PPT Slides on Change Management

1. Dr. Rajeev Babel, FCS

2.  In an open-system context it is not difficult
to analyze behaviour of people subject to
the influence of a variety of forces–both
internal as well as external–which may
necessitate change at individual, group and
organizational levels.
 While change is a fact of life, so is individual,
group and organization are resistance to
change

3.  Since organizational success lies in
operational adjustment to the forces of
change, it becomes imperative that the
managers be aware of and apply appropriate
techniques of managing change, such as
Lewin’s Three-step Model, Action Research
and organization development are some of
such techniques which can be applied with a
view to achieve, fullest benefits of change,
thus avoiding the dysfunctional
consequences.

4.  Change is a natural phenomenon.
Organization is an open system and is
influenced by change in its internal as well as
external environment.
 Management decisions regarding matters,
like organization structure, corporate
objectives, policies and strategies should not
be regarded as final for success and survival
of the enterprise; it is necessary that
management anticipates changes and
effectively deals with them.

5.  Change may be defined as a variation in the
established way of life to which people are
accustomed to in the organization.
 Change basically results from stimuli both
from outside and inside, the enterprise.
 It can be natural, such as growth of an
organism; re-active, such as a forced
adjustment to change in technology or
practice, introduction of a new employee-
benefit scheme with a view to enhance
personnel satisfaction and productivity.

6.  Particularly, in an organizational context, in view
of the inevitability of change, managers have
two options:
 1. To wait until the moment when change will be
thrust upon the organization, or
 2. To voluntarily initiate steps to bring about the
necessary change, or to prepare the organization
to strengthen its competencies in anticipating,
planning and implementing change.
 In any case, there could be a need to identify
the various internal and external forces acting as
stimulants to change.

7.  A. External Forces: These lie in the external environment
of an organization. They may be classified as:
 (i) Educational and Cultural Forces – Spread of education,
changes in the system of education, patterns of culture
and so on.
 (ii) Economic Forces – Shortage of vital resources, rapid
growth of population, market demands, increase of
competition, expansion of transport facilities, etc.
 (iii) Technological Forces – New techniques of production,
improvement of an existing resource, discovery of a new
machine, etc.
 (iv) Political Forces – Change of government, change of
policies of the existing government, spurt in trade union
activity, etc.
 (v) Social Forces – Changes in the modes of living, habits
and customs, urbanization, spread of provincialism and
racialism.

8.  B. Internal Forces: These are the pressures
arising from within the organization. They
include –
 (i) Composition and policy of top management;
 (ii) Changes of personnel due to retirement,
resignation, promotion, transfer and so on;
 (iii) Change of physical facilities, like shortage of
supplies of raw materials, wearing out of
machinery and equipment, demand for more
space;
 (iv) Changes in employee attitudes, feelings and
aspirations;
 (v) Changes in work allocation, duty hours,
composition of work groups, and so on.

9.  Well documented findings from studies of individual
and organizational behaviour have revealed that
organization and their members resist change. And
this resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate or
deferred.
 For example, while threat to go on strike is an overt
expression of resistance to change, increased errors
or mistakes is an implicit resistance to change.
 Likewise, resistance to change may be an immediate
response or it may be deferred and stockpiled. While
resistance to change is not always dysfunctional,
rather at times it can contribute to better decision-
making and can be a source of functional conflict, it
often obstructs beneficial changes. Hence,
management needs to identify the sources of
individual and organizational resistance to change

10.  New policies and programmes often meet with
resistance and cause a failure, unnecessary delay or
distortion in implementation. Conflict between
human reaction to change and the increased need for
change is the most perplexing problem in the
management of change. Following are usually
identified as the most important factors responsible
for people’s resistance to change:
 (i) People find it easy to do what they have been
doing and find it inconvenient to learn something
new.
 (ii) Since change almost invariably brings with it a
redistribution of power and influence, it tends to be
opposed by those individuals and groups who are
negatively affected by it.

11.  (iii) Change is also resisted when people in
course of doing or learning a new system
experience failure.
 (iv) Change is also resisted by individuals who
are less educated and less intelligent, and
who rely heavily on their personal
experience and are not inclined to take risks.
Those who stand to lose the most by the
change tend to oppose it the most. People
with traditional temperament know that
change will expose their inadequacies and
inefficiency; hence, they must oppose
change.

12.  Resistance to change is of three different types. These
types work in combination to produce each employee’s
total attitude towards a change. These are –
 (i) Logical: This resistance arises from the time and effort
required to adjust to change. These are true costs borne
by the employees. It involves rational objections such as:
time required to adjust, extra effort to relearn, economic
cost, and doubtful technical feasibility of change.
 (ii) Psychological: It is “logical” in terms of attitudes and
feelings of individual employees about change, such as
fear of unknown, low tolerance of change, dislike of
management, need for security, etc.
 (iii) Sociological: It is logical in terms of group interests
and values. Social values are powerful forces in the
environment, so they must be carefully considered

13.  While individuals do resist change, it is not difficult
to visualize that even groups as well as overall
organizations too actively resist change.
 Group resistance and organizational resistance to
change may be due to and in spite of individual
resistance to change. To illustrate group resistance to
change one may cite examples of group norms, values
and informal role prescriptions.
 An individual union member, for instance, may be
willing to accept changes in job suggested by
management; but if union norms dictate otherwise,
he is likely to resist. Indeed, if the proposed change
is likely to alter the existing informal group-
composition, it would most likely face active
resistance.

14.  Sources of organizational resistance to change may
lie in factors with sustain as limited focus of change,
structural inertia, threat to established resource
allocations and power relationships.
 For example, if the proposed change in one aspect of
organizational functioning does not account in its
implications in other areas that might be affected,
the change is likely to be nullified; or when a
stimulus to change is counterbalanced stability as the
organizational structure has built-in ways and means
of retaining equilibrium or when there is modification
in departmental budgets or resource allocation; or
when existing power relations are altered by
redesignation of functionaries.

15.  (i) The nature of change should be properly
understood with all its ramifications by those
who are affected by it.
 (ii) Changes should be introduced in stages;
further change should be introduced when
the earlier change has been fully assimilated.
 (iii) Change should not cause security
problems to the employees.
 (iv) Change is more effective when it is
developed with due participation by all
concerned.
 (v) Change should be properly planned.

16.  (vi) As far as possible, change should not carry
individual overtones.
 (vii) Display of effective leadership skills and
proper motivation of employees will help
management minimize resistance to change
 (viii) Introduction of change should be
supplemented by systematic training of
personnel. Sensitivity training can also be very
useful to overcome resistance to change.
 (ix) Advice to specialized staff may be sought
while introducing change.
 (x) Possibility of introducing change through
outside management consultant can also be
explored.

17.  Too much flexibility will encourage the
subordinates to bypass the existing lines of
authority and responsibility and overlook the
existing procedures. Too much rigidity on the
other hand, makes introduction of change an
extremely difficult proposition. The two
extremes should, therefore, be avoided.
Management should endeavour to strike a proper
balance between them. Principle of flexibility
and its inevitability needs to be clearly
explained and taught to personnel in the
organization. If individuals view change as a
matter of routine, problems in managing change
will be considerably reduced.

18.  Planning for change and its implementation
is a challenging job. If disclosed abruptly,
change may lead to considerable opposition
and resistance. If change is introduced
gradually and through participation of
affected groups, it is likely to promote
understanding and commitment of
subordinates. A manager can use his
leadership quality to dispel any conflict and
misunderstanding in the course of
participation proceedings for change.

19.  Small conferences and group meetings should be
arranged to stimulate participation and enlist
cooperation. Managers should explain and
discuss the proposed change with people
affected by it.
 The object here is to know what the people
think about it and the kind of problems they see
in the change. People should be encouraged to
ask questions and discuss things logically.
 Leaders of informal groups should also be taken
into confidence while effecting change.
Involvement of the people in the proposed
change makes them understand and appreciate
the need for change. In any case, resistance to
change is definitely reduced.

20.  Minor changes are usually introduced by the
executive in charge of the activities. However, major
changes are finalized and implemented by top
management with the aid of lower levels in the
management hierarchy.
 Subordinates comply with orders and instructions of
the senior executive with regard to implementation
of change because they view it as his legitimate
right.
 The hierarchical approach to managing change does
not pay sufficient attention to facts, like group
dynamics, role prescriptions, value structure, and
motives and attitude of people affected by change.
For its success, it is thus necessary that top
management must feel highly committed to the
change and take every possible precaution to ensure
its success.

21.  Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in
organizations should follow three steps.
 1. Unfreezing the status quo,
 2. Movement or changeover to a new state, and
 3. Refreezing the new change to make it permanent.
 Successful implementation of change, thus, should
first facilitate unlearning by increasing the ‘driving
forces’, which direct behaviour away from the status
quo (equilibrium state), and then by decreasing the
‘restraining forces’, which hinder movement from the
existing equilibrium.
 Once the desired change has been introduced, the
same needs to be refrozen so that it can be sustained
for times to come. This would require rebalancing of
the driving and restraining forces.

22.  In a number of organizations separate
specialized planning units are maintained. The
staff unit is also frequently used to recommend
change and implement it through the line
hierarchy.
 Some companies prefer to administer change
with the help of outside management
consultants. The outside consultant normally
commands specialized skill and experience. His
recommendations may be dispassionate and
objective. It is also observed that people show
less resistance to change when it is
recommended and managed by an outsider,
rather than when it is than that initiated and
administered internally

23.  Action research is a method of scientific
inquiry into the circumstances necessitating
change and the action that may be taken
thereof.
 It is based on scientific collection and
analysis of the data, and then on the
selection of the change action indicated by
the analysed data.

24.  The process of action research consists of
five steps: diagnosis, prognosis, feedback,
action and evaluation. Essentially, this is a
problem-focused approach wherein
circumstances necessitating change are
carefully studied and acted upon.
 However, in many cases, and this is the way
it should be, the organizational change is
solution-focused, i.e. it involves a movement
towards better state of affairs, thus making
the process of change an ongoing and
organization-wide exercise.