Institute of Management and Technical Studies: Managing Change
Change management overview
The current global organisational changes threaten to make yesterday’s managers outdated. However, awareness of the changes and how to take advantage of them offer tomorrow’s managers countless opportunities. Even though the nature of managerial function varies across organisations and changes continually, one general thread pervades nearly all managerial activities.
Therefore, the behaviours of people and management processes in firms are closely intertwined (Scheffknecht, 2011, p.74). Besides, changes that take place in all organisations are globally recognised phenomena. For organisations such as the Institute Of Management and Technical Studies (IMTS) to survive in the current competitive market, they are compelled to adapt regularly to meet the changing environmental demands.
As a result, various models processes and theories have been highlighted to help organisations like the IMTS manage change.
Kurt Lewin Classical Model
Managing change is an individual and organisation’s orderly approach in dealing with revolution. Change management engrosses the skills needed by managers and leaders for competency. According to Kurt Lewin, the theory of change entails three stages, namely refreezing, change (transition) and unfreezing stages. Refreezing means the establishment of a sense of balance through supporting the stability of new patterns in the organisation. Whereas, unfreezing submits to the formation of discrepancy professed between the ultimate and existing state of the institution (Odagiu & Piţurlea, 2012). Literature shows that this model could help IMTS in generating aspiration for change and lowers employees’ and students opposition to change.
The change management stage is usually unpredictable since the outcome of change made may not turn out as expected. Once the changes have been made and acknowledged, people should get used to the new set up, and everything should be stabilised. This could go on for some time, as the IMTS community will have to develop new acquaintances from what they previously had. The IMTS management must have the desired change supported to ensure that people do not withdraw from the change process.
Although the desired change is important, the organisational members frequently resist it. Resistance occurs given that changes need the existing organisational and personal characteristics adjustment. Therefore, there is a need for communication by IMTS leaders before the execution of change in this organisation.
In fact, for a chance to be governed or managed successfully, the change strategy should involve collective assessment, support, revelation and motivation, contribution, and distribution of such information among IMTS workforce. For a chance to be effective, employing proper communication strategies is important. Creating and communicating visions as well as considering the management of content and style of communication should be part of the change management strategy (Padar, Pataki & Sebestyen, 2011).
Kotters change management steps
The model shows the importance of managing change and the process that occurs under different phases.
Making the change to last and not giving up
Change management is deemed important, given that it helps leadership teams to keep that change a continuous process. For a chance to be deemed successful at IMTS, the process must entail repeated training and shaping of new employees around the intended change. Besides, change management should assist leaders in recognising and valuing top contributors for it to be sustained. It will further enable contributions to the ongoing change by creating replacement plans.
Generating wins
Leaders can easily get discouraged when employees are not responding to change initiatives. Thus, for IMTS change management process to be successful, leaders should break down this process into stages to motivate the employees to reach their targets. Managing change will thus enable IMTS leaders to look inexpensive, and pick the preferred projects that can keep the organisation in momentum.
Workforce diversity is also a big challenge to managers wishing to change an existing organisational culture in order to generate wins. While the organisation is legally and socially committed, it must include employees from different environments. Some organisations in the industry are not sensitive to the diversity issue, while others have overemphasised on the issue. The demographic composition of workers has changed considerably meaning that IMTS managers must address this cause when fostering or changing organisational culture to have desirable change outcome.
Removal of the obstacles
Change management helps leaders to be in a position to understand the change management arc. They will be able to recognise the existing natural barriers to change and plan on the actions needed to overcome them. Therefore, IMTS leaders should use change management curve in operation and programs to prepare for the employees’ discrepancy and adaptability (Mantere, Schildt & Sillince, 2012). The strategy makes it possible to help individuals under pressure to adjust to the implemented changes.
One element of organisational culture that firms have focused on is innovation. Almost every organisation creates a culture that might make the employees more creative. Organisational learning may only occur if the employees can manage knowledge and information to obtain a better understanding of the need to change.
In the industry, most organisations are increasingly operating in uncertain, decentralised, and networked environments where the adoption of creative ideas has become essential to organisational change. Indeed, organisational cultures institutionally shape the way firms choose to use technology and add innovatively new ideas. When the organisational culture is supportive, the probability of innovating and adopting new ideas is substantially higher (Nasim & Shusim, 2011). Unfortunately, most organisations do not have a supportive culture that can enhance the willingness of employees to innovate and adopt new technologies.
Vision creation
Change management helps leaders to create and place a vision statement in action. In fact, through change management, IMTS leaders can nurture the employees’ behaviour around the mission.
Communication for buying in
Powerful and frequent communications by IMTS leaders could keep the message in line with the organisational goals and vision. IMTS thus must communicate effectively for change to be accepted and embraced by those involved.
Building a team for change management
Organisations do have strong change leaders who succeed vision for change. IMTS leaders must run, influence, and can create and utilise authority in the change management procedure. Change management continuously put together the necessity and impetus around the need for revolution. IMTS management must recognise true leaders, expand learning programs and appraise their effectiveness and faults through change management. Moreover, they should work on team building and request for emotional commitment informing the change coalition (Marwah, 2011).
Organisational culture, the general social and cultural environments appear to interlock in that people enter organisations from surrounding societies and bring their culture and social life with them. Therefore, the changing social and cultural environment influences corporate culture and is a big challenge to managers endeavouring to change corporate culture. Managers must be responsive to those changes that take place in the surrounding societies as they affect all aspects of the corporate culture. Most corporate managers, however, have little knowledge about those changes and can hardly build a decisive team for change management (Mohanty & Rath, 2012).
Creating a sense of urgency
Change management helps leaders to convince those involved that the change is necessary. When the goal is achieved, it becomes a catalyst for change in an organisation like IMTS. Leaders can effectively make employees understand the change process through such an initiative. The employees will be able to exchange ideas amongst themselves to realise change. All these enable leaders to get ease in motivation, organisation, implementation, and consolidation of change (Battilana & Casciaro, 2012).
References
Mantere, S, Schildt, H & Sillince, J 2012,’Reversal of strategic change’, academy of Management Journal, vol.55, no.1, pp.173-196.
Marwah, G 2011, Change management: exploring the understanding of an organisation’s capacity to change in Atkins and Rio Tinto, GRIN Verlag, Munich, Germany.
Odagiu, C & Piţurlea, M 2012, ‘Organisational change management. a cultural approach’, Scientific Research & Education in the Air Force – AFASES, pp.157-163.
Padar, K, Pataki, B & Sebestyen, Z 2011, ‘A comparative analysis of stakeholder and role theories in project management and change management’, International Journal of Management Cases, vol.13, no.4, pp.252-260
Scheffknecht, S 2011, ‘Multinational enterprise-organisational culture vs. national culture’, International Journal of Management Cases, vol.13, no.4, pp.73-78.