Essay Title - Change Future Organisations: Change Management
1. Introduction
"In today’s increasingly uncertain, competition and fast moving world, companies must rely more and more on individuals to come up with new ideas, to develop creative response and push for changes before opportunities disappear or minor irritants run into catastrophes. Innovation whether in products, market strategies, technological processes or work practices are designed not by machines but by people". Kanter R (1977). Rosabeth Moss Kanter is Class of 1960 Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Active as an adviser to bile-chip companies and other major organisations, she was the founder of the Boston management consulting firm Goodmeasure. She is the author of eight books, including the best –selling Men and Women of the corporation, winner of the 1977. (www.drfd.hbs.edu – 2007). This report examines following Rosabeth Moss Kantar’s Statement. "Today’s corporate elephants must learn how to dance as nimble and speedily as mice". Also look at key drives of this statement. To support this statement, different change management theories are used
2. An uncertain future
Most of the people suggest a sense of uncertainty about market, demand, the ability to attract the type of labour required and whether employment will increase or decrease an environment where the winds of change come in short, unpredictable gusts (Strebel P 1992). If creativity and innovation and working in term to solve complex problems are indicative of the organisation quit likely already moved into value-oriented time Organisation life today agrees that it is becoming ever more uncertain as the pace of change quickens and the future becomes more unpredictable. Academics and business people alike echo this. For instance, looking ahead to the future, Drucker, writing in 1998, maintained that 20 years hence organisations would be almost wholly information based and they would resemble more a symphony orchestra than the command and control, managed structures prevalent in the last decade with this as one example of the way organisation might change in the future.
3. The Nature of Change
Change in organisations is really the norm today. Organisations are influenced by a multitude of factors, which are influenced by both the internal and external environment. Change in organisations does not happen in a vacuum. If nothing happened to disturb organisational life change would be very slow and, perhaps, merely accidental. However, commentators on organisational life have evidenced that the pace of change is accelerating and all organisations, if they are to benefit form continued survival, must be prepared not only to respond to, but to anticipate, change.
These are some of characteristics of modern-day changes.
- Change is vital if a company is to avoid stagnation
- Change is a process and not an event
- Change is normal and constant
- The pace of change has increased and is likely to increase further in our fiercely competitive business world and with the speed of technological development.
- Change can be natural, that is evolutionary or adaptive that is a reaction to external circumstances and pressures.
- Change can be directive that is implemented by top-down management or participative that is involving those parties impacted by the change.
- Change can be incremental, that is continuous small changes or step, that is a radical shift from current to new processes.
- The impact of change is not entirely predictable, change is untidy and planned change often needs adjustments in the light of experience and experimentations. (Pettigrew A & Whipp R 1991)
4. Key drives of the statement
If carefully look at this statement again, Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1989) argues that: "today’s corporate elephants must learn how to dance as nimbly and speedily as mice’. In this statement, the word "today" gives a big meaning. Kanter argues this statement in 1989 but it is still if read gives the word "today" it means its value everyday/ modern days. Also another word is "corporate elephant"it gives a big picture. Corporate elephant means large. Therefore corporate elephant is similar to large organisations. Finally, Kanter emphasises in this statement all about changes. Because of every day changes, all organisations need to know how to react efficiently and effectively to the change. That’s why Kanter emphasises because of changes all must learn how to dance as nimbly and speedily as mice.
The above statement emphasises the following key drives.
- Pace of change
- Recognising change
- Acceptance of change
- Implementing change
- Flexibility
- Situational
- Competition
- Adaptation
- Increasing range of strategies.
- Increases innovation.
5. A force field theory
Developed in the 1960s, force field analysis is based on the ideas that, in any change situation, there are forces supporting change and forces opposing it. The theory which the techniques is based, implies that when the balance of the two sets of forces is equal, no change need will occur. Thus it is argued that, if change is desired, the forces supporting change need to be strengthened and those opposing change weakened.
Paton and McCalman (2000) suggest that force field analysis, as well as operating as a technique in its own right, can be incorporated into change situation. The result of such analysis helps in deciding the extent to which an organisation is opened or closed to change. In this respect also, Strebel (1992) offers the following advice.
Look for closed attitudes by examining what processes are in place for bring new ideas into the industry, company or business unit, especially at the highest levels and by probing whether management is aware of the change forces.
Look for an entrenched culture by examining what processes are in place for reflecting on value and improving behaviour and skills, and by enquiring to what extent behaviours and skills are adapted to the forces of change.
Look for rigid structure and systems, by examining when the organisation business system, the stakeholders resources and the industry last changed significantly and by enquiring to what the structure and systems are capable of accommodating the force of change.
Look for counterproductive change dynamics by examining whether historical forces of change are driving the business and by enquiring to what extent the historical force of change have become the new force of resistance.
Assess the strength of the overall resistance to change by examining to what extent the various forces of resistance are correlated with one another and by describing the resistance threshold in term of power and resources needed to deal with the resistance.
5.1 Causes of resistance change
For the management of any organisation that is reacting to or planning for change there will be forces acting to facilitate the change and force acting against it. Although these forces are important for any type of change, they become particularly important in the context of frame-breaking or transformational change.
The forces for changes are listed below and categorized into external and internal forces. The forces against change are categorized into individual and organisational responses. Yet another distinction that could be made is between those forces which prevent a new perspective being formed and prevent implementation of change once the intention for change is known. (Ginsbery and Abrahamson, 1991)
Driving forces for change Resistant forces
External force/Individual resistance
- Role of the state * fear of the unknown
- Social pressures * surrounding change
- Changing technology * potential loss of power base
- Constraints from suppliers * potential loss of current skills
- Stakeholders demand * potential loss of rewards
- Customer needs
Internal forces/Organisational resistance
- organisational growth *inertial forces deriving from group
- pressures for increased performance norms
- managerial aspirations * potential loss of group norms
- political coalitions *lack of organisational capability
- Restricting *lack of resource allocations.
(www.soi.org– 2007)
In order to minimise the problem of change should seek to create
- An environment of trust and shared commitment
- To involve staff in decisions and actions which affect them
- To ensure full and genuine participation of all staff.
- To create a co-operative spirit among staff.
A genuine feeling of shared involvement will help create a grater willingness to accept change to design a personnel management action plan.
6. Adapting to change
There are two main approaches applied to organisations. The planned approached. Kurt Lewin in the 1940s, viewed organisational change as essentially a process of moving through pre-planned steps. Second approach is emergent approach. This approach is based on start from the assumption that change is continuous, open-ended and unpredictable process. According to Pettigrew (1990) he argued that the planned does not pay enough attention to the need to analyse and conceptualise organisational essential change.
7. Implementing change
Most probably to implement to change need some kind of leadership. Leadership is an essential key word to include if wants to describe change, because leadership is "the relationship through which one person influences the behaviours or actions of other people.
Kanter developed one of the most famous theories about change. According her, she wrote down the Ten Commandments for executing change. They are
1. Analyse the organisation and its need for change
Create a shared vision and common direction
Separate from the past
Create a sense of urgency
Support a strong leadership role
Line up political sponsorship
Craft an implementation plan
Develop enabling structures
Communicate, involve people, be honest
Reinforce and institutionalise change.
8. Learning
Learning plays a key role in preparing people for and allowing them to cope with change. There are several principal theories about learning which are developed by the leading behaviourists. Such as Waston .B (Law of exercise and association), Pavlov .I (Theory of classcail conditioning). Change can be managed by continuous learning. Peter Senge define a learning organisations as one "where people continually expand their capacity to create the result they truly desire".
9. Management and Organisation
Change will invariably impact the roles of management and the structure and operation of the organisations. Some of the most likely impacts of modern –day change are
- Senior management take a more strategic stance, encouraging opportunities for progress through innovation and recognising contribution to the achievement of business objectives.
- The role of line management shifts from that of autocrat to that of facilitator.
- Boundaries between jobs, divisions and departments become blurred.
- Increased harnessing of technology and improving processes reduce the total availability of jobs.
- Employees are required to be customer-facing in respect of activities and outputs.
10. Conclusion
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is an internationally known business leader, award-winning author, and expert on strategy, innovation, and the power to change. She is the Ernest L Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and an Advisor to major corporations and government entities worldwide. In this report look at her argument of "today’s corporate elephants must learn how to dance as nimbly and speedily as mice" gave opinion of the key drivers of above statement.
The rate of change in organisations of all types seems to be every-increasing ,and can be difficult at times to know exactly what are the best techniques to apply in a particular situation.
Change can be planned, it quite frequently simply emerges. Whether planned or emergent, it takes a number of different forms, each of which requires a different type of action. While there is no one best way to achieve successful organisational change, marking efforts to understand the wide variety of change situations and to be familiar with members negotiate appropriate paths to change and therefore, face the future with some degree of confidence. There are key areas that should be considered in relation to the diagnosis, implementation and review of change situations.
11. Reference
Carnell C (1999) Managing Change in Organisations, 3rd edition, FT Prentice Hall
Ginsbery A and Abrahamson E (1991) Champions of change and strategic shift: the role of internal and external change advocates, journal of management studies, vol.28, no 2, pp. 137-90
Kanter R (1977) Men and Women of the corporation, New York: Basic Book.
Mabey C &Mayton –White B (1993) Managing Change, 2nd edition, Sage Publication
Newton J (1993) Obstructing and facilitating processes in strategic change, British Academy of Management
Paton R and McCalamn J (2000) Change Management: A Guide to effective implementation, London, Sage.
Pettigrew A & Whipp R (1991) Managing change for competitive success, T J Press Ltd
Strebel P (1992) Choosing the right path, Mastering Management part, 14, Financial Times, pp5-7
http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=ovr&facEmId=rkanter@hbs.edu [Accessed on 20 November 2007]
http://www.soi.org/reading/change/index.shtml [Accessed on 20 November 2007]
