CHANGE & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

PART A : CHANGE MANAGEMENT

MODULE 1 – PERSONAL GROWTH

1) Self Awareness:

• Is the ability to be aware of what one is feeling?

• Is self understanding
• Is the knowledge of one’s true feelings at the moment?
• Is one of Goleman’s five dimensions of emotional intelligence in the workplace?
• Eg: Raju recognises that he is angry, so that he will wait himself to cool down and
gather more information before taking an important personnel decision.

2) Self Analysis & Management/Self Monitoring:

Definition: A systematic attempt by an individual to understand and analyse one’s

own personality without the help – another.

• If a person knows his skills and abilities it will help him to develop greater self
confidence and enable him to present a positive image to those he deals in.
• Self analysis of skills will lead to:
− Working effectively with others – approachability, teamwork, co-
operation, rapport and adaptability”
− Communication – listening, enthusiasm, clarify, pertinence, confidence.
− Judgements and decision making – decisiveness, research, planning,
reaching a conclusion, evaluation.
− Persuading and influencing – communication, leadership, negotiation,
motivation, charisma, determination, forcefulness, vision, empathy.
− Ability to solve problems – critical thinking, analysis, lateral thinking,
creativity.
− Time management – ensuring assignments are done on time.
− Use of IT – word processing report to solve problems quickly.
− Achieving one’s goals – determination, commitment, will power
resolution, stamina, ambition, energy, resistance.
− Specialist subject knowledge.

• Self analysis provides the opportunity to turn potential failures into triumphs,
through appropriate interpretations.

• After analysis one has to self manage. There are 12 steps of self management:
 − Make a decision that you desire to achieve the goal.
− Believe that you will achieve the goal.
− Write down your goal on paper.
− Be honest with yourself.
− Analyse your present position.
− Use deadlines.
− Identify the rocks that stand in your way.
− Identify the skills you need.
− Identify those people from whom you need co-operation
− Make a complete business plan.
− Visualize the perfect outcome, emotionalise how terrific you will feel
when the outcome is achieved and make the necessary affirmations
consistent with achieving the goal.
− Determine to back your plan with patience and persistence.

3) Self-Efficiency:

• Self efficiency refers to a person’s belief that he has:

− The ability
− The motivation
− The situational contingencies.
− To complete a task successfully.

• People strong in self efficiency have a

− ‘Can do’ attitude towards a specific task.

− ‘Can do’ attitude for various challenges in life.

• Social learning/observational learning increases self efficiency by observing

someone else’ actions.
• People have the drive for self efficiency – a belief that they have the necessary
capabilities to perform a task.
• Management should provide opportunities for meaningful involvement of people
in the activities towards the achievement of organisational goals or objectives.
• Albert Bandura, a famous behavioural scientist says:
“Unless people believe that they can produce desired effects and forestall
undesired ones by their actions they have little incentives to act”
“They have the core belief that they have the power to produce desired
results”
• Bandura’s task-specific self-efficiency in ‘state like’ and specific task oriented.

• Bandura also states a ‘generalised self efficiency’ which reflects people’s belief
in successfully accomplishing tasks across a wide variety of achievement
situations – called as ‘trait like’
a) Self efficacy Vs Self-esteem:

Self esteem Self efficacy

1. Is a global construct of one’s Is one’s belief about a task and
evaluation and belief of overall contact specific capability.
worthiness

2. Is stable and traitlike Is changing overtime as new

information and task experiences
and gained and developed and is
statelike.

3. Is aimed at any aspect of one’s Is a current assessment of one’s

current self future success at task.

b) The process & impact of self efficacy:

The Process:

• Directly, the self-efficacy process starts before individuals select their

choices and initiate their efforts.
• People tend to weigh, evaluate and integrate information about their
personal capabilities.
• This initial stage of process has nothing to do with individual’s abilities or
resources.
• It rather, depends upon how they perceive or believe they can use those
abilities and resources to accomplish the given task in this context.
• This evaluation of perception then leads to the expectations of personal
efficacy which in turn determines:

− The decision to perform the specific task in this context.

− The amount of effort that will be expended to accomplish the task
− The level of persistence that will be forthcoming despite problems,
regardless of evidence and adversity.

The Impact:

Self-efficacy can directly affect:

• Choice behaviour: Decisions made based on how efficacious a person

feels towards the opinion in work assignments or careers, etc.
• Motivational effort: People will try harder and give more effort on tasks
where they have high self efficacy than those where the efficacy
judgement is low.
• Perseverance: Those with high self-efficacy bounce back, be resilient
when meeting problems or even failure, whereas those with low efficacy
tend to give up when obstacles appear.
 • Facilitating through patterns: People with high self-efficacy say ‘I know I
can figure out how to solve this problem’. People with low efficacy say ‘I
know I can not do that, I do not have the requisite ability’
• Vulnerability to Stress: People with low self-efficacy tend to experience
stress and burnout, since they expect failure. High efficacy people enter
into potential stressful situations with confidence and assurance and thus
are able to resist stressful reactions.

c) Sources of Self-Efficacy:

Self Efficacy

Masterly Physiological
Experiences Vicarious Social and
or Experiences Persuasion Psychological
Performance of Modeling Arousal
Attainments

d) Applications:

• Training and development

• Stress management.
• Self managed work teams
• Job design and goal setting.
• Leadership

4) Self-Esteem:

• Refers to the feeling of like or dislike of one-self.

• Self esteem has to do with people and self-perceived competence and self image
in an organisation.
• This is called as organisation based self esteem (OBSE)
• Directly related to the desire for success.
• People with high self-esteem believe that they have abilities to undertake
challenging jobs.
• High esteem people tend to choose unconventional jobs.
• People with low self-esteem are more susceptible to external influence.
• Low esteem people are dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations and
approvals from others.
• Low esteem people prone to the beliefs and behaviours of those they respect.
• In managerial positions, low esteems will tend to be concerned with pleasing
others.
• Low esteems are less likely to take unpopular stands.
 • High esteems are more satisfied with their jobs.
• Low esteems are less satisfied with their jobs.
• High self esteem people have more positive attitudes, feelings, satisfaction, less
anxiety, hopelessness and depressive symptoms.
• It is found that males score slightly higher in self-esteem than females.
• People with low self-esteem are not confident in thinking ability, likely to fear
decision making, lack negotiation and interpersonal skills and are reluctant unable
to change.
• Research results on self-esteem are mixed.

− One study found that people with high self-esteem handle failure better than
those with low self esteem.
− Another study found that those with high self-esteem tended to become
egotistical and faced with pressure situations and may result in aggressive or
violent behaviour when threatened.
− Yet another study says: “High self esteem can be a good thing, but only if like
many other human characteristics – such as creativity, intelligence and
persistence – it is nurtured and channeled in constructive ethical ways
otherwise it can become antisocial and destructive”

5) Roles:

• All group members are actors, each playing a role.

• A role is a set of expected behaviour patterns attributed to someone occupying a
given position in a social unit.
• Everyone has to play a number of diverse roles, both on and off his job.
• Our behaviour varies with the role we are playing.

a) Role Concepts: are associated with roles

a i) Role Identity:

• Certain attitudes and actual behaviour are consistent with a role

and they create ‘the role identity’
• People have the ability to shift roles rapidly when they recognise
the situation and its demands clearly require major changes.

a ii)Role Perception:

• It is one’s view.
• That view indicates how one is supposed to act in a given situation.
• Based on the interpretation of how we believe we are supposed to
behave, we engage in certain types of behaviour.
 • Since managers perform many different roles, they must be highly
adaptive and exhibit role of flexibility in order to change from one
role to another quickly.
• Supervisors particularly have to change roles rapidly as they work
with seniors, subordinates, technical and non-technical activities.
• The complex web of manager – employee role perception.

Manager Employee
Manager’s perception A D Employee’s perception
of own role of manager’s role

Manager’s perception B E Employee’s perception

of employee’s role of own role

Manager’s perception C F Employee’s perception

of the manager’s role of the employee’s role
as seen by the as seen by the
employee managers

• The key is for both parties to gain accurate role perceptions of their
own roles and for the roles of the other.
• Reaching such an understanding requires studying the available
job descriptions, as well as opening up lines of communication to
discover the other’s perceptions.
• Unless roles are clarified and agreed upon by both parties, conflicts
will inevitably arise.

a iii)Role Expectations:

• Defined as how others behave you should act in a given situation.

• How we have to behave, to a large part is determined by the role
defined in the context in which we are acting, eg. Role of a judge
or football referee.

a iv)Role Conflict:

• When an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations,

the result is role conflict.
• It exists when an individual finds that compliance with one role
requirement may be more difficult than compliance with another.

b) Leader/Manager Roles: by Mintzberg

 Formal Authority and status

Interpersonal Informational Decisional

Roles Roles Roles

Figure head Monitor Entrepreneur

Leader Disseminator Disturbance handler

Liaison Spokes person Resource allocator

Negotiator

c) Some Roles Commonly Played by Group Members:

(by J.Greenberg & B.A.Baron)

Task Oriented Relations Self Oriented

Roles Oriented Roles Roles

Initiator Contributors Harmonisers Blockers

Recommend new Meditate group Act stubborn &
solutions to group conflicts resistant to the
members group

Information Seekers Compromisers Recognition

Seekers
Attempt to obtain the Shift opinions to Call attention to
necessary facts create group harmony their own
achievements

Opinion Givers Encouragers Dominators

Share own opinion Praise and encourage Assert authority
with others others by manipulat-
ing the group

Energisers Expediters Avoiders

Stimulate the group Suggest ways the Maintain
into action whenever groups can operate distance, isolate
interest drops more smoothly themselves
from follow
group members
 CHANGE MANAGEMENT

MODULE 2 – ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

2) Defination:

“Organisational change is the process by which organisations move from their present
state to some desired future state to increase their effectiveness”

6) Importance of Change:

• Change is the only thing permanent in the world.

• Change is inevitable, but pervasive too.
• Life itself is almost synonymous with the concept of change.
• Humans and organisms, ‘grow up’ leaving behind the characteristics of earlier
stages of development and adopt new behaviours with age, environments and
expectations.
• An organisation too cannot and should not remain constant/stagnant all the time.
• Even if the management does not want to change, the external pressures force it to
change.
• Change encompasses leadership, motivation, organisational environment, roles of
people, etc.
• Change produces emotional reactions too.
• To many it is threatening, it has visions of revolutions.
• If throws up also a dissatisfied person, a trouble maker.

7) Characteristics of Change:

• Vital if a company were to avoid stagnation.

• A process and not an event.
• It is normal and constant.
• Is fast and is likely to increase further in the present competitive business.
• Many a times it is a ‘top down’ management directive.
• Sometimes it is also a ‘mutually agreed’ plan for change in various groups of
management.
• It is a ‘natural’ and ‘adaptive’ change as a consequence/reaction to the external
circumstances and pressures.
• Sometimes is an ‘incremental’ change, step by step.
• Sometimes it is a ‘radial’ shift from the current to a new process.
• It is dependent upon the organisational environment and or culture.
8) Corporate Culture and Change Management:

• All changes interface with three organisational components which constitute the
organisational culture.
• Those three components are:

− The historical and political evolution of the company.

− The management and organisation of the company.
− The people who work for the company

o The illustration of the 3 components and their inter-relations are shown in the
sketch

Changes

Historical
&
People political
Corporate evolution
Culture

Management
&
Organisation

Changes

4a. History & Politics:

The historical and political evolution of a company will have a significant bearing
on its acceptance of change. These factors are:

• Base & origin of the company

• Associated values of the company.
• The image the company likes to promote.
• The perception of the company that the customers are holding.
• Are the value & image of the company being changed during the change?
• The origins of the individuals within the company.
• The good and bad experiences of the individuals of the company on whom the
new change is vested in.
• The traditions and norms to which the management and employees are
accustomed to.
• The unwritten and written long standing rights and policies existing in the
company and the likely threats to them.
 • The relationships and cordiality between the top management and the people
who have been vested with the powers of change.
• The ‘acceptance’ of change process by top management.
• The likely ‘balance of power’ between the current owners and the functional
experts.
• The ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of power, personal status, sphere of influence, etc.,
and there inter-relationships.

4b.Management & Organisation:

• Changes will impact the roles of management.

• It will also impact the structure and operation of the organisation.
• Role of line management shifts from ‘autocrat’ to that of ‘facilitator’
• Senior management takes more of strategic stance.
• Senior management encourages opportunities for progress through innovation.
• They recognize the contribution to the achievement of business objectives.
• The boundaries between jobs, divisions and departments become blurred.
• The jobs broaden in terms of scope and of accountability.
• The requirements of specialists slowly decrease.
• Multi skilling of employees increase and in greater demand.
• Both project and group work increase.
• With increased harassing of technology and processes availability of jobs
decrease.
• All the activities and outputs gets customer oriented.
• Before embarking upon the change, measure and analyse the effect of the
change on the workforce, their acceptance and willingness and take suitable
remedial measures.

4c. People:

• Most of the issues in change management are ‘people’ oriented.

• Every decision on change ‘impacts’ the people.
• All cautions should be exercised in the people oriented changes.
• Typically with any change people expect a reward pay hike, promotion or
other type of recognition.
• Think carefully the impact of change in every job it affects.
9) Levels of Change:

3 Levels – Individual, group and organisational

a) Individual Level Change:

• Change is reflected in such developments as changes in job assignment,

physical move to a different location or the change in maturity level of a
person which occurs overtime.
• Some say that changes at the individual level will seldom have significant
implications for the total organisation.
• Others say, the above is not true, since any change at individual level, will
also have repercussions in the group.

b) Group Level Change:

• Most organisational changes have their major effects at the group level.
• This is because most activities in organisations are organised on a group basis.
• The groups could be departments or informal work groups.
• Changes at the group level can affect.

− Work flows
− Job design
− Social organisation
− Influence the status systems &
− Communication patterns

• Managers must consider group factors when implementing change.

• Informal groups can pose a major barrier to change because of the inherent
strength they possess.
• Formal groups, like unions, can resist change envisaged by management.
• Effective implementation of change at the group level, can frequently
overcome resistance at the individual level.

c) Organisational – Level Changes:

• Changes at this level involve major programs that affect both individuals and
groups.
• Decisions at this level involve major programs that affect both individual and
groups.
• Decisions regarding these changes are generally made by senior management.
• These decisions are rarely implemented only by a single manger.
• They cover long periods of time.
• Require considerable planning for implementation.
• Change in the organisational level is generally referred to as ‘organisational
development’
6) Types of Change:

• Two Types : Evolutionary Change

Revolutionary Change

• Evolutionary Change : Gradual, incremental, TQM is an example

• Revolutionary Change: Sudden, drastic & organisation-wide, re-engineering is
an example.

a) Total Quality Management (TQM):

• Evolutionary change.
• Developed by Edward Demming
• Broad goal of TQM is continuous improvement.
• Continuous efficiency improvement to reducer costs, improve quality, reduce
waste.
• Employees are expected to make suggestions on all aspects of processes and
management.
• TQM is driven by statistical data.
• TQM has 4 key components

Systems Processes
Change
Through
TQM
Management People

b) Re-Engineering:

• Revolutionary change.
• Known as Business Process Re-engineering.
• Radial rethinking and redesigning of business processes to obtain rapid
organisational effectiveness.
• Ignores existing arrangement of tasks, roles and work activities.
• Orients with customer as object.
• Has the following components.

Business Management &

processes measurement

Re-engineering

Values & Jobs and

Benefits Structures
c) Integration of evolutionary & revolutionary change – TQM & Re-engineering:

• The popular approach is that the two can not co-exist. But the two approaches
applied together and with understanding and sympathy, offer a tremendously
powerful recipe for building or rebuilding an organisation.
• TQM and Reengineering have four identifiable founding principles and
commonalities which are summarized as follows:

TQM Reengineering
Systems Management & Measurement
Processes Business Processes
People Values & Benefits
Management Jobs & Structures

d) Similarities between TQM & Reengineering:

• Both emphasize objectivity and this they obtain through statistical analysis
and benchmarking.
• Both promote a process orientation, although there is a difference in emphasis.
• TQM focuses on improvement whereas reengineering focuses on customer
relationships.
• Both emphasize the importance of customer.
• Both demand change of people’s attitudes and their values and beliefs.
• Both promote empowerment and involvement high value team work in quality
circles.
• Both emphasize on power and accountability, performance measurement and
reward schemes.
• Both stress the role of management on coaching and facilitating, rather than
pure directions.
• Both stress on job description and proper organisation structural relationships.

e) Dissimilarities between TQM & Reengineering:

• The two differ in their approach to change.

• TQM – a continuous, bottom up, improvement.
• Re-engineering is radical reinvention and top down approach.
• Both differ in perception too
• TQM has analytical thinking, measurement, comparison fact finding and
reasoning.
• Reengineering demands conceptual thinking rooted in supposition, intuition,
lateral thinking and raw creativity associated with senior management.
• The two differ in their impact on organisational culture.
• TQM is an attitudinal change with constant focus on continuous improvement
and customer.
• Reengineering has a program of change with an identifiable beginning and an
end.
 • Reengineering can address major strategic issues at top level management.
• TQM can address the problems at the lower levels.

7) Forces for Change in Organisations:

• Change has become the norm in most organisations.

• The changes stem from several factors.
• Some are external, arising from outside the organisation.
• Some are internal, arising from sources within the organisation.
• Causes for change:

External Causes Internal Causes

Globalisation Organisational silence
Work force diversity Falling effectiveness
Technological change Crisis
Managing ethical behaviour Changing employee expectations
Government policies Change in the work climate
Competition Downsizing
Scarcity of resources Reengineering
Mergers and acquisitions Productivity improvements
Pollution/Ecological controls Cycle Time Reduction
Calamities/Emergencies

8) Resistance to Changes:

Organisational Sub-unit Group Individual

Level Level Level Level

Organisational Differences in Group Norms Cognitive

structures subcommittee Biases
Orientation Group
Organisational Cohesiveness Uncertainty
Cultures Power and
Conflict Group think Fear of loss
Organisational
Strategies Selective
Perception
Over determination
(Structural inertia) Habit

Logical
Reasons
 9) Force Field Theory of Change: - Developed by Kurt Lewin

Level of Performance Resistance to Change Resistance to Change

Equal Arrows Change P2

P1

Forces for change

Time

• Refer the sketch

• In any organisation, there are people who push for change and there are
individuals who resist for change and desire status quo.
• Initially both the groups may be equal in their force.
• At P1, the change starts occurring in steps and reaches a level of P2.
• At P2 the forces balance between the two groups.
• When the forces are in balance, the organisation is in a state of inertia and does
not change.
• To get the organisation to change, managers must adopt a change strategy to
increase the forces for change.
• Simultaneously reduce the resistance for change.

10)Different change Models

Lewin’s three stage model of change system:

As per Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Model, effective change occurs by:

• Unfreezing the current situation.

• Moving to a desired condition.
• Refreezing the system so that it remains in this desired state.
a) Unfreezing: Involves

• Shaking up the equilibrium state that maintains status quo

• Encouraging individuals to discard old behaviours.
• Presenting the existing problem
• Making the people to recognise the need for change.
• Encouraging people to search for new solutions.
• Eliminating the rewards for current behaviours and discouraging current
behaviours.

b) Moving: Aims

• To shift or alter the behaviour of individuals, departments or organisations

where the changes are to take place.
• To develop new behaviours, values and attitudes.
• To change sometimes through structural changes.
• To change sometimes through organisational development techniques.

c) Refreezing:

• The change becomes permanent.

• New attitudes, values and behaviours are established as the new way of
organisational approach.
• The new way of operating are cemented and reinforced.
• Management should ensure that the new organisational culture and record
systems encourage a new behaviour.
• Old ways of functioning are avoided

d) Lewin’s Change Model:

Unfreezing Moving Refreezing

Reducing the Developing Reinforcing

forces for new attitudes, new values
status quo values and attitudes and
behaviours behaviours

• The model proposes that for change efforts to be successful, the 3 stage
processes must be completed.
• Failures can be traced back to anyone of the stages.
• Old behaviours should be discarded and new behaviours are introduced.
 e) Transition Management:

• Is between any two phases of change.

• Managing transition is essential to keep the organisation going.
• This is a process of systematically planning, organizing and implementing
change from the disassembly of the current state to the realization of a fully
functional future state within an organisation.
• In the transition state, the organisation is neither old nor new.
• Still, the business must carry on.
• Transition management ensures that business continues while the change is
occurring.
• An interim management structure or interim positions may be created to
ensure continuity and control of the business during transition.
• Communication of the changes to all involved, employees, customer and
suppliers, play a great role in transition management.

11) Planning Models

• Developed by Lippit, Watson & Westley (1958).

• Later modified by Kolb & Frohman (1970)
• This model is based on the principle that information must be freely and openly
shared between the organisation and the change agent.
• This information must be able to be translated into action.
• This model follows a seven step process as in the sketch:

Scouting Entry Diagnosis Planning

Stabilization &
Termination Evaluation Action

• The phases are generally sequential, but the change agent can change the
sequences when need arises.

• Scouting:

− Phase where the change agent and the organisation jointly explore the
need for change.
− They also explore the areas requiring change.

• Entry:

− In this phase development of mutual contract and mutual expectations take

place.
 • Diagnosis:

− In this phase the specific improvement goals are identified.

• Planning:

− Actual and possible reasons for resistance to change are identified.

− Planning for specific improvement of goals is also made.

• Action:

− Indicates the implementation of the steps identified during the planning

stage.

• Stabilization and Evaluation:

− Phase where evaluation is undertaken to determine the extent of success of

the planned change.
− The need for further action or termination is also made in this phase.

• Termination:

− Phase where a decision is made to leave the system or to end and begin
another.

12)The Action Research Models:

• This model focuses on the planned change activity as a ‘cyclical process’

• 8 main steps involved in the action research model are explained below.

a) Problem Identification:

• A stage in which the management senses the existence of one or more

problems.
• These problems are removed with the help of an OD practitioner.

b) Consultation with a behavioral expert:

• After problems are sensed and realized, the help of an OD expert is sought

c) Data gathering & preliminary diagnosis:

• Consultant and organisational members gather the data.

• Methods used-interviews, process observations, questionnaire.
• Also analysis of organisational performance.

d) Feedback to key client or group:

• Data gathered is passed on to the client.

• To determine the strengths and weaknesses of the area under study.
• The consultant provides the client all relevant and useful data.
 e) Joint Diagnosis of the Problem:

• The group discusses the feedback.

• Focuses on any additional research needed.
• Results of additional research are summarized and submitted to the group
again.
• The group does validation, further diagnosis and identified the problem.

f) Joint action planning:

• The consultant and management team jointly agree on problem – solving

methods.
• The specific action depends upon on the organisation’s cultural,
technological and work environment problems to be resolved and the time
and costs associated with the desired OD intervention.

g) Action:

• Stage involves the actual change from one organisational state to another.
• Involves and includes:

− Installing new methods and procedures.

− Reorganizing structures and work designs.
− Reinforcing new behaviours.

h) Data gathering after action:

• Is cyclic in nature.
• New data is taken to find the effects of actions already taken.
• Based on the feedback, situations re-diagnosed and new actions taken.

i) Schematic diagram of action research model:

Perception Consultation Feedback by Data

of problems with these gathering after
by key behavioural experts to action
individuals science client group
experts

Joint Feedback to
Action Joint Action diagnose of client group
Planning problem by consultants

Rediagnosis New data

& action gathering as Rediagnosis
planning by New Action a result of of situations,
client & action etc.
consultant
13)Integrative Model of Planned Change:

• Developed by Bullock and Batten (1985)

• Describes both organisational states and change processes.
• The basis for this model is that an organisation exists in different states at
different times.
• Planned movement can occur from one state to another.
• Understanding of the present state of the organisation and the processes of change
required to move to another state is required.
• Model consists of four phases

a) Exploration Phase:

• Organisation decides whether to plan for specific change and commit

resources for it.
• Organisational members who are aware of the need for change initiate the
change process.
• This leads to search for OD resources and assistance and then contracting OD
experts.
• In the search process, there is a mutual assessment of the requirements,
wherein:

− The organisation members make judgements about consultant’s skill and

competence.
− And the consultant assesses whether the client is ready for change and has
the necessary resources and commitment.

• The contracting phase lays the ground rules for a collaborative relationship
and seeks clarification as to

− What each party expects from the relationships.

− How much time each will invest and what it will cost.
− The rules for carrying out the consulting relationships.

b) Planning Phase:

• Planning commences once the problems facing the organisation are

understood.
• And the resources for OD are committed.
• The change process is undertaken after the ‘diagnoses of sources of problems
and then analyzing it.
• Diagnosis is jointly undertaken by organisational members and OD
practitioners.
• Goals are set for the change efforts.
• Appropriate actions are designed to improve the organisation.
• Approval of the key decision makers is also sought during this stage.
 c) Action Phase:

• The changes derived from planning stage are implemented in this stage.
• It includes processes aimed at transitioning the organisation from its current
state to the desired future state.
• The change activities are monitored and evaluated periodically.
• This is done to assess the progress and check whether positive results are
being achieved.
• Also to check if any modifications and refinements are required for the
process.

d) Integration Phase:

• This phase involves making the changes as a part and routine of regular
organisational functioning after having successfully implemented and
stabilized them.
• The new behaviour reinforced and further strengthened through:

− Regular feedbacks
− Incentives &
− Rewards.

• Slowly, the contract with the OD professional is gradually terminated.

e) The integrative model of change is indicated in the sketch below:

Exploration Integration
Stage Planning Phase Action Phase Phase

Change Process Change Process Change Process Change Process

Need awareness Diagnosis Implementation Stabilization

Search Contracting Design Decision Evaluation Diffusion Renewal

14)Perspectives on Change:

• Four major perspectives on organisational change.

• Contingency perspective – focuses on structural change.
• Population ecology perspective – looks at the limits of change and resistance to
change.
• Institutional perspective – looks at becoming and change through imitation,
professionalization and compliance.
• Resource dependence perspective – examines strategic change.
a) Notion of Environment:

• The most important notion in the four perspectives of organisational change is

the idea of environment.
• Environment derived from ‘Environ’ means to ‘surround’.
• The term ‘environment’ means ‘the surrounding’
• That is everything that surrounds the organisation.
• Signifies everything that exists outside our organisation.
• Variety of things that exists outside yet surrounds the organisation.
• These includes:

• Customers • Competitors
• Suppliers • Governmental agencies
• A society • An economy

Social Customs Norms Values growth rate of

inflation
Habits rate interest

• The term phenomenon does not refer to a single phenomenon

• It includes a variety of phenomena in organisations.
• The fundamental idea is that it is the ‘environment’ which is the source of
most of the major changes.
• An organisation changes if the environment changes.
• Organisation is something that gets resources from outside, converts them into
products and services and gives these products and services back to the
surroundings.

b) Contingency Perspective:

• Mainly concerned with the structure of an organisation.

• Structure refers to the way in which an organisation breaks down a complex
task into individual activities and integrates these separate activities to achieve
its purpose.
• Two central dimensions of structure-specialization and integration.
Specialization:
• Refers to the member and variety of different activities that make up
individual jobs in an organisation.
• Any job that consists of a single activity or very few activities is a highly
specialised job eg., the job of a truck loader.
• Specialization is also known as ‘division of labour’
• In an organisation there is usually a horizontal and vertical division of labour.
• Organisations divided into manufacturing, marketing, accounting, personnel,
etc., are called as horizontal specialization or horizontal division of labour.
Integration:
• Refers to the various ways and means of coordinating the work of individuals
in the organisation.
• The most common and familiar methods of integration are through direct
supervision, rules, procedures and systems and goals, plans and targets.
• These bring about uniformity and standardization in the activities of the
organisation.
• Without these coordination mechanisms, an organisation would be inefficient,
unproductive and chaotic.
General:
• Both specialization and integration are factors that are within the control of an
organisation’s management.
• The management can determine the extent of specialization and type of
integration required within an organisation.
• Any change in these two dimensions is called as ‘restructuring’ of an
organisation.
• Organisational changes almost always involve restructuring.
Contingency Perspective:
• In restructuring several questions arise.
• What types of structure? How specialised the jobs should be? What are the
coordinating mechanisms in the organisation? Etc.
• These are the central questions based on the contingency perspective.
• Contingent means ‘depending’.
• Contingency factors depend upon contingency variables.
• These variables are: size of an organisation, technology of an organisation,
strategy of an organisation and environment of an organisation.
• The main idea of contingency perspective is that the most effective or
appropriate structure is one that is in ‘fit’ or ‘alignment’ with its contingency
variables.
• Any change in one or more contingency variables results in a misfit between
the structure and the contingency variable.
• Lack of fit or misfit affects the performance of the entire organisation.
• Misfit requires a change in the organisation structure.
• When an organisation grows larger, or if they change their strategy or if they
acquire new technology, or if there is a change in their environment, they need
to change their structure in order to remain effective.
• The most important aspect of contingency perspective relating to
organisational change is the relationship between environment and structure.
• There are two dimensions that characterise the environment of an
organisation.
 • One is the level of complexity – how many different organisations are there in
the environment.
• If the answer is few, the environment is simple.
• If the answer is many, the environment is complex.
• The other feature is the level of stability.
• Are the different organisations in the environment changing? And if yes how
fast?
• If the organisations in the environment are not changing or changing slowly,
then the environment is stable.
• If they are changing rapidly, the environment is unstable.
• The higher the level of complexity and instability, the higher the level of
uncertainty.
• Task uncertainty is the difference between the amount of information required
to perform a task and the amount of information already possessed by the
organisation.
• Over the years, contingency perspective has come under lot of scholarly
criticism.
• Scholars say that it considers only two variables at a time: strategy and
structure; size and structure; environment and structure and so on.
• But the contingency variables are themselves related to one another.
• If is therefore, necessary to study how the variables impact on one another and
how these relationships affect structure.
• In recent years a new approach called, ‘configurational approach’ has emerged
to deal with this inadequacy in the contingent perspective.
• It is based on the assumption that attributes of size, technology, strategy and
environment commonly occur together.
• In other words, effective organisations have a cluster of common attributes.
• This cluster of attributes is called a ‘configuration’.

c) Resource Dependence Perspective: by PFEFEER & SALANCIK

• Based on the simple premise that organisations need to acquire resources from
the environment in order to survive.
• This makes them dependent on the groups and organisations in the
environments which control the resources that the organisation requires.
• Dependence of an organisation on other external organisations for resources
makes it vulnerable because it creates uncertainty.
• Pfeffer and Salancik profounded two strategies: internal and external.
Internal Strategy:
• Internal strategies are aimed at adapting and changing the organisation to fit
the environment.
• There are 7 strategies identified:

• Domain choice • Recruitment • Buffing

 • Environmental scanning • Smoothing • Rationing
• Geographical dispersion
External Strategy:
• Are meant to alter the environment to fit the organisation.
• 5 external strategies:

• Advertising • Contracting • Co-opting

• Coalescing • Lobbying

d) Population – Ecology Perspective:

• This perspective states that individual organisations can not adapt to changing
environments for a variety of reasons.
• Some of the reasons can be:

− Organisational leaders may have incomplete information about the

environment.
− Organisational assets may be specific to its current tasks.
− There may be political resistance to change inside the organisation.
− There may be legal and financial barriers to entry and exit from
current market or industries.

• Therefore, it is more useful to study a population of organisations rather than a

single organisation.
• Populations means organisations which are similar – restaurants, textile firms,
two wheeler manufacturers, etc.
• Each population occupies an ecological niche in the environment.
• The niche provides the resources for the organisations.
• The environment consists of different niches.
• Organisations survive in their niches by developing distinctive capabilities
such as skills, patterns of behaviours, management systems suited only for
their specific niche.
• Those organisations that lack these capabilities are unable to get the required
sources and therefore, fail to survive.
• Consequently, some organisations die and a few others are born into the
population.
• There are 3 types of processes for such death and births:

− Variation: are those processes that lead to differences in organisations

in terms of strategy structure, systems, skills and culture.
− Selection: refers to the process through which the environment selects
those organisations that have the required features – some are selected
out or die.
− Retention: constitutes those processes that help organisations retain the
features that are required by the environment.

• A major criticism against this perspective is that it does not provide any
positive role for managers.
 e) Institutional Perspective:

• Social norms, values and culture of the environment in which they operate
affect organisations.
• Norms, values and culture make up the institutional norms.
• They are also called as ‘symbolic elements’.
• Organisations change their structures and strategies not to improve
performance but to conform to the norms and standards of the institutional
environment.
• Organisations that conform to the norms and standards are considered as
legitimate, lawful and proper.
• Such organisations are able to obtain the necessary resources.
• Organisations that lack legitimacy have difficulty in getting the requisite
resources.

15)Understanding the change Process:

• A manager frequently grapples with change.

• Why? How? Are there different types? Which is better? Processes?
Organisational levels? Limitations? Messy & Painful?
• Our knowledge is fragmented.
• 3 separate areas of management dealing with change.

Organisational theories:

− Results of the work of scholars and academics.

− They only study organisational changes than change organisations.
− No single, unified and coherent theory.

Organisational Change Models:

− Work of academics, consultants and practitioners.

− They help organisations to change rather than learning about change.
− Semi-theoretical and semi-practical.
− 2 types of change models: Descriptive & Prescriptive.
− Descriptive – informs us the way in which organisations change.
− Prescriptive – lay down guidelines for bringing about effective change in
organisations.

• Models are useful and less complex than theories and offer practical advice, but
tend to be general rather than specific.

Organisational Change Tools:

− Special tools and techniques intended to bring about specific types of

changes in organisations.
• If we want to change effectively we must integrate theory and practice.
• It is the combination of right values, right knowledge and right action that leads to
productive change.

Right Values

Management
of
change
Right Right
knowledge action

Three components of Productive Change

• We have to distinguish between two types of organisational change.

• One type includes all the changes that take place inside an organisation –
computerization, new inventory control, etc.
• The above is ‘intro organisational’ change.
• Another type refers to the organisation as a whole. This is truly ‘organisational’
• Organisational change includes intro organisational.
• Organisation levers of change

− What to change – is content of change.

− How to change – is process of change.
− Four areas which constitute the content of change – technology, marketing,
quality and costs.
− In order to bring about changes in these organisations need to change three
other aspects.
− These are strategy, structure and people management.
− A model of change levers is indicated below:

Marketing Technology

Managing
People
Quality Costs
16)Leading the Change Process:

• Implementation of strategic change is likely to be problematic.

• Since this involves people, their emotional and personal relationships are
involved.
• Changes are perceived as ‘deviant or normal’ and ‘threatening or desirable’
• ‘Deviants’ are those which are imposed or outside the prevailing cultural norms.
• Such changes are generally met with resistance and require careful
implementation to overcome the fear.
• Changes are implemented ‘top down’ or ‘bottom up’ approach
• Top down is transformational; bottom up is incremental.
• Top down is perceived as imposed and controlled; while bottom up is
participative.
• ‘BECKHARD’ suggests 10 organisation prerequisites which must exist before
transformational change can be achieved. They are:

Priority Prerequisite
1 Ensuring senior management commitment to the proposed changes
which needs to be visible to all participants through out the
organisation.
2 Producing a written statement about the future direction of the
organisation that makes clear its new objectives, values and policies.
3 Creating a shared awareness of conditions to produce a common
perception that change must be implemented.
4 Assembling a body of key managers and other important opinion –
formers to gain their commitment to the change process so that this
may be disseminated more widely.
5 Generating an acceptance that this type of change will require a long
time to implement fully even though there may be short-term,
dramatic changes as part of the overall process of transformation.
6 Recognising that resistance to change is a part of the normal process
of adaptation, so that managers can be educated to be aware of this
and equipped to manage this reaction.
7 Educating participants about the need for change and training them
with the necessary competence to be effective, to overcome
resistance and gain commitment.
8 Persevering with the change process and avoiding blame where an
attempt to implement a fact of this process fails. Such negative
action will generate resistance and reduce necessary risk-taking
behaviour.
9 Facilitating the change process with necessary resources.
10 Maintaining open communication about progress, mistakes and
subsequent learning.
a) Strategic HRM for implementing change:

• Hendry & Pettigrew presented the central components of strategic HRM as

follows:

− The use of planning

− A coherent approach to the design and management of personnel
systems based on an employment policy and HR strategy and often
emphasized by a ‘philosophy’
− Matching HRM activities and policies to some explicit business
strategy.
− Seeing the people of the organisation as a ‘strategic resource’ for
achieving ‘competitive advantage’

• Mabey & Salaman model has an ‘open’ approach to HR strategies. The

features are:

− Specific HR outcomes or desired employee behaviour has to be

adapted to achieve the desired corporate strategy.

• The 3 key levers are: cultural, personnel and structural.

• These 3 contribute to the employees’ behaviour.
• A fantastic, idealistic situation, but difficult to achieve.

Corporate Strategy

Culture Personnel Structure

Human Resource
Outcomes

• Change is the heart of the ‘open’ approach to HR strategies as indicated in

the sketch above.
• Used for both top down and bottom up approaches.

b) Responsibility for leading the implementation of the change process:

• Mabey & Salaman suggests three sources

Line Managers:
• HRM is moving from HR specialist to the line manager.
• In strategic HRM, the HR philosophy has to be integrated with the line
manager.
 • Line managers better.

− Communicate plans to their workforce

− Explain their relevance vis-à-vis strategy.
− Operate personnel procedures.
− Monitor the performances of the procedures.

Human Resource Specialists:

• Increasing importance to the line manager does not signal the death of HR
specialist.
• As shown in the open HRM approach sketch, the HR specialist has a
‘change maker’ role.
• The HR specialist.

− Has a close awareness of the organisation’s operating environment and

business plans.
− Devises the personnel strategies for the best HR outcomes.
− Integrates personnel, structural and cultural strategies.
− Secures the resources necessary for change programmes.
− Sells the ideas of HRM changes to other managers.

External Consultants:

• Besides line mangers and HR specialists working in concert, external

consultants may also be called upon.
• The external consultant provides the off the shelf recipe for the client.
• Recommends course of actions
• Diagnoses the problems
• Helps managers to implement change measures.
• They act as catalysts to develop novel solutions.
• Consultant has to be involved from the beginning to the implementation and
stabilization stages.
 III MBA – CHANGE & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

MODULE 3 – ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE CHANGE

A. Meaning & Defination:

a) Culture: is a complex whole: which includes

• Knowledge • Belief • Art

• Morals • Law • Custom
• Other capabilities • Other habits
• And acquired by a man in society.
• Two terms are key to the concept of culture
• History – cultural heritage of a society are passed on from generation to
generation.
• Shared phenomenon – is basic to culture and implies that the cultural ethos
is shared among the members of the society.

b) Organisational culture/Corporate culture:

• Has been defined as the:

• Philosophies • Ideologies • Values
• Assumptions • Beliefs • Expectations
• Attitudes • Norms
• That knit the organisation together and are shared by employees

c) 10 Characteristics of Culture:

1. Individual Initiative:

• The degree of responsibility, freedom and independence that individuals

have

2. Risk Tolerance:

• The degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive,

innovative and risk seeking.

3. Direction:

• The degree to which the organisation creates clear objectives and

performance expectations.
 4. Integration:

• The degree to which units within the organisation are encouraged to

operate in a coordinated manner.

5. Management Support:

• The degree to which managers provide clear communication, assistance

and support to their subordinates.

6. Control:

• The number of rules and regulations and the amount of direct

supervision that is used to oversee and control employee behaviour.

7. Identity:

• The degree to which members identify with the organisation as a whole

rather than with their particular work group or field of professional
expertise.

8. Reward System:

• The degree to which reward allocations are based on employee

performance criteria in contrast to seniority, favouritism and so on.

9. Conflict Tolerance:

• The degree to which employees are encouraged to air their conflicts and
criticism openly.

10. Communication Patterns:

• The degree to which organisational communications are restricted to the

formal hierarchy of authority.

• When these characteristics are mixed and meshed, we get the essence of
culture.

B. Twelve Types of Corporate Culture:

Furnham & Günter in their book ‘Corporate Assessment’ (1993) classified corporate
culture as follows:

1. A Humanistic – Helpful Culture: Organisations are managed in a participative,

consultative and mutually supportive manner.
2. An Affiliative Culture: Interpersonal relationships are given high priority.
3. An Approval Culture: Agreement, consensus seeking, conflict avoidance
dominate this type of organisations.
4. A Conventional Culture: These are conservative bureaucratic and traditional
organisations. Conformity and adherence are valued.
 5. A Dependent Culture: Centralisation, formal roles and seeking instructions from
seniors all the time for all the activities are the traits of this culture.
6. An Avoidance Culture: Punishing mistakes and no reward to good work
characterise this type of organisations.
7. An Oppositional Culture: Awarding negativism and being critical is the virtue in
these organisations. Here, members criticize each others decisions.
8. A Power Culture: Using positional power, hierarchical orientation, arbitrariness
and subjectivity prevail in the organisations of this culture.
9. A Competitive Culture: Employees are rewards and for exceeding targets,
outperforming others and this culture promotes win-lose situations.
10. A Perfectionist Culture: Perseverance, perfection, hard work are valued here and
avoiding mistakes is the hallmark of this type.
11. An Achievement Culture: It is characterised by success, achieving targets and
accomplishing their own goals and pursuing standards of excellence
12. A Self Actualisation Culture: Creativity, research and development, quality
emphasis behaviour is valued in this culture.

C. How Organisational Culture Starts:

1. A single person (founder) has an idea for a new enterprise.

2. The founder brings in one or more other key people and creates a core group
that shares a common vision with the founder. That is, all in this core group
believe that the idea is a good one, is workable, is worth running some risks for,
and is worth the investment of time, money, and energy that will be required.
3. The founding core group begins to act in concert to create an organisation by
raising funds, obtaining patents, incorporating, locating space, building and so
on.
4. At this point, others are brought into the organisation, and a common history
begins to be built.
5. Egs: Motorola, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart

D. Four Practical Approaches to Cultural Change:

Book Titled ‘Strategies for Cultural Change’ by S.Bate in 1995.

o Managers should know that many times the gap between plans and
implementation of culture is wide.
o The delivered results are frustratingly disproportionate to the efforts and costs
incurred.
o This gap is due to the excessive attention paid on cultural plans and inadequate
considerations of approach strategy.
o The classifications below help practitioners to gain a broad perspective of
approaches that are available to them.
o HR managers should advocate a suitable approach for implementation of cultural
change based on the type of cultural change planned and organisational
environment.
 o The approaches:

Appr Characteristics It Can But it usually

oach
1. Aggressive • Rapid change • Lead to a • Mobilises
• Dismantles traditional strong distant
values integrated • Is politically
• New culture is non- culture. native
complex • Suit a situation • Lacks skills,
• Top down monitored where there is breadth of
• Detailed plans/actions a simple support leads
source of to crisis of
authority change.
2. Conciliative

• Reasonable, quiet • Loads to a • Loses sight of

• Slow change over to new common its radical
values sense intent.
• Deals with means, not welcoming of • Gets seduced
ends new culture back to status
• Collusion, not • Disarm quo
confrontation. opposition
• Continuous development
• Based on power and
control
3. Corrosive

• Uses informal network • Lead to • Is used to

• Unseen manipulation genuine and defined
• High participation large scale existing order
• Act first, legitimize later change and oppose
• Planned and programmed initiated by change
small scale initiations.
network
4. Indoctrinative

• Explicit learning process • Lead to wide • Does not

• Socializing scale changes succeed in
• Unified, logical network at an bringing
• Advocates one world view informational, about
technical fundamental
level cultural
change.

E. How Culture Perpetuates Itself:

Hiring & socialization Removal of

4 of members who ‘fit members who
in’ with the culture Culture deviate from
culture

3 Culture Behaviour 1
communications

Culture
 2
• Managers seeking to create culture change must intervene at these points
• 1 – The first thing to change is people’s behaviour, through direction and training.
• 2 – Indicates the cultural justification for the behaviour of the organisation’s
members.
• 3 – New rituals, new stories and new heroes are needed to be widely and
consistently communicated.
• 4 – This step impacts the culture by hiring and socialization of members who
match the culture.
• 5 – The way to reinforce a culture is to remove those organisational members
whose behaviour deviates from the cultural values of the organisation.
• Such removal reduces the variances in behaviour and sends to those in the
organisation powerful signals relating to appropriate behaviour.

F. Guidelines/Checklists for cultural change:

1. Formulate a clear picture of the firm’s new strategy and of the shared values,
norms and behaviours needed to make it work.
2. Take a close look at the inner functioning of the organisation and determine if
cultural change is necessary.
3. Identify aspects of the current culture that could still be valid and other aspects
that need to be modified or changed.
4. Identify the depth of culture change needed.
5. Communicate the change translated into goals, sub-goals, activities and
behaviours.
6. Make changes from top down. The top management commitment must be seen
and felt.
7. Involve employees in the change process.
8. Check on the leadership and support processes to overcome anxiety among
managers in giving up their earlier responses. A positive and competitive
tension is to be nurtured among department.
9. Monitor the progress from time to time; build momentum in terms of initial
success.
10. Defense resistance. Despite this, expect certain casualties to occur – some
employees may leave the organisation and a few set backs may occur to the
change effort.
11. Develop ethical and legal sensitivity. Culture change can ignite tensions between
organisational and individual interests, resulting in ethical and legal problems for
individual members. Promoting performers, demoting laggards and terminating
undisciplined people lead to ethical and legal problems. Guidelines for
minimizing such tensions would be:

• Setting realistic values for culture change.

• Not promising what the organisations can not deliver.
• Providing mechanisms for member dissent and diversity.
• Educating managers about the legal and ethical pit falls inherent in culture
change.
 • Helping them develop guidelines for resolving such issues.
G. 10 Characteristics of Organisational Cultures:

1. Distinctive: There is no best culture for all times.

• Culture depends upon the organisation’s goals, industry, nature of

competition and other factors of environment.

1. Integrated:

• Cultures will be more easily recognised when their elements are generally
integrated.
• And elements consistent with each other.
• They must fit together like pieces of puzzle.

o Stable:

• Culture should not keep on changing frequently.

o Accepted:

• Most members must at least accept, if not embrace the assumptions and
values of culture.

o Implicit:

• Culture should be an increasingly acceptable conversation topic among

employees.

o A reflection of Top Management:

• Cultures evolve from top management.

• Management’s sayings have powerful influence on employees.

o Symbolic:

• Management actions are even more important to watchful employees.

• Employees quickly detect manager’s lip service.

o Subculture:

• A culture in an organisation may be made up of various subcultures.

o Cultures of varying strength:

• Can be characterised as relatively strong or weak.

• Depends on the degree of impact on employee behaviour

o No one type is the best:

H. Communicating and changing culture:

• Organisations have to consciously create and manage their cultures.

• They must be able to communicate to the employees.
• Examples of formal communication vehicles for transmitting organisational
cultures are:

o Executive visions of the firm’s future

o Corporate philosophy statements.
o Codes of ethical conduct.
o Publicly recognising heroes and heroines.
o Retelling historical success stories.

• Unintentional communication of organisation’s culture to employees, such as a

manager’s error and an executive’s forgiveness.

1. Organisational Socialisation:

• All cultural communications are put under this umbrella.

• Is a continuous process of transmitting key elements of an organisation’s
culture to employees.
• Consists of both formal and informal methods.
• These approaches help to shape the attitudes, thoughts and behaviour of
employees.
• Organisational socialization is like placing an organisation’s finger prints
on people by planting its own genetic code on them
• For employees, it is the essential process of learning the ropes to survive
and prosper within the firm.
• Socialization is functional for both workers and their employers.

2. Story Telling:

• Managers are encouraged to engage in story telling as a way to forge a

culture.
• It also builds organisational identity.
• Good stories tap into the emotions of audience.
• They prove to be powerful ways to create shared meaning and purpose.
• Stories convey a sense of tradition.
• Stories convey how in the past problems have been solved.
• They enhance cohesion around key values.
• Memorable stories uplift people, entertain and also teach valuable lessons.
• Story telling is a key means of achieving socialization of employees.
3. Individualization:

• Occurs when employees successfully exert influence on the social system

around them at work by challenging the culture or deviating from it.
• The interaction between individualization and socialization is shown in the
sketch:

High
Creative
Conformity individualism
Socialization (impact
of organisational
culture on employee
acceptance of norms)
Isolation Rebellion

Low
Low High

Individualisation
(Impact of employee on
Organisational culture,
Deviation from norms)

• The two extremes rebellion and conformity may prove dysfunctional to

the organisation.
• Isolation is not productive.
• When we assume that the culture of a certain organisation invites its
employees to challenge, question and experiment while also not being too
disruptive, them creative individualization can infuse new life and ideas
for the organisation’s benefit.

4. Culture Change Methods & effectiveness:

Probable Effectiveness

Culture Change Method

Very Great

Great

Moderate

Minimal
 Train Employees

Reward Behaviours

Use Slogans
Communicate Top Management Support

Use Stories and Myths

Appoint a manager of culture

Formulate Value statement

Publicly recognise heroes & heroines

I. How can organisations realign culture? Features of the Change
Architecture:

• There has been considerable debate as to whether culture can be managed!

• Lot of focus on whether or not it can be modified.
• Culture can be altered, it can be managed.
• It can be realigned to the strategic direction on organisation wishes to take.
• Culture is a dynamic, continuously developing phenomenon
• Managers can manage culture; change culture; prevent its change; abandon the
culture; or destroy the culture.
• Top down and bottom up are two of the approaches by HRM for change of
culture.

1. Typical frameworks for managing culture change:

As suggested by Beckhard the general principles for successful cultural

change are as follows:

f) Know & understand the current values, cultures, patterns of behaviour

within the organisations and strategic directions of the organisation.

g) Work out a desired strategy and desired culture and ensure they match and
congruent.

h) Identify the gap between actual and desired culture and take steps to move
the actual culture to the desired culture.

• Prior to any culture change, senior management must understand the

implications of the new culture for their own practices, artifacts and
declared values and be involved in all the main change phases.
• The reality of achieving this is very complex and organisations with
similar backgrounds and similar environments develop different cultures
at different situations.
• Adequate resources need to be allocated to support culture change and
maintain it, once it has been achieved.
• Culture change programs must pay careful attention to the organisation’s
power bases and opinion – leaders such as trade unions and employee’s
association
 • Culture change programs must take into account an organisation’s existing
practices and approaches in recruitment, selection and retention, training,
performance management and employee relations.
• In order to create a change in culture, organisations need to decide how
practices or procedures will be amended to support the new espoused
values and contradictory practices removed.
• Every opportunity should be taken to close the cultural gaps, reinforce the
existing culture to achieve the newly espoused cultures and values.

2. Top Down Strategy for cultural change:

• Often called ‘programmatic change’

• Typically initiated and led from the top.
• Writes on corporate excellence follow this.
• To succeed, it is crucial that employees have the necessary capabilities and
behaviours to realize the necessary change.
• Typically looks towards organisation-wide consensus, and focusing on
existing values and cultures.
• Change of organisation structure, management of office space, provision
of educations and training, HRD programmes like quality, excellence,
empowerment, performance related pay are a few HR interventions for
change of culture.
• Top-down draw backs:

o Messages of initiative, autonomy and innovation are usually conveyed

through bureaucratic methods such as team briefings, etc.,
o Employee believes the new culture conflicts with their existing
culture.

3. Bottom up approach for cultural change:

• Focuses on incremental approach

• Change is developed from bottom up.
• Such changes are tied to an organisation’s critical path
• Based on solving concrete business problems, called ‘task alignment’
• Task alignment could be achieved through a series of overlapping steps
taken at the business level as shown below:

6
Evaluate outcomes of changes and amend
FINISH
vision and actions as necessary
5
Confirm changes by ensuring that policies,
procedures and structures support them
4
Spread the changes out to other areas of
 organisation 3

Work towards common agreements of the

vision and skills and actions to carry it forward
2
Work jointly to develop a vision for the future
of the organisation
1
Start to ensure commitment to the change by
START
involving people in defining the problems

• Focuses on parts of the organisation away from the corporate headquarters

level.
• Emphasis on individuals shared commitment and vision as a prerequisite
for change.
• Change is enabled by developing people’s abilities and through improved
co-ordination between people.
• Results generate stronger commitment.
• The appropriateness of a chosen strategy will depend upon the
organisation and what an organisation wishes through cultural change.

4. Design Parameters for cultural change:

• The relative importance, weight and value will differ between

organisations.
• What is effective or appropriate in one situation may not be in another.
• Bate’s development of ‘design parameters for cultural change’

Para- Aspect of the Description

meters organisation
Expressiveness

Affective component The ability of the cultural change

(feelings) approach adopted to express a new
symbol which captures employees’
attention and excites or converts
them.

Social components The ability of the culture change

Commonality

(relationships) approach adopted to create a shared

common understanding and sense
of common purpose amongst a
group of employees or the whole
organisation.
Demographic The ability of the culture change
Penetration

component approach adopted to spread through

(number/depth) out all levels of an organisation and
to affect employees’ basic
underlying assumptions
 Adoptability
Development The ability of the culture change
component (process) approach adopted to adjust to
changing organisational and wider
environmental circumstances.

Durability
Institutional component The ability of the culture change
(structure) approach adopted to create a lasting
culture.

• At the start of a culture change process, expressiveness may be considered

more important whilst commonality and penetration are considered as less
important.
• However, as the process continues and the new culture is spread through
out at all levels of the organisation, commonality and penetration may
become more important.

5. Relative Effectiveness of Top-Down Approach and Bottom-up Approaches to

cultural change across different Design Parameters of cultural change:

Level of Effectiveness of
Parameters Top-Down Approaches Bottom-up approaches
High – deal in simple Low in short term – focus on
Expressiveness

messages and specialise in concrete problem generates

communicating these lots of detail rather than a new
effectively and reasonably symbol
quickly at the practice/artifact
level
Low – promoted unifying High – operates through
Commonality

feeling often ceases after shared understanding and

formal program ends; methods creates a culture of trust and
often lead to resistance and understanding.
lack of common ownership

Variable – depends on ability Low in short term – involves

Penetration

of interventions to affect more only part of the organisation

than just practices or artifacts:
highly structured programs
likely to reach all employees
Low – tend to be inflexible
Adaptability
High on long term – involves
discussing proposals and
implications with employees
High – concrete problems lead

and imply instant fix willing to accommodate new

programmed nature implies views and find best fit with
conformity and devalues organisational requirements.
deviance.
 Low – based on senior High – employees are keen to

Durability
management’s desires; lack of
ownership by employees
likely to be highest with
transformational change
preserve what they have
created; especially high when
a development of existing
practices which employees
own rather than
transformational change.

• The two approaches effectiveness differs across the parameters.

• No approach is the best fit any organisation.
• No one approach will give everything we require.
• Strategy for culture change should be tailored to the requirements of the
organisation at a particular time.
• Top-down approach brings relatively rapid changes in the organisation.
• Bottom-up approach takes a longer time.
• Managing organisational culture change is extremely complex.
• It needs to take account of the existing culture.
• Also what type of change we need – transformational or developmental
• WHIPP says: ‘culture is a Pandora’s box’

J. The Transglobal & Cross Cultural Contents:

• A global economy is now a reality.

• The shape of international trade has changed dramatically in recent years with the
emergence of European Community, revolutionary changes in the former Soviet
Union & Eastern Europe and strong markets developing in China, India, Japan,
Korea and many other emerging nations.
• Many organisations, now do business in more than one country.
• These multinational organisations add powerful new dimensions to organisational
behaviour.
• These multinational organisations add powerful new dimensions to organisational
behaviour.
• They encompass different social, legal, political communication and economic
environments.

Conditions affecting Multinational operations:

• People of the world are organised into communities and nations, each in its
own way, according to its resources and cultural heritage.
• There are similarities and significant differences.

a) Social Conditions:

• In many countries the overriding social condition is poorly developed

human resources.
 • There are major shortages of managerial personnel, scientists and
technicians.
• These deficiencies limit the ability to employ local labour
productively.
• Needed skills must be imported temporarily from other countries.
• Parallely vast training programs begin to prepare the local workforce.
• Lending of skilled people to a nation for training their local
replacements may provide a more lasting benefit to its development
than lending the capital.
• What is called as ‘training multiplier effect’ or ‘ripple-effect of self
development’ comes into action.
• Loaned skilled people develop others; and those trained locals become
the nucleus for developing still more people.
• A significant social condition in many countries is that the local
culture is not familiar with the advanced technology or complex
organisations.
• Another social factor on which countries are often compared is the
work ethic of their employees – long/short hours.

b) Legal & Ethical Conditions:

• Countries around the world vary substantially in their legal systems.

• Their employment practices and their business practices vary.
• A major issue affecting multinational corporations has been how to
deal with contrasting local practices, customs and behaviours.
• Managers need to be aware of the possible differences in both laws
and ethical values that define acceptable and unacceptable behaviours
in foreign countries.
• Managers in foreign countries need to become familiar with local
customs and practices.
• They need to recognise that the resolution of ethical issues are not
always clear cut
• Another major issue revolves around the treatment of women and
other minorities.

c) Political Conditions:

• The following have a significant effect on organisational behaviour:

o Instability of the government

o Nationalistic drives – foreigners cornered.
o Subordination of employers and labour to an authoritarian state.

d) Economic Conditions:

• The most significant economic conditions in less developed nations

are:
 − Low per capita income.
− Rapid inflation.
− Unequal distribution of wealth

• Rapid population increases coupled with a lack of national economic

growth make it unlikely that family incomes will progress
significantly.
• As a result natives of those countries may not believe that additional
effort on their part will earn associated rewards.
• Inflation makes the economic life of workers insecure.
• Money loses its value rapidly, social unrest increases.
• Tremendous disparity in distribution of wealth starts.
• Then, some workers passively accept the situation; others aggressively
protest.
• All these factors make it difficult to motivate employees.
• Looking at social, legal, ethical, political and economic conditions as a
whole, bad condition causes hurdle in the introduction of advanced
technology and sophisticated organisation systems.
• They constrain the stability, security and trained human resources that
developing countries require to be more productive.
• These limiting conditions cannot be changed rapidly.
• Instead they are too well established and woven into the whole social
fabric of the nation.
• They represent a critical environmental condition to which the
managers of international operations must adapt.

e) Culture & Behaviours:

• Culture determines behaviours.

• Behaviour in organisational settings varies across cultures.
• Human resource practices too, vary across cultures.
• Differing standards of living and varied geographical conditions can
also cause variations in behaviour.
• But culture is the determining factor.
• Culture may be understood as the all encompassing:

o Shared beliefs
o Norms
o Values that guide the everyday life of individuals.

• These beliefs, norms and values are passed on to future generations

through cultural rituals, stories and symbols.
• Cultural norms:
 o Prescribe behaviours and practices.
o They tell us what we can do and what we cannot.

• Cultural Values:

− Tell us what is most dear to our hearts.

− Americans for example value freedom most; Japanese find a
higher value in belongingness in a group; Arab culture
concentrates on their own family security and relying on god for
destiny.
− Cultural values also have a major influence on the way people
relate to each other and also to what they aspire for in a job.
− In many hierarchical cultures (like India, Japan, etc) the meaning
and value of a job lies more in the status than in the pay packet.
− People also expect recognition for seniority and age in hierarchical
culture.
− In more egalitarian culture (like US, Germany, etc), people expect
reward and compensation for their performance rather than for
their seniority.
− Culture not only influences behaviour and human resources but
also life style like elegance, elitism and concern for form.
− Cultural values of the society define the meaning and reason of
business and how it is organised.
− In many cultures, cultural values of the society define the meaning
and reason of business and how it is organised – high profits are
not a criterion – Arabs, Italy, Spain, Latin American countries
− Sometimes cultural differences have a direct impact on the
strategic orientation of companies like USA companies emphasize
on more profits, dividends and stock prices while Japanese
companies focus more on new product development and market
share.

• Cultural Symbols, Stories and rituals:

− It is important to communicate the norms, values and beliefs of a

society to its members.
− Culture is passed on from one generation to another through its
symbols, stories and rituals.
− Culture is continuously reinforced when people see symbols, hear
stories and engage in rituals.

f) Culture Clusters:

• Countries that share cultural similarities form cultural clusters.

• Cultural clusters do have some differences but similarities are
predominant.
• International business utilizes the culture clustering approach in
formulating their global strategies.

K. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions:

• A pioneering work done by Dutch Scientist Geert Hofsteds.

• He identified four cultural dimensions around which countries have been
clustered with people in each group exhibiting identical behaviours.
• The 4 dimensions are: Power Distance; Uncertainty avoidance; Individualism and
Masculinity/Feminity.

1) Power Distance:

• Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of countries

companies and organisations accept that power is distributed unequally.
• Countries in which people blindly obey the orders of superiors have high
power distance.

• High power distance countries have norms, values and beliefs such as:

− Inequality is fundamentally good.

− Everyone has a place; some are high, some are low.
− Most people should be dependent on a leader.
− The powerful are entitled to privileges, and
− The powerful should not hide their power

• The dimension of power can be measured in a number of ways:

− In high power distance countries generally people dislike work

− People try to avoid the work.
− Managers believe that they must adopt theory X leadership style.
− Managers believe that they must be authoritarian, must force workers
to perform, and must supervise their subordinates closely.

• In high power distance countries:

− Decision make is centralised.

− Those at the top make most of the decisions.
− Organisations tend have tall structures.
− They will have a large proportion of supervisory personnel
− People at low level have low of job qualifications.
− Such structures encourage and promote inequality between people at
different levels.

• Organisations in low distance countries:

− Tend to be decentralized.
− Have flatter organisation structures
− Have smaller proportion of supervisory personnel
− Have highly qualified people in the lower state of workforce.

• USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, Norway, etc., represent cultures with

lower distance.
 • France, India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia are examples of societies with
a high power distance.

2) Uncertainty Avoidance:

• Is the extent to which people threatened by ambiguous situations?

• Employees in some cultures value clarity and feel very comfortable
receiving specific directions from their supervisors.
• These employees have a high level of uncertainty avoidance and prefer to
avoid ambiguity at work.

• High uncertainty avoidance countries are characterized by norms, values

and beliefs which accept that:

− Conflict should be avoided.

− Deviant people and idea should not be tolerated.
− Laws are very important and should be followed,
− Experts and authorities are usually correct, and
− Consensus is important.

• Countries with high uncertainty avoidance culture have:

− A great deal of structuring of organisational activities.

− More written rules.
− Less risk taking managers.
− Low labour turnover
− Less ambitious employees

• Societies with low uncertainty avoidance cultures have:

− Less structuring of activities.

− Fewer written rules
− More risk taking by managers
− Higher labour turnover
− More ambitious employees
− Organisation encourages employees to use their initiative and assume
responsibility for their actions.

3) Individualism/Collectivism:

• Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and their

family only.
• Collectivism is the tendency of people to belong to groups and to look
after each in exchange for loyalty.
 • Individualism is common in US, Canada, Australia, Denmark & Sweden.
• People of Indonesia, India, Pakistan and a number of South American
countries exhibit collectivism.
• Countries high on individualism have norms, values, and beliefs which
accept that:

− People are responsible for themselves.

− Individual achievement is ideal and
− People need not be emotionally dependent on organisations or groups.

• Collectivist countries believe, that:

− One’s identity is based on one’s group membership.

− Group decision making is best, and
− Groups protect individuals in exchange for their loyalty to the group.

• In a collectivist organisation:

− Tend to promote nepotism in selecting managers.

− Promotions are mostly based on seniority and age.
− Important decisions are made by older senior managers.

• In a individualistic organisation:

− Favouritism shown to friends and relatives is considered to be unfair

and even illegal.
− Promotions are based on one’s performance
− Decision making is an individual’s responsibility.

4) Masculinity/Feminity:

• Masculinity refers to a situation in which the dominant values in a society

are success, money, and other material things.
• Highly masculine cultures have norms, values and beliefs that:

− Gender roles should be clearly distinguished.

− Men are assertive and dominant.
− Machismo or exaggerated maleness is good.
− People, especially men, should be decisive.
− Work takes priority over other duties, such as family, and
− Advancement, success and money are important.

• In highly masculine societies, jobs are clearly defined by gender.

• There are men’s jobs and women’s jobs.
• Men usually choose jobs that are associated with long term careers.
• Women usually choose jobs that are associated with short term
employment, before marriage.
L. Cultural Adjustment:

• The process of cultural adjustment is a critical determinant of an expatriate’s

performance.
• Adjustments to a foreign culture are multifaceted, and individuals vary in terms of
their reactions and copying behaviours.
• The concept of an adjustment cycle or U curve shows that typical phases that may
be encountered during cultural adjustment.

Adjustment
Phase-1 Phase 4

Phase 3

Phase 2

Time
Crisis/
Culture
Shock

• The curve is based on psychological reactions to the overseas assignments

and comprise 4 phases.

Phase 1:

• The expatriate may experience a range of positive and negative

emotions such as excitement anxiety, fear of the unknown, sense of
adventure and so on.
• There can be an upswing of mood upon arrival in the ‘assignment’
country that produces a ‘honeymoon’ phase.
• Then novelty fades off, realities of everyday life in an alien land starts.
• A slow negative appraisals of location and situation leads to a crisis.

Phase 2:

• This is a very critical time.

• The way the expatriate copes with the psychological adjustment at this
phase has an important outcome in terms of success or failure.
• A haunting thought, ‘failure as an early recall’ may be triggered at this
point.
 Phase 3:

• Once the individual passes this crisis point, he comes in terms with the
demands of the new environment.
• Then, there is an upswing
• The person begins to adjust to the new environment.

Phase 4:

• The upswing levels off after sometime.

• A healthy recovery is maintained

• The bottom of the U-shaped curve is marked by ‘culture shock’, which is

the expatriate’s reaction to a new, unpredictable and uncertain environment.
• Culture shock is a natural response to the stress of immersing oneself in the
new environment.
• Service culture shock is often a positive sign indicating that the expatriate is
becoming deeply involved in the new culture instead of remaining isolated
in an expatriate ghetto

M. Cultural Contracts in motivation – Motivation Across Cultures:

• What are the motivations of people in international settings?

• In multicultural work environments, not everyone is motivated by the same
factors.
• Motivational processes, approaches, and applications reflect the culture of the
country directly or indirectly.
• The table below shows the motivational approaches and cultural factors for three
distinct cultures.

Factor American Japanese Arab

Management Leadership Persuasion; Coaching; personal
styles friendliness functional group attention;
activities parenthood
Control Independence Group harmony Of others/
decision making parenthood
space, time, money
Emotional Opportunity Group participation Religion;
appeal company success nationalistic;
admiration
Recognition Individual Group identity Individual status
contribution belonging to group class/society
promotion
Material Salary, commission Annual bonus, Gift for self/family;
awards profit sharing social services, family affair; salary
fringe benefits increase
Threats Loss of job Out of group Demotion
 Cultural Competition, risk Group harmony; Reputation; family
values taking; material achievements; security; religion
possession; freedom belonging social status
N. Leadership Across Cultures:

• A multinational leader needs to possess certain unique qualities to become

successful in global settings.
• An international manager emotional intelligence.

a) EI has a set of 5 individual and social competencies; they are: self awareness,
self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.

• Self awareness: is the ability to recognise and understand one’s moods,

emotions and drives as well as their effects on other people.
• Leaders with a high level of self-awareness exhibits self confidence, a
realistic self assessment and a self deprecating humour.
• Self regulation: is the ability to control redirect disruptive impulses and
moods – the ability to think before doing.
• Leaders with a high level of self regulation exhibit trustworthiness,
integrity, comfort with ambiguity and openness to change.
• Motivation: is reflected in a passion to work for reasons that go beyond
money or status.
• Leaders high on motivation exhibit remarkable organisational
commitment, drive to achieve and optimism.
• Empathy: refers to understanding the emotional make up of other people
and skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions.
• Leaders with a high level of empathy demonstrates an ability to build and
retain talent in their organisation, show cross cultural sensitivity and
become known for offering great services to clients and customers.
• Social skill: refers to the proficiency in managing relationships and
building networks along with an ability to find common ground and to
build rapport.
• Leaders with a high level of social skill are effective at leading change,
show a superior ability to build and lead teams and become known for
their persuasiveness.

b) Leadership in the National Context:

• In international settings, the leadership needs to be situational.

• Successful leadership in multinational companies requires that managers
adjust their leadership styles to fit the different situations.
• Such responses are required while dealing with contingency factors such
as subordinates’ characteristics.
• Also in response to the cultural and institutional context of the
multinational country locations.
O. Universalism in Leadership/Transformational Leadership:

• Universalism of leadership is a new concept.

• This means, whether or not effective leaders act similarly regardless of their
respective culture.
• Transformational leadership is projected as an approach which can cut across all
cultural barriers.
• TL is effective in any organisation anywhere in the world.
• TL represents a higher level of leadership.
• T Leaders are visionary agents with a sense of mission.
• They are capable of motivating their followers to accept new goals and new ways
of doing things.
• The transformational leader has following attributes:

1. Articulates a vision:

• Presents in vivid and emotional terms an idealized vision of future of the

organisation
• What it can and should become
• And makes the vision clear to all in organisation.

2. Breaks from the status quo:

• Has a strong desire to break from tradition

• An expert in finding ways to do things differently.
• Challenges subordinates to find new solutions to old problems.

3. Provides goals and a plan:

• Has a vision that is future oriented.

• Provides clear steps for followers to transform the company.

4. Gives a meaning or a purpose to goals:

• Places the goals in emotion – laden stories.

• Or a cultural context so that subordinates see the need to follow the
leader’s ideals.
• Subordinates share a commitment to radical change.
• Helps subordinates envision a future state of a better organisation.
 5. Takes risks:

• Is willing to take more risks with the organisation than the average leader.

6. Is motivated to lead:

• Seeks leadership positions.

• Displays strong enthusiasm for the leadership role.
• Acts as a role model

7. Builds a Power Base:

• Uses personal power based on expertise, respect and admiration of

followers.

8. Demonstrates high ethical and moral standards:

• Behaves consistently and fairly with a known ethical standard.

• Transformational leaders are not new to the present century.

• Max Weba, a German sociologist recognised the existence of this leadership
throughout history.
• He called this leadership as ‘Charisma’
• And noted that existed in all cultures.
• He said; Jesus Christ, Muhammad were among the first transformational leaders.
• Most people also consider MK Gandhi & Martin Luther King as representatives
of transformational leadership.
• Transformational leaders succeed because subordinates respond to them with high
levels of performance, personal devotion, reverence, excitement regarding the
leader’s ideas, and a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the company.
• However, true transformational leaders are rare.

P. Barriers to Cultural Adaptation:

1. Individual differences (also refer Hofstede’s theory given earlier)

• High context cultures such as China, Korea and Japan tend to emphasize
personal relationships, place high value on trust, focus on non verbal cues.
• Impress upon the need to attend to social needs before business matters.
• Low-context cultures such as Germany, USA and Scandinavian countries.
• Tend to rely on written rules and documents.
• Conduct business first and value expertise and performance
• Lack of attention to these factors results in costly failures for expatriates.
2. Parochialism:

• The dominant feature of all international operations is that they are conducted
in a social system different from the one in which the organisation is based.
• This new social system affects the responses of all persons involved.
• Managers and employees who come to a host country exhibit a variety of
behaviours true to the citizens of their homeland.
• Many are predisposed to parochialism.
• They see the situations around them from their own perspective.
• They fail to recognise the key differences between their own and other’s
cultures.
• Even if they do, they tend to conclude that the impact of those differences is
insignificant.
• In effect they are assuming that the two cultures are more similar than they
actually are.

3. Ethnocentrism:

• Another potential barrier to easy adaptation to another culture occurs when

people are predisposed to believe that their homeland conditions are the best.
• This predisposition is known as the ‘self-reference criterion’ or
‘ethnocentrism’
• It interferes with the understanding of human behaviours in other cultures.
• Further productivity from local employees is also reduced.
• In order to integrate the imported and local systems, expatriate employees
minimally need to develop ‘cultural empathy’
• This is the awareness of differences across cultures.
• This is the understanding of the ways in which those differences can affect
business relationships.
• This is an appreciation of the contribution each culture make to overall
success.

4. Cultural distance:

• Predicting the amount of adaptation that may be required when an expatriate

manager moves to another country requires an understanding of the ‘culture
distance’ between the two countries.
 • Cultural distance is the amount of difference between any two social systems
and may vary from minimal to maximal.
• Cultural distance affects the responses of all people to business related issues.
• Ethnocentric problems may be magnified by cultural distances.

5. Cultural Shock:

• Companies often assign employees to new job assignments in different areas

to provide them with invaluable breadth of experience.
• The employees who move to new job locations of the experience various
degrees of ‘cultural shock’
• Which is a feeling of confusion, insecurity and anxiety caused by a strong
new environment?
• They fail to act properly and lose their self-confidence.
• A cultural change does not have to be dramatic to cause some degree of
shook-like moving from a big town to a small town.
• For unprepared employee, the new environment can appear to be chaotic and
somewhat overwhelming.
• The new environment may be as systematic as the culture of the employee.
• Although it is different, it can be understood if employees have receptive
attitudes.
• They should dedicate themselves to learn the new culture and adapt to it.
• Cultural shock is even greater when an employee moves from one nation to
another.
• Such shock is even greater when an employee moves from one nation to
another.
• Such shocks are in four phases.
• First phase: they are excited and stimulated by the challenge of a new job,
home and culture.
• Second phase: positive attitude is soon followed by, ‘disillusionment’ as they
discover various problems they had not anticipated regarding travel, shopping
or language skills.
• Third phase: critical stage, tend to suffer cultural shock, which is ‘insecurity
and disorientation’ caused by encountering all sorts of different cultures.
• They may not know how to act, may fear losing face and self confidence, or
emotionally upset.
• Fourth phase: if they survive the first few weeks, they will reach the fourth
phase, that of ‘adaptation’.
• At this point, they accept the new culture, regain a sense of self esteem and
respond constructively to their new surroundings at work and home.
 • Cultural shock is virtually universal.
• It occurs in response to:

− Dramatic differences in languages.

− Forms of country
− Customs
− Housing conditions
− Privacy
− Time
− Activity
− HR Practices
− Currency
− Work attitudes
− Strange language.
− New food
− Separation from friends and relatives.
− Different management philosophies, etc.

Q. Overcoming Barriers to cultural Adaptation:

1. Careful Selection:

• Employees who are low in ethnocentrism and

• Who are less prone to troublesome characteristics, may be chosen
• They should have a desire to experience another culture.
• They should have a desire to live in another nation.
• Potential employees should have a capability to learn the new language
quickly.
• An attitude to learn the new culture and the family culture is necessary.

2. Compatible Assignments:

• Adjustments to new surroundings is easier if employees, especially on their

first international assignments, are sent to nations that are similar to their own.
• These are grouped into 6 socio cultural clusters:

− Anglo American – USA, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ

− Nordic group – Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark
− Latin European – Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium
− Latin American – Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela
− Pacific Rim Cluster – Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea
− Central European Group – Germany, Austria, Switzerland.
− Israel, Brazil & India do not fall into any group

3. Pre-departure Training:
 • Learn the local language
• Helps to reduce, personal and organisational costs.
• Faster cultural adaptation.
• Better communications; lesser misunderstanding.
• Creates better impression.
• Training includes – geography, customs, culture, language and political
environments.

4. Orientation & Support in the New Country:

• Efforts to quickly settle the employee and family.

• Assistance in housing, transportation and shopping.
• A mentor may help a lot during transition.
• The previous job holder may also stay back for sometime and assist.
• The local national working for the same organisation can also assist.
• Support for intensified need deficiencies like financial difficulties,
inconveniences, insecurities, separation from relatives and friends.
• Extra pay, fringe benefits, better positions.

5. Preparation for Reentry:

• Repatriation has to be smoothly blended.

• Often tend to suffer cultural shock in their own homeland – reverse cultural
shock.
• After enjoying a new culture, coming back to their homeland culture – needs
time to adjust.
• Better autonomy emoluments, position, power in host country best less in
home country.
• Companies need repatriation policies.

Forces inhibiting and supporting cultural adaptation:

Inhibiting Forces Supporting Forces

 Cultural Adaptation
Individual Differences Careful Selection

Parochialism Compatible assignments

Ethnocentrism Pre-departure training

Cultural distance Orientation & support

Culture shock Preparation for reentry

R. Cross Cultural Communications:

• Besides verbal communications, non verbal communications are also important.

• Non-verbal communication is called as cross cultural communications.
• They include:

• Relative values for time efficiency • Thought patterns

• Values of life • Personal space
• Eye contact • Physical appearance
• Posture • Gestures
• Meaning of silence • Legitimacy of touch
• Language • Clusters

• They are very important contingency factors.

 III MBA – CHANGE & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

MODULE 4 – CHANGE MANAGEMENT

G. DEALING WITH INDIVIDUALS:

• The strategy for change are implemented through three change levers, which are

o Structure o Process o Culture

• If people within the organisation do not change, the organisation can not change.
• Fundamental requirement for effecting change management is the understanding
of:
− The nature of human response to change
− Overcoming individual and group resistance to change, and
− Tuning the organisation to change.

a) Human Response to Change:

• Individuals fear and seek change, both

• Change is resisted as much as stagnation is
• Continuity without change leads to stagnation, boredom and frustration
• Change without continuity or stability leads to ambiguity, conflict and the
inability to cope with the situation.
• Change may be perceived as an opportunity or a threat.
• Change, to many individuals, means learning new skills, and new routines,
and acquiring new relationships, while abandoning the familiar,
accustomed and proven ways of doing things. Individuals tend to perceive
change as a discontinuity, to be avoided or coped with
• Individuals may not resist change. What they resist is being changed.
Hence it is difficult to impose change. Change that is internal to an
individual is far better accepted than change externally imposed.
• Change is always a threat when done to people, but an opportunity when it
is done by people.
• Change is intensely personal. For change to occur in any organisation,
each individual must think, feel or do something different.
• Change gives rise to emotions. These emotions can vary from being
intensely negative to being appreciably positive. Organisations can not
ignore, deny or suppress emotions at work. Managing change, therefore,
requires managing employee feelings to generate positive excitement for
the intended change and change process.
• The strategy to make people to accept change, then, seems to lie in making
them choose it. To make an individual choose change, we need to
understand what factors make him prone to it and what prompts him to
resist it.
 • Any change is as good as the willingness of the one affected by it. It is
apparent that individuals need to own their responsibilities and be clear
about the results to which they are accountable.
b) Dealing with Individuals for Change Management:

• Create a culture where employees seek change, and are not afraid to think
and act differently to make change happen.
• Change should not be what happens to them in the organisation but what
they can make happen in the organisation.
• Build a positive imagery for its employees of the envisaged change to
reflect a better future.
• Individuals can manage change well if it gives them positive emotions
rather than negative emotions.
• Individuals, often, behave to maximize win, minimize loss and want to
have a control in their behaviour.
• They avoid risk, have fear of failure and feeling of incompetence.
• Support the change process with adequate resources, process and facilities.
• When such supportive structures exist, individuals may even welcome
change rather than resist it.
• The above are intrinsic to the change management process.
• The organisational leadership has to examine the following also during the
initiation of change.

11. Employee attitudes for change:

• Individuals tend to fall into any one of the attitudinal continuums,

namely:

Aggressive Passive Neutral Passive Active

resistance resistance acceptance involvement

Quitters Campers Climbers

12. Reasons for change resistance:

i) Personal Loss:

• Job security
• Salary and income
• Pride and satisfaction
• Job nature
• Friendship and associations
• Freedom

ii) Negative Attitudes:

• Towards their organisations and supervisors

 • Lack of trust resulted from earlier bitter experiences in the
organisation

iii) Lack of Involvement:

• Some people resist change because they have not been

involved in the change process.
• Their ideas have not been sought for
• Some others are very sensitive about ‘change’ since they
have wrong or incomplete information.

iv) Personal Criticism:

• Change may be considered as a personal affront.

• Some think, it questions one’s capabilities and performance.
• Seen as a challenge to one’s authority.

v) Loss of Status and authority:

• Change may lead to the relegation of one’s job to lower

levels in the hierarchy.
• May be loss of one’s authority and power.

vi) Inappropriate Timing:

• Change is generally introduced at a time when business is not

good and everyone is already burdened with extra work to
tide over the bad times.
• The way that change is introduced may also not be to
everyone’s liking.

vii) Cognitive Rigidity:

• Some people do not see the need for change or may not be
convinced about the arguments in favour of change.
• Others still find the old practices that have evolved overtime,
the best.

viii) Challenging Authority:

• Some people resist change to challenge authority.

• Or oppose disliked bosses who are in favour of change.

13. Reasons why people accept change:

• People welcome change when it benefits them.

• The benefits could be: security, monetary and other benefits, status
and authority, personal satisfaction, job nature and opportunities to
contribute to and determine the change process.
14. Integration:

• A number of quantitative & qualitative techniques are available.

• This classifies individuals into different categories in the attitudinal
continuum.
• Surveys like questionnaires, interviews and observation methods
are useful.

15. Dealing with individual resistance to change:

• Individuals need to be motivated to accept change.

• A feeling of dissatisfaction to be generated with the existing state
of organisation.
• The idea that a change is good for everybody should be driven
home.
• We gave to deal with an individual’s attitude to overcome his
resistance to change.
• Attitude consists of cognitive, conative and affective dimensions.

• Cognitive refers – one’s perceptions, beliefs and values

Conative refers – one’s action tendencies.
Affective refers – one’s emotional component of likes and dislikes.

• To overcome resistance, we have to deal with the above

components.

16. Individual – focused approaches to managing change:

• Though appropriate structures, systems and processes are

necessary, they alone are not sufficient to bring in the change.
• It is the individuals who work within the structures and systems
and on the tasks and processes, who make the change to happen
and achieve highest levels of performance.
• Organisations have to deal with individual attitudes and behaviours
to tap individual wisdom – their experience, intelligence and
judgement – in managing the change.
• Creative and intellectual energies of the individuals should be
diverted to the change initiatives of the organisation.
17. Personality types and their general response to change:

Response
Type Behavioural Description
Change
Highly emotional, low conflict – tolerance Aggressive
SQUEALER

level, low self confidence, stubborn, resistance to

argumentative, critical, rigid, dogmatic, change
non-companionable, skeptical, impatient,
high fear of uncertainty and failure.
Slow, unambitious, conservative, cold, Passive resistance
OSTRICH

aloof, shy, withdrawn, indecisive, silent, to change

defensive, high fear of failure, low
conflict – tolerance level, unable to face
problems
Receptive, consistent, patient, stable, High in change
CONFORMIST

rigid, predictable, co-operative, moralistic, acceptance when

sensitive to failure and punishment, self change is
critical, overly dependent, trustful, formalized.
relation oriented, respectful and fearful of
authority.
Reckless, brash, stubborn, overbearing, Aggressive
BRAVADO

risky, independent, self-centered, resistance

impulsive, unbending, persistent,
retaliative, short-term – perspective

Diplomatic, self-centrical cautious, less Natural, but can

OPPORTUNIST

moralistic, secretive, superficial, inclined be positive or

to oversell, aggressive, scheming, plays to negative
his advantage. depending upon
his advantage.

Receptive, social, convincible, cordial, Passive

ACCOMMODATOR

warm, dependable, patient, amiable, acceptance to

stable, predictable, systematic, co- active
operative, trustful, integrative of other involvement.
people’s ideas, self sacrificing, respects
authority.

Brave, forceful, dynamic, decisive, self- Initiator of change

VANQUISHER

reliant, demanding, persuasive, optimistic, actively involved.

determined, enthusiastic, individualistic, If opposing
task-oriented, high sense of achievement, change, he can
adventurous, poised. resist it actively.
 Inventive, original, positive, self-reliant, Active self

STRATEGIST
receptive, persuasive convincing, capable involvement and
of empathy, open minded, realistic, capable of
problem solver, integrative of other involving others
people’s ideas, equalitarian, inter- in the change
persistent process.

c) Managing change: The Cognitive Dimension:

• One’s own perceptions, opinions and beliefs often act as the precursor to
one’s response to change.
• To create readiness in an individual for change, his/her cognitions have to
be positively influenced.
• Cognitive changes tend to occur in individuals when information is
presented in a logical and coherent.

Cognitive Changes: Change Mechanisms:

2. Explaining the nature and direction of change:

• The change process has to be clear, well knit and integrated.

• Employees have to be aware of the focus, scope and expected
outcomes of change, the company strategy and its competitive
advantage.
• Core competency required and plan of action for managing change has
to be clearly stated.
• Responsibility of each person in relation to the company’s strategy has
to be understood.
• Top management should be committed to the intended change.
• Employees cognize the explicit and implicit behaviours exhibited by
senior managers.
• Behaviours of senior managers influence employees’ perceptions and
beliefs.
• It is not only what managers say, but what and how they do, send
signals to others in terms of their fourth and commitment to the change
process.

2. Communication:

• Effective communication is fundamental to change management.

• It is important to communicate the intended change and the reasons for
it in advance and as completely as possible.
• This has to be done individually and in groups.
• Such a talk gets a feedback from employees regarding their hopes,
fears and expectations.
 • Communications about change have to be clear, precise, reliable and
perhaps repeated and number of times to drive home its importance
and the depth of the management’s commitment.
• The messages must be credible and take a variety of forms.
• It employees have to be attended to change; communication should
lead to optimism, hope and a positive outcome.
• Persuasive communications may be resorted to in times of urgency and
crisis and when employees are either in high or low state of readiness
for change.
• Oral persuasive communication is carried out through speeches.
• Written communications are through specific written documents.
• Non routine communications are through media.

o Creating a Common Value Orientation:

• Values are basic to human behaviour.

• The values talked about in change management are:

o What are the values to be espoused if the change needs to be

implemented?
o How are they similar to one’s personal value?
o How to bring about changes in personal values if need be?

• Organisations have to identify the values basic to the change initiative

and implementation.
• These values are based on group and individual behaviours and also
the work processes.
• These values have to be shared and imbibed by all through out the
organisation.
• These values enable and stable and trustworthy relationships.
• Values tie together people, systems and processes.
• Value may be generated by discussion and active employee
involvement at all levels in the organisation.
• Once a set of values are collectively agreed upon, they tend to form a
benchmark for individuals to adopt, modify and realign their personal
values.
• Values agreed upon should be documented.
• Work can be soulful enchanting experience when employees strongly
believe in what they do and are convinced about what the company is
or should be doing.
• If not, all our vision and mission statements are only decorative pieces
in the corporate lobby.

o Employee Training:
 • Competitive organisations required knowledge workers who are
capable of performing jobs related to corporate goals and market needs
and demands.
• Knowledge provides a competitive advantage.
• New ways of training employees aimed at thinking skills and multi-
skill development have to be planned.
• Employees should be considered as a resource, not a cost.
• Employee training sets the supportive climate for change management
when it is competency driven for the current and future demands.
• Current skills have to be assessed and future skills needed for the
business determined and the training skills decided to bridge the gap.
• Training should be run like business, delivering value to the work
process, organisation and employee competency.
• Training should bring forth:

 Inherent talents.
 Desire to acquire information, knowledge and skills.
 Urge to accomplish
 Preference with passion

o Participative Management:

• Facilitates the release of one’s inherent enthusiasm and creativity for

the benefit of the entire organisation.
• It prompts the people in the direction of group support and leads to
acceptance of change.
• It provides opportunities for employees to learn by their own activities
and to exercise control over the outcome.
• Participation needs to be managed carefully or else it creates more
problems.
• To be successful a climate of interpersonal trust and open
communication should prevail within the organisation.
• Building effective teams takes years, needing constant monitoring and
reviewing.
• ‘Vicarious learning’ – where employees observe organisations that
have benefitted from implementing new or innovative techniques and
practices.
• Vicarious learning is facilitated by study/observation trips to
innovative organisations and further involving employees in
benchmarking their best practices.

d) Managing change: The Affective Dimension:

• Individuals fear and seek change, both

• Change affects human emotion.
• If an organisation has to implement change, it has to anticipate individual
feelings about the intended change and deal with their emotions in positive
and constructive ways.
• Dealing with human emotions could be in terms of:

− Creating feeling of psychological safety about change.

− Creating positive feelings about the desired state and the change
process.
− Focusing on the benefits of change at the individual level.
− Demonstrating some of the benefits of change early in the
change process.
− Addressing avoidance learning – focusing on intended change as
the only alternative to avoid/overcome fear or insecurity.

Affective Changes – Change Mechanism

5. Employee empowerment:

• To empower is to give autonomy to an employee enabling him to

make decisions on his job and accountable for his actions.
• It is the integrating of ownership, authority and accountability at
work.
• To be successfully implemented, employee empowerment depends
upon a number of factors.

o Commitment on the part of top management in real earnest.

o How willing are superiors to share their authority down the line
through out the organisation?
o Willingness on the part of employees to make decisions and be
accountable for their actions.
o Are employees suitably trained to be empowered?
o Is the organisational culture & climate conducive for
empowerment?
o Do the employees perceive meaningfulness in what they do?
o Is the information shared to empower the people?
o Sustaining employee empowerment.

6. Employee as partners:

• Employees tend to entertain positive emotions for the organisation

and the work they do when they are also stakeholders in the
company.
• A personal sense of ownership motivates employees to take the
initiative, generate productive ideas, and feel responsible for
improving organisational performance.
• Stock ownership may be performance based.
• Company shares may be given at concessional rates.
• The approach promotes a binding relationship.
 • For success trust between the employee and management is
necessary.
• Employees are also given to understand how much they contribute
to; how much they cost to the company.
• Financial rewards and financial health are tied up.

7. Compensation System:

• Managing change through people behaviour is possible when the

desired behaviour is appropriately rewarded.
• Organisations should create a meaningful reward system.
• Rewards are financial and non-financial.
• Rewards are effective when a certain ‘value’ is built into the
rewards – a value which is a part of the performance rather than a
pretension.
• Rewards should have the following characters:

o Clarity and specification (expected performance and work

behaviours)
o Immediacy (delayed rewards lose values)
o Magnitude (commensurate)
o Individuality (personalization; not all rewards are same)

• The major demotivators are perceived unfairness in dispensing

rewards.
• Types of rewards

− Power rewards (higher responsibilities)

− Pay for performance
− Pay for knowledge and skill

8. Dealing with negative emotions:

• Some employees may have negative emotions towards the

intended change.
• These negative emotions must be understood to successfully
handle.
• Some of the ways to do this are:

o Empathy o Mentoring
o Modeling o Manipulation
o Shock therapy o Employee counseling
e) Managing change: The Conative Dimension:

• Resistance to change occurs due to unwillingness to deviate from habitual

behaviours or from reluctance to acquire new skills and behaviours.
• Tohat are the factors for change under conation?

1. Clarifying Contractual Obligations:

• Change benefits the organisation; change benefits the employee;

there is a mutuality of interest.
• Mutuality is the basis for the release of human energy for effective
change management.
• For every employee there is a psychological contract with the
organisation – may be explicit or implicit.
• The psychological contract has two dimensions: the personal goals
of a human being and the organisational goals.
• Job activities and responsibilities have to redefine due to the
change management and changes in the job design and
performance.
• Therefore, a new job contract is necessary to be made which aligns
with overall corporate strategy which the employee must
understand and agree after discussions with the management.
• Now, a new role relationship, too, starts.

2. Emphasis on action learning in implementing change:

• Learning occurs with actions; no actions without learning.

• Tasks or activities are the basis for learning
• Action learning leads to continuous improvement and performance
of self leading to overall improvement of the organisation.
• Action learning is a social process.
• Where the employee accepts his job duties and responsibilities,
solves task related problems, constantans improves actions, accepts
supportive criticism for improvements

3. Cross Training:

• Training is provision of information and skills.

• Employees today should be enabled to perform a variety of tasks
rather than a few limited jobs.
• Such skills can come by cross training.
• Cross training provides a flexible force and flexible factory.
• Cross training facilitates job rotation, wherein an employee can
switch periodically from one job to another.
 • With this the employee brings a fresh perspective to each job in
addition to what has learnt already.
• It also solves the shortage of manpower.
• Cross training can be across different functional areas like finance
and marketing.
• An employee’s career path need not be limited to vertical mobility.
It could also be diagonal.
• Cross trained employees tend to be amenable to and willing for
organisational change initiatives since a number of skills have
already been built into their behavioural repertoire.
• Success of cross functional training depends upon employee
willingness to learn new skills on the job.
• Positive attitudes to such training is built if employees are
rewarded for acquiring new skills.
4. Employee elasticity: Stretching the Potential:

• Good HR stretch employees to the maximum of their potential

ability to work.
• Stretching employee potential facilitates change management.
• Within the limits of ‘mental elasticity’ human capabilities at work
could be stretched to the optimum to meet the global business
competition.
• Any kind of mental stretching should be done gradually by
exposing one to changes of graded difficulties, thus slowly
stepping up one’s self confidence.
• Some techniques in stretching limits manage change are:

o Sensitivity training o Job rotation

o Participative management o Cross training
o Behavioural modification o Role play, etc.

5. Create the right climate for optimizing employee performance:

• To create the right climate for employees to take an active interest

in the change process and achieve the intended results, there
should be the necessary support structure, a learning environment
within the organisation and the free sharing of information.
• Supportive climate – Organisational design:

o Organisational processes, systems, and activities together form

the organisation structure which supports the organisation.
o The people in the organisation structure, the way they adapt,
modify and develop are important.

• Supporting climate – learning environment:

 − Organisations should create a learning environment where
people can acquire advanced knowledge and skill.
− The present day business needs speed, flexibility and
innovation in all activities.

• Supportive climate – information sharing:

o The commonest way of bringing about change in employee

attitudes and performance is through information sharing.
o Employees should know what the company plans are, how the
company is doing, whey the company needs change and what
they should know additionally to perform better in the changed
scenario.
o Sharing information raises the level of employee trust in the
organisation.
o It empowers people and performance improves.

H. CHANGE MANAGEMENT – DEALING WITH GROUPS:

• For successful organisation change, the change management should consider

individuals as well as the group in which they work.
• The primary target of managing change would be the group itself and the
relationships among its members.
• The major forms of group-based changes are:

o Sensitivity training.
o Team building
o Self-managed teams

1) Sensitivity Training:

• Also called as T-group training.

• T-group is an ad hoc assembly of individuals who meet together, initially
as strangers, away from their usual roles and responsibilities.
• They enter the group as peers, unrepresentative of the group memberships
and move quickly into an exploration of group processes and leadership.
• An unstructured, perhaps ambiguous, situation is created and the group is
encouraged to experiment with new individual behaviours and group
interactions.
• The training may vary in duration from a few weeks to few hours.
• The trainer plays a relatively passive role in the training process.
• Initially, the group begins without an agenda, a structure, and any division
of labour or rules of procedures.
 • The people in each group are strangers to each other, brought together
only by the common goal of learning more about themselves, the impact
they have on others.
• Absence of an agenda initially creates a vacuum and often quite
uncomfortable.
• The trainer initially observes:

− Problems of communication
− Attempted seizures of power
− Misunderstandings
− Other phenomena of interpersonal life.

• The trainer communicates these observations to groups.

• Members gradually begin to attend to such matters themselves.
• They slowly correct their faults.
• They attain increased sensitivity to their own behaviours.
• They become sensitive to the action of others.
• They become sensitive to the nature of group development.
• Members emerge with a restructuring of their values about people and
their operations in group settings.
• Thus, the interventions through sensitivity training aims at the following:

− Understanding of one’s own behaviour and how one’s behaviour

affects others.
− Understanding why people behave the way they do.
− Encouraging one to try out new ways of interacting with people and
receiving feedback.
− Understanding group processes.
− Developing increased tolerances for other people’s behaviour.

• Sensitivity training is good for change planning and implementation.

2) Team Building:

• A team is a group of individuals who tend to work interdependently to

satisfy organisational as well as their own individual objectives.
• Teams have the following characteristics:

− A reason or charter for working together.

− Interdependency – where the skills, abilities of individuals are
mutually supportive.
− Commitment to and belief in working together.
− Accountability – for their performance.

• Individuals join teams for a variety of reasons:

− Out of the herd instinct.

 − To overcome one’s fears and insecurities.
− From a sense of duty.
− In the hope of personal gains.
− Due to a rational belief to joint effort.
− From group compulsion.
− From the inability to say no

• Teams have the advantage:

− Of improving up and setting goals and priorities.

− Deciding on means and methods.
− Improving performance qualitatively and quantitatively.

• The value base of team lies in:

− Belief in a democratic work environment.

− Promotion of scientific inquiry in addressing issues and problems.
− Interpersonal trust.
− Concern for the development of individual potentialities.

• Team values are:

o Quality o Innovativeness o Informality

o Customer service o People

• The operational basis of a team lies in

− Synergy
− Interdependence

• A team’s behaviour is characterised by the following elements:

− A Goal – is commonly agreed upon by the members

− Interdependence – where people have agreed to work together and are
supportive of each others.
− Commitment – to achieve the goal through group effort; and
− Accountability – where one is accountable to superiors or the top
management for achieving the goal. Involving individuals and groups
is the change process from the very beginning is one way of ensuring
their commitment and accountability towards achieving the intended
changes.

• The success of team effort depends upon:

− The leadership provided to the members who constitute the team.

 − Overcoming barriers to effective team functioning.

• An effective team member is one, who:

− Understands and is committed to group goals and values his/her team

membership
− Is friendly, concerned and interested in others.
− Listed to others, shows empathy, is understanding, and values the ideas
and contribution of others.
− Recognizes and respects individual differences.
− Includes others in the decision making process.
− Acknowledges interpersonal conflicts and deals with them positively.

3) Team Development Stages / Life Cycle of a Team:

• When a member of individuals begin to work at interdependent jobs, they

then pass through several stages as they learn to work together as a team.
• These stages of team development are not rigidly followed.
• They do represent a broad pattern.
• They may be observed and predicted in many settings a cross the team’s
time together.

• The stages are the result of a variety of questions, issues and

characteristics as shown below:

Key questions faced Developmental Characteristics

stages
• Who are these 1. Forming: f. Members share personal
people? Also referred as: information.
• What is their a. Dependence g. Start to get to know and
unique b. Acceptance accept one another.
competence? c. Orientation & h. Begin turning their
• What information hesitant attention to group’s tasks,
should I share with participation goals
them? d. Testing i. An aura of country
• Will they accept e. inclusion j. Interactions are cautions
me? k. High degree of motivation.
• What is our 2. Storming: a. Members compete for
mission? Also referred as status.
• How to we • Counter b. Jockey for position of
develop team dependence. relative control
spirit? • Data flow c. Argue about appropriate
• What resources are • Conflict, directions for the group.
available to us? dominance & d. External pressures
• What problems do rebellion interfere with the group.
we foresee with • Inflighting e. Tensions rise between the
the team? • Listening and individuals.
experimenting f. Individuals try to assert
 • Control themselves.
• What do we 3. Norming a. Group begins moving
believe in? Also referred as: together in co-operative
• What behaviours • Resolution fashion
do we expect of • Goals and b. Tentative balance among
each other? norms competing forces.
• What should we • Integration c. Groups norms guide
be doing? • Intimacy, individuals.
• How will we closeness & d. More co-operative
control each cohesiveness feelings.
other’s actions? • Getting
organised.
• Openness,
affection
• What actions will 4. Performing a. Group matures and learns.
contribute to our Also referred as: b. Handles complex
success? • Performance challenges.
• Should we take • Productivity c. Functional roles are
risks? • Mature performed.
• Have we been closeness d. Functional roles are also
empowered to • Achievement smoothly exchanged as
succeed? needed.
• How can we e. Tasks are efficiently
change and grow? accomplished.
• How can we 5. Adjourning a. Groups, project teams
celebrate our Also referred as: disband sooner or later.
success? • Adjourned b. Break up is called
• What connections • Terminated adjournment.
should we c. In flexible organisations
maintain? adjournments are more
• What have we frequent.
learned from our d. Group may review its
experience? performance.
• Where do we go e. Feedback for future teams.
from here?
4) Ingredients of Effective Leadership:

• A process of dealing with members’ aspirations and expectations.

• Transformational leadership skills relate to:

o Futuristic thinking o Envisioning

o Value clarification o Creativity
o Entrepreneurism o Mentoring
o Influencing

• & inspiring for higher motivation and achievement – how the leader
regarded and respected – credibility.
• Transactional leadership skills include:

o Goal setting o Communication

o Assertiveness o Problem solving
o Conflict management o Decision making
o Supervision o Rewarding competency
 o Enables a leader to get a job done successfully.

• A leader needs to exhibit greater transactional skills in the initial stages of

group formation (first & second stages)
• Later, as the group matures, more transformational skills are required.

5) Ingredients of Effective Teams:

• What contributes to team success

o Careful composition o Information sharing

o Clear direction
o Accountability
o Integration & co-ordination
o Innovativeness
o Scope for learning
o Measurable goals
o Sufficient resources
o Flexibility
o Stimulation of openness

• Four Major factors are:

Supportive Environment:

− Management to build a supportive environment.

− Encouraging members to think like a team.
− Providing adequate time for meetings.
− Demonstrating faith in members’ capacity to achieve
− These steps contribute to further co-operation, trust and compatibility

Skills & Role Clarity:

− Team members must be reasonably qualified to perform

− They should have a desire to co-operate.
− Each member should know the roles of all the others in the group with
whom they are interacting.

Super-ordinate Goal:

− Team members should be oriented towards their overall task.

− All members carry their weight, focus attention, unify efforts and
stimulate more cohesive teams.

Team Rewards:

− Stimulates teamwork
− Recognition or financial
− Most powerful if they are valued by team members.
− Should be perceived as ‘possible to earn’.
− Administered in proportion to the team performance.

6) Potential Team Problems:

 Changing composition:

• Being complex and dynamic teamwork is sensitive to all aspects of

organisational environment.
• Too many changes and personnel transfers interfere with group
relationships and prevent the growth of team work.
• Since team’s composition is likely to change frequently due to various
reasons, teams must learn to manage their internal turnover.
• Accept the turnover and plan for it.
• Develop a plan for team turnover right from the start.
• Integrating new members into the team is also important.

Social Loafing:

• When employees think that their contributions to a group cannot be

measured, they may lessen their output and engage in social loafing.
• Social loafing is based on a perception of unfair division of labour.
• It is a belief that workers are lazy.
• It is a feeling of being able to hide in a crowd and therefore not be able to
be singled out for blame.
• Social loafing may also arise if a member believes that others intend to
withhold their efforts and thus he would be foolish not to do the same –
The Sucker Effect.

7) Self Managed work Teams (SMT or SMWT):

• An empowerment tool
• Also known as self reliant or self-directed teams.
• They are natural work groups that are given substantial autonomy.
• They are asked to control specific behavioural or operational activities and
produce significant results.
• The combination of empowerment and training to plan, direct, monitor
and control their own activities distinguishes these teams from many
others.
• They have wide ranging autonomy and freedom, complied with the
capability to act like manager.
• SMTs are characterised by:

− Goal setting through team effort.

− A multi-skilled workforce
− Shared leadership through team meetings.
− Participative discussions.
− Interpersonal trust.
− Individual and mutual accountability
− A result focused performance
 − Active problem solving.

• SMTs have several advantages:

− Improved flexibility of staff.

− More efficient operations through the reduced number of job
classifications.
− Lower absenteeism and turnover rates.
− Higher level of organisational commitment and job satisfaction.
− Promotes collaborative work relationships.
− Faster synergetic performance
− Enhances individual and team capacity
− Lot of scope for innovations
− Pushes responsibility down to the lowest levels.

• SMTs have the following disadvantages:

− Extended time to implement them

− High training investment
− Inefficiencies due to job rotation.
− Inability of some employees to adapt to a team structure.

• Areas of Job Freedom and Participation Continuum

By Tannenbaum & Schmidt: “How to choose Leadership Pattern”

Area of authority applied by Manager Withdraws

Joins
Total of Consults
Job
Freedom Sells Area of employee participation in
Tells decision making

Low Medium High

Amount of participation

Description Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager

of typical makes & presents seeks asks decides asks
action announce decision ideas group for with group to
s decision subject to before recomme group; decide
change deciding nded one
seeks actions person
ideas; before one vote
sells deciding
decision
Popular Auto- Benevo- Consul- Participa- Demo- Con-
terms cratic lent tative tive com- cratic sensus
managem autocracy manage- muters manage- decision
ent ment; such as ment making;
sugges- quality self
tion circles managing
systems teams;
 empower-
ment

8) Cross Functional Teams:

• A type of SMT
• Consists of individuals from different functional areas working on the
design or development of a product.
• ‘Taurus’ team at Ford
• Honda, inexpensive car, in 1978.
• Cross-functional teams are of great assistance in designing and
prototyping new models and products.
• The success of cross-functional teams, depends upon:

− Setting achievable goals

− Gaining commitment from team members
− Setting ground rules for team activities.
− Effective management of relationships among people of diverse
backgrounds and work cultures.
− Ensuring early success to generate enthusiasm and greater belief in
team effort.

• Most auto companies today employ ‘platform teams’ that consist of a core
group of designers, engineers and even factory workers on whom rests the
total responsibility for the development and manufacture of a single
product.

I. RESISTANCE TO CHANGE & OVERCOMING IT:

• Resistance to change consist of any employee behaviours designed to

− Delay
− Discredit
− Prevent the implementation of work change.

• Employee resist change because it threatens their:

− Need for security

− Social interaction
− Status
− Competence
− Self esteem

a) Nature & Effects:

• The perceived threat stemming from a change may be

 o Required o Imagined o Intended
o Unintended o Direct o Indirect
o Large o Small

• Regardless of the nature of change, some employees will try to protect

themselves from its effects.
• This reactions may be:

o Complaints o Foot dragging

o Passive resistance o Absenteeism
o Sabotage o Work slowdowns

• White and blue collared people resist change.

• ‘Change’ does not respect blue or white collar.
• Particularly employees too have a desire for new experience and the
accompanying rewards that come with the change.
• A lesson to management is: change is likely to be a success or a problem,
depending upon how skillfully it is managed to minimize resistance.
• Changes, sometimes, set up a ‘chain reaction effect’ also.

b) Reasons for Resistance: (3 broad reasons)

First • Not comfortable with the nature of the change itself

• It may violate their moral belief system
• They may believe that the decision is technically
incorrect
• May be reluctant to change the present familiar
comforts to an uncertainty.
• People resist because of the fear of unknown.
• Threats to job security.

Second • The method by which it is introduced

• People may resent having been ill informed.
• May reject an insensitive and authoritarian approach
that did not involve them in the change process
• May be a perception of poor timings.

Third • Inequity of the people’s experience

• Some perceive as losers due to change.
• Some perceive as gainers due to change.

• Their resistance will be even more intense if all the 3 reasons exist.

− People disagree with the nature of the change.

− Dislike the method used.
− Do not see a personal gain for themselves.
c) Types of Resistance: (3 types)

6. Logical, rational objections:

• Time required to adjust.

• Extra effort to relearn
• Possibility of less desirable conditions, such as skill downgrading.
• Economic costs of change.
• Questioned technical feasibilities of changes.

7. Psychological, emotional resistances:

• Fear of the unknown.

• Low tolerance of change.
• Dislike of management or other change agent.
• Lack of trust in others.
• Need for security; desire for status quo.

8. Sociological, group resistances:

• Political coalitions
• Opposing group values.
• Parochial, narrow outlook
• Vested interests.
• Desire to retain existing friendships.

d) Implications of Resistance:

• All 3 types of resistance must be anticipated and treated effectively.

• Then only employees will accept change co-operatively.
• Technical, logical, human – all 3 have to be faced and solved.
• In a typical operating situation, full support may not be expected all time –
may be weak, moderate or opposition – form all people.
• What is important is: create a genuine climate when people trust
management; have a positive feeling towards change and feel secure
enough to tolerate other changes.
• If management cannot win support, it may need to use authority.
• We must recognise that authority can only be used sparingly.
• If authority is overused, it eventually becomes worthless.

e) Possible benefits of resistance:

• Resistance is not all bad.

 • It can bring some benefits.
• Resistance may encourage management to reexamine its change
proposals.
• So that, it is made certain that the proposals are appropriate.
• Resistance creates checks and balances and ensures proper
implementation of change.
• Resistance also identifies specific problem areas.
• It enables management to take corrective actions much before serious
problems arise.
• That may encourage management to communicate the change better.
• This approach in the long run should lead to better acceptance of change.
• Resistance also gives management the information about the intensity of
employee emotions on an issue.
• It provides an emotional release of pent-up feelings.
• Such a release encourage employees to think and talk more about a change
so that they understand it better.

f) Managing Resistance: Kotter & Schlesigner “Choosing strategies for change”,

Harvard Business Review.

• Change is necessary in a competitive environment.

• Hurdles to change need to be managed.
• There are 6 approaches to manage the resistances as given below:
• Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Commonly used in Advantages Disadvantages

situations
Education + Communication
Once persuaded, people Can be very time
Where there is a lack of will often help with the consuming if lots of
information or inaccurate implementation of the people are involved
information and analysis change
Participation + Involve ment
People who participate Can be very time
Where the initiators do not will be committed to consuming if
have all the information they implementing change participators design
need to design the change and and any relevant an inappropriate
where others have information they have change.
considerable power to resist will be integrated into
the change plan
Commonly used in Advantages Disadvantages
situations
Facilitation + Support

Where people are resisting No other approach Can be time

because of fear and anxiety works as well with consuming
adjustment problems expensive and still
 fail.
Negotiation _ Agreement

Where someone or some Sometimes it is Can be too

group will clearly lose out in relatively easy way to expensive in many
a change and where that avoid major resistance cases if it alerts
group has considerable power others to negotiate.
to resist
Manipulation _ Co-operation

Where other tactics will not It can be a relatively Can lead to future
work, or are too expensive quick and inexpensive problems if people
solution to resistance feel manipulated
problems
Coercion

Where speed is essential and It is speedy and can Can be risky, if it

the change initiators possess overcome any kind of leaves people angry
considerable power resistance at the initiators.

J. BUILDING EFFECTIVE CHANGE INITIATIVES:

6. Organisational Development:

• Is a planned, systematic process of organisational change?

• OD draws from psychology sociology and anthropology theory
• OD also relies on information from personality learning theory, motivation
theory, group dynamics, power leadership and organisational design.
• The basic characteristics of OD are as follows:

a) Planned Change: also called as change intervention.

b) Comprehensive Change: involving total system and the entire
organisation.
c) Emphasis upon Work Groups: some OD efforts are aimed at individual
and organisational change, most OD are oriented towards group, having a
sociological flavour.
d) Long-range Change: OD is not a stop gap arrangement. It takes months
and years.
e) Participation of a Change Agent: It is generally advised to avail the
services of an outside expert.
f) Emphasis on Intervention: active intervention of the change agent in the
ongoing activities in the organisation.
g) Collaborative Management: unlike the traditional management, OD
stresses an collaboration among all levels, having the overall system
perspective in view.
h) Organisational Culture: includes – accepted patterns of behaviour, norms,
organisational objectives, value systems, etc., culture of each organisation
must be understood and the relations consist with that culture must be
developed.
 i) Action Research: A process of identifying the organisation’s specific
problems, gathering and analyzing the organisational data and taking
actions to resolve problems.

7. Pre-requisites for organisational development:

• OD must fulfill certain conditions if it were to be effective.

• It is not a guarantee for success of OD
• But favourable environment conducive for organisational change will be
created.
• To reduce the negative effects in an OD program, the following criteria are to
be satisfied.
• Perceptions of organisational problems by key people and perceptions of the
relevance of the behavioural sciences in solving these problems.
• The introduction into the system of a behavioural science consultant.
• Initial top-level involvement.
• Participation of work teams, including the formal leader.
• The operationalising of the action research model.
• Further expansion of efforts after the early successes.
• An open, educational philosophy about the theory and technology OD.
• Acknowledgement of the congruency between OD and many previous
effective management practices.
• Involvement of personal and IR/HR management people and congruency with
personnel policy and practice.
• Development of internal OD resources and facilitative skills.
• Effective management of the OD process and stabilization of changes.
• Monitoring the process and the measuring of results.

8. Situations appropriate for OD programs:

• The organisation’s managerial strategy (communication pattern; decision

making)
• The culture of the organisation (norms, values, power structure)
• Structure and the role in organisation.
• Intergroup collaboration.
• Motivational level of employees.
• Trust and support among organisational members
• Synergetic solutions to problems.

9. A typical change strategies and associated HR Initiatives:

Types of HR Activities Advantages Disadvantages

change strategy
 Education & • Management • Greater • Time
Employee development sense of consuming.
Involvement • Employee training, likes employee • Slow
change workshops ownership • Expensive
• Quality group • Fresh • May meet
programmes ideas resistance
• Joint consultation introduced through
• Team briefing and other • Longer- negative
forms of employee lasting attitudes to
communications change change.
• Performance
management
• Employee counseling
Changes in • Severance • Impact • Dealing with
personnel • Redundancy programs • Speed negative
• Recruitment and consequences
selection for
employees
• Possibly
expensive
Changes to • Changes to • Longer • Slower to
structures and organisational structures lasting have impact
systems including employee change • May be
accountabilities. • Re- difficult to
• Changes to reward generation establish
systems. of causal link
• Changes to performance employee changes to
management. knowledge structures and
• Changes to career and skill systems and
management. • Re- organisa-
• Changes to employee generation tional change.
relations structures of tired
(consultation and systems
bargaining)

10. Implementing change successfully:

a. Some changes originate within the organisation.

b. Some changes are through government laws.
c. Some more are from competitors, customers, labour unions, communities, etc.
d. Stable environments have less change.
e. But dynamic environments are the norm.

a) Transformational leadership & change:

• Management has a key role in initiating and implementing change

successfully.
 • A master strategy for change has to be made not overlooking simple,
but important details.
• The overall plan should address behavioural issues, such as difficulty
in letting go of old methods.
• Workers’ fear of uncertainty.
• To create an organisation that welcomes change.

b) Transformation Leaders:

• Are instrumental in the change process.

• They take bold strategic changes to position the organisation for its
future.
• They articulate vision and promote in vigorously.
• They stimulate employees to:

− Rise above their narrow focus

− Make them to see a broader picture action.
− Charismatically model their behaviour.
− Be learning individuals
− Make a learning organisation

c) Creating Vision:

• Transformational leaders create and communicate a vision for the

organisation.
• A vision is a crystallized long-range image or idea of what can and
should be accomplished.
• It stretches people beyond their current capabilities and thinking.
• It excites them to new levels of commitment and enthusiasm.
• A vision may also integrate the shared beliefs and value that serve as a
basis for changing an organisation’s culture.

d) Communicating Charisma:

• After the vision, leaders still have two tasks:

− To persuade the employees that the vision is urgent.

− And to motivate their employees to do it.

• Charisma is a leadership trait can help influence employees to take

early and sustained action.

• Charismatic leaders are:

 − Dynamic risk takers
− Have depth of expertise
− Well deserved self confidence.
− Express high performance expectations
− Use provocative symbols and language to inspire others.
− Warm mentors, who treat employees individually and guide them
for action.

• Employees trust and respect charismatic leaders and emotionally

committed to such leaders.

e) Stimulating Learning:

• Transformational leaders not only make a very good change in

organisation, but an organisation that will continue to change.
• Their critical task is to develop people’s capacity to learn from the
experience of change.
• This process is called as ‘double-loop learning’
• This means that the changes handled not only reflect the current
information gathered, but also prepare the participants to manage
future changes even more effectively.
• In ‘single loop learning’ employees simply solve current problems and
blindly adapt to changes which have been imposed on them.

11. Some common sense principles for Change Managers:

a) Set a clear goal:

• Start at the end and work backwards

• While setting a goal dialogue among yourself, the team and the end users
of the project.
• Write down the change goal in a piece of paper and ask ‘Is that what you
want?’
• The goal should be specific and measurable and the team and the user
should move in the same direction.

b) Determine the objectives:

• Objectives help to break the goal down into specific responsibilities for
each team member.
• Establish ownership for different functions; keep change goals constantly
in mind to avoid functional myopia

c) Establish check points, Activities, Relationships and Time Estimates:

 • Check points help members monitor their own progress.
• Set long-term and short-term check points for early detection of problems.
• Establish a detailed check list of activities. The team should also discuss
‘what if’ and ‘what can go wrong’ situations.

d) Direct people individually and as a Project Team:

• One can not do it alone.

• A strong team of supporters and collaborators are required.
• It is important to keep learning, as individuals, and as teams, from
experiences.
• Treat team members as individuals with their own characteristics.
• Expect differences; develop sensitivity to why people do what they do.

e) Reinforce the commitment and excitement of the Change Team:

• Volunteering increases commitment; create opportunity for people to set

goals and objectives.
• Create a sense of ‘ownership’, let members go public with their views and
choices.
• Encourage transparency and visibility of the project team’s efforts.

f) Keep everyone connected with the Change Program Informed of the Program:

• Change involves people from different departments who use different

languages, have different objectives and have different types of training,
yet must work together on a unique task.
• Appropriate the position of the other person; keep people informed on a
regular and frequent basis.
• Be a good listener.

g) Build Agreements that vitalize team members:

• Conflicts are inevitable; they serve to ensure interest and create energy.
Use them to create a synergy and unleash creativity.
• There are hosts of possible approaches to conflict management like giving
in, smoothing over, compromising, persuading, finding common good etc.
Use the appropriate method.
• Logical arguments have their limits; reaching agreement in conflict
situations is not only a logical but also an emotional experience.
h) Empower yourself and others in the Team:

• Influence without exercising authority is the key.

• This is achieved through alliances, networks and exchanges. It is
important to build personal power.
• What people want most from a change manager is credibility:

Credibility = Competence + Honesty + Direction + Inspiration + Power

i) Encourage Risk Taking and Creativity:

• Failure is the stepping stone for success.

• I failed my way to success – Thomas Alva Edison.
• Plan time for thinking, experimenting, innovation and creativity.
• Like turtles, we make significant progress only when we stick our necks
out.
 III MBA – CHANGE MANAGEMENT

MODULE 5 – ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROCESS

3) Organisational Change Process:

a) The entire change process can be summarized in six stages:

• Becoming aware of the pressure for change

• Recognising the need for change

• Diagnosing the problem

• Planning the change

• Implementing the change

• Following up on the change

1. Becoming aware of the pressure for change:

• Most organisational changes are carried out in response to or in

anticipation of pressures from inside or outside the organisation.
• Outside the organisation, the technological innovations act as powerful
triggers for change.
• Within the firm, conflicts arise; employees retire or resign; pressure
mounts as the organisation outgrows its old ways of doing things.
• Pressures like these – or the anticipation of such pressures.

− Demand changes in the structure, technology, tasks and people in the

organisation.

2. Recognising the need for change:

• Becoming aware of the need is not enough

• Managers should also recognise the need for change.
3. Diagnosing the problem:

• Recognizing that change is needed is not enough.

• Managers must diagnose the pressures for change.
• Pressure may be likely economic or technical reasons.
• Managers must determine how it may affect the company.
• What are the consequences of those pressures?
• For diagnosing the problems various procedures are available like:
Interviews, Questionnaire, observations, secondary data, etc.

4. Planning the Change:

• A strategy for change is formulated.

• Organisations must choose between evolutionary and revolutionary
change.
• A firm that pursues revolutionary change adopts a top-down change
strategy.
• The organisation waits until it believes that the costs of not changing
exceed the costs of overcoming organisational inertia and then introduces
its master plan for change.
• Generally, a top-down strategy calls for intervention at the high level of an
organisation.
• Winding up of divisions or departments and downsizing are examples of
this type of change.
• A firm that adopts evolutionary change adopts a bottom-up change
strategy.
• Managers believe that the uncertainty associated with organisational
change is best managed through incremental processes in which they
continually make adjustments to their strategy and structure.
• Firms opting for bottom-up strategy prepare the organisation for change
by involving managers and employees at all levels.
• They discuss the need for change and diagnose the problems facing the
organisation.
• TQM is a method of evolutionary change.

5. Implementing the change:

 • The next step is to implement the change.
• Here, resistance to change surfaces.
• There are several ways to show the resistance.

• Hostility • Aggression
• Physical abuse • Apathy towards work
• Loss of interest in work • Spoilage of material
• Excessive idling time • Corrupting valuable software
• Low productivity • Absenteeism
• Tardiness • Resignation
• Development of tension & • Tensed up on the job
anxiety
• Groups deciding fairday’s work • Imposing their wall on
individuals.

• There are 6 approaches for managing resistance.

− Education and communication

− Participation and involvement
− Facilitation and support
− Negotiation and agreement
− Manipulation and co-operation
− Explicit and implicit coercion

• Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

6. Follow up on the change:

• The final step in the change process is to evaluate the effects of the
change.
• And institute procedural modifications that will ensure that change
continues to be implemented.

b) The entire change process can be summarized in six stages:

18. Lewin’s Process Model:

Change
Unfreeze (Move) Refreeze
Old (awareness (movement (assurance New
Stage of need for from old of State
change) state to new permanent
state) change)

Reducing Developing Reinforcing

the forces new new values,
who wants attitudes, attitudes and
status quo values and behaviours
behaviours
• According to Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Model, effective change occurs.
• By unfreezing the current situation.
• Moving to a desired condition.
• Refreezing the system.
• So that it remains in the desired state.
• Popularly called as, three stage model of change system.
• Highly useful in understanding the ways of managing change.

Unfreezing: involves

• Encouraging individuals to discard old behaviours by shaking up the

status quo situations.
• Presenting a case to make the people to recognise for a change and how
their jobs will be improved by the change.
• Searching for new solutions.

Moving (changing):

• Aims to shift or alter the behaviour of the individuals, departments or

organisation in which the changes e to take place.
• Moving means – developing new behaviours, values and attitudes.
• Such changes are sometimes through structural changes, sometimes
through OD techniques.

Refreezing:

• Changes become relatively permanent.

• New values, attitudes and behaviours are established as the new way of
life.
• New ways of operating are cemented and reinforced.
• Managers must ensure that the organisational cultures and reward systems
encourage the new behaviours and avoid the old ways of functioning.
• Learning theory and reinforcement theory can play important roles in the
refreezing phase.

Transition Management:

• Between, the two phases of change, there is a transition which is not

shown.
• Managing the transition is essential to keep the organisation going.
• Transition management is the process of systematically planning,
organizing and implementing the change from the disassembly of the
current state to the realization of a fully functional future state within the
organisation.
 • Transition management ensures that business continues while the change
is occurring.
• An interim management structure or interim positions may be created to
ensure continuity and control of the business during transition.
• Communication of the changes to all involved, employees, customers and
suppliers, play a role in transition management.
• Lewin’s model proposes that for change efforts to be successful, the 3
stage process must be completed.
• Failure in efforts to change can be traced back to one of the 3 stages.
• Successful change, thus requires that old behaviours are discarded and
new behaviours introduced
• Those new behaviours have to be institutionalized and rewarded

19. Lewin’s Force Field Theory of Change:

Level of Performance

Resistance to Change Resistance to Change

Change P2

P1

Forces for change

Time

• In any organisation, there are people who push for change and there are
individuals who resist for change and desire status quo.
• Initially the two groups may be equal in their forces.
• This Lewin termed as ‘quasi stationery equilibrium’
• Lewin’s theory states how the forces for change and resistance balance;
they change; again they balance and balanced at any time between the two
opposing forces.
• When the forces are in balance, the organisation is in a state of inertia and
does not change.
• To get the organisation change, managers must adopt a change strategy to
increase the forces for change and reduce the resistance to change, or do
both simultaneously.
• Organisational change can occur at three levels:

o Individual – Changes in individual’s attitudes, values, skills and

behaviour.
 o Structure & Systems – Change in work design reporting relationships
information systems the reward systems, etc.
o Organisational Climate – Change in leadership style interpersonal
relations, decision making style and other such aspects.
K. MODEL OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE – THE CONTINUOUS
CHANGE PROCESS MODEL:

• Lewin’s model is very simple and straight forward.

• Many models of organisation change use his approach.
• However, it does not deal with several important issues.
• A more complex and more helpful approach is illustrated in the figure below:

1. Forces 2. Recognise 3. Problem

for & define solving
change problem process

Change
Agent

5. Measure 4. Implement Transi-

evaluate the change tion
control manage
ment

• This approach treats planned change from the perspective of top management.
• It indicates that the change is continuous.
• As change becomes continuous in the organisations, different steps are probably
occurring simultaneously through out the organisation.
• This model incorporates Lewin’s concept into the implementation phase.
• In this approach, top management perceives that certain forces or trends call for a
change.
• Such an issue is subjected to the organisation’s usual problem solving and
decision making processes.
• Usually, top management defines its goals in terms of what the organisation or
certain processes or outputs will be like after the change.
• Alternatives for change are generated and evaluated and an acceptable one is
selected.
• Early in the process, the organisation may seek the assistance of a change agent –
a person who will be responsible for managing the change efforts.
• The change agent:

o May be a member of the organisation

 o An outsider, such as a consultant
o Someone from company headquarters – a far away place
o An outsider is preferred because of his assumed impartiality
• Under the direction and management of change agent, the organisation
implements the change through Lewin’s unfreeze, change and refreeze process.
• The final step is measurement, evaluation and control.
• With this, the top management determines the effectiveness of the change process
by various benchmarks and indicators of organisational productivity and
effectiveness.

L. LEADERSHIP STYLES:
(Top Down & Bottom up approaches are given in Module 3)

Laissez or free-reign leadership approaches

• In this type of leadership approach, the leader is just a figure-head.

• He does not give any directions.
• He delegates the authority to subordinates.
• Subordinates must plan, motivate, control and otherwise be responsible for their
own actions.
• The leader acts principally as a liaison between the group and the outside
elements.
• He supplies necessary materials and information to group member.
• He lets the subordinates develop their own techniques for accomplishing goals
within the organisational policies and objectives.
• The leader participates very little and instead of leading and directing, he just
becomes one of its members.
• This type of leadership is highly effective when the group members are highly
intelligent and are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities.
• This type of leadership is evident in research laboratories where the scientists are
fairly free to conduct their research and make their decisions.
• Also true to university professors.

Advantages:

• Creates an environment of freedom, individually as well as team spirit.

• It is highly creative with a free and informal work environment.
• This approach is very useful where people are highly motivated and achievement
oriented.

Disadvantages:

• It may result in disorganized activities which may lead to inefficiency and chaos.
• Insecurity and frustration may develop due to lack of specific decision making
authority and guidance.
 • The team spirit may suffer due to possible presence of some uncooperative team
members.
• Some members may put their own interests above the group and team interests.
M. OD INTERVENTIONS:

• OD Definition: is the process of planned change and improvement of

organisations through the application of knowledge of behavioral sciences.
• 3 points to remember in this definition are:

i. Organisation development involves attempts to plan organisational changes.

ii. Specific intention of organisation development is to improve organisation.
iii. The planned improvement must be based on knowledge of the behavioral
sciences such as OB, psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology and related
field of study rather than financial and technological considerations.

• Several OD interventions also called techniques, have evolved over a long period:
• Good interventions have 3 characteristics:

(i) They are based on valid information about the functioning of the
organisation, usually collected by the employees.
(ii) The intervention under the guidance of the change agent, provides
employees with opportunities to make their own choices regarding the
nature of the problems and their preferred solutions.
(iii) Interventions are aimed at gaining the employee’s personal commitment to
their choices.
9. Different types of OD interventions and the level of their impact:

Interventions: Organisational Level Affected

Individual Group Organisation
Human Process:
a. T-Group/Sensitivity Training √ √ –
b. Process consultation – √ –
c. Third party intervention √ √ –
d. Team building – √ –
e. Organisation confrontation meeting – √ √
f. Inter-group relations – √ √

Technostructural:
g. Formal structural change – – √
h. Differentiation & integration – – √
i. Cooperative union management √ √ √
projects
j. Quality circles √ √ –
k. Total quality management – √ √
l. Work design √ √ –

Human Resource Management:

m. Goal setting √ √ –
n. Performance appraisal √ √ –
o. Reward systems √ √ √
p. Career planning & development √ √ √
q. Managing workplace diversity √ – –
r. Employee wellness √ – –

Strategic:
s. Integrated strategic management – – √
t. Culture change – – √
u. Strategic change – – √
v. Self designing organisations – √ √

10. The OD Paradigms & Values:

• Values human & organisational growth

• Collaborative and participative process
• A spirit of inquiry
• Strong emphasis on collaboration
• The change agent as a catalyst
• Important factors in OD efforts:

a) Respect for people:

 • Individuals are perceived as being responsible conscientious
and caring.
• They should be treated with dignity and respect
b) Trust & support:

• The effective and healthy organisation is characterized by trust,

authenticity, openness and supportive climate.

c) Power Equalisation:

• Effective organisations deemphasize hierarchial authority and

control

d) Confrontation:

• Problems should not be swept under the rug.

• They should be openly confronted.

e) Participation:

• All those who are affected by the change should be involved in

decision making surrounding the change.
• The more we involve, the more will be committed to
implementing those decisions

11. Explanations on a few OD Techniques:

a) Sensitivity Training:

• Also known as laboratory training, encounter group or T-groups

(Training groups)
• All refer to a method of changing behaviour through unstructured
group interactions.
• Members meet in a free and open environment and discuss about
themselves and their interactive processes.
• A behaviour scientist directs the discussions.
• The individuals learn through observing and participating rather than
being told.
• The OD specialist (behavioral scientist) creates the opportunity for
participants to express their ideas, beliefs and attitudes.
• The objectives of T-groups are:

1. Provide the participants with increased awareness of their own

behaviour and how others perceive them.
2. To develop greater sensitivity to the behaviour of others.
3. To develop increased understanding of group processes.
4. Increased ability to empathies with others.
5. Improved listening skills.
 6. Greater openness
7. Increased tolerance of individual differences and
8. Improved conflict resolution skills

b) Implications of Resistance:

• It is a tool for assessing attitudes of organisational members.

• Identifying discrepancies among perceptions and
• Solving these differences.
• Even though every employee in an organisation can participate in
survey feedback, it is important that the organisational family – the
manager and those employees who report directly to him participate.
• A questionnaire is usually filled by all employees of the organisation.
• The questionnaire seeks to find out the perceptions of the employees
on a range of topics like

− Decision making practice

− Communication effectiveness
− Coordination between units.
− Satisfaction with the organisation
− Job peers and immediate supervisors

• The steps involved are as follows:

Data Feedback to Action

Consultants Collection organisational Decision
unit

c) Process Consultation:

• Is a technique concerned with the interpersonal relations and dynamics

operating in work groups.
• Managers often sense that their unit’s performance can be improved.
• But they are unable to identify what can be improved and how.
• An outside consultant to assist the manager to perceive is employed.
• He understands and suggests the processes which the manager must
act upon.
• Work flow; informal relationships among unit members; formal
communication channels are some of the areas.
• Similar to sensitivity training, but more task oriented.

d) Team Building:
 • Is a conscious effort by management to develop effective work groups
through out the organisation.
• These work groups focus on solving actual problems in building
efficient management teams.
• Aimed at helping groups to become effective at task accomplishment.
• It utilizes high interaction group activities to create trust and openness
among team members.
• Team building includes OD consultant feedback in such areas as
communication and conflict resolution.
• OD consultant also helps in assessing group tasks, member roles and
strategies for accomplishing work tasks.
• Team building process involves the following steps:

Step-1 • The team leader defines a problem.

Step-2 • The group analyses the problem.

• Determines underlying cause in such areas as
communication, role clarification, leadership style,
organisational structure and interpersonal relations.

Step-3 • The group proposes several solutions.

• Then selects the most appropriate solution.
• Through this process, the participants are likely to be
committed to the solution and interpersonal support
and trust are developed.
• The support and trust of group members enhance the
implementation of change.

e) Intergroup Development:

• Seeks to change the attitude, stereotypes and perceptions that groups

have with each other.
• Eg. Engineers accountants
production engineers maintenance engineers
• Such stereotypes can have obvious negative impact on the
coordinative efforts between the departments.
• A major area of concern in OD is the dysfunctional conflict that exist
between groups.
• Hence change efforts are directed towards the group to change their
attitudes, stereotypes and perceptions through intergroup development.
• ‘Problem solving’ is one of the popular approaches for improving
intergroup relations.
• In this method each group meets independently to develop lists of its
perceptions of itself; the other group and how it believes the other
perceives it.
 • The groups then share lists, after which similarities and differences are
discussed.
• Differences are clearly articulated and the group look for the cause of
disparities.

f) Third Party Interventions:

• This is concerned with helping individuals, groups or departments.

• To resolve serious conflicts those are related to specific work issues.
• Or may be caused by sub optimal interpersonal relations.
• OD consultants help the parties resolve their differences through such
techniques as problem solving, bargaining and conciliation.

g) Grid Training:

• Grid organisational development is an extension of the managerial /

leadership grid concept developed by Blake & Mouton
• Carried out on an organisation-wide basis.
• Seeks to promote organisational excellence by fostering concern for
production and concern for people.
• Most organisational problems stem from poor communication and
inadequate planning.
• Black & Mouton proposed a multi step process for improving
organisations by attempting to cultivate these skills.
• The steps in grid OD are shown below:

Steps Activities
1 Training In a week-long seminar, key managers learn
about grid concepts and how they are applied.
They assess their own managerial styles and
work on improving such skills as team
development, group problem solving, and
communication. After appropriate introduction,
these key managers will work to implement the
grid program through out the organisation.
2 Team The trained managers bring their new
. Development understanding of managerial grid concepts
relationships and team effectiveness so that the
team operates at 9.9 grid level.
3 Intergroup This phase focuses on the relationship between
. development the organisation’s work groups to improve
coordination & cooperation. Intergroup tensions
are dealt with openly and joint problem solving
procedures are developed.
 4 Organisational Top managers together create an ideal model of
. goal setting the organisation. They set goals to be tested,
evaluated and refined by managers and
subordinates working together throughout the
organisation.
5 Goal Organisation members seek to make the ideal
. attainment model a reality. Each submits proposals on how
their activities should be carried out in order to
achieve excellence and they proceed to take
whatever corrective actions are necessary.
6 Stabilization Eventually, the results of all the phases are
evaluated to determine which areas of the
organisation still need improvement or
alteration. Efforts are made to stabilize positive
changes and to identify new areas of opportunity
for the organisation.

h) Quality of Work Life: (QWL)

• Is defined as the degree to which members of a work organisation are

able to satisfy important personal needs through their experiences in
the organisation.
• QWL programs focus strongly on providing a work environment
conducive to satisfying individual needs.
• The programs vary, but the goal of ‘humanizing the work place’ is of
paramount importance.
• Richard Walton’s categories of programs are shown below:

Adequate Safe &

& fair Healthy work
Compensation Environment

Develop- Growth &

ment of Human Security
capacities

Social Constitutionlism
Integration

Total Social
Life Space Relevance

• There are a few popular approaches to humanize workplace.

 • One such is ‘work restructuring’ – the process of changing the way
jobs are done to make them more interesting to workers. Job
enlargement and job enrichment are two such.
• Another approach in Quality Circles
• These are small groups of employees who meet regularly on voluntary
basis to identify and solve problems related to the quality of work they
perform.

• QWL programs benefit the organisation in these ways:

− Increased job satisfaction.

− Organisational commitment
− Reduced turnover among workers
− Increased productivity
− Profitability and goal attainment for the organisation.

• The hurdles are

− Both management and labour must cooperate in designing the

programs
− Plan agreed by all must be implemented.

i) Appreciative Inquiry: (AI)

• Most OD approaches are problem oriented.

• They identify a problem and then look for solutions.
• Appreciative inquiry is positive.
• Rather than looking for problems to fix, this approach seeks to identify
the unique qualities and special strengths of an organisation.
• These qualities are further built on to improve performance
• It focuses on organisations success and abilities than on its problems.
• This allows the organisation to change by playing to its strengths and
competitive advantages.
• AI process essentially consists of four steps.
• Often played out in large group meetings over two or three days and
overseen by a trained change agent.
• The first step is Discovery:

− The idea is to find out what people think are the strengths of the
organisation.
− For instance, employees are asked to recount times they felt the
organisation worked best.
− Or when they specifically felt most satisfied with their jobs.
 • The second step is Dreaming:

− The information from the discovery phase is used to speculate on

possible futures of the organisation.
− For instance people are asked to envision the organisation in five
years and describe what different is going to happen.

• The third step is Design:

− Based on the dream articulation, participants focus on finding a

common vision of how the organisation will look and agree on its
unique qualities.
• The fourth step is Destiny:

− In this final step, participants discuss how the organisation is going

to fulfill its dream.
− This typically includes the writing of action plans and development
of implementation strategies.

• Companies who used this OD technique, have increased their sales and
profits by several crores of money.

12. Benefits & Limitations of Organisational Development:

Benefits
• Organisation-wide changes
• Higher motivation
• Higher productivity
• Better quality of work
• Higher job satisfaction
• Improved team work
• Better resolution of conflict
• Commitment to objectives
• Reduced absence
• Lower turnover
• Creation of learning
• Individuals and groups
Limitations
• Time consuming
• Expensive
• Delayed pay-off period
• Possible failure
• Possible invasion of privacy
• Possible psychological harm
• Potential conformity
• Emphasis on group processes
rather than performance
• Possible conceptual ambiguity
• Difficulty in evaluation
• Cultural incompatibility

N. CREATIVITY IN ORGANISATIONS:

• Organisational culture promotes creativity and innovation

12. Nature of Creativity:

• Creativity refers to the process by which novel but situationally

appropriate outcomes are brought about.
• The essence of creativity is the element of freshness, originality and
novelty that is also appropriate to the context.
 • To call anything creative, the act must be unique and appropriate to the
context.
• The social and technological changes that organisations face require
creative decisions.
• The ability to promote creativity in organisations is an important
competence to face the turbulence of dynamics of changes in the
organisations.

13. The Creative Process:

• Researchers have developed a model that outlines the various stages of the
creative process.
• The process of creativity occurs in the following four stages:

Step-1 Step-2 Step-3 Step-4

Preparation Incubation Insight Verification

• Preparation:

− An important condition for creativity.

− Involves developing a clear understanding of what one wants to
achieve through a novel solution

• Incubation:

− Is a process of reflective thought and is often conducted

subconsciously.
− During incubation, the mind constantly considers the problem and
works on it.
− Plays powerful role in dissolving previously held notions about a
problem.
− The problem or issue not forgotten.
− The problem is only put in the back burner.
− But the problem is still simmering in one’s mind
− But it is not at the forefront of his attention.
− Incubation assists in divergent thinking and generating different
approaches to the issue.

• Insight:

− Individuals experience insight at some point during the incubation

stage.
− It is an experience of suddenly becoming aware of a unique idea.
− The flashes of inspiration have no definite schedules.
− They might come at any time of the day or night.
 − It can also be lost if not documented.

• Verification:

− Ideas are generated at the insight stage.

− It is not sufficient we have come up with an idea, but verification of
their value is important.
− The new idea has to be subjected to evaluation and experimentation.
− At this stage, tenacity is very important, since other people may resist
or reject the creative ideas.

• Creative processes do not always follow an order.

14. Characteristics of Creative Individuals:

• It is said that creative people posses intellectual and personality

characteristics different from their less creative counterparts.
• Some of the traits of creative people include:

− Willingness to give up immediate gain to reach long range goals.

− A great amount of energy.
− An irritation with status quo
− Perseverance
− A pursuit of hobbies and specialised interests.
− Belief that fantasy and day dreaming are not a waste of time.
− Inventive thinking style.
− High intellectual abilities.

15. Methods of Enhancing Creativity:

a. Brainstorming
b. Grid analysis
c. Lateral thinking

16. Creativity Inducing Factors:

a. These are the supporting environments and facilities to encourage people

to search for new ideas:

Creative People Organisational Support Organisational Culture

Enhanced Creativity
 Diversity Exposure Time & Resources

b. Creative People:

i. Selecting creative people is the starting point in enhancing creativity in

organisations.

c. Organisational Support:

− May come in many ways.

− Sets goals for creativity
− Encourage employees to take risks and accept failures, if any.
− Break out of the shell and take risks.
− Make the job intrinsically motivating.
d. Organisational Culture:

− Openness to new ideas.

− Friendly supervision
− Team building
− Participative decision making
− Flexible organisation structures.

e. Diversity:

− Diverse ethnic and cultural groups.

− Divergent thinking is key to creativity

f. Exposure:

− Expose employees to various kinds of experience.

− Like foreign assignments, seminars, extended leave, etc.

g. Time & Resources:

− People are more creative when they have funds, materials, facilities,
information and time.
− Lavishness does not work.
− People need enough resources

O. INNOVATIONS IN ORGANISATIONS:

• Innovation is the process of creating and doing new things that are introduced into
the market place as products, processes and services.
• Innovation involves every aspect of organisation, research, development,
manufacturing and marketing.
• The greatest challenge is to bring the innovative technology into the market in a
cost effective manner.

1) Types of Innovation:

• Radical innovation – major break through – eg: xerox

• System innovation – creating new functionalities by assembling parts in
new ways – eg: automobile
• Incremental innovation – continues the technical improvements –
applicable to radical and systems also – forces organisations to continually
improve products.

2) A Six Step Model for Planned Innovation or Change:

• The process followed by managers when they engage in planned

innovation and change are illustrated in the sketch

Step-1 Step-2 Step-3

Perceiving an Diagnosing the Presenting a pro-
opportunity or a situation and posal & adopting
problem generating ideas the change or
innovation

Step-6 Step-5 Step-4

Monitoring and Implementing Planning to over
evaluating the change or come resistance
results innovation to change or
innovation

Step-1 : Perceiving an opportunity or a problem

• Look ahead for opportunities to solve current and anticipated

problems.
• Do not focus only on immediate problems.
• Hold periodic sessions with senior/junior managers and elicit
suggestions.

Step-2 : Diagnosing the situations and generating ideas

• Diagnose the situation and generate new ideas.

 • This will fix the problems and take advantage of the opportunities.
• Do not overlook the status of ongoing activities relative to the
competition.

Step-3 : Presenting a proposal and adopting the change

• Establish the fact that innovation and change are important to the
organisation.
• Otherwise good ideas will be rejected when they are proposed.
• Preparation of a business plan is necessary for budget proposals.

Step-4 : Planning to overcome resistance

• Understand the reasons and resistance for change.

• Overcome the resistance.

Step-5 : Implementing the innovation or change

• Moment of truth when the change is put into operation.

• If the planning is carefully done, implementation will be smooth

Step-6 : Monitoring the results

• Monitor and evaluate what happens after the change has been
implemented.
• Feedback for improvements in successive innovations.

P. BLOCKS FOR CREATIVITY & INNOVATIONS:

• It is not enough to take positive steps to promote creativity.

• It is also essential to guard against ways which hinder creativity.
• There are three broad categories of obstructions for creativity, perceptual, cultural
and emotional blocks as shown in the sketch.

Perceptual Blocks

Cultural Blocks

Emotional Blocks

Need for Creativity

Creativity &
& Innovation
 Innovation

1. Perceptual Blocks: Include such factors as:

− The failure to use all the senses in observing

− Failure to investigate the obvious
− Difficulty in seeing remote relationships
− Failure to distinguish between cause and effect.

2. Cultural Blocks: Include:

− A desire to conform to established norms.

− Overemphasis on competition or conflict avoidance and smoothing.
− The drive to be practical and economical.
− A belief that indulging in fantasy or other forms of open-ended exploration
is a waste of time.
3. Emotional Blocks: Include:

− The fear of making a mistake.

− Fear and distrust of others
− Fear of grabbing the first idea that comes along

Sixty-One Ways to Block Creativity:

1. A good idea but… 32. That is not our problem

2. Against company policy
3. Ahead of the times.
4. All right in theory
5. Be practical
6. Can you put into practice?
7. Costs too much
8. Don’t start anything yet
9. Have you considered
10. I know it won’t work
11. It can’t work
12. Too many projects now
13. It does not fit human nature
14. It has been done before
15. It needs more stud
16. It is not budgeted
17. It is not good enough
18. It is not part of your job
19. Let me add to that
33. The boss won’t go for it.
34. The new people won’t understand
35. The old times won’t use it.
36. The timing is off
37. The union won’t go for it.
38. There are better ways.
39. They won’t go for it.
40. Too academic
41. Too hard to administer
42. Too hard to implement.
43. Too late
44. Too much paper work
45. Too old fashioned
46. Too soon
47. We have been doing it this way for
48. Long time and it works
49. We have not the manpower
50. We have not the time
20. Let us discuss it
21. Let us form a committee
22. Let us make a survey first
23. Let us not step on toes
24. Let us put it off for a while
25. Let us sit on it for a while
26. Let us think it over for a while
27. Not ready for it yet.
28. Of course, it won’t work
29. Our Plan is different
30. Some other time
31. Surely you know better
51. We are too big
52. We can too small
53. we have never done it that way
54. We have tried it before
55. What bubble head thought that up?
56. What will the customers think?
57. What will the union think?
58. What you are really saying is?
59. Who do you think you are?
60. Who else has tried it?
61. Why has not someone suggested it
before if it is a good idea? You are
off base!