Managing Change Within The Business Sector

Managing Change: The Art of Balancing“ by Jeanie Daniel Duck [1] came out in the Harvard Business Review in November 1993. It is an influential article, one that has been cited 437 times until date. Duck draws upon her years of experience as a Vice President in the Chicago Office of the Boston Consulting Group and of running her own consulting firm that focused on the emotional and behavioral impact of change on corporate performance. She can be safely called both, a management consultant as well as an organization development consultant. Presented below is a summary and key points of the article supplemented by examples, views and facts gleaned from other sources as well.

Shock – The initial reaction can sometimes be shock, this will automatically reduce the individuals performance as they will fear the unknown.

Change is an ongoing and never ending organizational process. Change is often planned because of conflict between the desired and actual state of affairs. Conflict may arise because of difficulties in reaching performance goals or because new goals have been created (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Making these changes in the workplace is stressful for everyone involved including the staff, the management, and the consumer. The role of the staff is vital for the change process to be smooth and the staff may be resistant to the changes, causing a systematic breakdown. It is the

This week’s reading summary in based on Chapter six from the text book, A Toolkit of Motivational Skills, Encouraging and Supporting Change in Individuals. .In chapter six; “The Cycle of Change”, the author examines every phase of the cycle and discuss the pros and cons related to each phase. What is the cycle of change? It is a progression that an individual experiences through a series of phases. This progression or change is accomplished through the readiness of the service user. Most individuals experience each phase of the cycle; some may experience these steps more than once, with the ultimate goal being Maintenance (Termination). Next, I’ll give a brief description of each stage:

John Kotter's eight-stage process of creating major change is one the best models for understanding organizational change (Manning, Curtis, McMillen, & Attenweiler, 2011). This model outlines the steps necessary to construct successful change.

First let’s look at defining change and the complexities that exist associated with it. As defined by Small Business Chron, “organization change is about

To begin the critical analysis of how a change of event in the work place reflects upon, not only the management of the change process but also the impact that change can have upon the organisation and the quality of the service provided. Firstly it may be worth nothing the definition of ‘change’ is quoted in Webster’s English Dictionary as ….

Organizational change is usually triggered by relevant environment shift, either internal or external, that sensed by companies and leads to intentionally generated response (French, Bell & Zawacki, 2006). This paper will discuss several organization development models..

There are numerous models of change; most change models advocate a logical approach with different stages. Although the models may differ, they have communalities which include the need to prepare for the change before its implementation and then entrenching the change (Cameron and Green, 2012). One of the most recognized is the 8 stage model by Kotter (2012). The first step is creating a sense of urgency, the second step is forming a powerful coalition, the third is creating a vision, followed by communication of that vision. The fifth step is the removal of obstacles; the sixth step is creating short term wins, seventh is building on change and lastly is anchoring changes in the corporate culture (Kotter, 2012). The steps may be undertaken in a concurrently as well as consecutive manner,

Managing change is important in seeking the final component of successfully managing strategy, process, people and culture in most modern organizations. More and more, staying competitive in the face of demographic trends, technological innovations, and globalization requires organizations to change at much higher rates than ever before. Few people will argue with this statement, but fewer still will say their organization does a good job at managing those changes. Managing change well is a continuous and ongoing combination of art and science that assures alignment of an organization¡¦s strategies, structures, and processes (Worley & Vick, 2005).

Ritchie (2004) calls this a “controlled crisis” which adds the needed motivation to make a change. Once the change is set in motion, individual workers may have to find new ways to accomplish their jobs, whether they are the same jobs in new locations or new jobs in the same locations. Once the workers have accepted these changes they easily support and adjust to the change. In Johnson’s (1998) Who Moved My Cheese?, the character

Numerous businesses are not coming to terms with the fact that change is absolutely necessary; therefore, they may be unable to continue to compete with other businesses. Consequently, it does not make a difference if the company is a professional organization or a small family owned business, the old ways of doing business is all but obsolete. Every business or organization is constantly changing products and leadership. Although businesses are undergoing daily changes everywhere in the country, change is still very difficult for some people to handle.

Organizational change is a systematic step taken by an organization to make sure changes are taking place smoothly and successfully with lasting benefits. Globalization and innovation of technology result in a constantly evolving business environment. Social media and mobile adaptability have revolutionized business and the effect of this is an ever increasing need for change, and therefore changes management. Technology growth effect has increase information availability and accountability of knowledge. These have resulted in unprecedented scrutiny from stockholders and media. With such vast change that happens in the business environment, organization must be able to adapt with changes. Therefore, the organization capability to adapt and manage is essential ability required in the workplace nowadays. But major changes in organizations often run into resistance like existing organization culture, even the current environment of the organization changes rapidly. This is due to change is a complex process and both negative as well as positive outcomes are a possible outcome. This article review looks at the available evidence so that the process is conducted as efficiently and effectively as possible. Also it serves to help manager access the vast range of literature on organization change. It starts by focusing on change management from an organization and then looks into the concept of the psychological contract. Next it discuss the research on sustaining

¡§The key theme of this module is change. What did Charles Handy mean when he commented that change could not be managed? If he was right what can a manager do in the face of change? Explain the responsibilities of a manager to their organisation and its employees during periods of change.¡¨

Change is an important part of any business, it can allow positive effects to the business and its members. Change is taking something and making it better, in order to be successful. In this report we will consider a company that we currently work at or would like to work at and discuss a change it went through. The company I chose is 7-Eleven, because it is currently my part time job for the past seven years and felt it would be interesting to dwell deeper into the company and it large changes. Through this report we will discuss about the Company history , a sit down interview with the manager/owner stating why they made the changes they did, Discuss management’s role in the change, Discuss at length the change, then