Leaders must listen to the employees — people need to feel that the approach to change will include their strong input and ongoing involvement. Leaders in the organization must articulate a clear vision that describes what the change effort will accomplish. It should readily convey the benefits to the employees, as well. Ideally, people in the organization have strong input to the creation of the vision and how it can be achieved. It is critically important that people believe that the vision is relevant and realistic. Research indicates that cynicism is increasing in organizations in regard to change efforts.
People do not want their leaders to promote an idealized vision that will completely turn the organization around and make things better for everyone all the time. They want to feel respected enough by their leaders to be involved and to work toward toward a vision that is realistic, yet promising and rewarding in the long run. This phase of change management is often overlooked, yet it is the phase that often stops successful change from occurring. Politics in organizations is about power. Power is important among members of the organization when striving for the resources and influence necessary to successfully carry out their jobs.
Power is also important when striving to implement a plan in which everyone is involved. Power also comes from credibility, whether from strong expertise or integrity. Some people have a strong negative reaction when talking about power because power too often is associated with negative applications, for example, manipulation, abuse or harassment. However, power exists in all human interactions and is not always bad.
It is how the power is used that determines how the power is perceived. A strong mechanism for ensuring political support for the change effort is to develop a network of leaders at various level who interact and count on each other to support and guide the change effort. Means to do that can include ensuring that all power-players are involved in recognizing the need for change, developing the vision and methods to achieve the vision, and maintaining organization-wide communications about the status of change.
Guidelines, Methods and Resources for Organizational Change Agents
Any recommendations or concerns expressed by members to the leaders must be promptly recognized and addressed. This phase occurs when the organization works to make the actual transition from the current state to the desired future state or vision. In consultations, this phase usually is called the implementation phase.
The ways that consultants and organizations go through this phase can vary widely, ranging from clearly delineated phases and steps to a continual mutual engagement with the client from which the project activities continue to unfold. Ideally, the various interventions are detailed into associated actions that are integrated into one overall Implementation Plan. If the change is deep and extensive, then each action plan would includes specific objectives, or milestones, that must be accomplished by various deadlines, along with responsibilities for achieving each objective.
Rarely are these plans implemented exactly as planned. Thus, as important as developing the plan, is making the many ongoing adjustments to the plan while keeping other members up-to-date about the changes and the reasons for them. These changes might require ongoing coaching, training and enforcement of new policies and procedures in the workplace.
In addition, means of effective change management must continue, including strong, clear, ongoing communications about the need for the change and status of the change. Often, the most difficult phase in managing change is this phase when leaders work to sustain the momentum of the implementation and adjustment of plans. Change efforts can encounter a wide variety of obstacles, for example, strong resistance from members of the organization or unexpected changes in the environment outside the organization. The role of support cannot be minimized. Despite its importance during organizational change, the role of support is often forgotten.
Strong, visible, ongoing support from top leadership is critically important to show overall credibility and accountabilities in the change effort. Supervisors play a critical role in effectively delegating tasks to employees and providing ongoing support in the form of feedback, coaching and training. Employee performance management plays a key role in ensuring that the required actions are being taken at the right times and are being done with high quality.
Understanding Change
At this point in a consulting project, it may be wise for the consultant to ensure he or she has ongoing support themselves for example, from other consultants who can provide ongoing objectivity, affirmation and other forms of support. The following links are to articles that together provide an increasingly comprehensive and detailed orientation to change management.
The purposes of an organizational change model are to 1 provide guidance to leaders of the change effort and 2 give a common perspective and frame of reference for participants when communicating about their change effort. The following paragraphs provide a general overview of some of the more prominent change models. The purpose of the overviews is to increase your general knowledge about approaches to change and help you grasp the diversity of approaches.
The overviews are not intended to provide you detailed guidelines about implementing any of the models. Also note that, because there is no standard definition for a change model, some readers might consider some of the following to be standard management practices, rather than means to affect change. Without attention to those factors, the actions to accomplish desired changes are not likely to be successful because they will continue to encounter strong resistance from members of the organization. Structures can be loosened in a variety of ways.
The means mentioned in the above section Requirements for Successful Organizational Change about motivating change and creating a vision are powerful for unfreezing an organization. The next general phase in this model is about moving the change along, including by developing political support as described in the above section. The final phase is about developing and implementing new structures, such as new plans, policies and procedures, which freeze, or hold, the current state of change in place.
The means mentioned in the above section about managing the transition and sustaining momentum would be very useful in refreezing the intended changes. Lewin's 3-Stage Model of Change. The cycle can also generate tremendous learning for those involved. Many models for consulting are based on action research and include various modifications. There is also more focus on strengths and opportunities and less on weaknesses and problems, as well as more focus on learning.
This method aims to increase organizational performance by radically re-designing the organization's structures and processes -- by starting over from the ground up. As with any major model for change, there are many proponents and opponents of BPR. BPR can require an extensive amount of detail, attention and time and can be quite demanding on employees. Still, the process might be one of few that provides clear guidelines and procedures for carefully dissembling and assembling an organization.
The model, like Future Search Conference below and Whole Systems Change , really forces leaders to take a complete, fresh look at systems in their organization and how to re-develop those systems anew. Marvin Weisbord developed the future search approach, which can involve people or more, usually over three days, to articulate a preferred future and develop the action steps to accomplish that future.
It is an example of a relatively recent category of change models called large-scale interventions. Large-scale change is an example of transformational, organization-wide change. In the approach, a consultant works with a small planning group to design the event. All key internal and external stakeholders are encouraged to attend. Participants examine the past, present and future of the organization from the perspective of the participants themselves, the organization and its industry.
Participants discover their shared values and assumptions to clarify a preferred future or vision. The vision emerges from various scenarios, built from considering what has worked and what has not worked in the past -- but especially what has worked. Short-term and long-term action plans are established.
Emphasis is on building to the desired future, rather than on solving problems. Future Search Conference in Theory and Practice. The model was developed by Watermann and Peters and depicts seven dimensions of organizations that must be considered when accomplishing organizational change.
Imagine a circle of six circles with one circle in the middle. Strategy is the overall direction of the organization and how it is going to follow that direction. Structure is the organization of the company, defining its roles and lines of authority. Systems include the processes and procedures that guide day-to-day activities in the organization. Skills are the capabilities of the organization.
Style is how the organization is led. The process of organizational change can include a variety of key roles. These roles can be filled by various individuals or teams at various times during the change process. Sometimes, individuals or teams can fill more than one role. It is not uncommon then that someone inside the organization reacts to that deep hurt and suggests the need for a major change effort.
Often the person who initiates the change is not the person who becomes the primary change agent. After the project plan has been developed and begins implementation, the change agent might be an implementation team comprised of various people from across the organization. If the change effort stalls out, the change agent might be a top leader in the organization who intercedes to ensure the change process continues in a timely fashion.
It is extremely important for the consultant to always know who the real change agent is at any time during the project because that person or team usually has the most influence on the success of the project, and therefore is the most important role to be working with then. Tips for Change Agents in Change Agents: Learning from the Best. Change efforts often require a person or team to continue to sustain strong enthusiasm about the change. This includes reminding everyone of why the change is occurring in the first place, and the many benefits that could come if it is successful.
The champion might be the same person as the change agent at various times in the project. In large organizations, that sponsor often is a department, such as Human Resources, Strategic Planning or Organization Development. In smaller organizations, the sponsor might be a team of senior leaders working to ensure that the change effort stays on schedule and is sustained by ongoing provision of resources and training.
Personal Development Planning
Leadership could defined as setting direction and influencing people to follow that direction. A person can lead themselves, other individuals, other groups or an entire organization. Supervision is a leadership role and is guiding the development and productivity of their direct reports in the organization. Effective supervisors are able to achieve goals by guiding the work of other people — by delegating.
Note that supervisors exist throughout an organization, depending on its particular structure. The topic of leadership has become one of the most prominent topics in all of management literature today. It is almost impossible to find a general management book that does not include frequent mention of the topic of leadership. There are a variety of reasons for this, one of the most important being that successful organizational change requires strong, ongoing and visible leadership in support of that change.
Leaders must model the type of behaviors that they want to see in their organization. There simply is no substitute for the role that leadership and supervision play in accomplishing successful organizational change. Thus, it is extremely important that leaders and supervisors in the organization have a strong understanding of basic principles of successful change in organizations.
- Smart Cities: Deutsche Hochtechnologie für die Stadt der Zukunft - Aufgaben und Chancen (acatech BEZIEHT POSITION) (German Edition);
- Overcoming Employee Resistance to Change.
- Passion and Action: The Emotions in Seventeenth-Century Philosophy.
It has been used a powerful motivator for further research in organizational change, more innovation in models for change, and more commitment from leaders in making change actually happen. However, many are skeptical of that assertion. They cite the lack of valid research that concludes that finding.
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- Dragons and Butterflies: War With Her Father (The Story of Jean Ridgeway Book 2).
- The 5 Greatest Examples of Change Management in Business History.
They mention numerous examples of success stories about change. Some assert that it is mostly independent consultants those who are not employees of their client's organization who believe that statistic, while internal consultants believe that change is mostly successful.
Regardless of the opinions about the validity of the statistic, it is a significant topic to examine when talking about organizational change. Here are a variety of opinions for and against the statistic. The is a wide variety of strategies often referred to as "interventions", although that term has its detractors to use to guide successful change in organizations.
There is no unique intervention to use for each different situation in an organization. However, there are some key considerations when selecting from among the many choices. This list assumes that you and your client have done the necessary activities in the contracting phase and discovery phase , especially around readiness for change and also identifying the causes from the symptoms of the client's problem.
With your client, discuss the findings from your research in the discovery phase. For example, did it suggest problems primarily among how individuals and groups got along with each other? Lack of strong internal practices to support growth? Lack of performance among many employees and teams? Then read the introductions to each of the four categories of interventions in the section below to find the most likely category of interventions to use.
Then select the category that seems to most closely match the nature of your findings. The choice need not be the best one right away. If you and your client work collaboratively, always respectfully and honestly sharing impressions of the activities in the project, and then reflecting on what they are learning, you will end up using the best interventions. Before you and your client select the best type of interventions for the project, be aware of your strong biases about how you view organizations.
Without recognizing those biases, you might favor certain types of interventions primarily because those are the only ones you can readily see and understand, even if other types of interventions might be much more effective in your project. Now discuss which interventions, one or more, that most closely matches your findings from the discovery. It helps to review any research about the interventions. If possible, also discuss the potential outcomes with experts and your client.
Consider the following questions regarding that intervention. The following articles provide another set of considerations when selecting interventions. In the article below, Edgar Schein, the developer of process consultation, a very meaningful and widely respected process for collaborating with clients to guide and support change, wonders how useful it really is to try categorize interventions.
He ventures that it might be most useful instead to reflect on what emerges from continuing to help the client, rather than on which category of interventions to choose from. For the sake of clarity and understanding, the following interventions are categorized. The following interventions are often highly integrated with each other during a project for change. That meant everything from common invoicing and finance systems to bigger more centralised distribution networks. By identifying and rapidly addressing the many areas of resistance that emerged — such as that some influential stakeholders stood to lose control or market share — adoption was accelerated.
The team of experts — made up of senior leaders, in-house subject matter experts, implementation consultants and external change experts — who delivered the change programme were crucial in this phase. They both modelled and drove the new behaviours needed for the change to succeed. They briefed the people who would be impacted by the change; risks and potential problem areas were discussed and mitigated — before any real change was even delivered.
That can cause the initiatives to fail. Shell is in a significantly healthier position than when the transformation started, and by that measure the programme has been deemed a success. And the ramifications of Downstream-One continue to result in ongoing change…. When in Santander wanted to establish a stronghold in the UK banking sector, its strategy was to acquire a portfolio of heritage-centric UK financial institutions — Abbey National, Bradford and Bingley, and Alliance and Leicester.
Grupo Santander chairman Emilio Botin felt, however, that the legacy in these UK financial institutions, dating as far back as , had left them incapable of change and, therefore, unable to evolve and grow. In buying these traditional UK financial institutions and unifying them under the Santander brand, Santander aimed to break down their engrained processes and turn them into a formidable retail bank. To do this, they would need a fast-track, systems-led banking model. There were many opportunities during the change programme for cultural misunderstandings.
Counter-intuitively, this can be particularly noticeable when national or linguistic similarities give a false illusion of commonality. In fact, the cultures of the UK acquisitions were very different, they had developed as regional building societies and their footprints, portfolios and client bases were each unique. This meant that forceful and careful management would be needed to integrate the systems, processes and people in the different organisations.
Those who were going to be impacted by the change were fully briefed; risks and issues were discussed and mitigated. In-branch teams, for example, were prepared for a variety of customer responses through the transition phase. In January , Santander UK was launched against ferocious economic and banking headwinds. Among leadership teams, there tends to be two views about change.
It took 18 months to separate out every single strand of the business, from customer data, to independent functions and governance. This was very much a case of operating from a burning platform. The entire approach had to be one of controlled urgency, there was no plan B and the leadership teams embraced the need to shift their people on to the next step as rapidly and as efficiently as possible. Once the separation had been effected, the focus was on creating a new brand and rapidly building the business into a viable standalone operation.
In the board went for an IPO that turned out to be the biggest and most successful London stock market listing that year. Its success heralded the start of a new, post-crisis IPO era. And each of the acquired telcos had been left to operate largely as they had done pre-acquisition. In , however, Qtel began to shift its strategy away from growth through acquisition towards growth through integration. Sheik Abdullah and Dr Nasser decided to pull all their diverse telecoms brands into one mega-brand, Ooredoo.
This would give them the opportunity to focus on what they actually wanted their international telecom company to deliver — transformational change in the telecoms sector.
AREAS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
The change management teams set out to identify what they wanted their brand to stand for. They defined a series of unique branding propositions that would, ultimately, give them standout recognition. They wanted to offer the Muslim world greater freedom of communication and choice and, in particular, they wanted to be seen as helping rural communities and women gain a voice. In February the new global brand Ooredoo was launched from a standing start in a matter of weeks in Qatar, with the iconic footballer Lionel Messi introduced by Sheik Abdullah as the global brand ambassador.
It was a stunning success, gaining market share within weeks. With a customer base of more than 95 million people in 17 countries, Ooredoo rapidly became a leading international brand. Alignment, clarity of purpose and a ruthless focus on implementation showed the world what Qatar and Qataris can do. In the lates, industries around the world were becoming increasingly alarmed that all software would reset itself on 1 January Fear spread, and a generation of businesses was set up to address this impending crisis, known as Y2K Year Following publication in , it was picked up in USENET discussion groups and in in the early days of the Internet, and built momentum from there.
In the history of business, no change management programme has galvanised businesses like Y2K.