Week Four Paper Keith Mc Auley June 27, 2011 Abstract Change is inevitable within every organization. The amount of change could be small or it could be large. However big the change, resistance can be minimal or massive. The organization should look inwards toward the potential obstacles to that change.
These obstacles may include resistance to two sources: individuals and the organizational structure. Both sources need careful consideration and planning. Haphazard change can be disastrous to an organization. Planned changed is always the best course.
Internal and External Forces of Change at Synergetic SolutionsSynergetic Solution faces three internal and external forces that may hamper change within the organization. Internal forces of change are: nature of the workforce, technology, and social trends. Synergetic Solutions task; remake the organization from a computer trader to a networking design firm. The first internal force of change is the nature of the workforce. The workforce must have the necessary skill sets to make this change.
If they do not, the organization must either retrain the workforce or hire the necessary people to make the change as efficient as possible.The internal technology of the organization at Synergetic Solutions must also change from the computer trading company to the network design company. Capital expenditures will need to occur, maybe mass retraining, and certification may need to occur. Social forces may also take place. Society has new ways to communicate, lifestyles once hidden are in the open, and smooth group movement toward the goal is never ensured. The external forces of change at Synergetic Solutions are very powerful.
The plans for the organizational change are just that, they have no assurances of success. External forces are waiting for even the slightest mistake.Three external forces of change are: economic shocks, competition, and world politics. Economic shocks take place every day. Success guarantees are not a given.
The change in direction at Synergetic Solutions is not guaranteed. This change may not take place in a fluid timely manner. It may never take place, or the result may not be recognized by the change agent. No matter how it happens, events like the rise and fall of the networking business or the collapse of the financial market may eliminate external sources of funding. Competition is another large external force. Synergetic Solutions may never retrain is current workforce.
The level of competition for the needed workforce may be too large or expensive. If Synergetic Solutions does not have a competent workforce the change may take too long during the time it retrains its current workers. World politics will also play a long role in the change at Synergetic Solutions. Additional employee costs in relation to health care may put undue stresses on the organization.
Also, foreign competitors for the same market may price Synergetic out of the market. Harold Redd Implements Change A Chief Executive Officer of any organization must first make sure his new course is viable.Can this new change of course, make the necessary impact without costing to much and make money in an organization that make have limited resources competing against itself. Once the product strategy is determined the forces of change for the organization must have precise examination. Planned change is the key here. The CEO and his team should examine the resistance to change.
Resistance to change comes from two sources, individual sources and organizational sources. Individual sources of resistance are: habits, security, economic factors, fear of the unknown, and selective information processing.Sources of individual resistance at Synergetic Solutions were primarily, habits, economic factors, and fear of the unknown. The employees did not respond as planned at Synergetic.
Sales are almost on mark, but absenteeism is a large concern. Projects were behind schedule, and employees did not accept the team-based structure readily. Continual rifts between team leaders and functional heads occurred constantly. The plan was re-evaluated and tools to overcome these resistances to change were put into effect by the team leaders.
Some of these tools involved employee education, communication, and participation.On the topic of education, employees were taught how to build support and commitment, develop positive relationships, and how to implement change fairly. All employees were educated to improve the workplace communication from top to bottom. Communication is the key to making the change smoothly. They needed to remove the previous misinformation and repackage the change so that everyone agreed that in needed accomplishing.
Upper management also needed to understand the dynamics of change within the organization. Two change models provided a fix to the change problem.The two are Kotter’s eight step-plan for implementing change and organizational development. In Kotter’s plan he suggests using an eight step plan that begins with a sense of urgency on why the change is needed. Something could be said along the line that we need to do this to survive.
Then Kotter suggests forming a strong coalition that can lead the change. The next step, develop a new vision for the change and strategies for achieving it. This step is followed by communication of the vision throughout the organization. Movement should focus on empowerment and creative problem solving.Kotter’s last three steps involve evaluation, any necessary changes, and incentives addressing the positives.
In organizational development, it borrows heavily from postmodern philosophy in placing heavy emphasis on the subjective ways in which people see their environments (Robbins & Judge, 2011). Organizational development focuses on the underlying values of: respect for people, trust, support, power equalization, confrontation, and participation. OD suggests that the organization will achieve success in the change, have respect for its people, trust and support.This characterizes the organization as one that cares for its people. Power equalization is an important element of OD.
The organization deemphasizes hierarchal power and control. The organization is looking toward change and empowerment of all employees is critical. With the new empowerment comes higher communication, and it may come in the form of confrontation. Confrontation must be addressed immediately. The end assumption of OD is a higher degree of participation. The workers as of present own the change.
Resistance to Change at Synergetic SolutionsChange does not come easy at Synergetic Solutions. They had five identifiable resistances to change. The first was the breaking of the habits. The employees were very resistant to changing their job functions and routines.
They also had economic fears. They wondered what would happen to them if they did not make the change. Maybe they could not do their new jobs. Their jobs were easier the way they were.
They also had a fear of the unknown. The fear of the unknown is commonplace for people starting new jobs. The employees were not new at Synergetic Solutions but their jobs would have new descriptions.Synergetic also had two organizational resistances to change; group inertia and threat to expertise. The group resisted the change.
They did not understand the new team dynamic in place. The employees wanted the status quo to remain the same. The threat to expertise came from two areas. The first was the existing employees were not trained for their new jobs. The second was that existing employees were to be supplanted with new employees who had the required skill sets.
Fortunately, Synergetic Solutions employed a knowledgeable change agent (consultant) that helped the COO.The consultant recommended a course of unfreezing the frozen structures at Synergetic. The unfreezing process was smooth because they established a sense of urgency by compelling a reason for the change needed. This process led to the forming of groups that led the change. These accomplished two things: created a new vision and familiarized the employees with working in groups. The change agent also developed plans to improve communications.
Other employees were empowered to act on the vision and remove barriers. This was able to get everyone involved.The change agent also recommended a system of rewards and incentives for the new teams. Employees were rewarded for short-term wins and how quickly they overcame problems and found solutions. The groups were constantly suggesting improvements and reassessing changes. This led them to new heights in communications.
The employees made adjustments when necessary. The new team environment at Synergetic Solutions knew the relationship of their behavior and the success of their company. References Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational behavior (14th ed.
). Upper Saddle References Robbins, S. P. , & River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall
