Change through Management Hierarchy

All significant decisions are always made by the top-level executives in a management hierarchy. In a corporation, for example, this would include the board of directors. As a result, they make all of the critical decisions. Managers and executives at the next level merely carry out the top level's plans. To carry out their goals, they just make minor and insignificant decisions. To put it another way, they don't play a significant role in imposing changes. It's common for finer details of changes to be overlooked in such frameworks.

Let's imagine a company's board of director’s wishes to modernize its operations by implementing the most cutting-edge technologies available. The board will notify management of this decision and leave it to them to carry it. In such circumstances, management will have to think about finer points that the board is likely to overlook. This includes details like the purchase of new machinery, termination of certain employees, training of workers, etc.

As we've seen, large changes are difficult to accomplish under a management hierarchical system. Organizations can take a number of helpful steps to address this issue. Maintaining a specialist planning unit is one of the simplest answers to this challenge. This unit is in charge of planning all of the finer points of management. For effective implementation of changes, the unit can include individuals from various levels of management.

Another excellent technique is to hire a management consultant from outside the company. These consultants are experts who use their knowledge and experience to advise effective ways to execute changes. When changes are imposed and managed by outsiders, people are less inclined to fight them.

 

Lewin’s Three-Step Model

Kurt Lewin, an American psychologist, has proposed an effective technique for implementing changes in hierarchical organizations. He believes that there are three steps to making a transformation.

To begin, the organization should attempt to defrost the status quo, or the current condition of affairs. This phase necessitates the organization identifying the current state of affairs and declaring that it will no longer be in effect. This must be known and understood by all concerned members of the organization.

Second, management must now devise effective strategies for altering the status quo. This entails determining how to put the changes into action. These methods must be realistic and easy to execute.

References

Anon., n.d. Toppr. [Online]
Available at: https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-management-and-entrepreneurship/recent-trends-in-management/change-through-management-hierarchy/
[Accessed 06 December 2021].

 

 Thurley and Wirdenius’s Change Strategy

Thurley and Wirdenius introduced the main advantages and disadvantages of change management in 1973, which was brief by Lockitt and 3T Productions Ltd. (2004) as follows:

Directive change strategy. 

This strategy emphasizes the right of the management to manage change and the use of authority to impose change with little or no input from others. This method may result in the loss of valuable information and ideas, and when changes are imposed rather being discussed and agreed upon, there is frequently great animosity among employees.

 

Expert change strategy.

 The management of change is viewed as an issue that has to be managed by a 'expert' under this approach. This method is typically used to solve more technical challenges and is usually led by a project team of experts or a senior manager. There is unlikely to be much input from people who will be impacted by the change.

 

Negotiated change strategy.

 This strategy emphasizes senior management's readiness to bargain and negotiate in order to bring about change. Senior executives must also realize that in order to achieve change, they may need to make modifications and sacrifices. This approach recognizes that those who are affected by change have a right to say in what changes are made, how they are implemented, and what outcomes are expected.

Educative change strategy.

This strategy entails shifting people's values and beliefs in order for them to completely accept the changes being implemented and work toward the creation of a shared set of corporate values that employees are willing and able to support. Education, persuasion, training, and selection will all be employed, with consultants, specialists, and in-house experts leading the way.

Participative change strategy. 

This strategy emphasizes the full participation of all individuals involved in and affected by the expected changes. Despite the fact that senior managers will be driving the process, it will be dominated less by management and more by groups or individuals within the organization. Before any modifications are made, all opinions will be considered. Outside specialists and consultants can help with the process, but they will not make any judgments about the outcome.

References

Ohtonen, J., 2012. BPM Leader. [Online]

Available at: https://www.bpmleader.com/2012/05/08/effective-change-strategies-to-support-bpm/

[Accessed 06 December 2021].

 

Managing Changes in Mergers and Acquisitions

 

Managing Changes in Mergers and Acquisitions

Motivation and retention of key people in mergers and acquisitions

People-related concerns are the most important factors in determining whether a merger or acquisition will succeed or fail.  Leaders should be concerned about how to keep their teams motivated and engaged during the implementation of mergers and acquisitions.

There are a number of reasons why key employees in organizations struggle to be motivated and kept.

 Findings - One of the main reasons why key person motivation and retention are so tough to master during Merger and acquisitions is that often damage is done before the deal is closed. It can be tough to keep up with the speed at which Merger and acquisitions are completed, making it difficult to rapidly and efficiently identify critical employees to keep. To keep the right individuals, the correct packages must be devised, and communication with both retained and non-retained staff must be maintained.

Practical implications - Keeping key employees motivated and committed can help you retain them not just throughout but also after M&A transactions. It is critical to develop specific integration plans as soon as feasible, which include key person identification and retention program design, with the latter assisting in attaining retention goals. These factors, as well as other deal-related difficulties, must be adequately communicated.

Effective Communication in mergers and acquisitions

 One of the most important elements of successfully facilitating a company merger or acquisition is effective communication. While this may seem relatively basic or obvious, the truth of the matter remains that communication can make or break a merger or acquisition. While successful, transparent communication can create a smooth transition, ineffective communication will cause disruption, confusion and insecurity that may cause a merger or acquisition to fail.

components of effective communication 

Frequency
Consistency
Transparency
Honesty
Efficiency

 

Cultural integration in mergers and acquisitions

 Addressing culture when two companies integrate A rigorous program with clearly stated objectives should be put in place to address cultural integration. Too often, culture is presented as a wooly and soft topic. When that happens, executives tend to slight the issue. This can generally be avoided by linking the cultural program to measurable business results. There are several steps to doing this:

• Make culture a major component of the change management work stream.
• Identify who "owns" corporate culture and have them report to senior management
• Insist that the cultural work focuses on the tangible and the measurable.
• Consider the strengths of both existing cultures, not just the weaknesses.
• Implement a decision-making process that is not hampered by cultural differences.
• Build the employee brand with a view toward how it will be understood by employees.
• Put people with culture change knowledge and experience on the teams that define the key interfaces in the new organizational model.

 

References

Gould, R., 2015. Mergers & Acquisitions: The Importance of Effective Communication. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gould-partners.com
[Accessed  06 December 2021].
Kummer, C., 2008. Strategic HR Review. In: "Motivation and retention of key people in mergers and acquisitions",. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Zurich, Switzerland and Webster University: Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. Vol. 7 No. 6, pp. 5-10.

 Resistance to Change

Resistance to change is the most important facets of change management and resistance is human nature to react to changes. Organizations must make every effort to implement changes with minimum hassle rather than resisting changes.

 Reasons for Resistance to Change

Change resistance is common in every organization, and leaders must be able to understand the true causes for resistance in order to succeed in the change process.

• Employees are looking for an easy way to continue doing the same task they've always done. They have a hard time implementing fresh ideas.

• Employees who have been impacted by the change process will always fight since changes inevitably bring with them changes in power, influence, and worker responsibilities.

• Employees who prefer to stick to their routines rather than try new things and take risks will constantly reject change. This will occur due to the organizational staff's lack of innovation.

 Types of Resistance to Change

 Resistance to change can be categorized as follows,

 Logical Resistance

This form of resistance arises primarily as a result of the time it takes for employees who are unaffected to adjust to changes. After computers became widespread, accountants, for example, had to transition from paper accounting to digital accounting. It will take some time to become used to this technique.

Psychological Resistance

This kind of resistance occurs due to mental and psychological factors. Employees frequently resistant to change as they are less tolerant to change, fear of the unknown, dislike towards the management, etc.

 Sociological Resistance

This sort of resistance is based on the group's shared beliefs and conventions, rather than on individuals. Individuals may desire to change, but will not do so owing to peer pressure from their peer group. For example, if an employee's union organizes a protest against new management rules, all employees are under pressure to join in.

How to overcome Resistance to Change

Because of changes always face resistance, managers should concern on possibilities to overcome and help their workforce to adapt to new variations in functioning.

Leaders must be able to convince employees that the necessity of proposing changes and positive factors of the changes. Management can consider the following implementations to make changes smoothly.

• Changes should not occur in one go as it is easier to implement them in stages.
• Changes should never cause security problems for the employees.
• Leaders must consider the ideas of all workers on whom the proposed change will have an effect.
• If managers portray leadership by first adapting to the changes themselves, employees are less likely to resist.
• Sufficient prior training of employees can help them accept changes with confidence.

Importance of Employee participation

Employee participation is critical to the success of the change process, since it makes them less likely to resist change implementation.

Leaders can do this by convening small informal meetings or conferences with the team. Managers should present all of the proposed modifications' relevant details. Employees must be encouraged to voice their opinions.

References

Anon., n.d. business-management-and-entrepreneurship/recent-trends-in-management/resistance-to-change/. [Online]
Available at: https://www.toppr.com
[Accessed 06 December 2021].

Why Organizational change fails

 

Why Organizational change fails

In every manner, implementing organizational changes is a difficult undertaking. To reduce the rate of failure, an effective change management procedure should be in place. Due to the high failure rate in the transition process, opportunities will be lost, money will be spent, and resources will be wasted.

1. Lack of communication

To successfully accept the change, management must convey to employees a clear understanding of why the change is required and how the change will be implemented. The targeted altering process will fail due to a lack of communication.

 

2. Differing Agendas

The majority of employees reject change due to ego and self-interest. They don't fully get why a change is required. Workers are fearful of losing their jobs because they want to keep their freedom. Employees had no meaningful chance to express their thoughts when the altering procedure communicated top to bottom. Employees are as a result of this.

3. Insensitivity

In a company organization, employees are the most significant group. They are the assets that implement the change and work together to achieve the intended profitable outcome. If management wishes to involve its employees in the change process, they must be aware of this factor and consider it in two ways.

First, recognize how critical it is to involve individuals who will be requested to make the change as early as feasible. Obtain their opinions and feedback. Second, be aware that change is difficult and that it will result in individual, personal stress.

 4. Poor Leadership

It is critical to provide a safe environment in which a new business vision may be realized. It will be tough to direct the team on the new change if they are hesitant or do not trust higher authority.

5. Poor planning

Shifting an organization's direction necessitates foresight. A false start, resistance, and/or eventual failure are expected if the transformation is implemented haphazardly, too quickly, or without an adequate approach.

6. Lack of commitment

If an organization actually needs to change, the leadership must be 100 percent committed. Once the leadership has that, everyone in the company should anticipate a similar dedication. The proposed change must be viewed as a need, not a choice.

7. Poor process

Finally, success will require that you provide the organizational team with a method and process for implementing the desired change; otherwise, they will continue to fight.

According to author Rick Maurer, most people react to change by erecting a protective barrier. It is the responsibility of a company's leader to engage with its employees.

Reference

Strauss, S., 2015. TOP 7 REASONS WHY ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE FAILS. [Online] 

 Available at: https://www.tinypulse.com

 [Accessed 06 December 2020].

Essential steps for an efficient change Management process

1. Prepare the Organization for Change

An organization must be prepared both logistically and culturally in order to successfully pursue and implement change. Prior to going into logistics, cultural preparation is required. During the planning phase, the manager focuses on assisting employees in recognizing and comprehending the need for change. They create awareness of the organization's different challenges or problems, which operate as change agents and cause unhappiness with the status quo. Obtaining early buy-in from employees who will assist in the implementation of the change might help reduce friction and resistance later on.

2. Craft a Vision and Plan for Change

Managers must design a thorough and realistic plan for bringing about change once the organization is ready to embrace it.

 • Strategic goals: What are the aims that this change will assist the organization achieve?

• Key performance indicators: What will be used to assess success? What metrics must be shifted? What is the current state of affairs' baseline?

• Project team and stakeholders: Who will be in charge of the task of change implementation? At each important point, who needs to sign off? Who will be in charge of the implementation?

• Project scope: What are the specific processes and actions that the project will entail? What isn't included in the project's scope?

Any unknowns or bottlenecks that may develop during the implementation process should be factored into the plan, which will necessitate agility and flexibility to overcome.

3. Implement the Changes

Following the procedures described in the plan to implement the desired change is all that remains after it has been created. The specifics of the program will determine whether or not modifications to the company's structure, strategy, systems, procedures, employee habits, or other components are required.

Change managers must focus on empowering their workers to take the necessary measures to achieve the initiative's goals during the implementation process. They should also try to anticipate bottlenecks and, once detected, prevent, remove, or reduce them. Throughout the implementation process, it is vital to communicate the organization's vision to remind team members why change is being pursued.

4. Embed Changes Within Company Culture and Practices

Change managers must prevent a reversion to the previous state or status quo once the change endeavor is concluded. This is especially true when it comes to process, workflow, culture, and strategy changes within an organization. Employees may revert to the "old way" of doing things if they don't have a strategy in place, especially during the transition time.

Backsliding is more difficult to achieve when reforms are embedded in the company's culture and processes. Change management tools such as new organizational structures, controls, and reward systems should all be considered.

5. Review Progress and Analyze Results

A change initiative's completion does not imply that it was successful. A "project post mortem," or analysis and assessment, can help company leaders determine whether a change initiative was a success, failure, or mixed result. It can also provide useful information and lessons that can be applied to future transformation attempts.

References
Miller, K., 2020. Harvard Business School online. [Online]
Available at: https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/change-management-process
[Accessed 06 December 2021].

 

McKinsey 7-S Model

 

McKinsey 7-S Model

This is one of the most complicated models but its complexity need when implementing complicated organizational changes. There is no special order in these elements but rather assessed by how they affect each other so that weaknesses can be identified

This element can be divided into two sections Hard and Soft

"Hard" elements include: 

• Strategy. 
• Structures
• Systems

These elements are simple to identify they are influenced by the management. The hard elements are such things as the company plans to be more competitive (strategy), organizational charts (structure), and routines/processes for how work is to be done (systems).

"Soft" elements include: 

• Shared Value

• Style

• Skills

• Staff 

 “soft” elements are very hard to describe and they are influenced by the company culture. Your staff, their skills, the company’s overall leadership style, as well as the values or culture of the company are more fluid and affect continuous change. 

 7 Elements briefly :

·        Strategy: organization's plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage over its                                    competitors.

·        Structure: How your company is organized (Departments and teams , including the hierarchy).

·        Systems: the daily rooting and procedures that staff use to get the job done.

·        Shared Values core values of the organization and reflect its general work ethic. 

·        Style: The leadership Style.

·        Staff: General capabilities of the employees.

·        Skills: Skills and competencies of the organization's employees.

 

The placement of  shared value in the center of the model stated that they are central to the development of all the other critical elements. All elements of the model balance and reinforce each other for an organization to perform well.

To apply the McKinsey 7-S Model in your organization, follow these steps:

1. shared values: Start with shared value. Are they included with your structure, strategy, and systems?     If not, what needs to change?

2. Then look at the hard elements – strategy, systems, and structure. How well does each one support         others? Identify where changes need to be made.

3. Next, look at the soft elements – shared values, skills, (leadership) style, and staff. Do they support        the deliberate hard elements? Do they support one another? If not, what needs to change?

4. As you adjust the elements, you'll need to use a process of making adjustments, and then re-analyzing     impacts on other elements and their adjustment. The end result of better performance will be worth it.

References

Anon., n.d. MindTools. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm
[Accessed 04 December 2021].