1. Managing Change
Running head: MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Managing Change in Organizational Development
Von M. Brickhouse
Webster University
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Abstract
Change, what is it? Why do organizations need to transform, modify or revolutionize the way
they conduct their day to day business practices? In the global economy, do corporations need to
change in order to stay competitive and in some cases maintain their ultimate survival in the
market place? Is change about maintaining status quo or employee way of life? There are
numerous reasons to implement organization development in a business or group. The reasons
could range from globalization competition, environmental factors, and demographics of the
population or just wanting to improve the overall effectiveness of an organization. Managing
change in an organization that has operated on the same principles for many years is a
monumental task. Managers, leaders and employees struggle with change trying to achieve the
owners, board of directors or chief executive officers goals, and objectives. However, when
implementing change within an organization, it must be structured, understood by all in the
corporation, and carefully managed from the top to ensure transformation can occur. If this is
done correctly, change can have a positive effect on an organization, which can lead to increased
revenues, customer loyalty, and employee satisfaction.
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Managing Change in Organizational Development
What is change? Philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli stated, “there is nothing more
difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take
the lead in the introduction of a new order of things” (Jacobs & Michelson, 2002, p241). With
this said, does managing change allow organizations to effectively bring about modifications that
will improve their corporation? What does organization development mean? Why even
implement organization development? Who manages and oversees change within an
organization? What element or group established the vision or direction an organization takes to
achieve market dominance? With the Industrial Revolution over and the emergence of the
Computer and Technology Age, there is little room for misunderstanding how to implement
organizational development. Organizations need to educate their board of directors, managers,
and employees on the goals, objectives, and vision regarding change within a corporation to
achieve the desired end state of organization development. This paper will define, demonstrate,
and describe ways conglomerates characterize organization development, develop and share a
vision, assess company needs and wants, and improve overall corporate culture. It will also
point out ways to reduce the stress associated with organizational improvements, deter and
overcome resistance to transformation, and manage change within its formations that develop
steps necessary to continue the renewal of their business adapting to an ever changing market
place.
In this technological advanced age of down sizing, corporate competition, electronic
commerce, globalization, and bottom line profits most corporate leaders understand they must
implement positive organization development to survive. Globalization is possibly one of most
influential pressures to move corporations to organization development. In the global market,
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there is more competition, diverse work force, distances between geographic locations, and
different environmental considerations. Today many organizations are improving their
effectiveness through the understanding of organization development. Top level executives are
putting into action organization development programs to ensure global market survival and
increased profit revenues. These effective leaders understand that change within an organization
is essential to corporate survival. They also understand developing effective strategies and
implementation plans are a must in ensuring their organization development succeeds in the ever
changing global environment. Managers must furthermore understand that organization
development is a macro change not micro, and that it affects the entire organization from upper
level management to the lowest employee in the chain.
First, we must define and understand the meaning of organization development.
Organization development has been defined as effort, planned, organization wide, and managed
from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in
the organization’s processes, using behavioral science knowledge (Kusy & Rouda, 1995). Don
Harvey states that organization development is long range efforts and programs aimed at
improving an organization’s ability to survive by changing its problem solving and renewal
process (Harvey & Brown, 2001). Finally, organization development has been characterized as
making alterations to the organization’s purpose, culture, structure, and processes in response to
seen or anticipated changes in the environment (Jacobs & Michelson, 2002). Organization
development is necessary for organizations to put into action and there is really no alternative
unless they want to become outdated or obsolete. In essence, organization development is a
planned system of change which identifies and solves an organizations problems and increases
effectiveness.
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Second, we need to understand the meaning of manage or managing. According to Joint
Chief of Staff Publication One, management is the process of establishing and attaining
objectives to carry out responsibilities. Management consists of continuing actions of planning,
organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the use of men, money, materials,
and facilities to accomplish missions and tasks (Corbett & O’Dowd, 2000). Managing
organization development must take into account several steps needed to ensure change will be
effective. Managers must clearly identify what is to be done, develop a plan, set aside resources,
and communicate the vision to the entire organization.
Vision in organization development can guide a company in dealing with the continuous
interaction external forces, which are government, stockholders, unions, competitors, suppliers,
and customers (Harvey & Brown, 2001). A clear and concise vision or operating framework that
is understood by all members of an organization from top management to the lowest level can
help ensure positive and effective organizational development. This vision must have a sense of
direction and focus for the corporation to follow. The vision must be reasonable and attainable
by the organization and not be confusing or lead the conglomerate down the wrong path. The
incorrect vision could steer the company to financial ruin. Creating the vision by upper level
management is no easy task in today’s global economy with ever changing technology and
internet cyberspace opportunities available to your competitors and consumers. A vision that can
be easily communicated from upper level management to all employees allows for less friction
and resistance to organization development. Communicating the vision is vital for organization
development to be implemented by all parties of the corporation. Management must convey
their vision to the organization through speeches, newsletters, employee meetings, bulletins, and
corporate memorandums. But more importantly, management must ensure their behavior
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reflects the new vision and path they want the corporation to follow and develop into their new
mode of operation and assessment of company needs.
Assessing company needs is one of the first and most important steps in organization
development. The needs assessment should be a systematic approach that will identify the way
things are and the way they should be by focusing on a company’s operating system. Often
times managers move quickly to find a solution to the problem without conducting a proper
needs assessment. The assessment process must be conducted in four steps, which are perform a
gap analysis, identify priorities and importance, identify causes of performance problems and/or
opportunities, and finally, identify possible solutions and growth opportunities (Kusy & Rouda,
1995).
Step one, performing a gap analysis, allows organizations the ability to check and
ascertain the actual performance the company and employees against published or existing
standards for that industry. Gap analysis is broken down into two parts, the current state and the
desired or necessary situation. The current state assesses the firm’s employee base skill set of
knowledge and abilities they possess. This will allow an organization to understand their
employee’s strengths and weaknesses regarding their ability to be a productive part of
organization development. The current state assessment will also identify and examine the goal,
culture, climate, and constraints both internal and external. The desired or necessary situation
deals with conditions or circumstances that are required for organizational or personal success of
the company. This is used to identify critical tasks necessary to achieve organization
development success, and differentiate our needs from wants.
Step two of identifying priorities and their importance will assist the company in
determining what the significance and relevance of conditions and constraints identified in step
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one. This step of the assessment process deals with issues such as cost effectiveness, legal
considerations, upper level management pressures, environmental challenges, and customers.
Cost effectiveness examines the cost of implementing the solution comparable to a cost benefit
analysis, which the a manger can use to help solve the problem. The rank order of these needs
regarding organization development would help management focus resources on priorities that
would greatly benefit the company.
The third process in the assessment phase of organization development deals with
identifying causes of performance problems or opportunities. Now that a company has
prioritized and identified critical needs that would ensure organization development success, the
firm must know the performance objectives and appreciate solutions that will be applied during
organization development. This phase requires management to ask two important questions of
each need that is identified. Management should ask if their employees are doing their job
effectively and does the staff know how to do their assigned task or area of responsibility. To
get these critical answers, management must thoroughly investigate and review the data gathered
for these questions.
The final step of needs assessment is when management identifies possible solutions and
growth opportunities. Management must identify possible strategic planning, corporate
architecture, and performance techniques that will solve problems and make organization
development easier to implement. This step can also recognize possible training or knowledge
problems within the organization. Conducting the needs assessment is critical prior to
implementation of organization development to help ensure success of change.
Implementing change in an organization can wreak havoc and bring utter chaos
throughout the firm. A manager must understand how to implement and effectively bring about
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organization development. There are several tactics that managers should put into action prior to
organization development. Upper level management should develop networks, select the type of
change, identify target audience, and alert the organization. Using these techniques will assist
managers in reducing the resistance to organization development.
Developing networks allows management to gather resources and information necessary
to establish a power base that realizes change is essential in this firm. This network can also be a
trusted group of individuals that share the vision of management or they are familiar with
management’s goals and ideas or thought process. These sources for the network can serve as a
sounding board for new ideas and help management select the type of change to implement.
Selecting the type of change can have a significant effect on the organization.
Management can use planned or unplanned, tactical or strategic, and evolutionary or
revolutionary type of change for organization development. A corporation can determine which
type of change to implement based on the vision and needs assessment.
Planned or unplanned organization development can have both positive and negative
effects on a firm. Planned change is a well thought out way of functioning for the company
based on internal and external forces attributed to their market place. Unplanned change is not
on the macro level and sometimes just happens do to unexpected or unforeseen elements within
the industry. Unplanned change is the least desired method because management can not control
the implementation process or how it effects the organization.
Managers can use several organization development models to help them implement
change. The Organizational Change Response Model is a tool that prescribes major managerial
practices mapped to or aligned with the change types (Struckmam & Yammarino, 2003). This
model is broken down into four quadrants consisting of short term tactical and strategic change
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and long term tactical and strategic change. The management behaviors of leadership, decision
making, performance management, and communication are mapped into the change type
quadrants (Struckmam & Yammarino, 2003). This model allows managers to determine what
type of change activity they are initiating and then modify their management behaviors to the
prescription in the appropriate quadrant. With an understanding of the different types of
changes, a manager can use the set of managerial practices that can help him or her navigate
through organization development. This model will allow the manager to manage change before
changes manage and overpower the manager.
Tactical change occurs more in the short term as is often referred to as “Fad-surfing
(Jacobs & Michelson, 2002). In tactical change, mangers are grasping for the latest concept or
fad that they think will improve the company’s bottom line. Managers who use this concept of
managing change clearly do not understand their organization or industry environment, and
cause changes inconsistent with the vision and needs of the organization. Strategic change is
about leveraging vision to get at fundamental aspects of the organization, including its direction
and culture (Jacobs & Michelson, 2002). Strategic change will help an organization provide an
accurate and insightful view in the face of internal and external pressures. Proper strategic
change will allow an organization to maintain a competitive edge in the global market place.
Evolutionary versus revolutionary change, this type of change can take place gradually or
it can be a bold dramatic shift to an entirely new paradigm (Jacobs & Michelson, 2002).
Evolutionary change can be gradual or sequential in nature and sometimes very predictable,
which sometimes allows a firm’s competitors to figure out what direction an organization is
headed. Revolutionary change is about total transformation of the entire organization. Managers
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using this type of implementation can provide legitimate choices of organization development
and be more predictable to the entire staff through proper communication and planning.
Another way to help managers implement change and reduce resistance is to identify
their target audience. The manager can use this group of associates to gain allies for change
within the company or open a discussion of what members of the firm deem necessary to change
for survival in the market place. This target audience can also furnish positive or negative
feedback on issues regarding change, build support for the vision, or provide clarity of issues
regarding the needs of the firm. With this feedback, a manager can create a sense of urgency
regarding organization development, by showing his company facts about the competition, lack
of growth, and under performance by his firm. This type of feedback may encourage the
manager’s target audience to insist on the need for organization development and urgently
consider transformation.
After the audience is identified, the manager must alert the organization of the impending
change that will occur inside his or her company. The manager can begin to share upper level
management’s vision, goals, and objectives for organization development. Communicating these
new ideas for the organization can assist in the transition of a new operating framework for the
company. Alerting the organization can come in the form of internal memorandums, speeches,
newsletters, and formal presentations outlining the direction the firm wants to pursue in the
market place. As employees understand and become aware of change coming their way they
will usually have expectations of change for the better and that problems within the organization
are going to get solved. Notifying the organization of change will ease transition and help
establish a new way of conducting business and redefining their corporate culture.
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Culture is defined as a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of
people and that when taken together, constitute a design for living (Wilson, 2002). The Army
defines culture as a group’s shared set of beliefs, values, and assumptions about what is
important (Headquarters Department of the Army, 1999). Organizational cultures can also be
formed from tradition, attitudes, laws, and institutions. Once the culture is established by the
organization, it will become their identity or way of conducting business in their industry. One
of the primary functions of establishing a positive culture within an organization is to help
followers and leaders understand their environment and how to respond to it, thereby reducing
anxiety, uncertainty and confusion. General Edward C. Meyer, former Army Chief of Staff
stated:
When I became chief of staff, I set two personal goals for myself. The first was to ensure
that the Army was continually prepared to go to war, and the second was to create a climate in
which each member could find personal meaning and fulfillment. It is my belief that only by
attainment of the second goal will we ensure the first. (Headquarters Department of the Army,
1987, p 15)
Creating a positive culture in an organization is not an easy accomplishment. Managers
may encounter conflict when trying to improve or establish cultures from competing ideas,
traditions, or other influential members of the group wanting to head in a different direction. But
if the manager wants to be successful, he or she must have an appropriate vision and the ability
and persistence to influence the group to accept it. One of the most important dynamics of
culture is the distinctive goals, objectives, and vision that set it apart from other organizations.
This way of thinking gives both leaders and followers reasons for why their products or services
are the best and why they should continue to produce the product. Managers who can provide
this constructive culture will also reduce the amount of stress placed on an organization.
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Managing stress in organization development is often times forgotten about or managers
are just unaware of this issue during planned, strategic, or revolutionary change. Stress is
defined as our mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral response to anxiety producing events
(Warrick, 1981). Mentally individuals perceive and process events to determine whether the
response will be adaptive or of a resistive nature. Emotionally a person’s reactions are linked to
fear or the feeling of apprehension towards change. Physically and behaviorally a person may
experience changes in the nervous system and the way he or she responds to situational based
stress caused by implementation of organization development. Managers must understand that
stress can seriously derail, hinder, or even defeat a well thought out organization development
strategy. Associates have enormous fears regarding change which causes stress due to the
uncertainty of an employee’s role, status, or future with the company. Some employees also
have difficulty with adapting to change and accepting the new norms, values, and corporate
culture that the organization wants to adapt to in order to stay competitive in their respective
industry.
Upper level management must identify these stress producers that will hamper
organization development and provide training and techniques to reduce these anxiety related
circumstances. This can be accomplished by managers who implement a detailed and positive
organization development course of action, that in the long run reduce unnecessary stress by
increasing the overall effectiveness, eliminating dysfunctional activities, and improving the
overall culture of the organization. Managers can also use several methods to reduce stress by
providing stress training, support teams, organizational member involvement, and manage
change with a built in feed back mechanism. Managers must also understand and develop the
skills necessary to successfully cope with the stress of organization development and effectively
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manage the change process to provide a smooth transition. This will allow them to properly and
efficiently manage change and reduce resistance to change.
Organizations face an uphill battle in dealing with their staff resisting change and must
have a detailed plan to handle resistance. Resisting change is a normal human trait and a
function of one’s personality. Organizations must deal with this normal resistance to change on
a daily basis, and failure to do may result in delays or even collapse of the organization
development implementation process. Managers can reduce friction to change by ensuring all
employees are on the same side and understand what goals are to be achieved. Another powerful
way to deal with resistance from the employee is to increase their role or participation in the
decision making process (Gummer & McCallion, 1990). This will give the associate a greater
sense of ownership and pride in the decision to change, and a feeling that his idea helped make a
quality choice. However, some managers are reluctant to empower subordinates with certain
levels of decision making for fear they might lose some of their authoritative power. But in the
long run, empowering subordinates will allow mangers to spend less time on controlling
company operations and more time on facilitation of the vision, goals, and objectives set forth by
upper level management. The result will be a reduced resistance to organization development by
employees.
Managing change is no easy task for today’s manager with all of the internal and external
forces that can affect his decision making process and plan of action. Change can fail for a
variety of reasons from technology, employee resistance, competition, and sometimes
management addressing the wrong needs. Upper level management is responsible for
overseeing, developing, and managing organization development. Management should become
heavily involved as leaders ensuring their vision, goals, and objectives are attained by the
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corporation. Managers must also be able to make adjustments to the organization development
course of action based on feed back from its employees, customers, and competition, which will
prevent management from blindly following the new changes. Managers must continue to refine
and update their corporation’s ability to implement organization development techniques that
will keep them competitive, improve employee production, and increase overall profit margins.
Organization development is an ongoing process that will continually cause a company to evolve
to meet the demands and needs of its customers, stock holders, employees, and industry.
Conclusion
The future and the way corporations conduct business is changing at an accelerated pace
and our organizations will never be the same. With all the information provided in this paper,
can organization development programs enhance the overall effectiveness and monetary gains?
Will all the strategies and techniques learned by corporate leadership, managers, and employees
lead to a more cohesive and productive unit? Can organization development demonstrate that it
is more than change management? This paper only addressed some of the ways to manage
organization development that will lead to accomplishing the vision, goals, and objectives of the
corporation. Top management must also provide clear vision, focus, and direction for their firm
to follow and stay diligent to achieve the desired result. Corporations must understand, learn,
apply, and embrace organization development to improve overall effectiveness and increase
revenues that will lead to survival in the global market place. Organization development is a
holistic change affecting all aspects of the corporation managed from the top with a common and
shared end state. We also must ask ourselves what we want our endeavor to look like before,
during, and after organization development, with the understanding that change is an ongoing
and never ending process. However, organization development can have both positive and
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negative effects on a company, so plan appropriately and remember effective management of
change can lead to enormous gains in the global market place for your corporation. Change is
absolutely necessary for the continued existence of individuals and the organization. The
question is when to implement change. So as a manager, you must be ready to manage
organization development or become irrelevant in today’s market place.
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