Table of Contents
It is due to the evolving nature of our societies that cause the change of demand and the need to develop new product and services for the community. The changing nature is the cause that numerous organizations are required to make changes in order to be effective and remain in competition. Change is not a new phenomenon and organizations must be willing to implement change as it is inevitable. Organizations must have the willingness to reinvent themselves and be open to change. There are several integrated ways that involve change which, are called the models of organizational change. The changes that an organization undertakes usually enable the businesses to remain profitable and effective in the long-run.
Theoretical foundation and practice of change management are draw on number of social science disciplines and the three school of thoughts. These thoughts include the Individual Perspective, Group Dynamics and Open Systems School. The individual’s perspective includes the behavior of a person and the Gestalt-field psychologists (Burke, 2017). The behavior is as a result from reinforcement that results from the interaction with the environment. The group dynamics school represents the organizational change takes place through the team groups rather than an individual ability. The focus of change should be at the group level to influence changing the group’s norms, roles, and values. In the group dynamics the focus is on achieving organizational change through team work rather than that of an individual. In the open system organizations are unitary and composed of parts, subsystems or subunits which serve to integrate all parts into a functioning unit (Burke, 2017). An organization system comprises of various departments (e.g. human resource, production, accounting, marketing, and finance). The organization needs to coordinate all the activities of these departments to achieve the organizational goals.
Successful organizations need to integrate different areas to enable the business to grow and changes organically to allow diverse groups to evolve and adapt at varying rates. For a business to grow organically it requires assessing factors that balance the needs of the organizational community with the need of the individual. Factors that lead to organic change shape strategy to direct the future and adapt stratagems based on environmental concerns at the macro and micro levels (Öner, Benson, & Beser, 2014). Some of the factors that assesses the organic change are time and people dynamics, as well as environmental and organizational concerns. At a micro level change reflects an individual’s subjective experiences in implementation, resistance, psychology, attitudes, and organizational trust (Mangundjaya, 2015). At a macro level, organic organizational environments are chaotic and complex adaptive systems. Organic change requires a systematic approach to development and should encompass the people, culture, capabilities, structure, business processes, product/services, business models, and other important organizational parameters that concentrate short and long-term growth.
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According to Karp (2003), the effective strategic development of organizational change requires a holistic perspective in terms of the interior conditions of the people involved. The strategic development and change interventions need to make sense to the individuals involved and requires options for various situations. Therefore, a successful change is more likely when there is a systematic approach implemented as an ongoing continuous process (Molineaux, 2013). Furthermore, Molineaux (2013), states, engaging in an open communication process that involves all levels of the organization is integral to any effective change initiative. There are several effective tools that organizations can utilize for change.
Lewin’s (1947) three step change model (freeze, unfreeze, refreeze) is seen by many to be a very effective change tool and five of Kotter’s (1995), eight steps of effective transformational deal with change implementation: form a powerful guiding coalition, empower others to implement change, create opportunities for short-term “wins” and incremental changes, consolidate improvements and institutionalize new behaviors (Sonenshein, 2010). Clarity of the organization vision is a management tool that the leader must model and is essential in supporting the appropriateness of the change. Additional tools for evaluating the organizational need for change is an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) that identifiers environmental competitive, and economic reasons for change. An alternative continuous change initiative and model is total quality management (TQM) which is a change intervention technique that diagnosis existing problems, identifies when decision-making intervention is required, supports action, creates a culture where change is expected, and seek continuous improvement (Hughes, 2007).
Change Models, Adaptation, and Follower Commitment
Effective leadership and management skills involved in change management include making sense of the change, creating a common taxonomy, supporting an open dialogue, providing a clear vision, and supporting the individual as well as the organization (Molineau, 2013). According to Dweck (2014), continuous change and adaptation requires curiosity in a growth mindset, a model of a complex adaptative systems approach, and an assessment of behavior, values, capabilities and skills, and personal identity. Integrative continuous change models and evaluating change models increase leadership effective and organizational commitment. Employees will become resistant to change if they do not see it as appropriate, or if the change is not ambitious enough, or if their job security is threatened (Sonenshein, 2010).
Psychological empowerment in organic growth can provide connectedness by fostering communicative and courageous cross-functional teams (Mangundjaya, 2015). Meaningfulness is also an important aspect of commitment to and concentration on organizational and can help to overcome fear and anxiety.
Employing a Model of Continuous Change
Employing continuous change model is an essential component of leadership and management during any change initiative. Continuous change integration requires execution effectiveness, vision, and consensus on the appropriateness of the change as it relates to the individual and organization. During continuous change model leaders making sense of change must be implemented through an effective narrative that provides personal understanding, meaning and influence over the outcome. Accepting and championing change occurs when individuals have a positive outlook on change, job security, and recognize adaptative change as improving conditions for themselves and the company (Soneshein, 2010). Promoting internal scorecards also assist employees to embrace continuous change, allowing them to witness their own capabilities and competence, assess the value of the change, recognize what role (identify) they should play in the change and what internal motivation (behavior) drives them to go the extra mile (Hughes, 2010).
Gather and Analyze Data to Determine the Most Efficacious Timing of Change
Gathering hard data will cut through the mire and provide continuity when leaders look for variances, confront orthodoxies, encourage curiosity, look outside-the-box, and move past the status quo to help reframe the context and need for change (Pascale & Sternin, 2005). Organizations can use balanced scorecards as performance indicators as a roadmap to change (Karp, 2006). The Balance Scorecard (BSC) enables corporations to focus on what matters most to the organization to achieve the corporate vision while providing milestones and measurements to keep track and maintain momentum. Measuring performance is objective. Measuring brand identity, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction are more nebulous concepts that require careful thought as to how they will be measured and how that measurement will fit into the overall BSC.
Value-based leadership works to define what the priorities of the firm/organization are, create a hierarchy to prioritize resources, and create a measurement mechanism to track performance of the leading value drivers. Leading value drivers can be Economic Value Added (EVA) performance measures such as profits, margins, stock value, or non-financial factors such as product innovation, customer satisfaction and loyalty, employee productivity product quality, and brand equity (Fletcher & Darlene, 2004). It would benefit leaders to have effective measurement systems that can keep stakeholders and priorities in line with the corporate vision, strategies, goals, and objectives. Comparisons, mixing different approaches, filtering, analyzing, interpreting, visualizing, and systematically compiling and collecting information from multiple sources provides a stream of data sources to help identify the need for change (Öner et al, 2014). Big Data, capturing information from the multitude of social networking sources, can also facilitate a better understanding of ways to improve employee engagement, change effectiveness, promote person-organization fit, and drive cultural change (Church & Dutta, 2013).
