Assignment Submission

NAME ARPITHA. B
ROLL NO 1408002451
DRIVE FALL 2014
PROGRAM MBA
SEMESTER I

MB0038– Management Process And

SUBJECT CODE & NAME
Organization Behavioral

BK ID B1621
CREDIT & MARKS 4 Credits, 60 marks

1) Define the term organizational transformation. Discuss the various

strategies to manage transformation in organization.

Solution: Define of organizational transformation.

The term ‘organizational transformation’ refers to such activities as

reengineering, redesigning and redefining business systems. The key enablers
for transforming organizations are information and technology. In the rapidly
changing financial environment, business models change rapidly. Mergers
and acquisitions change the very face of the organization.
Therefore, organizations need to continually:
 be flexible, effective and efficient
 have a customer-centric approach to organizational activities
 create a more productive environment by recognition of current
strengths
 understand and position themselves to reap the benefits of competitive
 technology and business alignments
 promote an integrated business approach
A radical change which takes an organization to a new and different level
of structure and functioning is called organizational transformation. It occurs
when new business strategies are introduced and implemented. Organizational
transformation signifies a change that challenges the way an individual thinks,
perceives and feels about the organization; his deep-rooted convictions and
work ethic. This type of transformation goes beyond changing the manner in
which business is done. It is about changing the work culture and value
system of an organization. A well-led and well-orchestrated change strategy
and transition plan leads to organizational transformation. There has to be a
deep seated adoption of the changes and the associated values, principles and/
or processes. Restructuring and rearrangement changes the way business is
done and results in a marked change in organizational culture and reinforces a
process of continuous improvement. Unlike a ‘turnaround’ (which implies
incremental progress on the same plane) transformation implies a basic change
of character and little or no resemblance with the past configuration or
structure.

Explain various strategies of manage transformation.

There are various strategies to manage transformation in organizations. These

are:
Transformation through values : As the business environment changes,
values provide the guiding force for organizations. Values are a collection of
ethics or ideals. Just as for an individual values provide a purpose and
meaning to life, similarly for an organization, values form the basis for work
ethic. Organizations must define values that are:
 aligned with societal values
 are not driven by basic human urges
 in line with their main purpose and operating context
 open to the changing world order

Transformation through organization development : Neither individuals

nor organizations are prepared for the rapid pace of change. Organization
Development, therefore, is a way to stay prepared. It rests on 3 basic
propositions
 Organizational change is driven by the era in which it is taking place.
 organizations need to adapt, revitalize and rebuild based on the changing
 environment.
 The climate within the organization must change for overall change to
 take place.
 Individuals within the organization must be aware of the societal and
 environmental changes happening around them.
 Hence, the key message of Organization Development is that the world is
 changing rapidly and organizations need to adapt accordingly.

Transformation through reengineering: Reengineering is the process of

reinventing which challenges the very core of the operations. It seeks to
improve the way of doing business by establishing a new and better way of
functioning.

Transformation through McKinsey’s plan

The McKinsey plan is a ten-point guideline:
 Organize primarily around processes, not tasks.
 Flatten the hierarchy by minimizing subdivisions.
 Make senior management responsible for processes and process
 performance.
  Align key performance indicators and their evaluation to customer
 satisfaction.
 The organization’s performance and design should focus on teams, not
 individuals.
 Frequently combine managerial and non-managerial activities.
 Work towards developing multiple competencies in individuals.
 Communicate and train staff on a just-in-time, and need-to-perform
basis.
 Enhance contact across the organization with suppliers and customers.
 Don’t just reward individual performance. Extend the reward process to
 cover individual skill development and team performance as well.

Transformation through competitive benchmarking: Competitive

benchmarking is an ongoing process wherein the organization’s products,
services and practices are measured against industry leaders and key
competitors

Transformation through Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a statistical parameter that

is used to describe variation from set standards. It could be expressed, for
example, as ‘35,000 defects per million operations’ or ‘not more than 3 defects
per million’. It is sharply focused on achieving tangible results within aspects
that are relevant to the business. It is usually driven by trained employees from
various sectors within the organization.

Transformation through Kaizen principle: Kaizen principle involves change

through continuous improvement by taking small, comfortable steps. It focuses
on overcoming fear and resistance to change and taking action. This principle
can be further explained through the following points:
(i) Small improvement (ii) Conventional knowledge (iii) Personal involvement
(iv) Many people (v) Improve the process (vi) Standardise- Do-Check-Act to
Plan-Do-Check-Act

2) Describe integrative model of planned change.

Bullock and Batten proposed the integrative model to describe both the
temporal states and the change processes involved in planned change. This
model is based on the principle that organizations at different times, exist in
different states so, planned change can occur from one state to another.
Ranging from the exploration phase to integration, this model is divided into
four parts.

Exploration Phase: This phase is characterized by exploring the organization

in terms of its preparation for a specific change and committing its resource
toward that change. Here a search process begins by the organizational
members who are aware of the need for change wherein organization
 development resources and assistance are sought followed by consultation
from an organization development expert. The change requirements are then
assessed mutually by the consultant and the organizational members. The
expert’s capability is assessed by members of the organization, while the
consultant assesses the organization’s sense of commitment and readiness for
change as well as the availability of necessary resources. The terms of work,
mutual expectations, factors related to cost and time and the rules of the
consulting relationship are settled by both sides.

Planning Phase: The planning phase involves collection of the vital information
in order to analyze the functioning of the organization, the sources of the
issues/problems and understanding the resources that are committed towards
organizational development. The goals for change and the design of the action
plan are worked out by the consultant and the members so as to bring about
organizational change and improvement. To avoid problems at a later stage, the
approval of key decision makers is required for the proposed changes as they
have an understanding of the overall perspective about future strategies.

Action Phase: This phase focuses on the transition of the organization from
the current state to a target state as the implementation of the changes
delineated in the planning phase are put into action and the processes required
for transition takes place. Intermittent monitoring and evaluation of the change
activities is done to ensure effectiveness of the initiative and to assess the
progress so that corrective measures could be taken to achieve the desired
results.

Integration Phase: Once the successful implementation and stabilization of

the change initiative takes place, the consolidation and integration of the
initiative in organizational functioning takes place in this phase through
reinforcements such as regular feedback, rewards and incentives. The plans
are drawn to ensure that the new behaviour is maintained and the contract
with the organization development expert is brought to a close.

3) The key purpose of communication of change is to ensure that the

individuals understand what is going to happen and what is expected
from them. Explain some other important needs for communicating
change. Also explain the major methods and techniques for
communicating change.
 Explain of important needs for communicating change.
The key purpose of communication of change is to ensure that the
individuals understand what is going to happen and what is expected from
them. The change managers have to provide them with the value proposition
involved in the change. The individuals should be offered answers to the
questions like why, what, who, how and when. In order to take care of this,
where a situational approach or a contingency perspective is involved, the
type of information provided is to be modified. Besides this, the leadership
 style must be as per the type of change involved and the level in the
organization at which the change message is directed. Care should be taken
that there is no message overload or message distortion in the
communication strategies being employed. Some other important needs for
communicating change are:
 To pay adequate attention to the diverse interests, (including gender
differences), power relationships, and actions that may create
resistance to the proposed change
 To make people understand the inevitability of the changes and the
best ways of coping or surviving with the change
 To ensure that the people share similar values and are aware of what
actions are appropriate to these values. To have consistency in actions
and words, communication of change is required
Team-based, rather than top-down, CEO-led communication styles are most
favored because there, change can take place through shared values and the
use of positive emotions.
Communication through storytelling, metaphors, and so on, provides staff
with a sense of ‘what is going on’. The focus is on facilitating the sense and
true spirit of the change to different groups across the organization (and
outside).
So, communication here presents the most persuasive account of the change
to ensure that as many people as possible share common understanding of
the change. ‘Rich’ communication media are most favored as the aim is to
provide the most in terms of change as not all will agree with or like the change.

 Explain methods and techniques of communication change.

There are a few recognized techniques, one of which a change manager
would generally use to communicate change. Listed here are those strategies:
 Spray and pray: As the name suggests, as per this technique, employees
are provided a lot of information and expected to understand what is
important and relevant and what is not. The basis of the theory is ‘more is
better’. Managers feel satisfied that they have provided all the information
possible and employees are satisfied because they are kept in the loop.
However, the disadvantage here is that employees are mostly unable to
filter out the important points from the whole information. They may
understand what is happening but do not understand the reasons and are
overwhelmed by all the information.
 Tell and sell: The employees are provided that information which pertains
only to core organizational issues. Here, change managers try to both
inform staff about changes and persuade them that the changes are
necessary and good. The disadvantage of this strategy is that mostly
employees become skeptical about the change since they have not been
adequately prepared and end up being just passive recipients of round
after round of change proposals.
 Underscore and explore: The focus in this strategy is on the core issues
 of the impending change, and employees get to participate in a dialogue
with the management regarding the change process. During the dialogue,
they try to recognize challenges and possible misunderstandings and ways
to tackle them. This approach is most employee-friendly among all
approaches described here.
 Identify and reply: This strategy is largely defensive in nature, where only
the rumors and misconceptions about work practices among the staff are
recognized and addressed. It only attempts to help the employees reconcile
to confusing problems of change. The disadvantage of this approach is
that it is reactive and incorrectly assumes that employees understand the
key strategic and organizational issues related to the change.
 Withhold and uphold: The organization remains tight-lipped and secretive
about the impending change and only discloses information when it is
absolutely unavoidable to withhold it any longer. The management adopts
a party line on issues which it uses in all its public communication. This
Information is not accurate or comprehensive and is likely to engender
negative work culture among the employees.

4) What do you mean by resistance to change? Discuss some of the

reasons for individual (employee’s) resistance.
 Meaning of resistance to change.
Resistance to change represents an attitude or behaviour that reflects an
unwillingness to support change. Managers of organizations view resistance
as an enemy of change, which must be overcome if a change effort is to be
successful. This perspective is also reflected in Ansoff’s definition of
resistance: ‘Resistance has been considered as a phenomenon that affects
the change process, delaying or slowing down its beginning, obstructing or
hindering its implementation, and increasing its cost.’ Research too has
shown that if resistance issues are not handled properly then major change
efforts fail. In order for change to successfully take place, this resistance
must be overcome. There are times when resistance has a positive outcome
especially when it serves as a feedback on the proposed change. The key
aspect of this constructive approach is to evaluate the objections raised in an
unbiased manner, make the necessary changes, and keep the employees
updated and educated on the proposed changes.

 Reasons for employees’ resistance.

Resistance to change can be defined as when an individual or a group acts to
block or disrupt an attempt to introduce change. Koonce notes that change
is difficult because it forces new learning on people, and most people resist
new learning a lot of time, as do organizations. Skoldberg stated that people
tend to resist change for six reasons: fear, vested interests, lack of trust or
misunderstanding, differences in assessment of the situation, limited
resources, and inter organizational agreements
 Some of the reasons for employee’s resistance to change are:
(i) The individual’s predisposition towards change: This could be very
personal and deeply innate. This determines the individual’s attitude towards
change which could be negative.
(ii) Fear of the unknown: Fear or inability to handle an unknown situation
tends to dissuade individuals from accepting change.
(iii) Uncertainty: Employees often resist change because they are uncertain
about the impact the change will have on their lives. They may worry about
job security or they may be anxious in face of the ambiguity associated with
a new way of doing things.
(iv) Self-interest: Individuals have vested interests and definite perceptions
of what is needed. They feel that change will take away something of value
from them, hence they resist change.
(v) Satisfaction with the status quo: Most employees are comfortable
within the current framework, priorities and working relationships.
Therefore, they resist any kind of change.
(vi) Peer pressure: People may resist change because of peer pressure,
despite having a positive attitude towards change. Group norms and
pressure from the group influences their attitude towards change.
(vii) Disruption of cultural traditions or group relations: Groups of
individuals may be comfortable working together. Therefore, any change
which causes disruption of cultural traditions or group relations in the
organization are resisted.
(viii) Lack of understanding and trust: Some people resist change because
they lack proper understanding of the need for change. Sometimes they
mistrust the initiators of change and fear that they are being manipulated.
(ix) Speed with which the change occur: Sometimes the pace at which the
change occurs may seem too overwhelming for an individual. Rapid change
causes anxiety and fear among people and leads to inhibition of the change
process. So, all those who are affected by it, resist it.
(x) Insensitive manner of change introduction: When the change is too
sudden and too unexpected; several misgivings are attached to it.
Organizations should prepare the individuals for the impending change. No
person wishes to have change in his or her working environment forced upon
him or her.
(xi) Difficult timing of change: The organization may not be ready for
change. If change is introduced at the wrong time, it may cause resistance to
change.
(xii) Fear of failure: At times people are not well-informed about the
anticipated change and are therefore skeptical about the success of the effort.

5) List the types of change management strategies. Explain any two of

them.
 Listing the types of change management strategies.
Fred Nickols categorized change management strategies into four types. The
first three change management strategies, i.e., rational-empirical, normative
reductive, and power-coercive, are adapted from Chin and Benne’s landmark
contribution to changes in human systems. The fourth, that is, action
centered as referred to by other scholars, has been introduced by Nickols as
environmental-adaptive strategy.
Normative Re-educative Strategy
According to this strategy, change in the norms, attitudes, and values of
individuals will lead to changes in behaviour. It is based upon the core
beliefs,
values, and attitudes, and assumes that with the change in the attitudes of
the
individuals, change will occur and this makes the individual behave
differently.
As per the normative re-educative strategy, people are social beings who
stick to cultural norms and values. Here, change focuses on redefining the
present
values and norms, and making people embrace these. Characteristically,
people
look for change solutions that fit their culture and tend to ‘go with the flow’.
Thus,
it is for the organization to identify the flow.
As behaviour and practices (as required by the changed situation) are
emulated by their followers, charismatic and dynamic leaders make effective
hange flow agents. At times, informal organization and communities of
practices
work well here. Change strategy in this case emphasizes solutions that are
more consistent with the beliefs and value systems of the people, and work
well
when relationships are cordial and harmonious. However, the role of
leadership
is very important for the successful implementation of change.
Rational-Empirical Strategy
The rational-empirical strategy of change management deals with the
rationality
of people to embrace change for their self-interest. However, this can happen
only through persuasion and detailed communication. Benefits of such
change
must be understood by the organization and the reason for the change
should
be made clear. For instance, BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. and NTPC
(National Thermal Power Corporation) used this strategy to facilitate their
change
process, and both were successful. Application of power is often required in
organizational change. People comply
with change when it is enforced by the top echelons of management. Hence,
 change intents can be achieved with the help of power coercive strategy (if
applied judiciously).
Thus, people are basically compliant and will generally do what they are
told or can be made to do, in power coercive change management strategies.
Action-Centred Strategy
Action-centred strategies focus on problem solving. Such strategies not only
help to resolve the problem, but also effectively manage the change
implications,
particularly in the post-change phase. When people oppose loss and
disruption
and demonstrate their eagerness to adapt readily to new circumstances,
actioncentred
strategies (or environmental-adaptive strategies) are used for effecting
organizational change. To build a new organization and transfer existing
people
to it, an organization may use change initiatives. The usual adaptive nature
of
people to smoothen the change process is exploited and thus change
resistance
is avoided. It is also known as ‘self-cannibalization’ or ‘die-on-the-vine’
strategy.
While ‘self-cannibalization’ refers to that if you do not do it, someone else
will;
the ‘die-on-the-vine’ strategy assumes that people are quick in their response
pattern, both in opposing the change move (when they feel it is undesirable)
and
in accepting or adapting to change (when they feel it is desirable).

 Explain any two change management strategies.

Normative Re-educative Strategy
According to this strategy, change in the norms, attitudes, and values of
individuals will lead to changes in behaviour. It is based upon the core
beliefs,
values, and attitudes, and assumes that with the change in the attitudes of
the
individuals, change will occur and this makes the individual behave
differently.
As per the normative re-educative strategy, people are social beings who
stick to cultural norms and values. Here, change focuses on redefining the
present
values and norms, and making people embrace these. Characteristically,
people
look for change solutions that fit their culture and tend to ‘go with the flow’.
Thus,
it is for the organization to identify the flow.
 Rational-Empirical Strategy
The rational-empirical strategy of change management deals with the
rationality
of people to embrace change for their self-interest. However, this can happen
only through persuasion and detailed communication. Benefits of such
change
must be understood by the organization and the reason for the change
should
be made clear. For instance, BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. and NTPC
(National Thermal Power Corporation) used this strategy to facilitate their
change
process, and both were successful.

6) Write short notes on the following.

 Change agents.
Change agents are people who usually have specialized training in
organizational
behaviour and can help guide and advice the change process. They strive to
‘alter human capability or organizational systems to achieve a higher degree
of
output or self actualization.’ Their objective is to make goals that stick. They
have a clear vision as to how the process of change will begin and culminate,
and the activities they will perform to enable people to do more, or find a new
and better perspective on life. Change agents could be the existing managers,
non-managers, employees or outside consultants. In fact, change agents may
be either external or internal and their success will depend on how well and
skilfully they are able to stimulate, facilitate and coordinate the change
effort.
While their role can be official or voluntary; it helps if they represent the user
population, understand the reasoning behind the change, and help to
communicate the excitement, possibilities, and details of the change to
others
within the organization. As stated earlier, a change agent can be a manager,
a non-manager, a leader of a division, or a full time organizational
development professional. A typology of change agents has been developed
based on the following four categories:
A change agent could be an individual, a group, or an organizational unit.
Their organizational position could be either internal or external.
Their cultural background could be indigenous or non-indigenous,
governmental or private, or a combination of both.
Internal and External Change Agents
Internal change agent is an insider who possesses profound knowledge about
the organization. In addition, he enjoys the confidence of his people and does
not generate suspicion or mistrust, which an outsider often does.
External change agent, on the other hand, is not a member of the
organization. But he could provide initiatives, resources, procedures,
information,
serve as a stimulus for redefining the situation and suggest ways to explore
difficult or unknown problem areas. He frees the people in the organization to
participate in the training process.
Internal change agents prove useful in situations where there is:
Requirement for a long-term solution and hiring a consultant is not feasible
Requirement to rely on internal capability
Requirement for comprehensive knowledge in organization’s working
Requirement for change agents who would be trusted and known to
employees
Requirement for internal ownership
External change agents prove useful in situations where there is:
Requirement of large-scale organization-wide changes
Requirement to involve senior management
Requirement to implement complicated changes
Requirement for an objective perspective
Requirement that there be no conflict of interest or loyalty

Internal–External Change Agent Interface

The strengths of external and internal consultants can best be leveraged when
the two work as a team. External and internal change agents are dependent
upon one another in a number of ways, such as:
(a) The external change agent relies on the internal change agent for linkage
with the organization.
(b) The internal change agent relies on the external change agent to provide
alternative theoretical frameworks, ideas and conceptual stimulation.
(c) The external change agent relies on internal change agent for a view of the
organization’s language and culture as well as the ability to seed new ideas.
(d) The external change agent provides value in the form of prestige as well
as implies the investment and commitment from top management,
particularly when large-scale change is needed.

A change agent is ‘a professional who influences innovation-decisions in a

direction deemed desirable by a change agency’. It is his job to introduce and
implement a change so that the desired innovation-decisions are affected in the
organization. Vis-à-vis his client, his role broadly involves filling the following
pattern.
(a) He makes his client feel the need, relevance importance, necessity and
benefits of the intended change.
(b) He is supportive of the change and establishes a change relationship with
his client.
(c) He is able to identify the problem faced by his client. He is also able to
anticipate problems that his client is likely to face during and after the
change process and prepares ways and means of minimizing them.
(d) He prepares a blue print of implementing the change process.
(e) He stabilizes the change outcome and prevents discontinuance of the
change process. If the new equilibrium is not maintained, the organization
may revert to the earlier equilibrium rendering the entire system to collapse.
(f) A change agent cannot continue to be associated with the change effort
for too long. He should set the change in motion but also strive to achieve
a terminal relationship with his client eventually. This can be achieved
only if his client feels confident enough to take over the leadership of the
change process from where the agent left off, and then do his best to
maintain it.
(g) A change agent should have specific cognitive and action skills. He should
be able to analyse the situation in the context of perceiving a need for
change. He should be able to conceptualize and evaluate the problems,
causes, etc. on an objective basis and effectively play the role of a
consultant, trainer and researcher.

 Kolb’s learning cycle.

American educational theorist, David Kolb, developed a model of
experiential
learning, which reveals how learning occurs, and what stages a
typical individual
goes through in order to learn. It shows that we learn through a
process of doing
and thinking.
Building upon earlier work by John Dewey and Kurt Levin, Kolb
believed
learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the
transformation
of experience’. The theory presents a cyclical model of learning,
consisting of
four stages as shown in Figure 13.1 below. One may begin at any
stage, but
must follow each other in the sequence:
(i) Concrete experience (or ‘DO’)
(ii) Reflective observation (or ‘OBSERVE’)
(iii) Abstract conceptualization (or ‘THINK’)
(iv) Active experimentation (or ‘PLAN’)
Kolb’s four-stage learning cycle shows how concepts are being
developed
on the basis of reflection upon the experiences. These concepts help
in guiding
active experimentation and the choice of new experiences. In the first
stage,
that is concrete experience (CE), a learner experiences an activity such
as lab
 session or field work. He continuously reflects back on that
experience in the
second stage, i.e., reflective observation. In the third stage, i.e.,
abstract conceptualization (AC), the learner attempts to
conceptualize a theory or model
of what is observed. The fourth stage, active experimentation (AE), is
where the
learner tests a model or theory or plan for a forthcoming experience.
Kolb has also suggested that different individuals have
different sets of
preferences or styles in the way they learn. Some are activists in
their to learn. They want to go from one experience to another to
understand what it
is that they need to learn, without reviewing how the last one went or planning
what they would do differently, not necessarily embedding any learning. Some
would like to reflect, or take into account others’ experience before they take
action. The theorists can spend a lot of time making connections and seeing
the
bigger picture by putting the current situation into a wider context, but they
may
not actually get around to doing anything. The pragmatists amongst us have a
desire to relate what is happening to their own circumstances. Pragmatists
may be so intent on ensuring that it is relevant to their job that they can easily
dismiss something that does not at first appear that useful.
Not only do we all have a learning preference but as the theory suggests,
we can get stuck within our preference.
Kolb identified four learning styles which correspond to these stages. The styles
highlight conditions under which learners learn better. These styles are:
Assimilators, who learn better when presented with sound logical theories
to consider.
Convergers, who learn better when provided with practical applications of
concepts and theories.