Responsibility for Effective Change Management Rests With the Manager

In any organization change is something which is inevitable therefore it is the responsibility of the manager of any given organization to ensure that the change is managed effectively.  One major mistake managers do make is that most of their times they tend to impose the change in the organization such that every employee has to abide by it.  The point is, we have to understand that change does occur but employees have to be made to go through the change gradually.

Basically a change cannot take place at once; it is something which has to come gradually.  Therefore managers should not assume that once a change is started then every employee is to use the common sense to know that the change is either taking place or has taken place.

What is important before change is adopted and incorporated in daily operating procedures of an organization is the individual differences in the organization.  This will help managers improve their leadership styles especially in institutions where democracy prevails.  In any business environment the main aim is to maximize the profit and minimization of losses.  If the change is going to bring positive results then it is as good as a rest.

Before any restructuring or change take place in an organization, I believe it is good to understand why the change takes place, where it is from and the target group of people it is to affect.  This is because in problem solving situation, the root cause of the problem has to be identified is when possible solutions are identified.  Individual employees operating in the organization has to be made aware of the change and things explained to them more widely.

The following are some of its methods followed in individual change process according to Robert Bacal(nd).  Generally there are three phases that are followed for change to take place.  The first phase is the preparation phase which is subdivided into two stages, namely: the contact and awareness stage. The contact stage is the beginning of change process.

It is the sensing or predicting that change is either taking place or has taken place.  It is the preliminary state of change process.  The awareness stage is where an individual in an organization become well informed about the change.  The change is being contemplated in this stage.  The second phase of change is the acceptance phase which is also subdivided into understanding stage and positive perception stage.

The understanding stage is where the individual is to conceptualize the subject matter that is analysis of the change.  This helps one to understand its nature and why it occurs. It can only take place when a detailed research has taken place.  The positive perception stage then takes place.  This is where an individual is made to view the change positively for it will help the organization improve the results it produces. Results in this case may be products produced by a company or services provided.  For this to happen change has to be given positive judgment and perception.

The last phase in change process is commitment phase, which is further subdivided into four stages namely: the installation, adoption, institutionalization and internalization stage.  The installation stage is very important because it deals with the implementation of the change.  Question like how are people made to accept the change is very important.  A change which is not effectively managed will be rejected. So this becomes a crucial stage when it comes to change process.  Installation has to do with ensuring the change works in the organization and all the resources has to be used.

After implementation, the change is then adopted. In the adoption stage, change now becomes something that everyone in organization is used to.  Could be its positive effects has been seen or  it might have added some value to the organization therefore  it is worthy.  The third stage in this phase is the stage of institutionalization.  The change is now taken to have a long history and regarded to be useful to the organization. It is viewed as durable, having some value and therefore it is incorporated into the daily operating procedures of the organization.  The change is made official and unanimously accepted in the running of the organization.  The last stage is the internalization where each individual is suppose to be dedicated to change.  This is because the change now becomes something which has been tested, experimented, tried and trusted by the organization.

Any change should be made clear to the whole group of employees in a business organization.  This is when the employees will have faith in their leader.  It is believed that team work is the key element for good results to be obtained.  So dealing with individuals in an organization means the leader/ manager is trying to use divide and rule method and this will demoralize employees.  So for spirit of team work to be maintained things must just be done together and discussed.

The change in this case must be known to everybody so that they can react to it before implementing it or else some members will not be comfortable with the change.  Piloting should be done before the actual implementation to judge whether it will bring negative or positive impact to the organization.  The feelings and interest of employees must just be considered because they always work as a team.

Sources of information also matters a lot in any organization.  For example rumors spreading will confuse and misdirect the employees.  This normally occurs when information is leaked to a click of individuals.  The information should be made official from the top most person preferably the manager.  Otherwise when it comes to large companies, top most managers tend to use mass media such as television and radio system this is because the information is targeting   a large number of people and very much effective when the information is to be passed very fast.

In conclusion effects of change will largely depend on how effective the change was implemented and the managers’ ability to ensure that the employees take the change more positively.  Therefore, he has to know the feelings and interests of employees before change take place.  He also needs to explain in time why the change is necessary.

Bibliography

Luecke R. (2003) Managing Change and Transition.Havard Business School press

Gianna M., Enach & Herbert W. (1998) Embracing and Managing Change in Tourism.Routledge:Taylor&Francis Group publishers

Peter E. & Amanda C. (1999) Managing Change: Changing the Role of Top Public Servants. Commonwealth Secretariat publishers.

Ingham, G. (2000) Managing Change: A Guide to British Economic Policy.Manchester