Change is a necessary way of life in organization . Most organizations today are faced with tremendous forces for change stemming from different sources. A systematic and planned way of managing change successfully has become a primary responsibility of management, in this context, we have discussed different approaches that we would recommended for managing organizational change.
How to manage any change in organization is a difficult process. When organization makes any components, resistance from employee’s side comes up. To make the change successful, organization should manage it. There are different approaches to manage organizational change. On this matter, we consider the following models.
1. Kurt Lewin's Three Step Model
How to manage any change in organization is a difficult process. When organization makes any components, resistance from employee’s side comes up. To make the change successful, organization should manage it. There are different approaches to manage organizational change. On this matter, we consider the following models.
1. Kurt Lewin's Three Step Model
Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in organizations should follow three steps. They are:
a) Unfreezing the status quo
Unfreezing means the change efforts to overcome the pressure of both individual resistance and group conformity. The status quo can be considered as the equilibrium state. Any employees who achieve the high status stick to it. He does not want to move from it. So, if any change organization wants to implement then employee resists that change due to the status quo. So, to implement the change successfully, organization unfreezes the status quo of the employee. This can be done through following ways:
The Restraining is that force which hinders the movements from the status quo, changing behavior of employee through increasing their pay, if they accept the change, by counseling employee individually and by making temporary employee into permanent. Through this status quo can be unfreeze and change can be successfully implemented.
b) Movement to a new status
- Driving forces.
- Restraining forces and
- Combination of both forces.
The Restraining is that force which hinders the movements from the status quo, changing behavior of employee through increasing their pay, if they accept the change, by counseling employee individually and by making temporary employee into permanent. Through this status quo can be unfreeze and change can be successfully implemented.
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| Fig. Unfreezing the Status Quo |
Likewise, unfreezing is to make individual aware that the present behavior is inappropriate, irrelevant and unsuitable for change. In other words, unfreezing is the process in which a person casts aside his old behavior which might be inappropriate, irrelevant or inadequate to the changing demands of the situation. This aspect of action is an important as the action relating to changing the target. Just as a farmer must clear a filed before planting new seeds, a manager helps his employees clear their minds of old roles and purposes. Lewin has suggested some measures which are quite helpful in undertaking unfreezing process. These are as follows:
- The physical removal of accustomed routines, sources of information and social relationships of the individuals being changed.
- The undermining and destruction of social support.
- Demeaning and humiliating responses to help individuals to see their old attitudes or behavior as unworthy and think to be motivated to change.
- The consistent linking of reward with willingness to change and of punishment with unwilling to change.
b) Movement to a new status
Only unfreezing the status quo is not sufficient to manage the change. Now the employee who has changed their behavior from status quo should be moved to the new state to make the change stable. If they are not moved to the new state, they might freeze to the status quo. Thus, movement to the new state is another step to make the organizational change successful.
This is the stage at which the individuals being changed learn new behavior – methods of working, new thinking, perception of new roles etc. There are a variety of ways through which all these can be in calculated. Lewin has provided guidelines for effective change which are as follows:
- Recognize that the primary purpose of change is to improve performance results.
- Make individuals responsible for their own change.
- Encourage improvisation, team performance and coordinated initiatives.
- Ensure that people see how they fit into the larger organizational picture.
- Encourage learning by doing and provide just-in-time training for performance. Use positive energy, meaningful language and courageous leadership drive change relentlessly.
c) Refreezing the new change
Refreezing means that what has been learnt is integrated into actual practice. At this stage, individuals internalize the new beliefs, feelings and behaviors learned during the changing phase. They adopt these elements as a permanent part of their behavior repertoire. Often, there is a tendency that individuals revert back gradually to their old behaviors which they were displaying before the change, in the absence of suitable reinforcement. Therefore, reinforcement is necessary for the internalization of new behavior. Once the employee is moved to the new state, they should be retained in the new status, otherwise they may come back to the previous state and change may not be successful.
Thus, to retain them in the new state is very much essential to make change successful. To retain / refreeze in the new state, temporary force should be systematically replaced with permanent ones. This builds up confidence in employee towards organization and will be socialized in the new environment. In this way, the change can be made successful in the organization.
2. Lippit, Watson and Westley’s Model
These three experts provides three factors which should be taken into account while introducing change viz, internal distribution of power; internal mobilization of energy; and external communication. Regarding interaction between internal system and external environment, they suggested correspondence between external and internal reality, goals and values for action and skills and strategy for action.
3. Dalton's Model
This model of OC (Organizational Change) focuses four major phases and four specific sub-processes of learning. It highlights that the learning process for managers is highly complex. The process of learning incorporates establishment of new objectives, break of prior social ties, initial threat to self-esteem, increased self-confidence etc. To implement the change process properly, there should be proper distribution of power among managers.
4. Black, Mouton, Barnes and Grienier’s Model
This model of OC (Organizational Change) is based on managerial styles. It tries to change the organization to work under team management (i.e. 9 x 9 style = high concern for both people and task).
5. Argyris’ Model
The focus of this model is towards diagnosis of needs, attitudes and feelings of the staff. The methods used for purpose of measuring above variables are interviews, design of survey and questionnaires. The data so collected are organized and discussed at a seminar. Then the training programs are organized for concerned staff after that revaluations of needs are done. Here, attempts are made to suggest some structured innovations which were implemented.
6. Kotter's Eight-Step Model
Kotter, in his study, listed some common mistakes managers make when trying to initiate change. According to him, managers may fail to create a sense of urgency about the need for change, to create a coalition for managing the change process, to have vision for change and effectively communicate it, to remove obstacles that could impede the vision's achievement, to provide short term and achievable goals and to anchor the changes into the organization's culture.
For the purpose of effective organizational change, Kotter presented following eight-steps:
a) Establish a sense of urgency by creating a compelling reasons for why change is needed.b) From a coalition with enough power to lead the change.c) Create a new vision to direct the change and strategies for achieving the vision.d) Communicate the vision throughout the organization.e) Empower others to act on the vision by removing barriers to change and encouraging risk taking and creative problems solving.f) Plan for, create and reward short-term "wins" that move the organization toward the new vision.g) Consolidate improvements, reassess changes and make necessary adjustments in the new programs.h) Reinforce the change by demonstrating the relationship between new behaviors and organizational success.
7. Action Research
Action research is another approach that is used to manage organizational change. It is a change process based on systematic collection of data and then selection of change action based on what the analyzed data indicator. For the purpose of managing change in organizations, following steps are discussed under action research.
a) Diagnosis
Diagnosis is analogous to the physician's search to find specifically what ails a patient. In action research, the change agent asks questions, reviews records and interviews employees and listens to their concerns.
b) Analysis
Diagnosis is followed by analysis. What problems do people find? What patterns do these problems seem to take? The change agent synthesizes this information into primary concerns, problem areas and possible action.
c) Feedback
The third step, feedback requires sharing with employees what has been found from the first and second steps. The employees, with the help of the change agent, develop action plans for bringing about any needed change.
d) Action
Now the action part of action research is set in motion. The employees and the change agent carry out the specific actions they have identified to correct the problems.
e) Evaluation
The final step consistent with the scientific underpinnings of action research is evaluation of the action plan's effectiveness, using the initial data gathered as a benchmark.
Organizational Development is another approach that is used to make organizational change. It is a collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seeks to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. For the purpose of managing organizational change, OD has introduced following techniques.
a) Sensitivity Training
Sensitivity training is used to the training groups that seek to change behavior through unstructured group interaction.
b) Survey Feedback
Survey feedback is the use of questionnaires to identify discrepancies among member perceptions; follow discussion and suggest remedies.
c) Process Consultation
Process consultation is a meeting in which a consultant assists a client in understanding process events with which he or she must deal and identifying processes that need improvement.
d) Team Building
Team building is a high interaction among team members to increase trust and openness for organizational change.
e) Inter-group Development
Inter-group development in OD efforts to change the attitudes, stereotypes and perceptions of each group.
f) Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative inquiry is an approach that seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organization, which can then be build on to improve performance.
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