Question:
Discuss About The Change In Organization Is Not An Incident?
Change is the important factor in any organization. In simple words, the change within the organization is a critical process that implements both positive as well as negative impact on the business activities. With the successful change management process, any organization can have competitive advantage over its competitors. Basically, change is the permanent in an organization that is helpful in managing the organizational and individual issues. The organizational change process includes various actions to support the change initiatives in the business environment. Before implementing any kind of change, it is important to evaluate the change from the viewpoint of stakeholders. Change process needs proper and deep understanding of the business essentials. There are various definitions of change given by many researchers that are widely used in the organizational context (Fleming & Senior, 2006).
According to the Pettigrew (1983), “change process within the organization takes place because of the business and economic events and various processes of the managerial actions, activities and perception. Change is then needed to impalement those events in the organizational activities.” Further, according to Wilson (1994), “Organizational change is the process by which the organization improves the performance to achieve the set goals and objectives. Organizational change takes place due to the changing environment, current crisis situation or implemented by the leader.”
Both the definitions are inter-related to each other. It can be seen that the viewpoints of both the definition is quite different, but both definitions are on the same way. According to the definition given by Pettigrew, change is the cause of many different actions, activities and events within the organizations that lead to implement the change. Due to the failure of the strategies, there is the need to implement some changes in any organization. So, according to this researcher, for the new strategies change is important. On the other hand, according to the definition of Wilson, organizational change is important to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. Each and every organization has some goals and objectives but due to the changing environment or some difficult situation, organizations are not able to achieve those goals. So, implementation of change is essential according to the changing environment so that the objectives can be achieved. For this manner, strategies are necessary. So, it can be said that both the definitions are inter-connected and provide effective meaning of the organizational change (Gashi, 2013).
For the study of the organizational change, company Australia Post is most suitable and appropriate. The objective of the organization is deliver innovative and best services to the customers in the market. Along with this, aim of the company is to provide friendly services to the customers with skilled and qualified employees. One of the most crucial objective of the organization is to motivate the employees so that they can participate actively for the development of the organization. Australia Post has effective business objectives but the strategies adopted by the organization were not appropriate to achieve those goals. Organization was not able to achieve those objectives as the there was the lack of skilled employees, lack of sincerity and dedication among the employees towards their work and lack of motivation among them. So, there was the need of drastic and effective change in the organization to achieve the set goals and objectives (Grünwald, 2015).
The managers in the organization planed for implementing successful change in the business operations. It was crucial for the managers to change the strategies which were adopted by the organization to achieve the organizational goals. Organization appointed the change management team for the successful change. Further, manager in the change management team analyzed the strategies to implement the changes. Along with this, managers created a communication plan to inform the employees about the change in the organization (Lunenburg, 2010). Next step was to set up a timeline which was required during the change implementation. Managers presented the change process report to the senior managers and higher authority to take approval from them. The change management team took approval from the production manager, human resource management, managing director and CEO of the company. Change in the Australian Post was based on the quality services, new technology and training and development of the employees (Cennamo, Berrone, & Gomez-Mejia, 2009).
|
Implemented changes and benefits |
Cause |
Benefit |
|
Quality services and on time deliver |
Lack of skill and knowledge among the employees, lack of friendly attitude among them |
Improved customer services, Improved brand image of organization among the customers |
|
New technologies |
Lack of knowledge in the employees about innovative technologies, increased attrition rate in the organization |
Success in providing effective and quality services, targeting new customers and competing with the competitors. |
|
Training and development for employees |
Time consuming, training related to the new technologies and customer services |
Ability to provide better services to the customers, trained employees and improved customer satisfaction (Kotter, & Cohen, 2008). |
According to the above discussion, change is the process that improves the performance of the organization in terms of improving the performance of the employees. The change process in any organization focuses on achieving the organizational goals and objectives effectively. In case of Australia Post, the organization has aim to provide quality based services with the innovative technologies to the customers. But the organization was failed to do this as there was the lack of proper training among the employees so that they did not feel motivated. By adopting the definitions of the organizational change, organization implemented some changes within the business activities in terms of using new technologies and providing effective training and development sessions (Smart & Pontifex, 2003). By implementing these changes, Australia Post would be able to improve the positive attitude among the employees for their job roles so that they actively participate in achieving the set objectives and goals. Organization is successful in changing some factors of the business that is described below:
In the change management plan, the management of the organization have developed some policies and decisions and implemented them successfully. Those policies are related to providing holidays to the employees and setting timeline for them to achieve the organizational objectives significantly (Gill, 2012).
Technology is changing continuously and it has created various opportunities for the organization. So, Australia Post has developed some innovative services for the customers with the help of new technologies. This would be helpful in attracting new customers and retaining in existing customers.
SWOT analysis includes Strength, Weakness, opportunities and threats of the organization. By using SWOT analysis, organization would be able to analyze the upcoming opportunities and issues in the business operations. SWOT analysis of Australia Post is described below:
|
Strength- · Self funded and government business organization, · Delivery services on Saturday also, · Wide range of service portfolio including mails, parcels Travel & ID and money & insurance, · Having digital business under ‘e-services’ · Wide range of services i.e. digital services, postal services, Express post, Retail, printing services and logistics. · Strong support by the Australian government. |
Weakness- · Less presence in the international market as compared to the competitors, · Lack of motivation among employees, · Lack of friendly environment, · Decreasing foot fall in terms of retail services · Slow to switch to new technologies and solutions |
|
Opportunity- · New global markets, · Merger and acquisition, · Expansion of domestic reach in the international market |
Threats- · Price war in market as customers are seeking for cheap services, · Reduced prices of competitors, · Increased competition from the competitors, · Loss of cash flow |
Due to the unsuccessful strategies, the organization Australia Post was unable to attain the goals and objectives for the growth and development of the business in the operating market. There was the need of change and need to adopt some strategies for this manner. There were some factors that were responsible in the business to implement the change (Pasmore & Woodman, 2007).
The big cause of change in the organization was performance gap. As specified in the SWOT analysis, there was the lack of motivation among the employees. There was the performance gap in the delivery of the services to the customers due to the lack of sincerity and punctuality among the employees. So, the customers were not satisfied with the services. Further, there were some environmental factors that were affecting the business. But, after implementing the change, company would be able to provide quality services to the customers on time. It would also be able to improve positive attitude among the employees. Based on the SWOT analysis, the organization Australia Post is able to identify the opportunities for the business and implement the change according to them. There are some opportunities that are adopted by the organization i.e. increasing demand of innovative retail services, new technologies, growing awareness among the customers etc. Further, there were some threats for the organization in terms of legal policies, entering of new companies and strong competitors etc. Organization is able to identify these threats and implemented some strategies by giving training sessions to the employees (Patton & Michael 2008).
In the change process of the organization, it is important to analyze the business from every part. In such manner, SWOT analysis is an effective tool for the organizations. In case of Australia Post, SWOT analysis identifies the strong points of the business along with those factors in which the company is lacking. But there are both benefits as well as drawbacks of using SWOT analysis in the change process of the organization.
In the change process, the main benefit of SWOT analysis is that there is negligible or no cost in conducting this analysis. By the SWOT analysis, the complex situation within the business environment can be addressed. By this analysis, organization can take steps for improving the business without extra expense of business advisor. With this analysis, organization has benefit to understand the business better, identify threats, address weaknesses, and focus on opportunities and implementing the change based on identified weaknesses and threats (Tracey, 2004).
Despite of the benefits of using SWOT analysis, there are drawbacks of using SWOT analysis in the change management process. In case of Australia Post, SWOT analysis does not prioritize the exact issue in the organization. Along with this, this analysis does not provide proper solution or any kind of alternative decisions to deal with the issues. By the SWOT analysis, organization can generate various ideas for the implementation of change but it is not helpful in selecting best option for the process. SWOT analysis provides much information for the organization but all the information is not useful.
Role of a change agent can be understood based in the various process of the organizational change. Basically, there are two types of change agents i.e. internal and external. Internal change agents include board members of the company, CEO, managers, executives and other employees of the organization. On the other hand, external change agents are community, investors, suppliers, customers and government agencies and organizations.
Internal change agents come from the human resource department or top level of management and they have important role in the restructuring of the organization. The internal change agents have to convince other employees in the organization for contributing in the organizational change. Key role of the change agent is to influence to influence people in other departments for the internal change as the change involves the active participation of the employees. Basically, internal change agent are directly involved in the change process of the organization. They identify the area where the change is required so they are selected from various departments and levels (Kossek, 2007). Usually, internal change agents are managers who get training and knowledge from the external change agent so that they can implement the change in the organization successfully. Internal change agents implement the change with the wide framework of change strategy with the guidance of external change agents. Along with this change agents motivate and encourage other members to participate in the change process. Sometimes, internal change agents may work as the change advisor for the specific departments for specific period of time. It is well known from various departments, so after the completion of the change process, they go to their respective departments. They communicate with the managers and organizational members to accept and implement the change. They implement the behavioral skills to smoothen the change management process. Change agents have some qualities to make the change program successful i.e. behavioral skills, diagnostics skills, positive attitude towards acceptance and personal qualities for providing emotional support to the other organizational members (Graham & Bennett, 2008).
On the other hand, external change agents are considered as the consultant for the business. They are hired by the top management of the organization when they feel that no one is capable in the organization to implement effective change for the growth. The external change agents have key responsibility to analyze and examine various mindset, culture and practices within the organization. External change agent can do his or her work effectively when the employees have the perception that internal agent is biased at some points. Along with this, change agents have duty to do the task on the set timeline. The job role of external change agent is quite differing from the internal change agent (Szamosi & Duxbury, 2006).
From the above discussion, it is observed that Australia Post is facing failures due to the inappropriate strategy. So, organization has implemented some changes in terms of technology, and training and development session for the employees. In such situation, managers and change management team implemented significant change in the organization. Those can be considered as the internal change agents who were responsible for the effective change management within the organization. Team members and managers included every member of the organization in the change process (McCalman, Paton & Siebert, 2015). There were managers of every department, managing directors, and CEO who were actively participating in the change management plan. Change managers took approval from the human resource manager and CEO before placing any kind of change. Further, for implementing the change in various departments, approvals from the respective departments was also taken by the change agents as these are the key role of the internal change agents (Hellriegel & Slocum. 2004). After taking approval from the respective departments, the change agents need to gather the required resources for the change management process. There are some resources which are required for the implementation of change process. For instance, Australia Post needs some changes in the human resource department then training and development session are required for the employees. In the training session, the change agents have identified those employees who need training and development sessions. Further, the role of the change agent in the organization is to prepare a proposal for the required money during the training session. They need to inform the HR and finance department so that they can provide sufficient fund for implementing significant change in the organization. Role of a change agent is very crucial to manage the change as well employees during the change (Brown, 2006).
Problem centered approach in the change management basically provides an effective learning environment by which individuals can increase their knowledge, learning skills and improvement of the understanding towards the change. This approach provides the way to achieve the organizational objectives and goals by the proficient manner. This approach interprets the situation and finds the solution for the complex problems (Hersey & Blanchard, 2012).
This approach is very useful effective learning for the employees while implementing the change within the organization. In this approach, employees feel free to control their learning process and they are able to find out the solution for their problems. In the problem centre approach, the strategies are focused on the exact problem and implementing the change based on the experience. Along with this, this approach is focused on the cumulative learning to deal with the problems and difficult situations that are affecting the organizational activities. This approach helps the employees in the overall development (Saphiro, 2010).
There is one drawback of this approach i.e. it does not motivate the employees and members to adapt the change based on the change leader’s point of view. This approach focuses on the employees situations and relies on the employees blindly.
On the other hand, Dialogic approach of change is the next step of change management process that is helpful to adapt the change for individual and groups. Organizations can be considered as the complex process due to the different thoughts and process of the people. So, dialogic approach work in the organization by creating new conversations for adapting the change in the organization by disrupting the habits and actions of individuals, bringing diversity into conversations to improve creativity and innovations and motivating people to implement transformational change (Martocchio, 2004).
This approach in the change process does not focus on the workers blindly. This method implements the change based on the leader’s strategy with the hierarchical process. This approach focuses on the mindset of people and allows their behavior to change with the positive attitude. This method promotes the employees to look for the new solution for the complex situation (Ardichvili, 2012).
The dialogic approach in the change management is time consuming. It takes much time in surveying the employees for the effectiveness of internal change, waiting for the feedback and implementing change according to their mindset. This approach slowdowns the ability of the organization to make changes and react to various issues. Further, this approach need more staff to deal with all the employees as one person in this approach is not able to analyze to actions and habits of all the employees within the organization.
References
Ardichvili, A. (2012). Knowledge Management, Human Resource Development, and Internet Technology: Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(4), pp.451-463.
Brown, A. (2006). Quality Management: Issues for Human Resource Management: Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 33(3), pp.117-129.
Cennamo, C., Berrone, P. & Gomez-Mejia, L.R., (2009). Does stakeholder management have a dark side? Journal of Business Ethics, (89), pp. 491-507.
Fleming, J. & Senior, B. (2006). Organizational Change. (3rd). UK: Prentice Hall.
Gashi, R. (2013). Strategic Human Resources Management: Human Resources or Human Capital: Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Gill, R. (2012). Change management or change leadership: Journal of Change Management. 3(4). pp.307-318.
Graham, H. & Bennett, R. (2008). Human resources management. London: Pitman
Grünwald, N. (2015). Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. Hamburg: BoD – Books on Demand
Hellriegel, D. & Slocum. J., (2004). Organizational Behavior: Guiding Organizational Change, (10th).
Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. (2012). Management of organizational behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Kossek, E. (2007). Human Resources Management Innovation: Human Resource Management. 26(1). pp.71-92.
Kotter,J. P., & Cohen, D.S., (2008). The Heart Of Change. Bucuresti: Meteor Press
Lunenburg, F.C. (2010). Managing Change: The Role of the Change Agent: International Journal of Management. 13(1). 1-6.
Martocchio, J. (2004). Research in personnel and human resources management. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
McCalman, J., Paton, R.A. & Siebert, S. (2015). Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation. US: SAGE.
Pasmore, W.A., & Woodman, R.W., (2007). Research in Organizational Change and Development. (16)
Patton, & Michael Q., (2008). Utilization-Focused Evaluation,Thousand Oaks. CA: Sage Publications
Saphiro, A., (2010). Creating Contagious Commitment: Applying the Tipping Point to Organizational Change. (2nd). North Carolina: Hillsborough
Smart, J. & Pontifex, M. (2003). Human Resources Management and the Australian Human Resources Institute: The Profession and Its Professional Body: Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources. 31(1). pp.1-19.
Szamosi, L.T., & Duxbury, L., (2006). Development of a measure to assess organizational change: Journal of Organizational Change Management. 15 (2). pp.184 – 201.
Tracey, W. (2004). Human resources management & development handbook. New York: Amaco
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