WORKING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL
CHANGE
This work is a compilation of the author’s
business experience, business notes, lectures attended, and
readings.
As definitions of management have changed, the role and definition
of the managerial coach has likewise changed. It is no longer
sufficient to have business and managerial savvy or skill
sets that may prove to be dated. It is now necessary for coaches
to also understand business work groups, integrated product
teams, virtual employees and the ways businesses are re-structuring
to meet market demands.
The coaching task is increasingly complex and challenging
partially due to increasing requirements from businesses for
greater employee output with declining resources. The task
is also impacted by competition from companies that out-place
jobs to domestic or off-shore companies, or both. As a result
coaches are challenged understand ways to manage business
resources, systems and processes that were never designed
for these new demands. Coaches must now help managers to learn
and settle in to the new roles and responsibilities required
by businesses.
Working With Organizational Change, is one
of the Essential Management Skills modules offered by Mentorsys.
These modules are resources for managerial coaches when working
with both new and seasoned managers.
Working With Organizational Change is written
for coaches to use in part, or as a workbook. It is intended
as a guide for coaches who may be new to business coaching.
It is also written in a manner that directly addresses and
tasks the manager. Please use this method as a guide, and
feel free to adapt the words to your particular coaching situation.
Managers must assume leadership by communicating and managing
changes normally occurring within the company. The information
that follows presents ways of helping employees cope with
varying degrees of change when they occur within organizations.
The information will help managers when dealing with:
- assessing and understanding reasons for change
- responses to change
- working effectively with resistance to change
- motivating others involved with making change successful
Managers will learn to:
- understand change, and its effect in the workplace
- help to determine their roles during and after organizational
change
- determine the life span of the change process
- aid in taking responsibility and making decisions during
change
- help with adjustment to continuous change
- work with employees and their reactions to change
- find ways for expressing legitimate concerns about changes
To improve is to change;
to be perfect is to change often.”
Winston Churchill
THE CHANGE PROCESS
When organizational change occurs managers must communicate
to employees what the change is, how it will occur and why
it is necessary.
When leadership operates in secrecy, the “rumor mill”
runs rampant and unsettles the workforce.
Because of tight project schedules a major company in Los
Angeles did not immediately inform employees about a new workplace
project. Rumors began and word leaked that the company was
for sale. The information was false but because of the company’s
failure to communicate their version of the new project a
vacuum was created. When the company began to provide accurate
information that enabled employees to separate reality from
fiction, they were able to diminish many of their staff's
unfounded anxieties.
Communication includes informing employees of the progress
of projects. The more information employees have, the more
likely they are to feel they understand a change that may
affect their jobs. After information was provided to the staff
and employees, weekly meetings open to all employees were
held in order to quell fears.
First communications about major changes affecting the company
and employees often focus on logistics. Logistics consist
of moves, descriptions of the new systems, when and how change
will occur, and the nature of how the change will affect the
company.
For most employees there were concerns about issues such
as performance assessment, career development, technical competency,
friendships and social contacts, and work/family issues. Since
such concerns are usually personal, many people hesitate to
mention them.
Thus the change process must be structured to elicit these
concerns and a change program must be designed to respond
to them. This will not occur in a single meeting. It is a
continuous process.
Changes in business structure almost always affect company
culture and may not always occur effectively or smoothly.
This is especially the case when rapid change is required.
Most cultures evolve over the lifetime of a company thus;
significant change must be carefully planned.
Company culture may be compared to a gigantic sea-going oil
tanker when changing course. Such a course change may require
many miles and a great amount of planning and time. In corporate
cultures, reaction to changes in plans, customers, products,
and methods of conducting business take planning and time.
Successful companies have flexibility and agility built into
their cultures. To the extent that company culture is flexible
and agile, changes in business may be successfully accommodated.
Management and supervision must be capable of leading their
companies through normally occurring changes, as well as those,
which occur unexpectedly.
“Who would ever want a computer in their
home?”
former CEO of a large computer manufacturer
“Everything that can be invented has
been invented.”
Charles Duell (U. S. Patent Office, 1899)
“Sensible and responsible women do not
want to vote.” President Grover Cleveland
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