Change Management For Business World And Globalization

Change Management Theories

Describe about the Change Management for Business World and Globalization.

In the present business world, globalisation has changed the entire way in which business is carried out. Business organisations are now competing on a global scale and it has become very difficult for them to achieve market competencies on the basis of processes or materialistic resources as they can be replicated in real time. Further, business organisations have become vulnerable to so many different internal and external environmental factors, such as technology, economic, social, legal, political, etc., which can change in real time. As a result, it has become very important for business organisations to change along with the changing market trends and environmental factors if they have to sustain in this tough market competition. Changing with the changing trends has become so imperative that millions of stagnant companies (organisations that did not change their processes or work practices) have lost all their market shares to the competitors. Therefore, bringing about regular changes is crucial to sustain in the business world.

Introducing changes in business organisations is easier said than done. It is a natural tendency of humans to resistance changes in their regular routine and as a result, a lot of resistance is offered by the employees to change programs, which managements of business organisations introduce. In this assignment, we will discuss a number of change management theories that have been suggested by some pioneer in the subject. We will also discuss the role that the management has to play in the successful implementation of a change program.

There have been a number of theories that have been suggested by pioneers in change management subject, which can help business organisations in planning and successfully implementing a change program in the workplace. The theories can differ from each other and have their own pros and cons for different situations. Let us now discuss some of the important change management that are found in academic literatures:

Kurt lewin’s theory: 

The subject of change management is incomplete without the mention of Kurt Lewin’s change theory in it. One of the pioneers in the subject, Kurt Lewin, proposed a change management theory, which is also famous by the name of freezing unfreezing or the 3-stage model of change theory.

Kurt Lewin’s model developed this model in which he proposed three stages – unfreezing, changing and refreezing. The basic objective behind the three stages is that first of all, the management needs to create urgency and spread a message that a change is required. The second stage consists or bringing about a planned change in the processes or the work operations and the third stage, or the final stage, consists of reinforcing the right behaviour or the changes that have been successfully achieved. Even though the model was proposed in the early 1940s, the model is still valid today and is one of the most widely used models in the business world. Some experts argue that change is constant and it should not be started or stopped with some steps but the success stories in the past few years have something different to say. Even in the past few years, the model suggested by Kurt Lewin has been widely used in the health care industry to bring about needful and important changes successfully (Burnes, 2004). The organisations that have been able to achieve success in change implementation as a result of the change model suggested by Kurt Lewin believe that the model still holds its validity as it relates to the psychology of the humans and their behaviour related to change programs, which will always be the same, irrespective of the decades.

Kurt lewin’s theory

The prosci adkar model:

The Prosci ADKAR model is a change management model that is goal oriented and guides individual as well as organisational change. The change model was developed by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt. In the model’s name, ADKAR is an acronym that represents five different outcomes i.e. awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. The model is an efficient approach to plan and manage a change program prior to its implementation and also during the execution of the change program.

In the awareness stage, the model suggests that the management should create an understanding in the organisation that a change is required and convey the reasons why bringing about a change is necessary. Then the management should create a desire in the minds of the workforce that they should support the change. Here, effective leading and influencing can come in handy. Third, the management should provide knowledge to the people so that they can understand how to change and what they are expected to do. Fourth, the management will have to provide the employees with the ability or the skills that would allow them to incorporate the changes that are being introduced in the organisation (Cameron and Green, 2004). Lastly, the organisations should reinforce the changes that have been successfully implemented by appreciating and rewarding the people who promote and accept the change. ADKAR model has a high validity in the present times as it offers an approach that can help in the identification and evaluation of reasons because of which change implementation fails or results are not obtained. It allows companies to break the change program into small achievable parts and also considers the program from business point of view as well as people point of view (Hiatt, 2006).

Kotter’s change management theory:

Another famous change management theory was proposed by Kotter and the theory is famous by the name of Kotter’s 8-step change model. In this theory, John P. Kotter proposed eight steps that can be used to bring about a change. Each of the eight stages is associated with a key principle that is associated with the response of people to change.

The first stage is to create urgency among the people so that they can be motivated to move forward. The second stage in the model to build a team that consists of right people with the right qualities to promote a change. The third stage consists of setting clear mission and vision statements that will convey the strategy of the company. The fourth stage consists of clearly communicating the entire change management program to the employees. The fifth stage in the model suggests that the management should try to remove the obstacles that might cause a failure in the implementation of the change management program. The sixth stage consists of creating short term wins or short term objectives so that the management can analyse the progress once an objectives is achieved. The seventh step suggests that the management should not declare success too early and should continue to build on the changes that have been successfully implemented. The eighth or the last step consists of reinforcing the changes in the corporate culture by celebrating the success, sharing success stories and recognizing & rewarding those members who have helped in promoting the change program. This process is beneficial as it is easy to follow and incorporate while it also allows a management to accept the change and prepare for it. On the other hand, this process can be very time consuming and being a step model, it becomes very important to execute all steps if success has to be achieved (Kotter, 1997).

The Prosci ADKAR model

The model was developed by William Bridge, a famous change consultant. One of the greatest plus point of this model is that it lays a greater stress on transition rather than talking about change at all points of time. The model focuses on three stages, which are discussed below:

Ending, losing and letting go à when people become aware about an upcoming change, they enter the first stage that is marked with resistance and discomfort. People feel that they are approaching an end and they should start to accept new beginnings.

The neutral zone à this is the stage where there is a bit of chaos, uncertainty, impatience and confusion. In this stage, there exists a bridge and the people try to cross over the bridge i.e. from their old practices to their new practices. This is a crucial stage and can even result in increase in innovation, renewal and a burst of creativity.

The new beginning à once the neutral stage passes, the next stage is the new beginning where acceptance and energy starts to come in the picture. During this stage, people start to accept the change and understand the importance of undergoing a transition from old position to a new position (Tilson, Luecking and Donovan, 1994).

As discussed till now, bringing about change in business organisation is imperative and is also one of the most difficult things to achieve. The resistance to change programs offered by the employees have sometimes resulted in the failure of companies due to loss of efficiency, trust and productivity. In almost all the cases, change programs have failed due to the inefficiency of the management in promoting a change properly (Cameron and Green, 2004). Management and leadership have the most important role to play in bringing about a change (Gill, 2002). Their role in change management is discussed below:

Communicate à the management and the leaders have to communicate the change properly to the stakeholders as a lack in communication can increase the resistance and break the trust.

Prepare à the management and the leaders have to prepare the employees for accepting the change and undergoing the required training and development programs that would help in bringing about a change.

Remove obstacles à the management and the leaders of the organisation are also required to analyse, identify and remove any obstacles that they think will cause the change program to fail.

Kotter’s change management theory

Liaison à the management and the leaders have to go hand in hand & support each other so that they can further support the stakeholders in accepting the change by gaining a better understanding about the change.

Reinforce à another important role that the management and the leaders have to fulfil is to reinforce the changes achieved by rewarding and appreciating the people who have helped in bringing about a change and those have accepted it by making a transition from old work practices to new work practices (Prosci.com, 2016).

Conclusion

It is a common saying that the only thing that remains constant is change. The statement is completely true as the way in which technological, social, legal and economic trends are changing, some companies are forced to bring about changes in their workplace in real time. Those that can bring about the required changes can survive in the market while those who sit and watch have already gone out of the competition and the market.

The management of change programs is important and one of the most difficult tasks for each and every business organisations. Those organisations that have introduced changes just for the sake of giving it a try and also lacked properly knowledge or a plan in their minds have lost their entire market shares to the competitors, which shows how important it has become to have properly planned change management programs. On the other hands, there are a millions of companies that have used some of the above change management theories and have brought about changes, which in turn helped them in becoming the leaders in the industries in which they were operating. There are a lot of change management theories available for business organisations to consider and each one of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, business organisations should carefully analyse their needs, their mission and vision and then chose a suitable change management model that has the ability to satisfy their needs and increase the chances of success of their change management programs.

References

Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal. Journal of Management Studies, 41(6), pp.977-1002.

Cameron, E. and Green, M. (2004). Making sense of change management. 1st ed. London: Kogan Page.

Chenhall, R. and Langfield-Smith, K. (1998). Factors influencing the role of management accounting in the development of performance measures within organizational change programs. Management Accounting Research, 9(4), pp.361-386.

Gill, R. (2002). Change management–or change leadership?. Journal of Change Management, 3(4), pp.307-318.

Hiatt, J. (2006). ADKAR. 1st ed. Loveland, Colorado: Prosci Learning Center Publications.

Kotter, J. (1997). Leading change: A conversation with John P. Kotter. Strategy & Leadership, 25(1), pp.18-23.

Prosci.com. (2016). 5 Tips for Managing Resistance to Change | Prosci. [online] Available at: https://www.prosci.com/change-management/thought-leadership-library/managing-resistance-to-change [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016].

Tilson, G., Luecking, R. and Donovan, M. (1994). Involving Employers in Transition: The Bridges Model. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 17(1), pp.77-89.