Organisational Change

You are the owner of a company which needs to change to stay competitive . You need to select a senior manager from your team to lead the company through change

1 . How will you decide which senior manager would be the most effective change agent ? What qualities , skills and experience will you look for and why ( 20 marks

A senior manager must be appointed as the change manager or agent . The appropriate change manager would be the CEO if the mission of the organization has to be changed . The change manager must

oversee the design of the intervention strategy . This person must have overall responsibility for assessing the need for change , determining the appropriate intervention activities , implementing the strategy and evaluating the results . Some organizations elect to develop a parallel structure for introducing change - one person responsible for ongoing operations and another person to take care of change . The change manager must pay special attention to the change initiative and see it through its conclusion

The change agent should have knowledge of OD theories , concepts practices and research results . The change agent must provide direction provide specific technical knowledge , provide information about OD intervention strategies , provide assistance in problem analysis identifying solutions , and action steps , facilitate meetings and group processes and help client to understand the situation of the change

The reason for selecting the CEO to be the change manager is that the executives are inattentive to change efforts . In addition , managers and executives often lack the knowledge of the change process and the impact the change has on individuals , and they often lack the skills to manage the human elements of change

- Randy L . Desimone , Jon M . Werner and David M . Harris , Human Resource Development

Pearson education . Pg 225-239

2 . What change management strategies , ideas , and models will you suggest they study to help them succeed in their role ( 40 marks

Strategy to Overcome the Cultural Challenges

When one wants to change an aspect of the culture of an organization one has to keep in consideration that this is a long term project . Corporate culture is something that is very hard to change and employees need time to get used to the new way of organizing . For companies with a very strong and specific culture it will be even harder to change . The following stages can be used to bring the change

1 . Formulate a clear strategic vision

2 . Display Top-management commitment

3 . Model culture change at the highest level

4 . Modify the organization to support organizational change

5 . Select and socialize newcomers and terminate deviants

6 . Develop ethical and legal sensitivity

Changes in culture can lead to tensions between organizational and individual interests , which can result in ethical and legal problems for practitioners . This is particularly relevant for changes in employee integrity , control , equitable treatment and job security . These are the various ways by which HRM Techniques are able to bring out a change in the culture of the organization

- Garry Dessler , Human Resource Management...