Implementation of Change in a Business Organization - Case Study Example

Name: Course Name: Institution: Instructor: Date: Implementation of Change in a Business Organization Introduction The current business environment is characterized by stiff competition, and this is notable in Australia. Therefore, business firms must promote a climate for continuos change. It is inevitable that business firms should develop capacity that will enable them embrace continuous changes taking place in the business environment. Organizations can only navigate the immediate challenges in the business environment through effective implementation of change. Business organizations in Australia have been impacted by numerous technological innovations and economic declines. The increasing pressure from the global challenges has necessitated firms to change the manner in which they conduct business. In order to succeed in the competitive environment, a business organization must be able to cope up with dramatic altering contextual forces. This promotes competitive advantage hence organization survival. Research indicates that various organizations have had different responses to change, and this disparity is influenced by the way an organization interprets the events occurring in the business environment. The extent to which an organization embraces change is also determined by organization’s capacity to undertake it. Noteworthy, change has numerous effects on the organization. Therefore, the management ought to be very keen when accepting and accommodating any change to avert hazardous effects as may be presented by a particular change. In an attempt of introducing change, business organizations should ensure that change that is about to be introduced should not have adversarial effects for sustainability (Meyer & Stensaker 2006, 217). Some organizations in the global business environment have failed because of their inability to embrace changes as they occur. Importantly, the craving desire for change is often unpredictable because they are often triggered by situation occurring in the business environment. Successful management of change is inevitable in order to survive in the current Australian business environment which is characterized by ever evolving technologies. In the past, some business firms have failed because of poor change implementation programs. Accommodating and implementing change calls for a valid framework that stipulates how the process will be undertaken. Implementation and management of organizational change is fundamental for success of an organization (Todnem 2005, 370). Today’s business environment is characterized by uncertainty and continuous change. The rapid and dynamic pace calls for organizations to shift from the old structures and routine to modern structures that will allow quick and accurate improvisation of solutions. In order to respond to this changed business environment, the organizations have to abandon the past structures that were commonly based on hierarchies and discrete groups and move to modern flexible forms such as communities and networks. Todnem (2005, 370) asserted that organizations should develop structures that allow all the employees in various management levels to participate in decision making. Employee’s contributions have had great impact on the success of an organization. Employees should be part of change hence designing structures that allow to them to participate in them entails development of the required capacity. Globalization is considered another pressure that must be beared in the current organizations. Internalization has been regarded as the best way in which business firms can promote knowledge sharing. Notably, an organization can respond to this development by undertaking restructuring through downsizing and outsourcing. However, care ought to be taken because paradoxically can lead to substantial loss of knowledge as staff leave the company. The knowledge possessed by the experienced workforce should be protected at all costs because they contribute immensely to organization’s productivity (Todnem 2005, 370). The needs and demands of customer are largely increasing in the current business environment. Therefore, business firms must embrace change in order to enable them meet the changing market conditions. Additionally, the business organizations ought to embrace change while focusing on the strategic gaols. Fundamentally, this is one of the most important aspects of business undertakings in the current business environment. Note mentioning, all changing business firms and organizations priorities on people-related issues within the organization. During the normal business operations, firms often centralize on processes, measurements, structures and policies to mention just but a few. However, a business organization can successfully transform when the people accept and committed to change. Before introducing change, an organization should ensure that individual values, interests and competencies are aligned with stated vision, mission and culture and capabilities (Semler 2001, 70). Culture is a very sensitive component of an organization and this is profound during organizational change. Overtime, people in organization have been fighting for numerous cultural issues. It is the duty of the top management or leadership to build new culture that will permit the changes that are about to be embraced. Supposedly, the firm’s management should undertake culture adit within the shortest time possible. Employees are valuable assets of an organization hence they have to be well informed of the new culture and changes to be introduced. The employees ought to have clear understanding of the rationale behind implementation of these changes. They must clearly comprehend their roles in making the new organization successful. Failure to do so leads to painful change. The employees tend to resist change in an organizational setting, and this would adversely affect various business operations. Lack of clear understanding of the rationale behind the change makes employees feel that they are working in the dark hence may developed a tendency of resisting it. Employees need a clear roadmap on the outcomes of the change implementation. Some organizations have failed to effect change because of their inabilities to properly orient employees to it. Employees may be at work physically but are absent mentally. In the long run, this would lead to increased employee turnover hence eroding profitability of the organization. It is important for the management to provide the necessary support to the employees in cases of displacement and outplacement. When amalgamating culture, it is important to do it with high speed and accuracy because the longer it takes the harder it is to put things in the right way again (St-Amour 2001, 28). In an organizational setting, change implementation if often driven and facilitated by the top management. Therefore, decisiveness of the top management is very crucial for successful transition in an organization. The management should clarify top priorities and ensure that people engage in useful activities. During change implementation, visibility is very important hence once the management has decided on the key messages; it should “walk the talk”. Effective communication with employees is the basis of success during change implementation. The communication process should be personalized. Face to face meeting has proved more worthy because eliminates common complaints that managers do not have time for the employees. They should explain the rationale of new structures, provide short term goals and give the appropriate directions, hold frequent meetings with the employees and encourage two-way communications (St-Amour 2001, 29). The role of managers and supervisors in an organization during change implementation are very important. They must verify and persuasively communicate to the management. They should verify the need for change and persuade other stakeholders of the organization. This process often begins when the management is crafting a compelling mission, vision and objectives. Organizational vision in respect to change is very important because it presents the image of the future which the rest of the stakeholders find appealing. Vision, mission and objectives act as guidelines during change implementation. They serve as the foundation on which particular strategies will be designed and implemented as part of change process for arriving at a desired future state (Fernandez and Rainey 2006, 171). Leaders should provide a course of action or a plan for implementing change. Importantly, persuading the stakeholders on the need of the change is not sufficient to bring the actual change. Therefore, the new idea must be transformed into a new idea. After defining course of action, the management should internal support for change and seek ways of overcoming resistance. According to Fernandez and Rainey (2006, 172), resistance has the effect of paralysing the change process. Therefore, the management should ensure that internal support mechanisms are put in place prior change implementation to limit the degree of employee resistance. It should also build external support i.e. develop support form political overseers and key external stakeholders. Change implementation calls for substantial resources. It is the role of the management to ensure that the organization has garnered sufficient resources that would guarantee implementation of change till later stages. Lack of resources would sabotage change process hence causing double loss to the organization (Fernandez & Rainey 2006, 172). A successful organizational change Experts argue that for a successful change to occur in organizations, it is vital to understand its dynamics. In this regard, experts agree that there are three basic concepts in creating successful change. A successful organizational change requires considers both individual and organizational perspectives. This concept is based on the understanding that organizational change starts with individuals and eventually spreads to the whole organization. It is imperative that the organization comes up with tools that give direction to the desired outcome. However before the desire for change there is need for the management to plan the management functions that would be vital for the change. This involves identifying gaps and developing appropriate actions to guide the process. In addition, the management must identify the team that will manage and supervise the process. This paper gives a strategy of overcoming resistance to change through deliberate efforts to create desire for change, ensuring the ability of the organization to change and reinforcing change. Desire for change Desire for change is a process that requires articulate communication from the management to ensure that all the stakeholders identify with the organizational goals, missions and objectives. All the stakeholders must be sensitized on the need fro change and the ramifications of such changes to the individuals and to the organization as whole. However, humans are naturally resistant to change. Most people will not change their ways of doing things, habits or even values until some force compels them to change. For effective change to take place, it is important to create awareness and the desire for that change. This introduces our first strategy for overcoming change resistance in organizations; communication with stake holders. Preparing for change Preparing for change is a very vital component that helps to ensure that the resistance to change is overcome with ease. This involves setting the change management tactics and objectives, preparing the management team to handle the change process and developing a plan of action to support the process. The out put of preparing for change is a clear description of the change process, generating a plan of action and implementing appropriate structures for the action plans. Communication with all stakeholders Training and communication strategies are one of the most efficient strategies for overcoming the resistance to change witnessed in most organizations. Apparently the resistance of change in the workplace is characterized by fear of uncertainty, fear of technology, loss of power or loss of autonomy. The basis of fear is ingrained to the lack of information on the direction of change and impact on self interests. This fear drives individual employees to develop a negative response including a feeling of betrayal, under utilization, insecurity and eventually depression. It is therefore clear that open communication within the organization plays a critical role in overcoming this fear. The open communication and feedback mechanism enables employees to share their fears with the management and appropriate solutions are sought to address these fears by providing a platform for exchange of information and deliberations. Managing change means dealing with people’s anxieties, fears and optimisms, sometimes based on vague assumptions. Management therefore serves the purpose of ensuring effective planning and execution of plans with the people affected by the changes. Communication must target all the stakeholders who are to be affected by the change. This involves a mechanism for making decisions at times of resistance. Opening communication channels provides an avenue for feedback and voicing concerns and grievances. This requires a communication process that proactively deals with issues as opposed to a communication system that responds to issues that have already surfaced. The management must come up with an open and trustworthy communication system that deals with the nature of the change, expected changes, challenges and possible opportunities. More importantly, communication strategy must focus on promoting the relationship between the employees and the management. It is therefore imperative that the communication strategy must focus on how to deal with arguments, distractions and avoidance from the employees. These strategies must start from the planning level to avoid disrupting organizational activities. This would entail communicating to all the stakeholders on how the change would affect them in terms of the risks of changing and the risks of not changing, the need for change, individual impacts of the change and possible opportunities and risks. After creating the desire for change, it is vital for the management to ensure that it has the ability to change. However, the desire for change is not enough; it must be reinforced by the ability of the organization to sustain the change. The organization must therefore ensure that the organization has the technical capacity and the organizational structures capable of supporting the changes. In this regard, the management must come up with strategies to develop ability and capacity. The first step in developing ability is to search for information on the requirements for the change and the corresponding ability of the organization. In addition the ability to change must encompass a clear definition of the desired change in the work environment. This definition must take into consideration key issues like employee participation, how the employee is to be affected, the need for empowerment and the general perspective of the change. The next step is facilitating training and developing technical capacity. Conclusion Change is important in the current business organization because it guarantees economic sustainability. Australian markets is characterized by numerous business upstarts hence this has he effect of intensifying competition. Therefore, the success of a firm in this country depends on its ability to embrace change without negative effects. Successful implementation of change calls for numerous measures that commonly revolve around the management and other key stakeholders of the organization Works Cited Fernandez, S. & Rainey, H. Managing Successful Organizational Change in the Public Sector. Public Administration Review, 2006. Meyer, B. & Stensaker, I. “Developing for Change.” Journal of Change Management, Vol. 6(2), 218-221. St-Amour, D. Successful Organizational Change: Effective Management of People and Cultural Issues. 2001. Semler, R. Why Former Employees Still Work for Me. Harvard Business Review, 2001. Todnem, R. “Organizational Change Management: A Critical Review.” Journal of Change Management, Vol. 5(4), pp. 370-378. Read More