cooperrider, D. 1990. Generative Metaphor Intervention: A New Approach for Working with Systems Divided by Conflict and Caught in Defensive Perception, in The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp 219-239 Brown, J. and Duguid, P. 1996. Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice, in Cohen, M. and Sproull, L., (Eds), Organisational Learning, London: Sage Dessler, G. 2002. Human Resource Management (9th Edition ).NJ: Prentice Hall Lakoff, G.1993. The contemporary theory of metaphor, in Ortony, A., (Ed), Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Luis R.; David B. Balkin and Robert L. Cardy. 2008. Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill. p. 20 Mangham, I.1996. Some Consequences of Taking Gareth Morgan Seriously, in Grant, D. and Oswick, C., (Eds), Metaphor and Organisations, London: Sage Morgan. G. (1986), Images of Organization, Beverley Hills, CA: Sage Orr, J.1987. Narratives at Work: Story telling as co-operative diagnostic activity, Field Service Manager, pp. 47-60, cited in Brown, J. and Duguid, P., (1996), Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice, in Cohen, M. and Sproull, L., (Eds), Organisational Learning, London: Sage Sackmann, S.1989. The Role of Metaphors in Organization Transformation, in Human Relations, Vol. 42, No 6, pp. 463-485 Webb, A. 1994. Two Tales from a Reluctant Manager, in Weil, S., (ed), Introducing Change ‘From the Top’ in Universities and Colleges, London: Kogan Page Read More