Problems with Managing a Group of People - Essay Example

Management Name Institution Course Tutor Date Introduction Management of a group of people includes managing of their productivity too. The difficulty with change is that it is associated with uncertainty and fear. Managers and supervisors, therefore, should manage the issues and problems associated with change and the effects it has on their employees (Bushe, Marshack &Averbuch 2015 pg.34). Fostering innovation and creativity Leaders and managers have the responsibility to sell new ideas through fostering innovation. While doing that, managers are required to use their power in an effective and ethical manner to negotiate commitment and agreement from their employees. Leaders should, therefore, know their audience and their purpose when communicating ideas build strong networks and be influential in ethical ways and also, seek to find win-win outcomes. Managers should also consider individual concerns when implementing and planning change. For example, if the change will affect the geographical location of employees and if they are comfortable with that movement. Another issue is to accept failure as a path to change or innovation. It is through failure that people learn and therefore managers should learn from such failure and make improvements where appropriate (Pham 2005 pg.73). Forces of change and innovation There are forces of innovation and change in various industries that these managers should be aware. These forces include scarcity of resources, uncertain economic conditions, rapid developments in new information and technologies and increased competition and globalization. (Harvard Business School 2005 pg.56). So as to be able to find success and survive, organizations should respond to a demand increase for high levels of satisfaction and customer service. Customer satisfaction, greater flexibility in the work structure and well-organized patterns of management should be considered while implementing change. Diversity is also another important fact that should be considered. This diversity refers to the changing nature of the workforce and its composition. Managers walk a thin line while applying performance, change, innovation and that framework shows the options and opportunities available in the workspace. There are different types of managers, and they have different types of characteristics which affect how they handle change. Weak leaders make excuses, give in to employee demands and make excuses for duties not done. Another type of managers is the great managers who inspire commitment, respect employee concern and take responsibility for their work (French 2011 pg.32). Thirdly, there are the overbearing leaders. These types of managers easily blame others and expect blind obedience from employees. It is clear that the best kind of managers to handle change is the great leaders because they will be concerned about their employees and inspire commitment. Eliminating blocks to innovation and communicating change While working towards change, there are eliminating blocks to innovation and communicating change. Reducing opposition and fostering change is part of a manager’s role in any industry. This step, therefore, begins with a plan of action for change communication. A manager should focus on the purpose of change, the audience that the change will affect and the resources that are required for a change to take place. There are principles that guide change in communication and one of them is focus on interests and not positions. Separate people from the change, insist on the use of objective criteria, and creative thinking are also other principles that guide communicating change. Forms of change There are two forms of change that take place in organizations. These changes are planned change and unplanned change. Planned change takes place as a result of a certain change agent e.g. a performance gap. Planned change has positive connotations, and it involves the communication of gains such as increased performance and superior customer service. Such change is expected by employees and has the aim of improving employee participation in decision making and auctioning off such change. Unplanned change, on the other hand, takes place randomly without a benefit of the change in the attention of agents. It has fewer positive connotations and employees may feel a loss in the process. It is mostly sudden and often causes stress and anxiety among employees. Other changes that can occur in an organization are changes suggested by others, changes involving risks, changes associated with economic losses and changes that affect skill requirement and knowledge. Phases of the management process Planned change and improved performance involve management of a process that has three phases namely; unfreezing, movement and re-freezing. Unfreezing involves minimizing forces that maintain behavior in the present form and recognition of the need for improvement and change in behavior and performance to take place. Unfreezing takes place before change can be implemented. The main goal for unfreezing is to create awareness on the current acceptability level that may hinder the organization in some way. Old processes, behaviors, organizational structures should be examined so as to show employees the necessity for a change in an organization and have a competitive advantage in the market (Harrington & Terry 2009 pg. 10). Movement phase involves the development of new behavior or attitude and implementation of that change. Change is a process in which an organization should move into a new state of existence. This phase is marked by an implementation of the change. People struggle with new realities, and it is marked with fear and uncertainty that makes it hard to overcome. Employees should be frequently reminded of the reasons for a certain change and how it could benefit them once it is implemented. Lastly, the re-freezing phase includes activities such as stabilizing, reinforcement through mechanisms such as policies and changes to a new level. Refreezing symbolizes reinforcing, solidifying and stabilizing a new state after a given change. Changes that are made to structures, offerings and goals are refrozen as the new norms. This phase is important because it ensures that people do not get back to their old thinking ways (Sims 2002 pg.117). Acknowledgements and positive rewards of individual are utilized to reinforce a new state since it is believed that reinforced behavior is likely repeated. Without this step, many people could go back to their old way of doing things. Managing change and resistance to change However, as much as change is good and may be of benefit to an organization, change me resisted by employees for several reasons. One of such reasons is fear of the unknown and probably disruption of routine that affects people. Employees may also feel a loss of confidence and timing of change is considered as poor by employees. The change could also mean increased workloads for employees which may be taken negatively. Change may also make employees feel a sense of embarrassment or lowered worth (Leonard & McGuire 2007 pg. 109). To reduce the resistance to change, organizations should design transformational change. This change involves creating a common vision of the future, focus on developing the number of people so as to perform their best, share ownership and responsibility towards achieving the organization’s vision. One of the ways to manage resistance to change is through transparency and offering employees enough information on any change planned. Also, having a sensible leap up time should be considered instead of forcing change and surprising employees all of a sudden. A good leap up time enables employees to process change and make necessary adjustments to their attitudes or behavior. Employees should feel empowered so as to have confidence in offering ideas and be assured that they will be heard. Transformational change facilitates the fact that an industry’s future leaders could be found in the lower levels of an organization (Nelson & Quick 2012 pg.41). One important factor in the effective organization is the management of innovation and management and corporate renewal. Management views emphasize on organizing, planning, controlling and directing. Increasing competitiveness and organization’s need to respond quickly to change in their environment draws attention to the learning organization concept. Features of learning organization include personal mastery that involves the skills and competencies that are associated with management. Another feature is systems thinking that the recognition that items are connected is and that organization is complicated systems. Mental models are also another feature, and it involves the drive of important principles and values of an organization. Through a shared vision, team members get the importance of cooperation and a common vision. Lastly, team learning enables dialogue practices and employee discussion (Newton 2011 pg.67). The learning organization Learning organizations encourages employees at different levels of the organization to learn from their work and communicate to employees that it adds value to the learned lessons. When workplaces become learning organizations, they can innovate and transform themselves continuously. It is important for people to learn that learning starts with an individual and that ability, personality and culture may have an effect on the management process. Conclusion In conclusion, while implementing change an organization should take into account, all the issues discussed in this paper so as to make change successful and acceptable by employees. The types of change, the phases of change and means of reducing employee resistance should be taken into account, and an organization will be able to manage productivity through people (Wong, Jondahl, Ferguson 2014 pg.98). REFERENCES PHAM THI, T. B. (2005). Organizational Barriers and Employees' Resistance in Strategic Change Processes. Munich, GRIN Verlag GmbH. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-201501311225. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL. (2005). Managing change to reduce resistance. Boston, Mass, Harvard Business School Press. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=12477. WONG, H. K., WONG, R. T., JONDAHL, S. F., & FERGUSON, O. F. (2014). The Classroom management book. NEWTON, R. (2011). The management book: mastering the art of leading teams. Harlow, England, Prentice Hall. NELSON, D. L., & QUICK, J. C. (2012). Organizational behavior: science, the real world, and you. Mason, Ohio, South-Western. LEONARD, D., & MCGUIRE, M. (2007). The executive guide to understanding and implementing the Baldrige criteria: improve revenue and create organizational excellence. Milwaukee, Wis, ASQ Quality Press. BUSHE, G. R., MARSHAK, R. J., & AVERBUCH, T. (2015). Dialogic organization development: the theory and practice of transformational change. http://alltitles.ebrary.com/Doc?id=11051879. SIMS, R. R. (2002). Managing organizational behavior. Westport CT, Greenwood Press FRENCH, R. (2011). Organizational behavior. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. HARRINGTON, N., & TERRY, C. L. (2009). LPN to RN transitions: achieving success in your new role. Philadelphia, Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More