(MODULE-V) Change management

Change management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organisations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organisational process aimed at helping employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment. Kotter defines change management as the utilization of basic structures and tools to control any organizational change effort. Change management's goal is to minimize the change impacts on workers and avoid distractions. Examples of organisational change

1. Mission changes, 2. Strategic changes, 3. Operational changes (including Structural changes), 4. Technological changes, 5. Changing the attitudes and behaviors of personnel Successful change management is more likely to occur if the following are included: 1. Benefits management and realization to define measurable stakeholder aims, create a business case for their achievement (which should be continuously updated), and monitor assumptions, risks, dependencies, costs, return on investment, dis-benefits and cultural issues affecting the progress of the associated work. 2. Effective Communications that informs various stakeholders of the reasons for the change (why?), the benefits of successful implementation (what is in it for us, and you) as well as the details of the change (when? where? who is involved? how much will it cost? etc.). 3. Devise an effective education, training and/or skills upgrading scheme for the organization. 4. Counter resistance from the employees of companies and align them to overall strategic direction of the organization. 5. Provide personal counseling (if required) to alleviate any change related fears. 6. Monitoring of the implementation and fine-tuning as required.

 Why Organization Change:

Any business in today's fast-moving environment that is looking for the pace of change to slow is likely to be sorely disappointed. In fact, businesses should embrace change. Change is important for any organization because, without change, businesses would likely lose their competitive edge and fail to meet the needs of what most hope to be a growing base of loyal customers.

Technology
Without change, business leaders still would be dictating correspondence to secretaries, editing their words and sending them back to the drawing board, wasting time for all involved. Change that results from the adoption of new technology is common in most organizations and while it can be disruptive at first, ultimately the change tends to increase productivity and service Technology also has affected how we communicate. No longer do business people dial a rotary phone, get a busy signal, and try again and again and again until they get through. No longer do business people have to laboriously contact people, in person, to find out about other people who might be useful resources - they can search for experts online through search engines as well as through social media sites. Today's burgeoning communication technology represents changes that allow organizations to learn more, more quickly, than ever before.

Customer Needs
Customers who were satisfied with conventional ovens many years ago are sometimes impatient with the microwave today. As the world evolves, customer needs change and grow, creating new demand for new types of products and services -- and opening up new areas of opportunity for companies to meet those needs.

The Economy
The economy can impact organizations in both positive and negative ways and both can be stressful. A strong economy and increasing demand for products and services will mean that companies must consider expansion that might involve the addition of staff and new facilities. These changes offer opportunities for staff, but also represent new challenges. A weak economy can create even more problems as companies find themselves needing to make difficult decisions that can impact employees' salaries and benefits and even threaten their jobs. The ability to manage both ends of the spectrum are critical for organizations that want to maintain a strong brand and strong relationships with customers as well as employees.

Growth Opportunities
Change is important in organizations to allow employees to learn new skills, explore new opportunities and exercise their creativity in ways that ultimately benefit the organization through new ideas and increased commitment. Preparing employees to deal with these changes involves an analysis of the tools and training required to help them learn new skills. Training can be provided through traditional classroom settings or, increasingly, through online learning opportunities. Importantly, organizations need to do a good job of evaluating employees' capabilities and then taking steps to fill the gaps between current skills and the skills required to respond to growth.

Challenging the Status Quo

Simply asking the question "Why?" can lead to new ideas and new innovations that can directly impact the bottom line. Organizations benefit from change that results in new ways of looking at customer needs, new ways of delivering customer service, new ways of strengthening customer interactions and new products that might attract new markets. New employees joining an organization are especially valuable because they can often point to areas of opportunity for improvement that those who have been long involved in the company might have overlooked. But even existing employees should be encouraged to question why things are done a certain way and look for new ways to get work done faster, better and with higher levels of quality and service

 Need for change: Change as a survival tactic -- if the organization does not keep pace the changing technology, consumer demands, and effective business processes, they will lose their competitive edge. The Learning Organization Organizations that acquiring and applying knowledge to help cope with and adapt to change. Knowledge acquisition Information distribution Information interpretation Organizational memorization

Planned Change Changes in products or services Changes in size or structure Changes in administrative structures Changes in technology

Unplanned Change Government regulation Economic competition Performance Gaps

Areas of Organizational Change Goals and strategies Technology Job design Structure Processes People

The Change Process

Individual Barriers to Change Economic fears Fear of the unknown Fear of social disruptions Effort Fear of loss of power and autonomy Commitment to the old position

Organizational Barriers to Change Structural inertia Work group norms Threat to existing balance of power History of change efforts gone wrong Boards of Directors

Factors causing change As societies continue to evolve and changing demand creates the need for new products and services, businesses often are forced to make changes to stay competitive. The businesses that continue to survive and even thrive are usually the ones that most readily adapt to change. A variety of factors can cause a business to revaluate its methods of operation. Competition The entrance of a new competitor into a market can cause a business to change its marketing strategy. For example, a small electronics store that was the only game in town might have to change its image in the marketplace when a large chain store opens nearby. While the smaller store might not be able to compete in price, it can use advertising to position itself as the friendly, service-oriented local alternative.

Technology Innovations in technology can force a business to change just to keep up. Employees who have never used computers need to be trained to operate the new computer system. A business also can benefit by implementing a technological change. According to the Hotel Online website, the airlines' introduction of email ticketing has resulted in increased efficiency and better customer service while meeting little customer resistance. Desire for Growth Businesses that want to attain growth might need to change their method of operations. For example, the Subway sandwich chain started as a small business under a different name in 1965 and struggled through its first several years. The company began to flourish after it changed its name to Subway in 1974 and began to sell franchises. According to the Entrepreneur website, there were 22,525 Subway franchise units in the United States as of 2009. Need to Improve Processes A business might need to implement new production processes to become more efficient and eliminate waste. In 2003, Cigna Healthcare implemented a leaner production process known as Six Sigma to improve service and reduce operating costs. In 2006, the company was recognized by the J.D. Power independent rating organization for its high level of service and quality. Government Regulations Changes in government regulations can have an impact on how a company does business. Newly mandated safety procedures can force a factory to change its production process to create a safer work environment. Businesses that make or distribute consumer goods such as food products might have to add more quality control measures to ensure consumer safety. The 2009 Food and Drug Administration Food Code included provisions such as banning the option to serve rare hamburger that is ordered by request off a children's menu and increased requirements for food allergen awareness by food workers.

Environmental Factors causing change

Every organization goes through periods of transformation that can cause stress and uncertainty. To be successful, organizations must embrace many types of change. Businesses must develop improved production technologies, create new products desired in the marketplace, implement new administrative systems, and upgrade employees' skills. Organizations that adapt successfully are both profitable and admired. Managers must contend with all factors that affect their organizations. The following lists internal and external environmental factors that can encourage organizational changes:

The external environment is affected by political, social, technological, and economic stimuli outside of the organization that cause changes. The internal environment is affected by the organization's management policies and styles, systems, and procedures, as well as employee attitudes.

Technological Factors causing change

Innovations in technology can force a business to change just to keep up. Employees who have never used computers need to be trained to operate the new computer system. A business also can benefit by implementing a technological change. According to the Hotel Online website, the airlines' introduction of email ticketing has resulted in increased efficiency and better customer service while meeting little customer resistance. Another example of the impact of this sector on organizational life is the threat to employee rights of using surveillance monitoring of emails and internet use, and the advent of sexual harassment via the sending of unsolicited pornographic emails.

Legal Factors causing change

Legal pressures that force organisations to change to comply with laws, e.g. by responding to environmental legislation.

Government Regulations Changes in government regulations can have an impact on how a company does business. Newly mandated safety procedures can force a factory to change its production process to create a safer work environment. Businesses that make or distribute consumer goods such as food products might have to add more quality control measures to ensure consumer safety. The 2009 Food and Drug Administration Food Code included provisions such as banning the option to serve rare hamburger that is ordered by request off a children's menu and increased requirements for food allergen awareness by food workers.

Political factors
Relate to wider political changes - for example, a government taking a particular line on privatisation/the role of the state in society. So you cannot ignore politics. It is present in every change situation. Up until now politics have been viewed in a negative light. This was done intentionally to raise your awareness and concern about political factors. This will now be altered here to a neutral state. Politics can be good or bad. A key lesson learned is that: Change leaders must exploit political factors and use them for the advantage of implementing change. What does the term, exploit mean? You want to rst recognize that politics is a fact of life. No matter what you say or do, political factors do not disappear. So another critical success factor in change management is: You have to understand the specic political situation in a business unit and then attempt to employ this knowledge in getting support for lasting change.

The POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT is constantly changing. Governments change and new alliances are formed with old ones broken. With the advent of the European Union and the Common European Currency, no longer do individual countries have sole power over what laws apply and even what economic policies they might pursue. Groups such as the ASEAN-4 Group form significant trading blocs which must catch the attention of organisations trading worldwide. The attack upon the World Trade Center Building and the Pentagon, is an example of an event, whose influence will continue to be felt in a multitude of ways for many years hence.

Social factors
e.g. changes in demography and consumer buying patterns. Demographic changes, changes in living, working and leisure pursuits impact upon peoples needs and wants and the capacity of organisations to change to meet them.

Every organisation has to operate in a society, and therefore, various sociological issues influence the organi s a t i~n, and at times affect the implementation of innovation due to interests/disinterests of various groups in the society. The main causes that affect changes are: Vested intetest of some social groups and employees to continue in the present position. Desire to maintain the existing formal and informal relationship. , Narrow outlook of the employees and others in society. Social group values are opposite to the values of the proposed change and policies and power alliances are in conflict with the change situation. If change is not suitable to group norms, or deviates from what is expected, then there is resistance. If change is not acceptable to the entire group, each individual starts showing resistance, at times out of fear from the group also. Acceptance of change by the society plays a major role in implementation of the change. For example, till a decade back correspondence education was looked down upon by society as a second rate and second chance education mainly for dropouts. Gradually, there is a significant change in the thinking of the society towards correspondence and distance education in positive terms, and with that, demand for distance education programmes and courses has been increasing from all sections of the society.

Cultural Factors
Culture as a variable takes on the perspective that culture is something that an organization has. Culture is just one entity that adds to the organization as a whole. Culture can be manipulated and altered depending on leadership and members. This perspective believes in a strong culture where everyone buys into it.

The organizational communication perspective on culture views culture in three different ways:

Traditionalism: Views culture through objective things such as stories, rituals, and symbols Interpretivism: Views culture through a network of shared meanings (organization members sharing subjective meanings) Critical-Interpretivism: Views culture through a network of shared meanings as well as the power struggles created by a similar network of competing meanings

Culture and the management of change If real change is to occur in organizations rather than cosmetic or short lived change, it has to happen at the cultural level. Corporate culture has many powerful attractions as a lever for change. The problem is how to get a hand on the lever. Firstly, cultures can be explicitly created you have to be aware of what it takes to change an existing culture.The ability of companies to be culturally innovative is related to leadership and top management must be responsible for building strong cultures.Leaders construct the social reality of the organization, they shape values andattend to the drama and vision of the organization.Culture is frequently counterposed to formal rationality in this sense culture helps to resolve the dilemma of bureaucracy; formal procedures are necessary for business integrity but they also stifle autonomy and innovation. The period from the mid 70s has been one of growing uncertainty for firms and in response to a changing environment and business crises adaptable cultures that are responsive to change have become vital. Morgan (1977) focuses on the whole organization, the cultivation of harmonious relations at all levels, the merging of individual with common goals and a reliance on worker responsibility (Japanese approaches) as success factors in organizational culture.

Models & techniques involved in change management