Week 1- Introduction to Management of Corporate Change

Learning Objectives

1) To understand the concept of change management

2) To present its importance to organizations

Introduction
The change management area has been studies extensively during the last few

years since organizations engage in several changes in order to upgrade and change

their overall structure and performance to the better. The particular topic is very

important in organizations particularly for corporations in order to survive the high

degree of competition as well as the threats imposed by the environment and the

new economic era. This module will focus on change management in corporations

and in organizations in general starting from the broad definition and the

importance of change management in organizations presented in Week 1. Hence,

lets see more closely what change management means and its importance in

organizations.

1
Topic 1
Definition of Organizational change

While the general concept of „change‟ is defined as just “a new state of things,

different from the old state of things” , organizational change is more difficult to

define. For a better understanding, the easiest approach is not trying to define it,

but rather comparing it to other types of change. The name itself – „organizational

change‟ – already explains that we are talking about a change in the organizational

activities, but this statement alone does not say much about the type of activities

that are subject to change. By comparing operational change with organizational

change, the first thing that one will notice is the fact that the former refers

exclusively to individuals, with their roles and values, whereas the latter covers a

much larger field, that is all the operational processes - of serving customers, of

production, of logistics (Pieterse et al, 2012).

Furthermore, organizational change may also be defined as “a state of

transition between the current state and a future one, towards which the

organization is directed”. Although this definition is closer to the definition of

change in general, a certain difference, though subtle, is indeed visible. In addition,

organizational change includes the real content of the change that comes about

within these processes. Besides these two dimensions, the context in which

organizational change arrives is equally important, as "in order to formulate the

content of a strategy, one needs to control both the context in which it happens, as

2
Topic 1
well as the process through which it takes place”. Thus, strategic change becomes

an interaction between ideas about the context, the process and the content of a

change; the analyses that disregard this fact and see any organizational change as

an individual fact, are in fact lacking an analysis of the form, the meaning and the

substance of change. Such a lack results in the fact that the area covered by the

analyses of change becomes extremely narrow, and it distances itself from the

dynamic and complete analysis that should be applied to change - ideally speaking

(Pieterse et al, 2012).

Recent explanation of the Change Management Concept

Society today is characterized by ongoing quick change. Given the speed at which

business moves the market, many enterprises are out of breath and struggle to

simply keep up. This means that today, successful business is based on the

management capacity to oversee and adapt to fast forward change. Thus, fast,

reliable, active, and comprehensive countermeasures to overcome an accumulated

stereotyped idea and a traditional organizational culture in the current business

environment is the key for survival. Meanwhile, there has been a new tool for the

business operation called ‘Change Management.’ What is Change Management?

Change Management is a systematic activity to prepare an organization for and

implement ongoing environmental changes in a business operation. So to speak,

3
Topic 1
Change Management is about innovative strategies and speedy activities to deal

with variable and sudden changes. In addition, the current definition of Change

Management can contain individual change management models to address the

people side of change (Kanter et al, 1992).

Generally, change management can address the large part of a business

operation from planning to controlling; i.e. organization and governance structure,

product development, customer satisfaction etc. Successful Change Management

not only improves the governance structure which needs to be changed, but also

raises productivity up to the maximum level by modifying and complementing the

existing organization system. Through these processes, the customer satisfaction

can be done with a good image and benefit of a business enterprise. To achieve the

most optimal result via Change Management, it is critical that each organization

member works collaboratively and maximizes their capacity. From the

management-level to entry-level employees, they should make one voice based on

the business vision and goals. However, there are always various types of people in

the organization for the matter of change; passive, active, stubborn, or apathetic.

Because of these diversities, a leader has to lead his/her members to one direction.

In this way, the role of the ‘change manager’ is important to control the variable

inside of its organization (Kanter et al, 2012).

4
Topic 1
Change management is taking over several organizations and corporations that are

operating locally and internationally. The particular concept also appears in the

case of academic where several academic institutions consider as a gateaway from

several problems and a way to move forward (Alkaya & Hepaktan, 2003).

Take a look at the examples of change management in several institutions.

5
Topic 1
 6
Topic 1
Take a look at the presentation provided by the Change management expert,

Michael Wos. In order to view the video, please copy and paste the link

provided in your browser.

7
Topic 1
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_UCjgMjn_0

Bibliography

• Alkaya,A.G.A & Hepaktan,A.G.C.E. (2003) Organizational Change, Celal

Bayar Universitesi, 10(1), 31-58.

• Kanter, R.M., Stein, B.A. & Jick, T.D. (1992) “The Challenge of

Organizational Change”, New York: The Free Press.

8
Topic 1
 • Pieterse,J.H., Caniels,M.C.J. & Homan,T. (2012)Professional discourses and

resistance to change, Journal of Organizational Change, 25(6), 798-818.

Recommendations for Topic 1’s readings

Please review the material provided for Week 1 and refer to Chapter 1 of the

eBook for further guidance. Then proceed to complete the week 1’s formative

assessment which is the first formative assessment of the module.

9
Topic 1