ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Meaning-

Organisational change refers to any alteration that occurs in total work

environment. Organisational change is an important characteristic of most
organisations. An organisation must develop adaptability to change
otherwise it will either be left behind or be swept away by the forces of
change. Organisational change is inevitable in a progressive culture.
Modern organizations are highly dynamic, versatile and adaptive to the
multiplicity of changes.

Organisational change refers to the alteration of structural relationships

and roles of people in the organization. It is largely structural in nature. An
enterprise can be changed in several ways. Its technology can be changed,
its structure, its people and other elements can be changed. Organisational
change calls for a change in the individual behaviour of the employees.

Organizations survive, grow or decay depending upon the changing

behaviour of the employees. Most changes disturb the equilibrium of
situation and environment in which the individuals or groups exist. If a
change is detrimental to the interests of individuals or groups, they will
resist the change.

Definition:
Change is something that should be embraced rather than feared. Only with
change will businesses be able to lay the foundations for long-term success.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, organizational change is:
“A process in which a large company or organization changes its working
methods or aims, for example in order to develop and deal with new situations
or markets.”
Many people would disagree with Cambridge Dictionary’s description. They
say the definition should not limit organizational change just to something that
happens in large companies.

Nature of Organizational Change:

The term change refers to an alteration in a system whether physical, biological,
or social. Thus organizational change is the alteration of work environment in
organization. It implies a new equilibrium between different components of the
organization- technology, structural, arrangement, job design, and people. Thus
organizational change may have following features:

• When change occurs in any part of the organization, it disturbs the old
equilibrium necessitating the development of the a new equilibrium. The
type of new equilibrium depends on the degree of change and its impact
on the organization.
• Any change may affect the whole organization; some parts of the
organization may be affected more, others less; some parts are affected
directly, others indirectly.
• Organizational change is a continuous process. However, some changes
which are of minor type, may be absorbed by the existing equilibrium;
others, which are major ones may require special change efforts.

Planned Change : One of Newton’s laws is that “bodies in motion tend to stay
in motion; bodies at rest tend to stay at rest”. There is an organizational version
of this truth. Those who believe in growth and forward movement tend to be
exemplars of change, while those who believe in this is how we do things
around here” lead to doom. Therefore, bringing change in a planned manner is
the prime responsibility of all managers who are forward looking. Planned
change aims to prepare the total organization, or a major portion of it, to adapt
to significant changes in the organization’s goals and direction. Thomas and
Bennis have defined planned change as follows:

“planned change is the deliberate design and implementation of a structural

innovation, a new policy or goal, or a change in operating philosophy, climate
or style.”

Planned change attempts at all aspects of the organization which are closely
interrelated: technology, task, structure, people as shown in fig:
Technology – related Changes: Technology refers to the sum total of
knowledge providing ways to do things. It may include inventions and
techniques which affect the way of doing things, that is designing, producing,
and distributing products. Technology-related changes may include:

1. Changing problem-solving and decision-making procedures.

2. Introduction of automated data processing devices like computers to

facilitate managerial planning and control.

3. Change in methods of production like conversation of unit production to

mass production.

Task – related Changes: Technology-related changes determine the types of

task that may be required to complete an operation. However, what alternatives
are chosen must consider the core job characteristics- skill variety, task identity,
task significance, autonomy, and feedback from the job. Task-related changes
must focus on:

• High internal work motivation

• High quality work performance

Structure – related Changes: Structural changes redefine nature of

relationships among various organizational positions and may include:

• Changing the number of Hierarchical levels.

• Changing one form of organization to another form
 • Changing span of management
• Changing line-staff and functional authority

When structural changes are effected, these may affect the formal reporting
relationships, formal interaction pattern, and consequently informal relations.

People – related Changes: Changes of any type as pointed out above require
changes in people in an organization. These changes may be of two types- skills
and behavior. The magnitude of these changes depends on the type of change.
For example, if there is a change in technology, say from manual to automated,
it requires different type of skills in the operators as compared to the previously
used skills. Similarly, changes in behavior and the socio-psychological factors
determine behavior are required.

Causes /Types of Organisational Change:

(A) External Pressures:
i. Change in Technology and Equipment:
Advancements in technology is the major cause (i.e., external pressure) of
change. Each technological alternative results in new forms of organization
to meet and match the needs.

ii. Market Situation:

Changes in market situation include rapidly changing goals, needs and
desires of consumers, suppliers, unions etc. If an organization has to
survive, it has to cope with changes in market situations.

iii. Social and Political Changes:

Organisational units literally have no control over social and political
changes in the country. Relations between government and business or
drive for social equality are some factors which may compel for
organisational change.

(B) Internal Pressures (Pressures for Change from Within the

Organisation):
I . Changes in the Managerial Personnel:
One of the most frequent reasons for major changes in the organisation is
the change of executives at the top. No two managers have the same style,
skills or managerial philosophies.

ii. Deficiencies in the Existing Organization:

Many deficiencies are noticed in the organisations with the passage of time.
A change is necessary to remove such deficiencies as lack of uniformity in
the policies, obstacles in communication, any ambiguity etc.

iii. Other Factors:

Certain other factors such as listed below also demand a change in the
organisation.

Employee’s desire to share in decision-making

Employee’s desire for higher wage rate

Forces that acts as stimulants to change

Establishing a sense of urgency: - when within company, group of employee start to think
about financial performance, technology upgradation, company’s position in market,
competition in market and problems. They have done healthy discussion about company’s
profit, company position in market and how to tackle the problems of company.

Developing a guiding group: - when an initiative is taken by few employees. Some senior
employees also join that group for the success of that group. Because the senior employees
may lead and direct the group and they will form the core guiding group.

Creating a new vision: - The guiding group comes with a vision. The vision should be easy
to communicate. The guiding group also develops a strategy for achieving the vision.

Communicating new vision: - Communication of vision should come both in words and
deeds. It is very necessary that it is clearly understood by employee.

Removing obstacles to the new vision: - The group is only successful when employee being
work according to vision and also apply the new ways to do the work, only then they can free
serious from obstacles along with the work. So it is duties of senior management to remove
the obstacle on work.

Creating short term successes: - When the group not gets the long term success, than the
company celebrates the short term success so that moment is not lost.

Declaring victory:- change initiator and resister both should take time to declare change
programme in organization successfully until they sink deeply into organizational culture. As
in the new way of working are sensitive so the process can take five to ten years. So the
company should resist temptation to declare victory after few improvement and clear
performance of the new programme.

Implementing the change: - Change become successful in an organization when new

behavior becomes incorporated in social norms and shared values, that is, new behavior has
to be implemented

Process/Implementation of Organisational Change:

Unless the behavioural patterns of the employees change, the change will
have a little impact on the effectiveness of the organisation.

A commonly accepted model for bringing change in people was

suggested by Kurt Lewin in terms of three phase process:-

(1) Unfreezing:
The essence of unfreezing phase is that the individual is made to realize
that his beliefs, feelings and behaviour are no longer appropriate or
relevant to the current situation in the organisation. Once convinced,
people may change their behaviour. Reward for those willing to change and
punishment for others may help in this matter.

(2) Changing:
Once convinced and ready to change, an individual, under this phase,
learns to behave in new ways. He is first provided with the model in which
he is to identify himself. Gradually he will accept that model and behave in
the manner suggested by the model. In another process (known as
internalisation), the individual is placed in a situation where new behaviour
is demanded of him if he is to operate successfully.

(3) Refreezing:
During this phase, a person has to practice and experiment with the new
method of behaviour and see that it effectively blends with his other
behavioural attitudes. Reinforcement, for creating a permanent set in the
individual, is provided through either continuous or intermittent schedules.

Resistance to Organisational Change:

Resistance to change is perhaps one of the baffling problems a manager
encounters because it can take many shapes. People may resign, they may
show tardiness, loss of motivation to work, increased absenteeism, request
for transfer, wild-cat strikes, shoddy work, reduction in productivity etc.

Classification/Approaches of Resistance to Change:

Resistance to change may be classified as:

1. Industrial Resistance

2. Organisational Resistance

1. Industrial Resistance:
Individual resistance may be there because of the following
reasons:
A. Economic Reasons:
(a) Obsolescence of Skills:
When a person feels that with the introduction of newer processes, his skills
will just become obsolete, he will resist the change. For example, a twenty
years experienced accountant is quite likely to resist the introduction of a
computer for preparing the wage bills because he feels that might affect his
pay and position.

(b) Fear of Economic Loss:

People resist change if it opens the possibility of lowering their income
directly or indirectly.

B. Personal Reasons:
(a) Ego Defensiveness:
A sales manager may turn down the suggestions of a salesman simply
because the manager perceives that his ego may be deflated by accepting
the suggestion.

(b) Status Quo:

Most of the people feel comfortable with status quo and strongly resist
change as it may involve uncertainty and risk.

(c) Fear of Unknown:

Change presents unknown and unknown poses a constant threat and sores
people. For fear of unknown, a manager may refuse promotion that
requires his relocating in another state.

C. Social Reasons:
(a) Social Displacement:
Introduction of change (e.g., relocating) may result in breaking up of work
groups and thus result in disturbance of the existing social relationships of
people.

(b) Peer Pressure:

Whenever change is unwilling to the peers, they force the individual
subordinate employees who are bent of accepting the change, to resist it.

2. Organizational Resistance:
Resistance may also be present at organizational level. Some organizations
are so designed that they resist innovations.

Some of the reasons of organizational resistance are:

(a) Threats to Power and Influence:
Some people (especially sitting at the top levels) resist change because they
feel that a change might affect their position, power and influence in the
organization.

(b) Organizational Structure:

Some organization structures (e.g., bureaucratic structure) have inbuilt
mechanism for resistance to change.

(c) Resource Constraints:

Non-availability of financial, material and human resources may also act as
a resistance to change.

(d) Sunk Cost:

In some companies, heavy capital is blocked in the fixed or permanent
assets. If such an organization wishes to introduce change, then difficulty
arises because of these sunk costs.

Overcoming Resistance to Organisational Change:

Change creates tension and emotional turmoil in the minds of employees.
Change thus results in resistance quite frequently, negative reactions doom
the success of the change program especially when a manager is unable to
handle it properly.

Some of the techniques to handle the change properly and to

deal with resistance to change are:
(a) Education and Communication:
One of the easiest techniques to overcome resistance to change is to educate
the people who resist it. In many cases, people do not properly understand
the change and hence become afraid of its consequences and resist change.

(b) Participation and Involvement:

If subordinates are allowed to participate and involve themselves in the
change process (decision-making regarding the implementation of the
change), their misunderstandings about the consequences of change are
cleared, they generally feel satisfied and do not oppose change.

(c) Support:
Support may be facilitative and emotional. Managers sometimes deal with
potential resistance by being supportive. This includes listening, providing
emotional support, providing training in new skills etc.

(d) Incentives:
Offering incentive is another fruitful way to overcome resistance to change.

(e) Manipulation:
Managers generally indulge in manipulation when all other tactics have
failed to overcome resistance to change.

(f) Coercion:
At times, there is no way except to deal with resistance coercively. People
are forced to accept change by threatening them with loss of their jobs,
promotion possibilities and so forth.
 Kurt Lewin's Change Model
Kurt Lewin developed a change model involving three
steps: unfreezing, changing and refreezing. The model represents a very simple and
practical model for understanding the change process. For Lewin, the process of change
entails creating the perception that a change is needed, then moving toward the new, desired
level of behavior and finally, solidifying that new behavior as the norm. The model is still
widely used and serves as the basis for many modern change models.

Unfreezing
Before you can cook a meal that has been frozen, you need to defrost or thaw it out. The
same can be said of change. Before a change can be implemented, it must go through the
initial step of unfreezing. Because many people will naturally resist change, the goal during
the unfreezing stage is to create an awareness of how the status quo, or current level of
acceptability, is hindering the organization in some way. Old behaviors, ways of thinking,
processes, people and organizational structures must all be carefully examined to show
employees how necessary a change is for the organization to create or maintain a competitive
advantage in the marketplace. Communication is especially important during the unfreezing
stage so that employees can become informed about the imminent change, the logic behind it
and how it will benefit each employee. The idea is that the more we know about a change and
the more we feel it is necessary and urgent, the more motivated we are to accept the change.

Changing
Now that the people are 'unfrozen' they can begin to move. Lewin recognized that change is a
process where the organization must transition or move into this new state of being.
This changing step, also referred to as 'transitioning' or 'moving,' is marked by the
implementation of the change. This is when the change becomes real. It's also, consequently,
the time that most people struggle with the new reality. It is a time marked with uncertainty
and fear, making it the hardest step to overcome. During the changing step people begin to
learn the new behaviors, processes and ways of thinking. The more prepared they are for this
step, the easier it is to complete. For this reason, education, communication, support and time
are critical for employees as they become familiar with the change. Again, change is a
process that must be carefully planned and executed. Throughout this process, employees
should be reminded of the reasons for the change and how it will benefit them once fully
implemented.

Refreezing
Lewin called the final stage of his change model freezing, but many refer to it
as refreezing to symbolize the act of reinforcing, stabilizing and solidifying the new state
after the change. The changes made to organizational processes, goals, structure, offerings or
people are accepted and refrozen as the new norm or status quo. Lewin found the refreezing
step to be especially important to ensure that people do not revert back to their old ways of
thinking or doing prior to the implementation of the change. Efforts must be made to
guarantee the change is not lost; rather, it needs to be cemented into the organization's culture
and maintained as the acceptable way of thinking or doing. Positive rewards and
acknowledgment of individualized efforts are often used to reinforce the new state because it
is believed that positively reinforced behavior will likely be repeated.
The Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change)

The Transtheoretical Model (also called the Stages of Change Model), developed by
Prochaska and DiClemente in the late 1970s, evolved through studies examining the
experiences of smokers who quit on their own with those requiring further treatment to
understand why some people were capable of quitting on their own. It was determined that
people quit smoking if they were ready to do so. Thus, the Transtheoretical Model (TTM)
focuses on the decision-making of the individual and is a model of intentional change. The
TTM operates on the assumption that people do not change behaviors quickly and decisively.
Rather, change in behavior, especially habitual behavior, occurs continuously through a
cyclical process. The TTM is not a theory but a model; different behavioral theories and
constructs can be applied to various stages of the model where they may be most effective.

The TTM posits that individuals move through six stages of change: precontemplation,
contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. Termination was not part
of the original model and is less often used in application of stages of change for health-
related behaviors. For each stage of change, different intervention strategies are most
effective at moving the person to the next stage of change and subsequently through the
model to maintenance, the ideal stage of behavior.

1. Precontemplation - In this stage, people do not intend to take action in the foreseeable
future (defined as within the next 6 months). People are often unaware that their
behavior is problematic or produces negative consequences. People in this stage often
underestimate the pros of changing behavior and place too much emphasis on the
cons of changing behavior.
2. Contemplation - In this stage, people are intending to start the healthy behavior in the
foreseeable future (defined as within the next 6 months). People recognize that their
behavior may be problematic, and a more thoughtful and practical consideration of
the pros and cons of changing the behavior takes place, with equal emphasis placed
on both. Even with this recognition, people may still feel ambivalent toward changing
their behavior.
3. Preparation (Determination) - In this stage, people are ready to take action within the
next 30 days. People start to take small steps toward the behavior change, and they
believe changing their behavior can lead to a healthier life.
4. Action - In this stage, people have recently changed their behavior (defined as within
the last 6 months) and intend to keep moving forward with that behavior change.
People may exhibit this by modifying their problem behavior or acquiring new
healthy behaviors.
5. Maintenance - In this stage, people have sustained their behavior change for a while
(defined as more than 6 months) and intend to maintain the behavior change going
forward. People in this stage work to prevent relapse to earlier stages.
6. Termination - In this stage, people have no desire to return to their unhealthy
behaviors and are sure they will not relapse. Since this is rarely reached, and people
tend to stay in the maintenance stage, this stage is often not considered in health
promotion programs.
To progress through the stages of change, people apply cognitive, affective, and evaluative
processes. Ten processes of change have been identified with some processes being more
relevant to a specific stage of change than other processes. These processes result in
strategies that help people make and maintain change.

1. Consciousness Raising - Increasing awareness about the healthy behavior.

2. Dramatic Relief - Emotional arousal about the health behavior, whether positive or
negative arousal.
3. Self-Reevaluation - Self reappraisal to realize the healthy behavior is part of who they
want to be.
4. Environmental Reevaluation - Social reappraisal to realize how their unhealthy
behavior affects others.
5. Social Liberation - Environmental opportunities that exist to show society is
supportive of the healthy behavior.
6. Self-Liberation - Commitment to change behavior based on the belief that
achievement of the healthy behavior is possible.
7. Helping Relationships - Finding supportive relationships that encourage the desired
change.
8. Counter-Conditioning - Substituting healthy behaviors and thoughts for unhealthy
behaviors and thoughts.
9. Reinforcement Management - Rewarding the positive behavior and reducing the
rewards that come from negative behavior.
10. Stimulus Control - Re-engineering the environment to have reminders and cues that
support and encourage the healthy behavior and remove those that encourage the
unhealthy behavior.

Limitations of the Transtheoretical Model

There are several limitations of TTM, which should be considered when using this theory in
public health. Limitations of the model include the following:
 • The theory ignores the social context in which change occurs, such as SES and
income.
• The lines between the stages can be arbitrary with no set criteria of how to determine
a person's stage of change. The questionnaires that have been developed to assign a
person to a stage of change are not always standardized or validated.
• There is no clear sense for how much time is needed for each stage, or how long a
person can remain in a stage.
• The model assumes that individuals make coherent and logical plans in their decision-
making process when this is not always true.

The Transtheoretical Model provides suggested strategies for public health interventions to
address people at various stages of the decision-making process. This can result in
interventions that are tailored (i.e., a message or program component has been specifically
created for a target population's level of knowledge and motivation) and effective. The TTM
encourages an assessment of an individual's current stage of change and accounts for relapse
in people's decision-making process.

KOTTER’S 8 STEP PLAN FOR CHANGE

John Kotter, leadership and change management professor at Harvard Business School,
introduced his ground-breaking 8-Step Change Model in his 1995 book, “Leading Change”.
Built on the work of Kurt Lewin, the model sets out the 8 key steps of the changes process,
arguing that neglecting any of the steps can be enough for the whole initiative to fail.

Step One: Create Urgency

The idea of a change being necessary for the success of the organisation can be very
powerful. If you can create an environment where individuals are aware of an existing
problem and can see a possible solution it is likely support for the change will rise.
Generating conversation about what is happening and what direction the organisation could
go in will help to achieve this. One way to kick-start this is to create a forum where issues
and potential solutions are raised and discussed. This step is all about preparation and Kotter
estimates that roughly 75% of a company’s management needs to be behind a change for it to
be successful. This emphasises his point that it is important to prepare well before jumping
into the change process. This step creates the 'need' for change, rather than just a 'want' for
change. The difference is very important when it comes to the likely support and eventual
success of the change.

Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition

It will be very hard to lead the whole change process on your own, and therefore it is
important to build a coalition to help you direct others. The coalition you build should be
made up of a range of skills, a range of experience and people who come from different areas
of the business, to maximise its effectiveness. The coalition can help you to spread messages
throughout the organisation, delegate tasks and ensure there is support for the change
organisation-wide. Team members that collaborate, complement each other and can drive
each other to work harder will make your life easier and the change more likely to be
successful.

Step Three: Create a Vision for Change

A change initiative is likely to be very complicated and can often be hard to understand, in
particular for employees at the lower end of the hierarchy. For this reason, creating a vision
that is easy to understand and encapsulates the overall aim is a useful way of generating
support from the whole organisation. While this vision should be simple and understandable,
it also needs to be inspirational to have maximum effect.

Step Four: Communicate the Vision

Creating the vision is not enough to generate support for it, it then needs to be communicated
throughout the organisation. This is an excellent opportunity to utilise the coalition you have
built up, as between them they are likely to have networks in every area of the business. It is
important to continuously communicate this message as it is likely that competing messages
are also being spread.

Step Five: Remove Obstacles

The first four steps are essential in building the strength of your change initiative, but it is
also important to look for what is likely to reduce its chances for success. Whether its
individuals, traditions, legislations or physical obstacles, it is likely there will be a few
barriers blocking your change’s path. Identify these as early as possible and rely on available
resources to break them down, without disrupting any other areas of the business.

Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins

Change processes often take a while to reap any rewards and this can cause support to fall if
individuals think their effort has been wasted. For this reason, it is important to demonstrate
the advantages of the new process by creating some short-term wins. Shorter term targets are
also useful tools for motivation and direction. Using these wins to justify investment and
effort can help to re-motivate staff to continue backing the change.

Step Seven: Build on the Change

Many change processes fail as complacency creeps in towards the end and project are not
finished properly. Therefore, Kotter argues it is important to sustain and cement the change
for long after it has been accomplished. Keep setting goals and analysing what could be done
better for continued improvement.

Step Eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture

Simply changing the habits and processes of employees is not always enough to instil a
culture change across the organisation. The changes should become part of the core of your
organisation to have a lasting effect. Keeping senior stakeholders on board, encouraging new
employees to adopt the changes and celebrating individuals who adopt the change will all
help to promote the change to the core of your organisation.

The main reason that Kotter outlines these steps is to emphasise that change is not a simple
and quick process. Many steps of planning are required and even when the change has been
implemented there is still a lot to do to ensure it is successful. Kotter argues that 70% of
 change initiatives fail, and attributes this to the fact that most organisations do not put in the
necessary preparation or see the project through correctly. Following these steps ensure your
change initiative is more likely to be a long-term success.

LEADING THE CHANGE PROCESS

To first wrap your head around change management models, it’s important to distinguish
change as occurring in three distinct categories. By breaking the large subject of change into
small subsets of change it immediately becomes more manageable.

1. Individual Change Management: People are the root of all change. You can change
systems and procedures, but if you don’t address the human in the room, then you’re not
changing anything. To get people to change, you must know your subject. What do they need
to hear to become open to change? How and when should training be offered to help them
with the transition? The tools of this trade are psychological; even neuroscience can help with
finding the right angle to steer a person from one behavior to another more productive one.
2. Organizational Change Management: While the people on your team are the core target to
effect change, there are also larger, more organizational issues you must address if you want
to create real change in a project. To do so requires first identifying the groups that require
change and how they must change. Then, create a plan that addresses these components of
the project, which includes making everyone aware of the change, leading that change
through coaching or some other method like training, and then driving that change in
congress with the management of the whole project.
3. Enterprise Change Management: Taking a step up from the organizational change is to
address the entire enterprise. It’s basically taking change management writ large to
encompass all aspects of an organization, meaning roles, structure, process, projects,
leadership, etc. By approaching change on the macro-level you’re more likely to implement
change on the micro-level, as a strategic engagement with change has been applied to the
very workings of the organization. It creates a nimbler organization, able to stay flexible and
adapt quickly to changes as they occur.

Using the Triple Constraint to Manage Change

Another way to understand change management on projects is through the triple constraint.
The triple constraint is what is referred to as the process of managing scope, budget and
quality on a project to bring it in successfully. Simply put, that means completing your
project on time, within budget and to the standards assigned by its stakeholders, customers or
sponsors.
Change management, therefore, is the process of controlling the triple constraint on your
project whenever changes are introduced to your project management plan. In that document
you detailed the time management, scope management, budget, quality, risk, issues and other
plans, all of which influence your change management plan.

Part of change management is then monitoring the triple constraint and being able to quickly
identify when there are anomalies. When there are changes, you must have a plan in place to
not only identify them but have a point person in charge of following through on resolving
the issue before it becomes a problem that can threaten the project.

Facilitating change

Ways to Facilitate Change

1. Create a Change Baseline
Your own assumptions about what motivates people will determine the success or failure of
your change program. If your assumptions are incorrect, you may miss a valuable
opportunity, that of gaining stakeholder ownership of the change process.

“Why is this?”, you ask. People do what they do for a reason. A person’s behavior (what we
observe) is an expression of their underlying beliefs and assumptions. To make our want to
facilitate change appealing to others, we must understand why they do what they do.

The baseline is created by identifying the dissatisfaction, vision, first steps, and change
resistance for each stakeholder involved with your change program. Using a spreadsheet
application, make a table listing the stakeholders and each area of investigation:

• Who are the stakeholders?

• What are they dissatisfied with?
• How do they feel about the planned changes (Vision)?
• What steps will provide a good Return on Investment (ROI)?
• And finally: What resistance must be overcome to succeed?
2. Define Change Strategies
We now have a baseline of the key issues for each stakeholder. The next step is to select the
ones that you can realistically alter and develop targeted strategies to alter them. People
won’t change unless they feel safe, secure and in control over the results. You can’t just force
people to change by management decree. To facilitate change, you must change their
underlying assumptions with a credible plan.
List what assumptions need to change. Include a strategy for overcoming the resistance to
change identified for each stakeholder group. The strategy should fill the gaps. Increasing
dissatisfaction with the status quo should improve motivation. Increasing the vision element
will ensure the program is completed. Increasing first steps will make sure the program gets
started. Lastly, decreasing resistance will simplify the whole effort.

3. Change the Measurements

Measurements define the culture of an organization, so it makes sense they would be a good
way to facilitate change. What you measure is what you manage, and the person that does the
measuring is the manager. In order to change the outcome, we must change what is measured
and (possibly) who or what is doing the measuring.
Think about this a little. The person or thing measuring is receiving feedback, the result of
prior changes. This is known as a control loop, or a “feedback loop”. If the one measuring
can’t make changes or the one making changes can’t measure the results, the resulting delays
are significant wastes that cause serious troubles.
Leaders define the performance standards, or measures. You can’t introduce new
measurements into the organization and then continue to ask for the old ones. If a leader
keeps asking for old information, people give it to him or her. If a leader seems to counter
the aims of your change program, the people being led will respond the same way.
4. Communicate Change Details
One way to facilitate change is to define what needs to change in as much detail as possible.
For example, you can’t just say, “Salespeople need to be friendlier to customers.” You have
to define “friendly”. You have to communicate the characteristics of friendly behavior, such
as “greet customers warmly”, “ask about their concerns”, or “address them by name”. Once
you know what the behavior looks like, translate it in detail to employees and reward them
immediately for doing it.
5. Communicate Successful Changes
Reward those who change and acknowledge their contributions. In order to facilitate change,
you must focus your attention on people who change and ignore those who do not. This will
send the message to others that you value the changes made and, in turn, encourage others to
participate in the change program. To derive the greatest benefit, the reward — material or
not — must be immediate and public.
6. Measure Change Progress
Make sure you have a regular method to capture where the organization stands with respect
to the change program. Is the current dissatisfaction, vision, and first steps level greater than
the resistance to change?
People are not mechanical systems: their behaviors are the result of internal beliefs and
assumptions. We must measure and monitor the progress being made to ensure that the
change program is having an effect on those beliefs and assumptions. If given the option,
most people will opt for the devil they know rather than the one they don’t.
7. Ensure Change Lasts
Increasing the values in the change formula will help facilitate change and bring about
behavior changes. However, it alone will not make them stick. Organizational culture is far
more persistent than many people allow for. Change must be an iterative, interactive, and
ongoing process. It is definitely NOT an event. Go back to the first step and update the
change baseline. Discover new changes that are needed. Develop new change strategies and
keep up the change.
DEALING WITH INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP RESISTANCE

Individual sources of resistance towards a change exist in the basic human tenets or
characteristics and are influenced by the differences in perception, personal background,
needs or personality-related differences. It is important to understand those triggering factors
or issues which refrain individuals from endorsing change or extending their support and
cooperation towards any change initiatives at an organizational level.

Criticizing the individuals or the teams for not being supportive in the stages of transition or
compelling them cannot be an effective solution for implementing change smoothly or in a
hassle free manner.

The resistance towards change at an individual level can be due to various reasons:

▪ How satisfied they are with the existing state of affairs

▪ Whether they appreciate the overall end product of change and it’s outcome on them
▪ How much practical or realistic the change is
▪ What will be the possible cost change on the individual in terms of potential risks
involved, pressure to develop new competencies and disruptions

The following factors explain why individuals may pose resistance towards change:

▪ Habits: We individuals are influenced by our habits in our ways of working and
accept or reject a change depending upon the effect which a change may have on the
existing habits of the individuals. For example, change in the office location might be
subjected to resistance from the individuals as this might compel them to change their
existing life routine and create a lot of difficulties in adjustment or coping with the
schedule. The individuals might have to drive a longer way for reaching their office,
or start early from home for reaching their office in time, etc.
▪ Lack of Acceptability or Tolerance for the Change: Some individuals endorse
change and welcome a change initiative happily while few individuals fear the impact
of change. Over a period of time change fatigue also builds up.
▪ Fear of a Negative Impact Economically or on the Income: During the process of
organizational restructuring or introduction of organization-wide change as a strategic
move on the part of the management, several inhibitions, and fear rule the thought
process of the individuals. Fear of possible loss of a job as a result of change or a
change in their income structure or may be a change in their work hours could be one
amongst the possible reasons.
▪ Fear of the Unseen and Unknown Future: Individuals develop inertia towards the
change due to the fear of unknown or uncertainties in the future. This can be tackled
through effective communication with the participants of change and making people
aware of the positives of change and the course of action which individuals are
expected to follow to cope with the changing requirements successfully.
▪ Fear of Losing Something Really Valuable: Any form of threat to personal security
or financial security or threat to the health of the individuals may lead to fear of losing
something precious as a result of the implementation of change.
▪ Selective Processing of Information: It can be considered as a filtering process in
which the individuals perceive or make judgments by gathering selective information
which is greatly influenced by their personal background, attitude, personal biases or
prejudices, etc. If an individual maintains a negative attitude towards any kind of
 change, then they are having a usual tendency of looking at the negativities associated
with the change and involve all the positive aspects of it.
▪ A Rigid Belief that change cannot bring about any facilitating change in the
organization and it only involves the pain and threats to the individuals.

Now, we will look into the organizational factors which result in resistance to change.

▪ Resistance Due to the Structural Rigidities or Limitations: Structural resistance is

a characteristic feature of bureaucracies, which focus more on stability, control, set
methodologies or routine.
▪ Ignoring all the interconnected factors which require change or lack of clarity in
understanding the ground realities.
▪ Inertia from the Groups: Groups may resist change because just like individuals,
groups equally follow set behavioural patterns, norms or culture and as a result of
change the groups might have to change their existing ways of conduct or behaviour.
▪ Possible threats to Power, Resources or Expertise can also result in resistance towards
an organization level change. Any kind of devolution of power or transfer of
resources from some agency or group to some other agency or a group will definitely
lead to a feeling of fear or inertia towards a change initiative.

In the end, it can be concluded that any kind of change will surely involve heavy resistance at
the individual as well as organizational level. But through effective communication during all
stages and consulting, desirable outcomes can be ensured by breaking all the possible barriers
or resistances towards a change. What is more important is identifying the main source of
resistance and accordingly developing action plans for dealing with it.

Successful change in an organization will require strong commitment and involvement on the
part of the top management, focused and an integrated approach, strong and a stable
leadership, effective and open communication from the internal change agent for making
people sensitive and more aware of the realities and the ultimate need for change.

For minimizing the resistance towards the change employee participation and involvement in
the overall process plays a crucial role in building acceptability and seeking the cooperation
of the employees towards the change. Hence proper planning, coordinated approach and
complete involvement of all the stakeholders, play a decisive role in implementing strategic
decisions and determining the success of change.
INTERVENTION STRATEGIES FOR FACILITATING
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
Entry Signals

Entry signals refer to the flags a business leaders sees outside the business that alert him to
start thinking about change. An entry signal could be external, such as a new competitor with
innovative solutions, or internal, such as a sudden influx of negative feedback on products
and services.

Purpose

The purpose step defines the core issues that are at play with newly discovered issues. This
may be the step where a third-party change agent is brought in to take over the organizational
development (OD) intervention. For example, an influx of complaints may have started at the
onset of moving to fulfillment centers with inexperienced employees. The change agent goes
to the site and gathers all pertinent information. The purpose is to develop a strategy that will
resolve the issues with the fulfillment center.

Assessment

Assessment takes the information gathered in the previous step and summarizes the feedback.
This is presented to other stakeholders and management so the group can then review the
issues, the overall company goals and budget.

Action Plan

Stakeholders and leaders develop a plan to solve the problem. In the case of the new
fulfillment center, the assessment may demonstrate a lack of training on company processes
for fulfillment. The action plan becomes to implement a new training program to resolve it.

Intervention

With intervention, leadership takes the action plan steps and begins the implementation
process. Leadership explains to teams the series of changes that will happen and rolls out the
change plan. In the case of the new fulfillment center, this means organizing the training in a
way to least disrupt operations and running training programs.

Evaluation

Once the intervention is complete, leadership evaluates the results. This is where metrics are
collected and measured compared to the control defined in the purpose and assessment phase
and the goals set forth in the action plan.

Adoption
After evaluating the success metrics of the action plan, the stakeholders and leadership
determine if the changes will become a new part of the organization policy. In the case of the
training program, it might become a mandatory onboarding process for all employees to
complete.

Separation

Separation is the closure of the organizational development process most prominent when the
change was implemented by a third-party change agent. This person begins the process of
stepping away from the organization and project, providing duties to others within the
organizations. If leadership was helming the intervention, a systematic delegation of duties is
implemented to allow leaders to get to other tasks and projects.

METHODS OF IMPLEMENTING OC
For instance, new laws are legislated by the government which the
organisations must comply, new developments in technology arise,
competitors introduce new products / services, customer’s likes and
dislikes change, life styles change. There are pressures from customers,
labour unions, communities and competitors which force change on
organisations.

(i) By transformational leaderships:

Transformational leaders are managers who initiate bold strategic changes
to position the organisation for its future. They articulate a vision and sell it
vigorously. They stimulate employees to action and charismatically model
the desired behaviours. They attempt to create learning individuals and
learning organisations that will be better prepared for the unknown future
challenges. Three important elements of transformational leadership are:

(a) Creating a vision,

(b) Figuring charisma and

(c) Stimulating learning.

(a) Creating Vision:

A vision is a crystallised long-range image or idea of what can be and
should be accomplished. A vision may also integrate the shared beliefs and
values that serve as a basis for changing an organisation’s culture.

(b) Communicating Charisma:

Managers as leaders need to persuade employees that the vision is urgent
and to motivate them to achieve it. Charisma is a leadership characteristic
that can help influence employees to take early and sustained action.
Charismatic leaders are dynamic risk takers, who show their depth of
expertise and well deserved self-confidence, express high performance
expectations, and use provocative language to inspire the followers.
Charismatic leaders are respected and trusted by employees as they
introduce change and tend to be emotionally committed to the vision of
such leaders.

(c) Stimulating Learning:

Transformational leaders develop people’s capacity to learn from the
experience of change. This process is called double-loop learning. The
employees, who are double-loop learners, develop the ability to anticipate
problems, prevent many situations and to be more ready for the next
change to be introduced in the future.

(ii) By use of group forces:

The group is an instrument for bringing strong pressures on its members to
change. Since behaviour is firmly grounded in the groups to which a person
belongs, any changes in group forces will encourage changes in the
individual behaviour. The idea is to help the group join with management
to encourage desired change.

(iii) By providing a rationale for change:

Capable leaderships reinforce a climate of psychological support for change.
The effective leader presents change on the basis of the impersonal
requirements of the situation, rather than on personal grounds. Change is
more likely to be successful if the leaders introducing it have high
expectations of success. Managerial and employee expectations of change
may be as important as the technology of change.

(iv) By participation:
Participation encourages employees to discuss, to communicate, to make
suggestions and to become interested in change. Participation encourages
commitment rather than mere compliance with change. Commitment
implies motivation to support a change and to work to ensure that the
change is effective.
Employees need to participate in a change before it occurs, not after. When
they are involved in the planned change, right from the beginning, they feel
committed to the implementation of such change.

(v) By sharing rewards:

By ensuring that there are enough rewards for employees in the changed
situation, managers can build employee support for change. Rewards also
give employees a sense that progress accompanies a change. Both economic
and psychic rewards are useful.

(vi) By ensuring employee security:

Along with shared rewards, existing employee benefits need to be
protected. Security during a change is essential in the form of protection
from reduced earnings when new technology and methods are introduced.
Seniority rights, opportunities for advancement etc., are to be safeguarded
when a change is made.

(vii) By communication and education:

Support for change can be gained by communication and education. All
individuals or groups that will be affected by change must be informed
about the change in order to make them feel secure and to maintain group
cooperation.

(viii) By stimulating employee readiness:

Employers should be helped to become aware of the need for a change.
Change is more likely to be accepted if the people affected by it recognise a
need for it before it occurs.

It is also essential for managers to take a broader, systems-oriented

perspective on change to identify the complex relationships involved.
Organisational development can be a useful method for achieving this
objective.
DEVELOPING A LEARNING ORGANISATION

Some of the major steps for developing a learning organization are as

follows: I. Awareness II. Environment III. Leadership IV. Empowerment V.
Learning.

I. Awareness:
To start with, organizations must appreciate that learning is necessary at all
levels and not just limited to the managerial levels. This apart, need for
change must also be accepted as the only way to survive. Such awareness at
organization levels can only be created once organizations believe in emu-
lating the examples of success stories of those who have leapfrogged their
growth truly developing the learning organization culture.

II. Environment:
Creating a learning environment requires sharing with all members of the
organization, a comprehensive picture of the whole organization and its
goals. This requires creating a more flexible, organic structure. Organic
struc The flatter structure also promotes transparency of information
between members of the organization and thereby develops a more
informed work force. The desired environment for learning organization
encourages openness and reflectivity, and accepts error and uncertainty.
Members of the organization should be able to question decisions without
fear.

III. Leadership:
Leaders should activate learning. Learning is an enabler for an organization
to gain competitive advantage. But to get the results, it is the leader who
sells the concept and encourages learning to help both the individual and
the organization in learning. It is the leader’s responsibility to help mould
the individual views of team members. It requires the management to
provide commitment for long-term learning with resource support.

IV. Empowerment:
The real testing tool for learning is the degree of empowerment.
Empowerment requires involving workers in decision making. Em-
powerment makes workers more responsible for their actions, without
letting loose the managerial involvement. Managers still need to encourage,
enthuse, and co-ordinate the workers. Empowerment must be allowed at all
levels so that members can learn from one another simultaneously.

V. Learning:
Learning systems also need to replicate real-life situations through a series
of simulation games. This facilitates learning from mistakes to make the
future learning more effective. The learning environment needs to be open,
flexible, and motivating.

To facilitate continuous learning, some organizations also make extensive

use of the electronic media such as e-learning, duly providing a track to
measure the learning progresses. But, its acceptance largely depends on the
workers’ urge to learn. This can be ensured by linking learning with various
incentive packages and HR decisions.

THANK YOU