Organizational Change Assignment: Role Of Managers & Leaders

Question

The assessment requires you to undertake review of literature about organizational change.

Step One: Select one of the two topics given below and prepare a literature review.

1. The role of human resource development in organizational change process
2. The significance of leadership during organizational change process.

Step Two: Your review should include a minimum of 14 references, out of which at least 10 should be peer reviewed scholarly journal articles (published in 2000 or later).

Step Three: In responding to your chosen topic, refer to the following questions will assist you in structuring your literature review. It is not a must to follow these questions. Feel free to use subheading as appropriate.

• What internal and external factors play an important role in driving organizational change?
• What role does senior management and line managers play in facilitating and implementing change?
• What are some of the common causes of resistance to change?
• What steps should organizations implement to ensure effective change process?
• What strategies could organisations implement to ensure a change capable culture?

Step Four: Write an introductory paragraph explaining the purpose of the literature review and the way you searched for articles (e.g. the key words used) and a concluding paragraph providing an overall summary for the assessment task.

Step Five: Include your list of references in APA7 style (not considered for your assessment word count)

Answer

Introduction to the case scenario of organizational change assignment
In the global business environment, every organization needs to undergo some sort of transformation in order to sustain in such a competitive world. The process of organizational change can be based on several factors such as changes in policies, operations, set of actions and human resource. Due to these changes, the organization may face certain challenges in respect with managing the workforce (Gilley, Gilley and McMillan, 2009). To understand the importance of leadership in overcoming these challenges the organizational change assignment has been developed. There are several peer review articles which have been studied and analysed while preparing this organizational change assignment to understand the subject in a detailed manner. The paper on organizational change assignment will highlight the role played by the managers and leaders in carrying out a successful organization change process. The concluding paragraph mentioned in this organizational change assignment will provide an overall analysis and comparison of all the theoretical work undertaken for the research.

Significance of leadership during organizational change process

What is the role of internal and external factors in driving organizational change discussed in the organizational change assignment?

In today’s changing business needs, there are certain important aspects which led the organizations to undergo various changes for attaining long term sustainability. Therefore, it becomes necessary for the company to implement those changes. The factors that drive organizational change comprises of both external as well as internal factors. The internal factors include majorly the organizational culture, human resources, and operations. In various research articles, it has been stated that the internal environment indicates towards the organizational structure, people, leadership, culture, mission, values, and systems (Herold, Fedor, Caldwell and Liu, 2008). All these internal factors outlined in this section of organizational change assignment usually drive a need to implement change in the organisation. On the other hand, there are number of external factors which have their interventions presence outside the organization but still have a direct impact upon the company’s grown, operations and sustainability (Lunenburg, 2010). These factors play a considerable role in influencing day-to-day business operations. Factors such as social, technological innovations, social circumstances, economic conditions, and political environment are some of the major aspects that can drive change within an organization. As per various research writings, it is also suggested that market competition and customers are also regarded as the key external factors that usually drive an organizational change. Customer needs and demands keep on changing with time and so the competition within the market. So, it is essential to understand these external factors in order have smooth and successful organizational change. Therefore, it becomes highly essential for the organizational leaders to conduct monitoring of the external factors and implement necessary changes required for continuous success and profitability (Buono and Kerber, 2010).

Role of senior management and line managers in facilitating and implementing organizational change
For the success of any change initiative, there is a significant role of the line managers as well as the senior managers. Managers are regarded as the one who lead and carry out the change in any organization. They are not only the closest one to the employees but are also considered as the common channel between the grass root level workers and upper management (Kumah, Ankomah and Antwi, 2016). As stated in the organizational change assignment, it is essential to have on-board the most efficient managers who can support the teams in the crucial phase of organizational change. The research indicates that the first and the foremost aspect of organizational change where the leaders come as the building block in fetching employees; participation and involvement in the change process (Holt, Self, Thal and Lo, 2003). For the leaders, it is most challenging to have higher level of employee engagement when the organization undergoes any change plan. For this, the senior management primary focuses upon providing information at the adequate time so that change management strategies can be developed and implemented. They also ensure that required support is being offered to all the line managers and project teams to smoothly carry out the change process (Hales, 2005). On the other hand, the line managers have a greater area of responsibilities to handle such as they take care of developing sound communication channels so that flow of information remains two-way. Secondly, they act as the coach who offers consistent support and guidelines to the employees to adapt the change prevailing in the organisation. As per various research articles undertaken to develop this organizational change assignment, it is also indicated that the line managers are also liable for liaison where they promote activities to engage the employees in order to be a part of change and they also work upon managing resistance towards change (Rees, Hassard and Johari, 2010).

Causes of resistance to change
Whenever any organization plans for any change, it is expected that there might be some or other resistance that will take place as a major hurdle in the successful implementation of the change management process. There are certainly several factors and reasons that gave rise to such resistance that majorly comprises of job insecurity, peer pressure, change of culture, fear of failure, and many others (Thomas and Hardy, 2011). All these causes identified in the organizational change assignment are interlinked and one factor gives rise to another. In the detailed analysis, the various theoretical approaches indicate that when the organizations undergo some sort of change, there are high chances of change in workforce that may further result in layoffs (Furst and Cable, 2008). This is the biggest fear that is the cause behind the resistance to change as employees do want any such change in the company that can affect their employment. There are cases where such changes might create an increased level of discomfort for the existing employees as they are likely to work in the comfort zone and due to the organizational changes there are chances of introducing new technologies, advanced way of operating (Zafar and Naveed, 2014). Lacking behind in the skills to work in a more technical and advanced business environment gave rise to resistance to change. Change in leadership is one more area of concern for the employees that can dissatisfy them and with the fear of losing authority and the set positions they might resist towards accepting and implementing any sort of changes in the organization (Y?lmaz and K?l?ço?lu, 2013).

Implementing steps to ensure an effective organizational change process
While carrying out a change process in the organization, the leaders or the managers are required to follow certain steps in order to make things work in a smooth and effective manner. There are certain steps presented in the present scenario of organizational change assignment which many researchers have focused upon implementing during an organizational change process such as the firstly it is essential to clear and define the need for the change (Whelan-Berry, Gordon and Hinings, 2003). It is the most initial step where it is necessary to make the employees understood why the organization is bringing that change and how it aligns with the goals of the business. This will help in building a strong platform for the upcoming challenges in the change process. The next step is to check the areas where the change would have a major impact and also people who would be affected with that change. Bringing any sort of change in the organizational structure suddenly can impact whole organization. Therefore, it is much essential to check on those areas and prepare a blueprint to manage those impacts (Hussain, et al., 2018).

The third and most crucial step is to prepare a communication strategy, in this phase, the managers must develop a well-defined communication strategy with clear timelines, key messages, and assigned job roles of all the employees. The way in which a message is conveyed is more important to outline the engagement and involvement of the workforce (Malopinsky and Osman, 2006). Herein organizational change assignment, the next step mentioned is to arrange adequate trainings for the employees where they can learn how to deal and adapt to those changes. These trainings can help the in overcoming their issues as well as resistant to change. Next to this, it is necessary to implement a sound and strong support structure; this will help in providing both a practical and emotional assistance to all the employees for achieving desired outcomes. The last step mentioned in the organizational change assignment is to have a detailed analysis and check over all the aspects related to change management process, it indicates that the business impact should be measured from future perspective and according strategies should be build (Whelan-Berry, Gordon and Hinings, 2003).

Implementing strategies to ensure a change capable culture with an organization
To ensure the effectiveness of organizational change in present business scenario, it is crucial for the companies to develop a change-capable corporate culture. The theories explain such culture in a more defined manner where it is explained that the organizations develop a set of unique challenges within their culture in order to meet the uncertainty of the external world (Condruz–B?cescu, 2009). In this culture, the companies set new business objectives, human capital strategies as well as new business strategies so that the workforce kept on adapting towards these small changes. For this, there are several dedicated programs that work solely on these aspects of managing change processes within the organization. There are cultural shift that take place for developing a global mind-set across the organization. Therefore, all such aspects can help in developing a culture which is more adaptable towards change (Gossage, Silverstone and Leach, 2010).

Conclusion
From the overall literature and various research works undertaken in the above context of organizational change assignment, it has been concluded that whenever an organization undergoes any sort of change there is a vital role of managers and leaders to effective manage all aspects. It has been evaluated that in today’s global business era, much focus must be there on employees and how they can become a part of the change process. The analysis on organizational change assignment also concludes that there must be a blueprint indicating the necessary steps to be followed while undergoing a change for its effective management and completion.

References
Buono, A. F., & Kerber, K. W. (2010). Creating a sustainable approach to change: Building organizational change capacity. Organizational change assignment SAM Advanced Management Journal, 75(2), 4.

Condruz–B?cescu, M. (2009). The link between corporate culture and firm performance. Synergy, (2), 200-208.

Furst, S. A., & Cable, D. M. (2008). Employee resistance to organizational change: Managerial influence tactics and leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied psychology, 93(2), 453.

Gilley, A., Gilley, J. W., & McMillan, H. S. (2009). Organizational change: Motivation, communication, and leadership effectiveness. Performance improvement quarterly, 21(4), 75-94.

Gossage, W. G., Silverstone, Y., & Leach, A. (2010). The change-capable organization. Outlook-Journal of highperformance business–Accenture, 2010; 3: 1, 11.

Hales, C. (2005). Rooted in supervision, branching into management: Continuity and change in the role of first?line manager. Journal of Management Studies, 42(3), 471-506.

Herold, D. M., Fedor, D. B., Caldwell, S., & Liu, Y. (2008). The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: A multilevel study. Organizational change assignment Journal of applied psychology, 93(2), 346.

Holt, D. T., Self, D. R., Thal, A. E., & Lo, S. W. (2003). Facilitating organizational change: a test of leadership strategies. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.

Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), 123-127.

Kumah, E., Ankomah, S. E., & Antwi, F. (2016). The role of first-line managers in healthcare change management: a Ghanaian context. International Journal of Biosciences, Healthcare Technology and Management, 6(3), 20.

Lunenburg, F. C. (2010, September). Forces for and resistance to organizational change. In National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal (Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 1-10).

Malopinsky, L. V., & Osman, G. (2006). Dimensions of organizational change. Handbook of human performance technology, 3, 262-286.

Rees, C. J., Hassard, J., & Johari, H. (2010). Senior managers' perceptions of the HRM function during times of strategic organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management.

Thomas, R., & Hardy, C. (2011). Reframing resistance to organizational change. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27(3), 322-331.

Whelan-Berry, K. S., Gordon, J. R., & Hinings, C. R. (2003). Strengthening organizational change processes: Recommendations and implications from a multilevel analysis. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 39(2), 186-207.

Y?lmaz, D., & K?l?ço?lu, G. (2013). Resistance to change and ways of reducing resistance in educational organizations. Organizational change assignment European journal of research on education, 1(1), 14-21.

Zafar, F., & Naveed, K. (2014). Organizational change and dealing with employees’ resistance. International journal of management excellence, 2(3), 237-246.