Analysis Of Change Management In CIDesign Essay.

All modules in UK Higher Education have learning outcomes that you will study towards and then demonstrate you have met them. In order to do this, you will draw on many factors such as:

• your prior learning and experience
• the module learning units and task
• your wider reading, reflection (and possibly practice)
• and, also the expertise of your tutors and other students.

In most modules, it will be clear exactly which of these learning outcomes is assessed in which of the assessments you have to submit and pass.

On successful completion of this learning, and this module, you will be able to:

1. Analyse the influence of the external environment on an organisation
2. Critically appraise the strategic position of an organisation and evaluate its strategic

The Board of DDesign are extremely concerned about the loss of significant staff numbers from CIDesign and have asked you to write a business report to help them formulate their strategy. In your report:

1. a) Explain what is meant by the phrase ‘resistance to change’ and discuss the reasons for the resistance to change at CIDesign which led to so many managers leaving You should include consideration of job, personal and social factors which contributed to the resistance.
2. b) Evaluate the change management process which has been undertaken at CIDesign over the last year
3. c) Advise DDesign on alternative strategies for CIDesign, which may avoid further loss of staff
4. d) Discuss how Lewin's three-stage model would help DDesign successfully

 manage the change process at CIDesign

Analysis of change management in CIDesign

The report will be based on the analysis of the change implementation process in an organization named CIDesign which operates in the field of developing creative designs. The organization has its origin in the United Kingdom. The company was established in year 2005 and the founder was a local entrepreneur. The founder was able to expand his operations in a successful manner which remained a family owned organization till the year 2015. The organization had started to face an acute financial crisis in the year 2015 and was then taken over by a German organization named DDesign. The major issue that was faced by the organization was related to the staff turnover which had taken place after the takeover. The management ha thereby arranged for a meeting with the remaining staff so that they can provide effective reasons for the huge number of the resignations (Aslam et al. 2018). The changes that had been implemented in the organization and the ways by which these changes have been resisted by the employees will be analysed in the report.

Resistance to change is mainly based on the actions that are taken by the groups and the individuals which is related to their perceptions that changes which are taking place can harm them or cause a threat to them. The threats that are feared by the individuals may not be real and the can just be a mere perception. The main resistance to change is provided in different organizations when any type of new process is implemented. The employees tend to provide resistance to the new processes with the fear that it has the capability to harm them up to a great extent. The resistance to changes can thereby take place in many different forms which are mainly, active, passive, covert, overt, organized or individual (Bailey et al. 2018).

The takeover of CIDesign by another organization named DDesign had caused huge issues in the operations and production based systems. The rates of staff turnover had started to increase and the managers were not ready to work in the changed environment. CIDesign is mainly famous in the UK market for the high quality products that are offered to the customers in an unique manner. However, after the company has been taken over DDesign, the cost saving measures that have been introduced by the new management have not been appreciated by the managers and the staff as well. The company had also started outsourcing some of the design based activities to the other countries like, China and India (Benn, Edwards and Williams 2014). The staff had thereby started leaving the company due to these issues. The high turnover of the staff has thereby been an indication that they wish to resist the changes that have been implemented by the organization (Binci, Cerruti and Braganza 2016). The low cost operations based policies that have been implemented by the management of the new organization were not accepted by the employees of CIDesign. The staff is also dissatisfied with the high speed of change implementation that has taken place in the organization. The aim of DDesign to completely rebrand the organization with the implementation of its own policies was not accepted by the employees.

Reasons behind the resistance to changes on CIDesign and high staff turnover

The CIDeisgn has been taken over by DDeisgn in the year 2015. The change management process that has been implemented by the company is based on the ways by which the new policies can be implemented successfully in the different organizational operations. The company has also started reducing the costs of operations with the help of different cost saving methods that have been implemented previously by DDesign. The measures had been taken by the organization for the purpose of increasing the profitability of CIDesign in the industry. The outsourcing of different production based activities are also considered to be a major part of the change management process that is implemented by DDesign and CIDDeisgn. The company has been trying to reorganise the group in such a way so that the profitability of CIDesign can be increased in an effective manner (Botha, Kourie and Snyman 2014).

The major strategy that can be implemented by CIDesign to reduce the levels of turnover is based on the ways by which the company can take the employees into confidence after the actual implementation of different processes. The management needs to convince the employees that changes that have been implemented are for their own welfare and the profitability of the organization as well. The employees form an important part of the change management based process. The company thereby needs to aim at taking them into confidence so that they do not provide resistance and take part in the entire process in an active manner. The managers of the organization need to be included in the decision making process so that they are aware of the changes that are about to take place. This will help them to cooperate with the other employees and educate them about the ways by which the changes are able to help them in their career advancement based process. The pace with which the changes have been implemented in the organization needs to be slowed down so that employees are able to understand the ways by which they need to adapt to the changes that have taken place in the internal organizational environment.

The change management model that has been developed by Kurt Lewin is based in three major stages which are, unfreezing, changing and refreezing. The change process is based on the creation of the perception among the employees or individuals that the changes are required within the organizational processes. The change process is important for proper and profitable operations of the organizations. The employees in this case need to play an important role for the successful implementation of these changes. The change management concept is quite familiar with the modern business organizations as they need to change their operations with the changes that take place in the external environment. The ability of the employees to understand these changes is also important for its success (Bratton and Gold 2017). The understanding of change process thereby plays the most important role in the management of changes. CIDesign can use the change management stages that have been suggested or proposed by Lewin to implement the changes successfully. The three stages that are related to Lewin’s change management process are as follows,

• Unfreeze – This is the first step of the change management process which prepares the organization and the employees so that they are able to accept the changes. This is based on the ways by which the organization cam provide a message based on the reasons behind the implementation of change. CIDesign thereby needs to make the employees understand the need of the change that is being implemented in the organizational processes. The core beliefs of the employees can be changed effectively in this step.
• Change – This step is related to the previous stage where the employees have been convinced about the changes that are being implemented in the organization. This is mainly based on the actual implementation of change that has been decided by the management. This is a transition that mainly takes place from the unfreeze stage of Lewin’s model. In this stage CIDesign can implement the change in different processes. This will reduce the levels of resistance from the employees and the staff turnover as well. The change can now be implemented in an effective manner in the organization (Burke 2017).
• Refreeze – This is the stage when the changes are implemented successfully and the organizational operations are perfectly in line. CIDesign can then start operating with the changes in an effective manner. The employees are able to become a part of the new organizational processes and this can help in proper operations as well. This will help the company to create proper operations in the industry which can further increase the levels of profitability as well (Bratton and Gold 2017).

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that CIDesign needs to implement the changes in the organization with the help of a step by step process which will help in its proper operations. The company can then get the confidence of the valuable employees and managers and reduce the loss of employees as well. The employee turnover can cause huge damage to the organization which can be reduced with the help of proper management of the change process. The change implementation in an organization is an inevitable process, however, the implementation of changes in a proper manner is important for the successful operations of the company. This will also help the company to survive in the changing external environment in a profitable manner.

References 

Aslam, U., Muqadas, F., Imran, M., Rahman, U. and Ilyas, M., 2018. Exploring the sources and role of knowledge sharing to overcome the challenges of organizational change implementation. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, (just-accepted), pp.00-00.

Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C. and Garavan, T., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.

Benn, S., Edwards, M. and Williams, T., 2014. Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.

Binci, D., Cerruti, C. and Braganza, A., 2016. Do vertical and shared leadership need each other in change management?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(5), pp.558-578.

Botha, A., Kourie, D. and Snyman, R., 2014. Coping with continuous change in the business environment: Knowledge management and knowledge management technology. Elsevier.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Burke, W.W., 2017. Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.