Organizational Change
General Motors
Introduction
Today, there are various driving forces of organizational change. As a result of globalization, there are needs and expectation which requires change in order to implement new things and meet the demand of customers. However, other organizations are unable to manage the change due to the ever-changing environment, illegal actions and poor management. Change is inevitable and for organization to move forward and develop there must be change. In this case, life-cycle theory can explain better the type of change that is addressed. The theory asserts that organization is connected with external environment and it pass through different stages such as growth and declination. Since organizational change occur due to different reasons, leaders and manager should understand that change is difficult and so they should be ready to address the negative effects which affect the work force. To maintain sense of identity, commitment and performance, managers should know that change can affect the organization effectiveness as well as the accomplishment of goals. Thus, skills to manage change are required to ensure that change will be positively implemented and it will not affect work force or overall operations.
Change is constant but employees show resistance for different reasons. Thus, organizations must understanding that resistance is a must and should be ready prepared to deal with such challenges. When change is dramatic, organizations face lot of challenges in dealing with employees reactions towards the change (Cameron & Green, 2015). Thus, managers should maintain a social network for creating social relationship during change transition. Organization is made by people and manager should have a control system and ensure that the diverse group is providing a high-quality input. The important thing to note in organizational change is that everything will change and the organization may resist change due to various reasons (Cameron & Green, 2015). What is requiring in managing change is stability and rigidity and these will help the organization adapt changes.
The key events that are likely to occur during organization change and transition are employee resistance or denial, frustration (loss of loyalty) and mental stress or depression among employees. The first event or barrier which will occur is employee resistance. Grama & Todericiu (2016) asserts that change involves people and every member will suffer in the transition period. This means that employees will not accept the change because they fear losing job. Under this event, they will express anger because they will see negative consequences of change in future. The social protests might cause malfunctions and dysfunction which will affect the entire system. The change will affect their working position and their life and they will have negative approach toward the change (Grama &, Todericiu2016). They will develop cognitive and behavioral problems since they are not ready to cope with changes and new situations. Second, there will be loss of loyalty during the transition period. Many workers will quit job and search for employment as early as possible before termination. Employees who will remain will loss motivation and lack trust with company. This will affect their job performance and the overall operations will be affected (Grama &, Todericiu2016). Third, employees will develop mental stress as many will fear future changes and view the issue of change as unfair. They will develop irrational thoughts and the cognitions will negatively impact their attitudes.
As the top manager in General Motors, I would advise the managers to address the events using the Kotter’s eights steps. Proactive management is fundamental in maximizing future adaptability and motivating employees accept change. Leaders should provide leadership skills to middle managers. Mangers should discuss the importance of change and motivate employees in accepting the change (Cameron & Green, 2015). Organization should ensure effective change management by developing a sense of urgency. Manager should allow employees understand the competitive realities and the need for change. In addressing the issue during change transition, managers should form a guiding coalition which can motivate employees and join hands in implementing and accepting change (BUNEA, DINU, & POPESCU, 2016). There should be a vision which guides the change and by having a clear vision, employees will foresee the future and understand the need for change. In creating the vision, unhelpful structure which may hinder the implementation of future should be eliminated so that employees can view the situation clearly. Given that employees feel dissatisfied and resists the change, managers should show a sense of urgency and communicate clearly. In order to manage transition, managers may also assign tasks to middle managers who will generate enthusiasm through sharing ideas as well as goals (BUNEA, DINU, & POPESCU, 2016). The organization change management should include strategies such as day-to-day training of importance of change, follow-up plans for measuring the implementation of change and rewards for encouragements.
In managing changes, leaders were affected by the organizational change environment. Leaders faced challenges in adopting the new practice. The problem emerged when the culture of an organization was changed. Note that culture encompasses the mission statement and the reorganization of culture affects the environment which employees work in (Dhingra & Punia, 2016). In trying to modify the culture, leaders faced challenges as it was not easy for employees to accept the change. The process of making change is hard and managers have to cope with emotional stress for being too responsible in delegating task, motivating employees and staff and implementing change. Sometimes managers are isolated and lack support from the organization. Another challenge is resistance to change. This is a major issue affecting many organizations (Dhingra & Punia, 2016). Employees could not accept change and leaders were forced to take time and find solutions for solving the problems. Managers faced hard situations in managing conflicts as it is their responsibility to help members understand the importance of change. In transition management, managers deal with upheavals and use the possible ways of protecting the team. In managing change, managers require rewards system and the high cost required acted as a threat due to high cost. In addition, education and communication is a challenge and it hard for managers to clear doubt from employees (Dhingra & Punia, 2016). For this reason, employees developed ambiguity. Another challenges occurred because employees were not participants in creating change but rather they were just forced to comply with the new management. This acted as a barrier in implementing change.
In this case, one of the General Motors plant will be closed and half of employees will employed in other plants across the country and the rest will receive early retirements and job termination. In implementing change, the group which was to get early retirement and job termination resisted change (Arif et al, 2017). The group believed that the act was unfair and the change could affect their life. They did not understand the purpose of change since initially there was no good communication about the change. They felt powerless and confused and they lost control because it was hard for them to change the environment they operate in and live jobless. They lacked trust and support and they showed a high level of resistance. However, their situation was handled and finally they accepted change. The first thing in addressing the problem was to create an open door policy (Arif et al, 2017). Employees expressed their thoughts and by having a clear understanding about the change, they reduced resistance to change. Managers allowed the group to express their concern. There was a constant conversion between managers and employees and they were taught about the change, why it is needed and the future of change (Arif et al, 2017). Through engaging employees, they interacted by asking questions and used different ways of communication in conveying the message about change. Negotiation and agreement worked best as employee who highly resisted change were given the authority to communicate and offer their views. The management created team members who motivated the group in accepting change (Arif et al, 2017). Finally, employees had a positive view and accepted vision and goals of the organization.
Conclusion
In modern world, change in organization is inevitable. Without change, organizations may not enter in the competitive market to meet the customers’ demand. Change is part of business strategy which organizations use to progress and develop. However, employees are negative affected by the change and organization face challenges in trying to create a friendly environmental during change transition. Employees resist change due to fear of unemployment and other issue which negatively impact their lives. However, these challenges can be address by providing employees an opportunity to participate in planning change. Especially when change will affect their position, communication will provide the way forward. Manager should also value the self-interest of employees and show the concern in terms of how change will affect their life but not the business. Communication is all-important in eliminating misunderstanding and creating vision and goals. Through close interaction, there will be different assessments which will determine the importance and demerits of change.
Reference
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