Change Management Questionnaire

Running Head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT QUESTIONAIRE

Change Management Questionnaire

Nov 9, 2005

Change Management Questionnaire

The purpose of this paper is to discuss organizational change and the management of that change. I will talk about the different drivers of change, the factors a leader needs to weigh to implement change effectively, the various resistances a leader may encounter while trying to implement change, and how various leadership styles will effect the realization of change. I will also discuss the knowledge I have gained through the completion of this assignment and how I think it might affect the way I manage change in my workplace.

Drivers for change come in two categories, internal and external. In the simulation, "Organization Structure", the pretence was that the stagnating system integration market, lead the CEO to get the engineers trained in networking techniques. This training, once put to use resulted in a 20% increase in total revenue for the company. This is an example of an external force for change. The company was faltering behind the staggering systems integration market, so change was imperative if the company was to maintain its profitability.

Another example of an external force for change demonstrated by the simulation was when a key technology advisor broke ties with the company. This forced change in the way the company was going about the initial change. In other words it changed the way the company was changing. What needed to happen was this; advisors needed to be replaced, alternative solutions needed to be developed, lost time needed to be made up, and projects needed to be coordinated. Because a key advisor quit many changes needed to be implemented, but for the initial plan for change to be a success, leadership needed to adapt to the adversity.

An internal driver of change is a force form inside the organization that prompts an adjustment in the way business is conducted. An example of this from the simulation occurs when the leader (me), had made a bad decision and it prompted a skilled employee to quit. This employee was not an outsider that was helping out, but rather someone in the company who was trained to fill a specific duty. His leaving pressed the manager or leader into making adjustments to the way operations would be carried out without the use of his talents. These adjustments included rotating personnel through various positions to upgrade their training and skill level.

Before effective change can be made in any organization, there are certain factors that need to be weighed. First, a clear-cut objective needs to be in place. As with any change, without a goal one flounders, and will surely have difficulty making any rewarding progress. A leader must also consider how the change will affect the personnel who are needed to bring about the change. A long time officer of the organization will not be amiable to phasing out her duties in the name of progress no matter how dedicated to the company she may be. Without first considering this issue, a leader is sure to run into resistance and perhaps sabotage while trying to advance a project.

Other factors to be watchful for are the time line and costs of the change, and how employee development will be carried out. Will there be a need for on-the-job training, or are formal classes going to have to be conducted?

Resistance is an obstacle that gets in the way whenever change is introduced. It is necessary for a leader to anticipate the various forms of resistance as well as the directions the resistance is coming from and then make the necessary adjustments. Some forms of resistance a leader might expect to see from individuals are; a resistance to educational training, a drop in morale due to feelings of uselessness, a resistance from other officers who may disagree with the strategy for change that the leader has chosen, resistance of the organization to fund the leaders idea, and a lack of trust on the part of the followers. Some production techs may not feel comfortable with attending group-training sessions with peers. They may fear the possibility of looking stupid, or the possibility of not having the intelligence to grasp the necessary information. Those who are at the bottom of the chain of command AKA "the grunts" may resist change based solely on the perception that they will no longer be needed when the change is complete. Officers, whose ideas were not properly represented in the plan for change, may resent the leader and create discord to prevent the change from progressing smoothly. Trust is also an issue when it comes to bringing about change. First the leader must have the trust of the organization in order to get the proper backing to execute his ideas, and then he must have the trust of the subordinates to inspire them to carry out those ideas.

Leadership styles play a role in the effectiveness of the change management process by dictating the level of trust between a leader and his or her subordinates. I believe that regardless of the leadership style the leader has adopted, trust is the main issue in implementing change. Where there is no trust there will be no sustainable progress. Ed Weymes (2003) says that

The success of an organisation is vested in the formation of sustainable relationships, with the primary purpose of leadership being to influence the feelings and emotions of those associated with the organisation; to create the emotional heart of the organization and thus to determine the tenor of the relationships between the people inside and outside the organisation. (p. 319)

If this is taken to be true, then whether one's leadership style is authoritative, delegative, or participative is no issue, what matters are the level of trust and the strength of the relationship between leader and follower.

"A study assessing the effective cross-cultural management style of MBA graduates in International Business from 1977-1992 suggests several characteristics are important: flexibility, empathy, tolerance for ambiguity, problem solving, self-reliance and responsiveness to challenges" (Feldman and Thomas, 1992, p. 291). All of these are qualities of a good leader as well as the building blocks for trust. Trust is a necessary ingredient for change, and change is necessary if an organization is to be sustainable. Without sustainability there is no success.

In conclusion, I have learned that change management is a process. Lewin's 3-step model first requires the unfreezing of the organization from the status quo, then implementing the change, and finally refreezing