Changes in modern businesses.

What are the problems and difficulties with change management

Introduction

Changes are inevitable in modern businesses. They occur in almost every organisation, or industry sector, at some time or other. The changes may be small but incremental, or radical and occasional.

Business is continually changing, new technology is making operations easier, new markets are opening and staff are bringing new skills to the workplace. However, in order to make the most of these changes, they should be introduced in a systematic way, which maximises their effects.

Additionally, staff should be kept informed of changes, and should be encouraged to contribute to them. Staff will also need to be trained to use the new systems procedures and technology correctly. Stakeholders and customers will need to be kept informed of the changes and understand how they will effect them.

Effective change management that makes all employees participate is essential in our world of turbulence and of shorter cycles of innovation. Changes may affect every industry and every organizational function.

In every organization, management knows about the external environment and the vision of the organization. This knowledge is the basis for developing appropriate strategies. Although challenging, this is the easier part. Nevertheless, management will only be able to successfully implement a new strategic direction, if they manage to gain the commitment of everyone within the organization. The point is to develop processes that enable all employees to learn about change and that to develop a culture of dialogue between management and workforce.

Change management means to make change happen – to flexibly adapt the organization to ongoing external changes.

Chapter I: Basic Change Management

I. What is change ?

Change Defined

"Change is the window through which the future enters your life." It's all around you, in many types and shapes. You can bring it about yourself or it can come in ways (Source : http://www.prosci.com)

The root of change

In recent years we have witnessed a radical change in perspective. On all levels from cosmology to biology, we have discovered instabilities, and fluctuations, which lead to evolutionary patterns…We clearly need a different formulation of physics which includes instability and chaos and is in agreement with the evolutionary world in which we are embedded

The sound is likely that chaos gives the root of change. Actually it is right. In dramatic positively development has no place for change unless it shows up the limitation inside by the chaos. Chaos is growing up follow the non-stop on demand of human. People have never satisfied with the thing they got. In psychological they are always looking for the better life; change is the unique solution.

In business, the globalization leads the market become global market where exist the global consumer and global competition. Most of grown-up firm have to change the business profile by improving operate mission or diverting the portfolio or even change the organization culture. The changes bring both opportunities and disasters to organization, in particular, the business environment changes can make a lots of firms have many successes, but some other companies are standing on the side of bankruptcy.

Change is process of development than the result of development, we can assume that: change is any alterations in people, structure, or technology that manages the job relatively better and easier in the purpose of adapting perfectly customer needs and organization stated mission(s). The change, basically, is forced by external forces; impacted by demographic, regulation, politic, technology, economic changes, and the others uncontrollable factors around the firm - and internal forces which is driven by organization’s stated strategy, work force, and product capability.

(Organizations in Action. James D. Thompson. McGraw-Hill)

II. Definition Change Management

Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level. A somewhat ambiguous term, change management has at least three different aspects, including: adapting to change, controlling change, and effecting change. A proactive approach to dealing with change is at the core of all three aspects. For an organization, change management means defining and implementing procedures and/or technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities.

Successful adaptation to change is as crucial within an organization as it is in the natural world. Just like plants and animals, organizations and the individuals in them inevitably encounter changing conditions that they are powerless to control. The more effectively you deal with change, the more likely you are to thrive. Adaptation might involve establishing a structured methodology for responding to changes in the business environment (such as a fluctuation in the economy, or a threat from a competitor) or establishing coping mechanisms for responding to changes in the workplace (such as new policies, or technologies).

Terry Paulson, the author of Paulson on Change, quotes an uncle's advice: "It's easiest to ride a horse in the direction it is going." In other words, don't struggle against change; learn to use it to your advantage.

Source:http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci799426,00.html

Three Basic Definitions

In thinking about what is meant by “change management,” at least three basic definitions come to mind:

The task of managing change
An area of professional practice
A body of knowledge

The Task of Managing Change

The first and most obvious definition of “change management” is that the term refers to the task of managing change. The obvious is not necessarily unambiguous. Managing change is itself a term that has at least two meanings.

One meaning of managing change refers to the making of changes in a planned and managed or systematic fashion. The aim is to more effectively implement new methods and systems in an ongoing organization. The changes to be managed lie within and are controlled by the organization. However, these internal changes might have been triggered by events originating outside the organization, in what is usually termed “the environment.” Hence, the second meaning of managing change, namely, the response to changes over which the organization exercises little or no control (e.g., legislation, social and political upheaval, the actions of competitors, shifting economic tides and currents, and so on). Researchers and practitioners alike typically distinguish between a knee-jerk or reactive response and an anticipative or proactive response.

An Area of Professional Practice

The second definition of change management is "an area of professional practice."

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of independent consultants who will quickly and proudly acknowledge that they are engaged in planned change, that they are change agents, that they manage change for their clients, and that their practices are change management practices. There are numerous small consulting firms whose principals would acknowledge these same statements about their firms. And most of the major management consulting firms claim to have a change management practice area.

Some of these change management experts claim to help clients manage the changes they face, the changes happening to them. Others claim to help clients make changes. Still others offer to help by taking on the task of managing changes that must be made. In almost all cases, the process of change is treated separately from the specifics of the situation. It is the task of managing this general process of change that is laid claim to by professional change agents.

A Body of Knowledge

Stemming from the view of change management as an area of professional practice there arises yet a third definition of change management: the content or subject matter of change management. This consists chiefly of the models, methods and techniques, tools, skills, and other forms of knowledge that go into making up any practice.

The content or subject matter of change management is drawn from psychology, sociology, business administration, economics, industrial engineering, systems engineering, and the study of human and organizational behavior. For many practitioners, these component bodies of knowledge are linked and integrated by a set of concepts and principles known as General Systems Theory (GST). It is not clear whether this area of professional practice should be termed a profession, a discipline, an art, a set of techniques, or a technology. For now, suffice it to say that there is a large, reasonably cohesive albeit somewhat eclectic body of knowledge underlying the practice and on which most practitioners would agree — even if their application of it does exhibit a high degree of variance.

To recapitulate, there are at least three basic definitions of change management:

The task of managing change (from a reactive or a proactive posture)
An area of professional practice (with considerable variation among practitioners)
A body of knowledge (consisting of models, methods, techniques, and other tools)

Source:http://home.att.net/~nickols/change.htm

III. Why do we have to manage the changes ?

In today's increasingly chaotic global business condition, organization must realize and accept change as opportunities, but only for those who recognize and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The task of managing change (from a reactive or a proactive posture)
An area of professional practice (with considerable variation among practitioners)
A body of knowledge (consisting of models, methods, techniques, and other tools)

Source:http://home.att.net/~nickols/change.htm

III. Why do we have to manage the changes ?

In today's increasingly chaotic global business condition, organization must realize and accept change as opportunities, but only for those who recognize and seize it. "Seeing is the first step, seizing the second, and continuously innovating is the third". Having accepted change, we also realize that" understanding and accepting chaos conceptually is an important first step towards modem management education, offering a great opportunities for executive to interpret and to deal effectively with what is happening in the global business world "

Relentless Growth", Christopher Meyer, 1998

" Change resistance is slow suicide ".

Professor Robin Rowley & J.Roevens, Organize with Chaos

Change resistance is so common and so destructive to change effort. In order to create optimism and commitment for the future directions of an organization, organization must clearly understand the basis of resistance. Resistance to change is a human condition. Therefore, the question for organization is that what are the reasons of this resistance? "According to James O'Toole, author of Leading Change, there are six main reasons with their explanations in the following:

1. Perceived negative outcome: The individual or group that must change will be negative affected by the change, or at least thinks they will be. “Change unleash a multitude of fears: of the unknown, of loss of freedom, of loss of status or position, of loss of good working, of lost authority and responsibility and lost of good working conditions and money"

2. Fear of more work: Employees perceive that the change will result in their having more work to do or less opportunity for reward. Major organizational change can and often does impact some or all of these dimensions of the personal compact, formal, psychological and social. Therefore, employees perceive the change to the personal compact negatively.

3. Habits must be broken: Changes require that employees alter longstanding habits.

4. Lack of communication: The organization does not effectively communicate the what, why, and how of change and does not clearly spell out expectation for future performance. Thus, employees wonder and speculate about the when, where, how, and most importantly, the why of the change

5. Failure to Align with the Organization As a Whole: The organization's structure, business systems, core competencies, employee knowledge and skill, and culture (value, norm, beliefs, and assumptions) are not aligned and integrated with the change effort. The traditional methods, processes, procedures, reward systems, structures, technologies, and so on that were not specifically targeted by the change effort remained untouched and made change impossible.

6. Employee Rebellion: Those who resist change do so because they feel it is being forced upon them. People don't resist change as much as they resist being changed

After getting the reasons of resistance changes and understood them, organization is able to work on how to overcome employee resistance and manage change.

"Love change as much as We used to hate it"

Professor Robin Rowley & J.Roevens, Organize with Chaos

" The customer of today knows a lot more about what's available form our competitors than the customer of the past ever did"

Professor Robin Rowley & J.Roevens, Organize with Chaos

The new values of business today require a different approach to the way businesses change. The response of the employee has shifted from “yes, sir” to “why are we doing that” – and the change leader must adapt.

Chapter II: The Problems and Difficulties with Change Management.

Challenges in Managing Change

The process of change has impact on the whole organization and on all individuals working there. Change processes influence

What the organization does
The way the organization does things
The way all business units of the organization communicate and share information.

This shows clearly the complexity and scope of change management:

Human resource management has an important role in any change process. Change always needs people: for developing objectives, for identifying the need for change, for developing solutions and for implementing these solutions. Technology can support and influence change, but it can never replace people.

Another challenge of managing change is that there is no chance to “undo” mistakes once they were made. If you allocate resources in an inefficient way, you still have the option to provide additional resources in order to achieve your objective. If you once failed to make your employees participate in the change process, you will hardly be able to motivate them again.

Barriers in Managing Change

There are many models for systematically managing change processes. So why are there problems in successfully implementing change?

It is a well-known insight that top management support is one of the critical success factors for any change effort. If top management does not buy in – why should anybody else? Nevertheless, there are some more barriers that could hinder successful change:

Barriers of Perception

Stereotypes in analysis: We see what we expect to see.
Difficulties to identify and to analyze the core of the problem / the real cause of the problem.
Too narrow scope of the problem: Problems are approached with a one-sided view that focuses on particular aspects only.
Lacking ability to see all sides of the problem.
Information overload: Difficulties to distinguish between relevant data and available data.
Misjudgments: People think they take into consideration all data they can get hold on; however, they actually do not really exploit all information that is available.

Perceptual problems most often occur during analysis of the own situation (internal analysis, identification of internal weaknesses) and during evaluation of options. This may lead to a sub-optimal solution that does not really tackle the causes of the problem. The result is a waste of resources – in terms of financial resources, time and commitment.

Emotional Barriers

Risk-aversion: Fear to make mistakes or to fail.
Lack of ability to process incomplete or contradictory information: Solving complex problems is never easy. Incomplete information may lead to an elimination of promising ideas.
Preference to evaluate existing ideas instead of generating new ideas. Early evaluation of suggestions may sort out creative ideas. Early ideas often base on incomplete information. That makes it easier to reject them. Normally people find it much easier to come up with reasons for rejecting an idea than with reasons for supporting and idea.
Not taking time for thinking: In many projects, people are not able to lean back and think about a problem because they feel under pressure to deliver results quickly.

These emotional barriers may cause serious problems in change processes since they hinder the generation of new ideas and approaches. Nevertheless, the critical question of any change ‘Are we doing the right things?’ requires open discussion, new and unconventional approaches. Brainstorming activities may be of help here.

Cultural Barriers

Taboos: Particular issues may have the character of a taboo in an organization. Hence, they are extremely difficult to analyze and to change.
More focus than imagination: Children are more creative than adults are. A potential reason is that our culture attaches great importance to targeted thinking. Thus, we virtually unlearn how to be imaginative and creative with our ideas.
Problem solving is seen as a serious matter: There is no place for humor in the process of problem solving; hence, there will not be much freedom for creativity.
Reasons and intuition: It is generally accepted in business life that critical reasoning, objective analysis, logic, figures and facts are good things. Intuition and fun are seen as sub-optimal. In our personal life, however we are used to base many important decisions on our intuition and our feelings – for instance choice of friends and partners.
Tradition and change: It is a challenging task to overcome traditions. This is especially true when employees do not see the relation between their traditions and an existing problem. On the other hand, traditions can be the basis for personal commitment in change processes.

These cultural barriers hinder the development and evaluation of solutions for problems in the organization. Moreover, they limit options for new approaches in change processes.

Environmental Barriers

Lack of support: Many people perceive changes as a threat for their personal status. Changes move the whole organization as well as every single employee out of their ‘comfort zone’. Therefore, there will always be some people who try to stop or ignore the process.

Lack of ability to accept criticism: Those who create new ideas may set up new barriers when they ignore justifiable criticism. The ability to accept criticism is a major precondition for establishing trust and for gaining support.
Managers who always know the answer: Some managers are successful because the have good ideas and are able to implement them. But only those, who listen to their employees, will be able to use their creativity as well.

Such environmental barriers have effects on all phases of change. The can create a feeling of togetherness and mutual support as well as of egoism and competition.

Cognitive Barriers

Use of wrong terminology: The use of language and terminology that is appropriate for the receivers of the message can support creativity and motivation.
Sticking to strategies: There are many strategies for problem solving and for managing change. However, they are often applied wrongly – to rigid or not rigid enough.
Lack of complete and correct information: This is a major problem that cannot really be solved. The probably best solution is a balanced mix of information and creative ideas

Like environmental barriers, cognitive barriers can influence all phases of change projects.

Problems and difficulties in supervision may take many forms: difficult people, human relations conflicts, legal issues, and external factors that influence employee job performance.

Exploring reasons why some employees are difficult and develop strategies for managing them
Determining when to initiate the disciplinary process
Distinguishing when a problem becomes a legal issue
The general rules of employment, including employment-at-will, collective bargaining, civil service, and individual employment contracts
How to deal with workplace problems including drug and alcohol abuse, criminal activity, and potentially volatile situations.
Complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as Federal and New York State laws governing health and safety, sexual harassment, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and discrimination based on race, age, sex, etc.

http://www.themanager.org/Strategy/Change_Problems.htm

Chapter III: How to manage change effectively (overcome the problems and difficulties)

Effective Ways to Manage Change in an Organization

Executives have to rethink business strategies in order to keep up with corporate takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and hiring freezes. Once the new plan has been hatched, it is up to the leaders to implement the decisions. If not managed correctly, disgruntled employees, profit loss, poor performance and unacceptable levels of customer service can be the result. Here are some ways to help manage this process.

Communicate the reason for change, the direction and goals - Be sure everyone in the organization understands the vision of where the company is going and why. Make them a part of the plan so they assume ownership. Explain that what you need is necessary to remain competitive and be profitable.

Establish an atmosphere of open communication - As you plan the changes you wish to make, consider developing a concurrent communication strategy to remind people what the changes are, what the expectations are, and the progress you are or are not making in your change efforts.

In a changing environment, people lose their motivation if they are not involved, and kept informed about what is going on around them. The less they are informed, the more likely it will have a negative impact on their performance. Your silence may be interpreted as they may lose their jobs. With open communication, you help build trust between yourself and your people. Failing to address the difficult questions, does not make the issues go away. For example, if you are not sure you will be able to retain every employee if sales don't increase, then say so. They will respect you for your honesty.

Other ways to help manage change within your organization include:

Introduce change gradually whenever possible - Too much change at once can create chaos for yourself and your organization. It takes time to assimilate new information, learn new systems or procedures and do things the new way. Some managers prefer one big change rather than many smaller ones. They feel if everyone learns the game plan all at once, then it's over and they can get on with it. It's important to move at a pace that will ensure meeting business goals and giving people time to process the changes for themselves.
Ask for accountability - Ask your people to be accountable to each other for maintaining high morale. Place equal values on teamwork, professional behaviour, sales performance and accountability, and the organization will be able to provide better service to customers and each other. Reward those who have made the transition and are now working the way you expect them to behave in the new environment.
Be in tune to difficulties some may be experiencing - Recognize that most people fear change but it affects each one differently. Some will enjoy being stretched to their limit, but others will be overwhelmed. Managers need to let people know you understand the challenges they are facing and will help them through it. Make sure to provide adequate training, keep your door open so people can discuss their concerns, and be patient.
Encourage acceptance and focus on positive opportunities - When people complain about a new system, process, or procedure, you need to acknowledge the difficulty and explain that once they are comfortable with it, their work will become easier. Help them to see that negativity will only hold everyone back and customer service will be affected. Encourage support and make them feel excited about themselves and the company.
Ask for their input. Give feedback and take action - Employee involvement is the key to creating high performance through the midst of change. Ask your people for their ideas on how you can support each other, ease the transition process. If employees are not involved, they won't feel they are a part of the change, they'll feel more like victims of change. Ask how your people are doing. Listen, and encourage cooperation and honesty.
Encourage teamwork - Without teamwork you may run the risk of disharmony within the company. Without a team culture, some workers may look out for themselves, and not for the betterment of your entire organization.
Be a role model - Set the tone; be a role model and be an example for others to follow. Let your team know that you are there to help them through it. Be accountable for the attitude that you bring to your job each day.
Encourage people to be solution focused, not problem-focused - "For every problem there is a solution" should be the motto in your company. Communicate that people will be expected to help identify problems and focus on offering solutions.
Take the time to train - To decrease the loss of productivity during change, managers need to make sure the team has the necessary skills to succeed. Training must be seen as a top priority. The time invested in training will pay off in increased profits and service quality. Training helps to alleviate the stress common during change. Managers should ask these training-related questions:

What is the needed level of competence to support the change?
What training will be needed to bring them up to that level of competence?
During the time needed for training, how will they maintain their current workload?

Alleviate job pressure - Meeting the demands placed upon people during change requires managing job pressure for yourself and others. Laugh a little. People who have fun at work are more productive and less anxious during change.

(Source: - Rodolfo E. Biasca 1999)

To manage change in an organization effectively the first thing we must do is:

Adapt Change

Adapting to change develops participants' ability to effectively handle organizational changes. It familiarizes them with the three phases of the transition process, enabling them to understand their own-and others'-needs and responses at each phase.

Distinguish between change and transition.
Understand the factors that affect their own and others' response to change.
Apply constructive strategies to manage the uncertainties posed by a transition.

Change is the one constant in business and industry today. Managers are continuously faced with adapting to changes in their work environment as well as leading their organization's effort in encouraging others to adapt to and accept change.

Downsizing

What downsizing promise:

Reduction of operating cost
Elimination of unneeded management tiers resulting in enhanced communication.
Increased responsiveness to customers. Faster decision making.
More employee involvement.
Faster product development. Streamlining corporate operations.
Global competitiveness.

The following terminology, collected by De Meuse, Vanderheiden, and Bergmann from 1987 to 1991, was used by companies around the year of announced lay-offs. Their sample included Fortune's 1989 Top 100 firms. It tracked lay-off announcements, employment levels, and financial performance.

Company Annual Report Statement Translation in Lay-offs

Table adapted from "You're Downsized" (Bumstead) in Time Vol. 143 No, 16, Apr_ 1994

In the United States, more than seven million permanent layoffs have been announced since 1987. The first half of 1990 was especially brutal: "At its peak in 1993, the biggest US companies laid off 600,000 workers, 25% more than in 1992 (!)."20

CEO's such as IBM's Akers and GM's Stempel became casualties as shareholders demanded ever faster action. Lay-offs continued into early 1996, with an extra 250,000 lost in the first six months. Outplacement firms mushroomed. In three years, their number grew 35 per cent. "Over 1996 as a whole, Fortune 500 companies grew in revenue only 0.5% but squeezed profits up by 25.1 %."21

In the UK, a similar scenario emerged from about 1989 onwards.

Privatised utilities and telecoms alone lost over 100,000 people in five years. In addition to what's been said so far, there are more very good arguments against downsizing, as in fact:

Corporate performance shows no significant improvement. Profits decrease.
Dividend growth is slow.
Product quality and Productivity decrease.
Employee workload increases.
Additional stress results in higher health care expenses. Low morale and job dissatisfaction result in high tardiness, absenteeism, and high staff turnover.
Stock prices may tumble if traders perceive the company as being 'in trouble'.
Local economies suffer 'knock-on' effects, creating pockets of recession.

As De Meuse, Vanderheiden & Bergmann argue:

"Contrary to expectations, the results indicate that financial performance worsened, rather than improved, following announced layoffs"...

In the United States, between two-thirds and three-quarters of all downsizings are unsuccessful from the start! Doing less with less is a very naIve solution. Among other things, it results in serious loss of employee loyalty. For decades we have heard top executives say: 'People are our greatest assets'. But when we look at what they really do with their human resources, one is left with a very different conclusion. It's a different walk to all the talk, as we say. Instead of

“assets” to develop, many managers still regard employees as 'costs', to be cut.

This behaviour actually reveals a profound difference in character and values, between real Leaders and Managers.

Professor Robin Rowley & J.Roevens, Organize with Chaos

Re-engineering

Re-engineering is often misconceived. It is not the same as restructuring, downsizing, re-organizing or flattening the organization. It is also not total quality management. It amounts to simply 'doing more with less'.

Re-engineering aims to redesign work processes, to promote:

“...a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed..."

The question is, 'who' is supposed to do this? The fundamental flaw in the logic of re-engineering lies in its own unwitting assumption of an externally imposed design approach. This seems to be rather like trying to predict exactly what will happen on a car journey along a motorway. It may be well intentioned, the objectives can be defined; but, as we've seen above, in practice it's often a big waste of money, time and energy. Trying to predict, plan and control a real organizational change by wielding a rusty old mechanical formula that clearly doesn't work, resembles the bizarre act of desperation that it often is. Unless the spontaneous, unmanageable aspects of change are also incorporated into the otherwise useful aspects of re-engineering, and unpredictable externals such as 'luck', the 'human factor', 'currency crises', etcetera, are factored in, this fad will also have to be “let go”.

Like restructuring, re-engineering attempts to reduce complexity; middle management is often sacrificed. The re-engineering knife hacks away not only fat, but also brain tissue! Grint and WiIIcocks found that 59 per cent of UK organizations reported Business Process Re-engineering practices in 1995. Evidence indicates that BPR often fails to deliver improved organizational performance. Even its inventors, Hammer and Champy, agreed in 1993 that between 50-70 per cent of re-engineering initiatives failed to achieve their aims.

In an interview with HR Magazine, Arie de Geus mentions that replacing an employee costs software companies between $60,000 and $ 100,000.It also takes about 18 months for newcomers to reach the performance level of their predecessors. This puts downsizing into a whole new perspective.

Professor Robin Rowley & J.Roevens, Organize with Chaos

The second thing is:

Control Change

Control change will help us develop the skills to proactively address change and meet the challenges of transition in the workplace. We will practice your skills as our work with various employees to overcome the problems encountered when making changes in our organization.

Identify the different levels of change.
Develop the traits of a change leader.
Prepare a plan for a change.
Identify why employees resist change.
Control a crisis situation.

The Skills to control change

Political Skills. Organizations are first and foremost social systems. Without people there can be no organization. Lose sight of this fact and any would-be change agent will likely lose his or her head. Organizations are hotly and intensely political. And, as one wag pointed out, the lower the stakes, the more intense the politics. Change agents dare not join in this game but they had better understand it. This is one area where We must make our own judgments and keep our own counsel; no one can do it for us.
Analytical Skills. Make no mistake about it, those who would be change agents had better be very good at something, and that something better be analysis. Guessing won’t do. Insight is nice, even useful, and sometimes shines with brilliance, but it is darned difficult to sell and almost impossible to defend. A lucid, rational, well-argued analysis can be ignored and even suppressed, but not successfully contested and, in most cases, will carry the day. If not, then the political issues haven’t been adequately addressed.

Two particular sets of skills are very important here: workflow operations or systems analysis, and financial analysis. Change agents must learn to take apart and reassemble operations and systems in novel ways, and then determine the financial and political impacts of what they have done. Conversely, they must be able to start with some financial measure or indicator or goal, and make their way quickly to those operations and systems that, if reconfigured a certain way, would have the desired financial impact. Those who master these two techniques have learned a trade that will be in demand for the foreseeable future. (This trade, by the way, has a name. It is called “Solution Engineering.”)

People Skills. As stated earlier, people are the sine qua non of organization. Moreover, they come characterized by all manner of sizes, shapes, colors, intelligence and ability levels, gender, sexual preferences, national origins, first and second languages, religious beliefs, attitudes toward life and work, personalities, and priorities — and these are just a few of the dimensions along which people vary. We have to deal with them all.

The skills most needed in this area are those that typically fall under the heading of communication or interpersonal skills. To be effective, we must be able to listen and listen actively, to restate, to reflect, to clarify without interrogating, to draw out the speaker, to lead or channel a discussion, to plant ideas, and to develop them. All these and more are needed. Not all of us will have to learn Russian, French, or Spanish, but most of us will have to learn to speak Systems, Marketing, Manufacturing, Finance, Personnel, Legal, and a host of other organizational dialects. More important, we have to learn to see things through the eyes of these other inhabitants of the organizational world. A situation viewed from a marketing frame of reference is an entirely different situation when seen through the eyes of a systems person. Part of the job of a change agent is to reconcile and resolve the conflict between and among disparate (and sometimes desperate) points of view. Charm is great if We have it. Courtesy is even better. A well-paid compliment can buy gratitude. A sincere “Thank you” can earn respect.

System Skills. There’s much more to this than learning about computers, although most people employed in today’s world of work do need to learn about computer-based information systems. For now, let’s just say that a system is an arrangement of resources and routines intended to produce specified results. To organize is to arrange. A system reflects organization and, by the same token, an organization is a system.

A word processing operator and the word processing equipment operated form a system. So do computers and the larger, information processing systems in which computers are so often embedded. These are generally known as “hard” systems. There are “soft” systems as well: compensation systems, appraisal systems, promotion systems, and reward and incentive systems.

There are two sets of systems skills to be mastered. The first is the set most people associate with computers and it is exemplified by “systems analysis.” This set of skills, by the way, actually predates the computer and is known elsewhere (particularly in the United States Air Force and the aerospace industry) as “systems engineering.” For the most part, the kind of system with which this skill set concerns itself is a “closed” system which, for now, we can say is simply a mechanistic or contrived system with no purpose of its own and incapable of altering its own structure. In other words, it cannot learn and it cannot change of its own volition. The second set of system skills is the set associated with a body of knowledge generally referred to as General Systems Theory (GST). This set deals with people, organizations, industries, economies, and even nations as socio-technical systems — as “open,” purposive systems, carrying out transactions with other systems and bent on survival, continuance, prosperity, dominance, plus a host of other goals and objectives.

Business Skills. Simply put, we’d better understand how a business works. In particular, we’d better understand how the business in which and on which We’re working works. This entails an understanding of money — where it comes from, where it goes, how to get it, and how to keep it. It also calls into play knowledge of markets and marketing, products and product development, customers, sales, selling, buying, hiring, firing, EEO, AAP, and just about anything else we might think of.

Chapter 4 : The steps to change a typical business organization in Vietnam.

Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation ( SHV)

1. Background

Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation is 100% foreign capital. It was established by the licence numbered 1446/GP of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (Vietnam). The contract to rent the ground numbered 16/HTTD of Dong Nai city.

The main business is the refrigerator and washing machine

The headquarter: The Bien Hoa 2 Industry Zone – Dong Nai city

Telephone: 84- 061-836651-836657

Fax: 84- 061- 836659- 836660

Website: http:\\www.vn.so-net.com/sanyo

The representative: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hai Phong, Da Nang….

Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation has got 400 employees in there having 15 Japaneses. The product are export directly to countries in the world or sold for the agencies over the areas of Vietnam through Minh Tung company..

The main activities of Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation.

- Producing two main items are: Refrigerator and Washing machine, in there, 70% for exporting and 30% for using inland.

- Supplying the components for washing machine and refrigerator warranty, maintenance made in Vietnam.

- Training the team for warranting, maintaining for the agencies and repairing the washing machine as well as refrigerator.

2. The problems of Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation.

Poor experience on global market
Lack of market information inside and outside
Poor available information about customers and not have the direct contact with them in Vietnam market because SHV depend on Minh Tung company so much.
Lack of accounting, marketing, logistics and purchasing staff qualification, especially middle management.
Lack of marketing and sales ( not effective in Marketing )
No professional distribution system or representative in the EU, Asia, and new markets.
Lack of experience about using and arranging personnel in the departments.

3. The steps to change in Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation

Sanyo Home Appliances Vietnam Corporation need to implement 6 steps followings:

Step 1: Define change management process and practices
As you would with other systems management disciplines, you must first craft a plan for handling changes. This plan should cover:

Procedures for handling changes—how changes are requested, how they are processed and scheduled for implementation, how they are applied, and what the criteria are for backing out changes that cause problems
Roles and responsibilities of the IT support staff—who receives the change request, who tracks all change requests, who schedules change implementations, and what each entity is supposed to do
Measurements for change management—what will be tracked to monitor the efficiency of the change management discipline
Tools to be used
Type of changes to be handled and how to assign priorities—priority assignment methodology and escalation guidelines
Back-out procedures—Actions to take if applied changes do not perform as expected or cause problems to other components of the system

Step 2: Receive change requests
Receive all requests for changes, ideally through a single change coordinator. Change requests can be submitted on a change request form that includes the date and time of the request.

Step 3: Plan for implementation of changes
Examine all change requests to determine:

Change request prioritization
Resource requirements for implementing the change
Impact to the system
Back-out procedures
Schedule of implementation

Step 4: Implement and monitor the changes; back out changes if necessary
At this stage, apply the change and monitor the results. If the desired outcome is not achieved, or if other systems or applications are negatively affected, back out the changes

Step 5: Evaluate and report on changes implemented
Provide feedback on all changes to the change coordinator, whether they were successful or not. The change coordinator is responsible for examining trends in the application of changes, to see if:

Change implementation planning was sufficient.
Changes to certain resources are more prone to problems.

Step 6: Modify change management plan if necessary
You may need to modify the entire change management process to make it more effective. Consider re-examining your change management discipline if:

Changes are not being applied on time.
Not enough changes are being processed.
Too many changes are being backed out.
Changes are affecting the system availability.
Not all changes are being covered.

(Source: : Helping Employees Thrive in the New Frontier - Nancy J. Barger, Linda K. Kirby )

Conclusion

We know that navigating successfully in a world that is changing as fast as ours can be tricky at times. In fact, if we allow it to overwhelm us, change can feel extremely stressful and downright frustrating. If we’re smart, however, we’ve learned that although we can’t alter the fact of constant change, we can learn to manage our response to it.

So, change management was done through the shift in the core values of employees to empowerment, ownership, and accountability and the change in the engineering process such as TQM, Just In Time or Business Process Re-engineering. Commitment, Employees involvement and a Learning organisation are the requirements for success of a change programme.

Reference

Books:

Professor Robin Rowley & J.Roevens, Organize with Chaos
Organizations in Action. James D. Thompson. McGraw-Hill
- Rodolfo E. Biasca 1999
- ,
: How Resilient Managers Succeed and Prosper Where Others Fail Dary R. Conner
: Helping Employees Thrive in the New Frontier by Nancy J. Barger, Linda K. Kirby