Application of the Theory and Concepts to the Area for Change and Development - Literature review Example

A REPORT ON ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE & DEVELOPMENT Student’s Name Course Name Institutional Affiliation A. Rationale & Outline of Change and Development: Individual & Organisation Levels The aspect related to change management and development has, for a long period, been emphasised as a platform for establishing organisational readiness for imminent change. It suggests numerous levels of strategies for purposes of formulating and implementation as a whole. Even though this presumption seems to be reasonable, the scientific basis behind it has, all along, been restricted (Weiner, 2009). It is crucial to note that unlike individual readiness for change, the overall organisational readiness for it has not be explored to wider theoretical development or even empirical study for that matter. Organizational readiness for aspects related to change is deemed to be in a multi-level construct. In fact, at the organisational-level platform, the activities related to being ready for change is focused on the rationale that the entire organisation’s personnel share a common objective related to implementation of change as a well as a shared belief in their immediate collective capacity to embrace it altogether (Weiner, 2009). At this level, the functionality related to how much the organizational members value the aspect of change and how favourably they engage in appraising three fundamental determinants of implementation capability; task demands; resource availability as well as situation factors, is noted. In the event that organisational readiness is considered to be high then it means that change is imminent and that the entire personnel would likely go ahead to initiate it; put in more efforts; portray a great level of persistence so that it can be seen through as well as display a possible cooperative behaviour (Avey, Wernsing, & Luthans, 2008). There are a great number of conditions that are perceived to be helpful in bringing about organisational readiness for change. Despite the fact that change at the organisational is somehow; an uphill task to generate, such theories related to social and cognitive theory indicate that there is a possibility of specific conditions that can enhance it altogether. The fundamental aspect related to the impact of change at a personal level is also considered to be of paramount importance. The overall impact of any given change on a specific individual in relation to improved workloads; adaptation demands are surely emphasised (Avey, Wernsing, & Luthans, 2008). In essence, there is a significant level of research that shows a direct and personal consequence of change for affected individuals, which is deemed to be an important aspect in shaping a person’s overall readiness for change. Individual’s commitment to aspects of change is a relative function of the extent for which this change will impact on their day-to-day work routines. Considering the fact that change seeks to expose activities into a greater adaptation deemed, they will tend to focus on formulation of increase in overall workloads; restrictions; possible chaos and conflicts as well as the immediate expenditure of energy as well as necessary resources that would certainly interfere with accessing present work done (Avey, Wernsing, & Luthans, 2008). This is essentially true for changes even for those forms of changes for which a person is already predisposed about or for which the overall outcome is perceived to be somehow positive (Teece, 2010). In addition to this, it is ascertained that whenever changes translates into being more disruptive in nature, there is a higher level of likelihood that individuals would be subjected to increased degree of uncertainty; fear of failure; possible loss of control, all of which have a direct level of impact on their attitudes towards change (Avey, Wernsing, & Luthans, 2008). Certainly, there is a likelihood of highly affected individuals to be extra-responsive or even sensitive to the immediate effects of leadership framework (Teece, 2010). Application of the Theory and Concepts to the Area for Change and Development Organisation commitment for change has continued to draw lots of research attention since they have direct relations to organisational’ immediate outcomes like overall job performances; citizenship and employee turnover. Drawing on the existing motivation theory, change commitment is fairly ascertained to be a functionality of change valance. In examining this aspect, the theory can be adopted to ascertain whether or not organisational members would value a particular impending level of change. Gilley, Gilley, and McMillan (2009, p.75) indicate that the more individual members of an organisation value readiness for change and development then the more will put their efforts to implementing it altogether. It is possible to have individual organisational members to value a planned organisational change since they believe a need for immediate urgent change (Ernst Kossek, Lewis, & Hammer, 2010). They might also value change because they feel that it will be effective and efficient in the end and, likely provide solutions crucial organisational challenges or even because they have an anticipation that it will result to a generation of benefits that will impact; the organisation; patients and employees for that matter (Lam & Lambermont-Ford, 2010). Considering the very many rationales behind individual’s value for change, it is more unlikely that any of this particular reasons will result to a consistence; cross-situational forms of relationships that is needed for overall organisational readiness for change. It is emphasised that change efficacy is another condition that promotes both organisational and individual readiness for change. It is specifically examined in regards to the social cognitive theory that promotes three fundamental determinants of implementation capacity that include; task demands; resource availability as well as possible situational factors (Ashforth, Harrison, & Corley, 2008). It is crucial to note that change efficacy is directly linked to an all-inclusive judgment of perceived capacity to execute a given task. In the course of developing change-efficacy related judgments, individual organisational members would certainly engage in the acquisition; sharing and assimilation of information bearing on three fundamental queries; how to implement change effectively; the availability of resources to implement the change efficiently and whether there is a chance to implement the change much more effectively considering the condition people are currently placed in. Ashforth, Harrison, and Corley (2008, p.340) notes that social cognitive theory would indicate that the implementation capacity to change certainly depend in part on understanding the courses of action that are necessary; time needed as well as the manner for which the operational activities connected to the change can be effectively sequenced. Furthermore, apart from assessing knowledge of task demands, organisational members are called to cognitively appraise the connection that lies between task demands and the immediate readily-available resources. This is simply taken to mean that they are allowed an opportunity to assess whether or not the organisation in place is currently in possession of such important elements as human, financial and informational resource-base that is considered to be proper and useful for implementing the change at hand. Most notably, Muro and Jeffrey (2008,p.328-333) studies on change management further posits that situational factors like the presence of sufficient time needed for implementation of change can help an organisation go through a complex change development as a whole. Social cognitive theory indicates that whenever organisational and individual-level of change is deemed to be high, there is a high likelihood that organisational members will be more likely to initiate an overall change like institutionalising of new policies; processes or even overall practice; exert significant level of efforts set to support the need for change as well as portray an intensive persistence in regards to restrictions or challenges faced in the course of implementation (Muro & Jeffrey, 2008). In consequence, motivational theory postulates that whenever organisational and individual-based readiness for change is highly positioned, then all organisational members will portray a pro-social; change related behaviours, which basically translate to engaging directly in those actions that propel the aspect of change effort that surpasses job requirements or even role expectations (Lam & Lambermont-Ford, 2010). It is however; important to note organisational readiness for change do not necessarily result to the immediate implementation of a complex organisational change that will focus on improving levels of underlying quality; safety or even define proper anticipated outcomes. There is a need for implementation effectiveness that is deemed necessary but not that sufficient in accomplishing overall positive end results. B. Implementation Plan 1.0 Implementation Change Overview Taking a closer look at the business environment today, it can be seen without any fear or doubt that the organisation should purposefully engage in change. It is important to note that poor level of communications; improper training and insufficient workforce planning would definitely result to poor performances. In fact, failure to engage change would likely lead to loss of millions of dollars in delayed implementation. 2.0 Organisational Change Management Scope 2.1 Stakeholder Management Employees; have a high degree of assistance for the change project. The plan focuses on empowering them with training; allocation of enough resources and providing a favourable communication plan to ensure that their work is not interfered with. Management; is the immediate stakeholder group that is directly linked to making influential decisions regarding the change project at hand. Management is expected to exercise a strong leadership style that fairly resonates with the objective of change; improving production through technology adoption. 2.2 Communication Plan Both management and employees will have access to almost similar levels of information needed for adoption of the change related to inclusion of technology in order to improve production capacity. All information related to the project will be communicated through electronic mails to individual stakeholder’s accounts and, also through the use of memos. There will be weekly open-ended meetings where all stakeholders will be allowed an opportunity to get conformation on different issues of the project. 2.3. Training All employees will receive training on the use of the technological software for a period of two-weeks. For another week or so, the managers will be receiving possible feedback on how well the technologies have been adopted. 3.0 Post-Implementation Steps The underlying project management is set to provide any given form of assistance to employees for duration of 4-6 weeks. Employees will have an opportunity of receiving a hands-on training and are allowed a chance to practice on the new system in advance of final implementation. To sum the discussion above, it can be seen that the aspect related to change management and development within an organisation as being a complex activity altogether. Despite this, organisations are expected to adopt such theories as social cognitive and motivational theories to ascertain the degree of value different stakeholders and particularly so, employees place on the activity. To effectively ensure that the organisation improves on its business performances, it has been suggested that it adopts a technologically-driven process for which employees will undergo enormous training to incorporate into their day-to-day working operations. Part B: Reflection Analysis In the course of conducting this research, I have come to understand that there is a great deal of literature related to organisational change and development that is of great help in narrowing down how specific organisations can possibly improve on their performances. I have learned that employees will not necessarily accommodate and embrace the notion of change hence it is the duty of the management team and other relevant stakeholders to come up with effective ways that can help assist with this possible rebellion. The paper has successfully focused on motivation and social cognitive theories as being the most viable ones in expounding how different organisations perceive change. An effective change highly depends on how well the management and project team as a whole; have made efforts to ensure that employees have immediate access to required resources like training and development; as well as material resources that is needed for ensuring that they remain on course for executing innovation-based change. Lots of proper and real-time communication strategies are also needed for purposes of ensuring that possible conflicts and chaos are eliminated as much as possible. I have also noted that implementation of a change does not end at the implementation stage but rather post-implementation strategies are also incorporated to ensure activities of the project change remain on-course. In presentation of this project, we tend to divide ourselves into the sections herein so that each and every group members is able to share what they have learned in coming up with the implementation of change process. References List Avey, J.B., Wernsing, T.S. & Luthans, F., 2008. Can positive employees help positive organizational change? Impact of psychological capital and emotions on relevant attitudes and behaviours. The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, vol.44, no.1, pp.48-70. Ashforth, B.E., Harrison, S.H. & Corley, K.G., 2008. Identification in organizations: An examination of four fundamental questions. Journal of Management, vol.34, no.3, pp.325-374. Ernst Kossek, E., Lewis, S. & Hammer, L.B., 2010. Work—life initiatives and organizational change: Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream. Human Relations, vol.63, no.1, pp.3-19 Gilley, A., Gilley, J.W. and McMillan, H.S., 2009. Organizational change: Motivation, communication, and leadership effectiveness. Performance Improvement Quarterly, vol.21, no.4, p.75 Lam, A. & Lambermont-Ford, J.P., 2010. Knowledge sharing in organisational contexts: a motivation-based perspective. Journal of Knowledge Management, vol.14, no.1, pp.51-66 Muro, M. & Jeffrey, P., 2008. A critical review of the theory and application of social learning in participatory natural resource management processes. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, vol.51, no.3, pp.325-344 Teece, D.J., 2010. Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long Range Planning, vol.43, no.2, pp.172-194 Weiner, B.J., 2009. A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, vol.4, no.1, p.67 Read More