Midterm 2 - Change Management Flashcards
Many change models recognize that the change process comprises several critical stages of change. List these stages of change
RDPIS
- recognize the need for change
- diagnose what needs to change
- plan and prepare for change
- implement the change
- sustain the change
discuss the most difficult stage in the change process (also referred to as the generic model of change)
Recognizing the need for change and starting the change process (getting commitment and involvement from all stakeholders) is one of the most difficult stages in the change process.
Change requires not only that a need to change is identified but also that the need is broadly felt among all participants involved in the change process. Without full buy-in from all stakeholders, change efforts are likely to fail.
Once the need for change has been identified, the motivation for change must be spread throughout the firm. This motivation can come in the form of incentives tied to organizational goals that are aligned to the desired outcomes of the change, or in the form of a high-involvement/high-commitment strategy that aligns employee values with organizational values.
Successful change initiatives tend to involve management and employees in the process of discovering the problems and developing the solutions, as this inclusive style tends to promote a shared understanding of the issues.
As the HRM responsible for moving an organization through an organizational change, what steps would you follow?
- Identify the Problem – Starting with the firm’s strategy and the activities that implement the strategy, identify the problem. Double-loop learning and the principles of a learning organization will facilitate the identification of the primary issues.
- Once the problem has been identified and clearly expressed, the need for change must be spread throughout the organization.
> Unfreezing – There must be widespread understanding of the need for change and an associated path that moves toward a solution. This stage of the change process is difficult because of the many challenges in bringing about a mutually held belief in the need for, and direction of, change.
> A force-field analysis based on the problem that has been identified is an excellent tool to identify the factors that may be leading to resistance to change and the factors that can help to leverage movement toward the intended change. At this point in the process, change leaders must use their political and persuasive skills to ensure that as many stakeholders as possible agree that the status quo is no longer acceptable and to develop a shared vision of the firm’s future. HR practices must be monitored for the extent to which they align with the change and adjusted to move the culture away from the status quo and toward the change.
Moving – The principles of emergent change and a learning organization are apparent in the moving stage. Moving toward the new direction is fraught with uncertainty and the high risk of unanticipated consequences. Changes to policies, work activities, and organization structures should be associated with short-term goals, so that stakeholders can understand when change is moving in the intended direction and celebrate these small victories. An organization that empowers its employees to act autonomously, that can effectively communicate its strategic intentions around change, and that can challenge its existing mental models will be more likely to demonstrate emergence in this stage of change. This means that employees will be able to adapt spontaneously to the requirement to implement effective change based on their understanding of what needs to be done.
Refreezing – After change has been implemented, the new state must be reinforced, or the organization will likely revert to its pre-change state. To balance the driving and stabilizing forces around the new status quo, HR practices, employee tasks, organizational structure, or other organizational policies must be put into place and monitored for success. For example, an organization that has moved from a focus on production efficiency to more of a customer-focused perspective could measure the extent to which a customer service climate is developing among employees and the extent to which customer satisfaction is changing, while at the same time monitoring production efficiency_
What is the purpose of force-field analysis in the change management process?
The purpose of force-field analysis is to analyze a condition and to plan corrective actions.
the analysis therefore begins with a statement of the current state or condition and a statement of the desired future state or condition.
The analysis then attempts to plot the forces that are supporting or driving toward the future state as well as the forces that are restraining the future state from being put into action.
A force-field analysis is an important first step in a change plan. It helps organizations to identify issues by requiring change planners to first identify a future desired state rather than to focus solely on existing problems. It also helps planners to identify suitable courses of action to initiate a change implementation.
Discuss the two uses of force-field analysis and their benefits to the change management process.
Force-field analysis can be used as a problem-solving tool as well as a change management tool.
Some of the benefits of a force-field analysis include the development of a strong understanding of the current situation and a clarification around how it differs from an ideal future state or situation_
Force-field analysis can be used to decide whether a change is appropriate and, if so, what actions should be taken to move toward the new direction. List the seven steps in the force-field analysis process.
CURRENT, FUTURE, ID FORCES, EXAMINE, DEVELOP, IMPLEMENT, DEVELOP
- Describe the current state (i.e., the status quo) and why it must be changed. Ultimately this will lead to a statement of the current condition such as “team coherence is at an all-time low.”∙
- Describe the desired future state. The future condition should ultimately be described in a sentence or a few sentences such as “increase team effectiveness and communication within one year.”∙
- Identify the forces that are supporting or driving toward increasing team coherence as well as the forces that are restraining or preventing increased team coherence. Techniques that access a wide variety of stakeholder viewpoints such as surveys, brainstorming sessions, and nominal group technique might be useful to perform this step.∙
- Examine the valence of each of these forces. Which forces are the strongest, and which are the weakest
- Develop strategies to reduce the strength of the restraining forces and strategies to amplify the driving forces.
- Implement the strategies developed in step five. As restraining forces are reduced in strength and number and driving forces are amplified and increased in number, behaviours should begin to shift toward the desired state.
∙ - Develop strategies to stabilize the driving and restraining forces into a new state of quasi-equilibrium. How do we make this the new status quo? After using a force-field analysis, organizational planners can begin the process of moving toward the future state through a series of trial-and-error attempts to implement the strategies developed in step five to reduce the restraining forces and amplify the driving forces. After moving to the new state, planners must develop strategies to stabilize the driving and restraining forces into a new state of quasi-equilibrium in order to turn the change into the new status quo.
Describe Kurt Lewin’s three-step model of planned organization change
Kurt Lewin’s three-step model is the main component of the Planned Model of Change. The three steps of unfreezing, moving, and refreezing have become the foundation of many subsequent models of organizational change.
Unfreezing – As the initial stage of organizational change, unfreezing involves the development of a shared understanding among stakeholders that a particular change is necessary.
Moving – As the second stage of a change process, the moving stage involves the trial-and-error process of taking action to move the firm through the intended change.
Refreezing – The third and final stage of a change initiative, refreezing, involves putting policies, practices, and structures in place to establish new norms around the change
Describe the three conditions that will help reduce resistance to organizational change efforts.
DISCONFIRM, INDUCE, SAFETY
- Disconfirmation of the validity of the status quo_ Essentially, this means that stakeholders must be convinced that the current modes of behaviour and way of doing things are no longer successful paths to achieving goals.∙
- Inducing survival anxiety_ Individuals and groups must develop a sense of survival anxiety, or pressure to change, in order to overcome resistance and to move away from current behaviours and toward new learning and new behaviours. However, new learning and new behaviours carry with them learning anxiety, or the fear of failure. In the context of a force-field analysis, survival anxiety can be considered a driving force, and learning anxiety a restraining force. Therefore, moving away from the status quo would require both increasing the driving force and reducing the restraining force (learning anxiety).∙
- Creating psychological safety_ Psychological safety is the belief that an individual can take certain risks and openly discuss workplace issues without fear of reprisal or threat to mental well-being. Schein recommends that psychological safety can be increased through interventions, such as providing a strong organizational vision, consistent systems and structures, training, role models, and support groups, as well as by involving the learner. Thus, unfreezing requires that stakeholders develop the understanding that the current way of doing things is no longer acceptable, that continuing along the current path will lead to meaningful negative consequences, and that taking a risk on a new path or expressing new ways of doing things will not be judged negatively_
Describe John Kotter’s eight-step model of change.
URGENCY, COALITION, VISION, COMMUNICATE, EMPOWER, WINS, CONSOLIDATE AND IMPROVE, INSTITUTIONALIZE
(1) establishing a sense of urgency,
(2) forming a guiding coalition,
(3) creating a vision,
(4) communicating the vision,
(5) empowering others to act on the vision,
(6) planning for and creating short-term wins,
(7) consolidating improvements and producing still more change, and
(8) institutionalizing new approaches.Refer to Figure 9.5_
Define organizational learning and the five elements it comprises.
Organizational learning is one of the most important attributes necessary to bring about emergent change. Organizational learning is an approach to learning that applies double-loop learning and an attempt to understand how the entire system may be affected by change. Organizational learning allows knowledge from any individual in the organization to become incorporated into the firm’s culture and processes. The elements of organizational learning comprise
MASTERY, MODELS, VISION, TEAM LEARNING, SYSTEMS THINKING
(1) personal mastery, Understanding of one’s purpose and the development of a personal vision
(2) mental models, Organized structures that people use to help navigate the volume and complexity of Information that they perceive from environment Building a shared vision
(3) building a shared vision, What do we want to create? – connects people to a greater purpose
(4) team learning, The interaction of individual ideas and efforts toward a team objective that result in outcomes that exceed the capabilities of any individual on the team
(5) systems thinking_Views change issues within the framework of the entire organization
In order to lead change, researchers suggest that HR professionals should possess a specific set of competencies. Describe two of these competencies.
SP CA PN C ST
5
- Strategic positioner—to be able to identify the activities, outcomes, and human capital necessary for a business to succeed in its market.
- Credible activist—to be a trustworthy partner to the business in helping to understand how to solve business challenges.
- Paradox navigator—to be able to understand and work from different points of view, and different mental models. For example, to be able to bring together a top-down view of competencies with a bottom-up view of KSAOs from job analysis.
- Communicator—to be able to create an environment in which employees feel that they can speak up about what is working and what needs to be improved, and believe that they can have an impact on the organization.
- Systems thinker— to be able to understand all aspects of the business, including what customers value about the firm’s products or services. This will enable the HR function to understand the interactions between all aspects of the firm so that as one aspect changes, it is possible to envision how it will affect the system as a whole_
Why Is Organizational Change Important?
HEART, DYNAMIC, UNCERTAINTY, CHANGE is Advantage, Management ROLE
> Lies at the heart of the planning process
Organizations are dynamic, constantly growing and responding to changes
Higher levels of uncertainty in today’s business environment
Ability to manage change effectively to outperform slower, less change-capable competitors
Important management role is to create and direct strategy, and manage change
What is Single-Loop Learning?
> The attempt to solve a problem using a single strategy, without examining the validity of the problem itself
Permits the organization or individual to proceed according to the status quo
Can hinder change efforts, particularly when change requires new or different goals
What is Double-Loop Learning?
> A method of learning that involves questioning current assumptions, examining a problem from different perspectives, and questioning the validity of the problem
Encourages participation in decision making and open expression of conflicting views, using valid information, and open testing of evaluations
