The Process Of Change In The Workplace

In recent years, changes in the economy and the business environment have forced some organisations to modify the way in which the business was transacted. It is the duty of the managers and supervisors to bring about changes to the organisation so as to face the competitive world and to have existence in the business world. It is important on behalf of the business unit to understand the importance of changes in the modern business world.(Burnes, 2004)

Organisations must to alter themselves in the business areas since eachday our world present new things kind of thing for us. And too all the big organizations have extensively choice of employee. So, organizations always have a intention and they can get their aims with their employee. Furthermore they have to know and understand them to get utmost success from them. In contrast , day to day the new employees are taking their position in the organizations but we can see simply many people who has different culture in the organizations. Consequently the subject is on that state of affairs, managers have to get a ample communication with them

As a consequently, the major reason of this assignment is How significant is it for managers have a good understanding of cultural diversity in the work place? Conversely , we will look at some communication hypothesis to hold up our main question.

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There is nothing in the world which is steady except for changes. So as to stay successful the organisations has to believe changes and stay on having ground-breaking thoughts to have competitive compensation over other firms in the competition. “Only the fittest organisation can survive ”- Charles Darwin and in the rivalry only those organisation can survive which adapts altering process. No business man is in the business to undergo losses.(Jaffe, 2004)

The organisational changes signifies main changes undertaken via an organisation quite than the pair of slight changes been undertaken by them for e.g. appointment or dismissal of employees otherwise making changes in the program, which might be in assignment of the company’s survival , reform operations, new technologies, mergers, major collaborations, novel programs which includes Sum Quality Management, re-engineering etc.

Alter is predictable in the modern workplace. Changes in technology, changes in procedure and changes in the market and the wider economy all present their own sole challenges to employers and the employees.

optimistic or pessimistic way . If the change is taken in a optimistic way than it is going to be in a great being for the firm. On the opposing if the employees takes the changes in a pessimistic way than it will be result the working of the organisation and the organisation will not be up to attain its preferred results.

Alter have been defined by many authors in numerous way . According to Laura and Harmony Staff (www.soi.org/reading/change/index.) Accessed on 18th April, 2008, “A concerted, planned effort to add to organizational effectiveness and health by means of changes in the organization’s dynamics using behavioural discipline information”

Changes in organisation comes in two levels: Level one, |Consulting to make changes in the row for organisation of a structural, rule or technical nature. Level Two, The purpose for one person or many people in the row organisation to have learned something new.( Carr, 1995)

There are several views about how organizations expand and change over time. In the 1970’s, Greiner recommended that, as organisations turn out to be additional grown up and possibly get bigger, they go through a number of important changes in order to maintain an satisfactory level of performance. There are five stages of organisation growth, and the change from one to the next is triggered by a disaster.

Change management is a methodical approach to dealing with change, both from the viewpoint of an organisation and on the individual level. A rather indistinc term, change management has at least three different aspects, counting: adapting to change, scheming change, and effecting change. A practical approach to commerce with change is at the centre of all three aspects. For an organisation, change management means important and implementing events or technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities. (Burnes, 2004)

Harrison complaint that there are a number of levels of intercession and that the depth of intercession have to be shallow as the problem permits.

Cognitive and irrational problem-solving techniques for instance those used in management accounting and operational research are located at the shallow end of the range of available strategies.

Manufacturing psychology based methods, focusing on the individual and their task relationships are at a rather deeper level and include occupation improvement and management by objectives (MBO)

At the sincer level are those instrumental approaches, which effort to change attitudes and social orientations as well as task-related behaviour. Organisational improvement is such an approach: see later in this chapter.

A lot of business managers center their alter efforts at a specific level within the organisation such as the level of the:

Individual; in the belief that organisational behaviour is determined by the characteristics of the a members. The aspire is a to develop personals skill levels, behaviour and motivation. Techniques employed incorporate education and teaching and management improvement.

Organisation of structure and systems; claiming that organisational behaviour is determined by characteristics of the organisational situation in which people work. The aspire is to direct member’s behaviour to organisational goals and techniques subsumption structural and technical modifications such as divisionalisation, matrices, size, jop redesign, reward systems and management by ojectives.

Organisational climate and interpersonal style; such managers believe that emotional and social processes, which characterise the relations among members, determine organisational behaviours. Their aims are to create system with a wide climate of high interpersonal trust and openness and a reduction in the dysfunctional consequences of excessive social conflict and competitiveness. The principal technique is organisation development.

Obviously no one level should be focused on exclusively and a balance of approaches should be the aim. (carr, 1995)

According to the Leavitt’s model of change management Leavitt argued that succeeded in one organisation were not necessarily successful in another. He suggests that the chosen approach to change in a particular organisation should reflect the underlying beliefs within that organisations.

Seeking improved solutions to tasks will be largely technical, that is seeking to improve the quality of decisions. The task approach, even were it involves clear changes of methods, is clearly interrelated to the other three approaches.

This approach covers: The traditional performance approaches of ensuring proper division of labour, levels of authority and responsibility, defining chain of command, span of control. Decentralisation, the creation of project centres and localising of decision-making creating a high level of local autonomy. Communication patterns, the consideration of communication channels and flows; thus for repetitious, predictable work a highly centralised communication structure seems most efficient, whereas for novel, loosely structured tasks, a more open multi channel communication network seems more appropriate.

Taylor’s Scientific Management is an early example of this approach category, which includes method study approaches where an outsider views the work pattern and suggests changes in a technological approach. Updating and replacement of equipment is a natural example of an external approach. The essence is that the approach occurs outside of the work group itself.(Jaffe, 2004)

Team working, approach preparation, changes in styles of organization are for instance of the people approach.

Each change can therefore be move toward through one of these main four methods other than it must be remembered that there is strong coaction between these categories. For instance , a change in technology ( introduction of a computer) will power tasks (production may be quicker or better) and a change in arrangement could mean less staff needed. A change in any category is likely to have an effect upon people approach.

According to the change theory of Kurt Lewin, who put forward ideas about how planned change should be introduce in an organisation. His views are from time to time called ‘prescriptive planned change theory’. A intended change procedur should begin with an analysis and diagnosis of the current situation, in order to recognize the sources of the problem and recognize the opportunities for improveme

The change procedur be supposed to experience three stages the first one is called as Unfreeze, second group considered as change and lastly it is named as Re-Freeze.

Unfreezing implies change will mean abandoning obtainable put into practice before the new practices are implemented successfully. In order to conquer resistance they should be allow to have their current behaviour which are being influence by them. Unfreezing will guide to formation of misgivings and the fear of the unknown. It will help to motivate the staff and overcoming the desirability of the fright situation of the staff. Managers can bring in the process of instruction and teaching at this phase. In this process communication plays an significant position. Managers should communicate to the staff who are going to sway these changes so as to help them to understand clearly the procedure of change and accepting it. Changes should be made understood to additional bet holders who are going to be affected by changes and the process of unfreezing their proves behaviour to helpful in adopting changes successfully. (Lewin, 1951)

Movement is the which procedure comes after the procedure of unfreezing which means touching from current position to the intended new changes responsibility. Management of this process involves wining the support of people who are affected in the process of change.

When we look at the helping point, manager should try to create contribution via others in the change process. It helps to decrease the resistance to change as well as become successful in adapting the changes and make it more successful. It will too help to develop communication of the cause for change and in knowing the cause so as to for the changes undertaken. In order to make change successful, there must be support from employees. Employees have to be convinced for successfully adapting

changes.

In the rule of Re-freeze, Lewin argued that even if the change is implemented successfully,the success could be short -lived because the employees might to back to their former behaviour and methods. An important way of making the change ‘stick’ is through the use of rewards. Motivation theory suggest that, “If individuals have strong need for reward, and if they see that they will probably achieve those rewards by acting in certain manner.”(Lewin 1951)

The re-freeze process is essential in order to stabilise the change and to reinforce the new pattern of the working or behaviour. An important way to undertake changes is y giving rewards. If the employees feel that they will receive rewards for sticking to act in the way managers want they will surely provide support in the changing process.

Reporting system are essential to provide better performance and in trying to ensure that the targets and the targets. The control system might use benchmarks in order to compare performance and the standard of performances as well as for specifying the responsibilities of key managers and the work groups.

|The following Examples will illustrate how this system works out: British Airways on becoming privatisation: From being bureaucratic public sector to commercial organisation which had to be serviced oriented having a market driven culture. Changes which were to be undertaken were reducing the strength of the organisation from 59,000 employees to 37,000 employees, flatten the hierarchical structure and introduce changes in the operational system and structures.(Slomon, 2004)

Now the following analysis will demonstrate the view of managers who work as managers in several Companies. However following questions were asked to the manager and taken their answers from their point of view on business change.

1. How is it important for managers to have greater understanding of the process of change in a work place?

“In recent years the banking and finance sector has been subject to great changes, specially because of the global credit crisis sparked by the sub-prime lending in the American Market. Due to these, it is essential for the line and cost centre managers to understand the drivers for changes as well as the processes that governs the changes.” says Peter Leach who work in FitchRating ltd as managing director. Basically he suggests that the process of change may adapt by itself in order to suit the circumstances. If managers do not understand the reasons for undertaking changes then they will not be able to meet the unforeseen challenges

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of change in the work place?

According to the John Lionson who is one of the change managers in HSBC group saying that “changes come in many form, say it might come in form of a major business change (takeover) or indeed in the senior management change which is quite often these days in the banking and finance sector. Advantages can be considered to be such which often brings challenges to the staff resulting in the innovation and new ideas. It may act as springboards for talented staff members and increase their efficiency and prove to be an asset for the firm. These changes can prove to be profitable as well as successful.”

3. How often a company should make changes in the working environment?

This question was answered by Peter Leach who told that this issue depends on the nature of the business. It is common in the field of banking and finance. It is common for the field of banking and finance to have major changes once in every 2 to 3 years. “This may not be applicable to public sectors wherein the changes are less common as well as subjected to external factors. It is said that changes should be undertaken whenever the need arises not for the sake for doing so.”

4. What are the factors that forces the company to make changes?

According to the answer of Ian Williams, works for Bizzforyou ltd as senior manager counted these in order which are, take over/mergers, major advantages in the technology, changing market place, foreign exchange factors, cost of materials, cost of resources and productivity.

5. How do you measure of the value change?

The only real values are share holders sentiments, profits and the stock market value of the company in the banking and finance sector. “While staff morale is important, it is likely that a company is likely to have a lower churn rate than a unsuccessful one.” added Peter Leach.

In my conversation, I observed that 50% of managers consider that change must be done equally among the staff, however, 80% of them mainly think that company can be successful if managers drive it in a correct way.70% of managers support the idea of changing process due to achieve the companies goals.

In conclusion, change can never be fully planned due to unexpected problems and follow on effects, many organisations are adopting a positive attitude to the need for change , Leavitt recognised four variables, which can be affected by change and claimed that these ‘entry points’ can be come specific targets for managerial efforts to instigate change. The variables are : task, structure, technology, people. With these process change can work out successfully in businesses.

REFERENCES:

Carr D, (1995) ‘Managing the Change Process: A Field Book for Change Agents, Consultants,’ Mcgraw hill professional, pp98-107

Jaffe D. (2004) ‘Managing Change at Work: Leading People Through Organizational Transitions’ Thompson Crisp Learning,pp45-56

Burnes B., (2004) ‘Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics’ Pearson education, pp358-376

Slomon, J.(2004) ‘Essantials of economics’ Printence Hill,pp89-103

Lewin, K.(1951) ‘Theory of Change’7th edition, pp105-112

PRIMARY DATA COLLECTIONS:

Peter Leach, Fitch Ratings, Managing the director.02074173504 e-mail: leach@fitchratings.com

John Lionson, HSBC group ,Change manager, 02074351976 e-mail: lionson@hsbc.co.uk

Ian Williams, Bizzforyou ltd, senior manager, 02081759091 e-mail:I.willims@bizzforyou.co.uk