Organizational Change and Stress

Time and communication are the two keys to success for the changes to occur. People need time to understand the changes and they also need to feel highly connected to the organization throughout the transition period. When you are managing change, this can require a great deal of time and effort and hands-on management is usually the best approach.

INTRODUCTIONOrganizational change is a concept that regularly occurs due to the nature of today's business environment. (McNamara, 2007) It is common in business communications, strategy, management and leadership. (McNamara, 2007) Change occurs when an organization revolutionizes parts or its entire strategy and/or wants to change the way it operates. (McNamara, 2007) Thus, it involves the realigning of organizational processes and operations. In order to remain competitive and successful in today's business environment, organizations must continually undergo changes by being innovative. (McNamara, 2007) Therefore, change plays a major role in the longevity, maturity, and success of any organization.

We should always keep in mind that change to any part of organization may affect the whole organization. These changes can be proactive or reactive depends on implementation.

Organizational change is difficult, although necessary to support growth and excellence in the market place. The concept of change can have negative connotations among employees, especially if change implementations have not been successful in the past. This paper is going to describe the need for change, barriers to change, factors that might influence change, readiness for change, the theoretical change model that relates to the change, and resources that support change implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss organizational change and the management of that change. I will talk about the different drivers of change, the factors a leader needs to weigh to implement change effectively, the various resistances a leader may encounter while trying to implement change, and how various leadership styles will effect the realization of change. I will also discuss the knowledge I have gained through the completion of this assignment and how I think it might affect the way I manage change in my workplace.

Senior and Fleming (2006 ) noted that organizational change may affect the general operations of the company as well as business functions.

Organizational change is often used to improve all or part of an organization, such as a process. Organizational change may occur as the organization changes its strategy for success or when there were decisions made to change the entire environment that the organization is currently functioning under (Cawsey, Deszca, & Ingols, 2011). Change can also occur as the organization evolves while moving through life cycles. In order for organizations to grow and develop, there must be change at various stages of this process.

Organizational change encompasses many challenges to both the individual, and the organization. An organization is a living system, as Flower (2002) states “living systems cannot survive without change, challenge, variety, and surprise” (Flower, 2002, p. 16). An organization requires the ability to adapt in to survive as Darwin states in The Origin of Man, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” (Read Me First, 2013, p. 1). It must adapt to the changing market, global economic pressures, stakeholder demands, and the diverse needs

Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed. (2003). Managing Organizational Change. Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed., 1-6.

Introducing organisational change is often hard, the main reasons for that can be variation in perceptions of the employees, fear of disruption or failure and underlining the right approach to apply change. Then even if the change in a specific organisation is projected successfully there is still lot to be done to manage it in an appropriate way (Oakland, 2007).

Advantages include utilizing resources efficiently because individuals from different departments can come together to work on one project which also reduces cost. Therefore, collaboration within the organization increases and people are able to learn from each other then utilize that knowledge and skills on other projects. Moreover, matrix structure results in improved risk and conflict resolution. Since employees have two reporting managers, they are able to report potential issues without the risk of it being overlooked and resolved faster. This also results in better flow of information in the overall organization, speeding the decision making

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

Change is inevitable within every organization. The amount of change could be small or it could be large. However big the change, resistance can be minimal or massive. The organization should look inwards toward the potential obstacles to that change. These obstacles may include resistance to two sources: individuals and the organizational structure. Both sources need careful consideration and planning. Haphazard change can be disastrous to an organization. Planned changed is always the best course.

Change is going in the organization. With the help of theories I can easily visualize

Week 3, the lecture on Managing Change describes organizational changes that occur when a company makes a shift from its current state to some preferred future state. Managing organizational change is the process of planning and implementing change in organizations in such a way as to decrease employee resistance and cost to the organization while concurrently expanding the effectiveness of the change effort. Today's business environment requires companies to undergo changes almost constantly if they are to remain competitive. Students of organizational change identify areas of change in order to analyze them. A manager trying to implement a change, no matter how small, should expect to encounter some resistance from within the organization.