Change is constant in life. It is a continuing, flawed, and emotional, natural process. Change can be prompted by external or internal factors. Change management is a critical area of attention for business growth and survival. Successful change in any organization necessitates the active involvement of the management. Change management is a planned method to altering teams, individuals, and organizations from a current condition to a preferred state. Change management is a systematic process as well as a competitive tactic. A change initiative starts with a vision. Vision defines the direction for the modification. Vision paints a compelling effort of the desired following condition. A strategy is needed to make sure that the vision is accomplished.
Most organizations are obliged to undertake changes so as to survive in the competitive business world. Teams are supposed to respond quickly to the national, local, and global uprising of new competition and technology for survival. Change management focuses on the populace, identity, and patterns of human interactions. Poorly developed strategies, least attention towards peoples' behavior, and lack of leadership focus on the complication of change cause ineffective change management. Individuals are the major actors in the sphere of intellectual capital. As a leader of change, therefore, one should converge on human aspects of change. Organizational change is a long-term task and complex.
According to Hayes, 2014 globalization has led to high-level competitions and contentions between and among organizations. The ever changing markets, rapid technological advancements, and high expectations of customers have forced organizations to reassess and reevaluate their operations and to adopt changes in their businesses in response to changing movements. A leader as a change agent can manage the process of organizational change successfully if he/she is competent. Organizational change demands a highly skilled and effectual leadership that is well capable of identifying the most desirable shape of an organization. Successful organizational change can lead to innovation for the organization, enhancing sustainability and success.
Organizational change serves as a connector between the diverse parts of a change process, assigning responsibilities, and establishing mechanisms for revision and review. Efficient planning and budgeting are required to make changes effective (Benn et al. 2014). Leadership is also necessary to secure employees' back into work and reap maximum advantages from change. Leaders are more effective during the process of change than managers. Leadership entails ambition, tenacity, realism, self-confidence, and dedication. Trust in top management and charismatic leadership is essential for effective change. The leader's insight, wisdom, and learning skills are significant aspects in the capacity to lead others to adopt redesign and change.
Successful organizational development is represented in the managerial leaders' attitudes. Leaders must comprehend the reasons for the failure of change in an organization. Leaders have to understand that shifts in an organizational are acknowledged and executed in a way resulting in better job performance and satisfaction. Leaders also have to demonstrate cognitive competencies that include creativity, critical thinking, strategic thinking, and analytical skills (Gayle et al. 2011). Leadership plays a vital role in implementing organizational changes by choosing the desired form of an organization and seizing the practical steps needed for the process. Change leader is associated with designed change and constructively handles the human emotions.
Organizational leadership is the capacity of management to get and defend the firms' benefits by realizing employees' needs and company targets and bringing them together to work in an improved environment to attain the common goals. Organizational sustainability and success cannot be accomplished without a strategic role of leaders. In the global competition, businesses have realized the need for an innovative approach and innovations in their business strategies and models. Innovation is a skill of responding to the technological and market challenges and the prospects of business for organizations in the most suitable way that can lead the teams towards long term success.
Change management is the core competency of business leaders in the twenty-first century. Employees' trust in top management and leadership style are highly linked to behavior involved in the implementation of innovations. Change management includes marketing and sales ability, communication skills, and leadership development. Deficiency in any of these skills may have an adverse bang on the effectiveness of change management process in an organization. Leaders and management must have to drive a supportive response to change from the stakeholders. Barriers to change management include incapability to adjust one's management style and the absence of clear understanding of change accomplishment methods.
Organizations that have bossy leaders are less likely to accomplish organizational change. Bossy leadership displays the lack of effective leadership that can drive a team towards achieving change. Bossy leaders rarely have the straight vision on the future and successful change required to have a clear picture of the future. This attribute will lead to organizational change failure. Employees may resist change. A good leader should develop strategies that solicit employees' input and provide employees with a timeline as well as a defined approach and outcome. Leaders should explain the purpose from the very beginning and develop a transition plan. Leaders should also include all the stakeholders in an organization in the entire organizational change. Separate leading and managing can be dangerous and destructive to a business in the modern business word.
References.
Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.
Gayle, D. J., Tewarie, B., & White Jr, A. Q. (2011). Governance in the Twenty-first-century university: Approaches to effective leadership and strategic management: ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report (Vol. 14). John Wiley & Sons.
Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.
