Challenges Of A Perpetual Change

The Leadership at Microsoft has evolved from an innovative driving force of the technology industry into a force opposed to effective change by becoming the personification of an obstacle. Five ways that leadership can present barriers to change are for them to be disengaged, falsely urgent, complacent, lopsided, and siloed (Kotter, 2015). Overcoming these types of obstacles and following fundamental change practices are the only way to implement and efficiently manage change in an organization regardless of the size.

“The images, metaphors, or frames that we hold, both of managing and of change, influence our ideas of what we think managing change is all about” (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). As people we all see through our own eyes, we call see a different perspective and have a different reaction to what is coming next. As human beings we react differently to situations. Situations of change are transitions that some are able to adapt to quickly while others have a hard time. Being the leader of that change can be difficult and helping make a change does not come easily or effectively. Keep and Newcomer (2008)

Many research work and articles have been written over the footwear industry. This report is mainly inspired and catalyzed by my own thinking process and personal experience. However, some reports were consulted.

Leaders change systems, structures and policies that have not yet been confronted. They hire, promote and develop employees who can implement the vision for change. In addition, they revitalise the process with a new round of projects or change agents.(Cengage Learning AUS, 2015)

Organizational change is a necessary outcome when considering various scenarios contributing to the resulting vision. Perplexing as it may seem, change initiatives don’t always result in positive outcomes. In fact, many never succeed. As a change agent, one should always have formulated a vision of what change will “look” like for the organization. One would be hard pressed to paint a landscape without having a vision of what the landscape should resemble. Yet, resistance to change usually becomes a significant factor contributing to an initiative’s failure. It is likely an

The author’s key message. “The world moves at lightning speed these days, and we have to keep up as everything evolves around us: technology, culture, consumer preferences, the regulatory environment, societal values— even the climate. As the landscape changes outside of our organizations, we all have to be able to effect change within them.”(Clark, 2015, Kindle Location 110)

Organizations must respond to their internal and external environment. Therefore, organizational success heavily relies on leaderships ability to manage change. Unfortunately, many leaders struggle to effectively lead change initiatives. In fact, Ashkenas (2013, para. 1) reported 60 – 70% of organizational change initiatives fail to meet their objectives.

Failure to change the current issues will result in keeping the “elephants in the room” and continued friction by not “sharing responsibility for the organization,” which directly contribute to the two identified adaptive challenges. Heifetz et al. (2009) suggest that every immediate encountered problem is an opportunity to not only fix them, but to institutionalize new norms. Therefore the top leadership needs to acknowledge the challenges and take action by creating urgency. Kotter and Cohen (2002) states that “without enough urgency, large-scale change can become an exercise in pushing a gigantic boulder up a very tall mountain” (p. 15). Indeed, change cannot happen without identifying the issues or creating

Leading and managing change require a solid theoretical foundation. This assignment will research the theoretical elements of change and change management. Addressed will be the following: Organic Evolution of Change, Formulating Strategic Development Approaches, Leadership and Management Skills and Gathering and Analyze Data. As societies continue to evolve and changing demand creates the need for new products and services, businesses often are forced to make changes to stay competitive. The businesses that continue to survive and even thrive are usually the ones that most readily adapt to change. A variety of factors can cause a business to reevaluate its methods of operation. According to literature from the past two

Change is a double-edged sword (Fullan, 2001). Change is a word that might inspire or put fear into people. Leadership is challenging when it comes to dealing with change and how individuals react within the organization to the change. Marzano, McNulty, and Waters (2005) discuss two orders of change in their book School Leadership that Works; first and second. Fullan (2001) also adds to the discussion in his book Leading in a Culture of Change, with regard to understanding change. In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individuals throughout the change process.

In most change efforts, those percentages are reversed. We continue to produce great managers; we need to develop great leaders” (p. 46).

One strength good leaders bring is to switch their leadership styles depending on the situation (Darling & Heller, 2012). This is like situational leadership and it is important in organizational change as well. Situational Leadership is a model designed by Dr. Paul Hershey in the 1960s which focuses on how managers can develop competencies to diagnose, adapt, communicate, and advance the situation they are in (The Center for Leadership Studies, n.d.). Hershey stresses the importance of relationship of the approach of the leader and the readiness of the followers for a specific task (The Center for Leadership Studies, n.d.). This is the same as a change manager. Although dominant forces are often the initial go-to for change managers, good change managers must assess the situation and apply the needed ideal change manager to the situation. Because of this, regardless of the dominant change manager, it behooves an effective organizational leader to understand the different images of change and how they can influence a change’s successful

Competitive imperatives of market forces and customer demands in today’s environment have led to the emergence of less hierarchical and more flexible organisations (Doyle, 2001). In working towards this paradigm shift, a distinction and clarification of the relationship between leadership and management in the change process needs to be addressed. According to Caldwell (2003), change leaders are executives or senior managers at the very top of the organisation who envision, initiate or sponsor strategic change of far-reaching or transformational nature by challenging the status quo, communicating a vision that employees believe in, and empowering them to act. In contrast, change managers are usually middle level managers and functional

In order to move forward and keep ahead, I believe an organization need change leaders who have capabilities to have their workforce go from change avoidance to change acceptance. “One of the most significant strengths of an effective leader is the ability to create a positive work climate where people are energized to do their best work, free of unnecessary distractions” (Cronkite, n.d.). During this part of the change process I feel the change leader would have better success if he would be tactful and harness the skills of others by working in a collaborative rather than hierarchical way. Leadership in an organization involves instilling motivation and enthusiasm in the employees. An effective leader knows how to manage and tackle difficult situations and people. Many reasons can cause a force of change in organizations but I feel it’s up to change leaders to manage these planned and unexpected changes. (Word count: 548)

It is generally noted that Albert Einstein once said, “the measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. John Kotter embedded this mindset that continually adapting and evolving can lead to success within the novel Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Condition. Kotter’s and Rathgeber structural organization allows change management to be introduced through a relatable fable highlighting the needed steps to properly manage a group dealing with change. Tone, approach, and mood management are amongst the areas defined as crucial in managing change and making it acceptable. Kotter also introduces what he defines as The Eight Step Process of Successful Change that are surrounded by the themes of Setting the stage, Deciding what to do, Making it happen, and Making it stick. This novel is the example of how to effectively manage change within an organization as well as individually.