Reference:

HRM (Organisational Change)

(July 2015)
Individual Assignment

Final Assessment

Total Number of Words: 3236

@00442052
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
Background --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
KOTTER’S 8-Step Change Model -------------------------------------------------------- 4
The McKinsey 7s Framework Model -------------------------------------------------------- 7

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION ---------------------------------------------- 10

REFERENCES --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Change has been discussed as many both academics and non-academics as a very
complex phenomenon. Authors such as Paton and McCalman (2008), suggest that
change can be compared to a travelling experience where managing the evaluating,
planning and implementing operational, tactical and strategic journeys. As reported
in van de Voet (2014), change management refers to the process of change: the
planning, coordinating, organizing and directing of the process through which
change is implemented. Stability of an environment is an illusion, forces of change
like environment, world politics, nature of workforce, economic shocks, technology,
competition and social media (Robbins and Judge, 2013) continually affect the
market in which organizations operate and this calls for the need for change in the
ways in which organizations operate. Worley and Mohrman (2014), suggest that this
change management process is very difficult. To remain in business, organizations
must evolve with all the factors of change and effective management of change is
the determinant of the successful or failure of the organization. For any company or
organization seeking to make progress in today’s business world, planning for
change and managing the change process happens to be one of the most important
aspects of business growth (Heckmann et al. 2015). Though not all change
management efforts have been successful, managing change is still considered one
of the most important aspects of organizational development.

The issue of change management has for some time now been the most important
aspect of businesses as expansion of businesses is on the agenda of many
companies. For a multi-national company, there is the need to ensure change
management is implemented properly as this will help to ensure the management
process succeeds. This work discusses the concept organizational change and
reviews some of the theories on the process of change with emphases on
understanding the process to enable a decision of change initiatives to be made by
the company.

2
2.0 BACKGROUND:
Lorentz’s butterfly effect popularized the ‘chaos theory’, which asked a pertinent
question “does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”
The chaos theory of a tiny cause generating a big consequence (GHYS, 2012), has
found its way into every facet of our ever-changing society. Our business world is not
left out of the fast lane, interconnected, complex and technology driven
unpredictable environment. Change management experts are saddled with the
responsibility of exploring the emergent approach as against the earlier planned
approaches used for change management (Margit & Lorenzo, 2014). The more
classical approach postulated by Lewin in the 1950s on change management
basically about three steps of “unfreeze, change and refreeze” (Thompson R. , 2015),
is not suffient anymore, since orgainzations are more volatile. The consistency
expected during the freezing process on personality, behavior and environment are
very difficult to attain today because of the dynamic nature of the global business
environment. Because of how organizations are now non-linear and emergent
change is iterative, unexpected and spontaneous, it has become necessary not to
see change only from the planned change perspective. An introduction of emergent
change forge a co-existence that give a more holistic view of change. Leuneburger
and Goleman in their ariticle ‘The Change Leadership Demands” talks about three
phases of Leadership change. Phase 1: making a clear and compelling case for
change where sustainability leaders must adept at collaborating and influencing
others in the course of transition from unconscious to conscious reactivity. Phase
2: Translating Vision into Action and Phase 3 is Expanding Boundaries.
The changes whether planned or emergent are managed by leaders, according to
Clawson 2001, “leaders take their philosophies into the context of background
factors and using what they know and believe, begin to create a business. The
purpose that they define for themselves and their organizations, the principles that
they operate on, and the style they use in dealing with others all begin to have an
effect on the organization, some intended, sometimes not intended”. From one
generation to another, we have seen revolutions with unexpected heights attained
because of charismatic leadership. Leaders like James Welch, Napoleon, Julius
Caesar, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, and Mandela Nelson etc. have really changed the

3
world and we will have high fliers as leaders discover their potentials and harness
them.

3.0 KOTTER’S 8-STEP CHANGE MODEL

The introduction of 8-step management process by Kotter in “leading to change”
which is a process of different phases that require considerable time line to be
actualized and skipping any phase could give an ephemeral victory but usually spells
disaster in the long run (Kotter, 1996).

3.1 Establishing a sense of urgency:

Most, if not all the workforce must accept the change process for it to happen,
Kotter suggest that at least 75% of the manager must believe in the change process.
The awareness will sensitize all the staff on the present state of the company and
the sincere need for change. This collaborates Leuneburger and Goleman’s phase 1
on change leadership. The idea is “to make the status quo seem more dangerous
than launching into the unknown”. Statistics could be used to highlight the threats
and opportunities and why the desired change is necessary also show the recourses
both human and capital earmarked for the change, with the expected results.
Leaders and not managers are required for change to occur. In this phase, the CEO
and his management must possess charismatic/transformational leadership style to
be able to influence his followers to make sacrificial changes. Also the leader must
be an authentic leader, must know who he is, what he believes in and value, and act
on those values and beliefs openly and candidly. An authentic leader is an ethical
leader who instills trusts in his followers. This way followers will be motivated and
activated for change. An example is Richard Branson of Virgin Group who change
follower’s awareness of issues by helping them to look at old problems in new ways
and is able to excite, arouse and inspire followers to put out extra effort to achieve
group goals (Robbins, Judge & Sanghi, 2009).

3.2 Forming a powerful guiding coalition:

4
Here, it’s about leading change. The effective change leaders within the organization
(from phase 1) must form a guiding coalition change leaders. The selection should
not be only on hierarchy. This is because if the existing hierarchy were working well,
there would be no need for a major transformation. The CEO himself or an
appointed change leader needs to get the coalition group together ,the team will
brainstorm to find areas of weakness and strengthen in the whole change process
and create a good level of trust and commitment amongst themselves. Krotter
suggested off-site retreats for such as one popular vehicle for accomplishing this
task.

3.3 Creating a vision:

The agent of change within the organization develops a vision that must be concise
and clear. The CEO and the guiding coalition create a vision of the organization. The
vision of an organization must be easily communicated to the employees,
stakeholders and customers, this clarifies the direction the organization is headed to.
The vision is summarized in as few words as possible or fewest sentences to afford
understanding and a strategy is deployed to execute the vision created. The litmus
test to the effectiveness of this vision is when the coalition team can share this vision
to the understanding of all. “There is nothing more demoralizing than a leader who
can not clearly articulate why we’re doing what we’re doing” (Kouzes & Posner). A
charismatic leader has been said to have the attribute of framing his vision and
clearly communicating the vision.

3.4 Communicating the vision:

Communicating a vision should not be a once and for all exercise. The message
should be effectively carried out in all facets and via all communication medium
within the organization. This message must be shared at every opportunity,
incorporated in the daily toolbox talks, weekly or monthly meeting. The top
executives should “walk the talk”, that’s the only way to be believed. There was a
time when the safety standards were an issue in the organization I work,
management conducted a tailored safety training for the entire HOD’s through a
“Leadership in Health&safety” program. The safety tit bits in the workplace was

5
inculcated in HOD’s and a further cascading to all the personnel under them, to talk
safety at every meeting, instill safety habit at every opportunity and like a wildfire
this habit transcended to all within the environment. The slogan at every point is
“the safer the better” “Zero tolerance”. You could find this on notice boards,
newsletter, emails etc.
It is important that senior management of the organization behave in ways that are
in line with the vision or the net result will be increased cynicism among troops while
belief in the communication goes down (kotter, 2006)

3.5 Empowering others to act on the vision:

This phase collaborates Leuneburger and Goleman’s phase 2 “translating Vision to
Action”. It is more practical than the previous four. The CEO and the change team
must empower others to take action after successfully communicating the
organization’s direction. The structure of the organization must reflect this new
vision and a motivational strategy enacted to reward those that are committed to
the vision. Resistance or barrier are usually encountered because people prefer to
stay in their comfort zone, it’s imperative to identify those acting as a barrier to this
vision whatever their reasons are and help them see what is needed to achieve the
common goal of actualizing the vision. In extreme cases, the barrier (if it’s a person)
could be let go with adequate compensation to maintain the desired vision.

3.6 Planning for and creating short term wins:

The interest may wane if people don’t see result after a long time. The CEO and the
Change team have to Create short term wins by selecting project that is inexpensive
and whose success will boost the confidence in the new process and prove critics of
the change wrong. Avoiding the possible pitfall of failure is very important at this
stage, any shortfall here will collapse the whole system you have built on earlier. Of
recent my organization embarked on a change process and one of its strategy was
cost-cutting. The HR manager was given a target within a short period even though
under pressure, he managed to succeed. Pressure can be a useful element in a
change effort. If people feel major change will take a long time, urgency level can
drop. Short-term wins help keep urgency level up (Kotter, 2006).

6
 3.7 Consolidating improvement and producing still more wins:
The CEO and his change agent should not be temptated to of declare victory at the
first sign of improvement, this has been the problem of most change leader,
congratulating themselves after few years of hard work. If you can attain one (1)
victory, why not aspire for ten (10) victories while fine-tuning and perfecting the
process, continuous improvement will identify systems and structure that need
alignment to the transformation vision.

3.8 Institutionalizing new approaches:

The battle has been won and change is implemented. But the vision must be an
integral part of the core values of the organization. All the values that culminated to
the change must be adapted by each worker in his daily work routine, it’s a culture
of ‘how we do thing here’, new staff are trained with this. Even a change in
management cannot take away these imbedded core values. All the initiators and
change leaders are well rewarded and succession plans are designed to encourage
new and up-coming leaders to toe the same line for sustainability of the process. In
the organization where I work, there is an induction exercise for new comers and
also periodic strategic line-up meetings to remind employees on how things should
be done.

4.0 THE MCKINSEY 7S FRAMEWORK MODEL

To further explore the change management we will use the McKinney 7s framework,
which looks at the alignment and mutual reinforcement of the all the internal
aspects of the organization for success to be achieved. The elements are classified
into hard element and soft elements. The hard elements are strategy; structure and
systems while the soft elements are shared values, skill, staff and style. These 7s are
interdependent and a change in one depicts a proportional change in the other.

4.1 Strategy:
To maintain an enduring competitive advantage over competition within the
industry, the CEO of the multinational organization must have a well defined
strategy, well articulated and in tandem with the vision and mission of the company.

7
The choice of strategy should be hinged on an emergent strategy to align with the
changing environment. The strategy must be revisited from time to time, this will
help deal with changes in customer demands and environmental issues. Strategic
line-up meetings should be held often to ensure that the organizational vision is
achieved.

4.2 Structure:
This the most visible part of the organization, it shows the units, subunits,
departments and lines. The organization charts details the hierarchy, and the
reporting line. Is the decision making centralized or decentralized? Is this in
compliance with were we are going? Is there a strict chain of command or unity of
command? Are there explicit/implicit communication? Answers to these questions
will align the structure with the other elements. The structure must reflect the vision
of the organization. It must encourage the change advocated. Multinational
organizations are usually ‘departmentalized’ with each HOD reporting to the CEO.
Since leaders are needed in the organization to bring about change, I advice that the
CEO operates a decentralized/democratic structure in order to allow for quick
decision making as against centralized system and promote a sense of belonging
among employees.

4.3 Systems:
These are all the procedures and processes that guide the daily running of the
organization to enhance effective decision-making. The documents transmittal
sequence, training systems, budgeting control systems, accounting systems etc.
Periodic audits in terms of Key Performance Indicator (KPI) are carried on all systems
to ensure compliance with set objectives. Management system guidelines and work
instructions. Ensure all systems are in compliance with ISO systems and periodically
monitored for deviations and corrective measured taken in cases of non-compliance.
While all organization’s system is important, the CEO should concentrate on Human
Resources, which has been described as the key system (Breer in Clawson, 2001)
because people are the change agents. This includes Hiring, Work design, Appraisal,
Reward and Development.

8
 4.4 Shared Values:
This is the core values. As the authentic leader, the CEO must ensure that the
organizational values form organizational culture. Not only is it conveyed in the
mission and vision statement but must reflect daily endeavors by all employees. The
cooperate team culture is wrapped around these values and as its cascaded down
the ranks within the organization it becomes ‘the way we do things here’. Recently in
my place of work, a memo was passed from the Corperate office stating that
subsidiary companies must follow corporate procedure. With this introduction, we
we are doing the job in accordance with the core values of the company. We now
know the code of ethics, anti corruption law, the different business units, and the
cooperate goal. This has formed part of our daily work life.

4.5 Style:
From the annals of history it is pertinent that leadership has always been
instrumental to change and are far more the best change agent we can ever
conceive. Leadership style is dependent on the leader’s philosophies (VABEs).
According to Clawson 2001, “leaders take their philosophies into the context of
background factors and using what they know and believe, begin to create a
business. The purpose that they define for themselves and their organizations,
the principles that they operate on, and the style they use in dealing with others
all begin to have an effect on the organization, some intended, sometimes not
intended”. Leadership style must be well defined and matrix clearly understood by
all within the sphere of the organization. A style of choice for multi-national is the
decentralized leadership style, which allows individual departments and units to take
certain decisions without necessarily waiting for the approval of the MD or CEO at
the top echelon. Jack Welch of GE adopted this style in his ‘Work Out’ effort in the
late 1980’s. His goal was to reduce beaucracy, increase initiative and encourage
decision making.
In the journey for change, the CEO should also adopt a democratic ledership style in
order to encourage ideas from employees.

9
In as much as business schools have prepared leaders to manage internal crisis
which are stereotyped, the external crisis are never prepared for because you can
never know what type or nature it will come in. The hurricane Katrina, the 911
terrorist attack, the earthquake in japan and the Collapse of the Lehman Brothers (),
leader need to fashion solution as these situations unfold.

4.6 Staff:
Staffing is an important element in change process. The CEO must ensure he has
the right people on board and the barriers should be let go. Since multi-nationals
have specialized skills, the right staff must be employed to fill these roles hence,
the emphases on HR as a key system.

4.7 Skills:
In other to bring about desired change in the multinational organization, the CEO
must consider persons who have leadership skills to bring about effective
change. Not all managers are leaders but leaders can be good managers. Hence,
while skill gaps are to be filled, leadership qualities must be considered for
persons that are to fill certain position. This will ensure that employees under
him/her are motivated to do the job well and make personal sacrifice for
organizational goals.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

The mantra “change or perish’ has become a corporate cliché. For organizations
to succeed they must make proactive change.. For change to occur, the leader/s
must be committed to the change process. Only an authentic, transformational
and charismatic leader can bring about an organizational change because
employees can only embrace change if they are influenced and motivation to.

For an organization to implement change management effectively, there is the

need to ensure both leadership and other employees are committed to the
process as this affects the success rates of change efforts.

10
There is a part of leadership that is immutable (who you are and actions) while
skills and knowledge are learned acts, which are contextual. Both are subject to
developments over time, experiences in failures and a success sharpens these
attributes. Cooperate culture should be built not only on successes but also on
failure to promote challenge and debates amongst the team (Webb, 2015).

The present business environment is ever changing, the change management

models or approaches recommended are the new emergent changes that focus
on the volatile problems organizations face today. The world is a globally
interconnected entity, a change in one factor affect the other adjourning
businesses globally, it was estimated that about 16.85 billion USD was lost in
new york within the first month of the 9/11 terrorist attached on the US
(Parrott, Adler, & Nowakowski). In as much as these are unforeseen, change
management initiative should be able to continuous, open-ended, align and
realign to both internal and external factors.

11
6.0 REFERENCES

Armenakis, A. A., and Bedeian, A. G. (1999). Organizational change: A review of

theory and research in the 1990s. Journal of management, 25(3), 293-315.

Barnard, M., and Stoll, N. (2010). Organisational Change Management: A rapid

literature review. Bristol: Centre for Understanding Behaviour Change.

Beer, M., & Nohria, N. (2000). Cracking the code of change. If you read nothing else
on change, read thesebest-selling articles., 15.

Burnes, B., and Jackson, P. (2011). Success and failure in organizational change: An
exploration of the role of values. Journal of Change Management, 11(2), 133-162.

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

Canato, A., and Ravasi, D. (2015). Managing long-lasting cultural changes.

Organizational Dynamics, 1(44), 75-82.

GHYS, É. (2012). The Butterfly Effect. 12th International Congress on Mathematical

Education. Korea.

Gurdjian, P., Halbeisen, T., and Lane, a. K. (2015). Why leadership-development

programs fail. McKinsey Quarterly.

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave

Macmillan.

12
Heckmann, N., Steger, T., and Dowling, M. (2015). Organizational capacity for
change, change experience, and change project performance. Journal of Business
Research.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational

change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Johnson, G., Scholes, K., and Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring Coporate Strategy.
England: Pearson Education Limited.

Kotter, J. (2015). 8-Step Process for leading change. Retrieved August 27, 2015,
from Kotter International: http://www.kotterinternational.com/the-8-step-process-for-
leading-change/

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Havard

Business Review .

Manktelow, J. (2015, 08 26). The McKinsey 7-S Framework: Ensuring That All Parts
of Your Organization Work in Harmony. Retrieved from Mindtools:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm

Margit, L., and Lorenzo, L. G. (2014). Between planned and emergent change:. LSE
Research Online .

Moore, K. (2011, 3 28). Porter or Mintzberg: Whose View of Strategy Is the Most
Relevant Today? Retrieved 8 27, 2015, from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2011/03/28/porter-or-mintzberg-whose-view-
of-strategy-is-the-most-relevant-today/

Parrya, W., Kirschb, C., Careyc, P., and Shawd, D. (2014). Empirical Development of
a Model of Performance Drivers in Organizational Change Projects. Journal of
Change Management , Vol. 14, No. 1, 99–125.

13
Paton, R. A., & McCalman, J. (2008). Change management: A guide to effective
implementation. Sage.

Robbins, S. P., and Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior (15th ed.). New
Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Thompson, R. (2015, 8 26). Kotter's 8-Step Change Model: Implementing Change

Powerfully and Successfully. Retrieved from Mindtools:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm

Thompson, R. (2015, 8 26). Lewin's Change Management Model: Understanding the

Three Stages of Change. Retrieved from Mindtools:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm

Todnem By, R. (2005). Organisational change management: A critical review.

Journal of Change Management, 5(4), 369-380.

Van der Voet, J (2014) The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a
public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational
structure. European Management Journal. Article in Press.

Worley, C. G., and Mohrman, S. A. (2014). Is change management

obsolete?.Organizational Dynamics, 43(3), 214-224.

14