Organizational Change Management Assignment: Analysis On Impact Of Leadership

Question

Task: 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 sub?heading 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
Considering the scenario of past few decades, it has been analysed herein organizational change management assignment that there is an extensive level of competition in the overseas business. To successfully sustain in such a dynamic and competitive business, the business organizations usually try to adopt new practices and strategies which is termed as organizational change (Holten andBrenner, 2015). Because of the international business operations, the companies tend to make changes in its operations based upon the change in external aspects like technological, legal, and environmental. When the companies undergo these changes, there are various challenges which can take place and give rise to resistance to change. To develop this report onorganizational change management assignment, a number of research articles in respect with organizational change, effective leadership, and resistance to change have been studied with deep analysis. The study will present the significance of leadership in organizational change management. The paper will conclude with the analysis drawn from the overall academic studies and research articles.

Significance of leadership during organizational change process
Role of internal and external factors in driving organizational change
In present scenario, companies adopt a number of changes in their operations and functions in order to work effectively and to meet their business goals in a highly dynamic business environment. But these changes are the result of some of the internal as well as the external factors. The primary factors are the internal ones which are considered as a part of the organization such as business operations, culture, organizational policies, structure, procedures, mission, and human resource (McAdam and Henderson, 2004). Leadership is also regarded as one of the key internal factor that forces the organisations to implement a change process (Faupel andSüß, 2019).Various research papers have also highlighted some of the key external factors that usually rive organizational change such as technological innovations, political interventions, environmental threats, economic conditions, legal aspects and social norms (Lunenburg, 2010). These external factors directly impact the organization’s strategies and operations and thus it becomes essential for the companies to have certain necessary changes for long term sustainability. According to the theoretical concepts considered in the present context of organizational change management assignment, the competition in the market can also force the companies to bring change in their marketing strategies. The changing needs of the customers are also regarded as one of the key external factor that forces the organisations to carry a change process. Therefore, it is necessary for the companies to have an in-depth analysis of all the internal as well as external factors to attain positive outcomes of the organizational change process (Chenhall andEuske, 2007).

Role of line managers and senior management in facilitating and implementing organizational change When the organizations implement certain changes, it is necessary to manage those changes in an effective and efficient manner and for this there is a need of sound managers who can carry out this change process in a systematic and smooth manner. Both the line managers as well as the senior management work upon several strategies for implementing a successful change initiative (Nielsen, 2013).The organizational managers play a vital role in a change process as they are the one who connect the employees with the top level management. When the higher authorities take certain decisions it is highly essential to pass them to the employees in a way that can positively influence them to be a part of the change instead of facing resistance (Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007).From the analysis and evaluation of various research articles in order to prepare this organizational change management assignment, it has been evident that the leaders are the key supporters who helped the companies in fetching the participation of the workforce.

There is a significant role of line managers in facilitating and implementing change process as are the mentors for the employees who provide adequate support and training to the workforce for adapting the undergoing organizational changes (Buono andKerber, 2010).They also work upon the ways to manage the flow of information as well as build a platform to foster two-way communication in the organization. It is the job role of the line managers only to work upon the employees’ engagement level by encouraging them with the help of change management programs and trainings (Longenecker and Fink, 2001).The research articles also emphasize upon the key role of senior management as they are the one who pass information regarding any vital change about to take place in the organization. They develop overall strategies and also the blue-print which indicates in what manner the change process will be carried out and how the managers will work upon fostering the higher level of employee engagement. It is also taken care by them to offer necessary support to the line managers in dealing with the workforce (Holt, Self, Thal and Lo, 2003).

What are the causes of resistance to change with regards to the present case scenario of organizational change management assignment?
Resistance to change is one of the key areas where organizations work upon in order to have a successful change process. Because of various factors, the employees resist to change which act as the hurdles. These factors are regarded as the causes that needed to be managed by the organizational leaders in order to attain employee engagement (Thomas and Hardy, 2011).The first and the foremost cause behind increased level of resistance is job insecurity. In most of the companies whenever there is any change, some part of the workforce is too much impacted as they have a fear of losing their jobs as well as identity in the organization (Khan andRehman, 2008). There is a lot of peer pressure faced by the employees in the changing environment as some of the workforce tend to adapt the new ways of working and new policies but at the same time, there are certain employees that does not hold the potential to work out of their comfort zone and thus such peer pressure give rise to fear of failure and job loss (Ijaz andVitalis, 2011). Thus, these are some key challenges faced by employees that led the foundation of a strong resistance to change. From the research based analysis, it is evaluated that the fear of employees is majorly because of the layoffs that organizationsundertake (Wittig, 2012). Because of these changes, organizations may experience a change in the workforce as well and thus at some time, there might be a situation where the companies have to dismissal the employment of few employees and recruit the ones who are more suitable for the new job roles. All such aspects give rise to resistance towards change and create a roadblock in the success of an organizational change process (Sorre, 2016).

Implementing steps to ensure an effective organizational change process
To have an effective change process in the organization, there are certain steps that need to be implemented. The first and the foremost step is to develop a sound and clear idea behind the change. It is significant for the organization to flow the information among the workforce that dictates why the company is bringing certain changes in the operations. This helps in developing upon a mutual goal both for the workforce as well as the organization to work upon. The second step that needs to be implementing is to monitor and analyse the key departments which can directly be affected due to these organizational changes. It is necessary to monitor the impact upon those areas and build strategies according to cope with the associated challenges (Whelan-Berry, Gordon andHinings, 2003). The next step in the row is todevelop a channel through which the information can be passed and effective communication can take place. There must be adequate information regarding all the aspects of the change process such as the change in job roles, assigned duties, set timelines, and the execution strategies. All such factors play a vital role in deciding upon the participation and involvement of the employees. The fourth step is to conduct several programs and change management trainings where people can learn new ways of dealing with organizational change (Tenkasi andChesmore, 2003).The sixth step in the row is to develop certain teams that can monitor and manage this workforce and provide adequate support to the employees. Last and the most crucial step is to keep a four-eye check upon all the activities an strategies undertaken for a successful change management process.

Implementing strategies to ensure a change capable culture with an organization
For developing a change-capable culture within a company, it is essential to implement certain strategies. As per the scholarly data, it has been observed that the companies first try to change the organizational culture by initially working upon few internal challenges so that the organization can be ready to face the global business challenges and can become culturally adaptable towards any sort of change (Moran andBlauth, 2008). There are other several strategies used by the organizations such as by conducting programs and trainings on a regular basis which can help in managing the various aspects that can be impacted due to organizational change. Building strong leadership is one of that aspect which can help in supporting the change process as the efficient leaders not only bridge the gap occurred due to cultural shift but also motivate the employees in different ways to make the employees adaptable towards change (Gossage, Silverstone and Leach, 2010).

Conclusion
From the wide and extensive literature studies and analysed, the report on organizational change management assignment concludes that whether it is some small organization or a global company, there is an equal significance of leaders while implementing any sort of change within the organization. The paper states that organizational workforce possess the power to either convert the change process in a success or a failure. Therefore, it is crucial to pay adequate attention to the employees and their resistance level towards change in order to attain success. It has also been analysed that for a sound and effective change management process, the companies should line-up all its activities as well as work step-by-step so that they can influence the employees and can have a better level of participation from them for the change.

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

Chenhall, R. H., &Euske, K. J. (2007). The role of management control systems in planned organizational change: An analysis of two organizations. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 32(7-8), 601-637.

Faupel, S., &Süß, S. (2019).The effect of transformational leadership on employees during organizational change–an empirical analysis. Journal of Change Management, 19(3), 145-166.

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

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.

Holten, A. L., & Brenner, S. O. (2015).Leadership style and the process of organizational change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.

Ijaz, S., &Vitalis, A. (2011). Resistance to organizational change: putting the jigsaw together. International review of business research papers, 7(3), 112-121.

Khan, K., &Rehman, M. (2008). Employees resistance towards organizational change (Doctoral dissertation, Doctoral dissertation). Ronneby: Blekinge Institute of Technology).

Longenecker, C. O., & Fink, L. S. (2001).Improving management performance in rapidly changing organizations. Journal of Management Development.

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

McAdam, R., & Henderson, J. (2004).Influencing the future of TQM: internal and external driving factors. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management.

Moran, L., &Blauth, C. (2008).Creating a change-capable workforce. Retrieved December, 4, 2008.

Nielsen, K. (2013). How can we make organizational interventions work? Employees and line managers as actively crafting interventions. Human Relations, 66(8), 1029-1050.

Purcell, J., & Hutchinson, S. (2007). Front?line managers as agents in the HRM?performance causal chain: theory, analysis and evidence. Human Resource management journal, 17(1), 3-20.

Sorre, B. M. (2016). Resistance to Organizational Change. International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering & Research (IJRTER), 2(11), 22-28.

Tenkasi, R. V., &Chesmore, M. C. (2003). Social networks and planned organizational change: The impact of strong network ties on effective change implementation and use. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 39(3), 281-300.

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.

Wittig, C. (2012). Employees’ reactions to organizational change. Organizational change management assignmentOd practitioner, 44(2), 23-28.