MGT100 Organization and
Management
Topic XII
Organizational Change
• Content
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Categories of change
Forces for change
Change process
Resistance to change
Making changes in the organization
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Categories of change
• Definition of change
• Categories of change
– Structure
– Technology
– People
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What is Change?
• Organisational change
– Any alterations in the people, structure, or
technology of an organisation
• Characteristics of change
– Is constant yet varies in degree and direction
– Produces uncertainty yet is not completely
unpredictable
– Creates both threats and opportunities
• Managing change is an integral part
of every manager’s job
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Forces for change
• External forces
• Internal forces
• Manager as a change agent
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Forces for Change
• External forces
• Internal forces
– Marketplace
– Changes in
organisational
strategy
– Governmental laws
and regulations
– Technology
– Labor market
– Economic changes
– Workforce
changes
– New equipment
– Employee
attitudes
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The Manager as Change Agent
• Change agents
– People who act as catalysts and assume
the responsibility for changing process
are called change agents.
• Types of change agents
– Managers: internal entrepreneurs
– Non-managers: change specialists
– Outside consultants: change
implementation experts
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Making changes in the
organization
• Planned changes
• Organization development
• Organization development techniques
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Survey feedback
Process consultation
Team-building
Intergroup development
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Change process
• “Calm Water” metaphor
• “White-Water Rapids” metaphor
• Handle change
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Change Process Viewpoints
• The calm waters metaphor
– Lewin’s description of the change process as a
break in the organisation’s equilibrium state
• Unfreezing the status quo
• Changing to a new state
• Refreezing to make the change permanent
• White-water rapids metaphor
– The lack of environmental stability and
predictability requires that managers and
organisations continually adapt (manage change
actively) to survive
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The Change Process
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Managing Change
Three categories of change
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Organisational Development Techniques
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Resistance to change
• Reason to resist change
Fear of
the unknown
Fear of losing
something of value
Individual
resistance
Belief that
Change is not good for
the organization
• Techniques for reducing resistance
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Managing Resistance to Change
• Why do people resist change?
– The ambiguity and uncertainty that change
introduces
– The comfort of old habits
– A concern over personal loss of status, money,
authority, friendships, and personal convenience
– The perception that change is incompatible with
the goals and interest of the organisation
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Using Force Field Analysis
• Kurt Lewin proposed that two sets of
forces operate in any system.
• Driving forces (encourage change)
• Resisting forces (discourage change)
• Equilibrium is when the forces are balanced
against each other.
• To make change managers may need to
maximise driving forces and minimise
resisting forces.
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Techniques to reduce
resistance to change
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Education and communication
Participation
Facilitation and support
Negotiation
Manipulation and co-optation
Coercion
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Contemporary issues in
managing change
• Changing organisational cultures
– Cultures are naturally resistant to
change.
– Conditions that facilitate cultural
change:
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The occurrence of a dramatic crisis
Leadership changing hands
A young, flexible, and small organisation
A weak organisational culture
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How can cultural change be
accomplished?
• Conduct a cultural analysis to identify cultural
elements needing change.
• Make it clear to employees that the organisation’s
survival is legitimately threatened if change is not
forthcoming.
• Appoint new leadership with a new vision.
• Initiate a reorganisation.
• Introduce new stories and rituals to convey the new
vision.
• Change the selection and socialization processes and
the evaluation and reward systems to support the
new values.
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Managing the downsized workplace
Managing the
downsized workplace
Open and honest communication
Assistance to ‘downsized’ workers
Help for survivors of downsizing
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Handling employee stress
• What is stress?
– Stress
• The physical and psychological tension an individual
feels when confronted with extraordinary
demands, constraints, or opportunities and their
associated importance and uncertainties.
• Functional Stress
– Stress that has a positive effect on performance.
– How potential stress becomes actual stress
• When there is uncertainty over the outcome.
• When the outcome is important.
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Causes of stress
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Symptoms of stress
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Issues in managing change
• Reducing stress
– Engage in proper employee selection
– Match employees’ KSA’s to jobs’ TDR’s
– Use realistic job interviews for reduce
ambiguity
– Improve organisational communications
– Develop a performance planning program
– Use job redesign
– Provide a counseling program
– Offer time planning management
assistance
– Sponsor wellness programs
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Issues in managing change
• Making change happen successfully
– Embrace change—become a changecapable organisation.
– Create a simple, compelling message
explaining why change is necessary.
– Communicate constantly and honestly.
– Foster as much employee participation as
possible—get all employees committed.
– Encourage employees to be flexible.
– Remove those who resist and cannot be
changed.
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Characteristics of changecapable organisations
• Link the present
and the future.
• Ensure diverse teams.
• Make learning a
way of life.
• Shelter breakthroughs
• Actively support
and encourage
day-to-day
improvements and
changes.
• Encourage mavericks.
• Integrate technology.
• Build and deepen trust.
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Stimulating innovation
• Creativity
– The ability to combine ideas in a unique
way or to make an unusual association.
• Innovation
– Turning the outcomes of the creative
process into useful products, services,
or work methods
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Systems view of innovation
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Innovation variables
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Stimulating and nurturing
innovation
• Structural variables
– Adopt an organic structure
– Make available plentiful resources
– Engage in frequent inter-unit
communication
– Minimize extreme time pressures on
creative activities
– Provide explicit support for creativity
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Stimulating and nurturing
innovation (cont’d)
• Cultural variables
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Accept ambiguity
Tolerate the impractical
Have low external controls
Tolerate risk taking
Tolerate conflict
Focus on ends rather than means
Develop an open-system focus
Provide positive feedback
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Stimulating and nurturing
innovation (cont’d)
• Human resource variables
– Actively promote training and
development to keep employees’ skills
current.
– Offer high job security to encourage
risk taking.
– Encourage individual to be “champions”
of change.
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