BSA 343
1. Change is the introduction of something that is unusual in the normal way of life. There are different types of changes such as change in an organization, changes in the way of life, and many others. The introduction of change in any institution commonly faced with many challenges as it usually result in a different mode of doing things that an individual is not used to doing. In order to identify the barriers to change, an individual should first look on how other people perceive the change, how willing they are adopting it, the effects that are associated with change.
Some of the major barriers of change results from an individual perception of the change. Change usually removes us from our zone of comfort it usually takes time before, and individual adapts the new routine. Example of a change in an organization may result to some of the employees to become unemployed because of adopting new technology will result to the company looking for qualified person and technicians that have knowledge in the new change of technology. Change is also expensive, and this is one of the key barriers to it. The cost of implementing the change or acquiring the change is usually expensive.
2. Some of the ways that the management can use to empower the employees in adopting changes is to educate them about the importance of the change. It will help them understand that the main reason of the change. It will guarantee them of their job security, thus, reducing the interest of conflict between the management and the employees. The management can also use influence to enforce change.
The use of positive influence such as using the employees who are influential in the informal groups to make the others accept the change. It can be beneficial to the organization, as it will face fewer challenges and resistance in adopting the change, thus, making it easy for the employees to adopt. There can also be negative an empowerment of change such as the use of coercion in implementing the change. It is where the management introduces change and implements it with force. Coercion is usually accompanied by the use of threats and force as the employees who resist are threatened to be sucked. Resistance commonly faces this type of empowerment of which is slow. The results of the change usually take time before they are noted.
3. Kotter ideas on ways of creating a win includes that, change is only constant. He presumes that whatever people believed to be true in the past two thousand years is still what people think is true currently. He explains that the current world is about business, which keeps on adopting the emerging technology that will enable them to be ahead of their competitors. He states that individuals know that there is a need for change to happen, but they always face difficulties in determining how to go about the change, where they should start and the right personnel that they should involve and ways in which they will adopt changes to the end.
The second idea of cotter is that there is always a need to create urgency. He explains that in order for change to happen, is important to determine if the whole company needs a change. The management should create urgency in developing the change as it may help with the motivation of adopting the change. The management of an organization should open up to the employees about the market competition that is taking place in the existing market and this, will make the employees to start talking about the change, thus, creating the urgent need of adopting change.
Short-term targets are also important as they can be achieved with very little chances of failing to achieve them. Even though the changed team may be forced to work hard in order to achieve the short-term targets, once they achieve it they will be motivated. It will enable them to work even harder in order to achieve the long-term goals. The managers should not declare victory early as this might cause the change to fail. The organization must first build up the change before declaring a win. Finally, the change should be incorporated into the organizational culture. It is because the culture of an organization usually determines what happens in an organization. The management should ensure that effort is made to ensure that the change implemented is seen in every aspect in the organization.
4. There are several ways in which an organization can reward its employees. This can be done through the provision of incentives for the best performing employees, salary increment and promoting the juniors into the senior position. Promoting the performing employees in an organization will ensure the other employees are working hard since they will believe the upward movement in the organization is practical. The organization can also delegate some authority to the skilled employees. It will ensure that these employees who are result oriented to carry out certain obligations without supervision and they may also do it in the manner they want as long as the result will be visible and admirable.
Vocational training of the employees is also a key role to be played by the organization in rewarding the employees. It will ensure that the employees have the required skills to perform the tasks that have been delegated to them. The employees will also have confidence in the way they are carrying out their work. Bad bosses can be a key challenge in an organization, especially in the performance of the employees. Bad bosses can cause much stress to the subordinates. In dealing with bad bosses, the employees should do what is required of them, and they can even form informal groups that will help them in airing their views.
5. In certain situations, there may be failures of not adopting the required change. This can be because of opposition and resistance from the team members, lack of the required skills to implement the change and the cost of bringing change. Usually, change is perceived to be expensive, thus making it hard to adopt it. Example is that of a brewing industry that wishes to adopt new technology into the organization that will help in boosting the level of production thus increasing the level of sales.
For this to happen, the company will require adequate funds to purchase the new machines and the capital to recruit and train the required personnel who will be responsible in the operation of the plants. Consolidating change can be important as it may help in bringing new changes into the organization. It can be done by the company adopting the changes slowly in different departments that may eventually end up influencing the whole market change for the company’s products.
6. The agents of change in an organization are usually critical in the manner in which the change will be implemented and the manner in which the change will be perceived by the organization. The agents of change should show both the social skills and the technical skills that they posses. On the technical level, they must have knowledge of the whole process of change. They should also be familiar with the expected changes in the process.
This will enhance credibility in the organization. The social skills of the agents are also important in influencing the team members in adopting the change. The leaders should be able to communicate what is required of the employees. They should also be able to understand the displace of the organization and the interactions among the team members that will ensure the proposed change is easily adopted and implemented efficiently.
7. An organization's culture is the tradition that governs the organization. It is a manner in which an organization does its operations. Changing the culture of an organization is usually difficult as many of the members of the organization are usually incorporated into the culture once they have been introduced into the organization.
An example of an organization culture in the manner in which the employees are expected to work. It can be illustrated in a company where the employees are expected to report to work from Monday to Saturday. It will be the organizational culture of the company and an attempt to make the employees report to work on Sunday instead of Saturday will face lots of resistance and challenges.
8. Changing the culture of an organization, Kotter explains that the organization must first build up the change before declaring a win. Finally, the change should be incorporated into the organizational culture. It is because the culture of an organization usually determines what is done in an organization. The management should ensure that effort is made to ensure the change implemented is seen in every aspect in the organization. Short-term targets are important as they can be achieved with very little chances of failing to achieve them. Even though the changed team may be forced to work hard in order to achieve a short-term targets, once they achieve it they will be motivated. It will enable them to work even harder in order to achieve long-term goals. The managers should not declare victory early as this might cause a change to fail.
9. The management style has tremendously changed in between the twentieth century and the twenty-first century. Even though the manager is in charge of the operations of the organization, the 21st century is characterized with different type of management skills. It includes the bottom line management. The visionary management style. The type of management has the key role of providing long-term objectives and the visions to the subordinates.
The affiliate management style. The affiliate style creates a harmonious objective between the employees and the management. It is because it emphasizes on the point that the employees come first before the tasks. The 20th century was characterized with management styles such as the directive management style. The style was coercive and the key role of the management style was immediate cooperation of the employees.
10. Kotter explains about a visionary leadership. The management should also communicate the vision of the company to the employees, and the vision should be a vision of change. It is because a clear vision helps the subordinates in understanding the reason why the management is asking them to do something. It will also make them achieve the vision, as they will be in a position to see what is required of them. The manager should then communicate the vision and help in removing the obstacles that the organization will face as it tries to achieve its goals.
11. Cooperation is a person that can be sued. Therefore, members do make collective decisions, which may negate the society. Collectivism is, thus, a problem in cooperation’s just as it to the society. Individuals and directors can never make their own decisions without confirming from the other members. Therefore, the time to implement a plan is always delayed since every member has to confirm its worth.
12. According to Kotter, an organization can embrace the future by ensuring that the changes that are implemented by the organization are built up before the management of the organization declares a success in the change. The management should use the short term projects in establishing the changes. It is because short-term projects can easily be achieved and as a result, the employees will be motivated by the results.
