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Questuion # 2 Introduction

Managing change is a very important factor in the success of every business. Organisations change over time in a variety of ways either by internal environment or external environmemt. Here are some internal factors can lead to changes. Firstly, from a small companies to larger companies. For example, they may grow from being sole trader enterprises to partnerships and then to companies. Secondly, by a growth process. They can either grow organically by ploughing back profits and owners capital into the business. Alternatively they can borrow external finance, or grow by taking over and merging with other companies. Other ways in which organisations change are by altering their culture, example changing the typical patterns and behaviours within the organisation by moving from a top-down organisation to a more democratic form. Becoming more customer or marketing focused as opposed to production oriented. Most organisations today are developing this customer focus. Altering the scope of their activities e.g. by taking on new activities or by operating in new geographical areas such as most large companies today have become global enterprises and they have often reduced the number of brands and products they offer in order to concentrate on powerbrands in global markets. Organisations typically change in response to the external environment, as well as through the development of competitive strengths within the organisation. External environmental factors include: Social factors - e.g. changes in demography and consumer buying patterns.Legal factors - legal pressures that force organisations to change to comply with laws, e.g. by responding to environmental legislation.Economic factors - relate to booms and slumps in general economic activity, changes in interest rates, inflation rates etc.Political factors relate to wider political changes - for example, a government taking a particular line on privatisation/the role of the state in society.Technological factors relate to new developments in technology - e.g. the development of new web based selling methods by companies. On top of the above SLEPT factors a major influence on the organisation is what the competition is doing.A SLEPT analysis is an analysis of key changes in an organisation's environment. It is sometimes referred to as scanning the environment. The management of change is a key aspect of the way in which an organisation responds to change in an appropriate way. The emphasis should be on managing the change rather than reacting to change. Kurt Lewin identifies three stages involved in managing change. After identifying the direction of change and how it is to be achieved, firstly we must unfreeze the existing way of doing things in the organisation., secondly change the organisation in the desired direction, and refreeze the new ways of doing things in the organisation, so that the organisation is now operating in the desired way. The process of unfreezing, changing and refreezing operates at three levels. It involves changing people and their behaviours, changing organisational structures.
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and changing processes within the organisation. Apart from that good communication is an important part of the process of changing the organisation. This involves communicating the direction of change, the objectives, how the change will be carried out and who will be involved.

The Causes for Resistance to Change


It is in human nature to resist change. "We resist change. We choose to keep our habits, rather the comfort of our habits" (Dr. Claude Brodeur PhD, http://members.tripod.com/zenol/humanism.html). Change and the phenomenon of it, is fundamental to evolution; and yet it implies some sort of resistance.Resistance to change can take various forms and the task of filtering out the cause of resistance can often be difficult. Examples include change in work processes where the needs, expectations, and concerns of individuals are ignored. Change and resistance to it forms a knock-on-effect to both the construction and destruction of any organisation. Fear is one of the major forms of resistance to change and. Therefore, resistance to change can be categorised to the organisational level and the individual level. It is these two separate levels which exploring what steps may be taken to overcome resistance at both the organisational and individual level.

The Organisational Barriers to Change


There are a number of barriers to change at the organisational level that, need to be addressed to allow change to be implemented with the least amount of resistance. These include: Undefined Goals and Objectives An organisation should clarify continually the goals and objectives, outlining roles and specifying performance standards. Financial and Environmental Lack of working capital in an organisation can prevent it from introducing change that is necessary to stay ahead of competitors or merely survive as a business. In these circumstances redundancies are almost inevitable. The lack of finance could be due to a variety of factors. These include: a fall in market demand, rise in competition or the degree of turbulence in the market place such as the September 11 th World Trade Disaster; which caused a significant effect on businesses and investment world wide. Lack of Resources and Bad Resource Allocation Lack of resources is an onset of financial and/or environmental issues as discussed in the above paragraph. Bad resource allocation, occur when managers make bad decisions in allocating resources such as money, time, machinery and staff. Managers should use their imagination to avoid causing conflict situations.
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Structural An organisation that follows the traditional hierarchical structure tends to resist change more than that which has a more flat structure. Communication between head of departments and employees in traditional hierarchical structures are usually poor which causes a rift between Management and Employees. Insufficient Communication There are two branches of communication, which are communication internally, within the organisation between Employees and Management and externally between the organisation and suppliers and customers. In organisations where management keep employees in the dark with respect to change potentially face fierce resistance. Employees may interpret this as a conspiracy against them inevitably leading to an unfriendly atmosphere to work in. Organisations that fail to communicate with their Customers and Suppliers, changes that are in effect can face disastrous consequences. Example the Tiptree Company that had implemented a 1.5 million warehousing system to handle a larger number of books failed to notify, its customers that it had undergone a radical change without informing its customers. Unfortunate for Tiptree, which encountered problems with their new systems for about six months; had tarnished its 1992 British Book Awards Distributor of the Year. (Judy Collins, CRASH 28 th October 2000) Lack of or Bad Leadership Strong leadership is required in order to direct the change management process in any organisation. Bad leaders who merely provide are not doing enough to inspire the employees to march ahead. People want to be shown the way. Lack of Preparation for New Roles Organisations may lack in their planning phase. Failing to prepare and define the new roles that will need to be satisfied when change is implemented; shall give rise to resistance. Cultural Issues The culture of an organisation is a set of unwritten rules. Management may have a set of protocols for employees to adhere to perform business processes. The way a task is actually carried out depends namely on the culture. The culture of the organisation can strongly resist to change as employees become too familiar with the current way of doing things. "Culture is the integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes thought, speech, action, and artefacts and depends on man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations."(Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary)

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Individuals Resisting Change There are a number of barriers to change at the individual level that, need to be addressed to allow change to be implemented with the least amount of resistance. These include: Fear News of change can invoke fear among employees. Employees may feel afraid of not being able to fulfil the new proposed changes to work practices that are being imposed. Employees may begin to question the future of their job, which shall cause much discomfort.People resist change due to anxiety, pessimism and different personal ambitions. Lack of Input into the change Individuals tend to resist change where they play not part in change. The idea of not knowing the change can cause a rift between the employees and management.

Overcoming Resistance at Organisational and Individual Level


Organisational Level Overcoming Undefined Goals and Objectives Goals and Objectives should be frequently redefined and relayed to all employees. This shall aid towards clearing up any misunderstanding and possible conflicts. Overcoming Financial and Environmental Issues Organisations should have a contingency fund to cater for changes in demand or develop a very good relationship with their bank manager in case you need to borrow money at hard times. At the other end of the scale if demand sores suppliers must be able to satisfy demand. Benchmarking suppliers shall help determine your best suppliers.A good supplier may be one that allows to have a 30 day or more credit account, which leave with more working capital. Essentially corporate business strategies should have a degree of flexibility to act as a defence to sudden changes. Overcoming Structural Problems and Insufficient Communication In a large organisation employees may wish to elect a spokes person who can act as a collective voice to air potential barriers directly to management. Surveys can be conducted and results analysed. In a small organisation employees should be encouraged to speak up if they feel that change is causing a conflict.

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Overcoming Lack of or Bad Leadership It is a natural human instinct to follow leadership as children we look up to our parents and as adults we look up towards our superiors. Leaders must lead the way and be an example for others to follow. In leading and setting an example to others leaders must take an active role a hands on approach side by side with the employees in order to motivate and encourage. As in the words of the great, Mahatma Gandhi; We must become the change we want to see(Mahatma Gandhi, http://www.performancefirst.co.uk/organisation/orgmain.htm). Visionary leaders, no matter how articulate, are not enough. A shared commitment still requires personal contact to make it real (Handy, 95) Overcoming Lack of Preparation for New Roles
The importance of planning must be emphasised and reflected. The new roles should be concisely explained to the respective employees prior to implementing change, to stifle out any doubts, fears or resistance.

Overcoming Cultural Issues The cultural characteristics once identified need to be overcome and evolved into a nonblame culture. By doing so the employees shall have the freedom to evolve and try innovative ways of doing their jobs without the fear of being penalised for mistakes. Individual Level Employees should be directly involved in the change process, which shall motivate and reduce resistance. Extra incentives should be made available to further encourage and reward compliance. Support networks should be established as a means to reinforce the change theory. Appendix 1 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs depicts the theory of psychological needs, values of authority, hierarchy and rationality, security needs. The model consists of many levels. Maslow argues that once the basic level of Air food water and sex are met the next hierarchical or rational need is for safety. An organisation must concentrate on invoking a sense of Belonging to the organisation by keeping them informed, involved and sharing the success. Esteem by Others should be achieved by promoting team work and the occasional appraisals by management.

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Force Field Analysis The force field analysis helps identify the forces for change (drivers) and forces against change (resistance) in an organisation. Through analysis it is important to note that even if you have more forces for change than against this may not actually guarantee you successful change. The key is to remove the barriers to change on the organisational and individual level.

Figure 1 Field Force Analysis Twelve Principles for Managing Change These principles provide the cause and effect of managing change strategically: Thought processes and relationship dynamics are fundamental if change is to be successful. Change only happens when each person makes a decision to implement the change. People fear change it "happens" to them. Given the freedom to do so, people will build quality into their work as a matter of personal pride. Traditional organizational systems treat people like children and expect them to act like adults. "Truth" is more important during periods of change and uncertainty than "good news." Trust is earned by those who demonstrate consistent behaviour and clearly defined values.
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People who work are capable of doing much more than they are doing. The intrinsic rewards of a project are often more important than the material rewards and recognition. A clearly defined vision of the end result enables all the people to define the most efficient path for accomplishing the results. The more input people have into defining the changes that will affect their work, the more they will take ownership for the results. To change the individual, change the system. Twelve Principles from Managing Change - Change Management Recourse Library (Internet Resource) http://www.lynco.com/12prin.html Change Agent Change within an organisation can be achieved by a change agent (an outsider) someone who is not affected by the cultural drawback of the organisation. However there are pros and cons: Pros: Change Agent is unaffected by the organisations cultural drawbacks Employees might listen to someone who is an outsider simply because he or she is not management. Cons On the other hand employees may reject the new comer as they are not familiar with that particular person. So they may become suspicious as to what his or hers real agenda is. Appendix 1 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

(Maslow, http://www.insightmc.com/insightmc_surveys2.htm)
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Appendix 2 Change Management Matrix

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A Workplace Example
A large, multi-divisional professional services firm was changing its timesheet system - affecting every member of the organisation. They recognised the need for acceptance and compliance from everyone so they built an all-encompassing sponsorship cascade. When the team was finalised it was apparent that the sponsorship team was considerably larger than the project team building the new system.

Resistance to change By definition, people are affected by change. A few will comfortably accommodate any degree of change, but most people have a change journey to undertake. Part of the art of Organisational Change Management is to:

understand what journey you want which populations to take (it may not be the same for everyone), assess what their attitude is likely to be, and use that knowledge to guide them in the right direction.

Many people will hide their negative feelings. It is not wise to be openly critical of your bosses and their new ideas. Some people will not even be aware of their own resistance which, nevertheless, affects their behaviour sub-consciously. Understanding their position requires more than listening to what they say. Organisational Change Management specialists use an array of diagnostic tools to uncover the true characteristics and attitudes of the target populations. The most common response to impending change is a negative response where, initially at least, the target population sees the change as a bad or threatening thing. Psychologists have researched these "bad news" responses and found that there is a common emotional response. This chart shows how the individuals oscillate between inactivity and high emotion. Assuming the final outcome can represent a good thing from their perspective, the goal is to leave them in favour of the change and highly motivated to make it work.

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The "Bad News" Curve Here are some thoughts that might be expressed by someone passing through the "bad news" curve:

Oh no! It can't be true! You cannot be serious!!! Can we sort this out some other way? That's it - after 20 years of service they want me to... Am I going to be part of this? Yes, I can live with this - it's not bad really.

The "Good News" Curve A different emotional curve may occur where individuals are initially in favour of the change. In the "good news" curve, the risk is that they will be disappointed by the reality of the change or the effort it will take to achieve it. In these cases, you should recognise the likelihood of disappointment during the change process. Be ready to lift them out of the trough in time to benefit from their enthusiasm.

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Resistance to change is normal. The Project Manager should expect to encounter it and deal with it. The worst time to encounter resistance is during the cutover to the new solution. Transition is usually a busy, critical, high-risk period when the last thing you need is a lack of cooperation from the target population. Try to surface issues and resistance earlier in the project so that there is time to get the target population engaged before any damage is caused. Some Organisational Change Management experts suggest that you should deliberately upset the target population early in the project so that you can guide them through the emotional curve and change their attitude. That may be taking the principle too far - but, if there is going to be resistance, try to deal with it early.

Using the right change style The design of the project's approach should take into account the optimum style of addressing organisational change issues. In general, the target population will be more supportive of the changes if they have been part of the change process. The cynical view is that you should make them feel part of the process even if you prefer to ignore what they have to say. In fact, their active participation is likely to add to the quality of the solution - it should be taken seriously. Conversely, if they feel their views were sought then ignored they are likely to become more resistant. Working with a broad selection of the target population adds time and cost to the project. The degree to which you involve them will depend on the magnitude of the change. A straightforward non-controversial change may require no previous contact. If, for example, you are simply introducing a new set of expense codes you can publish the message "with effect from 1st April, new codes must be used as per the attached book". Conversely, if you are making huge changes to the job and lifestyle of the target population you will need to work with them to gain their co-operation, for example, if you wish them to re-locate voluntarily and re-train for substantially altered jobs.

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Here are some change styles that may be appropriate:

Collaborative - The target population are engaged in the change process, typically through cascading workshops or meetings. They will be kept up to date on the issues. Their views will be actively sought and acted upon. Feedback will demonstrate how their input has been acted upon. Consultative - The target population is informed about the changes and their views are sought. Directive - The workforce is informed about the changes and why those changes are important. Coercive - The workforce is told that they must obey the new instructions.

References Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary Laurie J Mullins (2002), Management And Organisational Behaviour (Sixth Edition), Pearson Education Limited Pages 812 to 830 Internet: Dr. Claude Brodeur PhD, http://members.tripod.com/zenol/humanism.html Mahatma Gandhi, http://www.performance-first.co.uk/organisation/orgmain.htm Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, http://www.insightmc.com/insightmc_surveys2.htm Twelve Principles from Managing Change, http://www.lynco.com/12prin.html

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