10 Managing strategic change Flashcards
what are barriers to change
resisting forces that make change more difficult to implement
what are the four barriers to change by Kotter and Schlesinger
- parochial self interest
- misunderstanding/ lack of trust
- different assessment of the situation
- low tolerance to change and inertia
parochial self interest looks like
- someone placing their own interests above those of the business as they are losing something of value
low tolerance to change can be because of
- fear of change
- unwillingness to adapt
misunderstanding/ lack of trust can be a sign of
- information failure
- (perceived) lack of communication
why might employees have a different assessment of the situation
employees may see more costs than benefits to change
alternative barriers to change can include
- lack of finance
- legal restrictions
- stakeholders
six ways to overcome change as argued by Kotter and Schlesinger
- education and communication
- facilitation and support
- participation and involvement
- negotiation and agreement
- manipulation and co-option
- implicit and explicit coercion
education and communication characteristics in Kotter and Schlesinger
- giving staff all the information about proposed change
facilitation and support characteristics in Kotter and Schlesinger
- providing staff with care to help them adjust with change
participation and involvement characteristics in Kotter and Schlesinger
- employees have a degree of ownership in the change as they can contribute ideas
negotiation and agreement characteristics in Kotter and Schlesinger
- talking w staff to try and diminish any concerns
manipulation and co-option characteristics in Kotter and Schlesinger
- manipulation = control the information that is shared w staff
co-option= getting a key representative of the resistance side to ‘convert’ the rest of the resisting side
implicit and explicit coercion characteristics in Kotter and Schlesinger
implicit = kind of threats
explicit = clear threats to employees if they keep resisting
strategic drift occurrs when
a firms strategy is no longer suitable for the current situation
strategic drift could occur because
- leaders may have an inertia (unwillingness to change)
- leaders may fail to analyse the external environment clearly
- the organisational culture doesn’t allow for a strategic change
- the strategy execution may be bad
in phase 1 of strategic drift a firm may still make
incremental changes to their strategy in order to align with the external changes
in phase 2 of strategic drift a firms strategy
is no longer fit for purpose
in phase 3 of strategic drift, leaders may
confused and may see a decline in performance
in phase 4 of strategic drift a ______ needs to occur otherwise the a business may have to close down
transformational change
a flexible organisation is one that is able to
anticipate change and respond to them quickly
methods of becoming a flexible organisation
- restructuring
- delayering
- flexible employment contracts
- organic vs mechanistic structures
types of flexible employment contracts
- part time
- temp/ seasonal staff
- flexitime
- work from home
- zero hour contracts
restructuring is when
a business shifts focuses its staff on the businesses core competences and outsources/ sub contracts its non core competences
delayering is
moving from a tall to a flatter hierarchy
value of sharing information and knowledge management
- source of competitive advantage
- gain valuable insight from other perspectives
- increases motivation
organic organisation characteristics
- informal and flexible
- decentralised decision making
- verbal communication
- more able to handle change
mechanistic organistaion charactertsicts
- formal and bureaucratic
- centralised decision making
- standardised decision making
- little perceived need for change
The four parts of handy’s culture
- power
- task
- person
- role
power culture characteristics
- centralised, a few key decision makers, usually in small businesses
role culture characteristics
- formalised culture with clear jobs, roles, rules and procedures
task culture characteristics
- focus on specific tasks and projects
person culture characteristics
- individuals have the freedom to act independently, usually seen in legal or medical practices.
what is culture?
the norms and values held by the individuals in the firm that determine how those individuals behave
a strong culture is one where
employees understand and buy into the culture
a weak culture is one where
employees don’t understand and don’t buy into the culture
what does Hofstede’s national cultures consider
the preferences people have for one state over another and how this influences their values and behaviour
what is Hofstede’s national cultures used for
- understanding how to lead an international workforce
- improving communication with workforce
- help understand international customers better
Power distance index meaning
extent of which members of the culture accept a degree of inequality and hierarchy in the distribution of power
a high Power distance index may want an organisation that has
- tall hiercahies
- authoritarian leadership style
a low Power distance index may want an organisation that has
- consultative leadership
- delegation
- flat hierachies
Individualism or collectivism meaning
the degree to which the individual perfomance is more important that the team performance
a highly individualistic culture may want a focus on
- individual bonuses for indivdual performance
a highly collectivist culture may want a focus on
- team rewards
a masculine vs feminine culture considers
the approaches to decision making
a highly masculine culture will
prefer a fact based approach to leadership that is based on data
a highly feminine culture will
prefer a consultative approach to leadership that is based on intuition
what does uncertainty avoidance index consider
the extent of which people are comfortable with the fact that the future is unknown and to which they try and control future outcomes
a high uncertainty avoidance index culture will
- actively avoid risk
- use rules and hierarchies
- place emphasis on clearly communicating strategic plans
a low uncertainty avoidance index culture will
- will embrace change
- use of emergent strategies
- accept risk
long term orientation is the extent of which
societal norms and traditions are respected rather than taking a long term view that encourages innovation and adaptation
A high long term orientation culture stresses the importance of
long term strategic plan and reinvestment of profit
A low long term orientation culture stresses the importance of
living for the day and employee and shareholder rewards
why might a business’ culture change
- emergence of a toxic culture
- change of leadership
- divergent cultures within a culture
- business growth
ways to successfully implement a strategy
- set clear corporate objectives
- consult with stakeholders
- break the strategy down with clear deadlines
why are leaders valuable in implementing stratergy
- they oversee the strategy
- they review information and set the strategy
- they communicate the vision of the organisation
