Importance of Changes for Organizations
All around the world, ways of doing the business is changing and hence companies also has to make changes accordingly so as to survive in the market. It is essential that the company has a plan for managing changes within the organisation (Hayes, 2014). The role of the management and leaders becomes more crucial in this regards. Human resource management plays a very vital role in the managing changes of the organisation. HRM acts as a bridge between the leaders and workers hence their role in the management becomes more crucial. These changes are made according to the environment that is present within and outside of the company. It is also done according to the requirement of the firm and its future strategy. Public organisations are slower than other sector firms in terms of adopting implementing changes and hence role of HRM becomes more crucial (Doppelt, 2017). This report highlights the ways in which HRM act as a facilitator for managing changes in an organisation. Apart from this it also signifies the issues that come while making the changes and the strategies that are made by the HRM so as to motivate employees to adopt such changes.
In the views of Cameron and Green, (2015), Changes are necessary for the growth of the company as well as to survive in the changing environment. It helps firm in making their position in the market and hence ensuring long term profits. In order to implement changes in a better way it is essential for the company to manage it in a better way. This is also due to the reason that changes are not welcomed by most of the employees working within a firm as it pushes them away from the working culture in which they were used to their work. Change can be of many types in which structural changes or changing in the working culture within an organisation is hard to be managed. In the views of Goetsch and Davis (2014), Change management is also necessary for the morale of the employees as it help them in understanding the requirements of the workers while making changes. It also helps to understand the fact that there are many different kinds of people that are present within the firm and they pose a very different kind of organisational behaviour. Without the help of the employees at every levels of the organisation it is not easier to adopt these changes. It is the place where the role of the Human resource management becomes more significant as they are the bridge of the company.
Types of Changes in Organizations
On the contrary, Cummings and Worley, (2014) suggests that there are many people who gets affected by such changes hence a proactive plan and series of strategies have to made so as to implement these accordingly. HRM has a critical role in making such plans as they understand the condition of employees as well as understand the necessity of the making changes. Leaders acts as a motivator who will guide everyone about the need of making changes. One of the primary roles of the HRM in this regard is involve all the staffs in the change process especially in the decision making process. This helps to provide good results for the company. If the change management is not done in a proper way then they can be long term consequences and the most crucial of them all is that the productivity of the whole organisation may come down. It also helps the firm to manage the over utilisation of resources while the change process is going on. In order to have the benefits of the change process and achieve maximum results it is essential that appropriate strategies must be applied. This also helps in reducing the confusions that generally occurs while the change process is going on within the firm.
On the other hand Van der Voet, (2014) had a view point that there are many series of steps that has to be followed in order to achieve maximum benefits from the changes. In the public organisation like NHS which is such a large firm it is difficult to manage the changes since there are larger number of stakeholders that gets affected due to these alterations. It is also to be understood that in public organisations whenever there is change it affects the larger numbers of people. As all the people living in United Kingdom is dependent on this organisation for their medical treatment. This makes the decision making process of the company to be slow and hence implementation of the change becomes difficult and change management process becomes complex.
Booth, (2015) says that there are large number of people that are working inside the NHS hence they have to make sure that requirement of these employees gets fulfilled in order to maintain their productivity. The role of the management becomes more significant in this case. They also have to make sure that there are many people that are coming within the firm they also do not face problem due to dissatisfied employees. Hence it is the role of The HRM to make sure that the employees are also involved in the whole process so that they also feel themselves to be the part of the company and avoid any discrepancies in the work process.
Importance of Change Management for Employees
There are many researchers who have given their theories in terms of change management. Like in the views presented in Lewin’s theoory there are three steps involved in change management (Connelly, 2016). First step in this theory suggests of preparing for the change. It is the role of the HR managers to prepare any such kind of changes. In the next step change actually takes place. It is a long term process and people feel the complexities of the change. It is the role of HRM to make sure that communication remain well at this time since it helps to remove any confusion that comes in the change process. In the last stage change has been accepted inside the firm.
On the other hand Mckinsey theory believes that change management is an eight step process where in first strategy is made, structure gets decided then day to day activities are performed so as to make the change (Basford and Schaninger, 2016). After this, values are shared according to which change will be incorporated and a particular style of the change is adopted.
According to Kotter (2017), there are eight steps of change management and each one those focuses on a key principle that is related with response of individual to alter. His theory suggests enhancing urgency among mass so as to motivate them for adopting the change. After this a team of people must be built where right people are placed at right positions. After that an appropriate vision must be taken into account as well as communicate with the mass about the change. In order to do things moving, all the roadblocks have to be removed and implement feedbacks in a constructive manner. It is also suggests to focus on short term goal and incorporate change while not giving up. It is the role of the HRM to make sure that all the obstacles in the change process is implemented.
On the contrary Nudge theory suggests that encouraging someone or nudging them is the best way of making the change (Anastasia, 2015). His theory focuses on designing of choices that is responsible for directing our preferences and influencing the choices that they make. In the organisation like NHS choices must be designed in such a manner that it can be aligned with the way individual’s think and decide.
Apart from this, ADKAR theory has a different point of view. In his word change is a goal-oriented tool or model that makes it possible for different change management teams to focus on those steps or activities that are directly associated with goals that they want to achieve (Prosci, 2018). The result and goals can be easily defined and derived using this model. When the change process gets completed outcomes and results are achieved in an orderly fashion. This theory suggests that HRM has to find out many holes and gaps in the process of change management. In this regards effective training must be provided to the workers. This theory is based on the five stands namely Awareness, Desire, knowledge, reinforcement and ability.
Issues in Managing Changes in Organizations
In the past also there are several changes that have been planned and properly implemented. One of the biggest changes that this organisation aims to change is of providing medical facilities at some fees rather than being free of cost. This is a change where each and every stakeholder will feel it. Since the patients that are coming for medical treatments have to pay which they may not like. On the other hand some economic assistance will help in making the medical facilities better.
There are various issues that come in this industry while making the changes. Various researchers have pointed out these issues in there researches. One of the biggest issues that arise in the firm such as NHS is of communication since there are larger numbers of stakeholders that are associated with the changes and hence chances of confusion that can arise is higher. Al-Haddad and Kotnour (2015), believes that leaders needs to communicate with each of the employees so as to let them understand the reason why change is necessary. There are many obstacles that arise within the company while the change process is going on. Many of these obstacles are different from what has been planned before. It is the role of the management to be prepared for such situations also. He also believes that allowing too much complexity might remove eyes from bigger picture.
Pasqual and de Weck, (2012) has a view point that one of the biggest problem that arise while managing change is that most of the time win or the final outcome is understood to be good. Predicting the change to be successful at early stage always results in long term loses to the company which can be harmful for the company in the longer run. This also provides an assessment report that is far away from reality. On the other hand Pieterse, Caniëls and Homan, (2012) thinks that there must be a proper plan so as to have control over all the operations.
In health care these problems are even bigger as the people that are coming for their treatment also gets affected by the changes that are made within the organisation. While in the other industry changes generally affects stakeholders that are directly attached with the company. According to Pardo-del-Val, Martinez-Fuentes and Roig-Dobón, (2012) there must be alternative plans ready if any problem arise that was not predicted earlier. Shift of culture is one of the biggest changes and invites a lot of issues within the company.
Theories of Change Management
There are many things that have to be taken care of while making the changes. In the views of Burnes (2011), changes must be done by checking the interest of the employees. It is due to the fact that the overall performance of the firm gets down if the productivity of the employees lowers down. Understanding of organisational behaviour becomes very significant in this regard. If the HR manager have the clear understanding about the behaviour of their employees then it will be easier for them to make change management plans accordingly (Baran, 2016). They also have to take care of the culture that is present within the firm. Too much deviation from the existing culture might create a lot of turbulence. In order to incorporate change successfully it is essential for HRM to have healthy relations with the employees. This helps in having making the whole process smoother since they are the people who have direct contact with all the departments of the firm. The employee centric approach is applied in the change management is always successful (Morgan, 2013). In order to do so it is essential that they also involve employees in the whole process, takes feedback from them. It helps in gaining their confidence which is necessary for making the change process more effective and successful. It is necessary for the HR managers to see that right people are placed at the right place before the changes are made so that whole process can be easily implemented within the firm.
There are people inside the firm such as NHS who has an experience of managing these changes. It is the responsibility of the HR managers to take support of these employees as they are highly useful in conveying message of the firm and helps new people in their learning to adopt new changes. HR can take use of these employees so as to make the plans for implementing these changes. These employees can be present at any levels of organisational structure. HR manager needs to find them and utilise their experience in the whole process.
Since NHS deals in the social health service hence it is the role of the HRM to manage the issues related to ethics. All the ethical consideration has to properly taken care of. In order to ensure that there is no ethical problems at the time change are implemented; HR must not deviate for the policies that are made at the start of the company (Phnci, 2018). The deviation from the basic policies must be very little.
Examples of Changes Managed in Organizations
The biggest problem with the HR management will be that for making large changes there must be a back support from all the stakeholders. In order to ensure that it is maintained, HR must talk to all of them so as to ensure that they also agree to the changes that have to be made. It is also essential role of the HR Management to have a research on the environment that is present around the firm so as to have knowledge about the effectiveness of the changes that has to be made. It may take time but it ensures that changes made are highly effective and provides a larger benefit to the people. This also helps in removing all the obstacles that will come to NHS while the change process is going on. All these issues have to be properly taken care of so as to make sure that there are no discrepancies in the whole change management process and hence making it smoother.
Conclusion
From the above based report it can be concluded that changes are important for the organisation and it helps in ensuring the long term growth of the company. Changes are made as per the requirement of the firm and the business environment in which company is operating. The role of HR management become very significant in this regards. Factors such as organisational behaviour and culture have to be understood so as to avoid any unwanted situations. It is the role of the HR managers to make sure that the interest of each and every stakeholder is safeguarded while the changes are implemented. HR must include senior employees of the company in order to make change process smoother. HR must ensure that all the preparations are done before hand the change process is initiated. They also need to ensure that there must be a plan for making the change as it helps in making the whole process aligned.
References
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