With time, new challenges emerge – now at a much faster pace. So making internal change is a constant with the speed of external change. Many things cause organizational change.
These include: challenge of economic downturns and tougher trading conditions, changes in strategy, technological changes, competitive pressures, including mergers and acquisitions, customer pressure, particularly shifting markets, government legislation or regulatory changes.
All organisations are in flux: changing their focuses, expanding or contracting their activities and rethinking their products and services. Most organizations more than ten years old, look nothing like they did even five years ago. And it is likely that in the next year or two, organizations will not look as they do today.
In this context, managers should introduce and manage change to ensure the organizational objectives of change are met, and they have to ensure that they gain the commitment of their people, during and after implementation. Often, at the same time, they also have to ensure that business continues as usual.
Change management
Resistance to change may be active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid and on occasions totally justified. Organizational change management takes into consideration the processes and tools that managers use to make changes at an organisational level. Most organisations want change implemented with the least resistance and with the most buy-in as possible.
For this to occur, change must be applied with a structured approach so that transition from one type of behaviour to another will be smooth. As the speed of change continues to increase, change management is a fundamental competency needed by managers, supervisors, Human Resources staff, and organization leaders.
My recent survey about change management afforded me the opportunity to consolidate hundreds of years of experience in change management. Change is possible; the need for change is increasing; change capability is necessary for organizations that wish to succeed in the future. Change management challenges organizations to succeed during times of great change.
To effectively manage change in the business setting, managers need to develop an understanding of how employees react to change. Every employee will have a different view of change. It is important that the manager stays visible and is always willing to jump in and help employees manage change. To be an effective manager of change, the employees must continue to feel valued and respected by their manager. If a manager helps the employees through the process of learning to let go of the old way of doing things, they can help the employee adjust to the new changes in their working environment.
Resistance
When a manager is facilitating change in the business world, they need to be aware and acknowledge that resistance to change is normal and common.
Smart managers will recognize that resistance to change can actually be viewed as a positive sign that the employees are involved with the changes that are occurring in their working environment.
If employees do not believe in their managers and lack trust in their decisions or there has been no explanations of the reasons for change and how it will benefit the employees, that manager will have difficulty managing any changes that need to be implemented.
Another effective tool for a manger to implement change in the business setting is to involve the employees in the decisions that are being made to change their working environment.
This method helps employees feel valued and more motivated to go along with the implementation of the changes and ensures a win-win situation for the organization, the manager and all the employees.
Managers who involve their employees and let them become part of the change will have an easier road for acceptance from the employees.
There are always some risks when changes are being initiated. The manager needs to be ready for the potential negative effects of any changes and have a plan to handle them. Organizations that have a talented and effective manager will be able to handle the changes that need to take place to keep them competitive in their industry.