1

Success at Organizational Change

Why Is Critical for Managers and Leaders to be Successful at

Organizational Change?

Submitted To:

Madam Shama Sadaqat

Submitted By

Hafiz M. Sabir Roll No. (205)

Junaid Mughal Roll No. (253)
Haris Ali Roll No. (269)
Uzair Mazhar Roll No. (210)
Haris Rasheed Roll No. (223)
M.Shoeb Roll No. (242)

Hailey College of Commerce,

University of the Punjab, Lahore
 2
Organizational Change

Abstract

This study is all about the organizational change and its management. It denotes the importance

for managers and leaders to be successful. We are studying the various changes occurring in the

organizations and how to handle it in a smooth manner. This is a descriptive study; descriptive

theoretical frame work is developed for this study and finally suggests the solution for managers

to tackle the changes for their success.

 3
Organizational Change

Introduction

Analyses of organizational change written since the review by Porras & Silvers (1991)

suggest that an important emerging contrast in change research is the distinction between change

that is episodic, discontinuous, and intermittent and change that is continuous, evolving, and

incremental. This contrast is sufficiently pervasive in recent work and sufficiently central in the

conceptualization of change that we use it as the framework that organizes this review.

The contrast between episodic and continuous change reflects differences in the

perspective of the observer. From a distance (the macro level of analysis), when observers

examine the flow of events that constitute organizing, they see what looks like repetitive action,

routine, and inertia dotted with occasional episodes of revolutionary change. But a view from

closer in (the micro level of analysis) suggests ongoing adaptation and adjustment. Although

these adjustments may be small, they also tend to be frequent and continuous across units, which

mean they are capable of altering structure and strategy. Some observers (e.g. Orlikowski 1996)

treat these ongoing adjustments as the essence of organizational change. Others (e.g. Nadler et al

1995) describe these ongoing adjustments as mere incremental variations on the same theme and

lump them together into an epoch of convergence during which interdependencies deepen.

Convergence is interrupted sporadically by epochs of divergence described by words like

revolution, deep change, and transformation.

We pursue this contrast, first by a brief overview of change as a genre of analysis and

then by a more detailed comparison of episodic and continuous change using a framework

proposed by Dunphy (1996).

 4
Organizational Change

Literature review

Kediaa and Mukherji (1999) discussed on the effects and requirements of the

globalization and managers role in this era of globalization. He discussed that this is sure that the

globalization is taking place. And there requirements of managers are also changing to compete

in the business world. Gives the types of managers mindset that the managers have the different

mind sets like domestically oriented, the explore, controller, and newly developed is globally

oriented. The researcher also discussed that the manager should integrate the three things as;

global business, country pressures and worldwide function. And emphasis manager to develop

the global mind set. This can be created by the development of global organization containing

the characteristics of specialization, interdependency, and coordination. And business outlook

should move from the autonomous body to the effective global network.

Bartlett and Ghoshal (2003) Writers have beautifully described the types of managers

working in the organization and discussed the skills and qualities which they have. And also

describes the qualities that the managers should possess. During his research they find that the

international organizations require three types of manager’s business managers, country

managers and functional managers. And also requires the set of managers which can control and

coordinate the work of all the managers in the organization. They discussed the different

characteristics they these all managers should possess. The business managers are those which

should have the qualities of strategist, architect and coordinator. And country manager should be

feeler, builder, and contributor. And also discussed the functional manger containing the traits of

scanner, cross-pollinator and champion. All that makes the organization as global organization.
 5
Organizational Change

Masood and Benson (2005) discussed the globalization and it effects and gives the

module consists of 6 points as a guide line. During the study the researcher says that the

organization can meet with the problem of the organization by the people of the organization

only. In case the organization don not mold its organizational that will cause for the failure and

disaster of that organization. and the researched gives the gives the six points module by which

the organization can meet with the problems of the globalization these are organizational

readiness, stakeholders analysis, readiness preparation, communication plan, training plan and

human resources.

There paper presents the findings of an empirical study into two organizations’

experiences with the adoption and use of CASE tools over time. Using a grounded theory

research approach, the study characterizes the organizations’ experiences in terms of processes

of incremental or radical organizational change. These findings are used to develop a theoretical

framework for conceptualizing the organizational issues around the adoption and use of these

tools--issues that have been largely missing from contemporary discussions of CASE tools.

The paper thus has important implications for research and practice. Specifically, the framework

and findings suggest that in order to account for the experiences and outcomes associated with

CASE tools, researchers should consider the social context of systems development, the

intentions and actions of key players, and the implementation process followed by the

organization. Similarly, the paper suggests that practitioners will be better able to manage their

organizations’ experiences with CASE Tools, if they understand that such implementations

involve a process of organizational change over time, and not merely the installation of a new

technology
 6
Organizational Change

Trimpey (2004) conducted a study to examine change implementations and opportunities

for information and technology managers to manipulate organizational culture as a component of

the change process. Four cultural traits presented by Denison and Mishra (1995) such as;

involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission were associated with four change concepts

including IT change, implementation, strategic change management, impact of change and

organizational learning. He further analyzed the selected literature from 1980 to 2004) to

generate a situation for use by managers when planning and implementing technological

changes.

This paper examines the use of a groupware technology--Lotus Development

Corporation's Notes--in the context of customer support to understand how the technology was

used to enable organizational changes over time. Building on its successful implementation of

the technology two years ago, the customer support department underwent a number of

organizational changes that altered the nature and distribution of work, forms of collaboration,

utilization and dissemination of knowledge, and coordination with internal and external units.

These changes were enacted through a series of intended as well as opportunistic modifications

to both the technology and the organization. The effectiveness of this change process suggests a

strategy of implementing and using groupware technology that focuses first on enacting some

initial planned organizational changes, and then builds on these to enact emergent changes in

response to the opportunities and conditions occasioned by the planned changes. Because

groupware technologies are largely open-ended and adaptable, this process of evolving

organizationally with the technology over time may be a particularly useful way of implementing

organizational change around groupware.

 7
Organizational Change

Chew, Cheng and Lazarevic (2004) planned a research to investigated restaurant

industry’s managers’ role when commencing and implementing organizational change in order

to reduce probable employees’ confrontation to change. The findings bear previous theoretical

approaches to effective change management. The key elements to support change were effective

communication, employees’ attitude and perception of managers’ undertaken actions.

Weick and Quinn (1999) argue that current analyses of organizational change advocate a

growing apprehension with the tempo of change, such as the characteristic rate, pulse, or mold of

work. Disguised descriptions of organizing, analytic frameworks, ideal organizations,

intervention theories, and roles for change agents are the basic differences between episodic and

continuous change. Episodic change follows the sequence unfreeze-transition-refreeze, whereas

continuous change pursues the series freeze-rebalance-unfreeze. Conceptualization of lethargy is

seen to be the reason to view change as episodic or continuous.

Simić (1998) states that transformational leadership symbolizes the basic quality for

successful management of transformational organizational changes. The success in

understanding transformational organizational changes means that the key people in an

organization such as leader or managers expand sets of suitable skills and attributes that are

attributes to supposed transformational leaders.

Izzo & Withers (2000) found that companies reporting high commitment levels attain

considerably better results including 29% higher revenue; they are also 50% more likely to have

above-average customer loyalty and are 44% more likely to turn above average profits.

Fernandez and Rainey (2006) studied that the implementation of planned change

generally requires that leaders verify the need for change and persuade other members of the

organization and important external stakeholders that it is necessary. Managerial leaders must
 8
Organizational Change

develop a course of action or strategy for implementing change. Convincing the members of an

organization of the need for change is obviously not enough to bring about actual change. The

new idea or vision must be transformed into a course of action or strategy with goals and a plan

for achieving it.

Managerial leaders must build internal support for change and reduce resistance to it

through widespread participation in the change process and other means. An individual or group

within the organization should champion the cause for change. Top management support and

commitment to change play an especially crucial role in success. Some studies of organizational

change stress the importance of having a single change agent or idea champion lead the

transformation. Successful change usually requires sufficient resources to support the process.

Managers and employees must effectively institutionalize and embed changes. To make change

continuing, members of the organization must incorporate the new policies or innovations into

their daily routines.

Orlikowski (1992) measured in offices of large organizations to comprehend the changes

in work practices and social interaction facilitated by the technology. The results reveal that a

number of organizational elements such as mental models and structural properties significantly

influence how groupware technology is implemented and used. Specifically, the findings suggest

that in the absence of mental models that appreciate the collaborative nature of groupware, such

technologies will be interpreted in terms of more familiar personal and stand-alone technologies

such as spreadsheets. Recognizing the significant influence of these organizational elements

appears critical to both researchers and practitioners of groupware technologies.

Ogbonna and Wilkinson (2003) studied on the shop floor workers’ responses to culture

change initiatives – revealed significant changes in shop floor workers’ behavior (giving
 9
Organizational Change

customers more attention, displaying deference), but this was more to do with behavioral

fulfillment under situation of observation and threat of authorize than with any transformation of

the values of workers (workers did not express love of either the customer or the company). At

the time we did not seriously study managerial responses to the new culture change initiatives;

although on the surface it did appear that managers were enthusiastic in their implementation of

the policies that were associated with the culture change program.

But a fuller understanding of managers is important. Not only do managers have to ‘act

the part’; they are expected to convince others, their subordinates, to act the part too. They are

key agents in any process of change. Hence in this study our target was to focus on managers.

Weick and Quinn (1999) analyse that organizational change suggest a growing concern

with the tempo of change, understood as the characteristic rate, measure, or pattern of work or

activity. Periodic change is contrasted with continuous change on the basis of indirect images of

organizing, analytic frameworks, ideal organizations, intervention theories, and roles for change

agents. Episodic change follows the sequence unfreeze-transition-refreeze, whereas continuous

change follows the sequence freeze-rebalance-unfreeze. Conceptualizations of inactivity are seen

to motivate the choice to view change as periodic or continuous.

“This review selectively examines the theoretical and empirical organizational change

literature over the past nine years (1990–early 1998). Four research themes or issues common to

all change efforts are discussed: (a) content issues, which largely focus on the substance of

contemporary organizational changes; (b) contextual issues, which principally focus on forces or

conditions existing in an organization’s external and internal environments; (c) process issues,

which address actions undertaken during the enactment of an intended change, and (d) criterion

issues, which deal with outcomes commonly assessed in organizational change efforts. Research
 10
Organizational Change

dealing with monitoring affective and behavioral reactions to change is also reviewed. In closing,

general observations and suggestions for future research are offered and it is concluded that the

organizational change literature continues to be responsive to the dynamics of contemporary

workplace demands.”

Types and impacts of changes

Organizational Changes

Organizational changes are not a common event happens in the world of business and

technology. The changes of the environment and the society may affect the organization and the

organizational changes happen. Organizational changes may happen a lot of time because the

organization should adopt into fast changing environment. The most factors of organizational

changes is the most famous term nowadays which "technology". As the time passes by,

technology changes or upgraded into a better one. Therefore, as the technology changes, moat

organizations should adopt the changes for some reasons, such as a good competition and better

technology.

Organizational change is the term used to describe the transformation process that a

company goes through in response to a strategic reorientation, restructure, change in

management, merger or acquisition or the development of new goals and objectives for the

company. The realignment of resources and the redeployment of capital can bring many

challenges during the transformation process and organizational change management seeks to

address this by adopting best practice standards to assist with the integration of new company

vision.
 11
Organizational Change

Organizational change is not just change for the sake of change itself. The major

precursor for organizational change is some form of exogenous force such as an external event.

Cuts in a company’s funding, the streamline of operations due to a merger are common examples

of the magnitude of an event that creates organizational change and development. Companies

that are nearing the end of the product life cycle make organizational changes in response to

exiting a market or reorienting resources to new or existing business operations.

Significant organizational change occurs, for example, when an organization changes its

overall strategy for success, adds or removes a major section or practice, and/or wants to change

the very nature by which it operates. It also occurs when an organization evolves through various

life cycles, just like people must successfully evolve through life cycles. For organizations to

develop, they often must undergo significant change at various points in their development.

That's why the topic of organizational change and development has become widespread in

communications about business, organizations, leadership and management.

Leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and significant

change -- it's inherent in their jobs. Some are very good at this effort (probably more than we

realize), while others continually struggle and fail. That's often the difference between people

who thrive in their roles and those that get shuttled around from job to job, ultimately settling

into a role where they're frustrated and ineffective. There are many schools with educational

programs about organizations, business, leadership and management. Unfortunately, there still

are not enough schools with programs about how to analyze organizations, identify critically

important priorities to address (such as systemic problems or exciting visions for change) and

then undertake successful and significant change to address those priorities. This Library topic

aims to improve that situation.

 12
Organizational Change

Typically, the phrase “organizational change” is about a significant change in the

organization, such as reorganization or adding a major new product or service. This is in contrast

to smaller changes, such as adopting a new computer procedure. Organizational change can seem

like such a vague phenomena that it is helpful if you can think of change in terms of various

dimensions as described below:

i. Organization-wide Versus Subsystem Change

Examples of organization-wide change might be a major restructuring, collaboration or

“right-sizing.” Usually, organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a

different level in their life cycle, for example, going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial

organization to one that has a more stable and planned development. Experts assert that

successful organizational change requires a change in culture – cultural change is another

example of organization-wide change.

Examples of a change in a subsystem might include addition or removal of a product or

service, reorganization of a certain department, or implementation of a new process to deliver

products or services.

ii. Transformational Versus Incremental Change

An example of transformational (or radical, fundamental) change might be changing an

organization’s structure and culture from the traditional top-down, hierarchical structure to a

large amount of self-directing teams. Another example might be Business Process Re-

engineering, which tries to take apart (at least on paper, at first) the major parts and processes of

the organization and then put them back together in a more optimal fashion. Transformational

change is sometimes referred to as quantum change.

 13
Organizational Change

Examples of incremental change might include continuous improvement as a quality

management process or implementation of new computer system to increase efficiencies. Many

times, organizations experience incremental change and its leaders do not recognize the change

as such.

iii. Remedial Versus Developmental Change

Change can be intended to remedy current situations, for example, to improve the poor

performance of a product or the entire organization, reduce burnout in the workplace, and help

the organization to become much more proactive and less reactive, or address large budget

deficits. Remedial projects often seem more focused and urgent because they are addressing a

current, major problem. It is often easier to determine the success of these projects because the

problem is solved or not.

Change can also be developmental – to make a successful situation even more successful,

for example, expand the amount of customers served, or duplicate successful products or

services.

Developmental projects can seem more general and vague than remedial, depending on how

specific goals are and how important it is for members of the organization to achieve those goals.

Some people might have different perceptions of what is a remedial change versus a

developmental Change.

iv. Unplanned Versus Planned Change

Unplanned change usually occurs because of a major, sudden surprise to the organization,

which causes its members to respond in a highly reactive and disorganized fashion. Unplanned
 14
Organizational Change

change might occur when the Chief Executive Officer suddenly leaves the organization,

significant public relations problems occur, poor product performance quickly results in loss of

customers, or other disruptive situations arise.

Planned change occurs when leaders in the organization recognize the need for a major

change and proactively organize a plan to accomplish the change. Planned change occurs with

successful implementation of a Strategic Plan, plan for reorganization, or other implementation

of a change of this magnitude.

For millions of years we have been evolving and will continue to do so. Change is

difficult. Human Beings resist change; however, the process has been set in motion long ago and

we will continue to co-create our own experience. Kuhn states that "awareness is prerequisite to

all acceptable changes of theory”. It all begins in the mind of the person. What we perceive,

whether normal or met normal, conscious or unconscious, is subject to the limitations and

distortions produced by our inherited and socially conditional nature. However, we are not

restricted by this for we can change. We are moving at an accelerated rate of speed and our state

of consciousness is transforming and transcending. Many are awakening as our conscious

awareness expands.

Spectrum of IT

IT can promote various degrees of organizational change ranging from incremental to far-

reaching. Three kinds of structural organizational change that are enabled by IT

i) Automation, ii) Rationalization, and iii) Reengineering. Each carries different rewards

and risks. The most common form of IT-enabled organizational change or the first phase of IT

adoption is automation. This has allowed employees to automate a number of time-consuming

 15
Organizational Change

and error-prone activities and gain benefits in cycle-time, productivity, and accuracy. For

example, a main contractor makes use of standalone software to keep track all Request For

Information (RFI) in a project.

A deeper form of organization change or the second phase of IT adoption is

rationalization of procedures. Automation frequently reveals bottlenecks in production and

makes the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome.

Rationalization of procedures involves the streamlining of standard operating procedures, which

eliminates obvious bottlenecks, so that operating procedures become more efficient. Roughly

speaking, it is a process of fine tuning the first step. For example, the main contractor

implements an intranet and standardizes the data in RFI across all projects in the enterprise.

A more powerful type of organizational change or the third phase of IT adoption is

business process reengineering, in which business processes are analyzed, simplified, and

redesigned. Reengineering involves radically rethinking the flow of work and the construction

business processes with the intention to radically reducing the costs of businesses. Using IT,

organizations can rethink and streamline their business processes to improve speed, service, and

quality. Business process reengineering reorganizes workflows, combining steps to cut waste and

eliminating repetitive, paper-intensive tasks. It is much more ambitious than rationalization of

procedures because it requires a new vision of how the process is to be organized. For example,

the main contractor sets up an extranet to online collaborate with the architect for the RFI

process.

Not many construction industry players have moved beyond the first phase of

automation. However, there are some companies have committed to a continuing investment in
 16
Organizational Change

technological advancement and organizational change. By changing how they are organized and

do business, they have achieved far greater benefits than available through automation alone.

Companies like this have succeeded in staying ahead of their competitors not merely by

automating but by changing their organization as well. Their strategic advantage has been their

preparedness and ability to continually innovative, and to manage the change necessary to gain

substantial business benefits.

Automation

Consolidation and technological advances have made radio automation affordable and

necessary for modern broadcast facilities. In response to the industry, automation systems are

becoming better described as digital-asset management systems. Simple cart replacement isn't

the goal anymore. Stations expect digital playback systems to help manage media inventories,

automatically record and insert live feeds and voice tracks, work seamlessly with satellite

formats and operate as a live assistant for shows. The need for interaction, control and insertion

from a distance has become extremely important, as have WAN-based media sharing and the

ability to manage multiple stations from a central site.

Most manufacturers have addressed these needs, and now these systems offer much more

than radio automation. Many systems available are designed to take advantage of interaction

with Rich Media associated with radio and audio content. This capability has direct applications

as stations exploit their Internet presence. Automation systems can send “now playing” data to

Web pages, and some companies offer solutions that allow listeners to hear radio on specially

designed audio players with a station logo and sponsor ad space, as well as methods for Internet

listeners to click and find out more about the music or spot being played or even begin a
 17
Organizational Change

purchase process. This type of interactivity is still in the early stages but expect this information

and extra features to be a part of future digital radio iterations.

Perhaps the decision has been made for the engineer, as a member of a larger company. If

this is the case, this information may be able to give you an idea of how the system works and

how its features can be used in the station. Use this information as a beginning, following up the

research by contacting the manufacturer or the broadcast equipment dealer for more information

Rationalization

Traditional tax planning initiatives and the resulting impacts to the corporate entity

structure are under fire. Increased scrutiny from taxing authorities and corporate auditors has set

the bar for tax planning at a whole new level. To improve tax performance and meet a more

stringent set of regulations and other requirements, a new approach to structural planning is

needed - one that "rationalizes" an entity structure by examining all possible structural moves

and measuring the resulting tax and operational benefits. Fortunately, recent advancements in

corporate tax management software enable large organizations to optimize complex legal entity

structures - enabling them not only to effectively manage tax liability, but also to lower

operational costs, improve productivity, and reduce risk.

In today's demanding business climate, prudent tax management is critical to preserving a

company's reputation and maintaining shareholder confidence. Given this reality, tax

departments will continue to be expected to manage the delicate balance between risk and reward

- to function as a viable profit center while ensuring that senior management has the information

needed to make informed decisions in an ever-changing environment.

 18
Organizational Change

Unfortunately, traditional modeling tools such as spreadsheets fall well short of today's

requirements to conduct a decision-making process that is rapid, error-free, and auditable. In

fact, the typical reliance on spreadsheets- which have been proven to be error prone, labor

intensive, and limited in scope - often results in the overpayment of taxes, a perilous level of risk,

and the underutilization of high-value employees. Limited in both depth and breadth of

capabilities, spreadsheets are simply not able to perform all the necessary calculations and

deliver reliable information in increasingly tight timeframes. Armed only with spreadsheets, tax

professionals will never be able to fully optimize the legal entity structure and reap the

associated benefits.

The upside is that the next generation of tax automation is available now and can help tax

professionals meet today's rigorous requirements for speed, quality, and transparency. With

today's latest technology, tax professionals are able to overcome the typical entity-restructuring

challenges and provide consistently sound ideas and recommendations for optimizing even the

most complex legal entity structures, and therefore drive value to the bottom line by managing

tax liability, lowering costs, improving productivity, and reducing risk.

Reengineering

Lower costs Evidence from a number of US projects suggests that reengineering an

existing system costs significantly less than new system development. Ulrich, for example

reports on a reengineering project that cost $12 million, compared to estimated redevelopment

costs of $50 million.

Lower risks. Reengineering is based on incremental improvement of systems, rather than

radical system replacement. The risk of losing critical business knowledge, which may be
 19
Organizational Change

embedded in a legacy system, or of producing a system that does not meet its users’ real needs, is

drastically reduced.

Better use of existing staff. Existing staff expertise can be maintained, and extended

accommodate new skills during reengineering. The incremental nature of reengineering means

that existing staff skills can evolve as the system evolves. The approach carries less risk and

expense which is associated with hiring new staff.

Revelation of business rules. As a system is reengineered, business rules that are

embedded in the system are rediscovered. This is particularly true where the rules govern

exceptional situations.

Incremental development. Reengineering can be carried out in stages, as budget and

resources are available. The operational organization always has a working system, and end

users are able to gradually adapt to the reengineered as it is delivered in increments

Conclusion

We have studied various types of organizational changes and their impacts upon the

organizations. Every change has its prose and cones along with it but it depends upon the

managers that how to utilize each of them and up to what extent, so that risk can be minimized

and rewards can be achieved at optimal level. Our focus is upon the key changes like automation,

rationalization and reengineering. These have a great influence on the health of organizations but

over all these are best tool for minimizing the risk and obtaining the maximum rewards if they

are used properly

 20
Organizational Change

References

Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (2003). What is a global manager? Best Howard Business

Review,1-10.

Chew, M. M. M., Cheng, J. S. L., & Lazarevic, S.P(2006). Managers’ role in implementing

organizational change: case of the restaurant industry in Melbourne. Journal of Global

Business and Technology, 2 (1), 58-67.

Fernandez, S., Rainey, H.G. (2006). Managing Successful Organizational Change in the Public

Sector. Public Administration Review. 169-173

Izzo, J. B. & Withers, P. (2000).Values Shift: The New Work Ethic & What it Means for

Business. Canada: Prentice Hall.

Kediaa, B. L., & Mukherji, A. (1999). Global managers: developing a mindset for global

competitvness. Journal of Business, 34 (3), 230-251.

Masood, N., & Benson, H. (2005). Organizational change management and global

sourcing- A winning combination. Win the flat World. Retrieved on January 28, 2010

from http://www.infosys.com/global-sourcing/white- papers/Documents/OCM.pdf.

Ogbonna, E., Wilkinson, B. (2003). The False Promise of Organizational Culture Change.

Journal of Management Studies, 40. 6.

Orlikowski, W. J. (1992). Organizational Issues in Groupware Implementation. MIT Sloan

School Working Paper #3428-92. 2-4.

 21
Organizational Change

Simić, I. (1998). Transformational leadership - The key to successful management of

transformational organizational changes. Economics and Organization, 1 (6).49 – 55.

Trimpey,T. (2004). Information and technology managers as influential change

implementation agents: an organizational culture perspective. Unpublished Master

Thesis. Applied information management and the graduate school. University of

Oregon.

Weick, K. E., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual

Reviews of Psychology, 50. 361- 86.