Levels of Planned Organizational Change

A planned change is a change planned by the organisation, it does not  happen by itself. It is affected by the organisation with the purpose of achieving  something that might otherwise by unattainable or attainable with great  difficulty. Through planned change, an organisation can achieve its goals  rapidly. The basic reasons for planned change are: To improve the means for satisfying economic needs of members. To increase profitability. To promote human work for human beings. To contribute to individual satisfaction and social well being. Levels of Planned Organizational Change Planned organizational change is normally targeted at improving  effectiveness at one or more of four different levels : human resources,  functional resources, technological capabilities, and organizational capabilities. 1. Human Resources Human resources are an organization’s most important  asset. Ultimately, an organization’s distinctive competencies lie in the skills and  abilities of its employees. Because these skills and abilities give an organization  a Continue reading

Change Agents in Organizational Change

Organizations and their managers must recognize that change, in itself, is  not necessarily a problem. The problem often lies in an inability to effectively  manage change : not only can the adopted process be wrong, but also the  conceptual framework may lack vision and understanding. Why is this the case?  Possibly, and many practicing managers would concur, the problem may be  traced to the managers’ growing inability to approximately develop and  reinforce their role and purpose within complex, dynamic and challenging  organizations. Change is now a way of life; organizations, and more importantly  their managers, must recognize the need to adopt strategic approaches when  facing transformation situations. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s organizations,  both national and international, strived to develop sustainable advantage in both  volatile and competitive operating environments. Those that have survived,  and/or developed, have often found that the creative and market driven  management of their human resources can Continue reading

Minimizing Resistance to Change through Discussions

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

Human Reactions to Organization Change

There is a very close relationship between change and human attitudes. Every individual reacts to the change according to their individual attitude. Human reaction to change does not depend upon logic. Generally, depends upon how a change will affect ones needs and satisfaction in the organization. Attitudes are very important in determining the resistance to change. Read: Planned Organizational Change Process The employees reaction to organization change any occur in any of the following forms, 1. Acceptance Acceptance of the change depends on the perception of the employees towards the change. So, all the changes are not necessarily restricted. If an employee perceives that the change will affect his/her favorably, then he/she will accept the change. For example if workers have to stand before a machine throughout the shift, they will like the introduction of new machine which will allow them to sit while working. 2. Resistance All the changes Continue reading

Resistance to Change in Organizations

The main reason for the failure of many change initiatives can be found as the resistance to change. Resistance to change is costly and time consuming into the change process which means long or short delays in any process of change that are difficult to anticipate but must be taken into consideration. Resistance has also been considered as a source of information, being useful in learning how to develop a more successful change process. Undoubtedly, resistance to change is a key topic in change management and should be seriously considered to help the organization to achieve the advantages of the transformation. Resistance to change is an ongoing problem. At both the individual and the organizational levels, resistance to change impairs concerted efforts to improve performance. Many corporate change efforts have been initiated at tremendous cost only to be halted by resistance among the organization’s employees. Organizations as a whole also Continue reading

Stimulating Forces for Organizational Change

What makes an organization to think about change? There are a number  of specific, even obvious factors which will necessitate movement from the  status quo. The most obvious of these relate to changes in the external  environment which trigger reaction. An example of this in the last couple of  years is the move by car manufacturers and petroleum organizations towards the  provision of more environmentally friendly forms of ‘produce’. However, to  attribute change entirely to the environment would be a denial of extreme  magnitude. This would imply that organizations were merely ‘bobbing about’ on  a turbulent sea of change, unable to influence or exercise direction. The changes  within an organization take place in response both to business and economic  events and to processes of management perception, choice and action. Managers in this sense see events taking place that, to them, signal the  need for organizational change. They also perceive the Continue reading