Organizational Culture And Its Change Management †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Organizational Culture And Its Change Management. Answer: Introduction Organizational culture has significant implications in organizations, which are confronted with different types of changes. In an organizational culture, change is not the issue, but resistance to change is an issue. Resistance to change, an implied impact, which can occur in each and every change, it can be overcome by gaining better knowledge about the factors and reasons, which generate it. This literature reviews that there is direct relationship between organizational culture and resistance to change in the organizations for analyzing the different ways to overcome resistance to change. Aim/ Objectives The major aim of this essay is to review a literature on organizational culture and its change management. It includes different aspects of change implementation and how an organization can overcome the resistance to change. In addition, the objective of this paper is to consider the external and internal factors, which cause the change and resist the change. Scope The major emphasis of this literature review to analyze journal articles of different authors to know about organizational culture and change implementation. It covers the different thoughts and opinions of different authors about change management. It includes the Lewins change model and different effective strategies to implement the change successfully. The information is collected only from secondary sources of research. Discussion Literature Review According to Zvanca (2011), organizational culture is a combination of operating and shared values, beliefs and some shared assumptions within organization. It includes different organizational activities and processes. Furthermore, Roger Harrison defined that an organizational culture includes the components, which are important to the organization. It prescribes the resources and capabilities of organization. Organizational culture is very important for building and affecting the positive changes to the effectiveness of organization. Organization culture and structure needs changes according the requirements of organizational processes and objectives (Zvanca, 2011). According to Mills Smith (2011), an organizational structure focuses on improving and increasing its effectiveness and performance. Thus, the top management examines some important aspects, like; policies, systems, structures, work practices etc. to making changes and restructuring (Mills Smith, 2011). Kumar Singhal (2012) states that people in organization are significant elements of successful change in the organization. In the organization, some people resist the changes and they did not accept respective changes. CIPD (2009) stated about an important aspect of change implementation, i.e. resistance to change. Resistance to change can be described as the disruption in the process of changes, which is imposed by the individuals and group of individuals. A popular business magazine stated that resistance to change may be organized or disorganized, collective or individual and active or passive (CIPD, 2009). It can take different forms, like; sabotage, strikes, jokes, restriction of productivity, sarcasm and whistle blowing. It includes the example of this, i.e. active resistance to change can be seen in the forms of strikes, like Staff of Royal Mail went on strike to resist the changes, which were not discussed with them (Kumar Singhal, 2012). There are some reasons, which cause the employees to resist the change in organization. According to Lussier (2009), one of the major reasons behind resistance to change is insecurity among the employees. Generally, change is viewed as a possible threat and it is regarded as undesirable as it reflects a level of uncertainty. Another reason may be inappropriate perception of change objectives. Lack of communication among team and managers is one more reason for resistance to change in organizational culture (Lussier, 2009). In order to implement the change in organization, Kurt Lewin has developed a change model in the year 1947. In this sense, Cummings, Bridgman Brown (2016) explained that this change framework is known as 3-steps model. This model is categorized in three steps; first is unfreezing, second is changing and last one is refreezing. Lewins model shows the process, in which the system shifts from one stability point to another point, known as transition model. This model offers a unique process for understanding the changes in organization and development (Cummings, Bridgman Brown, 2016). Armstrong (2009) stated, the first stage of this model, unfreezing that refers to changing the current stable equilibrium that manages the existing attitudes and behaviors. This step considers the challenges which change offers to the people and require motivating the affected people to attain the natural position of equilibrium by implementing the changes (Armstrong, 2009). The second step of the model is changing. It refers to the perceptive restructuring in which the people get information and showing the fact that this change in the process is possible and desirable. Changing step includes the alterations in the current activities and relationships, like; restructuring the organization, installing new technologies, new behaviors and implementation of performance management system. Connelly (2015) stated that all the changes are made in this step. Finally, the last step is known as refreezing. At this stage, all the alterations, which are made in last stage, are made permanent and a new set of policies and equilibrium is established. Thus, Lewins model indicates the results of forces, which either increase or resist the change. There may be two types of forces, i.e. driving forces and restraining forces. Driving forces promote the changes and restraining forces resist the change (Connelly, 2015). This change model only includes the steps for change implementation, but it does not include a proper process for developing change. In the year 1969, Richard Beckhard developed a change plan that includes different processes, like; establishing change objectives and defining the future situations of the organization, recognizing the current situations, related to objectives and defining the change activities and obligations to meet the future situation. In the last stage, the organization will develop the strategies for managing the alterations on the basis of study of the related aspects, which are expected to impact the starting of changes. This model includes the strategies for managing the changes in the organization. According to Hechanova Cementina-Olpoc, (2013), in an organization, there are some external and internal factors, which drive the changes in the organizations. External factors impact the organizations both directly and indirectly. Technology is one of the most important factors among external factors. The installation and implementation of new technology, like; telecom system, computer and other technical operations in production and manufacturing process, have a huge impact on the companies, which they implement them. Information technology is also creating the firms more responsive. In the process, many of the jobs are rebuilt. Another factor is market conditions, which are not stable (Hechanova Cementina-Olpoc, 2013). The organizations have to make changes according to needs, expectations of markets and customer change very fast and frequently. There is an intense competition in the market, which causes the organization to implement changes in the processes and methods. In addi tion, other external factors are like; social factors, political factors etc. Apart from external factors, there are some internal forces, which impact the operations and functioning of the organization. According to Millar, Hind, Magala, (2012), one of the most effective internal forces is the nature and behavior of workforce. The nature of work force is changing with the time. The difference in age group differ the thoughts and opinions of people. Thus, the company has to make the changes in policies and create promotion and transfer policies and fulfill the needs of people of all age groups (Millar, Hind, Magala, 2012). Change in administrative personnel is another factor that causes change at workplace. In this process, the organization replaces the old managers by new managers that are necessary due to transfer, retirement or firing. With the changes in managerial personnel, there will be changes in the informal relationships. Moreover, an organization makes changes in eliminate the deficiencies and issues in current management structure and organizatio nal culture (Goetsch Davis, 2014). These deficiencies may be like; lack of communication among different divisions, problems in coordination, lack of cooperation etc. These factors force the management of organization to go with the changes and modify the organizational processes and policies. Apart from these factors, there are some sources, which cause the employees to resist the change in the organization. There are two types of sources, like; individual sources and organizational sources. The individual sources are, like; self-interest, habits, fear of unknown, differences in perception, conflicts, social disruption etc. in addition, organizational resources are, like; norms of group, resistant organizational culture, inappropriate allocation of resources etc. Each and every organization implements different and effective strategies to overcome the resistance to change. Aiken and Keller (2009) stated that in the duration of change, there are obvious implications for the management and leadership. Further, it is proofed by Kotter and the requirement for communication and training to enable the willingness for organizational change rather than resisting it (Aiken Keller, 2009). Furthermore, Matos Marques Simoes Esposito, (2014) suggest that the ADKAR model of change, which defines about how to implement the change. This model describes that training and development, education, approach to the information and engagement in the processes will enhance the knowledge of change in organization. Aiken and Keller (2009) suggest that there may be four basic conditions, which are necessary, prior employees will alter their behavior; (1) a story: workforce should look at the point and objective of change, (2) role modeling, in this step, employees must see their top management and colleagues, they praise behaving in new manner, (3) strengthening the systems, activities and processes, (4) capacity building, in this process, workforce needs the skills to implement the required changes. Other strategies to overcome the resistance to change are to provide motivation, incentives, rewards, personal recognition etc. to the employees (Matos Marques Simoes Esposito, 2014). Conclusion Thus, the literature review demonstrates that changes in organizational culture are very important for the organization to implement new processes and policies. There are some external and internal factors, which cause the change and resist the change. The organization can implement the changes by using different change models, like; Lewins change model. The organization can use different strategies to overcome the resistance to change. References Armstrong, M. (2009). A Handbook of Personnel Management Practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Aiken, C., Keller, S. (2009). The irrational side of change management. McKinsey Quarterly. Pp.100-109. Retrieved from https://web.ebscohost.com/ehost. CIPD, (2009). Change Management. Retrieved from: https://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/changemmt/chngmgmt.htm?IsSrchRes=1. Connelly, M. (2015). The Kurt Lewin model of change.The Change Management Coach. Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., Brown, K. G. (2016). Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewins legacy for change management.human relations,69(1), 33-60. Goetsch, D. L., Davis, S. B. (2014).Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Hechanova, R. M., Cementina-Olpoc, R. (2013). Transformational leadership, change management, and commitment to change: A comparison of academic and business organizations.The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher,22(1), 11-19. Kumar, P. Singhal, M. (2012). Reducing change management complexity: aligning change recipient sensemaking to change agent sensegiving. International Journal of Learning and Change. Lussier, R.N. (2009):Management fundamentals, concepts applications, Skills development: (South-Western Cengage Learning). 4th Edition. Matos Marques Simoes, P., Esposito, M. (2014). Improving change management: How communication nature influences resistance to change.Journal of Management Development,33(4), 324-341. Millar, C., Hind, P. Magala, S. (2012) "Sustainability and the need for change: organisational change and transformational vision",Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 25 Issue: 4, pp.489-500. Mills, A.M. Smith, T.A. (2011). Knowledge management and organizational performance: a decomposed view",Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 15 Issue: 1, pp.156-171. Zvanca, G. (2011), Organizational Culture, Potential Cause of Resistance to Change in Organizations. Faculty of Textiles Leather Engineering and Industrial Management.