The author Gareth Morgan, uses a metaphor when describing organisational change. The title of his book "Riding the waves of change" suggests that change is a very dynamic process and for like surfers, managers and their organisation have to ride on a sea of change that can twist and turn with all the power of the ocean. The ocean representing the organisations internal and external environment.
John Harvey-Jones (1993, p21) once said organisations need to 'adapt or perish'. This is still as relevant now as it was in the 1990s.
Change is due to a number of internal and external triggers. External triggers include, political, economic, social, technological and environmental factors and an increase in competition. Internal triggers are changes within the organisation. Change is now a major issue in which organisations, managers and their employees have to face. Organisations who fail to adapt to this dynamic environment in a suitable and appropriate manner, could face organisational failure, causing problems for individual jobs and careers. Managers need a pro-active mindset where they need to anticipate and confront challenges of the future, rather than manage in relation to events that have already occurred.
When facing organisational change, managers must consider the people whom the change is affecting. These would include the people within the organisational environment, for example, staff, and the people outside the organisation, for example, customers and other stakeholders.
There are many types of organisational change, each type affecting the individual in a different way. Change can be distinguished by considering how deeply the change affects the organisation.
Buchanan, Claydon and Doyle, (1999) carried out a survey of management experiences of change. The findings suggest that organisational change can create fear, fatigue and cynicism.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1969) found that when dealing with something traumatic and stressful, people go through a number of phases, known as the 'coping cycle'. This has been used to understand people's responses to organisational change, a situation where people often find it hard to cope. The five stages of the Kubler-Ross response coping cycle disguises peoples individual differences. We may omit some stages, revisit particular stages or pass through them more or less quickly than others. From an organisational outlook, this can be a useful tool when trying to detect where in the response cycle a person may be, during organisational change and guidance and support can be offered when necessary.
Managers need to contemplate how much pressure staff can take from organisational change. The relationship between pressure and performance can be described in the 'Yerkes-Dodson law (1908). The law states that 'task performance increases as our state of arousal increases, and that beyond some 'optimal' point, we become overwhelmed by the level of stimulation or pressure, and our performance starts to fall'.
With changes being imposed, people have to spend time learning new things, adapt to new systems and procedures, develop new knowledge and use new skills and behaviours. The organisation cannot stop functioning while this happens and this can lead to the 'initiative fatigue' which Buchanan, Claydon and Doyle found during their survey, mentioned earlier. People's arousal levels can be pushed beyond their optimum performance point where change initiatives are frequent. However, Morgan feels it is important to view people as key resources, encouraging them to relish change, blending specialist and generalist qualities, managing in an environment of equals, ...
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With changes being imposed, people have to spend time learning new things, adapt to new systems and procedures, develop new knowledge and use new skills and behaviours. The organisation cannot stop functioning while this happens and this can lead to the 'initiative fatigue' which Buchanan, Claydon and Doyle found during their survey, mentioned earlier. People's arousal levels can be pushed beyond their optimum performance point where change initiatives are frequent. However, Morgan feels it is important to view people as key resources, encouraging them to relish change, blending specialist and generalist qualities, managing in an environment of equals, and making education a continual process. If people have skills in a number of jobs within the organisation, they will be more flexible to change.
Management need to know what levels of pressure people are experiencing. There are a number of indicators which can reveal, among other things, that people are working under too much pressure prompting management to reduce the pressure. These measures may include:
* Unexplained absences
* High rate of sickness
* Labour turnover
* More customer complaints
* More employee grievances
* Accidents and mistakes
Resistance to change is common, however, people find change threatening. Those involved are presented with new scenarios, new problems and challenges. Change can be ambiguous and unclear. Many people find change, or the thought of change frustrating. Where Huczynski and Buchanan emphasise that change can be a problem for existing employees, Morgan focuses on the importance of managers recruiting people who enjoy learning and relish change and to motivate employees to be intelligent, flexible and adaptive.
Tony Eccles (1994), identified thirteen possible sources of resistance which managers should consider when managing chance in the organisation:
* Ignorance This may cause a failure to understand the problem
* Comparison A solution may be disliked because an alternative is preferred
* Disbelief People may feel that a proposed solution will not work
* Loss The change may have unacceptable personal costs
* Inadequacy The rewards from change are not sufficient
* Anxiety People fear of being unable to cope with the new situation
* Demolition This is where change threatens to destroy existing social
arrangements
* Power cut Sources of influence and control will be eroded
* Contamination New values and practice are repellent
* Inhibition The willingness to change is low
* Mistrust Management motives for change are considered suspicious
* Alienation Other interests are more highly valued than new proposals
* Frustration The change will reduce power and career opportunities
There are potentially as many different reasons for resisting change as there are individuals affected by change in the first place.
Through a set of approaches which involves the use of a range of management techniques and stakeholder analysis, resistance to change can be managed. Stakeholders are those people or groups with an interest in the organisations activities. There are three types of stakeholder, each should be managed differently:
Internal stakeholders exist within the boundaries of the organisation. They are employees and management
Connected stakeholders are those outside the organisation, such as suppliers, customers and shareholders
External stakeholders include the state, local authorities, the public, pressure groups etc
People within an organisation are affected by change and therefore respond differently to specific change proposals. Anticipating responses becomes possible when one understands the stakeholders concerned with a particular organisational change. John Kotter and Leo Schlesinger (1979) identified six methods for overcoming resistance:
. Education and commitment
Managers need to inform the people whom the change involves and affects about the nature of the problem prompting change. Their objections, perceptions and knowledge should be shared with these people to avoid misunderstandings which can cause resistance. It helps to get the facts straight, and to identify and resolve opposing views. There must be a large amount of trust between management and employees if this approach is to be used. Managers should pay special attention to skills that increase their power to communicate, to create shared understanding.
2. Participation and involvement
By involving those people who resist change in the planning and implementation of it, their fears will be reduced about the impact of changes on them. Collaboration can reduce opposition and encourage dedication. If managers are to use this approach, it is important that the individuals have satisfactory knowledge and ability to contribute effectively.
3. Facilitation and support
People's feelings may be altered towards change and they may be able to accept it if they are offered support to overcome the fears and anxieties.
4. Negotiation and agreement
When imposing change, it is important to consider those affected who have a certain degree of power over the organisation. A mutually agreeable compromise may be necessary, through trading and exchange.
5. Manipulation and co-optation
When proposing change to a particular group or stakeholder it may be necessary to deliberately appeal to their specific interests, sensitivities and emotions, deliberately emphasising the benefits and playing down the disadvantages. Co-optation involves giving key resistors direct access to the decision making process, perhaps giving them for example, high status management positions.
6. Implicit and explicit coercion
This is where management abandons any attempt to reach an agreement and results in the use of non-violent force or threats. This could mean firing the individual, demoting them or to obstruct their promotion and career prospects. This may be appropriate when no agreement is being made between management and those concerned with the change.
For effective change implementation, managers should enforce change with full cooperation. Employee involvement is very important for managers to overcome resistance and encourage employees to welcome the prospect of change in the organisation. Management should carefully think of leadership styles to managing change because this can help reduce the resistance to change. By adopting a collaborative style of management, employees will willing participate in key decisions affecting their and the organisations future.
One experience of organisational change that sticks in mind was the appointment of a new manager at a hotel where I was employed. When I first began working there, the original manager lacked leadership skills. Internal communications were poor, for example, when the restaurant opening times changed, staff were not informed properly or not informed at all by management. Staff had to rely on word of mouth from other members of staff which often led to misinterpretation. Management did, not listen to problems which staff encountered. Management didn't care which led to staff not caring. The hotel had room for improvements, but these improvements were not implemented. The customer was not the focus of any decision-making and their requirements were not met. This resulted in a great loss of business over a short period of time.
When new management was appointed, I experienced complete change in the organisation. Staff views were listened to, their ideas for improvement in the hotel were taken into consideration and often carried out. Internal communications were improved and staff felt more involved with the business. With the manager being focused, this led to staff sharing this attitude. Customers were at the focus of every business making decision, their opinions were listened to. The hotel experienced complete innovation which staff and customers were happy with. Within a short time, business picked up again and still continues to.
Morgan agrees with Huczynski and Buchanan's view that people resist change, but feels that if people are educated and trained to do more one job in the organisation there will be a lesser feeling of loss of security and certainty. He believes in schemes that guarantee employees an income and a role in the organisation, but not a specific role. In this way, security is defined in financial terms-rather than in terms of the right to discharge a particular set of duties or responsibilities- and the organisation provides suitable retraining and development programs. Change demands innovation, and innovation demands that the creative potential in people is unleashed. Many people have come to see themselves as having a clear place in their organisations, whether in terms of their immediate job or career. This trend needs to be reversed to create a situation in which people recognize and accept change, and rise to meet the challenges it brings. Huczynski and Buchanan tend to focus on the negative effects people experience when change occurs, which I believe to be an old fashioned view. I agree with Morgan, who talks more about the positive aspects of change people experience, where people today, like a challenge and have more opportunities and are encouraged to learn more skills. Negatives are seen as opportunities.
Morgan believes that it is important to view people as a key resource, encouraging them to relish change, blending specialist and generalist qualities, managing in an environment of equals, and making education a continual process.
When managing change, managers need to consider the people whom the change is affecting. Staff should be considered and informed to ensure widespread participation within the business when the change takes place. Management should try to build a 'culture' where their employees share their values and aims, and a company wide acceptance to the change is adopted. The common problem of resistance to change can be helped and possibly overcome through a number of management techniques and leadership styles. Staff should be asked to identify and develop new opportunities in the organisation. This kind of orientation can invigorate and empower people to reach the leading edge of change and stay there. It is also important to consider the customer when managing change in the organisation because in today's marketing orientated attitude to business, all decision making and planning must be based around customers requirements. This is an important factor contributing to the success of the organisation. Connected stakeholders, for example suppliers, also need to be considered and informed of the change. Their views and opinions need to be heard and taken into account. When dealing with stakeholders who have a certain degree of power over the organisation, it may be appropriate to negotiate and compromise with them. This will reduce any conflict which could lead to major problems for the organisation in the long run. Managers should use the views and needs of customers and other key stakeholders as a mirror in which they see and understand their own strengths and weaknesses, and act on these insights to reshape their relations with the environment. It is also important to consider the organisations competitors when managing change. Is the change going to create an advantage or disadvantage to competitors? Will the change encourage new competitors? Clearly, any program of change involves a high degree of skill in people management since people are at the very centre of the change. By considering the 'people factors' when managing change, the change will be successful.
