Stories of Change
Identify and implementing policies that control organizational and environmental pressures in
a particular business setting is critical to the success of any firm.
Abstract
Identifying and implementing policies that control organizational and environmental pressures in
a particular business setting is critical to the success of any firm. Pressures emanate from all
business operations and the company has to find ways of dealing with such situations. Pressures
from immediate threats like new competition change in customer tastes and impatient
shareholders make it very difficult for a company to operate without a strategic business plan
that accommodates all the organizational and environmental pressures. Organization success in
the change management process includes human capital, shareholders, customers and the
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community while environmental success includes energy management, disposal of factory waste
and technological advancement, diversity and demographic trends.
- For economic success to be achieved all the factors relating to the environment and the
business change management process must be addressed. This paper looks at the pressures
associated with the organization and the environment especially in change management.
Organizational Pressures Environmental Pressures
1 Human resources demographic
a) Forces of change Diverse workforce
b) Demoralization Diversity management
Waste disposals/ environmental mgt
2 Managerial Decisions Technological Advancement
Inadequate rewards a) Mergers & Acquisition
Growth pressures Competition
3 Shareholders/customers Social and political pressures
- The environmental pressures stem from the company’s approach to manage its external
working environment. This mostly consists of employees from diverse backgrounds and the
demographic trends that may affect the workforce. The forces of change that affect the
organization and the employees who are constantly under pressure to perform. Additional
pressure is on the employees to excel I all their undertakings. The employees have to perfect
their roles in order to increase the customer satisfaction.
Technological factors have contributed largely to the change management processes. Process
reengineering involves rethinking and also redesigning the entire organization processes
especially the ones that facilitate the production of uniform products and services. To manage the
change process successfully the organization has to identify the distinctive competencies that the
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organization is best known for and analyze its key distinctive competencies that actually add
value to its core processes.
Organization pressures mostly stem from managerial decisions that affect the growth processes
that involve company expansion and profit maximization targets. Company executives are
normally under organization pressure to perform and achieve the objectives and the set targets of
the company.
These objectives are achieved through strategic activities like product branding, competitive
employing reward systems like stock options, improved public relations, introduction of new
products in the market, segmentation and differentiation of products. These activities require a
lot of input from the management and the success of the company largely depend on the outcome
of these activities hence there implementation causes a lot of pressure to the management.
To reduce management pressure, competent and skilled employees have to be recruited into the
company to minimize the apparent risks that are associated with such activities. Market risks are
greatly reduced when the management is well informed of the market trends and the latest
statistics on the performance of the rival companies in the same industry. The Operating risks
that are associated with the nature of the business also have to be provided for. Capital cost and
the balance sheet risk have to be put into consideration when planning the growth processes in an
organization.
Because of the pressures associated with the risks mentioned above most organizations have a
fully functional risk management department to ease the organization pressures from the
company’s management team.
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- The organization pressures have led to the introduction of the risk management teams to safe
guard the company against unforeseen invents and risks. The risk manager works closely with
the team that is associated with the change process and he is charged with the responsibility of
researching and identifying the apparent risks that the company may be predisposed to during the
change process. Such risks as market risks and operation risks are forecast using the historical
records that can be used to determine the future trends of the company. The research work and
the risk management staff require additional funding from the management. To obtain the best
results from the change management experts then the staff working in the department should be
compensated competitively. (LaClair and Rao 2002)
To contain the environmental or the external pressures, proper planning and implementation of
the required agreements have to be carried out by the company. These processes require
professional managers who are skilled in environmental conservation and management. These
professional together with the license fees needed to dispose waste money and conduct further
research amounts to additional expenses for the company. The political and social influences
must also be considered when making policies that affect the employees. (Julien 1983) - The individual employees in such organization have to contend with the extra expenses that
may result in reduced benefits that may be required to fund the change management processes.
The employees may also have to play the roles of goodwill ambassadors of the changes in an
effort to promote the company’s strategies.
These efforts are strengthen by the need to act and implement measures that will reduce the
resistance and also facilitate the technological processes that may be required in the change
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processes. Individuals are affected when their daily activities are interrupted by such events and
occurrences. (Anderson & Anderson, 2001)
The management’s efforts to expand and increase its size are also associated with improved
terms for the employees in order to motivate them in order to boost their activities.
- The organization has reacted by the introduction of the risk management teams to safe guard
the company against unforeseen invents and risks. To reduce the organization and the
environmental pressure, the management has to come up with clear strategies that may reduce
these pressures from the management. The establishment of the department that deals in risk
management and the subsequent recruitment of the risk manager to be in charge of the research
and policy making in an effort to counter the predisposing factors that make it possible for the
risks to occur. Such risks as market risks and operation risks are forecast using the historical
records that can be used to determine the future trends of the company. - To reduce the organization pressures associated with the change process and growth, the
company has to recruit competent staffs who are well trained, educated and skilled in the area of
business that the company requires the changes. For example, in the market department, the
company should acquire the services of a professional who is competent in product branding,
segmentation and differentiation of the market while applying the latest application of the
technological processes.
To reduce the environmental pressures emanating from climatical changes and biodiversity the
company should enlist the services of a professional who are skilled in the management of
people from diverse backgrounds and the application of the safety requirements that may cushion
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the company from the adverse effects of the environment. Factors like advance warning of an
impending disaster or changes may reduce the effects and losses from unexpected happenings.
References
LaClair, J. and Rao, R. (2002) Helping Employees Embrace Change, McKinsey Quarterly, 2002,
Number 4.
Julien, R.P. (1983). “Enhancing the effectiveness of organizational change management” Human
Resource Management 22 (1–2): 183–99.
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Anderson, D. & Anderson, L.A. (2001) Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for
Today’s Transformational Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.