Principles of Ethical Change Management
Organization change is one of the challenges that management has to deal. Boonstr (2004) states that change can be evolutionary or revolutionary and therefore if organizations cannot be affected by revolutionat change, then they need to prepare for evolutionary. The case is a revolutionary change which is induced by an individual. This memo gives an overview on how to manage the change process and offers recommendations for the CEO.
How the manager is resisting change
The community purpose of change principle is based on relational approaches of building consensus from different groups in the organization. Without seeing a common purpose that the change process achieves, people may resist change since they feel it does not benefit them in any way. The manager is resisting change due to his ability stick to the way things used to be done in the organization. When you came onboard, she is proposing new ways that the manager believes will compromise the business operations due to the fear of the unknown (McNulty, 2009). The dialogic and social construction approach allows people to develop relational approaches for change through a community purpose. Organization theorists argue that most change is resisted because people prefer to maintain the equilibrium in the organization by keeping what they are familiar with (Choi, Holmberg, Lowstedt, & Brommels, 2011; Dobosz-Bourne & Jankowicz, 2006). From Kotter’s model of organizational change, businesses can only change if they have a sense of urgency which the manager does not see in the case.
In addition to that the values principle guides organizational processes and creates certain expectations in employees on how they approach issues in the future. The manager is resisting change because he also believes that the new changes are against their value and the challenges of manufacturing across the border will be in conflict with organizational culture. When the values that employees believe in are compromised or not observed, then there may be resistance to the change process. When the change process does not respect the values principle of the organization, then rational resistance is justified since it seeks to restore the existing conditions in the organization. This is rational resistance which looks at the benefits and the risks that the new process will bring to the organization (Ford, Ford, & D’Amelio, 2008). According to Mark, manufacturing across borders will compromise employee issues and spark new challenges with the union. Since the union negotiations are due in nine months.
Identifying Resistance to Organizational Change
Lastly, the manager is resisting change due to poor communication strategies between you and other management teams in the organization. The community purpose principle of change allows members to understand the benefits from any change process and how such needs can be met. Communication creates understanding and harmony during the transition process since it allows people to understand the changes that are taking place in the organization (Pettigrew, Woodman, & Cameron, 2001). In the case of this change process, there are communication issues since Cheryl is on a change process because that is what the new shareholders want but the change itself has not been communicated well to the team. This is the reason why there is uncertainty in the likes of Mark who believe it is wrong (McNulty, 2009). On the other hand, other parties to the organization like the employee union and the board of directors have not been informed of the new change process which proves tricky for the organization.
One way that you are responding to the resistance to change is trying to consolidate support from other employees by justifying why the change is needed. One way to convince employees and management in an organization is justifying why the change is needed. A systems approach to management recognizes different systems that have to work in harmony to achieve any change process. However, this process is not yielding the expected results since Cheryl has a formed opinion on how the change process needs to take place. To others like Mark, involving them is only a formality since there is already a formed opinion on how the new change process will impact the organization. From Lewin’s force-field analysis, change can only occur when there is a consensus in the organization or when the resisting forces decrease.
Further, you are also responding to the change process by presenting the new business proposal to management but wants to avoid a board vote by all means. This is due to poor communication between her and other management teams which is important in decision making. Further, she is limiting the change planning circle to a smaller number of people to ensure that the proposal is accepted. This is seen by the fact that the board of directors and union representatives have not been informed but form a crucial part of the change process.
According to Lawrence (2009), the first recommendation that you can take is to establish open communication channels that allow communication between different levels of the organization. From the community purpose principle, proper communication allows the leader to relay the any information on how the organization will benefit from the change process and reassures them of status quo and stability in the work place.This will allow the new business process to be discussed at all levels and allow the recommendations to come from within. This is an ownership strategy that ensures all levels of management are included in the change process to reduce tension between the CEO and other members of the management team. For Lewin, this will reduce the resisting forces thus creating room for change (Watson, 2009). Good leaders are situational leaders who are able to realize the potential of their followers and unite these abilities to form a team that speaks one language. Through improved communication, organizational dynamics will be reduced making it easy. Burnes, (1996) suggests that there is no good change but rather all chnages in the organization must be analysed and assesed to ensure the meet the needs of the organization. This means that she is not supposed to make any changes rather use the participatory achieve to develop new strategies for meeting organizational targets to increase ownership and collaboration.
Critiquing Cheryl Hailstrom’s Responses to Resistance
Secondly, the CEO also needs to identify the obstacles to change and address them before moving on. From the community purpose principle, different groups in the organization have rational reasons as to why they accept or resist change. Thus relational approaches to change need to be used to validate the change process in the organization. The rational reasons fronted by the manager are valid and need to be analyzed so that all factors can be considered before the decision is made (Thomas & Hardy, 2011). This reduces tension between her and the rest of the team and the same time any chances of sabotage that may occur. Further, the fact that she is having challenges with the current team means that there are issues that need to be ironed within the management team before any new strategy is developed.
Lastly, establishing personal relationships with each member of the team can improve the uptake of business decisions. From the values principle, employee’s expectations need to be affirmed so that they can support the change process. Therefore, you need to establish rapport with the team and explain to each member her leadership strategy so that they can all understand her leadership style and find ways of supporting her through the transition. This process improves coordination since members will understand the approach of the CEO and in case there are any clarifications, then they can be sought outside the meeting (Kotter, 1995). Unlike in the case where the CEO and the manager are exchanging in a meeting, such issues need to be ironed out before the meeting.
Therefore, I believe that these recommendations can be helpful in addressing the challenges and resistance to change from the manager and any other issue that may arise in future. Resistance to change is normal and requires proper handling to make the team appreciate the importance and the benefits that the change will bring to the organization.
References
Boonstra, J. J. (2004). Dynamics of organizational change and learning. Chichester: Wiley.
Burnes, B. (1996). No such thing as … a ‘one best way’ to manage organizational change. Management Decision, 34(10), 11-18.
Choi, S., Holmberg, I., Lowstedt, J., & Brommels, M. (2011). Executive management in radical change — the case of the Karolinska University Hospital merger. Scandinavian Journal of Management,, 27, 11-23.
Dobosz-Bourne, D., & Jankowicz, A. D. (2006). Reframing resistance to change: Experience from General Motors Poland. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17, 2021—2034.
Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & D’Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 33, 362-377.
Kotter, J. (1995). Leading change: Why transformational efforts fail. 73(2), 59–67.
Lawrence, P. R. (2009, May). How to deal with resistance to change . Havard Business Review.
McNulty, E. (2009). Welcome Aboard (But Don’t Change a Thing. Havard Business Review, pp. 33-40.
Pettigrew, A. M., Woodman, R. W., & Cameron, K. S. (2001). Studying organizational change and development: Challenges for future research. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4), 697–713.
Thomas, R., & Hardy, C. (2011). Reframing resistance to organizational change. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27, 322-331.
Watson, T. J. (2009). Narrative, life story and manager identity. Human Relations, 63(3), 425-4532.
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