Organizational change

Organizational Change
Submitted By:
16BCH016 Vishal Naidu 16BCH159 Maulik
16BCH035 Arpit Modh 17BCH162 Darshan Joshi
16BCH062 Prem Vikas

What is Change?
 Organizational change can be defined as the alteration in structure, technology or
people in an organization or behavior by an organization. Here we need to note that
change in organizational culture is different from change in an organization. A new
method or style or new rule is implemented here.
 “A process through which something becomes different.” This is the dictionary
definition. Organisational change refers to the alteration in technology, structure,
method, people, or their behaviour.

An organizational change occurs due to two major factors namely :
External factor − External factors are those factors that are present outside the
firm but force the firm to change or implement a new law, rule etc. For example,
all banks are bound to follow the rules laid down by the RBI.
Internal factor − Internal factors are those factors that are caused or introduced
inside an organization that forces a change. For example, no smoking in the
workplace.

Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis
Kurt Lewin, is a noted organizational theorist who proposed the force field analysis for
organizational change. In this theory, he has prioritized
 Driving force − Driving force can be defined as an organizational force that makes a
change with respect to structure, people and technology. In short, it drives the
organization from one culture to another.
 Restraining force − Restraining force is the force which changes the culture from the
existing state to the old state. It indicates a backward motion while the driving force
indicates a forward motion.

Importance of Organizational Change
 There is a need of change in an organization because there is always a hope for further
development, and in order to survive in a competitive market, the organization needs
to be updated with changes. However, we have listed some reasons to explain why
changes are deliberately made and carefully planned by the organization before
implementation.
 It improves the means to satisfy the economic requirements of people.
 It enhances the profitability of organization.
 It promotes employee satisfaction and well-being.

1. Planning
 Without planning, an organization tends to fall apart and
causes problems than benefits.
 One needs to analyse the nature of change and how it must be
implemented. Also, check if the change is suitable and
compatible for the organization or not.
 One needs to assign roles to individuals who are responsible
for the change.
 Timeline and effectiveness of the change are also key
components. The routines will be changed, so need to keep the
track on this as well.

Planned change takes places in an organization when there is a demand for change due to
two types of forces.
 Internal forces that lead to a planned change in an organization include obsolescence
of production and service, new market opportunities, new strategic direction,
increasing workforce diversity, and shift in socio-cultural values.
 External forces that lead to a planned change in an organization include regulators,
competitors, market force, customers, and technology. Each of these forces can create
pressing demand for change in small or big, public or private, business or non-
business organizations.
The Need for Planned Change:

Once the management decides to implement some changes in the organization, it needs
to be done carefully as it is a very sensitive issue. It is very important for all the
employees to adapt to change. According to Kurt Lewin, the planned organizational
change is implemented in three different stages. They are:
• Refreezing
• Changing
• Unfreezing
Process of Planned Change:

Unfreezing − In this stage, the organization studies if the change is required or not, what and why is the
change necessary. Considering the entire situation, the organization decides for appropriate change. Thus a
plan and strategy is formulated as required.
Changing − In this stage, the organization executes the plan and program for change. For this purpose,
proper precautions are taken in order to maintain cooperation and coordination between the employees and
management, avoiding miscommunication or disputes. Adequate supervision and control is arranged as
needed.
Refreezing − This is the final stage, in order to bring organizational change. By way of supervision, the
organization tries to evaluate the effectiveness of change. Collecting all this information, the management
interprets whether to continue or replace change by some other alternatives or to make further minor
changes.

If one is left out of the huddle of change, that one will face difficulties
in adapting.
Decisions for implementing change should come from top level.
All the staff should be on board right from the beginning and able to
deal with the changes else will face dissension within the staff.
If anyone has problem or questions regarding changes, one needs to
show them the effects and implementation of the same.
2. LACK OF CONSENSUS

 Failing to communicate creates rumours and
fear amongst employees. This is because they
want to know what's happening around them.
 Feeling of uncertainty among employees
disrupts their work and they feel they are not a
part of decision.
 Management should keep the employees
regularly updated. It should involve all
employees in decisions or brainstorming.
3. Communication

 They become uncomfortable with changes happening around them.
 Employees know their part in the organization, when they are
interrupted by any change they can be upset about it.
 This is because they don't want to re-learn their jobs or change the
way of doing things.
4. Employee Resistance

Causes of Resistance to change
 People might not trust the change that is going to occur
 They don’t feel the urgency for change
 They feel that change is not necessary
 They feel that change is not possible
 It is costlier than the previous method.

Causes of Resistance to change
 Fear of their performance. They might not be able to perform well
with the change to be implemented, thus leading to personal failure.
 They are not able to adapt the change well then they fear to lose
their status that they have gained over time.
 Social, cultural and organisational disagreements with the change.
They lose their job due to lack of good performance.

Overcoming Resistance to Change
 Supporting employees and making them feel important.
 Keeping a good communication with employees.
 Involving them in decision making process.
 Timely communication with employees and not creating a “Suspense
atmosphere”.
 Helping the employees understand why the change is necessary for
them.

Overcoming Resistance to Change
 Taking employee feedback about the change and ongoing work and
changing plans accordingly.
 The implementation of change must take place at every level of the
organisation. This includes preparing, managing and supporting.
 Blend formal and informal communication via various ways so that no
employee remains unattended.
 Make the mission and vision of the organisation clear to the employees.

Why There Is a Resistance to Change?
 When we talk about organizational change we need to mention that
this process isn’t simply a journey from point A to point B.
 You will need to pass many barriers if you want to succeed in your
intentions to improve your business.
 One of the biggest barriers is resistance to e as an integral part of
each change process.

The practice of managing resistance to change recognize four types of
persons regarding their responses to changes. So, we can have:
 Persons who will initiate the change process.
 Persons who will accept the proposed change.
 Persons who will be indifferent to the proposed change.
 Persons who will not accept the proposed change.

28 Factors of RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
 Threat of power on an individual level: It is more likely that managers will resist
changes that will decrease their power and transfers it to their subordinates. In
such a way, threat of power is one of the causes of resistance to change.
 Threat of power on an organizational level: With the change process, some
groups, departments or sectors of the organization become more powerful.
Because of that, some persons will be opposed to such a proposal or processes
where they will lose their organizational power.

 Losing the control by employees. The change process sometimes can reduce the
level of control that managers can conduct. In such a way managers can resist the
proposed changes if the change process will require reduction of their control power.
 Increasing the control of the employees: Organizational changes can increase the
managerial control of the employees, and this process can produce employees to
become resistant to such proposal proposals of change;
 Limited resources. A normal problem in every organization is to have limited
resources. When resources are limited, and with the proposed organizational changes
those resources are threatened, the resistance to change is more likely to occur;

 Economic factors: Organizational changes sometimes can be seen from the
employee’s side simply as something that will decrease or increase their salary or
other economic privileges that some workplace brings to them in the moment
before implementation of the change process. It is normal to expect that those
people who feel that they will lose the portion of their salary will resist the change.
 Implications on personal plans: Organizational change can stop other plans,
projects or other personal or family activities. In such a way this become one of
the causes of resistance to change for those persons who will be reached by this
change;

 Image Prestige and Reputation: Each workplace brings adequate image, prestige
and reputation that are important to all employees. Organizational changes can make
a drastic shift in these employee’s benefits. If this is the case with the proposed
change, then it will produce dissatisfaction. So, image, prestige and reputation is
one of the causes of resistance to change;
 Too much dependence on others: In an organization there are employees who too
much depend on other individuals. This dependence is based on current support that
they receive from powerful individuals. If the change process brings the threat of
that dependence, it will cause resistance to change of those persons that will be
threatened by this change;

 Misunderstanding the process: Organizational individuals usually resist change when
they do not understand the real purpose of the proposed changes. When employees don’t
understand the process, they usually assume something bad. This will cause resistance
to change;
 Mistrust to initiators of change: When employees don’t have trust to the initiators of
the process, the process will not be accepted and this will cause resistance to change;
 Job’s security. Organizational change can eliminate some work places, can produce
technological excess, layoffs and so on. Job’s security simply is one of the causes of
resistance to change;

 Threat of comfort: Organizational changes in many cases results in personal
discomfort and make employee’s life more difficult. They make a transfer from the
comfort of the status quo to the discomfort of the new situation. Employees have
the skills to do an old job without some special attention to accomplishing the task.
Each new task requires forgetting the old methods of doing the job and learning new
things that lead to waste of energy, and causes dissatisfaction;

 Reallocation of resources. With organizational changes, some groups, departments
or sectors of the organization can receive more resources while others will lose. So,
this will bring resistance from the individuals, groups or departments who will lose
some of their currently available resources.
 Already gained interests of some organized groups in the company.
Organizational change can make new groups more significant for the success of the
organization. That’s a big threat for old coalitions that will cause resistance to change
in those groups that will become more insignificant with the proposals;

 Fear of unknown: Organizational change, in many cases leads to uncertainty and
some dose of fear. It is normal people to feel the fear of uncertainty. When
employees feel uncertainty in a process of transformation, they think that changes
are something dangerous. This uncertainty affects organizational members to resist
the proposed change;
 Organizational members’ habits: Employees work in large part is based on habits,
and work tasks are performed in a certain way based on those habits. Organizational
changes require shifts of those habits and because of that dissatisfaction from these
proposals.

 Threat to interpersonal relations. Employees are often friends with each other
and they have a strong social and interpersonal relationship inside and outside
organization. If an organizational change process can be seen as a threat to these
powerful social networks in the organization, the affected employees will resist to
that change.
 Weakness of the proposed changes. Sometimes proposed change might have a
weakness that can be recognized by the employees. So, those employees will resist
the implementation of the process until these weaknesses will not be removed or
solved.

 Bureaucratic inertia: Every organization has their own mechanisms as rules,
policies, and procedures. Sometimes, when individuals want to change their
behavior these mechanisms in many cases can resist to the proposed changes;
 Selective information processing: Individuals usually have selective information
processing, or hear only something that they want to hear. They simply ignore
information that is opposite of the current situation, and with this, they don’t want to
accept important aspects of the proposed changes. Because of that, appear resistance
to change;

 Skepticism about the need for change. If the problem is a not a personal thing of
employees, they will not see the real need why they must change themselves. Those
that can’t see the need for change, will have a low readiness level of the change
process;
 Increasing workload. In the process of organizational change, except normal
working activities, employees usually will must implement activities of a new
change process. These increases of workloads, affects appearing of resistance to
change

 Different evaluation and perception. Different evaluation and perception
can affect the organizational changes if there are persons who consider the
proposed changes as a bad idea. Because of that they are resistant to proposed
changes.
 Previous Experience: All employees already have some experience with a
previous organizational change process. So, they know that this process is not
an easy process. That experience simply will tell them that most of the change
processes in the past was a failure. So, this can cause resistance to change;

 Short time to perform the change process. Because organizational systems
are open systems and they are interactive with their environment, the need of
change often comes from outside. In such a way the performing time is dictated
from the outside of an organization. These situations lead to a short time
for implementation of the organizational change process and cause resistance to
change.

 Uninformed employees: Often times employees are not provided with
adequate information about organizational changes that must be
implemented. And normally, this can cause resistance to change;
 Peer pressure: Often, we utilize some kind of informal punishment for
colleagues who supports change which others don’t support. This situation
can have a large impact on increasing the level of resistance to change;

John Kotter's 8-Step Change Model

 John Kotter, leadership and change management professor at Harvard
Business School, introduced his ground-breaking 8-Step Change Model in
his 1995 book, “Leading Change”.
 Built on the work of Kurt Lewin, the model sets out the 8 key steps of the
changes process, arguing that neglecting any of the steps can be enough for
the whole initiative to fail.

The idea of a change being necessary for the success of the organisation can be
very powerful. If you can create an environment where individuals are aware of
an existing problem and can see a possible solution it is likely support for the
change will rise. Generating conversation about what is happening and what
direction the organisation could go in will help to achieve this. One way to kick-
start this is to create a forum where issues and potential solutions are raised and
discussed.
1. Create Urgency

This step is all about preparation and Kotter estimates that roughly 75% of a
company’s management needs to be behind a change for it to be successful.
This emphasises his point that it is important to prepare well before jumping
into the change process. This step creates the 'need' for change, rather than
just a 'want' for change. The difference is very important when it comes to the
likely support and eventual success of the change.
1. Create Urgency

It will be very hard to lead the whole change process on your own, and therefore it
is important to build a coalition to help you direct others. The coalition you build
should be made up of a range of skills, a range of experience and people who come
from different areas of the business, to maximise its effectiveness. The coalition
can help you to spread messages throughout the organisation, delegate tasks and
ensure there is support for the change organisation-wide. Team members that
collaborate, complement each other and can drive each other to work harder will
make your life easier and the change more likely to be successful.
2. Form a Powerful Coalition

A change initiative is likely to be very complicated and can often be hard to
understand, in particular for employees at the lower end of the hierarchy. For this
reason, creating a vision that is easy to understand and encapsulates the overall
aim is a useful way of generating support from the whole organization. While
this vision should be simple and understandable, it also needs to be inspirational
to have maximum effect.
3. Create a Vision for Change

Creating the vision is not enough to generate support for it, it then needs to be
communicated throughout the organization. This is an excellent opportunity to
utilize the coalition you have built up, as between them they are likely to have
networks in every area of the business. It is important to continuously
communicate this message as it is likely that competing messages are also being
spread.
4. Communicate the Vision

The first four steps are essential in building the strength of your change initiative,
but it is also important to look for what is likely to reduce its chances for success.
Whether its individuals, traditions, legislations or physical obstacles, it is likely
there will be a few barriers blocking your change’s path. Identify these as early
as possible and rely on available resources to break them down, without
disrupting any other areas of the business.
5. Remove Obstacles

Change processes often take a while to reap any rewards and this can cause
support to fall if individuals think their effort has been wasted. For this reason, it
is important to demonstrate the advantages of the new process by creating some
short-term wins. Shorter term targets are also useful tools for motivation and
direction. Using these wins to justify investment and effort can help to re-
motivate staff to continue backing the change.
6. Create Short-Term Wins

Many change processes fail as complacency creeps in towards the end and project
are not finished properly. Therefore, Kotter argues it is important to sustain and
cement the change for long after it has been accomplished. Keep setting goals and
analysing what could be done better for continued improvement.
7. Build on the Change

Simply changing the habits and processes of employees is not always enough to
instil a culture change across the organisation. The changes should become part
of the core of your organisation to have a lasting effect. Keeping senior
stakeholders on board, encouraging new employees to adopt the changes and
celebrating individuals who adopt the change will all help to promote the change
to the core of your organisation.
8. Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture

 The main reason that Kotter outlines these steps is to emphasise that change
is not a simple and quick process. Many steps of planning are required and
even when the change has been implemented there is still a lot to do to
ensure it is successful.
 Kotter argues that 70% of change initiatives fail, and attributes this to the fact
that most organisations do not put in the necessary preparation or see the
project through correctly. Following these steps ensure your change initiative
is more likely to be a long-term success.

 Let us illustrate Kotter’s model through a movie exmaple
 Set in Virginia in 1971, the film tells the true story of the newly integrated TC
Williams High School football team. In a town awash with anger and prejudice,
new coach Herman Boone is given the task of forming a winning team from two
disparate groups.
 Here’s how Kotter’s 8 steps help turn around not just the team, but the whole
community.

Most of the team’s players don’t recognise the need for change, despite the
impending start to the season. Boone makes the message visual and memorable
with an early morning run to the Gettysburg Memorial. ‘If we don’t come
together on this hallowed ground right now’, he declares, ‘we too will be
destroyed’. Surveying the graves of 50,000 men killed in the same battle for racial
equality, the penny starts to drop.
1. Create a sense of urgency

 Boone’s initial guiding team is flawed. It includes a snubbed assistant, Coach
Yoast, who stays only to avert a player boycott, and brings his bigoted
colleague with him.
 But Boone builds on positive support where he can, shining a light on the
unprejudiced Louie Lastik to show the culture he wants. As he gets his
message across, he builds a stronger team in Yoast and the natural leaders of
the white and black players, Gary and Julius.
2. Pull together the guiding team

 At training camp, Boone outlines his vision for the team: they will be
perfect in everything that they do. His strategy to get there? A racially
integrated team, selected only on merit, and honed by hard work on the
training field.
 Julius reiterates the vision once again during the final game, helping the
team to push on to an unlikely victory.
3. Develop the change vision and strategy

 Boone backs up his vision of a racially harmonious team with a number of
actions.
 He ensures players sit on the bus and room with team mates of a different
colour.
 When his players still don’t mix, he introduces three training sessions a day
until they do.
4. Communicate for understanding and buy-in

When Gary singles out his best friend Ray on the training field for not
doing his job, the coaches don’t intervene. Gary’s example inspires Julius
to raise his own game and take personal responsibility.
As Boone’s methods begin to work, his guiding team contribute by
removing obstacles to change, even at personal cost. Coach Yoast ditches
his loyal but prejudiced assistant, while Gary cuts Ray from the team.
5. Empower others to act

 With their town still full of racial unrest, early victories help build momentum.
 Those who play their part are also recognised. Forced to replace the quarterback
early in their third game, Boone turns to the talented but uncertain Ronnie Bass.
He tells him a brief story about how he lost his mother and father when he was
15, and how he needed to step up because his brothers and sisters needed him. It
was Ronnie’s time to step up now.
 The story gives Ronnie the strength he needs to help win the game, and Boone
publicly congratulates him at the end.
6. Produce short-term wins

 On their return from camp, the team find their new bonds stretched to breaking
point by continued prejudice from friends and family. But they keep up the
momentum.
 Boone continues to build his relationship with Yoast, cementing his assistant’s
loyalty when he is tempted to jump ship for personal gain.
 And team members themselves call a meeting to revitalise their flagging
momentum. From it comes a unique new warm-up ritual, and a renewed sense of
solidarity to further bond the team.
7. Don’t let up

 The success of the Titans models the way in showing how racial integration
can work. Those resistant to change – notably Gary’s mother and girlfriend –
are eventually won over.
 When the team return victorious from the regional championships, the whole
town turns out to congratulate them – even Boone’s white neighbours.
8. Create a new culture

Organizational change

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