Running head: Managing the change process

Name of student Student ID Managing the change process Unit Code

Managing the change process

Contents Contents...........................................................................................................................................2 Introduction......................................................................................................................................3 Organizational Performance Improvement Models.........................................................................5 Positive and Negative impact...........................................................................................................6 Impact of the change........................................................................................................................7 Support from senior management....................................................................................................8 Support to individuals during change process.................................................................................9 Monitoring the change process........................................................................................................9 Analyzing the change process with the change plan.....................................................................10 References......................................................................................................................................11

Managing the change process

Introduction Managing the change process is a delicate issue and requires thoughtful planning and careful implementation. The changes should not be forced on people and it should be implemented after proper consultation and involvement of the people who are going to be affected by the changes. Before starting the organizational change process, we should have a realistic, achievable and measurable action plan in place. We should know what we need to achieve with the change, how to measure the achievement due to the change and who are the people affected by this change and their reaction (Griffin, 2011). Plans do not capture value and it is realized only through sustained and collective actions of all the people involved. Planning, implementing and managing change process in a fast-changing environment scenario is what most of the organizations follow nowadays. Managing the organizational change process will be more successful if the following basic principles are applied. i. Any transformation in a company creates people problems and leaders will be

asked to step up, job profiles will be changed, new skills and efficiency must be developed, and resistance and uncertainty should be solved. A best approach for managing the change process should begin with the leadership team (Harold & Heinz, 2008). ii. Since change affects the entire hierarchy it is better to start from the top. The

leaders must embrace the change and take it as a challenge and motivate the rest of the institution. iii. The changing process affects different levels of the organization. The leaders at

each level of the organization who are identified and trained must be familiarized with the

Managing the change process companys vision and should be equipped to execute their mission and motivated to make change happen. This approach helps to identify its next generation of leadership. iv. Subordinates will look up to the leadership for answers on why the change is

needed. Leaders should be prepared to convince them the need for change and the company has a viable future due to this change and they should also provide a road map on how to get there. v. Leaders should create ownership and should be willing to accept responsibility

and accountability for making change happen in all of the sections under them. vi. Communication is an important aspect when managing the change process.

Leaders are often under the impression that others under him understood the reason for the change. Communication should be from the top to bottom providing necessary information to the team so that proper feedback can be achieved from them. vii. Change process in an organization never goes as per the plan. We should be

prepared to face the unexpected at all times. viii. Managing the change process is both an institutional and personal journey. People

spend many hours working together and colleagues will become like a second family. Individuals and teams should understand how their contribution will effect during and after the change program. ix. As a guide when managing this sort of changes and the process to succeed, you

should really understand and clarify the mutual expectations about the level of details and cost that the project requires.

Managing the change process x. People who are at risk should be treated with respect and they should not be kept

in the dark. It is better to involve them wherever possible so that they get to see what is happening and why its happening (Schermerhorn, 2010). xi. Give power to people to make decisions even at a local operating level and

delegate responsibility and power as much as possible. xii. Organizational change that requires new actions and objectives for a group of

people it is better to use workshops to achieve understanding, involvement, actions and commitment.

Organizational Performance Improvement Models Majority of the change process adopted by organizations are customized to the nature of the organizations. i. Balanced Scorecard focuses on customer perspective, internal business processes, and financials and to monitor progress of the organization's goals. ii. Benchmarking of the change process is done by using standard measurements by comparing with other organizations in order to gain knowledge on organizational performance. It is often perceived as a quality initiative. iii. Business Process Reengineering to increase performance by redesigning the organization's structures and processes. iv. Continuous Improvement by focusing on customer satisfaction through continuous and incremental improvements to processes

Managing the change process v. Cultural change is a form of organizational transformation and it involves changing the basic values, norms, beliefs, etc., among members of the organization. vi.

Knowledge Management focuses on collection and management of latest technologies adopted worldwide in an organization to increase its capacity for achieving results.

vii.

Learning Organization focuses on enhancing organizations systems to increase an organization's capacity for performance.

viii.

Objective of the management is to align goals and subordinate objectives throughout the organization. It is often perceived as a form of planning.

ix.

Evaluation program is used for a wide variety of applications like increase in efficiency thereby cutting costs and to assess if program goals were reached or not.

x.

Strategic Planning is done to identify strategic direction, including vision, mission, values and overall goals.

xi.

Total Quality Management practices throughout the organization to ensure the organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements (Brooks & Dunn., 2009).

Positive and Negative impact When managing the change process in organization positive and negative implications can occur. The positive and negative implications of change on an organization include an organization taking an open approach which enables its employees to accept the change better. Change that is forced on an organization disrupts the everyday business and the decision making

Managing the change process process. An organization can crumble if truth, cohesion and transparency are not displayed. Everyone from the entry-level employee to the top management feel the pressure of ill-advised decision-making and assuming that everything will be fine can pull down an organization (Gupta, Gollakota, & Srinivasan, 2007).

Impact of the change Performance analysis is a major subject in management circles. While leaders see the need for appraisal systems their main responsibilities is to ensure that an organization functions effectively and efficiently and in order to achieve these goals they must assess performance levels of both organization and its employees. Modern day businesses depend very much on measurement and analysis of performance of the changing process. The analysis must provide the strategy of the company and provide critical data and information about key factors, outcomes and results. Data and analysis support a variety of purposes like planning, reviewing performance, improving operations, and performance compared with competitors. Performance analysis of the changing process provides a good opportunity to recognize employees achievements and contributions to the organization and it paves way to create a link between performance and reward (Griffin, 2011) (Schermerhorn, 2010). An effective performance analysis would assist an organization to achieve its goals and objectives and would lead to enhanced communication, professional development of the employees, improved employee morale and training needs of the employees. A well-developed team are more likely to be proactive, productive and resourceful, all of which help give the organization a competitive edge from improved customer relations to increased profits. The performance analysis of the changing process can be classified into three segments like

Managing the change process

organization which is the main unit of the assessment exercise. The Heads of departments are the source of information in an organization. The assessment team which collects the necessary tools to measure the achievements of the organization and the people who use the assessment results to make the organization more effective (Harold & Heinz, 2008). Assessing the effectiveness of the change of an organization requires time, money and advance planning. It also requires massive contribution from the staff of the organization that gets diverted from their core activities. In order to justify this diverted effort the methodology used has to be effective and it has to be precise to the type of appraisal exercise and generate information which is comprehensive (Cowan, 2007). Organizational change assessment covers a wide range of activities both inside and outside the organization and it is essential for the evaluation team to identify such areas which should be covered in the assessment exercise. Some of the assessment theories commonly used are human relations, open system, internal process and rational goal theory.

Support from senior management Successfully managing the change process in a department or the whole organization requires lots of commitment and support from the top managers. They can provide a clear vision for the change management process and involve other senior managers and people to take part in the process. Top managers should keep track of the change process on a day to day basis and should be an involved partner in the process. They should establish a proper structure which will support the change and the change the rewarding structure on accomplishments. The feedback from the members of the organization should be solicited and the reaction from the members about the change should be handled with humane touch. Top managers should also attend

Managing the change process

training sessions along with other members of the organization and they should share their views on the training so that they can create a trust factor due to which people will look upon you and respect you (Pojman & Fieser, 2012).

Support to individuals during change process. Organizational change in an organization occurs as a process. It does not happen suddenly and individuals do not change simply because they are asked to change. Treating change as a process is the main component of successful change and successful change management. Each individual employee impacted by the change must go through their own, personal process of change. This is the essence of change process by supporting individuals through the required personal transitions necessary in order to improve the performance of the organization. An individuals movement from the current state to the future state depends on five segments awareness of the need to change, desire to participate, knowledge on how to participate, ability to implement his skills and reinforcement to maintain the change. Leaders should advice and monitor individuals and help them in these five segments (Aswathappa, 2007).

Monitoring the change process The final step in any change process in an organization is to monitor and evaluate progress. The management should use reports to review progress towards meeting the strategic aims and objectives. They must make sure that proper records are maintained by people who are working for the change so that progress can be assessed. This should be strictly conveyed to the team at the implementation stage on what systems and structures are to be used. When monitoring the progress management should make sure that all activities are within the parameters of the agreed objectives and it meets the organizations vision, mission and values.

Managing the change process They should also review internal and external changes which may be required to change the organizations strategy to achieve the goals (Brooks & Dunn., 2009).

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Analyzing the change process with the change plan Change is inevitable and part of your business. Putting a strategic change plan for long term goals and achieving it requires a systematic approach to changes. We have to put a framework in place to gain success with proper communication to all levels. Value of effective strategic change plan often underestimate the size and complexity of these initiatives and majority of the projects experience severe problems or get terminated. Many factors can be the reason for failure but the most critical reason is the people (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2011). Lack of support from your employees makes the difference between a terminated initiative and one that contributes to your organization growth. In order to consistently drive a successful change and sustain it six fundamental levers can be used like leadership, involvement, communication, learning, measurement, and reinforcement. Whether you're implementing new technology, restructuring or introducing changes this method can help you to enhance and improve both business and individual performance while achieving long term success. The change process is usually based on as per the six steps mention above and can add five steps to deliver the results in the change process like launching the project team, analyzing the desired changes needed, designing an action plan, executing the action plan and maintaining the success momentum. Once these methods are adopted in an organization and implemented the change process will take place as per the change plan (Griffin, 2011) (Hergenhahn, 2009).

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References 1. Aswathappa, K. (2007). Human Resource and Personnel Management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2. Brooks, L. J., & Dunn., P. (2009). Business & Professional Ethics: For Directors, Executives & Accountants. Ohio: South-Western, Cengage Learning. 3. Cowan, R. S. (2007). Communication Technologies and Social Control. New York:: Oxford University Press. 4. Griffin, R. W. (2011). Management. Mason: Cengage Learning. 5. Gupta, V., Gollakota, K., & Srinivasan, R. (2007). Business Policy and Strategic Management: Concepts and Applications (2 ed.). New Dhelhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. 6. Harold, K., & Heinz, W. (2008). Essentials Of Management. New Delhi: Tata McGrawHill Education. 7. Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 8. Pojman, L. P., & Fieser, J. (2012). Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong. Wadsworth: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 9. Pride, W. M., Hughes, R. J., & Kapoor, J. R. (2011). Foundations of Business. Boston: South-Western Cengage Learning. 10. Schermerhorn, J. R. (2010). Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

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