Identify and assess the process of planning and managing change within an organization. What role
should HR play in change management?
The following conditions must meet in the essay:
1) I want a typical and a quality answer which should have about 1400 words.
2) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
3) The answer must include examples from experience or the web with references from relevant
examples from real companies.
4) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
5) Please don�t use Wikipedia web site.
6) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
Change Management
Overview
The following exercise takes a critical look at various concepts associated with change
management as well as the manner in which they are handled in the strategic management of
organizations (Hannan and Freeman, 1984). Change is an crucial part of the daily administration
of organizations. The style in which it is administrated has a profound bearing on the success or
failure of the organization in meeting its key objectives. These include profit making, service
delivery and the quality of its products among others.
Introduction
The term ‘organizational change’ refers to the all of the processes and procedures that come up
when a business entity or similar organization experiences transformation. Transformation in this
context may be widespread across the organization or highly localized. Organizational Change
can be manifested rapidly, in volatility or with a lot of discontinuity. These types of change are
manifested differently in different organized institutions and they therefore result in different
challenges that require careful handling for the organization’s success. This necessitates the
initiation of proactive strategies by the management of these organizations since this helps to
steer clear of unmanageable problems. The alternative to strategically managing change is
reacting to the impacts of the transformation and this tends to weigh heavily on the management
as well as the organization.
With rapid change the transformation takes place within a relatively short period of time giving
the members of the organization a small window of time to prepare and or adjust to these
changes. Rapid change occurs frequently in an organization (Cunningham et al, 2002).
Circumstances that can lead to this type of change management include a high rate of economic
growth or alternatively a relatively quick rate of obsolescence for technology.
Volatile change on the other hand is associated with uncertainty in that it can either be a big
change or a small one depending on highly subjective variables. Volatile change is mostly
occasioned by external market forces but on rare occasions this can be the result of forces within
the organization.
A critical question at this juncture is whether human resource managers are adequately equipped
to handle the different forms of change that the organization may experience. This question
arises from the different ways that change manifests itself in organizations.
Non- continuous organizational change is quite unpredictable in nature as it follows trends that
are akin to fashion. There is no logical way of foretelling the direction the organization will take
by analyzing past performances or records. The timing of such chances is also impossible to
predict. Consumer preferences are a common contributor to this type of organizational change.
The fact that they are unpredictable in nature means that it is challenging for the organization’s
decision makers to know the appropriate amount of resources to allocate as they ensure the
desired results are achieved.
This concept fits well within the Strategic Management Process
The above manifestations of organizational change are all dealt with through dynamic strategic
management. The reason for this is the fact that they all represent a turbulent organizational
environment which is characterized by the rapid, volatile and or discontinuous change. These
categories of change will at times occur independently and in other instances they will take place
in combination or succession. Despite the changes it is crucial for the management of the
organization to see to it that the different objectives set for specific departments as well as the
entire organization are realized. Through the application of strategic management the
administrators of the organization are charged with ensuring that the work of the organization
stays on course so as to ensure satisfaction for the different stakeholders. These stakeholders
have different interests. The owners of the organization will demand profits. Customers on the
other hand will require goods and or services to their specifications. The employees will need
remuneration for their work. The government will require the organization to meet its legal
obligations such as being licensed and meeting the set quality and safety standards. The local
community on the other hand will anticipate the goodwill of the company through Community
Social Responsibility. At times these demands change and it is the duty of the manager to ensure
that they are met by the organization. Mere reaction to change is not sufficient and it is therefore
necessary for decisions to be made based on reason and the consideration of several variables.
This process is what constitutes strategic management and this therefore justifies the inclusion of
the different types of organizational change concepts under it (Amburgey et al, 1990).
Models used to assess the roles, impacts and implications of rapid, volatile and non-continuous
organizational change
Two models that can be used in the analysis of the above changes are ‘strategic cross functional
management’ and the ‘Enterprise Strategy’.
Strategic cross functional management is a strategy that takes full advantage of the
organization’s functional excellence. What this entails is the realization of the functional
significance of the different components of the organization mainly the personnel and the
departments (Levinthal and March, 1981). This means that their significance needs to be looked
at with close attention being given to the manner in which they add value to the organization.
When changes occur the members of the organization will be aware of how these changes will
potentially affect them and this will enable them to adjust appropriately to ensure their
functionality within the organization remains uncompromised unless it is being improved. The
same applies to departments within the organization.
With enterprise strategy a given plan of action that has been decided upon is adapted to suit the
needs of the organization as opposed to forcing the organization to align itself to the solution at
hand. When this strategy is applied the changes that are taking place within the organization will
be dealt with using solutions that have been tailored to the subjective needs of the organization.
It proactive measures are to be implemented the most important factor to be analyzed will be
how appropriate they are for the organization and not how well they will be put into action to
counter the impacts of change.
The Responses of Human Resource Management Officers to discontinuous change
Chief Executive Officers of the various organizations that exist in today’ world economies need
to respond to discontinuous change through the application of dynamic strategic management.
The reason for this is that discontinuous change in nature is nearly impossible to predict. This
means that the specific aspects of the organization’s processes that change will be different each
time. As such it is impossible for the Human Resource Management Officer of such an
organization to be rigid in his or her approach to discontinuous organizational change. Dynamic
strategic management will enable this officer to effectively adapt his or her leadership to specific
problem at hand (Kanter, 2003).
With this approach to leadership the Human Resource Management Officer will be able to
effectively analyze the change that has arisen. The diligent analysis of the problem will lead to
the formulation of logical approaches to specific problems. Having an in-depth understanding of
the change the organization is undergoing or needs to undergo will empower the different
organizational actors to make relevant changes instead of using a trial and error approach. A
Human Resource Management Officer who embraces dynamic strategies will also be inclined to
regularly monitor the performance of the organization in the wake of the changes taking place.
A critical question that arises from this however is whether critical the HRM will be capable of
focusing on a stable work force while at the same time maintaining a focus on mitigating the
destabilizing impact that organizational change always threatens to bring about.
Conclusion
From the above it is clear that the management in any organization needs to be careful in the way
it handles change. The main reason for this is that change is unavoidable and it has the capacity
to make the current operating environment troublesome. In such situations grave errors can be
made by human resource personnel who are aiming to resolve the challenges albeit while having
a minimal understanding of the problems associated with change. If the executive managers
however take up dynamic management as part and parcel of their approach to organizational
change, the organizations will improve from the inside out since these principles are applied at
the root of the problem (Armenakis et al, 1993).
References
Amburgey, T. L., Kelly, D., & Barnett, W. P. (1990, August). Resetting the Clock: The
Dynamics of Organizational Change and Failure. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol.
1990, No. 1, pp. 160-164). Academy of Management.
Armenakis, A. A., Harris, S. G., & Mossholder, K. W. (1993). Creating readiness for
organizational change. Human relations, 46(6), 681-703.
Cunningham, C. E., Woodward, C. A., Shannon, H. S., MacIntosh, J., Lendrum, B.,
Rosenbloom, D., & Brown, J. (2002). Readiness for organizational change: A longitudinal study
of workplace, psychological and behavioural correlates. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, 75(4), 377-392.
Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1984). Structural inertia and organizational change. American
sociological review, 149-164.
Kanter, R. M. (2003). Challenge of organizational change: How companies experience it and
leaders guide it. Simon and Schuster.
Levinthal, D., & March, J. G. (1981). A model of adaptive organizational search. Journal of
Economic Behavior & Organization, 2(4), 307-333.
