Organizational Development As A Three Step Process

As a result, Zwick (2002, p. 542) has noted that implementing change programmes in organisations that realise positive outcomes remain problematic for many organisations in the 21st century. Ayodeji & Oyesola (2011, p. 235) have postulated that organisational change is a dynamic process, which when taken poorly contribute to employee resistance to it, and eventually leads to failure of the whole process. 3|Page Organisation Behaviour; MGTS 1601; Individual Essay; Employee resistance to change Yuanli Zhang 43401163 Employees resist changes when they occur in the organisations for several reasons. Many organisations when they introduce changes are likely to stick to the ‘top-down organisational change’ process (Awasthy, Chandrasekaran & Gupta, 2011, pp.

CUMMINGS, T. G. AND WORLEY, C. G. (2001). Essentials of Organization development and change. Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing.

This article discusses the pros and cons of advocating change within the workplace. It also discusses the reason (s) individuals are said to resist change because of habit and inertia, fear of the unknown, absence of the skills they will need after the change, and fear of losing power. OD approaches to organizational change presents a solid consensus that change and resistance can and should be "managed" by developing a strategy for change and using the OD tool kit of interventions such as training and communication programs, confrontation meetings, stakeholder

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

John Kotter, a leading advocate and educator in change initiatives, expresses two essential characteristics that must be present in any change initiative. First, any change that is considered to be useful and necessary must go through a multi-step process that will transcend obstacles in its way. Second, it is essential that any change initiative must be lead by effective leadership (Kotter, 1996). However, any leader in a change initiate must reconcile the reality that a major component to mankind’s instinctive nature is that people have an inherent need for predictability and order (Hogan, 2007). Leaders must, therefore, consider that initiatives may be experienced in ways that contradict this basic need leading to employee resistance (Bernerth, 2011). Considering such a potential obstacle, Kotter developed an eight-stage change process to guide organizations through initiatives in ways that may retain employee stability and enable employees to maintain a sense of identity and understanding (Huy, 1999).

Change is particularly difficult if it is unexpected. It is far easier to accept change if an employee has time to digest the news and prepare to take action once the change has occur. Some of the concerns that worry employees may be address by creating clear goals and timelines that employee can easily follow. As well as addressing the chief objective “why are we changing?” Once these questions have been answer and employees buy in to them change will be easier and resistance will diminish (Strebel, 1996).

Organizations can face change for any number of reasons. Managers must be the leaders in change in order to influence employees. Complacency is an obstacle to change. According to Organizational Behavior and Management, “It is management’s responsibility to show employees why they should want to change” (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2014, p. 507). By creating a sense of urgency, employees can recognize the need for change. The ability of employees to recognize the need for change combats the problem of complacency. Kotter, in Leading Change, states

Change is inevitable in this world, how we handle it is what makes the difference. While most agree that change is typically a challenging issue for an organization it does not mean that is can not be accomplished with little to no upset. Be it a simple change or a major project there are strategies that can be used to make the change a positive experience for both sides of the change; but first an understanding of resistance to change must occur.

Organizational change is not easy, but is an integral component that often allows the company and its employees to be prosperous. There are many ways to approach organizational change. Some are scientific theories like those stated in Organizational Behavior and Management (John Ivancevich) while others like John P. Kotter in “The Heart of Change,” believe it is just getting to the heart of your employees. If an organization today wants to be successful, they must understand why change is resisted and determine how to create a process to overcome this resistance

The Change Curve model describes four stages most people go through as they adjust to change (MindTools, n.d.). It is mostly accredited to psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, but changes have been made to the model over the years. The employees first reaction to the change was surprise, which has been identified as stage one of the Change Curve. When the realization of the change set in, there was a tendency to react negatively, which is the transition point into stage two of the Change Curve. It is in the best interest of those in stage two to move on into stage three because that is “where pessimism and resistance give way to some optimism and acceptance” (MindTools, n.d.). In the final stage of the Change Curve, individuals are able to accept the change and embrace them. It is at this point that the organization will truly begin to reap the benefits of

One of the biggest obstacles is resistance to change. People resist change because change disrupts habits, conflicts with certain personality types, cause a fear of failure, can have potentially negative impacts, can result in a potential for loss of power, and, when done too frequently, can exhaust employees. There may be key people who publicly support the change effort while silently undermining the planned changes. It is the management’s job to identify, understand, and remove these obstacles. (Kotter J. P.

In the review of the book, “Making Change Work: Practical Tools for Overcoming Human Resistance to Change,” I decided to summarize the major steps the book establishes. It discusses how to begin the change process by understanding your need for change, to the final step of the change process where an organization needs to implement changes. After summarizing the steps, I am going to show how the book relates to the textbook, Organizational Change: An Action-Oriented Toolkit, as well as giving a managerial implication.

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.

Organization Development (OD) is a deliberately planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and/or efficiency, and/or to enable the organization to achieve its strategic goals (2015, Wikipedia).

Organizational development (OD) is an application or process of building a greater level of efficiency within the organization. OD develops the ongoing effort geared for long-term effects. OD works to help management and employees on a variety of levels. Organizational development is perhaps unequaled in its ability to meet any type of organization needs. However, the solutions developed from the role of OD may not be necessarily interchangeable with different organizations (Grant, 2010).