Limitations of change management models

Using the case as a basis for analysis, discuss the potential limitations of current change management models and processes in organisations with which you are.

This assignment is based on the case study organisations change.

Change is an organizational reality. External forces for change include the marketplace, government laws and regulations, technology, labour markets, and economic changes. Internal forces of change include organizational strategy, equipment, the workforce, and employee attitudes. Change is generally a response to some significant threat or opportunity arising outside of the organisation. According to Pettigrew (1999) Changes within an organisation take place both in response to business and economic events and to processes of managerial perception, choice and actions. Managers in this sense see events taking place that, to them, signal the need for change.

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The change faced by Power Co at the start of the project was because of the fact that it did not had any related experience in the design and implementation of similar projects (which involves a processing technology). This state could have cause difficulties of changing from the status quo as transformational and disorientation etc. This change was caused by the unfamiliarity and alienation of the new technology to the investment delivery team and operations. As the case studies civil engineers; electrical engineers appear not to have enjoyed quite the same status had to have substantial amount of information to take the investment decision which was of strategic importance.

Power Co tackled the above problem by recognizing the fact that the disorientation from the current technology can be eliminated by exploiting the knowledge base residing in the supply base Power Co developed a number of characteristics which eventually become its weakness. This was to have two tiers affect; firstly, it finds the solution of lack of prior knowledge of the change, secondly, it helps in making technologies were increasingly cost-competitive. According to Kellow (1996) described as a dam building organisation guilty of reverse adaptation, Power Co in a precarious in some work areas through loss of expertise and corporate knowledge the identification and the administration of knowledge within the Power Co business environment can be appropriately planned only if the characteristics and the needs of each particular firm are taken into consideration. In this context, the prior exploration of the business – and the market – environment is necessary in order to develop appropriate plans of action regarding the retrieval, the process and the distribution of knowledge within any modern organization. At a first level, it is necessary to identify the type of knowledge required for a specific firm. Towards this direction, it was noticed by Anand (2003, p15) that ‘the knowledge possessed by an organization and its members can be classified as explicit or tacit; explicit knowledge can be codified and communicated without much difficulty while tacit knowledge such as the manner of operating sensitive equipment or interpersonal skills-is not so easily articulated, as the case study power Co among the managerial class many were told that there was no position for them and they therefore elected to take a voluntary redundancy.

Bunker (2005, p12) the reasons for the development of the above phenomenon have not been identified yet. It seems that firms’ managers do not have the necessary learning in order to. Moreover, the study of Bunker (2005, p12) showed that ‘much of that failure stems from not understanding how to manage the structural side of change and the human dynamic of transition’. On the other hand, Katzenbach (1996, p149) noticed that ‘change efforts are often conceived as waves of initiatives that sweep through an organization from the top down, or the bottom up, or both, and flow across functions’. In other words, change initiatives – as most of the organizational plans – are not accepted by employees at least for a specific period. The specific issue was also highlighted by Huy (2002, p31) who supported that ‘fundamental change in personnel, strategy, organizational identity, or established work roles and interests often triggers intense emotions’. For this reason, it is necessary that firms’ managers make the necessary preparations before attempt any change within the organizational environment (preparation in this case could include the organizational audit, the identification of the position and the advantages of the competitors and the choice of the most cost-effective plans – identification of plans that are appropriate for the achievement of the various organizational targets but within a budget that will be set in advance by the firm’s managers.

These problems stem from employee perceptions about how they are treated at work and the match between individual and organization needs and desires. Dissatisfaction is a symptom of an underlying employee problem that should be addressed. Unusual or high levels of absenteeism and turnover also represent forces for change. Power Co

Management problem for those who genuinely embraced change and those who merely sought promotion and also there was a strategy of consultation and participation, individual examples emerged of staff feeling that, due to the end of building dams, a reduction in the workforce. Organizations might respond to these problems by using the various approaches to job design, by implementing realistic job previews, by reducing employees’ role conflict, overload, and ambiguity, and by removing the different stressors. Prospects for positive change stem from employee participation and suggestions.

The results revealed through most of the relevant studies reveal that change is not welcomed by employees in most organizations internationally as the case study there is strong feeling by Power Co that the changes of commercialisation were forced on the organisation and that staff had few alternatives other than to accept their fate, whenever the attempted changes have the consent of the employees – i.e. when they progress through the employees’ active participation, then their implementation is very likely to be successful. The specific issue was examined by Eoyang (2001,p5) who supported that ‘many organization change initiatives start at the top and deal strongly with any resistance from system agents that blocks progress; common ways of responding to resistance include downsizing, restructuring, and re-engineering’. Other methods for dealing with resistance developed within modern organizations regarding specific plans of change are also available to modern organizations. The choice of the method employed at each particular case belongs to the firm’s managers who will also identify the risks and the advantages related with the implementation of each relevant change. At was on the change to come, which omitted the historical context. The program was sophisticated, involving as it did newsletters, visits by the CEO, briefings for subordinate leaders and even a telephone hotline.

Moreover, The change faced by Power Co at the start of the shifted from civil engineering projects of building dams and power stations, to that of a business entity charged with the responsibility of providing to the government, as nominal owner, a return on investment was because of the fact that it did not had any related experience in the design and in the implementation of similar projects (which involves a competition from other electricity suppliers). This state could have cause difficulties of changing from the status quo as barrier and disorientation etc. This change was caused by the unfamiliarity and alienation of the new technology to the investment delivery team and the operations. Power Co had to have substantial amount of the information to take the investment decision which was of strategic importance in terms of its volume. Even if the policies applied on various organizational activities are appropriate regarding the targets set by the firm’s managers, in practice many of these policies have to be rejected as inappropriate if being evaluated regarding the resources required for their realization. It is for this reason that Greve (1998, p59) noticed that change initiatives could be characterized as ‘an outcome jointly determined by motivation to change, opportunity to change, and capability to change’. For this reason, before the implementation of any plan of change within a particular organization it is necessary that the entire organizational context is carefully reviewed taking into account the fact that the conditions in the market (as well as within the organization) can change at any time creating new terms regarding the success of any attempted change. The sector of organizational activities influenced by the specific plans cannot be precisely identified; it is very likely that different organizational sectors are targeted by each specific plan of change; the needs of the organization and the trends of the market are the main criteria for the relevant choice (plan of change applied on a specific organization). Towards this direction, it is noticed by Poole (1998, p45) that ‘when change is needed in an organization it is likely the learning or identity of the organization will be targeted for change; the transformed organization, whether it be minor (first-order change) or major (second-order change), will not be the same as its predecessor’. In other words, one of the most important consequences of plans of organizational change is that their effects on the various aspects of the organizational activities are likely to be permanent and extensive. By the attempted change, a new organizational environment is created; new organizational plans are then very likely to be implemented in accordance with the firm’s culture and characteristics and the market trends.

It should be noticed that the implementation of plans of change within modern organizations is a challenging task usually requiring an extensive net of reforms within the organizational body. Modern literature on organizational learning and change offers to the firms’ managers a series of theoretical models that can effectively support the relevant organizational initiatives. We could refer primarily to the models suggested by Fennell (1993, p90):

a) The strategic choice model (which is the one based in the changes happened to particular variables like the board composition and structure),

b) The population dynamics (which is influenced by the population level changes) and c) The change in technical and institutional environments (which are mainly refer to the regulatory change related with the operation of modern organizations).

Another model is the Collison and Parcell have developed their own model of organizational learning through which the knowledge management method that can be used for change, Capturing, sharing and exploiting knowledge, experience and good practices. Also Lewin’s (1958) change model, a systems model of change, and organization development. Exhibited, positive reinforcement is used to reinforce the desired. Additional coaching and modelling also are used at this point to reinforce the stability of the change.

Lewin`s model will be used in this paper in order to examine the organizational change. The identification of the potential weaknesses of the firm’s organizational change- using this model – will help towards the development of an appropriate plan of change – if considered as necessary – regarding the various activities of the specific firm The change at this level could have been a lack of flow of information to the organizational high level officials. Another issue was the absence of other electricity suppliers. The absence of competition produced a surreal climate of merely preparing for a possibility rather than a reality in the organization. Still another was the identification of the integration issues between the other parts of the organization and the management e.g. changes in the company wide operating procedures, as the case study that restructuring was seen as necessary by both senior management various consultants the pre-existing structure were never Cleary identified or articulated. The higher level management did not considered the project to be of strategic importance in the sense that it does not intend to operate similar projects in the future. So they decided only to be concerned with business level issues and operational problems were left to the ad-hoc local solution (e.g. the external environment dos not remain stationary during the period of implementing change and the internal re-configuration may impact upon the style and context of change being pursued by the organization itself ).

Unfreezing

The focus of this stage is to create the motivation to change. In so doing, individuals are encouraged to replace old behaviours and attitudes with those desired by management. Managers can begin the unfreezing process by disconfirming the usefulness or appropriateness of employees’ present behaviours or attitudes.

Due to the nature of industry, in which Power Co is operating, the initial teething problems are very significant and change tends to have substantial inefficiencies in the start. The reason being obviously the complexity of the system this change can cause project failure economically if not managed properly and change is not improved as early as possible. Power Co made a less than successful attempt at this when senior management realised that there were some dysfunctional consequences of the commercialisation structure of 1992. The Solution adopted solution to this problem was the establishment of change teams were the focal point of commercialisation but enthusiasm faded as their work fell into disarray in some areas which was to facilitate a joint effort at change through identification of operational problems and developing solutions to them.

Changing

Because change involves learning, this stage entails providing employees with new information, new behavioural models, or new ways of looking at things. The purpose is to help employees learn new concepts or points of view. Role models, mentors, experts, benchmarking the company against world‑class organizations, and training are useful mechanisms to facilitate change.

Appointing a person called Project sponsor having knowledge about the operations to oversee the project from the feasibility to the implementation. They were treated operationally as separate mutterers. After dam construction ceased, the workfares was decimated, many were forced redundancies due to the winding-down of dam construction, but others left as a matter of choice. This makes the project more stable operationally in the long run as the operational aspects of the system are conveyed to the delivery team during change stage. Failure to perform organizational impact analysis the organizational impact analysis studies the way a proposed transformational change the organization will be dominated by its civil engineering and the electrical engineers appear not to have enjoyed quite the same statues. This was due to the fact that the engineering problems were civil rather than electrical would affect organization structure, attitudes, decision making and operations. The analysis aims to ensure the change best to ensure integration with the organization.

Refreezing

Change is stabilized during refreezing by helping employees integrate the changed behaviour or attitude into their normal way of doing things. This is accomplished by first giving employees the chance to exhibit the new behaviours or attitudes.

This would have triggered the collaboration process. A flexible management approach was adopted to improve collaboration by giving the staff shifts, autonomy in their work practices. Afterwards staff rotation was made which motivated the employees to share their experiences. The resultant best practices were accumulated and formally documented after reasonable time by the operations managers Power Co moved through a damaging period of controversy over the natural environment and excessive reiteration of past problems could have had a negative impact on moral. Issues to relate to refreezing failed to arise because of the continuing state of flux after commercialisation and the rapid replacement of staff who left. The above directly fulfilled project objectives of being manageable in the long run (as issues being managed efficiently) and flexibility by providing the different views through joint learning. It also indirectly helped in achieving the project objective of being economic by reducing project risk. The above directly could have fulfilled project objectives of being safe and secure (by providing the staff the required help needed for the operations). It also indirectly helped in achieving the project objective of being economic (by increasing the staff efficiency).

Conclusions

The presentation of all the above issues proves that the knowledge management systems implemented by the particular organization have been carefully chosen in order to ensure the achievement of the organizational aims. The divorce of the business commitment to embracing the all issues of the project acted as a change for complete integration of technology into the organization. Commitment to the change must be universal including all involved. Senior management must demonstrate commitment in the allocation of resources required (people, money, time etc) to achieve change. The argument given was that the management did not intend to operate similar projects organizational impact analysis studies the way a proposed transformational change the organization will be dominated by its civil engineering and the electrical engineers appear not to have enjoyed quite the same statues other than this one in the future might not have sufficed as it could have render the change ineffective in terms of achieving its objectives of being economic and manageable over the planning. By doing so some issues might have come to the management attention so late that the project failure could have occurred This lack of commitment might have been caused by the inherent characteristics of the capital goods industry which view the knowledge management as hamstrung due to structural fragmentation inherent in the organization, the one-off nature of the projects, the presences of the culturally disparate professions and the low level of trust.