The three stages of Change Management

The three st shape ups of Change focal pointWe live in the age of diversity. The implication of this wholeegement, is not that salmagundis only happen in our time, but, is that compounds in the new-fashioned few decades have been comparatively more frequent and exert relatively major influences on every aspect of adult male life. In fact, variegates direction so much attention that, in recent years, the spotlight has been on how to manage inter tack Change Management.Change precaution, according to definition from BNET note Dictionary (n.d.) is the coordination of a structured period of transition from situation A to situation B in order to achieve terminationing transmit within an face. Change counseling in the geological formational context is the guinea pig of kind, how to exercise change, how to cope with change and the necessity of change to ensure sustainability. Management of change is a complex subject of study attention has to be paid in regards to the c ontinuity of change, i.e. there are 2 types of change namely incremental change (minor change, adaptation, modification) and discontinuous change (revolutionary change, transformational change). Organizations experience consistent cycles of change in which periods of incremental change are punctuated by intervals of discontinuous change (Nadler and Tushman 1995, cited in Hayes 2002, p. 5). This cycle is referred to as punctuated equilibrium by Romanelli and Tushman in 1994 (cited in Hayes 2002, p. 5).Academics and scholars have, throughout time, developed various theories on change heed. One of the famous thinker in the field of change guidance, Lewin (1951, cited in Campbell and Craig 2008, p. 512) introduced the force-field seat which describes the state of change in an organization as the equilibrium between the force that push for change and the restraining force that struggles to make the status quo unchanged.Addition eachy, Kotter (1995, cited in Huczynski and Buchanan 2 007, p. 604) proposes 8 steps to organizational transformation imbed a sense of urgencyForm a guiding coalescenceCreate a visionCommunicate the visionEmpower multitude to act on the visionCreate short-term winsConsolidate improvements to take a shit further changeInstitutionalize new approachesKurt Lewin in 1951 (cited in Kinicki and Kreitner 2008, p. 402) as well as introduced a 3-stage model for change. What are the 3 stages?Unfreezing In a nutshell it kernel that to change, an organization first need to have the desire for change. Organization of necessity to be unhappy with the old behaviour.Changing Moving to the desired state of change.Refreezing Stabilize and normalize the changed state.Mentioned above are few of the theories that students studying organizational Behaviour result find familiar. Kurt Lewins models for change remain largely applicable even in the 21st century as successful change eternally depends on striking a balance between change implementation and managing bulwark to change. Besides, the 3-stage model correctly illustrated the process of change the exit now creation the increasing speed of the change cycle as organizational environment becomes more volatile. In my humble opinion however, Kotters 8-step model is an over-simplified interpretation of the process of change. The fundamental assumption that change happens in analytic sequence and that managers are all rational beings are in themselves quixotic as changes often involve unpredictable irregularities and managers do not always follow the book. Realistically, decisions do by managers are seldom rational.When organizations try to practice into action change broadcasts, it is almost always certain that the effort will be met with resistance. Resistance to change comes in one form or another. To borrow the words of Fronda and Moriceau (2008), there are 3 forms of resistance revolt, coitus interruptus (alienation from work) and discreet resistance (low morale, low p roductivity and high absenteeism).On resistance towards change, we started mop up with a rather negative perception in the last paragraph. However, this is not necessarily so, resistance is detrimental only when it is not finely handled, downplayed or ignored. Waddell and Sohal (1998) in their journal article titled Resistance a constructive tool for change management states that resistance to change shows that it is stupid to assume practiced away that all change is beneficial that it is human nature to doubt the outcome of change. Furthermore they argued that resistance to change ensures a balance between organizations desire for change and its practical need of stability and constancy (Waddell and Sohal 1998).The crucial question remained How locoweed management dupe the right strategy so as to be successful in change initiation?Many people have this huge misconception approximately the worldly concern of the mythical best strategy for change. In my opinion, it is downri ght absurd to cease that there is one best strategy to be used for all change initiatives each organization is affected by its distinct outside(a) and internal factors when implementing change. After a routine of extensive reading, I undercoat the contingency approach to change advocated by Dunphy and Stace (2001, cited in Huczynski and Buchanan, p. 603) most viable.The Dunphy-Stace contingency approach to change implementationThe table content outlines the unlike strategies that managers can employ under different circumstances to implementing changes. Participative change management, despite being touted by a number of academics in the field of change management as the best solutions to change, does not always work. This is because participation and involvement in change process, from formulation to implementation, is extremely time-consuming, even more so when consensus leads to be reached. Thus when organizations are put under situations where the need for change is so crit ical that it is change or die, managers will be better off exercising decisiveness and dictatorial decision-making.Ideally, however, it is always best to involve employees in planning and carrying out change to minimize resistance and ensure cooperation. My office is echoed in the journal article by Stanleigh (2008) titled Effecting successful change management initiatives, in which he states 6 reasons why change initiatives fail non engaging all employeesManaging change only at the executive director levelTelling people they have to change, were in a crisis direct staffs on a change program and expecting change to occurNot honouring the pastNot giving time for staffs to vent first and and so changeNot to be forgotten is the role of constructive conversation. Efforts to encounter about change often fail because the change agent failed to listen. Jabri, Adrian and Boje (2008) in their article comment on change agentschange agents want to change the organization indeed, they have been trained to change it. Change agents may even have sex what the organization needs. Many change agents have been trained to think about how to communicate the change in ways that people will choose it. That training reflects a caring for the audience, even as it limits the audiences participation. The audience is guileless spectator to the change, rather than witness to it.In order to change successfully, an effective, two-party communication between managers and employees must be in place. Managers must discipline to listen to the voices of the employees because the employees possess hands-on knowledge which might not be readily available to someone in managerial position. Conversation enables the function of every employee to be fully appreciated and integrated into the grand plan of change.Summing up my argument in the previous paragraphs, to be able to adopt a clearly defined strategy for the successful initiation of change, management needs to evaluate current situati on, the necessity for change, and the urgency for the change. Management therefore needs to decide on a suitable approach base on the model proposed by Dexter Dunphy and Doug Stace (2001). Whenever possible, managers should maximize stakeholders participation in the change process. Moreover, from planning to implementation of change, managers should never overlook the importance of conversation. The management as the change agent needs to learn to listen.Throughout autobiography we can see a large number of organizations that have made attempts to change. Some of these organizations succeeded some, unfortunately, failed. By adopting the right strategies, we observe that organizations can manage their change successfully. One recent example is the effort by dingle Inc. to deoxidize the power consumption of its approximately 50000 computers during non-operational hours. In light of the increasing follow of energy, or more specifically, electricity, dell Inc. has decided to put i nto action an snuff it of its power management. To formulate a company-wide power management plan, Jay Taylor, the senior target global strategist at Dell, brought together several departments at Dell, including product, facilities management, CTO and IT groups. These stakeholders all contributed their expertise in their respective fields to assist in the planning. By coordinating the skills of its employees in different fields, and pairing this effort with the latest technology, Dell managed to come up with a very efficient power management plan which resulted in 40% reduction in computer-related energy cost, translating to US$ 1.8 million savings annually. The inspiring part of the whole initiative is that Dell managed to implement the power management plan and achieve cost-saving without hampering its day-to-day operation, convey to its skillful handling of available expertise and effective co-ordinations between stakeholders from different fields.As a conclusion, change manag ement plays an essential role in ensuring organizations survival. To achieve competitive advantage and sustainability in this turbulent period of economy, organization needs to be able to adapt to the external environment quick and routinely by constantly learning. It is therefore imperative for leaders and managers as well to have a thorough understanding of the nature, theories and practice of change management.