Managing Organizational Change: Approaches And Models, An Essay.

“Reflecting on the increasing uncertainty in the business environment, how can organisations plan for change? (consider emergent and planned change).”

1. Do not use Wikipedia
2. Do not copy and paste/ plagiarise.
3. Make sure that you hand in on time.
4. Keep within the word count.

The learning outcomes being addressed through this assignment are:

a. Analyse and critique 'social process' perspectives on change management.

b. Discuss and evaluate alternative models of Change Management, including participatory methods.

c. Develop, articulate and justify alternative change strategies.

d. Investigate and use appropriate library and Internet sources of information and ideas.

The emergence of new technologies, business practices, competition, change in the consumer preferences and other environmental factors, provide the entities with a vast number of business opportunities. It is essential for the business organisations to accept the phenomena of change and adapt to the same, else these will perish over time (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2015). The changes in the organisation take place in the form of the relocation of various resources, business processes, budget, and sometimes employees as well (Hayes, 2018). The entities engaged in the various form of organisational restructuring as well, such as acquisitions, mergers, spin-off and more, to address the changes.

However, as mentioned, the change initiatives within the organisations not only affect the overall operations and the structure within the organisation but also have a direct impact on the lives of the employees too. Thus, there arises a need to manage the individuals, teams, and organizations in the event of the changes, in order to yield the maximum benefits from the same (Carnall, 2018). The essay explores the various facets of change management, which the managers must consider to thrive the organisation in long run.

According to the concepts of the systems theory, an organisation is a collection of the various systems and each system must be in equilibrium and stable to avoid the negative feedback on change. The theory demands the purpose, people, structure, techniques and information to be in coordination and integration, in order to yield maximum value for the organization. Another social perspective can be drawn from the complexity theory. The complexity is defined as the measure of diversity between the internal and external environment of an organisation. According to the theories, an organisation must study the nature of the elements and the interactions between the components of the environment, and respond accordingly for the attainment of goals (Amagoh, 2008).

There have been prescribed a number of models to manage the change in the organisations. Organisations can apply any of the models, depending upon the overall corporate strategy, with the aim to address the organisational changes successfully. The chief models of the change management are discussed in the following segment.  

Kurt Lewin had developed the Lewin’s Model of Change in the year 1947 (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown, 2016). According to him, there are three phases of change management namely unfreeze, make changes and refreeze (Cameron and Green, 2015). The first phase involves the setting aside of the old processes and perceptions and opening up to analysis in order to reach the desired objectives at the organisational level. The second phase involves learning of new ideas and adapting to the new policies and processes. The level is critical and thus, proper communication must be made by the top-level management to the employees to support the change and guide the overall process. The last phase starts after the desired change shave been deployed, measured and implemented into the system. This phase involves the placing of the analysis and measures taken in the previous phases, into actual action. The employees, systems and processes must adopt the newly defined practices into the regular working from hereon. The significance of the model is that it is easy to understand and simple to follow. In addition to this, the model focuses on the employee’s resistance in the event of the change in the organisation, which is the prime concern of the leaders.

Models of Change Management

The second popular model that has been prescribed for the change management is known as the Kotter’s theory. The model involves eight steps (Pollack and Pollack, 2015). The first step includes the creation of urgency, to provide the traction for change in the organisation. The second step calls for the gathering of the leaders and the stakeholders and building a strong coalition to motivate them for the change. The third step calls for the forming of a strategic vision and planning of the strategies. The fourth step involves the front line employees by the conduct of regular meetings and discussions. The fifth step involves the removal of the barriers, the reduction of the frictions and initiation of the co-operation. The next step calls for the breakup of the overall aim into short-term goals and wins. The process would keep the motivation and satisfaction on track. The seventh step is about sustainment of the pace of the change and responding to the same. The new goals must be set and communicated. The last step involves the documentation of the overall process and crystallisation of the change in terms of the processes. It is very important for the leaders to get involved at various stages to sustain the organisational change successfully. The Kottler’s change model involves the management right from the very first stage itself (Hornstein, 2015). In addition to this, the model is a step-by-step model focuses on the preparation and acceptance of the change, rather the change itself. The method is best suited for the organisation having different levels in the hierarchical structure.

The next popular model for the change management is the McKinsey 7-S model. The model aids the managers in analysing the seven aspects of the entity and further highlights the changes that an organisation needs to make (Bate, 2010). The 7-S is strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills. By analysing the strategy of the entity, managers gain an insight into the fact that whether the current strategies allow the entity to move forwards alongside the goals set. The structure highlights the organisation of departments, teams, the flow of the communication and decisions. The core systems of the business must be assessed and tracked and the results must be documented. The analysis of the values at the entity, management, team and individual levels provide an insight to managers whether they are on the same line or not. The evaluation style of management and leadership helps managers to understand the level of competition and cooperation in between teams and individuals. The human resource is an important aspect of an enterprise and the skills must be analysed and updated if needed. The last examination is that of the skills, present and the desired as per the goals of the company. After the conduct of the analysis, comes the definition of the incremental change in the existing capabilities. The significance of the model can be best described by the fact that it enables the top management to evaluate its area of weaknesses and accordingly, the same can be incorporated in the business plans to achieve the desired objectives.

Approaches to Change Management: Planned vs. Emergent

Some other models that have been developed for the change management are Nudge Theory, ADKAR, Bridges’ transition model, the Satir change management model and many more.

Similarly, there are various approaches to the change management strategies development. Out of the many approaches prescribed to address the changes in the organisations, the two widely known approaches are planned and emergent approaches (Van der Voet, Groeneveld and Kuipers, 2014). According to the planned approach, the changes in the organisations cannot take place without the strategic intervention in terms of the work behaviour and the processes (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014. Thus, according to this approach, change is interpreted as the framework of systematic planning, organisation and the implementation of the change, in addition to the intervention from the top to the bottom level. The emergent approach focuses on the emerging and the impulsive face of the change. According to this approach, change is a result of the continuous interaction of the entities with their external environment and not a linear or a static event. This approach stresses the successful management of the continual factors belonging to an organisation.

One of the effective ways for the organisations to implement the strategic changes is through participative and inclusive change management. It refers to the practice that advocates the involvement of the stakeholders at the various stages of the change management (Pardo-del-Val, Martínez-Fuentes and Roig-Dobón, 2012). The three main pillars of the participatory model in change management are communication, debate, and Implementation of change. While the communication deals with the allowance of the information to be understood by the employees, the debate involves the exploration, discussion, and negotiation of various solutions and strategies (Preget, 2013). Implementation of change involves the actual application and the feedback on the strategies. Researches across the industries have shown that inclusiveness of the stakeholders can lead to the strengthening of the change processes and the overall resistance can be departed with. The model specifically plays an important role in the events of layoffs, withholding of promotions, spinning off a unit or factory and such events. Moreover, the inclusion allows the organisation to be more responsive and adaptable to the environment without shifting the interests from the stakeholders, employees, customers and others.

Thus, as per the discussions conducted in the various parts of the essay, it can be concluded that organizations do not work in isolation. Therefore, it is nearly impossible for the entities to avoid the changes in the environment surrounding their operations. In order to survive in the end and gain the competitive advantage, it is essential for the managers to address the changes taking place in the organization in a planned and a systematic manner. There have been prescribed a number of approaches and models, which the managers can make use of, in order to make the transition of the resources, employees and processes in an effective and systematic manner. The essay explored the three chief models of change management, namely the Lewin's field analysis, the Kotter's theory and the McKinsey 7-S model. Each of the models has its own significance and suitability according to the overall corporate strategy, structure and the budget. The essay further analysed the various approaches to address change. The two main approaches discussed were the planned strategy and the emergent strategy. This is followed by the discussion on the participatory approach to address the changes. Thus, it can be said that the management of an entity must devise the best suitable strategy for the desired change, after the careful analysis of the business scenario and the aid of various models and approaches.

References

Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S. (2015) Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Oxon: Routledge.

Amagoh, F. (2008) Perspectives on organizational change: systems and complexity theories. The Innovation Journal: The public sector innovation journal, 13(3), pp. 1-14.

Bate, S. P. (2010) Strategies for cultural change. Oxon: Routledge.

Cameron, E. and Green, M. (2015) Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Carnall, C. (2018) Managing change. Oxon: Routledge.

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K. G. (2016) Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human Relations, 69(1), pp. 33-60.

Hayes, J. (2018) The theory and practice of change management. 5^th ed. UK: Palgrave.

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R. and Schilling, M. A. (2014) Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Boston MA: Cengage Learning.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015) The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp. 291-298.

Pardo-del-Val, M., Martínez-Fuentes, C. and Roig-Dobón, S. (2012) “Participative management and its influence on organizational change”. Management Decision, 50(10), pp. 1843-1860.

Pollack, J. and Pollack, R. (2015) Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), pp. 51-66.

Preget, L. (2013) “Understanding Organizational Change as an Interactional Accomplishment: A Conversation Analytic Approach”. Journal of Change Management, 13(3), pp. 338-361.

Van der Voet, J., Groeneveld, S. and Kuipers, B. S. (2014) Talking the talk or walking the walk? The leadership of planned and emergent change in a public organization. Journal of Change Management, 14(2), pp. 171-191.