HARAMBEE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Chapter 3 Overview of change management
3.1. Meaning and implications
3.2. Forces for Organizational Change
3.3. Process of organizational change
3.4. Resistance to Change
3.5. Managing Resistance to Change
3.6. Planned Change
3.7. Strategies for Planned Organizational Change
Management of Change
Change is defined as "the process of alteration or transformation of individuals, groups, and
organization undergo in response to internal factors."
Purpose of change
• To meet changing clients’ needs
• To meet changing market conditions
• To respond to internal pressures
• To take advantage of new opportunities
• To respond to competitive pressure
Factors that cause change
A number of internal and external forces, often interacting to reinforce one another, stimulate
changes in organization. Pressure for change may arise from a number of sources within the
organization, particularly from new strategies, technologies, and employee attitudes and
behavior. For example, a top manager's decision to seek a higher rate of long term growth will
affect the goals of many departments of the organization. Unexpected opportunities may arise
that permit the innovators inside the organization to develop new ways of doing things. This can
stimulate organizational change. An enormous variety of external forces, from technological
advances to competitive actions can pressure organizations to modify their structure, goals, and
methods of operation. Outside pressures come from changes in the organizations technological
settings, economic, political, legal, social, and competitive environments.
Managing Change in an Organization
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Change can be planned or unplanned. The latter just happens in the natural course of events.
Planned change, on the other hand, is the result of consciously designed preparation to reach a
desired goal or organizational state. An effective management of change involves change agents,
performances gaps, levels and targets of change, systems approach, and content and process.
a. Change Agent - In every situation in which a change is desired, some person or group must
be designated as the catalyst for change. That person or group is called the change agent. The
change agent is the individual who is responsible for taking a leadership role in managing the
process of change. The individual, group, or organization that is the target of the change attempt
is called the client systems. Managers or staff at various levels in organizations can serve as
change agents.
Consultants brought in from outside can also be change agents. Their role is to recognize the
need for altering the status quo and to plan as well as to manage the implementation of the
desired changes.
b. Performance Gaps - It is the difference between the status quo and the desired new standard
of performance or desired organizational state. The change agents think in terms of performance
gaps.
c. Levels and Targets of change - Change agents must identify the level at which their efforts
will be directed. Effects can be made to change individuals, groups, and entire organizations.
Each represents a different level, or unit of change. Besides, change agents’ focus on targets to
alter in attempting to close performance gaps and reach desired objectives. These targets of
change include people, technology, Jobs and workflow, organizational structure and processes,
culture, and management. The following examples illustrate how managers can change some of
these targets.
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d. Systems Approach- since various elements of an organization are all part of an inter-
dependent system, a change in any single target often leads to changes in the others. For
example, when intensive care unit introduces ECG machines to improve diagnosis of patients, a
series of changes followed. First, nurses have to learn on how to monitor the ECG and all have to
learn the concepts and its interpretation.
E. Content and process: - Two key concepts in managing change are content and process.
Content is the what aspect of change, and process is the how dimension of change. For example,
assume a manager is concerned about decreasing productivity among the clerical staff. She
thinks the cause might be excessive talking among staff members. In order to discourage talking
among the clerical staff, she may decide to move their desks farther apart or place partitions
between them. This is a content change.
How this manager introduces and implements the change is the process. For example, she may
decide to announce the change by memo or in a staff meeting, or she might have the desks
moved during the night so that the clerks find out about the change when they come to work the
next day.
Programming Change
The realization of organizational change requires effective planning or programming. A change
program should incorporate the following processes.
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1. Recognizing the need for change – The need for change is sometimes obvious, as when
results are not in line with expectations, things clearly are not working well, or dissatisfaction is
apparent.
2. Setting Goals – Defining the future state or organizational conditions desired after change.
3. Diagnosing the present conditions in relation to the stated goals.
4. Defining the transition state activities and commitments required on meeting the future state.
5. Developing strategies and action plans.
Lewin’s 3 Step model of the change Management
Sociologist Kurt Lewin (1951) envisioned that any potential change is interplay of multiple
opposing forces.
These forces are broadly categorized under two major fields: the driving forces and restraining
forces. The driving forces are the factors that encourage or facilitate the change, while the
restraining forces are the factors that obstruct change. If these opposing forces are approximately
equal, there will be no movement away from status quo. For change to occur the driving forces
must be increased and/or the restraining forces must be reduced. This requires thorough
understanding and analysis of the forces likely to resist change as well as those creating the need
for change. Lewin called this process “force field analysis”. He noted that force field analysis is
an important diagnostic and problem solving technique. It involves:
1. Analyzing the restringing forces or driving forces, which will affect the transition to the future
state. These restraining forces will include the reactions of those who see change as unnecessary
or constituting a threat.
2. Assessing which of the driving or restraining forces are critical
3. Taking steps both to increase the critical driving forces and to decrease the critical restraining
forces. Kurt Lewins further studied the process of bringing about effective change. He noted that
individuals experience two major obstacles to change. First, they are unwilling (or unable) to
alter long-established attitudes and behavior. Second, their change of behavior frequently last
only a short time. After a brief period of trying to do things differently, individuals often return
to their traditional behavior.
To overcome obstacles of this sort, Lewin developed a three – step sequential model of the
change process.
The model involves “unfreezing” the present behavior pattern, “Changing” or developing a new
behavior pattern, and then “refreezing” or reinforcing the new behavior.
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1. Unfreezing- it involves making the need for change so obvious that the individual, group, or
organization can readily see and accept it. It is the process of creating a climate ready for change.
In this stage, the management realizes that the current strategy is no longer appropriate and the
organization must breakout of (unfreeze) its present mold. As such, it tries to make other people
(employees) realize that some of the past ways of thinking, feeling, and doing things are
obsolete. It convinces individuals and groups that present conditions or behavior are
inappropriate.
2. Changing- once the members have been prepared to accept change, their behavioral patterns
have to be redefined. There are three methods of reassigning individuals' new patterns of
behavior. These are:
a. Compliance – It is achieved by strictly enforcing the reward and punishment strategy for good
or bad behavior. The fear of punishment or actual reward seems to change the behavior for the
better.
b. Identification – Identification occurs when the members are psychologically impressed upon
to identify themselves with some given role of models, whose behavior they would like to adopt
and try to become like them.
c. Internalization – Internalization involves some internal changing of the individual’s thought
processes in order to adjust to a new environment. Members are left alone and given the freedom
to learn and adopt new behavior in order to succeed in the new set of circumstances.
As a whole, in this stage, new behavior is developed and change is effected through a conscious
process as individuals seek to resolve the anxieties that surfaced during unfreezing stage.
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3. Refreezing – It means locking the new behavior pattern into place by means of supporting or
reinforcing mechanisms, so that it becomes the new norm. It is the process of institutionalizing
the new state of behavior or work by rewards (praise, etc).
Making the change process Effective
The important aspects of Kantar’s Ten Commandments have been summarized as follows
(Lovell, 1994).
1. Analyze the organization and its need for change- any change process should start with a
meticulous understanding of how the organization works; what are its strength and weakness,
what are its relationships with the environment and what are its needs to change.
2. Create a shared vision and common Direction- One of the key first steps is to unite the
organization around a vision of the future.
3. Separate from the past- This is a similar idea to Lewin’s (1947) unfreezing process. This is an
absolute detachment from the past. The organization must identify what aspects of its operations
are no longer relevant.
4. Create a sense of urgency
A sense of urgency seems to be important for the organization to unfreeze and develop support
for the changes. Sense of urgency is accelerated as a result of crisis. But preferably organizations
should be productive in their change strategies and change before crises occur.
5. Support a strong leader (transformational leader) Several studies demonstrated that a strong
leader is a factor to vision creation, motivating the organization behind the vision and rewarding
who strive towards its realization.
6. Line up political support
Although leader ship is a very important prerequisite for propelling change, it is not enough in its
own. Successful change needs a broad-base support from all the stakeholders, including those
who will lose, as well as those who will profit from change.
7. Craft an implementation plan
While visions are of paramount importance in effecting changes, the organization needs clear
information about what will be done to achieve it. A road map has to be prepared, giving clear
direction and a route to take.
8. Developing enabling structures
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The old structures and methods of working are unlikely to be satisfactory to support and sustain
the change process on their own. Enabling structures are systems and structures, which support
the transformation process during the transition from the old to the new state. They include new
institutional names, new logos and uniforms and office relocations and renewal.
9. Communicate, involve people and be honest
Wherever or whenever possible, there should be open communications and the involvement and
trust of people in the organization.
10. Reinforce and institutionalize the change
Managers need constantly to demonstrate their commitment to the change. They should reward
the new desired behaviors and ensure they become part of normal day to day operations.
Resistance to change and gaining support
1. Reasons for resistance
Change is neither always accepted nor always rejected. Some people desire change and welcome
new experiences as a break from monotony, on the other hand, there are a good number of
people who resist change for various reasons than one. Management may recognize the need for
change, but most employees may resist the process.
No matter what the resistance might arise, the change must occur continually in order to adjust to
dynamic forces that are continuously at play. The society will become stagnant if no changes
took place. The reasons for resistance to change must be studied carefully, but four main reasons
are common.
1. Parochial self interest
• Threat to core skills and competence
• Threat to status
• Threat to power base
2. Misunderstanding and lack of trust
• Lack of information
• Misinformation
• Historical factors (poor timing)
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• Low trust of organizational climate
• Poor relationships (quarrelsome)
3. Contradictory Assessments
• No perceived benefits
• An assessment that the proposed change is wrong/ill thought out
• Strong peer-group norms, which may shape such contradictory assessments
4. Low tolerance of change
• Fear of unknown
• Fear of failure
• Customer bound (inertia-unwillingness to disturb status quo)
• Reluctance to let go A variety of reasons thus exist for resistance to change.
The change itself or the methods of implementation may be opposed. But if managed correctly,
the opposition can be minimized or completely eliminated.
Managing resistances to change
If the change is to be implemented successfully, it needs full acceptance and cooperation from
employees.
More specifically, Kotter and Schlesinger (1979:110) have put forward six valuable ways of
overcoming resistance to change. The techniques include:
1. Education and communication - Management should educate employees about upcoming
changes before they occur. It should communicate not only the nature of the change but its logic.
The process include one-on-one discussions, presentations to groups (variety of conferences),
brochures, or reports and memos.
2. Participation and Involvement - If management involves those who might resist change with
the design and implementation of the change, resistance may be prevented. Considerable
research has demonstrated that, in general, when employees participate in the decision to change,
they are committed to implementing it. Therefore, employees should also be involved in the
change's design and implementation.
3. Facilitation and support - Management should make the change as easy as possible for
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employees and be supportive of their efforts. This could be achieved through providing training
new skills, or giving employees' time off after a demanding period of change, or simply listening
and providing emotional support.
4. Negotiation and Agreement - When necessary, management can offer concrete incentives for
cooperation with the change. Rewards such as bonuses, wages and salaries, recognition, Job
assignments and perhaps restructured to reinforce the direction of change.
5. Manipulation and co-optation - This process involves making covert-attempts to influence
others. One common form of manipulation is cooptation.
Co-optation involves giving an informal leader (a resisting individual) a desirable role in the
design or implementation of a potential change.
For instance, management might invite a union leader to be a member of an executive committee
or ask a key member of an outside organization to join the company's board of directors. As a
person involved in the change, he or she may become less resistant to the actions of the co-opting
group or organization.
6. Explicit and Implicit coercion - Some managers apply punishment to those who resist change.
With this approach, managers use force to make people comply with their wishes. For instance, a
boss may force employees to go along with a change by threatening them with dismissed, with
being passed over for promotion, with unattractive Job assignment, or through other negative
suggestions.
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