In this module, you became more familiar with the change process and the issues that are associated with it. It is a given that change can occur in any organization or situation. The more familiar you are with the process, the better equipped you will be when facing change and the myriad issues that come along with it. For the discussion in this module, you will explore the change process and some of the issues that may arise.
Research the organizational change process, challenges, and issues. Use resources from professional literature in your research. Professional literature may include the Argosy University online library resources, relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, or .gov).
On the basis of your research and experience, in a minimum of 400 words, respond to the following points:
In the previous module, you studied the theoretical foundations of leadership as they relate to the change process. You also gained insight into critical change elements and their drivers and learned how leaders and employees respond to them. Additionally, you were introduced to the ethical dimensions associated with decision making and leadership behavior when implementing change.In this module, you will explore the various levels of organizational change and the issues that may arise as a result of a change. You will examine the impact of team dynamics and organizational culture, as well as the impact of internal and external politics, on change.Change is a reality in all organizations; therefore, it is critical for leaders to study and understand change and the issues associated with it. In this module, you will explore the different types of change issues and influencers, both within and outside the organization.You will learn how a leader can remove obstacles to change by understanding the various levels of organizational change and cultivating a culture of change through shared values and innovation and through genuine empowerment to foster attitudes and a willingness toward change.
There are different levels of organizational change, depending upon the amount of change the organization would like to implement or the amount of risk the organization is ready to take. Organizations must decide at what level of organizational change they would like to consider their implementation. Changes are basically implemented to remain competitive and to assist in sustaining organizations.Once the external environment illustrates that a change may need to take place because of competitive opportunities or because of necessity, different levels of change may occur.
Click here to download the transcript Levels one through three are used when there is a need for change and the organization wants to become more competitive and productive. These steps can be used when there is substantial risk involved or when the organization has decided to strategically change direction.Technology changes have driven some businesses to evaluate their capabilities and their viability. In some cases, these businesses have decided to close down rather than trying to adapt to their new environment. When businesses do not keep up with technology, the competitive marketplace may pass them so quickly that it may not be cost effective to implement changes or redesigning their operations.Level four would be implemented when there is not a lot of risk and the changes are made incrementally and organizations are trying to improve operational processes. At this level, organizations are normally not trying to make any major changes
When planning for and implementing change, there are different types of issues organizational leaders need to consider. These issues come in different forms and have varying degrees of impact on the organization and on the change process. To ensure a smooth transition into lasting change, content, context, process, and criterion issues should be understood and considered when implementing any change.
Changes that are content driven are important as they focus on organizational implementation and effectiveness. Content changes focus on the essence of the organization and are meant to ensure that the organization meets its mission and vision.The need for content changes may involve the evaluation and revision of the organization’s mission, vision, strategic direction, and structure. Since these are significant changes, it is important to evaluate these foundations as they have a strong impact on organizational success and sustainability.Sometimes, the need for significant organizational change is in response to threats from external factors. If there are competitive or regulatory changes, an organization may need to evaluate its business model and work to adapt its model to meet the needs of the new environment. It is important to include stakeholders in this transformational change as the organization will need their support to implement the changes.Because of their complexities, content changes are more difficult to implement than process or contextual changes. In addition, content changes may take a longer time to implement—thus there is a risk of organizational fatigue. When content changes are considered, the organization should develop a detailed implementation plan that includes deliverables and timelines. Without such a framework, the organization can lose focus and get off track.Changing an organization’s mission, vision, or structure is a huge endeavor. Not all organizations are capable of implementing such changes, but those that are capable need to carefully plan and execute the changes. No leader can undertake these changes himself or herself, and through careful communication, the planning and implementation of these changes should include the involvement of internal and external stakeholders.If done successfully, content changes can result in better organizational performance and outcomes. On the financial side, the outcomes can include increased market share, revenue, and profits. On the internal side, the outcomes can include increased employee satisfaction and increased morale. Either way, if successful, the changes can have a positive, lasting impact on the organization’s viability and sustainability.
The external and internal environments drive the contextual issues related to change efforts. If an organization has poor employee relations, the organizational changes will be impacted by those poor relations. An organization must be aware of the context in which it is functioning so that it can make adjustments in its planning and implementation to accommodate the working environments. To gain awareness and a working understanding of the context, an organization should conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis as that will inform it of the challenges and opportunities facing its change initiative.
To successfully implement any change, the internal environment of an organization should be evaluated. For example, an organization should evaluate its workforce and identify the strengths and weaknesses of its employees’ skills and capabilities. What specialties and special knowledge and skill sets does the workforce possess? If there are none or few or if they do not align with the strategic and operational goals, what development plans and/or changes are needed to bring the organization’s workforce into alignment?Most organizations will have some levels of strengths and weaknesses within their internal environment. What is important is that the organizations be mindful of their strengths and weaknesses when planning for and implementing any internal changes. If not properly prepared, internal stakeholders might reject a change effort and work at cross purposes with leadership. Investigating all their contextual issues will allow an organization to evaluate the amount of assistance needed for change to be successfully implemented.
The external environment in which an organization functions can have a big impact on the success of the organization in meeting its goals. If the external environment is preventing an organization from meeting its goals, leadership needs to develop a plan to counteract the external forces. Maybe the organization is working with a weak supplier or vendor. If that is the case, the organization would need to work to improve the existing vendor or look for a replacement vendor.Another potential issue in the external environment is regulatory policies and their impact on the change process. No organization can operate without some constraints, and as local, state, and federal regulations change, the organization needs to adapt and accommodate the changes. Contextual issues may involve the leaders’ understanding of the social, political, and external environment as the organization implements change. Trust in the leadership of the organization and the history of change within the organization are all contextually related.Without a careful review of the external forces that impact the organization, any change effort may fail due to weaknesses in the external environment. Just as technological changes within the organization can be very instrumental in the organization’s ability to make changes, technology in the external environment can apply pressure on the necessity for change by the organization.
A process change is a change that impacts the processes within organizations. Like mission, vision, and context, an organization has processes in which it operates. Sometimes, these processes can become ineffective or outdated, and thus they need to be changed so as to improve outcomes. Process changes can take place at the following levels:
Criterion issues generally deal with the outcomes of organizational change. An impact analysis or impact assessment is often used to assess the change. When the implementation of change is being considered, it is important to establish the outcome criteria at that time. This is important especially when establishing outcome criteria in the areas of profitability and employee development as they are necessary for organizational sustainability.
The outcome criterion issues of profitability and market share are usually major concerns for organizations. However, it must be remembered that the bottom line alone is not significant enough to evaluate success; employee response and support of the changes should also be considered. It is important to understand that employee responses and behaviors to changes will have an impact on the success of the changes. The commitment and work attitudes of employees can indicate their willingness to support and comply with the changes. Evaluating employees’ responses and behaviors will help the organization understand the level of receptivity and resistance that might exist.
There is also a problem with the criterion of the evaluation of organizational effectiveness. There are numerous possible measures (such as revenue, profits, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and market share) that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of change; however, it is often not a straightforward concept because there are so many different measures available. Traditional performance measures for organizational effectiveness have changed over the years. Criteria of organizational effectiveness that may be specific to one organization may not be specific to another organization. Basically, if an organization implements a change without accounting for the behaviors and attitudes of the employees, the criterion for effectiveness may be inadequate. An organization needs to ensure that criteria used to define organizational effectiveness are clearly operationalized so as to ensure that the criteria can be validated. This is why establishing correct criterion issues beforehand to evaluate the outcome is so important.
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An effective team can have a positive impact on change in an organization. Similarly, a dysfunctional team will negatively affect change efforts in an organization.
Kotter and Cohen (2002) believe an effective team made up of people with the right blend of skills, power, and authority and a sense of urgency and credibility will build trust and enthusiasm for change within the organization and will guide the organization to healthy change.Kotter and Cohen (2002) maintain that an effective team will pull people into the change effort. By doing so, they build the momentum and critical mass necessary not only to make the change but also to change the culture of the organization to reflect the new realities and values of the change effort. An effective team, in Kotter and Cohen’s (2002) terminology, “makes change stick.”
Conversely, dysfunctional teams are characterized by fragmentation. Change is unable to progress under their guidance. A dysfunctional team undermines trust in an organization, making it difficult to achieve the sense of urgency, which, according to Kotter and Cohen (2002), is necessary to initiate the change process.The fragmentation of a dysfunctional team is reminiscent of Lewin’s dynamic force field with the characteristic of being negatively charged. In terms of Senge’s system, a dysfunctional team lacks the ability to achieve at least two of the fundamentals of a learning organization, a shared vision and team learning.
Kotter and Cohen (2002) point out, an effective team is a diverse one, representing not only the necessary skills to achieve change but also the various constituencies within the organization. Such diversity is challenging even in an effective team. Managing this diversity means the difference between an effective team and a dysfunctional one.Kotter and Cohen (2002) refer to the leader as a person pushing and pulling the group:
Reference:Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard School Business Press.
There is no way to avoid organizational politics! Any organization, with two or more people, will experience politics as individuals or groups try to influence others to think or act in a particular way. Thus, any change effort is closely tied to the phenomenon of organizational politics.
Change is about modifying the status quo and may involve a shift in the balance of power within the organization. Through change, power may be gained, lost, or redistributed throughout the organization. Some will perceive themselves as losing power, while others will see an opportunity to improve their position within the organization. In either case, the efforts of people to resist or promote the change will be based on their perception of how the change will impact them and their departments. Lewin’s
force field analysis model is applicable in assessing these situations, and you will learn more in the next module. This model studies the concept of how opposing forces can impact and determine the level and type of actions organizations as well as individuals may take to effect change.
The political process itself has thus been used to redirect political energy to promote change rather than resist it. Three of Kotter’s eight steps to transformation focus on the issue of addressing people’s interests: Those three steps are:
Each of these steps addresses people’s feelings of personal power directly related to politics.
Module 4 will take you through each of these steps.
Culture is one of the most powerful influences in our lives. At the same time, it is one of the least visible influences to the people who live within it. Culture is the fabric of values, rules, and beliefs that govern a group, organization, or society.
Within an organization, culture dictates appropriate behaviors, role boundaries, and beliefs about what is valuable and useless, good and bad, and desirable and dangerous. Attitudes toward change, flexibility, and receptiveness to anything new and different are also reflections of culture. Thus, culture has a major impact on the change process in an organization.The culture of an organization will determine attitudes toward change, the receptiveness to new ideas, the willingness of people to take risks by trying something new, and the level of resistance a change leader can expect.
Since change is a reality of life in contemporary and future organizations, it is critical for leaders to cultivate change-friendly cultures. It is necessary for a leader to cultivate an organization’s capacity for change by guiding it through smaller changes in which there is a low level of threat to individuals and to the culture of the organization.Some threats are necessary to bring about growth, but a calculated measure of threat combined with built-in short-term wins will build confidence, a willingness to take risks, and an increased capacity for organizational change. With successive iterations of this process, increasing the change demand on the organization and the amount of risk involved with each iteration, the leader can build a change-friendly culture.
Through this module’s online lectures and assigned readings, you learned about the various levels of organizational change and the issues that may arise, such as content, context, process, and criterion issues. You also looked into the impact of team dynamics on change and examined the impact of organizational politics and organizational culture on change.Here are the key points you covered in this module:
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