Internal Assessments

Program – MBA

Subject - Change Management

Questions:

1. What are the roles of corporate vision and strategy in charge in

change management?

The change vision and strategy give the organization a picture of

what the future looks like after the change is implemented. It tells
organizational stakeholders why they should let go of the past,
sacrifice and work hard in the present, and follow senior
leadership into the future.

If done correctly, a change vision and strategy creates a sensible and

appealing picture of the future that provides guidance for organizational
decision-making.

Sensible and appealing are important here!

Managers and employees especially will want to know that the proposed
change is feasible and desirable. If either is missing, they will not
embrace the change.

Think about it this way: It is not in the managers and employees best
interests to make the necessary sacrifices now for a future that is worse
than the present. This operates against human self-interest.
Senior leadership and the guiding coalition must develop a compelling
message that will tell managers and employees that the future is a
desirable place to go. When they do this, they have a much better chance
of gaining the cooperation of others.

How to Develop a Change Vision and Strategy

A critical responsibility for leadership is setting the direction for the

organization for the future.

For this reason, senior leadership must retain some of the responsibility
for creating a high-level description of the change vision and strategy.
Delegating all of the responsibility for this step to the guiding coalition is
not desirable.

Often, it is best for a single senior leader or a small group of senior

leaders to make a first draft. From there, the guiding coalition can refine
the draft.

An effective process uses data to produce the vision and strategy. For
example, company business data, market data, emerging business trends,
forecasts, etc. are all relevant data to produce a sensible and appealing
change vision and strategy.

Some patience is required for this step as different individuals will have
various perspectives on the best route to reach the desirable future. Many
roads lead to a destination, but not all routes make sense!

As smart and opinionated people work on developing a change vision and

strategy, sufficient time should be allowed for the two steps forward and
one step back group dynamic.

Roles Played by Mission and Vision

Mission and vision statements play three critical roles: (1) communicate
the purpose of the organization to stakeholders, (2) inform strategy
development, and (3) develop the measurable goals and objectives by
which to gauge the success of the organization’s strategy. These
interdependent, cascading roles, and the relationships among them, are
summarized in the figure.

First, mission and vision provide a vehicle for communicating an

organization’s purpose and values to all key stakeholders. Stakeholders
are those key parties who have some influence over the organization or
stake in its future. The better employees understand an organization’s
purpose, through its mission and vision, the better able they will be to
understand the strategy and its implementation.

Second, mission and vision create a target for strategy development. That
is, one criterion of a good strategy is how well it helps the firm achieve its
mission and vision. To better understand the relationship among mission,
vision, and strategy, it is sometimes helpful to visualize them collectively
as a funnel. At the broadest part of the funnel, you find the inputs into the
mission statement.

Third, mission and vision provide a high-level guide, and the strategy
provides a specific guide, to the goals and objectives showing success or
failure of the strategy and satisfaction of the larger set of objectives stated
in the mission. In the cases of both Starbucks and Toyota, you would
expect to see profitability goals, in addition to metrics on customer and
employee satisfaction, and social and environmental responsibility.

Conclusion
enior leadership, in conjunction with its guiding coalition, greatly
enhances the chances of success for a change effort when it develops a
sensible and appealing picture of the future.

This sensible and appealing change vision and strategy provides the
rationale for the necessary hard work and sacrifice to create that future.

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2. How Kurt Lewin’s change model can be implemented? Discuss.

Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Theory states that restraining forces

influence the behavior of both the group and individuals, ultimately
deciding the fate of change. The driving forces motivate & steer
employees toward the new state. The restraining forces highlight
potential resistance to change, acting as the prime barriers to
change initiatives.

The 3 Stages of Change in Lewin’s Model

To substantiate his Force Field Theory, Lewin suggested a
straightforward three-step change model which aids employees’ ability
to adapt to change.

Here are the three stages in Lewin’s change model:

Stage 1 - Unfreeze

The first stage in Lewin’s model deals with perception management and
aims to prepare the affected stakeholders for the upcoming organizational
change. Change leaders must look at ways to improve the company’s
preparedness for change and create a sense of urgency similar to Kotter’s
change model.

Stage 2 - Change
Once the status quo is disrupted, this stage deals with the implementation
of change. In this stage, you must consider an agile and iterative approach
that incorporates employee feedback to smoothen the transition.

Stage 3 - Refreeze
Employees move away from the transition phase towards stabilization or
acceptance in the final’ refreezing’ stage.

However, if change leaders fail to reinforce the change in org culture,

employees might revert to previous behaviors.

Here are five significant ways that Lewin’s 3-stage change model can be
applied to organizational change, including:

1. Changing the behavior and skills of a workforce

 More often than not, every change initiative requires behavior

modification and continuous upskilling of employees. Building on
an existing skillset allows employees to take over more
responsibilities. Therefore, offering ongoing employee training is
crucial until the change is second nature.

2. Changing the processes, structures, and systems in an

organization
 Successful change initiative requires a balanced approach to
changing the business processes, structures, and systems.
 For example, McDonald’s incurred a multi-billion dollar loss due
to its inability to balance innovation against process efficiencies. It
failed to recognize how extensive customization to its food
preparation would impact its speed and increase operational costs.

3. Changing the culture of an organization

 McKinsey suggests that companies with a strong culture achieve

up to three times shareholder returns. To reap the long-term
benefits of any change initiative, you must anchor the changes in
org culture.
 For example, Hubspot values culture and product equally. It has an
extensive 128-page culture code check to ensure that its culture
stays strong as ever. Additionally, Hubspot takes an employee-first
approach and invests heavily in employee development and
upskilling.

4. Changing the technology used

 To ensure the successful adoption of new technology,

organizations should create a sense of urgency, evaluate their
current technology, prepare for the change, implement the new
technology, and establish its long-term viability.
 This approach can minimize failure risks, make the transition
smoother, and enable organizations to reap the benefits of the new
technology
 5. Changing the product or service

 When making changes to your product or service, it’s important to

act quickly, evaluate the current offering, create a new plan, and
integrate it into your company’s culture and processes. By
following this change model, your organization can reduce the risk
of failure, guarantee a successful implementation, and achieve your
desired results.
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3. Discuss the roles and responsibilities of The personnel manager as

a cultural change agent.

To act as an agent of change, managers must have good

communication and interpersonal skills so that they can explain the
benefits and implications of change. They must be able to
empathize with employees who feel threatened by change and
uncertain of their future role in the company. They also must be
good motivators to encourage employees to embrace change and
make a positive contribution to its successful implementation. In
addition, managers need good planning skills to ensure that they
can implement the changes effectively in their own areas of
operation.
Information
To communicate effectively with employees, managers must have a
complete understanding of the reasons for change, the potential benefits
and the impact on employees. A merger, for example, can give a
company access to new markets or increase its production capacity.
However, employees may be concerned that certain positions will
become redundant. A merger designed to increase manufacturing
capacity is unlikely to require separate production, purchasing or quality
departments, creating widespread uncertainty among employees. The
manager must ensure he keeps employees advised of how the company
will handle redundancy and whether employees will be able to train for
new positions.
Decisions
Managers must make plans to implement the changes in their own areas
of responsibility. If a company is introducing new technology, for
example, managers must decide how it will change working practices in
their departments. They must decide if the employees in their
departments have the skills to use the new technology. If necessary,
managers plan training programs to develop skills. They must also decide
if the technology will reduce the number of employees they need to
handle the workload. If the company does not want to make any
employees redundant as a result of the change, managers must decide
how to redeploy employees.
Communication
Communication is essential throughout the change process. By explaining
the implications of the change to groups and individual employees,
managers can build understanding and trust and dispel rumors that could
create barriers to implementing successful changes. Managers must make
themselves available to answer questions or discuss individuals’
concerns. They must also motivate employees so that they can maintain
the momentum of change and keep their departments operating
productively.
effective communication from management to win acceptance from
employees, reduce uncertainty and minimize resistance. Managers play
an important role in informing and motivating employees to ensure that
they understand and respond positively to major changes such as new
business procedures, new technologies or corporate restructuring. By
acting as agents of change, managers ensure that the process flows
smoothly from one phase to the next until the change is complete.
Change the Change Agent:
Managers play the role of change agent most of the times. Some
managers stick up to the traditional values and beliefs. Such managers
hesitate to introduce change. If so, such managers or change agents need
to be replaced by the new change agents who are with new ideas and
beliefs are ready to introduce change and make it permanent.

Shared Rewards:
Change affects all. Employees will support change if they are assured of
benefits in the event of change. Benefits in the form of raise in salary,
training, promotion etc. should be ensured to the employees to seek the
support to make the change permanent.

Cooperation From Trade Unions:

Employees are highly under the influence of their unions. They act on the
pretext of their union leaders. If these leaders of the unions are taken into
confidence and make them ready to accept change, then it becomes very
easy to introduce change and make it stable.

Manager as Change Agent:

To bring about any change in the organization needs a change agent.
Change agent may be external i.e. an outsider who is an expert in
introducing change. He is a professional change agent whose services can
be hired for the purpose.

Change agent may be internal i.e. from within the organisation. Most
probably he is the manager who knows the needs of the organisation. He
is also well versed with the organisation culture, behaviour, attitudes and
potentials of its employees and supervisors. He always acts in the
interests of the organisation. It is, therefore, beneficial to use the talent
and services of the manager as change agent.

Manager can introduce the change in the organisation effectively because

he does so as his duty and responsibility. As is said earlier that change
involves change in attitudes, behaviour, ethos, beliefs etc. of the people
which are the personal traits and human resource manager is an expert in
understanding them.

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4. Define the Resistance and explain the positive and negative

functions of resistance?

Resistance to change is the reluctance of people to adapt to change.

Employees can be overt or covert about their unwillingness to
adapt to organizational changes. This opposition can range from
expressing their resistance publicly to unknowingly resisting
change through micro-resistance, language, or general actions
positive functions of resistance:
Change is an inevitable part of life and business, but it's not always easy
to embrace. It can be uncomfortable, stressful, and even overwhelming.
It's natural to feel resistance to change, but this resistance can actually be
a positive force.
Effectively manage resistance to change:

1. Communicate openly and transparently: It's essential to be open

and transparent about the reasons for the change and how it will
affect the organization and its employees. By keeping everyone in
the loop and being honest about the potential challenges and
benefits of the change, it's possible to build trust and
understanding.
2. Involve employees in the change process: By involving
employees in the change process, it's possible to get their buy-in
and address their concerns. This could be as simple as asking for
their input and ideas or setting up a task force to work on the
change effort.
3. Provide support and resources: Change can be overwhelming, so
it's essential to provide support and resources to help employees
adapt. This could include training, resources, or additional support
as needed.
4. Celebrate successes: It's important to celebrate small wins along
the way to help keep morale high and show that the change effort is
progressing.

Negative functions of resistance :

The obvious negative effect of resistance to change is on productivity of
employees. Their performance drops when they're not motivated about
their work and not willing to embrace change. Subsequently, it adversely
affects organizational performance
EMPLOYEES’ TURN OVER
Most often than not employees resist change because they view it as a
threat to status quo. This feeling of uncertainty causes stress and
employees are soon burn-out. And it is natural that when employees feel
burn-out they start thinking of quitting their job.

CONFLICTS
The best offense is a good defence. This holds true for resistance to
change. Employees tend to be aggressive when they resist change. This
causes conflict and disruptive conditions such as strikes at workplace.

DELAYED EXECUTION OF CHANGE

The highest price of resistance to change is unnecessary delay on timeline
of implementation of change. During the planning phase, change leaders
usually don’t anticipate resistance and how it will affect change. But
when they actually face it and try to manage it then it is the timeline
which suffer most.

ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL COST

There is always a financial cost of resistance to change. Organizations
suffer losses when its productivity is reduced due to resistance by
unmotivated employees. Time and other resources are wasted when
experienced employees leave organization and entire change initiative is
delayed. Same is true for conflicts such as strikes which cost any
organization heavy financial losses and reputation as well.

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5.What are the Structural, technological and process factors in
intervention strategies?

Intervention strategies are employed to improve organizational

performances of certain establishments. The strategies may be used both
in isolation and in complex with other techniques. The core intervention
strategies that are usually applied by employers are structural,
technological and behavioral strategies.
Structural intervention strategies focus on the elements that constitute
specific organizations.
Modern world of innovative technologies preconditions a wide usage of
technological intervention strategies in the sphere of organizational
development. Such strategies help to accelerate the work processes and to
enhance the general productiveness within organizations.
Some managers consider combining structural intervention strategies
with technological ones while setting the goals for certain organizations.
Armando Justo (2009, April 14) emphasizes that “these interventions are
rooted in the fields of engineering, sociology, and psychology, combined
with socio-technical systems, job analysis and design”. Thus, the author
implies that the strategies have a multifaceted nature and are united on a
basis of direct correlation between structure and technology.

Every working space is a congregation of human resources. Therefore, a

successful employer should be an effective evaluator of his employees’
characters, since workers’ behaviors influence the quality of work.
According to this view, the appliance of behavioral intervention strategies
in diverse environments is a crucial part of work.

Prosperity of any acting organization depends upon the interrelation of

several intervention strategies that are used by its management so that to
direct the work. Thus, an integration of structural, technological and
behavioral intervention strategies can be an effective combination that
determines a successful functioning of any organizational structure.

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