Organizational Change Management : Modern Day Organizations

Describe about the Organizational Change Management for Modern Day Organizations.

 

The organizational change is an integral part of the modern day organizations. The organizations are in the process of constantly making strategic changes in the operational level. This is done to achieve the maximum operational efficiency of a firm (Carter et al., 2013). There can be changes in the process, human resource, policies, technologies and others. The organizations should adopt suitable techniques to make the change management process smoother. The quality management concerns with the service quality, products, and the paths that lead to its attainment (Carter et al., 2013). The quality management encompasses the quality control, quality assurance and the quality improvement of the concerned processes. The combination of the quality change management and the quality enhancement programs leads to the success of an organization. 

The topic of the article deals with the organizational quality and the organizational change. It talks about the interconnections between the organizational quality and change that leads to the effectiveness. The topic holds true for all the organizations. However, special focus is being given to the academic libraries. The modern day organizations are adopting quality enhancement practices (Baden-Fuller & Haefliger, 2013). Their aim is to review, analyze, improve and maintain the level of the organizational performance. This is required for the organizations to stay ahead of the competition. It also aims for the efficient utilization of the resources. These initiatives make the management focus on organizational change management. It has been argued that organizations need to constantly design innovative practices to change (Baden-Fuller & Haefliger, 2013). The organizational change concerns with the transition from the current organizational state to the future position of the organization. The organizational change management can be regarded as the process of planning as well as the implementation of change in the organization in a way that minimizes the resistance of the employees and the subsequent costs to the organizations. The technological advancements and the rapid spread of the globalization have led the organization to implement change in the organizations (Naqshbandi & Kaur, 2013). The change management is an important component in the business environment of the modern day organizations.

The objective of the article is to measure the importance of organizational quality as well as change and the linkages between them. The organizations are focusing on both these aspects simultaneously. They are increasingly engaging in the management of change. The change is a basic requisite for promoting the quality enhancement initiatives of the organizations (Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). This paper aims to provide a practical implementation of the major parameters in the discussion namely organizational change and organizational quality management. The objective of the paper is to impart both theoretical pieces of knowledge as well as practical knowledge to the readers. The paper also strives to identify the real problems in a change implementation process and seeks to provide a solution for the same. The author aims for an understanding of the key concern with the help of organizational change models and approaches.

The methodology used in this paper is practical and easy to understand. The initial discussion focuses on the organizational quality. The discussion revolves around the practical implementation of the organizational quality. The organizations are increasingly focusing on the benchmarking process and evidence-based analysis. They are setting high standards to quality by identifying the performance parameters of the organization. There are many quality initiatives that are being undertaken by the organizations. The different quality frameworks are also discussed that have a specific impact on the organizational quality. Some of them are TQM (Total Quality Management), ABEF (Australian Business Excellence Framework) and others (Brown, 2013). The international framework, ADRI is discussed that enumerates the approach for the management of the quality. The focus of the paper then shifts to the procedures for the management of organizational change. The different nature of change is discussed such as incremental, continuous, discontinuous and rapid. The organizational change process has low success rate and this makes it difficult for the manager to consider adopting a change initiative. The two models namely “Kotter’s eight step change model” and the “Doppelt’s wheel of change model” is discussed for the efficient management of the change process in the organizations (Hasan & Shah, 2013). The features of the two approaches are discussed along with the similarities and the differences.

The next section deals with the establishment of an inter connections between the quality enhancement of the organization and the organizational cycle of change. The last part of the paper gives a practical implementation of the key concepts discussed earlier in the paper. It discusses the organizational reform initiatives of the La Trobe University in Australia. The practical implementation of the change management and the quality enhancement programs are discussed through the case study. This resulted in an improved performance of the organization. The Kotter and Doppelt models are used in the analysis of the organizational reform initiatives which took place at La Trobe University. The paper also discusses the challenges and the supporting thoughts for the managers who are responsible for the process of change management. The author designates them as “red and green lights” for the managers.

The argument presented in the article includes the continuous enhancement of the organizational quality and its close association with the organizational cycle of change. The quality enhancement process can be carried forward by the continuous performance improvement by evaluation of the actions (Karim & Arif-Uz-Zaman, 2013). The study also establishes that the primary principles of these two attributes are similar such as the nature of functioning, re modeling of systems and optimal performance of the organizations. The organizational change can help the organization to improve its overall quality (Karim & Arif-Uz-Zaman, 2013). The barriers to the successful organizational change management are assessed which would broaden the practical knowledge of the students as well as the concerned stakeholders. The various barriers such as change fatigue, resistance to change, bureaucratic rules, accommodating change and the scope of the change help the researchers to seek methods of avoiding it in the future (Kuipers et al., 2014). The study aimed to implement the learning of organizational change as well as organizational quality in a library scenario. A library has a unique method of organizing, assessing and the utilization of the information which is highly prone to rapid changes. This is the reason the library department needs to understand the bridge between the organizational changes and higher organizational quality.

The findings of the study reveal the challenges and the future alternatives for the librarians and the academic libraries on the organizational change and the organizational quality management. The library is a department that adopts and implements innovative management techniques regarding quality. The quality enhancement process is aligned with the organizational objectives. The act of managing change is an inherent job in the institutional quality management initiatives. There is a concurrent relationship between the quality and the change. The measurement of the implemented changes is also essential for the purpose of attaining organizational success. The evaluation process should consider parameters observed such changes, primary benefit, and disadvantages of the changes, changing attitudes and the contribution of the change management to the objectives of the change management procedures. The case study depicts the complexity of the change process. It is necessary to work effectively at every level of the change cycle so that the purpose of the change management is served.

The managers would have some practical implications during the change process in the organization. This study proposed some indicators that would make the managers understand the obstacles in the path of the change process. There may be a straightforward denial of the change process and strong resistance to change. The employees may find several ways of denial such as outright denial, denial of responsibility, denial due to high costs and others (Farley, Broady‐Preston & Hayward, 2013). The manager needs to tackle these issues diplomatically and convince the employees so that they can accept the change process. The employees should be motivated and the positive impacts of the changes should be illustrated to them (Farley, Broady‐Preston & Hayward, 2013). The consequent benefits of the changes in their day to day functioning should be made clear to them so that they are eager to adopt the necessary changes. If the employees of the organization implement innovation or technology or related process change, then the operational goals would be fulfilled. This would lead to the achievement of the organizational objectives.

It also enumerated the positive signs that show the involvement of the employees in the change process. The managers should be careful in the identification of the positive attitudes of the employees regarding the change process (Rafferty, Jimmieson & Armenakis, 2013). The actions of the employees, development of vision, positive attitude and creative approaches are good indications of an employee’s eagerness to implement change. The manager should analyze the behavior of the employees and the exact process of the interconnection between the organization and its external environment. The manager should understand that there would be a certain resistance to change and there would be considerable obstacles in the path of successful change implementation. It is the duty of the managers to identify the employees who are actually supporting the change management (Rafferty, Jimmieson & Armenakis, 2013). These people should be involved in the process of implementing change in the organization. The ideas conveyed by these employees would be easily accepted in the organization and hence the managers would be successful in the enhancement of the quality in the organization.

The strengths of the argument include that change management is a practical process that is closely inter related to the quality management initiatives. It has been established that the organizational change management and the quality management exist together and cannot function independently. It is possible to implement innovative procedures in the organizations that enhance the quality of the products or the services. The study showed the practical approach of implementing change initiatives with the help of Kotter and Doppelt tools. It analyzed the multiple dimensions of the change process that improve the knowledge of the managers aiming for organizational quality improvement. The process of organizational restructuring involves various principles that should be kept in mind while designing organizational change framework. It is also important to involve the members of the organizations for making the change programs successful. There should be adequate communication between the employees involved in the change process. The case study used in the paper helped to understand the topic in a better manner as it provided a real life scenario.

The weakness of the argument includes that despite the positive aspects of the organizational change and the organizational quality management, it is not always possible to make the change management process successful. There may be high barriers in the process such as stereotypes, rigid attitude, perception issues, misjudgments, information overload, a blurred idea about the benefits of the change and others. The employees may also present emotional barriers and cultural barriers in which they would strongly oppose the new system. The paper fails to analyze the steps that should be taken by the managers to combat these issues. There is no practical guidance for the successful implementation of quality management and change management in an organization.

The organizational quality enhancement in the academic libraries is important keeping in mind the complex functioning of the department. The manager should not only have a fair knowledge of the organizational change and the organizational quality management, but he should be aware of the practical implications of the same. The enhancement of the service quality is an important determinant of success. The organization should also implement latest process and technology so that it stays ahead of the competition.

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