Subject code & name : MU0018 - CHANGE MANAGEMENT

1) Define the term ‘organizational transformation’. Discuss the various strategies to manage transformation in organizations.

organizational transformation’: Elaborating on the previous problematic and recognizing that the concept is currently used in the business context in a general sense simply as transformation (or organization transformation), is the concept’s use sensible and appropriate, or should the approach to dealing with transformation in organizational change practices be reconsidered and augmented.

In an organizational context, a process of profound and radical change that orients an organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely different level of effectiveness. Unlike 'turnaround' (which implies incremental progress on the same plane) transformation implies a basic change of character and little or no resemblance with the past configuration or structure.

Discuss the various strategies to manage transformation in organizations

Companies that are able to radically change their entrenched ways of doing things and then reclaim leading positions in their industries are the exception rather than the rule. Even less common are companies able to anticipate a new set of requirements and mobilize the internal and external resources necessary to meet them. Instead, the momentum of and commitment to the prevailing strategy usually prevents companies from spotting changes such as a shift in either the market or the technology, and leads to a financial downturn — often a crisis — that, in turn, reveals the need for change. Few companies make the transformation from their old model to a new one willingly. Typically, they begin to search for a new way forward only when they are pushed.

This raises two important questions for corporate managers. First, is decline inevitable. And second, do companies really need a financial downturn to galvanize change, or can they adopt new ways of doing things when not under pressure? Management theorists have observed that decline, while perhaps not inevitable, is at least very likely after a period of time. For this reason, some say it’s critical for organizations to develop new dynamic capabilities deliberately rather than relying entirely on their historic capabilities.

In order to understand how some companies continue to perform at high levels even as they modify their strategies over time, we studied 215 of the United Kingdom’s largest public companies. We measured performance by, among other things, profits and returns on shareholder funds and on total assets over the 20-year period from 1984 to 2003. Some of the consistent high performers operated in relatively safe and stable markets; such companies were therefore mostly able to maintain high levels of performance without making major strategic changes. Our goal, however, was to draw insights from the small subset of high performers that successfully transformed themselves. Among other things, we wanted to understand the role of

history — for example, which management processes and capabilities do companies need to develop over time.

In order to compete in today’s continually changing environment, companies have to retool, reassess,

reposition and refit more often than they have in the past.  Old tools and processes are no longer able to

keep up with the requirements for meaningful information and current ways of doing business need to

change to meet customer demand.  The result, no matter what the change, is businesses are increasing

how often they institute a new process, organizational system or technology.   

Organization & Transformation Solutions is one of Hitachi Consulting's Market Offerings that

provides the solutions, methodologies and expertise to help clients ensure that their organizations are

successful with the changes they are making to their businesses. This includes changes in strategy,

organization design, technology, processes or governance. Regardless of the size, scope or industry,

projects fundamentally change the way people interact with one another, technology or the work they

complete on a regular basis. With transition comes resistance, and with resistance comes the opportunity

to address it head on with Hitachi Consulting's carefully crafted Organization & Transformation

Solutions.

2) Describe Integrative Model for Planned Change

In psychology, the theory of planned behavior is a theory about the link between beliefs and behavior. The concept was proposed by Icek Ajzen to improve on the predictive power of the theory of reasoned action by including perceived behavioural control.[1] It is one of the most predictive persuasion theories. It has been applied to studies of the relations among beliefs, attitudes, behavioral intentions and behaviors in various fields such as advertising, public relations, advertising campaigns and healthcare.

The theory states that attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, together shape an individual's behavioral intentions and behaviors

The theory of planned behavior was proposed by Icek Ajzen in 1985 through his article "From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior." The theory was developed from the theory of reasoned action, which was proposed by Martin Fishbein together with Icek Ajzen in 1975. The theory of reasoned action was in turn grounded in various theories of attitude such as learning theories, expectancy-value theories, consistency theories,[2] and attribution theory.[3]

According to the theory of reasoned action, if people evaluate the suggested behavior as positive (attitude), and if they think their significant others want them to perform the behavior (subjective norm), this results in a higher intention (motivations) and they are more likely to do so. A high correlation of attitudes and subjective norms to behavioral intention, and subsequently to behavior, has been confirmed in many studies.[4]

A counter-argument against the high relationship between behavioral intention and actual behavior has also been proposed, as the results of some studies show that, because of circumstantial limitations, behavioral intention does not always lead to actual behavior. Namely, since behavioral intention cannot be the exclusive determinant of behavior where an individual's control over the behavior is incomplete, Ajzen introduced the theory of planned behavior by adding a new component, "perceived behavioral control." By this, he extended the theory of reasoned action to cover non-volitional behaviors for predicting behavioral intention and actual behavior.

Behavioral beliefs and attitude toward behavior

Behavioral belief: an individual's belief about consequences of particular behavior. The concept is based on the subjective probability that the behavior will produce a given outcome.

Attitude toward behavior: an individual's positive or negative evaluation of self-performance of the particular behavior. The concept is the degree to which performance of the behavior is positively or negatively valued. It is determined by the total set of accessible behavioral beliefs linking the behavior to various outcomes and other attributes.

Normative beliefs and subjective norms

Normative belief: an individual's perception of social normative pressures, or relevant others' beliefs that he or she should or should not perform such behavior.

Subjective norm: an individual's perception about the particular behavior, which is influenced by the judgment of significant others (e.g., parents, spouse, friends, teachers).[7]

Control beliefs and perceived behavioral control

Perceived behavioral control: an individual's perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior (Ajzen, 1991[8]). It is assumed that perceived behavioral control is determined by the total set of accessible control beliefs.

Control beliefs: an individual's beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of the behavior (Ajzen, 2001).[full citation needed] The concept of perceived behavioral control is conceptually related to self-efficacy.

Behavioral intention and behavior

Behavioral intention: an indication of an individual's readiness to perform a given behavior. It is assumed to be an immediate antecedent of behavior (Ajzen, 2002b).[9] It is based on attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, with each predictor weighted for its importance in relation to the behavior and population of interest.

Behavior: an individual's observable response in a given situation with respect to a given target. Ajzen said a behavior is a function of compatible intentions and perceptions of behavioral control in that perceived behavioral control is expected to moderate the effect of intention on behavior, such that a favorable intention produces the behavior only when perceived behavioral control is strong.

3) Explanation of important needs for communicating change?

Communication is important to overcome the fears and concerns aroused by change. People wonder what effect it will have on them - will they still have a job after the change, will they maintain their rank, will they have an interesting role, what will their future be Because these questions will always be asked, and uncertainty in a working environment reduces productivity, it's important to communicate what is changing and why.

Consider three important questions - when do you communicate what do you communicate and how do you communicate

Communication is an ongoing process. It's clearly necessary to communicate to people at the beginning of a change project - to answer their initial fears and concerns, but it's also necessary to communicate throughout the intermediate states of the change process. As the change process advances, two things happen. People will have new questions to be answered, and new ideas and understandings of the intermediate and final states will be developed. In response, people have to be kept up-to-date with actual and future states, and answers given to their questions.

There are four key subjects of communication - the present state, the intermediate state, the future state, and the activities of the change process. People need to be informed of the reasons why the organization has to move away from the current 'as-is' state, and of the dangers of staying there. They need to understand the pressures that make it necessary to change. Explain to them why the current state used to make sense, but the organization must also change because the environment in which it exists is changing. And explain what will happen if the organization doesn't change - and what this will mean for them as individuals.

It's also important to communicate the future state. Explain what it will look like, why it

will look like this, the advantages of being in this state, which parts of it are clear and which are still hazy, and what this future state will imply for the roles of people in the company.

The intermediate states of the organization are unsettling for everybody. In them it's no longer possible to cling to the familiar past, and the hoped-for future state feels as if it is never going to be reached. Communication about the intermediate state builds confidence. Confidence that although people may appear to be in a state that is completely out of control, this state has been recognized in the planning process as a necessary step on the path to the future state, and before long it will be over and the organization will have moved into the future state. The communication needs to show them how the future state will be reached, and what things will look like along the way.

Communicate the activities of the change process. Tell people what is going to happen, when it will happen, and why. Let them understand that the process has been clearly thought-out, is well led and well planned, and is under control. Show how the process will help people to participate in the change and how it will help them to change.

Communication can be carried out in a variety of ways such as a Newsletter, e-mail, Intranet, video, person-to-person, or in small groups. Person-to-person communication takes a lot of time and doesn't provide the synergistic benefits of presenting the message to a group of people. A Newsletter can be a good communication tool but there is always the danger that some people will be 'too busy' to read it. Videos tend to over-formalize communication, and don't provide a direct way for people to ask questions. E-mail suffers from being a generally inaccurate medium and being easy to ignore and delete.

The best method of communication is for each manager to communicate a well-prepared change message and accompanying support material to their direct reports. This process should start at the top of the organization and be followed at each level. As a result, most people will first hear the change message from their boss and be able to ask questions, and then be forced to understand the message well enough so they can communicate it to their team members - and answer their questions. In this way, a single message and accompanying support material can be communicated throughout the organization.

Most people in the organization will have a lot of questions about the change process. For any one of a variety of reasons they may not like to ask these questions directly to their boss or colleagues, so it's always best to include some mechanism in the communication process by which people can ask questions anonymously or off the record. And finally, don't forget to put a feedback process in place to make sure that the communication process is meeting its objectives.

4) What do you mean by resistance to change? Discuss some of the reasons for individual (employee’s) resistance?

What is resistance to change in your workplace and how does it manifest itself Resistance to change is the act of opposing or struggling with modifications or transformations that alter the status quo in the workplace.

Managing resistance to change is challenging. Resistance to change can be covert or overt, organized or individual. Employees can realize that they don't like or want a change and resist publicly and verbally. Or, they can just feel uncomfortable and resist, sometimes unknowingly, through the actions they take, the words they use to describe the change, and the stories and conversations they share in the workplace.

However resistance to change happens, it threatens the success of your venture. Resistance affects the speed at which an innovation is adopted. It affects the feelings and opinions of employees at all stages of the adoption process. It affects productivity, quality, and relationships.

Discuss some of the reasons for individual (employee’s) resistance?

The natural and normal reaction to change is resistance.  Every individual has a threshold for how much change they can absorb; however, the number one reason front line employees resist change often surprises many project teams.

Providing the needed information to increase employees' awareness of the business need for change is the first and most important proactive step in successful resistance management.

 

Proactive and reactive resistance management

Managing resistance during any business change should include both proactive planning and reactive interventions.  All too often, teams rely exclusively on reactive measures when resistance has already resulted in productivity loss and wasted time and resources.

Proactive resistance management involves systematically identifying where resistance might come from and what it might look like.  The team identifies critical gaps and possible points of resistance, and addresses them before they even emerge.  Proactive resistance management requires planning by the team and intervention from sponsors, managers and supervisors.

Reactive resistance management is in response to specific points of resistance.  In the reactive situation, the team must listen to employees and identify the source of the resistance.  Specific action steps should be developed, communicated and implemented. 

 

Resistance management plan

A resistance management plan is a proactive approach to managing resistance.  During the first phase of your change management plan it is important to identify potential resistance points.   As your project implementation progresses, additional areas of resistance may surface.  Below are the four action steps to creating your resistance management plan:

1. Define what resistance may look like for your change and how it may be identified.o Brainstorm with the change management team and project teamo Brainstorm with the stakeholders and sponsors

 2. For each level with the impacted organization, define a strategy for managing resistance

to the change and prepare job aides.  Refer to the resistance management process (this will be provided in the next tutorial or can be found in the  In most cases resistance is best managed by the direct supervisor or highest level manager in the chain of command for that employee.

o Managing resistance is not the sole responsibility of the change management team or change management lead

o Be sure to include a strategy for those impacted audiences such as internal and external customers

o Your strategy should include the WIIFM (what's in it for me) for each level  

3. Prepare and review the resistance management approach with the primary sponsor. 

4. Communicate this resistance management plan to managers and coaches in their change management training sessions.

 

Scale your resistance management plan

Resistance will come in all different shapes and sizes, depending on your specific change.  The table below highlights critical considerations regarding the customization of your resistance management activities based on the size of the change and the attributes of the impacted organization. 

  5) List the types of change management strategies. Explain any two of them.

According to an article in Forbes, Change Management Guru is the world’s oldest profession. Almost everyone has a few theories about change management.

While there are many change management models, most companies will choose at least one of the following three models to operate under:

1.Lewin’s Change Management Model2. McKinsey 7-S Model3. Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model

Lewin’s Change Management Model

This change management model was created in the 1950s by psychologist Kurt Lewin. Lewin noted that the majority of people tend to prefer and operate within certain zones of safety. He recognized three stages of change:

1. Unfreeze – Most people make an active effort to resist change. In order to overcome this tendency, a period of thawing or unfreezing must be initiated through motivation.

2. Transition – Once change is initiated, the company moves into a transition period, which may last for some time. Adequate leadership and reassurance is necessary for the process to be successful.

3. Refreeze – After change has been accepted and successfully implemented, the company becomes stable again, and staff refreezes as they operate under the new guidelines.

While this change management model remains widely used today, it is takes time to implement. Of course, since it is easy to use, most companies tend to prefer this model to enact major changes.

McKinsey 7-S Model

The McKinsey 7-S model offers a holistic approach to organization. This model, created by Robert Waterman, Tom Peters, Richard Pascale, and Anthony Athos during a meeting in 1978, has 7 factors that operate as collective agent of change:

1. Shared values

2. Strategy

3. Structure

4. Systems

5. Style

6. Staff

7. Skills

The McKinsey 7-S Model offers four primary benefits:

1. It offers an effective method to diagnose and understand an organization.

2. It provides guidance in organizational change.

3. It combines rational and emotional components.

4. All parts are integral and must be addressed in a unified manner.

The disadvantages of the McKinsey 7-S Model are:

- When one part changes, all parts change, because all factors are interrelated.

- Differences are ignored.

- The model is complex.

- Companies using this model have been known to have a higher incidence of failure.

6) Write short notes on the following: a. Change agents b. Kolb’s Learning Cycle c. Organisational Learning

Change agents:

A Change Agent is someone who knows and understands the dynamics that facilitate or hinder change. Change Agents define, research, plan, build support, and partner with others to create change. They have the courage and the willingness to do what is best for the community. IMPACT Greensboro develops a framework for dialogue that increases individuals’ capacity to work as Change Agents through:

respecting one anothervaluing diversityhoning individual skills in managing changeforging collective ways to address mutual community interests and concernsbuilding bridges of trust among Greensboro’s diverse residents

Kolb’s Learning Cycle

Having developed the model over many years prior, David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984. The model gave rise to related terms such as Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT), and Kolb's learning styles inventory (LSI). In his publications - notably his 1984 book 'Experiential Learning: Experience As The Source Of Learning And Development' Kolb acknowledges the early work on experiential learning by others in the 1900's, including Rogers, Jung, and Piaget. In turn, Kolb's learning styles model and experiential learning theory are today acknowledged by academics, teachers, managers and trainers as truly seminal works; fundamental concepts towards our understanding and explaining human learning behaviour, and towards helping others to learn. See also Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and VAK learnings styles models, which assist in understanding and using Kolb's learning styles concepts.

In addition to personal business interests (Kolb is founder and chairman of Experience Based Learning Systems), David Kolb is still (at the time I write this, 2005) Professor of Organizational Development at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, where he teaches and researches in the fields of learning and development, adult development, experiential learning, learning style, and notably 'learning focused institutional development in higher education'.

Organizational learning

is an area of knowledge within organizational theory that studies models and theories about the way an organization learns and adapts.

In Organizational development (OD), learning is a characteristic of an adaptive organization, i.e., an organization that is able to sense changes in signals from its environment (both internal and external) and adapt accordingly. OD specialists endeavor to assist their clients to learn from experience and incorporate the learning as feedback into the planning process.

Note a profound ambiguity in how the term adaptive system is used. The earliest system theorists studied self-regulating organic and mechanical systems in which a system "adapts" to environmental changes, acting so as to maintain its organization in a steady (viable) state. System theory was taken up in the humanities by those who use the term "adaptation" to mean how an organization evolves so as to produce desired outcomes (or even different outcomes chosen by the participants). When adaptation is used in the second sense, while the organization may continue under the same name, the nature of the system - its structure and behavior - changes. Successive incremental changes can lead to a radically different system