Paper Topic:

Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior

1 .The Nature of Change

In changing economic environment implementation of change becomes one of the most important strategies . There is a wide range of factors acting upon organisations which make the need for change important These factors belong to five groups : changing technology knowledge explosion rapid product obsolescence changing nature of the workforce and quality or working life (Robbins , 2002

Organizational change includes changing knowledge and technology , new values , new markets , and changes in the global distribution of wealth Environmental change is a main cause of organizational

failure . As environments change , they pose new problems for managers of organizations . New knowledge , for instance , can invalidate the existing knowledge of an entire hotel industry . When environments become turbulent , complex , and resource constrained , the knowledge and skills that Hilton hotels once possessed can become useless , and even a hindrance to change . For example , if the orgarnisation operates within a dynamic environment it requires a structure of a culture that are sensitive and readily adaptable to change . Beeson and Davis (2000 explain : In the organic model , change is seen primarily as an adaptive response by the system , acting as a whole or through subsystems with specific functions , to maintain itself in balance with a shifting environment . In contrast , in the cybernetic model changes are still seen as adjustments , whether reactive or proactive , which serve to maintain or increase in the system (Beeson , Davis 2000

Much of the change is part of a natural process of amortization . For example , material resources such as buildings , equipment or machinery can lose efficiency , human resources inevitably get older , and skills and abilities become out-of-date . Some of these changes can be successfully managed through careful planning based on repairs and maintenance , technological innovations , new methods of work , effective manpower planning to prevent a large number of staff retiring at the same time , training of staff

2 Responses to Change

Response to change is important because it has a direct impact on successful implementation of innovations , further development of an organization or its failure

2 .1 How individual attitudes affect response to change

If employees are to pursue a positive attitude towards change as a necessary tool to improve work efficiency , they demonstrate a continuous commitment to change . Employees , for their part , want to receive positive recognition for their achievements . If employees have a constructive and optimistic attitude towards changes , it ensures successful results of implementation of change . Change can motivate workers if they are provided with clear objectives , participation in decision-making and positive feedback on performance

Despite the potential positive outcomes , some employees respond negatively to change or resist to change . Their resistance to change is caused by different factors such as fair of change , selective perception of benefits , inconvenience and fear of something new , economic implications . If a company does not pay much attention to negative perception of change by its staff , a project can fail (Waddell , Sohal 2005

2 .2 .The Hawthorne Effect

Hawthorne studies took place at the Western Electric Company...

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