MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE.
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MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE.
Organizational change is the company’s action to alter some of its components, including its culture, technologies, or the infrastructure it utilizes in its operations. Managing organizational change involves planning and executing the change in companies to reduce resistance from employees and organization costs while increasing the change effectiveness. This paper seeks to explain a change that occurred in my workplace. It will also describe Lewin’s model’s three steps, Kotter’s eight strategies, and the five approaches of action research.
For the past few years, I have been working in a wholesale and retail cosmetic company. The business witnessed a significant organizational change when the company made advancements in technology by introducing computers. The first step involved in the shift was my employer, realizing why the change was needed. The computers could help to improve the accuracy of the stock records. The second step taken was developing the change plans. Then, the implementation of the strategy followed, and they installed the computers.
In the 1940s, Kurt Lewin formed a model for change management that comprised three stages. The first step, unfreeze, involves preparing the company to see that the proposed change is essential. To do this, one should develop a message that indicates why the existing approach should not continue. In the change stage, people will start becoming sure of the change, and they will believe and perform in ways supporting the new direction. Communication and time are keys to the success of the change. The last step, refreeze, takes place after people have embraced the change. This stage helps the business to internalize and institutionalize changes. Besides, people should also celebrate change success.
John Kotter formulated a change model with eight steps. According to John, the first step in implementing change is establishing a sense of urgency. The second step is creating the guiding coalition whereby there is a selection of the team responsible for carrying out the transition. Then, the manager should develop and communicate the change vision. Another step is empowering actions that are broad-based by addressing obstacles that act as barriers to change. The organization should also generate short-term wins to promote the enthusiasm needed to continue with the change process. Consolidation of gains is necessary as it helps produce more change, and the last step is anchoring change in the company’s culture.
In 1946, Lewis outlined five phases of an action research project. The first procedure is the reflection, whereby one needs to think of the required changes. The second one is planning the adjustments that one intends to make. Then, action follows, and a person executes the proposed change plan. Last but not least, observation whereby someone assesses the effectiveness of the change actions. Finally, reflection is vital, and Lewis advises that it should be done in groups since it might successfully change the attitudes and practices of those involved in the change.
A key similarity observed form these models and that my organization used is that the first step to change is to realize why that particular change is needed. One difference is that my company did not communicate with the employees about the change. My company’s change process could have been better if they used steps from these change models because the employees could have known of the change. As such, there could have been minimal resistance from people who did not have enough knowledge of using computers.
In conclusion, utilizing the above three models of organizational change is essential to ensure effective implementation of change in a company. The primary step in achieving growth should always be understanding why the change is needed.