When as many as possible of those people involved in a change understand as much as possible about it and its consequences, resistance is likely to be reduced. It is management’s job to develop this understanding. Resistance will be prevented to the degree that the change agent help the change affected people to develop their own understanding of the need for change, and an explicit awareness of how they feel about it and what can be done about their feelings. Such an understanding will occur only when the information provided is sufficient, factual and accurate. Management can transmit information about a proposed change and its probable consequences to those affected or concerned in a variety of ways. Fundamentally, there are only three practical media for communication; written material, audio-visual and oral. No single means, however, should be relied on exclusively. The more complex the change, the greater will be the Continue reading
Modern Management Concepts
Knowledge-Sharing Dilemmas in Organizations
Information being exchanged amongst the workers of an organisation is a system that has been an essential constituent of the procedure of knowledge management. With the introduction of the contemporary information and communications technology within corporations, it has become very convenient and has also become a valuable support function to make such exchanges possible by reducing the obstructions of time and distance. On the other hand, those corporations that have invested in technologies of this kind are frequently faced with the complications of inducing the workers to utilize the purpose of those technologies in order to communicate their knowledge and perceptions. The knowledge share/hoard predicament is a socio-psychological behavior aspect that describes that employees feel the need to not share information or organisational knowledge that they posses because it may eventually harm their own status within the organisation or by sharing knowledge may therefore provide a competitive advantage to their Continue reading
The Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence
The four branch model of emotional intelligence proposed by Salovey and Mayer, that identified four areas of capacities or skills of emotional intelligence: the perception of emotion, the ability reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotion and the ability to manage emotions. According to Salovey and Mayer, the four branches of their model are, “arranged from more basic psychological processes to higher, more psychologically integrated processes. For example, the lowest level branch concerns the (relatively) simple abilities of perceiving and expressing emotion. In contrast, the highest level branch concerns the conscious, reflective regulation of emotion” (1997). Salovey and Mayer add that abilities that “emerge relatively early in development are to the left of a given branch; later developing abilities are to the right.” They also say that, “people high in emotional intelligence are expected to progress more quickly through the abilities designated and to master more of them.” The Continue reading
A Brief Introduction to Six Sigma Methodology
The creation of Six Sigma Methodology is understood to be traced back to Carl Friedrich Gauss and introduced as a measurement in variation in organizations. Six Sigma name comes from the Greek alphabet “Sigma” which mathematician or statisticians uses in statistics to find a standard deviation. Motorola was the first company to use Six Sigma, to measure the quality of products and services from within. In the process of Motorola using Six Sigma, it helped them to pinpoint mistakes such as finances and operations. Six Sigma’s core philosophy was based on business process and customer requirements, extensive training to employees, focus on the organization, and creating an improved system. Six Sigma Methodology describes a business improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and service processes by focusing on outputs that are critical to customers and a clear financial return for the organization. Continue reading
Adoption of Blue Ocean Strategies in Business
Strategy involves standing out from the competition and making choices that give the company a unique and valuable position by offering distinctive products and services. Competitive advantage and profitability can be achieved simultaneously by approaches that create consistent internal synergies and combine a company’s operational activities efficiently. Strategies are formed at various levels of the organization. However, a typical organizational structure incorporates strategies at 3 specific levels: corporate, business and functional. Corporate strategy defines a company’s holistic growth and management direction pertaining to its various businesses, products and services. Business strategies, on the other hand, are established at the divisional levels and typically focus on enhancing the strategic business unit’s competitive position in its industry. Functional strategies aim to maximize resource productivity and are typically set by functional departments within each SBU to improve competencies and performance. Blue Ocean strategies are a form of business level strategies that enable firms Continue reading
Minimizing Resistance to Organizational Change
Resistance to change be those affected is often the single most formidable obstacle to its successful realization. It is to be understood at the outset that resistance to change is not, the fundamental problem to be solved. Rather, any resistance is usually a symptom of more basic problems underlying the particular situation. To focus the attention of symptom alone will achieve at best only limited results. The effective solution is that one must look beyond the symptom that is resistance to its more basic causes. It is quite appropriate and practicable for a manager to focus on situational and environmental factors that cause resistance. Many of these are directly within management’s control. Probably, efforts to minimize any resistance should be undertaken while it is still potential rather than real. There are different methods that the managers can use to minimizing resistance to organizational change. Fundamentally, there are only two strategic Continue reading