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1) Self Awareness:
Is the ability to be aware of what one is feeling? Is self understanding Is the knowledge of ones true feelings at the moment? Is one of Golemans five dimensions of emotional intelligence in the workplace? Eg: Raju recognises that he is angry, so that he will wait himself to cool down and gather more information before taking an important personnel decision.
After analysis one has to self manage. There are 12 steps of self management:
Make a decision that you desire to achieve the goal. Believe that you will achieve the goal. Write down your goal on paper. Be honest with yourself. Analyse your present position. Use deadlines. Identify the rocks that stand in your way. Identify the skills you need. Identify those people from whom you need co-operation Make a complete business plan. Visualize the perfect outcome, emotionalise how terrific you will feel when the outcome is achieved and make the necessary affirmations consistent with achieving the goal. Determine to back your plan with patience and persistence.
3) Self-Efficiency:
Self efficiency refers to a persons belief that he has: The ability The motivation The situational contingencies. To complete a task successfully.
People strong in self efficiency have a Can do attitude towards a specific task. Can do attitude for various challenges in life.
Social learning/observational learning increases self efficiency by observing someone else actions. People have the drive for self efficiency a belief that they have the necessary capabilities to perform a task. Management should provide opportunities for meaningful involvement of people in the activities towards the achievement of organisational goals or objectives. Albert Bandura, a famous behavioural scientist says: Unless people believe that they can produce desired effects and forestall undesired ones by their actions they have little incentives to act They have the core belief that they have the power to produce desired results
Banduras task-specific self-efficiency in state like and specific task oriented. Bandura also states a generalised self efficiency which reflects peoples belief in successfully accomplishing tasks across a wide variety of achievement situations called as trait like
a) Self efficacy Vs Self-esteem: 1. Self esteem Is a global construct of ones evaluation and belief of overall worthiness Is stable and traitlike Self efficacy Is ones belief about a task and contact specific capability. Is changing overtime as new information and task experiences and gained and developed and is statelike. Is a current assessment of ones future success at task.
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b) The process & impact of self efficacy: The Process: Directly, the self-efficacy process starts before individuals select their choices and initiate their efforts. People tend to weigh, evaluate and integrate information about their personal capabilities. This initial stage of process has nothing to do with individuals abilities or resources. It rather, depends upon how they perceive or believe they can use those abilities and resources to accomplish the given task in this context. This evaluation of perception then leads to the expectations of personal efficacy which in turn determines: The decision to perform the specific task in this context. The amount of effort that will be expended to accomplish the task The level of persistence that will be forthcoming despite problems, regardless of evidence and adversity. The Impact: Self-efficacy can directly affect: Choice behaviour: Decisions made based on how efficacious a person feels towards the opinion in work assignments or careers, etc. Motivational effort: People will try harder and give more effort on tasks where they have high self efficacy than those where the efficacy judgement is low. Perseverance: Those with high self-efficacy bounce back, be resilient when meeting problems or even failure, whereas those with low efficacy tend to give up when obstacles appear.
Facilitating through patterns: People with high self-efficacy say I know I can figure out how to solve this problem. People with low efficacy say I know I can not do that, I do not have the requisite ability Vulnerability to Stress: People with low self-efficacy tend to experience stress and burnout, since they expect failure. High efficacy people enter into potential stressful situations with confidence and assurance and thus are able to resist stressful reactions.
Social Persuasion
Training and development Stress management. Self managed work teams Job design and goal setting. Leadership
4) Self-Esteem:
Refers to the feeling of like or dislike of one-self. Self esteem has to do with people and self-perceived competence and self image in an organisation. This is called as organisation based self esteem (OBSE) Directly related to the desire for success. People with high self-esteem believe that they have abilities to undertake challenging jobs. High esteem people tend to choose unconventional jobs. People with low self-esteem are more susceptible to external influence. Low esteem people are dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations and approvals from others. Low esteem people prone to the beliefs and behaviours of those they respect. In managerial positions, low esteems will tend to be concerned with pleasing others. Low esteems are less likely to take unpopular stands.
High esteems are more satisfied with their jobs. Low esteems are less satisfied with their jobs. High self esteem people have more positive attitudes, feelings, satisfaction, less anxiety, hopelessness and depressive symptoms. It is found that males score slightly higher in self-esteem than females. People with low self-esteem are not confident in thinking ability, likely to fear decision making, lack negotiation and interpersonal skills and are reluctant unable to change. Research results on self-esteem are mixed. One study found that people with high self-esteem handle failure better than those with low self esteem. Another study found that those with high self-esteem tended to become egotistical and faced with pressure situations and may result in aggressive or violent behaviour when threatened. Yet another study says: High self esteem can be a good thing, but only if like many other human characteristics such as creativity, intelligence and persistence it is nurtured and channeled in constructive ethical ways otherwise it can become antisocial and destructive
5) Roles:
All group members are actors, each playing a role. A role is a set of expected behaviour patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit. Everyone has to play a number of diverse roles, both on and off his job. Our behaviour varies with the role we are playing. a) Role Concepts: are associated with roles a i) Role Identity: Certain attitudes and actual behaviour are consistent with a role and they create the role identity People have the ability to shift roles rapidly when they recognise the situation and its demands clearly require major changes.
a ii)Role Perception: It is ones view. That view indicates how one is supposed to act in a given situation. Based on the interpretation of how we believe we are supposed to behave, we engage in certain types of behaviour.
Since managers perform many different roles, they must be highly adaptive and exhibit role of flexibility in order to change from one role to another quickly. Supervisors particularly have to change roles rapidly as they work with seniors, subordinates, technical and non-technical activities. The complex web of manager employee role perception. Manager Managers perception A of own role Managers perception B of employees role Managers perception C of the managers role as seen by the employee Employee D Employees perception of managers role E F Employees perception of own role Employees perception of the employees role as seen by the managers
The key is for both parties to gain accurate role perceptions of their own roles and for the roles of the other. Reaching such an understanding requires studying the available job descriptions, as well as opening up lines of communication to discover the others perceptions. Unless roles are clarified and agreed upon by both parties, conflicts will inevitably arise.
a iii)Role Expectations: Defined as how others behave you should act in a given situation. How we have to behave, to a large part is determined by the role defined in the context in which we are acting, eg. Role of a judge or football referee.
a iv)Role Conflict: When an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations, the result is role conflict. It exists when an individual finds that compliance with one role requirement may be more difficult than compliance with another.
Interpersonal Roles
Figure head Leader Liaison
Informational Roles
Monitor Disseminator Spokes person
Decisional Roles
Entrepreneur Disturbance handler Resource allocator Negotiator
c) Some Roles Commonly Played by Group Members: (by J.Greenberg & B.A.Baron) Task Oriented Roles
Initiator Contributors Recommend new solutions to group members Information Seekers Attempt to obtain the necessary facts Opinion Givers Share own opinion with others Energisers Stimulate the group into action whenever interest drops
Compromisers Shift opinions to create group harmony Encouragers Praise and encourage others Expediters Suggest ways the groups can operate more smoothly
6) Importance of Change:
Change is the only thing permanent in the world. Change is inevitable, but pervasive too. Life itself is almost synonymous with the concept of change. Humans and organisms, grow up leaving behind the characteristics of earlier stages of development and adopt new behaviours with age, environments and expectations. An organisation too cannot and should not remain constant/stagnant all the time. Even if the management does not want to change, the external pressures force it to change. Change encompasses leadership, motivation, organisational environment, roles of people, etc. Change produces emotional reactions too. To many it is threatening, it has visions of revolutions. If throws up also a dissatisfied person, a trouble maker.
7) Characteristics of Change:
Vital if a company were to avoid stagnation. A process and not an event. It is normal and constant. Is fast and is likely to increase further in the present competitive business. Many a times it is a top down management directive. Sometimes it is also a mutually agreed plan for change in various groups of management. It is a natural and adaptive change as a consequence/reaction to the external circumstances and pressures. Sometimes is an incremental change, step by step. Sometimes it is a radial shift from the current to a new process. It is dependent upon the organisational environment and or culture.
All changes interface with three organisational components which constitute the organisational culture. Those three components are: The historical and political evolution of the company. The management and organisation of the company. The people who work for the company
o The illustration of the 3 components and their inter-relations are shown in the sketch Changes Historical & political Corporate evolution Culture Management & Organisation Changes
People
Base & origin of the company Associated values of the company. The image the company likes to promote. The perception of the company that the customers are holding. Are the value & image of the company being changed during the change? The origins of the individuals within the company. The good and bad experiences of the individuals of the company on whom the new change is vested in. The traditions and norms to which the management and employees are accustomed to. The unwritten and written long standing rights and policies existing in the company and the likely threats to them.
The relationships and cordiality between the top management and the people who have been vested with the powers of change. The acceptance of change process by top management. The likely balance of power between the current owners and the functional experts. The winners and losers of power, personal status, sphere of influence, etc., and there inter-relationships.
Changes will impact the roles of management. It will also impact the structure and operation of the organisation. Role of line management shifts from autocrat to that of facilitator Senior management takes more of strategic stance. Senior management encourages opportunities for progress through innovation. They recognize the contribution to the achievement of business objectives. The boundaries between jobs, divisions and departments become blurred. The jobs broaden in terms of scope and of accountability. The requirements of specialists slowly decrease. Multi skilling of employees increase and in greater demand. Both project and group work increase. With increased harassing of technology and processes availability of jobs decrease. All the activities and outputs gets customer oriented. Before embarking upon the change, measure and analyse the effect of the change on the workforce, their acceptance and willingness and take suitable remedial measures.
4c. People:
Most of the issues in change management are people oriented. Every decision on change impacts the people. All cautions should be exercised in the people oriented changes. Typically with any change people expect a reward pay hike, promotion or other type of recognition. Think carefully the impact of change in every job it affects.
9) Levels of Change:
3 Levels Individual, group and organisational a) Individual Level Change:
Change is reflected in such developments as changes in job assignment, physical move to a different location or the change in maturity level of a person which occurs overtime. Some say that changes at the individual level will seldom have significant implications for the total organisation. Others say, the above is not true, since any change at individual level, will also have repercussions in the group.
Most organisational changes have their major effects at the group level. This is because most activities in organisations are organised on a group basis. The groups could be departments or informal work groups. Changes at the group level can affect. Work flows Job design Social organisation Influence the status systems & Communication patterns
Managers must consider group factors when implementing change. Informal groups can pose a major barrier to change because of the inherent strength they possess. Formal groups, like unions, can resist change envisaged by management. Effective implementation of change at the group level, can frequently overcome resistance at the individual level.
Changes at this level involve major programs that affect both individuals and groups. Decisions at this level involve major programs that affect both individual and groups. Decisions regarding these changes are generally made by senior management. These decisions are rarely implemented only by a single manger. They cover long periods of time. Require considerable planning for implementation. Change in the organisational level is generally referred to as organisational development
6) Types of Change:
Two Types
Evolutionary Change : Gradual, incremental, TQM is an example Revolutionary Change: Sudden, drastic & organisation-wide, re-engineering is an example.
Evolutionary change. Developed by Edward Demming Broad goal of TQM is continuous improvement. Continuous efficiency improvement to reducer costs, improve quality, reduce waste. Employees are expected to make suggestions on all aspects of processes and management. TQM is driven by statistical data. TQM has 4 key components Systems Change Through TQM Management People Processes
b) Re-Engineering:
Revolutionary change. Known as Business Process Re-engineering. Radial rethinking and redesigning of business processes to obtain rapid organisational effectiveness. Ignores existing arrangement of tasks, roles and work activities. Orients with customer as object. Has the following components. Business processes Re-engineering Values & Benefits Jobs and Structures Management & measurement
The popular approach is that the two can not co-exist. But the two approaches applied together and with understanding and sympathy, offer a tremendously powerful recipe for building or rebuilding an organisation. TQM and Reengineering have four identifiable founding principles and commonalities which are summarized as follows: TQM Systems Processes People Management Reengineering Management & Measurement Business Processes Values & Benefits Jobs & Structures
Both emphasize objectivity and this they obtain through statistical analysis and benchmarking. Both promote a process orientation, although there is a difference in emphasis. TQM focuses on improvement whereas reengineering focuses on customer relationships. Both emphasize the importance of customer. Both demand change of peoples attitudes and their values and beliefs. Both promote empowerment and involvement high value team work in quality circles. Both emphasize on power and accountability, performance measurement and reward schemes. Both stress the role of management on coaching and facilitating, rather than pure directions. Both stress on job description and proper organisation structural relationships.
The two differ in their approach to change. TQM a continuous, bottom up, improvement. Re-engineering is radical reinvention and top down approach. Both differ in perception too TQM has analytical thinking, measurement, comparison fact finding and reasoning. Reengineering demands conceptual thinking rooted in supposition, intuition, lateral thinking and raw creativity associated with senior management. The two differ in their impact on organisational culture. TQM is an attitudinal change with constant focus on continuous improvement and customer. Reengineering has a program of change with an identifiable beginning and an end.
Reengineering can address major strategic issues at top level management. TQM can address the problems at the lower levels.
Change has become the norm in most organisations. The changes stem from several factors. Some are external, arising from outside the organisation. Some are internal, arising from sources within the organisation. Causes for change: External Causes Globalisation Work force diversity Technological change Managing ethical behaviour Government policies Competition Scarcity of resources Mergers and acquisitions Pollution/Ecological controls Calamities/Emergencies Internal Causes Organisational silence Falling effectiveness Crisis Changing employee expectations Change in the work climate Downsizing Reengineering Productivity improvements Cycle Time Reduction
8) Resistance to Changes:
Organisational Level Organisational structures Organisational Cultures Organisational Strategies Over determination (Structural inertia)
Individual Level Cognitive Biases Uncertainty Fear of loss Selective Perception Habit Logical Reasons
Level of Performance
Resistance to Change P2
Time
Refer the sketch In any organisation, there are people who push for change and there are individuals who resist for change and desire status quo. Initially both the groups may be equal in their force. At P1, the change starts occurring in steps and reaches a level of P2. At P2 the forces balance between the two groups. When the forces are in balance, the organisation is in a state of inertia and does not change. To get the organisation to change, managers must adopt a change strategy to increase the forces for change. Simultaneously reduce the resistance for change.
Unfreezing the current situation. Moving to a desired condition. Refreezing the system so that it remains in this desired state.
a) Unfreezing: Involves
Shaking up the equilibrium state that maintains status quo Encouraging individuals to discard old behaviours. Presenting the existing problem Making the people to recognise the need for change. Encouraging people to search for new solutions. Eliminating the rewards for current behaviours and discouraging current behaviours.
b) Moving: Aims
To shift or alter the behaviour of individuals, departments or organisations where the changes are to take place. To develop new behaviours, values and attitudes. To change sometimes through structural changes. To change sometimes through organisational development techniques.
c) Refreezing:
The change becomes permanent. New attitudes, values and behaviours are established as the new way of organisational approach. The new way of operating are cemented and reinforced. Management should ensure that the new organisational culture and record systems encourage a new behaviour. Old ways of functioning are avoided
d) Lewins Change Model: Unfreezing Reducing the forces for status quo Moving Developing new attitudes, values and behaviours Refreezing Reinforcing new values attitudes and behaviours
The model proposes that for change efforts to be successful, the 3 stage processes must be completed. Failures can be traced back to anyone of the stages. Old behaviours should be discarded and new behaviours are introduced.
e) Transition Management:
Is between any two phases of change. Managing transition is essential to keep the organisation going. This is a process of systematically planning, organizing and implementing change from the disassembly of the current state to the realization of a fully functional future state within an organisation. In the transition state, the organisation is neither old nor new. Still, the business must carry on. Transition management ensures that business continues while the change is occurring. An interim management structure or interim positions may be created to ensure continuity and control of the business during transition. Communication of the changes to all involved, employees, customer and suppliers, play a great role in transition management.
Developed by Lippit, Watson & Westley (1958). Later modified by Kolb & Frohman (1970) This model is based on the principle that information must be freely and openly shared between the organisation and the change agent. This information must be able to be translated into action. This model follows a seven step process as in the sketch:
Scouting
Entry
Diagnosis
Planning
Termination
Action
The phases are generally sequential, but the change agent can change the sequences when need arises. Scouting: Phase where the change agent and the organisation jointly explore the need for change. They also explore the areas requiring change.
Entry: In this phase development of mutual contract and mutual expectations take place.
Planning: Actual and possible reasons for resistance to change are identified. Planning for specific improvement of goals is also made.
Action: Indicates the implementation of the steps identified during the planning stage.
Stabilization and Evaluation: Phase where evaluation is undertaken to determine the extent of success of the planned change. The need for further action or termination is also made in this phase.
Termination: Phase where a decision is made to leave the system or to end and begin another.
This model focuses on the planned change activity as a cyclical process 8 main steps involved in the action research model are explained below. a) Problem Identification:
A stage in which the management senses the existence of one or more problems. These problems are removed with the help of an OD practitioner.
After problems are sensed and realized, the help of an OD expert is sought
Consultant and organisational members gather the data. Methods used-interviews, process observations, questionnaire. Also analysis of organisational performance.
Data gathered is passed on to the client. To determine the strengths and weaknesses of the area under study. The consultant provides the client all relevant and useful data.
The group discusses the feedback. Focuses on any additional research needed. Results of additional research are summarized and submitted to the group again. The group does validation, further diagnosis and identified the problem.
The consultant and management team jointly agree on problem solving methods. The specific action depends upon on the organisations cultural, technological and work environment problems to be resolved and the time and costs associated with the desired OD intervention.
g) Action:
Stage involves the actual change from one organisational state to another. Involves and includes:
Installing new methods and procedures. Reorganizing structures and work designs. Reinforcing new behaviours.
Is cyclic in nature. New data is taken to find the effects of actions already taken. Based on the feedback, situations re-diagnosed and new actions taken.
i) Schematic diagram of action research model: Perception of problems by key individuals Consultation with behavioural science experts Joint Action Planning Feedback by these experts to client group Joint diagnose of problem New data gathering as a result of action Data gathering after action
Action
New Action
Developed by Bullock and Batten (1985) Describes both organisational states and change processes. The basis for this model is that an organisation exists in different states at different times. Planned movement can occur from one state to another. Understanding of the present state of the organisation and the processes of change required to move to another state is required. Model consists of four phases
a) Exploration Phase:
Organisation decides whether to plan for specific change and commit resources for it. Organisational members who are aware of the need for change initiate the change process. This leads to search for OD resources and assistance and then contracting OD experts. In the search process, there is a mutual assessment of the requirements, wherein: The organisation members make judgements about consultants skill and competence. And the consultant assesses whether the client is ready for change and has the necessary resources and commitment.
The contracting phase lays the ground rules for a collaborative relationship and seeks clarification as to
What each party expects from the relationships. How much time each will invest and what it will cost. The rules for carrying out the consulting relationships.
b) Planning Phase:
Planning commences once the problems facing the organisation are understood. And the resources for OD are committed. The change process is undertaken after the diagnoses of sources of problems and then analyzing it. Diagnosis is jointly undertaken by organisational members and OD practitioners. Goals are set for the change efforts. Appropriate actions are designed to improve the organisation. Approval of the key decision makers is also sought during this stage.
c) Action Phase:
The changes derived from planning stage are implemented in this stage. It includes processes aimed at transitioning the organisation from its current state to the desired future state. The change activities are monitored and evaluated periodically. This is done to assess the progress and check whether positive results are being achieved. Also to check if any modifications and refinements are required for the process.
d) Integration Phase:
This phase involves making the changes as a part and routine of regular organisational functioning after having successfully implemented and stabilized them. The new behaviour reinforced and further strengthened through:
e) The integrative model of change is indicated in the sketch below: Exploration Stage Change Process Need awareness
Search Contracting
14)Perspectives on Change:
Four major perspectives on organisational change. Contingency perspective focuses on structural change. Population ecology perspective looks at the limits of change and resistance to change. Institutional perspective looks at becoming and change through imitation, professionalization and compliance. Resource dependence perspective examines strategic change.
a) Notion of Environment:
The most important notion in the four perspectives of organisational change is the idea of environment. Environment derived from Environ means to surround. The term environment means the surrounding That is everything that surrounds the organisation. Signifies everything that exists outside our organisation. Variety of things that exists outside yet surrounds the organisation. These includes:
Customs
The term phenomenon does not refer to a single phenomenon It includes a variety of phenomena in organisations. The fundamental idea is that it is the environment which is the source of most of the major changes. An organisation changes if the environment changes. Organisation is something that gets resources from outside, converts them into products and services and gives these products and services back to the surroundings.
b) Contingency Perspective:
Mainly concerned with the structure of an organisation. Structure refers to the way in which an organisation breaks down a complex task into individual activities and integrates these separate activities to achieve its purpose. Two central dimensions of structure-specialization and integration. Refers to the member and variety of different activities that make up individual jobs in an organisation. Any job that consists of a single activity or very few activities is a highly specialised job eg., the job of a truck loader. Specialization is also known as division of labour In an organisation there is usually a horizontal and vertical division of labour. Organisations divided into manufacturing, marketing, accounting, personnel, etc., are called as horizontal specialization or horizontal division of labour.
Specialization:
Integration:
Refers to the various ways and means of coordinating the work of individuals in the organisation. The most common and familiar methods of integration are through direct supervision, rules, procedures and systems and goals, plans and targets. These bring about uniformity and standardization in the activities of the organisation. Without these coordination mechanisms, an organisation would be inefficient, unproductive and chaotic. Both specialization and integration are factors that are within the control of an organisations management. The management can determine the extent of specialization and type of integration required within an organisation. Any change in these two dimensions is called as restructuring of an organisation. Organisational changes almost always involve restructuring. In restructuring several questions arise. What types of structure? How specialised the jobs should be? What are the coordinating mechanisms in the organisation? Etc. These are the central questions based on the contingency perspective. Contingent means depending. Contingency factors depend upon contingency variables. These variables are: size of an organisation, technology of an organisation, strategy of an organisation and environment of an organisation. The main idea of contingency perspective is that the most effective or appropriate structure is one that is in fit or alignment with its contingency variables. Any change in one or more contingency variables results in a misfit between the structure and the contingency variable. Lack of fit or misfit affects the performance of the entire organisation. Misfit requires a change in the organisation structure. When an organisation grows larger, or if they change their strategy or if they acquire new technology, or if there is a change in their environment, they need to change their structure in order to remain effective. The most important aspect of contingency perspective relating to organisational change is the relationship between environment and structure. There are two dimensions that characterise the environment of an organisation.
General:
Contingency Perspective:
One is the level of complexity how many different organisations are there in the environment. If the answer is few, the environment is simple. If the answer is many, the environment is complex. The other feature is the level of stability. Are the different organisations in the environment changing? And if yes how fast? If the organisations in the environment are not changing or changing slowly, then the environment is stable. If they are changing rapidly, the environment is unstable. The higher the level of complexity and instability, the higher the level of uncertainty. Task uncertainty is the difference between the amount of information required to perform a task and the amount of information already possessed by the organisation. Over the years, contingency perspective has come under lot of scholarly criticism. Scholars say that it considers only two variables at a time: strategy and structure; size and structure; environment and structure and so on. But the contingency variables are themselves related to one another. If is therefore, necessary to study how the variables impact on one another and how these relationships affect structure. In recent years a new approach called, configurational approach has emerged to deal with this inadequacy in the contingent perspective. It is based on the assumption that attributes of size, technology, strategy and environment commonly occur together. In other words, effective organisations have a cluster of common attributes. This cluster of attributes is called a configuration.
Based on the simple premise that organisations need to acquire resources from the environment in order to survive. This makes them dependent on the groups and organisations in the environments which control the resources that the organisation requires. Dependence of an organisation on other external organisations for resources makes it vulnerable because it creates uncertainty. Pfeffer and Salancik profounded two strategies: internal and external. Internal strategies are aimed at adapting and changing the organisation to fit the environment. There are 7 strategies identified:
Internal Strategy:
Domain choice
Recruitment
Buffing
Smoothing
Rationing
Are meant to alter the environment to fit the organisation. 5 external strategies:
Advertising Coalescing
Contracting Lobbying
Co-opting
This perspective states that individual organisations can not adapt to changing environments for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons can be:
Organisational leaders may have incomplete information about the environment. Organisational assets may be specific to its current tasks. There may be political resistance to change inside the organisation. There may be legal and financial barriers to entry and exit from current market or industries.
Therefore, it is more useful to study a population of organisations rather than a single organisation. Populations means organisations which are similar restaurants, textile firms, two wheeler manufacturers, etc. Each population occupies an ecological niche in the environment. The niche provides the resources for the organisations. The environment consists of different niches. Organisations survive in their niches by developing distinctive capabilities such as skills, patterns of behaviours, management systems suited only for their specific niche. Those organisations that lack these capabilities are unable to get the required sources and therefore, fail to survive. Consequently, some organisations die and a few others are born into the population. There are 3 types of processes for such death and births:
Variation: are those processes that lead to differences in organisations in terms of strategy structure, systems, skills and culture. Selection: refers to the process through which the environment selects those organisations that have the required features some are selected out or die. Retention: constitutes those processes that help organisations retain the features that are required by the environment.
A major criticism against this perspective is that it does not provide any positive role for managers.
e) Institutional Perspective:
Social norms, values and culture of the environment in which they operate affect organisations. Norms, values and culture make up the institutional norms. They are also called as symbolic elements. Organisations change their structures and strategies not to improve performance but to conform to the norms and standards of the institutional environment. Organisations that conform to the norms and standards are considered as legitimate, lawful and proper. Such organisations are able to obtain the necessary resources. Organisations that lack legitimacy have difficulty in getting the requisite resources.
A manager frequently grapples with change. Why? How? Are there different types? Which is better? Organisational levels? Limitations? Messy & Painful? Our knowledge is fragmented. 3 separate areas of management dealing with change. Organisational theories: Results of the work of scholars and academics. They only study organisational changes than change organisations. No single, unified and coherent theory. Organisational Change Models: Work of academics, consultants and practitioners. They help organisations to change rather than learning about change. Semi-theoretical and semi-practical. 2 types of change models: Descriptive & Prescriptive. Descriptive informs us the way in which organisations change. Prescriptive lay down guidelines for bringing about effective change in organisations. Processes?
Models are useful and less complex than theories and offer practical advice, but tend to be general rather than specific. Organisational Change Tools: Special tools and techniques intended to bring about specific types of changes in organisations.
If we want to change effectively we must integrate theory and practice. It is the combination of right values, right knowledge and right action that leads to productive change. Right Values
We have to distinguish between two types of organisational change. One type includes all the changes that take place inside an organisation computerization, new inventory control, etc. The above is intro organisational change. Another type refers to the organisation as a whole. This is truly organisational Organisational change includes intro organisational. Organisation levers of change
What to change is content of change. How to change is process of change. Four areas which constitute the content of change technology, marketing, quality and costs. In order to bring about changes in these organisations need to change three other aspects. These are strategy, structure and people management. A model of change levers is indicated below: Marketing Technology
Implementation of strategic change is likely to be problematic. Since this involves people, their emotional and personal relationships are involved. Changes are perceived as deviant or normal and threatening or desirable Deviants are those which are imposed or outside the prevailing cultural norms. Such changes are generally met with resistance and require careful implementation to overcome the fear. Changes are implemented top down or bottom up approach Top down is transformational; bottom up is incremental. Top down is perceived as imposed and controlled; while bottom up is participative. BECKHARD suggests 10 organisation prerequisites which must exist before transformational change can be achieved. They are: Priority Prerequisite 1 Ensuring senior management commitment to the proposed changes which needs to be visible to all participants through out the organisation. 2 Producing a written statement about the future direction of the organisation that makes clear its new objectives, values and policies. 3 Creating a shared awareness of conditions to produce a common perception that change must be implemented. 4 Assembling a body of key managers and other important opinion formers to gain their commitment to the change process so that this may be disseminated more widely. 5 Generating an acceptance that this type of change will require a long time to implement fully even though there may be short-term, dramatic changes as part of the overall process of transformation. 6 Recognising that resistance to change is a part of the normal process of adaptation, so that managers can be educated to be aware of this and equipped to manage this reaction. 7 Educating participants about the need for change and training them with the necessary competence to be effective, to overcome resistance and gain commitment. 8 Persevering with the change process and avoiding blame where an attempt to implement a fact of this process fails. Such negative action will generate resistance and reduce necessary risk-taking behaviour. 9 Facilitating the change process with necessary resources. 10 Maintaining open communication about progress, mistakes and subsequent learning.
Hendry & Pettigrew presented the central components of strategic HRM as follows: The use of planning A coherent approach to the design and management of personnel systems based on an employment policy and HR strategy and often emphasized by a philosophy Matching HRM activities and policies to some explicit business strategy. Seeing the people of the organisation as a strategic resource for achieving competitive advantage
Mabey & Salaman model has an open approach to HR strategies. The features are:
Specific HR outcomes or desired employee behaviour has to be adapted to achieve the desired corporate strategy.
The 3 key levers are: cultural, personnel and structural. These 3 contribute to the employees behaviour. A fantastic, idealistic situation, but difficult to achieve.
Corporate Strategy
Culture
Personnel
Structure
Human Resource Outcomes Change is the heart of the open approach to HR strategies as indicated in the sketch above. Used for both top down and bottom up approaches.
Mabey & Salaman suggests three sources HRM is moving from HR specialist to the line manager. In strategic HRM, the HR philosophy has to be integrated with the line manager.
Line Managers:
Communicate plans to their workforce Explain their relevance vis--vis strategy. Operate personnel procedures. Monitor the performances of the procedures.
Increasing importance to the line manager does not signal the death of HR specialist. As shown in the open HRM approach sketch, the HR specialist has a change maker role. The HR specialist.
Has a close awareness of the organisations operating environment and business plans. Devises the personnel strategies for the best HR outcomes. Integrates personnel, structural and cultural strategies. Secures the resources necessary for change programmes. Sells the ideas of HRM changes to other managers.
External Consultants:
Besides line mangers and HR specialists working in concert, external consultants may also be called upon. The external consultant provides the off the shelf recipe for the client. Recommends course of actions Diagnoses the problems Helps managers to implement change measures. They act as catalysts to develop novel solutions. Consultant has to be involved from the beginning to the implementation and stabilization stages.
III MBA CHANGE & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CHANGE MANAGEMENT MODULE 3 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE CHANGE
A. Meaning & Defination:
a) Culture: is a complex whole: which includes
Art Custom
And acquired by a man in society. Two terms are key to the concept of culture History cultural heritage of a society are passed on from generation to generation. Shared phenomenon is basic to culture and implies that the cultural ethos is shared among the members of the society.
Values Expectations
2. Risk Tolerance:
The degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive, innovative and risk seeking.
3. Direction:
The degree to which the organisation creates clear objectives and performance expectations.
4. Integration:
The degree to which units within the organisation are encouraged to operate in a coordinated manner.
5. Management Support:
The degree to which managers provide clear communication, assistance and support to their subordinates.
6. Control:
The number of rules and regulations and the amount of direct supervision that is used to oversee and control employee behaviour.
7. Identity:
The degree to which members identify with the organisation as a whole rather than with their particular work group or field of professional expertise.
8. Reward System:
The degree to which reward allocations are based on employee performance criteria in contrast to seniority, favouritism and so on.
9. Conflict Tolerance:
The degree to which employees are encouraged to air their conflicts and criticism openly.
The degree to which organisational communications are restricted to the formal hierarchy of authority.
When these characteristics are mixed and meshed, we get the essence of culture.
5. A Dependent Culture: Centralisation, formal roles and seeking instructions from seniors all the time for all the activities are the traits of this culture. 6. An Avoidance Culture: Punishing mistakes and no reward to good work characterise this type of organisations. 7. An Oppositional Culture: Awarding negativism and being critical is the virtue in these organisations. Here, members criticize each others decisions. 8. A Power Culture: Using positional power, hierarchical orientation, arbitrariness and subjectivity prevail in the organisations of this culture. 9. A Competitive Culture: Employees are rewards and for exceeding targets, outperforming others and this culture promotes win-lose situations. 10. A Perfectionist Culture: Perseverance, perfection, hard work are valued here and avoiding mistakes is the hallmark of this type. 11. An Achievement Culture: It is characterised by success, achieving targets and accomplishing their own goals and pursuing standards of excellence 12. A Self Actualisation Culture: Creativity, research and development, quality emphasis behaviour is valued in this culture.
Characteristics Rapid change Dismantles traditional values New culture is noncomplex Top down monitored Detailed plans/actions Reasonable, quiet Slow change over to new values Deals with means, not ends Collusion, not confrontation. Continuous development Based on power and control Uses informal network Unseen manipulation High participation Act first, legitimize later Planned and programmed Explicit learning process Socializing Unified, logical network Advocates one world view
It Can Lead to a strong integrated culture. Suit a situation where there is a simple source of authority Loads to a common sense welcoming of new culture Disarm opposition
But it usually Mobilises distant Is politically native Lacks skills, breadth of support leads to crisis of change. Loses sight of its radical intent. Gets seduced back to status quo
2. Conciliative
3. Corrosive
Lead to genuine and large scale change initiated by small scale network Lead to wide scale changes at an informational, technical level
Is used to defined existing order and oppose change initiations. Does not succeed in bringing about fundamental cultural change.
4. Indoctrinative
Culture
2 Managers seeking to create culture change must intervene at these points 1 The first thing to change is peoples behaviour, through direction and training. 2 Indicates the cultural justification for the behaviour of the organisations members. 3 New rituals, new stories and new heroes are needed to be widely and consistently communicated. 4 This step impacts the culture by hiring and socialization of members who match the culture. 5 The way to reinforce a culture is to remove those organisational members whose behaviour deviates from the cultural values of the organisation. Such removal reduces the variances in behaviour and sends to those in the organisation powerful signals relating to appropriate behaviour.
Setting realistic values for culture change. Not promising what the organisations can not deliver. Providing mechanisms for member dissent and diversity. Educating managers about the legal and ethical pit falls inherent in culture change.
Culture depends upon the organisations goals, industry, nature of competition and other factors of environment.
1. Integrated:
Cultures will be more easily recognised when their elements are generally integrated. And elements consistent with each other. They must fit together like pieces of puzzle.
o Stable:
o Accepted:
Most members must at least accept, if not embrace the assumptions and values of culture.
o Implicit:
Cultures evolve from top management. Managements sayings have powerful influence on employees.
o Symbolic:
Management actions are even more important to watchful employees. Employees quickly detect managers lip service.
o Subculture:
Can be characterised as relatively strong or weak. Depends on the degree of impact on employee behaviour
Organisations have to consciously create and manage their cultures. They must be able to communicate to the employees. Examples of formal communication vehicles for transmitting organisational cultures are: o o o o o Executive visions of the firms future Corporate philosophy statements. Codes of ethical conduct. Publicly recognising heroes and heroines. Retelling historical success stories.
Unintentional communication of organisations culture to employees, such as a managers error and an executives forgiveness. 1. Organisational Socialisation:
All cultural communications are put under this umbrella. Is a continuous process of transmitting key elements of an organisations culture to employees. Consists of both formal and informal methods. These approaches help to shape the attitudes, thoughts and behaviour of employees. Organisational socialization is like placing an organisations finger prints on people by planting its own genetic code on them For employees, it is the essential process of learning the ropes to survive and prosper within the firm. Socialization is functional for both workers and their employers.
2. Story Telling:
Managers are encouraged to engage in story telling as a way to forge a culture. It also builds organisational identity. Good stories tap into the emotions of audience. They prove to be powerful ways to create shared meaning and purpose. Stories convey a sense of tradition. Stories convey how in the past problems have been solved. They enhance cohesion around key values. Memorable stories uplift people, entertain and also teach valuable lessons. Story telling is a key means of achieving socialization of employees.
3. Individualization:
Occurs when employees successfully exert influence on the social system around them at work by challenging the culture or deviating from it. The interaction between individualization and socialization is shown in the sketch: High Conformity Socialization (impact of organisational culture on employee acceptance of norms) Isolation Low Low Individualisation (Impact of employee on Organisational culture, Deviation from norms) High Rebellion Creative individualism
The two extremes rebellion and conformity may prove dysfunctional to the organisation. Isolation is not productive. When we assume that the culture of a certain organisation invites its employees to challenge, question and experiment while also not being too disruptive, them creative individualization can infuse new life and ideas for the organisations benefit.
4. Culture Change Methods & effectiveness: Probable Effectiveness Culture Change Method
Very Great Great Moderate Minimal
Train Employees
Reward Behaviours
Use Slogans
There has been considerable debate as to whether culture can be managed! Lot of focus on whether or not it can be modified. Culture can be altered, it can be managed. It can be realigned to the strategic direction on organisation wishes to take. Culture is a dynamic, continuously developing phenomenon Managers can manage culture; change culture; prevent its change; abandon the culture; or destroy the culture. Top down and bottom up are two of the approaches by HRM for change of culture. 1. Typical frameworks for managing culture change: As suggested by Beckhard the general principles for successful cultural change are as follows: f) Know & understand the current values, cultures, patterns of behaviour within the organisations and strategic directions of the organisation. g) Work out a desired strategy and desired culture and ensure they match and congruent. h) Identify the gap between actual and desired culture and take steps to move the actual culture to the desired culture.
Prior to any culture change, senior management must understand the implications of the new culture for their own practices, artifacts and declared values and be involved in all the main change phases. The reality of achieving this is very complex and organisations with similar backgrounds and similar environments develop different cultures at different situations. Adequate resources need to be allocated to support culture change and maintain it, once it has been achieved. Culture change programs must pay careful attention to the organisations power bases and opinion leaders such as trade unions and employees association
Culture change programs must take into account an organisations existing practices and approaches in recruitment, selection and retention, training, performance management and employee relations. In order to create a change in culture, organisations need to decide how practices or procedures will be amended to support the new espoused values and contradictory practices removed. Every opportunity should be taken to close the cultural gaps, reinforce the existing culture to achieve the newly espoused cultures and values.
Often called programmatic change Typically initiated and led from the top. Writes on corporate excellence follow this. To succeed, it is crucial that employees have the necessary capabilities and behaviours to realize the necessary change. Typically looks towards organisation-wide consensus, and focusing on existing values and cultures. Change of organisation structure, management of office space, provision of educations and training, HRD programmes like quality, excellence, empowerment, performance related pay are a few HR interventions for change of culture. Top-down draw backs: o Messages of initiative, autonomy and innovation are usually conveyed through bureaucratic methods such as team briefings, etc., o Employee believes the new culture conflicts with their existing culture.
Focuses on incremental approach Change is developed from bottom up. Such changes are tied to an organisations critical path Based on solving concrete business problems, called task alignment Task alignment could be achieved through a series of overlapping steps taken at the business level as shown below: 6 Evaluate outcomes of changes and amend vision and actions as necessary FINISH 5
Confirm changes by ensuring that policies, procedures and structures support them
organisation
3 Work towards common agreements of the vision and skills and actions to carry it forward
Work jointly to develop a vision for the future of the organisation START
Start to ensure commitment to the change by involving people in defining the problems
Focuses on parts of the organisation away from the corporate headquarters level. Emphasis on individuals shared commitment and vision as a prerequisite for change. Change is enabled by developing peoples abilities and through improved co-ordination between people. Results generate stronger commitment. The appropriateness of a chosen strategy will depend upon the organisation and what an organisation wishes through cultural change.
The relative importance, weight and value will differ between organisations. What is effective or appropriate in one situation may not be in another. Bates development of design parameters for cultural change Parameters Expressiveness Aspect of the organisation Affective (feelings) Description
component The ability of the cultural change approach adopted to express a new symbol which captures employees attention and excites or converts them.
Social components The ability of the culture change (relationships) approach adopted to create a shared common understanding and sense of common purpose amongst a group of employees or the whole organisation. Demographic The ability of the culture change component approach adopted to spread through (number/depth) out all levels of an organisation and to affect employees basic underlying assumptions
Penetration
Commonality
Adoptability
The ability of the culture change approach adopted to adjust to changing organisational and wider environmental circumstances.
Durability
Institutional component The ability of the culture change (structure) approach adopted to create a lasting culture.
At the start of a culture change process, expressiveness may be considered more important whilst commonality and penetration are considered as less important. However, as the process continues and the new culture is spread through out at all levels of the organisation, commonality and penetration may become more important.
5. Relative Effectiveness of Top-Down Approach and Bottom-up Approaches to cultural change across different Design Parameters of cultural change: Parameters Expressiveness Level of Effectiveness of Top-Down Approaches Bottom-up approaches High deal in simple Low in short term focus on messages and specialise in concrete problem generates communicating these lots of detail rather than a new effectively and reasonably symbol quickly at the practice/artifact level Low promoted unifying High operates through feeling often ceases after shared understanding and formal program ends; methods creates a culture of trust and often lead to resistance and understanding. lack of common ownership Variable depends on ability of interventions to affect more than just practices or artifacts: highly structured programs likely to reach all employees Low tend to be inflexible and imply instant fix programmed nature implies conformity and devalues deviance. Low in short term involves only part of the organisation High on long term involves discussing proposals and implications with employees High concrete problems lead willing to accommodate new views and find best fit with organisational requirements.
Adaptability
Penetration
Commonality
Low based on senior managements desires; lack of ownership by employees likely to be highest with transformational change
High employees are keen to preserve what they have created; especially high when a development of existing practices which employees own rather than transformational change.
A global economy is now a reality. The shape of international trade has changed dramatically in recent years with the emergence of European Community, revolutionary changes in the former Soviet Union & Eastern Europe and strong markets developing in China, India, Japan, Korea and many other emerging nations. Many organisations, now do business in more than one country. These multinational organisations add powerful new dimensions to organisational behaviour. These multinational organisations add powerful new dimensions to organisational behaviour. They encompass different social, legal, political communication and economic environments. Conditions affecting Multinational operations:
People of the world are organised into communities and nations, each in its own way, according to its resources and cultural heritage. There are similarities and significant differences. a) Social Conditions:
Durability
The two approaches effectiveness differs across the parameters. No approach is the best fit any organisation. No one approach will give everything we require. Strategy for culture change should be tailored to the requirements of the organisation at a particular time. Top-down approach brings relatively rapid changes in the organisation. Bottom-up approach takes a longer time. Managing organisational culture change is extremely complex. It needs to take account of the existing culture. Also what type of change we need transformational or developmental WHIPP says: culture is a Pandoras box
In many countries the overriding social condition is poorly developed human resources.
There are major shortages of managerial personnel, scientists and technicians. These deficiencies limit the ability to employ local labour productively. Needed skills must be imported temporarily from other countries. Parallely vast training programs begin to prepare the local workforce. Lending of skilled people to a nation for training their local replacements may provide a more lasting benefit to its development than lending the capital. What is called as training multiplier effect or ripple-effect of self development comes into action. Loaned skilled people develop others; and those trained locals become the nucleus for developing still more people. A significant social condition in many countries is that the local culture is not familiar with the advanced technology or complex organisations. Another social factor on which countries are often compared is the work ethic of their employees long/short hours.
Countries around the world vary substantially in their legal systems. Their employment practices and their business practices vary. A major issue affecting multinational corporations has been how to deal with contrasting local practices, customs and behaviours. Managers need to be aware of the possible differences in both laws and ethical values that define acceptable and unacceptable behaviours in foreign countries. Managers in foreign countries need to become familiar with local customs and practices. They need to recognise that the resolution of ethical issues are not always clear cut Another major issue revolves around the treatment of women and other minorities.
c) Political Conditions:
The following have a significant effect on organisational behaviour: o Instability of the government o Nationalistic drives foreigners cornered. o Subordination of employers and labour to an authoritarian state.
d) Economic Conditions:
Rapid population increases coupled with a lack of national economic growth make it unlikely that family incomes will progress significantly. As a result natives of those countries may not believe that additional effort on their part will earn associated rewards. Inflation makes the economic life of workers insecure. Money loses its value rapidly, social unrest increases. Tremendous disparity in distribution of wealth starts. Then, some workers passively accept the situation; others aggressively protest. All these factors make it difficult to motivate employees. Looking at social, legal, ethical, political and economic conditions as a whole, bad condition causes hurdle in the introduction of advanced technology and sophisticated organisation systems. They constrain the stability, security and trained human resources that developing countries require to be more productive. These limiting conditions cannot be changed rapidly. Instead they are too well established and woven into the whole social fabric of the nation. They represent a critical environmental condition to which the managers of international operations must adapt.
Culture determines behaviours. Behaviour in organisational settings varies across cultures. Human resource practices too, vary across cultures. Differing standards of living and varied geographical conditions can also cause variations in behaviour. But culture is the determining factor. Culture may be understood as the all encompassing: o Shared beliefs o Norms o Values that guide the everyday life of individuals.
These beliefs, norms and values are passed on to future generations through cultural rituals, stories and symbols. Cultural norms:
o Prescribe behaviours and practices. o They tell us what we can do and what we cannot.
Cultural Values:
Tell us what is most dear to our hearts. Americans for example value freedom most; Japanese find a higher value in belongingness in a group; Arab culture concentrates on their own family security and relying on god for destiny. Cultural values also have a major influence on the way people relate to each other and also to what they aspire for in a job. In many hierarchical cultures (like India, Japan, etc) the meaning and value of a job lies more in the status than in the pay packet. People also expect recognition for seniority and age in hierarchical culture. In more egalitarian culture (like US, Germany, etc), people expect reward and compensation for their performance rather than for their seniority. Culture not only influences behaviour and human resources but also life style like elegance, elitism and concern for form. Cultural values of the society define the meaning and reason of business and how it is organised. In many cultures, cultural values of the society define the meaning and reason of business and how it is organised high profits are not a criterion Arabs, Italy, Spain, Latin American countries Sometimes cultural differences have a direct impact on the strategic orientation of companies like USA companies emphasize on more profits, dividends and stock prices while Japanese companies focus more on new product development and market share.
Cultural Symbols, Stories and rituals: It is important to communicate the norms, values and beliefs of a society to its members. Culture is passed on from one generation to another through its symbols, stories and rituals. Culture is continuously reinforced when people see symbols, hear stories and engage in rituals.
f) Culture Clusters:
Countries that share cultural similarities form cultural clusters. Cultural clusters do have some differences but similarities are predominant. International business utilizes the culture clustering approach in formulating their global strategies.
He identified four cultural dimensions around which countries have been clustered with people in each group exhibiting identical behaviours. The 4 dimensions are: Power Distance; Uncertainty avoidance; Individualism and Masculinity/Feminity. 1) Power Distance:
Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of countries companies and organisations accept that power is distributed unequally. Countries in which people blindly obey the orders of superiors have high power distance.
High power distance countries have norms, values and beliefs such as:
Inequality is fundamentally good. Everyone has a place; some are high, some are low. Most people should be dependent on a leader. The powerful are entitled to privileges, and The powerful should not hide their power
In high power distance countries generally people dislike work People try to avoid the work. Managers believe that they must adopt theory X leadership style. Managers believe that they must be authoritarian, must force workers to perform, and must supervise their subordinates closely.
Decision make is centralised. Those at the top make most of the decisions. Organisations tend have tall structures. They will have a large proportion of supervisory personnel People at low level have low of job qualifications. Such structures encourage and promote inequality between people at different levels.
Tend to be decentralized. Have flatter organisation structures Have smaller proportion of supervisory personnel Have highly qualified people in the lower state of workforce.
USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, Norway, etc., represent cultures with lower distance.
France, India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia are examples of societies with a high power distance.
2) Uncertainty Avoidance:
Is the extent to which people threatened by ambiguous situations? Employees in some cultures value clarity and feel very comfortable receiving specific directions from their supervisors. These employees have a high level of uncertainty avoidance and prefer to avoid ambiguity at work.
High uncertainty avoidance countries are characterized by norms, values and beliefs which accept that: Conflict should be avoided. Deviant people and idea should not be tolerated. Laws are very important and should be followed, Experts and authorities are usually correct, and Consensus is important.
Countries with high uncertainty avoidance culture have: A great deal of structuring of organisational activities. More written rules. Less risk taking managers. Low labour turnover Less ambitious employees
Societies with low uncertainty avoidance cultures have: Less structuring of activities. Fewer written rules More risk taking by managers Higher labour turnover More ambitious employees Organisation encourages employees to use their initiative and assume responsibility for their actions.
3) Individualism/Collectivism:
Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and their family only. Collectivism is the tendency of people to belong to groups and to look after each in exchange for loyalty.
Individualism is common in US, Canada, Australia, Denmark & Sweden. People of Indonesia, India, Pakistan and a number of South American countries exhibit collectivism. Countries high on individualism have norms, values, and beliefs which accept that:
People are responsible for themselves. Individual achievement is ideal and People need not be emotionally dependent on organisations or groups.
Ones identity is based on ones group membership. Group decision making is best, and Groups protect individuals in exchange for their loyalty to the group.
In a collectivist organisation:
Tend to promote nepotism in selecting managers. Promotions are mostly based on seniority and age. Important decisions are made by older senior managers.
In a individualistic organisation:
Favouritism shown to friends and relatives is considered to be unfair and even illegal. Promotions are based on ones performance Decision making is an individuals responsibility.
4) Masculinity/Feminity:
Masculinity refers to a situation in which the dominant values in a society are success, money, and other material things. Highly masculine cultures have norms, values and beliefs that: Gender roles should be clearly distinguished. Men are assertive and dominant. Machismo or exaggerated maleness is good. People, especially men, should be decisive. Work takes priority over other duties, such as family, and Advancement, success and money are important.
In highly masculine societies, jobs are clearly defined by gender. There are mens jobs and womens jobs. Men usually choose jobs that are associated with long term careers. Women usually choose jobs that are associated with short term employment, before marriage.
L. Cultural Adjustment:
The process of cultural adjustment is a critical determinant of an expatriates performance. Adjustments to a foreign culture are multifaceted, and individuals vary in terms of their reactions and copying behaviours. The concept of an adjustment cycle or U curve shows that typical phases that may be encountered during cultural adjustment. Adjustment Phase-1 Phase 3 Phase 2 Phase 4
The curve is based on psychological reactions to the overseas assignments and comprise 4 phases. Phase 1:
The expatriate may experience a range of positive and negative emotions such as excitement anxiety, fear of the unknown, sense of adventure and so on. There can be an upswing of mood upon arrival in the assignment country that produces a honeymoon phase. Then novelty fades off, realities of everyday life in an alien land starts. A slow negative appraisals of location and situation leads to a crisis.
Phase 2:
This is a very critical time. The way the expatriate copes with the psychological adjustment at this phase has an important outcome in terms of success or failure. A haunting thought, failure as an early recall may be triggered at this point.
Phase 3:
Once the individual passes this crisis point, he comes in terms with the demands of the new environment. Then, there is an upswing The person begins to adjust to the new environment.
Phase 4:
The bottom of the U-shaped curve is marked by culture shock, which is the expatriates reaction to a new, unpredictable and uncertain environment. Culture shock is a natural response to the stress of immersing oneself in the new environment. Service culture shock is often a positive sign indicating that the expatriate is becoming deeply involved in the new culture instead of remaining isolated in an expatriate ghetto
What are the motivations of people in international settings? In multicultural work environments, not everyone is motivated by the same factors. Motivational processes, approaches, and applications reflect the culture of the country directly or indirectly. The table below shows the motivational approaches and cultural factors for three distinct cultures. Factor American Management Leadership styles friendliness Control Emotional appeal Recognition Material awards Threats Japanese Persuasion; functional group activities Group harmony Arab Coaching; personal attention; parenthood Of others/ parenthood
Independence decision making space, time, money Opportunity Group participation Religion; company success nationalistic; admiration Individual Group identity Individual status contribution belonging to group class/society promotion Salary, commission Annual bonus, Gift for self/family; profit sharing social services, family affair; salary fringe benefits increase Loss of job Out of group Demotion
Cultural values
Competition, risk Group harmony; Reputation; family taking; material achievements; security; religion possession; freedom belonging social status
A multinational leader needs to possess certain unique qualities to become successful in global settings. An international manager emotional intelligence. a) EI has a set of 5 individual and social competencies; they are: self awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.
Self awareness: is the ability to recognise and understand ones moods, emotions and drives as well as their effects on other people. Leaders with a high level of self-awareness exhibits self confidence, a realistic self assessment and a self deprecating humour. Self regulation: is the ability to control redirect disruptive impulses and moods the ability to think before doing. Leaders with a high level of self regulation exhibit trustworthiness, integrity, comfort with ambiguity and openness to change. Motivation: is reflected in a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status. Leaders high on motivation exhibit remarkable commitment, drive to achieve and optimism. organisational
Empathy: refers to understanding the emotional make up of other people and skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. Leaders with a high level of empathy demonstrates an ability to build and retain talent in their organisation, show cross cultural sensitivity and become known for offering great services to clients and customers. Social skill: refers to the proficiency in managing relationships and building networks along with an ability to find common ground and to build rapport. Leaders with a high level of social skill are effective at leading change, show a superior ability to build and lead teams and become known for their persuasiveness.
In international settings, the leadership needs to be situational. Successful leadership in multinational companies requires that managers adjust their leadership styles to fit the different situations. Such responses are required while dealing with contingency factors such as subordinates characteristics. Also in response to the cultural and institutional context of the multinational country locations.
Universalism of leadership is a new concept. This means, whether or not effective leaders act similarly regardless of their respective culture. Transformational leadership is projected as an approach which can cut across all cultural barriers. TL is effective in any organisation anywhere in the world. TL represents a higher level of leadership. T Leaders are visionary agents with a sense of mission. They are capable of motivating their followers to accept new goals and new ways of doing things. The transformational leader has following attributes: 1. Articulates a vision:
Presents in vivid and emotional terms an idealized vision of future of the organisation What it can and should become And makes the vision clear to all in organisation.
Has a strong desire to break from tradition An expert in finding ways to do things differently. Challenges subordinates to find new solutions to old problems.
Has a vision that is future oriented. Provides clear steps for followers to transform the company.
Places the goals in emotion laden stories. Or a cultural context so that subordinates see the need to follow the leaders ideals. Subordinates share a commitment to radical change. Helps subordinates envision a future state of a better organisation.
5. Takes risks:
Is willing to take more risks with the organisation than the average leader.
6. Is motivated to lead:
Seeks leadership positions. Displays strong enthusiasm for the leadership role. Acts as a role model
Transformational leaders are not new to the present century. Max Weba, a German sociologist recognised the existence of this leadership throughout history. He called this leadership as Charisma And noted that existed in all cultures. He said; Jesus Christ, Muhammad were among the first transformational leaders. Most people also consider MK Gandhi & Martin Luther King as representatives of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders succeed because subordinates respond to them with high levels of performance, personal devotion, reverence, excitement regarding the leaders ideas, and a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the company. However, true transformational leaders are rare.
High context cultures such as China, Korea and Japan tend to emphasize personal relationships, place high value on trust, focus on non verbal cues. Impress upon the need to attend to social needs before business matters. Low-context cultures such as Germany, USA and Scandinavian countries. Tend to rely on written rules and documents. Conduct business first and value expertise and performance Lack of attention to these factors results in costly failures for expatriates.
2. Parochialism:
The dominant feature of all international operations is that they are conducted in a social system different from the one in which the organisation is based. This new social system affects the responses of all persons involved. Managers and employees who come to a host country exhibit a variety of behaviours true to the citizens of their homeland. Many are predisposed to parochialism. They see the situations around them from their own perspective. They fail to recognise the key differences between their own and others cultures. Even if they do, they tend to conclude that the impact of those differences is insignificant. In effect they are assuming that the two cultures are more similar than they actually are.
3. Ethnocentrism:
Another potential barrier to easy adaptation to another culture occurs when people are predisposed to believe that their homeland conditions are the best. This predisposition ethnocentrism is known as the self-reference criterion or
It interferes with the understanding of human behaviours in other cultures. Further productivity from local employees is also reduced. In order to integrate the imported and local systems, expatriate employees minimally need to develop cultural empathy This is the awareness of differences across cultures. This is the understanding of the ways in which those differences can affect business relationships. This is an appreciation of the contribution each culture make to overall success.
4. Cultural distance:
Predicting the amount of adaptation that may be required when an expatriate manager moves to another country requires an understanding of the culture distance between the two countries.
Cultural distance is the amount of difference between any two social systems and may vary from minimal to maximal. Cultural distance affects the responses of all people to business related issues. Ethnocentric problems may be magnified by cultural distances.
5. Cultural Shock:
Companies often assign employees to new job assignments in different areas to provide them with invaluable breadth of experience. The employees who move to new job locations of the experience various degrees of cultural shock Which is a feeling of confusion, insecurity and anxiety caused by a strong new environment? They fail to act properly and lose their self-confidence. A cultural change does not have to be dramatic to cause some degree of shook-like moving from a big town to a small town. For unprepared employee, the new environment can appear to be chaotic and somewhat overwhelming. The new environment may be as systematic as the culture of the employee. Although it is different, it can be understood if employees have receptive attitudes. They should dedicate themselves to learn the new culture and adapt to it. Cultural shock is even greater when an employee moves from one nation to another. Such shock is even greater when an employee moves from one nation to another. Such shocks are in four phases. First phase: they are excited and stimulated by the challenge of a new job, home and culture. Second phase: positive attitude is soon followed by, disillusionment as they discover various problems they had not anticipated regarding travel, shopping or language skills. Third phase: critical stage, tend to suffer cultural shock, which is insecurity and disorientation caused by encountering all sorts of different cultures. They may not know how to act, may fear losing face and self confidence, or emotionally upset. Fourth phase: if they survive the first few weeks, they will reach the fourth phase, that of adaptation. At this point, they accept the new culture, regain a sense of self esteem and respond constructively to their new surroundings at work and home.
Cultural shock is virtually universal. It occurs in response to: Dramatic differences in languages. Forms of country Customs Housing conditions Privacy Time Activity HR Practices Currency Work attitudes Strange language. New food Separation from friends and relatives. Different management philosophies, etc.
Employees who are low in ethnocentrism and Who are less prone to troublesome characteristics, may be chosen They should have a desire to experience another culture. They should have a desire to live in another nation. Potential employees should have a capability to learn the new language quickly. An attitude to learn the new culture and the family culture is necessary.
2. Compatible Assignments:
Adjustments to new surroundings is easier if employees, especially on their first international assignments, are sent to nations that are similar to their own. These are grouped into 6 socio cultural clusters: Anglo American USA, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ Nordic group Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark Latin European Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium Latin American Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela Pacific Rim Cluster Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea Central European Group Germany, Austria, Switzerland. Israel, Brazil & India do not fall into any group
3. Pre-departure Training:
Learn the local language Helps to reduce, personal and organisational costs. Faster cultural adaptation. Better communications; lesser misunderstanding. Creates better impression. Training includes geography, customs, culture, language and political environments.
Efforts to quickly settle the employee and family. Assistance in housing, transportation and shopping. A mentor may help a lot during transition. The previous job holder may also stay back for sometime and assist. The local national working for the same organisation can also assist. Support for intensified need deficiencies like financial difficulties, inconveniences, insecurities, separation from relatives and friends. Extra pay, fringe benefits, better positions.
Repatriation has to be smoothly blended. Often tend to suffer cultural shock in their own homeland reverse cultural shock. After enjoying a new culture, coming back to their homeland culture needs time to adjust. Better autonomy emoluments, position, power in host country best less in home country. Companies need repatriation policies.
Forces inhibiting and supporting cultural adaptation: Inhibiting Forces Supporting Forces
Cultural Adaptation
Careful Selection Compatible assignments Pre-departure training Orientation & support Preparation for reentry
Besides verbal communications, non verbal communications are also important. Non-verbal communication is called as cross cultural communications. They include:
Relative values for time efficiency Values of life Eye contact Posture Meaning of silence Language
Thought patterns Personal space Physical appearance Gestures Legitimacy of touch Clusters
The strategy for change are implemented through three change levers, which are o Structure o Process o Culture
If people within the organisation do not change, the organisation can not change. Fundamental requirement for effecting change management is the understanding of: The nature of human response to change Overcoming individual and group resistance to change, and Tuning the organisation to change. a) Human Response to Change:
Individuals fear and seek change, both Change is resisted as much as stagnation is Continuity without change leads to stagnation, boredom and frustration Change without continuity or stability leads to ambiguity, conflict and the inability to cope with the situation. Change may be perceived as an opportunity or a threat. Change, to many individuals, means learning new skills, and new routines, and acquiring new relationships, while abandoning the familiar, accustomed and proven ways of doing things. Individuals tend to perceive change as a discontinuity, to be avoided or coped with Individuals may not resist change. What they resist is being changed. Hence it is difficult to impose change. Change that is internal to an individual is far better accepted than change externally imposed. Change is always a threat when done to people, but an opportunity when it is done by people. Change is intensely personal. For change to occur in any organisation, each individual must think, feel or do something different. Change gives rise to emotions. These emotions can vary from being intensely negative to being appreciably positive. Organisations can not ignore, deny or suppress emotions at work. Managing change, therefore, requires managing employee feelings to generate positive excitement for the intended change and change process. The strategy to make people to accept change, then, seems to lie in making them choose it. To make an individual choose change, we need to understand what factors make him prone to it and what prompts him to resist it.
Any change is as good as the willingness of the one affected by it. It is apparent that individuals need to own their responsibilities and be clear about the results to which they are accountable. b) Dealing with Individuals for Change Management:
Create a culture where employees seek change, and are not afraid to think and act differently to make change happen. Change should not be what happens to them in the organisation but what they can make happen in the organisation. Build a positive imagery for its employees of the envisaged change to reflect a better future. Individuals can manage change well if it gives them positive emotions rather than negative emotions. Individuals, often, behave to maximize win, minimize loss and want to have a control in their behaviour. They avoid risk, have fear of failure and feeling of incompetence. Support the change process with adequate resources, process and facilities. When such supportive structures exist, individuals may even welcome change rather than resist it. The above are intrinsic to the change management process. The organisational leadership has to examine the following also during the initiation of change. 11. Employee attitudes for change:
Individuals tend to fall into any one of the attitudinal continuums, namely: Aggressive resistance Passive resistance Neutral Campers Passive acceptance Active involvement
Climbers
Personal Loss: Job security Salary and income Pride and satisfaction Job nature Friendship and associations Freedom Negative Attitudes:
ii)
iii)
Lack of Involvement: Some people resist change because they have not been involved in the change process. Their ideas have not been sought for Some others are very sensitive about change since they have wrong or incomplete information. Personal Criticism:
iv)
Change may be considered as a personal affront. Some think, it questions ones capabilities and performance. Seen as a challenge to ones authority. Loss of Status and authority:
v)
Change may lead to the relegation of ones job to lower levels in the hierarchy. May be loss of ones authority and power. Inappropriate Timing:
vi)
Change is generally introduced at a time when business is not good and everyone is already burdened with extra work to tide over the bad times. The way that change is introduced may also not be to everyones liking. Cognitive Rigidity:
vii)
Some people do not see the need for change or may not be convinced about the arguments in favour of change. Others still find the old practices that have evolved overtime, the best. Challenging Authority:
viii)
Some people resist change to challenge authority. Or oppose disliked bosses who are in favour of change.
People welcome change when it benefits them. The benefits could be: security, monetary and other benefits, status and authority, personal satisfaction, job nature and opportunities to contribute to and determine the change process.
14. Integration:
A number of quantitative & qualitative techniques are available. This classifies individuals into different categories in the attitudinal continuum. Surveys like questionnaires, interviews and observation methods are useful.
Individuals need to be motivated to accept change. A feeling of dissatisfaction to be generated with the existing state of organisation. The idea that a change is good for everybody should be driven home. We gave to deal with an individuals attitude to overcome his resistance to change. Attitude consists of cognitive, conative and affective dimensions. Cognitive refers ones perceptions, beliefs and values Conative refers ones action tendencies. Affective refers ones emotional component of likes and dislikes. To overcome resistance, we have to deal with the above components.
Though appropriate structures, systems and processes are necessary, they alone are not sufficient to bring in the change. It is the individuals who work within the structures and systems and on the tasks and processes, who make the change to happen and achieve highest levels of performance. Organisations have to deal with individual attitudes and behaviours to tap individual wisdom their experience, intelligence and judgement in managing the change. Creative and intellectual energies of the individuals should be diverted to the change initiatives of the organisation.
BRAVADO
Response Change Highly emotional, low conflict tolerance Aggressive level, low self confidence, stubborn, resistance to argumentative, critical, rigid, dogmatic, change non-companionable, skeptical, impatient, high fear of uncertainty and failure. Slow, unambitious, conservative, cold, Passive resistance aloof, shy, withdrawn, indecisive, silent, to change defensive, high fear of failure, low conflict tolerance level, unable to face problems Receptive, consistent, patient, stable, High in change rigid, predictable, co-operative, moralistic, acceptance when sensitive to failure and punishment, self change is critical, overly dependent, trustful, formalized. relation oriented, respectful and fearful of authority. Reckless, brash, stubborn, overbearing, Aggressive risky, independent, self-centered, resistance impulsive, unbending, persistent, retaliative, short-term perspective Behavioural Description Diplomatic, self-centrical cautious, less moralistic, secretive, superficial, inclined to oversell, aggressive, scheming, plays to his advantage. Receptive, social, convincible, cordial, warm, dependable, patient, amiable, stable, predictable, systematic, cooperative, trustful, integrative of other peoples ideas, self sacrificing, respects authority. Brave, forceful, dynamic, decisive, selfreliant, demanding, persuasive, optimistic, determined, enthusiastic, individualistic, task-oriented, high sense of achievement, adventurous, poised. Natural, but can be positive or negative depending upon his advantage. Passive acceptance active involvement. to
ACCOMMODATOR
OPPORTUNIST
CONFORMIST
OSTRICH
VANQUISHER
Inventive, original, positive, self-reliant, receptive, persuasive convincing, capable of empathy, open minded, realistic, problem solver, integrative of other peoples ideas, equalitarian, interpersistent
Active self involvement and capable of involving others in the change process.
Ones own perceptions, opinions and beliefs often act as the precursor to ones response to change. To create readiness in an individual for change, his/her cognitions have to be positively influenced. Cognitive changes tend to occur in individuals when information is presented in a logical and coherent.
Cognitive Changes: Change Mechanisms: 2. Explaining the nature and direction of change:
The change process has to be clear, well knit and integrated. Employees have to be aware of the focus, scope and expected outcomes of change, the company strategy and its competitive advantage. Core competency required and plan of action for managing change has to be clearly stated. Responsibility of each person in relation to the companys strategy has to be understood. Top management should be committed to the intended change. Employees cognize the explicit and implicit behaviours exhibited by senior managers. Behaviours of senior managers influence employees perceptions and beliefs. It is not only what managers say, but what and how they do, send signals to others in terms of their fourth and commitment to the change process.
2. Communication:
Effective communication is fundamental to change management. It is important to communicate the intended change and the reasons for it in advance and as completely as possible. This has to be done individually and in groups. Such a talk gets a feedback from employees regarding their hopes, fears and expectations.
STRATEGIST
Communications about change have to be clear, precise, reliable and perhaps repeated and number of times to drive home its importance and the depth of the managements commitment. The messages must be credible and take a variety of forms. It employees have to be attended to change; communication should lead to optimism, hope and a positive outcome. Persuasive communications may be resorted to in times of urgency and crisis and when employees are either in high or low state of readiness for change. Oral persuasive communication is carried out through speeches. Written communications are through specific written documents. Non routine communications are through media.
Values are basic to human behaviour. The values talked about in change management are: o What are the values to be espoused if the change needs to be implemented? o How are they similar to ones personal value? o How to bring about changes in personal values if need be?
Organisations have to identify the values basic to the change initiative and implementation. These values are based on group and individual behaviours and also the work processes. These values have to be shared and imbibed by all through out the organisation. These values enable and stable and trustworthy relationships. Values tie together people, systems and processes. Value may be generated by discussion and active employee involvement at all levels in the organisation. Once a set of values are collectively agreed upon, they tend to form a benchmark for individuals to adopt, modify and realign their personal values. Values agreed upon should be documented. Work can be soulful enchanting experience when employees strongly believe in what they do and are convinced about what the company is or should be doing. If not, all our vision and mission statements are only decorative pieces in the corporate lobby.
o Employee Training:
Competitive organisations required knowledge workers who are capable of performing jobs related to corporate goals and market needs and demands. Knowledge provides a competitive advantage. New ways of training employees aimed at thinking skills and multiskill development have to be planned. Employees should be considered as a resource, not a cost. Employee training sets the supportive climate for change management when it is competency driven for the current and future demands. Current skills have to be assessed and future skills needed for the business determined and the training skills decided to bridge the gap. Training should be run like business, delivering value to the work process, organisation and employee competency. Training should bring forth: Inherent talents. Desire to acquire information, knowledge and skills. Urge to accomplish Preference with passion
o Participative Management:
Facilitates the release of ones inherent enthusiasm and creativity for the benefit of the entire organisation. It prompts the people in the direction of group support and leads to acceptance of change. It provides opportunities for employees to learn by their own activities and to exercise control over the outcome. Participation needs to be managed carefully or else it creates more problems. To be successful a climate of interpersonal trust and open communication should prevail within the organisation. Building effective teams takes years, needing constant monitoring and reviewing. Vicarious learning where employees observe organisations that have benefitted from implementing new or innovative techniques and practices. Vicarious learning is facilitated by study/observation trips to innovative organisations and further involving employees in benchmarking their best practices.
Individuals fear and seek change, both Change affects human emotion.
If an organisation has to implement change, it has to anticipate individual feelings about the intended change and deal with their emotions in positive and constructive ways. Dealing with human emotions could be in terms of: Creating feeling of psychological safety about change. Creating positive feelings about the desired state and the change process. Focusing on the benefits of change at the individual level. Demonstrating some of the benefits of change early in the change process. Addressing avoidance learning focusing on intended change as the only alternative to avoid/overcome fear or insecurity. Affective Changes Change Mechanism 5. Employee empowerment:
To empower is to give autonomy to an employee enabling him to make decisions on his job and accountable for his actions. It is the integrating of ownership, authority and accountability at work. To be successfully implemented, employee empowerment depends upon a number of factors. o Commitment on the part of top management in real earnest. o How willing are superiors to share their authority down the line through out the organisation? o Willingness on the part of employees to make decisions and be accountable for their actions. o Are employees suitably trained to be empowered? o Is the organisational culture & climate conducive for empowerment? o Do the employees perceive meaningfulness in what they do? o Is the information shared to empower the people? o Sustaining employee empowerment.
6. Employee as partners:
Employees tend to entertain positive emotions for the organisation and the work they do when they are also stakeholders in the company. A personal sense of ownership motivates employees to take the initiative, generate productive ideas, and feel responsible for improving organisational performance. Stock ownership may be performance based. Company shares may be given at concessional rates. The approach promotes a binding relationship.
For success trust between the employee and management is necessary. Employees are also given to understand how much they contribute to; how much they cost to the company. Financial rewards and financial health are tied up.
7. Compensation System:
Managing change through people behaviour is possible when the desired behaviour is appropriately rewarded. Organisations should create a meaningful reward system. Rewards are financial and non-financial. Rewards are effective when a certain value is built into the rewards a value which is a part of the performance rather than a pretension. Rewards should have the following characters: o Clarity and specification (expected performance and work behaviours) o Immediacy (delayed rewards lose values) o Magnitude (commensurate) o Individuality (personalization; not all rewards are same)
The major demotivators are perceived unfairness in dispensing rewards. Types of rewards Power rewards (higher responsibilities) Pay for performance Pay for knowledge and skill
Some employees may have negative emotions towards the intended change. These negative emotions must be understood to successfully handle. Some of the ways to do this are: o Empathy o Modeling o Shock therapy o Mentoring o Manipulation o Employee counseling
Resistance to change occurs due to unwillingness to deviate from habitual behaviours or from reluctance to acquire new skills and behaviours. Tohat are the factors for change under conation? 1. Clarifying Contractual Obligations:
Change benefits the organisation; change benefits the employee; there is a mutuality of interest. Mutuality is the basis for the release of human energy for effective change management. For every employee there is a psychological contract with the organisation may be explicit or implicit. The psychological contract has two dimensions: the personal goals of a human being and the organisational goals. Job activities and responsibilities have to redefine due to the change management and changes in the job design and performance. Therefore, a new job contract is necessary to be made which aligns with overall corporate strategy which the employee must understand and agree after discussions with the management. Now, a new role relationship, too, starts.
Learning occurs with actions; no actions without learning. Tasks or activities are the basis for learning Action learning leads to continuous improvement and performance of self leading to overall improvement of the organisation. Action learning is a social process. Where the employee accepts his job duties and responsibilities, solves task related problems, constantans improves actions, accepts supportive criticism for improvements
3. Cross Training:
Training is provision of information and skills. Employees today should be enabled to perform a variety of tasks rather than a few limited jobs. Such skills can come by cross training. Cross training provides a flexible force and flexible factory. Cross training facilitates job rotation, wherein an employee can switch periodically from one job to another.
With this the employee brings a fresh perspective to each job in addition to what has learnt already. It also solves the shortage of manpower. Cross training can be across different functional areas like finance and marketing. An employees career path need not be limited to vertical mobility. It could also be diagonal. Cross trained employees tend to be amenable to and willing for organisational change initiatives since a number of skills have already been built into their behavioural repertoire. Success of cross functional training depends upon employee willingness to learn new skills on the job.
Positive attitudes to such training is built if employees are rewarded for acquiring new skills. 4. Employee elasticity: Stretching the Potential:
Good HR stretch employees to the maximum of their potential ability to work. Stretching employee potential facilitates change management. Within the limits of mental elasticity human capabilities at work could be stretched to the optimum to meet the global business competition. Any kind of mental stretching should be done gradually by exposing one to changes of graded difficulties, thus slowly stepping up ones self confidence. Some techniques in stretching limits manage change are: o Sensitivity training o Participative management o Behavioural modification o Job rotation o Cross training o Role play, etc.
To create the right climate for employees to take an active interest in the change process and achieve the intended results, there should be the necessary support structure, a learning environment within the organisation and the free sharing of information. Supportive climate Organisational design: o Organisational processes, systems, and activities together form the organisation structure which supports the organisation. o The people in the organisation structure, the way they adapt, modify and develop are important.
Organisations should create a learning environment where people can acquire advanced knowledge and skill. The present day business needs speed, flexibility and innovation in all activities.
Supportive climate information sharing: o The commonest way of bringing about change in employee attitudes and performance is through information sharing. o Employees should know what the company plans are, how the company is doing, whey the company needs change and what they should know additionally to perform better in the changed scenario. o Sharing information raises the level of employee trust in the organisation. o It empowers people and performance improves.
For successful organisation change, the change management should consider individuals as well as the group in which they work. The primary target of managing change would be the group itself and the relationships among its members. The major forms of group-based changes are: o Sensitivity training. o Team building o Self-managed teams 1) Sensitivity Training:
Also called as T-group training. T-group is an ad hoc assembly of individuals who meet together, initially as strangers, away from their usual roles and responsibilities. They enter the group as peers, unrepresentative of the group memberships and move quickly into an exploration of group processes and leadership. An unstructured, perhaps ambiguous, situation is created and the group is encouraged to experiment with new individual behaviours and group interactions. The training may vary in duration from a few weeks to few hours. The trainer plays a relatively passive role in the training process. Initially, the group begins without an agenda, a structure, and any division of labour or rules of procedures.
The people in each group are strangers to each other, brought together only by the common goal of learning more about themselves, the impact they have on others. Absence of an agenda initially creates a vacuum and often quite uncomfortable. The trainer initially observes:
Problems of communication Attempted seizures of power Misunderstandings Other phenomena of interpersonal life.
The trainer communicates these observations to groups. Members gradually begin to attend to such matters themselves. They slowly correct their faults. They attain increased sensitivity to their own behaviours. They become sensitive to the action of others. They become sensitive to the nature of group development. Members emerge with a restructuring of their values about people and their operations in group settings. Thus, the interventions through sensitivity training aims at the following:
Understanding of ones own behaviour and how ones behaviour affects others. Understanding why people behave the way they do. Encouraging one to try out new ways of interacting with people and receiving feedback. Understanding group processes. Developing increased tolerances for other peoples behaviour.
2) Team Building:
A team is a group of individuals who tend to work interdependently to satisfy organisational as well as their own individual objectives. Teams have the following characteristics:
A reason or charter for working together. Interdependency where the skills, abilities of individuals are mutually supportive. Commitment to and belief in working together. Accountability for their performance.
Individuals join teams for a variety of reasons: Out of the herd instinct.
To overcome ones fears and insecurities. From a sense of duty. In the hope of personal gains. Due to a rational belief to joint effort. From group compulsion. From the inability to say no
Teams have the advantage: Of improving up and setting goals and priorities. Deciding on means and methods. Improving performance qualitatively and quantitatively.
The value base of team lies in: Belief in a democratic work environment. Promotion of scientific inquiry in addressing issues and problems. Interpersonal trust. Concern for the development of individual potentialities.
Synergy Interdependence
A Goal is commonly agreed upon by the members Interdependence where people have agreed to work together and are supportive of each others. Commitment to achieve the goal through group effort; and Accountability where one is accountable to superiors or the top management for achieving the goal. Involving individuals and groups is the change process from the very beginning is one way of ensuring their commitment and accountability towards achieving the intended changes.
An effective team member is one, who: Understands and is committed to group goals and values his/her team membership Is friendly, concerned and interested in others. Listed to others, shows empathy, is understanding, and values the ideas and contribution of others. Recognizes and respects individual differences. Includes others in the decision making process. Acknowledges interpersonal conflicts and deals with them positively.
When a member of individuals begin to work at interdependent jobs, they then pass through several stages as they learn to work together as a team. These stages of team development are not rigidly followed. They do represent a broad pattern. They may be observed and predicted in many settings a cross the teams time together.
The stages are the result of a variety of questions, issues and characteristics as shown below: Key questions faced
Characteristics
Members share personal information. Start to get to know and accept one another. Begin turning their attention to groups tasks, goals An aura of country Interactions are cautions High degree of motivation. Members compete for status. Jockey for position of relative control Argue about appropriate directions for the group. External pressures interfere with the group. Tensions rise between the individuals. Individuals try to assert
Who are these people? What is their unique competence? What information should I share with them? Will they accept me? What is our mission? How to we develop team spirit? What resources are available to us? What problems do we foresee with the team?
2. Storming:
Control What do we 3. Norming believe in? Also referred as: What behaviours Resolution do we expect of Goals and each other? norms What should we Integration be doing? Intimacy, How will we closeness & control each cohesiveness others actions? Getting organised. Openness, affection What actions will 4. Performing contribute to our Also referred as: success? Performance Should we take Productivity risks? Mature Have we been closeness empowered to Achievement succeed? How can we change and grow? How can we 5. Adjourning celebrate our Also referred as: success? Adjourned What connections Terminated should we maintain? What have we learned from our experience? Where do we go from here?
themselves. a. Group begins moving together in co-operative fashion b. Tentative balance among competing forces. c. Groups norms guide individuals. d. More co-operative feelings.
a. Group matures and learns. b. Handles complex challenges. c. Functional roles are performed. d. Functional roles are also smoothly exchanged as needed. e. Tasks are efficiently accomplished. a. Groups, project teams disband sooner or later. b. Break up is called adjournment. c. In flexible organisations adjournments are more frequent. d. Group may review its performance. e. Feedback for future teams.
A process of dealing with members aspirations and expectations. Transformational leadership skills relate to: o o o o Futuristic thinking Value clarification Entrepreneurism Influencing o Envisioning o Creativity o Mentoring
& inspiring for higher motivation and achievement how the leader regarded and respected credibility. Transactional leadership skills include: o o o o Goal setting Assertiveness Conflict management Supervision o o o o Communication Problem solving Decision making Rewarding competency
A leader needs to exhibit greater transactional skills in the initial stages of group formation (first & second stages) Later, as the group matures, more transformational skills are required.
What contributes to team success o o o o o o Careful composition Clear direction Accountability Integration & co-ordination Innovativeness Scope for learning o o o o o Information sharing Measurable goals Sufficient resources Flexibility Stimulation of openness
Four Major factors are: Supportive Environment: Management to build a supportive environment. Encouraging members to think like a team. Providing adequate time for meetings. Demonstrating faith in members capacity to achieve These steps contribute to further co-operation, trust and compatibility
Skills & Role Clarity: Team members must be reasonably qualified to perform They should have a desire to co-operate. Each member should know the roles of all the others in the group with whom they are interacting. Super-ordinate Goal: Team members should be oriented towards their overall task. All members carry their weight, focus attention, unify efforts and stimulate more cohesive teams. Team Rewards: Stimulates teamwork Recognition or financial Most powerful if they are valued by team members. Should be perceived as possible to earn. Administered in proportion to the team performance.
Changing composition:
Being complex and dynamic teamwork is sensitive to all aspects of organisational environment. Too many changes and personnel transfers interfere with group relationships and prevent the growth of team work. Since teams composition is likely to change frequently due to various reasons, teams must learn to manage their internal turnover. Accept the turnover and plan for it. Develop a plan for team turnover right from the start. Integrating new members into the team is also important.
Social Loafing:
When employees think that their contributions to a group cannot be measured, they may lessen their output and engage in social loafing. Social loafing is based on a perception of unfair division of labour. It is a belief that workers are lazy. It is a feeling of being able to hide in a crowd and therefore not be able to be singled out for blame. Social loafing may also arise if a member believes that others intend to withhold their efforts and thus he would be foolish not to do the same The Sucker Effect.
An empowerment tool Also known as self reliant or self-directed teams. They are natural work groups that are given substantial autonomy. They are asked to control specific behavioural or operational activities and produce significant results. The combination of empowerment and training to plan, direct, monitor and control their own activities distinguishes these teams from many others. They have wide ranging autonomy and freedom, complied with the capability to act like manager. SMTs are characterised by: Goal setting through team effort. A multi-skilled workforce Shared leadership through team meetings. Participative discussions. Interpersonal trust. Individual and mutual accountability A result focused performance
SMTs have several advantages: Improved flexibility of staff. More efficient operations through the reduced number of job classifications. Lower absenteeism and turnover rates. Higher level of organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Promotes collaborative work relationships. Faster synergetic performance Enhances individual and team capacity Lot of scope for innovations Pushes responsibility down to the lowest levels.
SMTs have the following disadvantages: Extended time to implement them High training investment Inefficiencies due to job rotation. Inability of some employees to adapt to a team structure.
Areas of Job Freedom and Participation Continuum By Tannenbaum & Schmidt: How to choose Leadership Pattern Area of authority applied by Manager Joins Consults Sells Tells Low Amount of participation
Description of typical action Manager makes & announce s decision Manager presents decision subject to change seeks ideas; sells decision Benevolent autocracy Manager seeks ideas before deciding Manager asks group for recomme nded actions before deciding Participative commuters such as quality circles Manager decides with group; one person one vote Democratic management Manager asks group to decide
Withdraws
Popular terms
empowerment
A type of SMT Consists of individuals from different functional areas working on the design or development of a product. Taurus team at Ford Honda, inexpensive car, in 1978. Cross-functional teams are of great assistance in designing and prototyping new models and products. The success of cross-functional teams, depends upon: Setting achievable goals Gaining commitment from team members Setting ground rules for team activities. Effective management of relationships among people of diverse backgrounds and work cultures. Ensuring early success to generate enthusiasm and greater belief in team effort.
Most auto companies today employ platform teams that consist of a core group of designers, engineers and even factory workers on whom rests the total responsibility for the development and manufacture of a single product.
Resistance to change consist of any employee behaviours designed to Delay Discredit Prevent the implementation of work change.
Employee resist change because it threatens their: Need for security Social interaction Status Competence Self esteem
o Intended o Indirect
Regardless of the nature of change, some employees will try to protect themselves from its effects. This reactions may be: o Complaints o Passive resistance o Sabotage o Foot dragging o Absenteeism o Work slowdowns
White and blue collared people resist change. Change does not respect blue or white collar. Particularly employees too have a desire for new experience and the accompanying rewards that come with the change. A lesson to management is: change is likely to be a success or a problem, depending upon how skillfully it is managed to minimize resistance. Changes, sometimes, set up a chain reaction effect also.
Not comfortable with the nature of the change itself It may violate their moral belief system They may believe that the decision is technically incorrect May be reluctant to change the present familiar comforts to an uncertainty. People resist because of the fear of unknown. Threats to job security. The method by which it is introduced People may resent having been ill informed. May reject an insensitive and authoritarian approach that did not involve them in the change process May be a perception of poor timings. Inequity of the peoples experience Some perceive as losers due to change. Some perceive as gainers due to change.
Second
Third
Their resistance will be even more intense if all the 3 reasons exist. People disagree with the nature of the change. Dislike the method used. Do not see a personal gain for themselves.
Time required to adjust. Extra effort to relearn Possibility of less desirable conditions, such as skill downgrading. Economic costs of change. Questioned technical feasibilities of changes.
Fear of the unknown. Low tolerance of change. Dislike of management or other change agent. Lack of trust in others. Need for security; desire for status quo.
Political coalitions Opposing group values. Parochial, narrow outlook Vested interests. Desire to retain existing friendships.
d) Implications of Resistance:
All 3 types of resistance must be anticipated and treated effectively. Then only employees will accept change co-operatively. Technical, logical, human all 3 have to be faced and solved. In a typical operating situation, full support may not be expected all time may be weak, moderate or opposition form all people. What is important is: create a genuine climate when people trust management; have a positive feeling towards change and feel secure enough to tolerate other changes. If management cannot win support, it may need to use authority. We must recognise that authority can only be used sparingly. If authority is overused, it eventually becomes worthless.
It can bring some benefits. Resistance may encourage management to reexamine its change proposals. So that, it is made certain that the proposals are appropriate. Resistance creates checks implementation of change. and balances and ensures proper
Resistance also identifies specific problem areas. It enables management to take corrective actions much before serious problems arise. That may encourage management to communicate the change better. This approach in the long run should lead to better acceptance of change. Resistance also gives management the information about the intensity of employee emotions on an issue. It provides an emotional release of pent-up feelings. Such a release encourage employees to think and talk more about a change so that they understand it better.
f) Managing Resistance: Kotter & Schlesigner Choosing strategies for change, Harvard Business Review.
Change is necessary in a competitive environment. Hurdles to change need to be managed. There are 6 approaches to manage the resistances as given below: Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Commonly used in situations
Education + Communication Once persuaded, people Where there is a lack of will often help with the information or inaccurate implementation of the information and analysis change Participation + Involve ment People who participate Where the initiators do not will be committed to have all the information they implementing change need to design the change and and any relevant where others have information they have considerable power to resist will be integrated into the change plan Can be very time consuming if lots of people are involved Can be very time consuming if participators design an inappropriate change.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Where people are resisting No other approach Can be time because of fear and anxiety works as well with consuming adjustment problems expensive and still
fail. Negotiation _ Agreement Where someone or some Sometimes it is group will clearly lose out in relatively easy way to a change and where that avoid major resistance group has considerable power to resist Manipulation _ Co-operation Can be too expensive in many cases if it alerts others to negotiate.
Where other tactics will not It can be a relatively Can lead to future work, or are too expensive quick and inexpensive problems if people solution to resistance feel manipulated problems Coercion Where speed is essential and It is speedy and can Can be risky, if it the change initiators possess overcome any kind of leaves people angry considerable power resistance at the initiators.
Is a planned, systematic process of organisational change? OD draws from psychology sociology and anthropology theory OD also relies on information from personality learning theory, motivation theory, group dynamics, power leadership and organisational design. The basic characteristics of OD are as follows: a) Planned Change: also called as change intervention. b) Comprehensive organisation. Change: involving total system and the entire
c) Emphasis upon Work Groups: some OD efforts are aimed at individual and organisational change, most OD are oriented towards group, having a sociological flavour. d) Long-range Change: OD is not a stop gap arrangement. It takes months and years. e) Participation of a Change Agent: It is generally advised to avail the services of an outside expert. f) Emphasis on Intervention: active intervention of the change agent in the ongoing activities in the organisation. g) Collaborative Management: unlike the traditional management, OD stresses an collaboration among all levels, having the overall system perspective in view. h) Organisational Culture: includes accepted patterns of behaviour, norms, organisational objectives, value systems, etc., culture of each organisation must be understood and the relations consist with that culture must be developed.
i) Action Research: A process of identifying the organisations specific problems, gathering and analyzing the organisational data and taking actions to resolve problems. 7. Pre-requisites for organisational development:
OD must fulfill certain conditions if it were to be effective. It is not a guarantee for success of OD But favourable environment conducive for organisational change will be created. To reduce the negative effects in an OD program, the following criteria are to be satisfied. Perceptions of organisational problems by key people and perceptions of the relevance of the behavioural sciences in solving these problems. The introduction into the system of a behavioural science consultant. Initial top-level involvement. Participation of work teams, including the formal leader. The operationalising of the action research model. Further expansion of efforts after the early successes. An open, educational philosophy about the theory and technology OD. Acknowledgement of the congruency between OD and many previous effective management practices. Involvement of personal and IR/HR management people and congruency with personnel policy and practice. Development of internal OD resources and facilitative skills. Effective management of the OD process and stabilization of changes. Monitoring the process and the measuring of results.
The organisations managerial strategy (communication pattern; decision making) The culture of the organisation (norms, values, power structure) Structure and the role in organisation. Intergroup collaboration. Motivational level of employees. Trust and support among organisational members Synergetic solutions to problems.
HR Activities
Advantages
Disadvantages
Changes personnel
in
Management development Employee training, likes change workshops Quality group programmes Joint consultation Team briefing and other forms of employee communications Performance management Employee counseling Severance Redundancy programs Recruitment and selection
Time consuming. Slow Expensive May meet resistance through negative attitudes to change.
Impact Speed
to and
Changes to organisational structures including employee accountabilities. Changes to reward systems. Changes to performance management. Changes to career management. Changes to employee relations structures (consultation and bargaining)
Longer lasting change Regeneration of employee knowledge and skill Regeneration of tired systems
Dealing with negative consequences for employees Possibly expensive Slower to have impact May be difficult to establish causal link changes to structures and systems and organisational change.
10. Implementing change successfully: a. Some changes originate within the organisation. b. Some changes are through government laws. c. Some more are from competitors, customers, labour unions, communities, etc. d. Stable environments have less change. e. But dynamic environments are the norm.
A master strategy for change has to be made not overlooking simple, but important details. The overall plan should address behavioural issues, such as difficulty in letting go of old methods. Workers fear of uncertainty. To create an organisation that welcomes change.
b) Transformation Leaders:
Are instrumental in the change process. They take bold strategic changes to position the organisation for its future. They articulate vision and promote in vigorously. They stimulate employees to: Rise above their narrow focus Make them to see a broader picture action. Charismatically model their behaviour. Be learning individuals Make a learning organisation
c) Creating Vision:
Transformational leaders create and communicate a vision for the organisation. A vision is a crystallized long-range image or idea of what can and should be accomplished. It stretches people beyond their current capabilities and thinking. It excites them to new levels of commitment and enthusiasm. A vision may also integrate the shared beliefs and value that serve as a basis for changing an organisations culture.
d) Communicating Charisma:
After the vision, leaders still have two tasks: To persuade the employees that the vision is urgent. And to motivate their employees to do it.
Charisma is a leadership trait can help influence employees to take early and sustained action.
Dynamic risk takers Have depth of expertise Well deserved self confidence. Express high performance expectations Use provocative symbols and language to inspire others. Warm mentors, who treat employees individually and guide them for action.
Employees trust and respect charismatic leaders and emotionally committed to such leaders.
e) Stimulating Learning:
Transformational leaders not only make a very good change in organisation, but an organisation that will continue to change. Their critical task is to develop peoples capacity to learn from the experience of change. This process is called as double-loop learning This means that the changes handled not only reflect the current information gathered, but also prepare the participants to manage future changes even more effectively. In single loop learning employees simply solve current problems and blindly adapt to changes which have been imposed on them.
11. Some common sense principles for Change Managers: a) Set a clear goal:
Start at the end and work backwards While setting a goal dialogue among yourself, the team and the end users of the project. Write down the change goal in a piece of paper and ask Is that what you want? The goal should be specific and measurable and the team and the user should move in the same direction.
Objectives help to break the goal down into specific responsibilities for each team member. Establish ownership for different functions; keep change goals constantly in mind to avoid functional myopia
Check points help members monitor their own progress. Set long-term and short-term check points for early detection of problems. Establish a detailed check list of activities. The team should also discuss what if and what can go wrong situations.
One can not do it alone. A strong team of supporters and collaborators are required. It is important to keep learning, as individuals, and as teams, from experiences. Treat team members as individuals with their own characteristics. Expect differences; develop sensitivity to why people do what they do.
Volunteering increases commitment; create opportunity for people to set goals and objectives. Create a sense of ownership, let members go public with their views and choices. Encourage transparency and visibility of the project teams efforts.
f) Keep everyone connected with the Change Program Informed of the Program:
Change involves people from different departments who use different languages, have different objectives and have different types of training, yet must work together on a unique task. Appropriate the position of the other person; keep people informed on a regular and frequent basis. Be a good listener.
Conflicts are inevitable; they serve to ensure interest and create energy. Use them to create a synergy and unleash creativity. There are hosts of possible approaches to conflict management like giving in, smoothing over, compromising, persuading, finding common good etc. Use the appropriate method. Logical arguments have their limits; reaching agreement in conflict situations is not only a logical but also an emotional experience.
Influence without exercising authority is the key. This is achieved through alliances, networks and exchanges. important to build personal power. What people want most from a change manager is credibility: Credibility = Competence + Honesty + Direction + Inspiration + Power It is
Failure is the stepping stone for success. I failed my way to success Thomas Alva Edison. Plan time for thinking, experimenting, innovation and creativity. Like turtles, we make significant progress only when we stick our necks out.
Becoming aware of the pressure for change Recognising the need for change Diagnosing the problem Planning the change Implementing the change Following up on the change
Most organisational changes are carried out in response to or in anticipation of pressures from inside or outside the organisation. Outside the organisation, the technological innovations act as powerful triggers for change. Within the firm, conflicts arise; employees retire or resign; pressure mounts as the organisation outgrows its old ways of doing things. Pressures like these or the anticipation of such pressures. Demand changes in the structure, technology, tasks and people in the organisation.
Becoming aware of the need is not enough Managers should also recognise the need for change.
Recognizing that change is needed is not enough. Managers must diagnose the pressures for change. Pressure may be likely economic or technical reasons. Managers must determine how it may affect the company. What are the consequences of those pressures? For diagnosing the problems various procedures are available like: Interviews, Questionnaire, observations, secondary data, etc.
A strategy for change is formulated. Organisations must choose between evolutionary and revolutionary change. A firm that pursues revolutionary change adopts a top-down change strategy. The organisation waits until it believes that the costs of not changing exceed the costs of overcoming organisational inertia and then introduces its master plan for change. Generally, a top-down strategy calls for intervention at the high level of an organisation. Winding up of divisions or departments and downsizing are examples of this type of change. A firm that adopts evolutionary change adopts a bottom-up change strategy. Managers believe that the uncertainty associated with organisational change is best managed through incremental processes in which they continually make adjustments to their strategy and structure. Firms opting for bottom-up strategy prepare the organisation for change by involving managers and employees at all levels. They discuss the need for change and diagnose the problems facing the organisation. TQM is a method of evolutionary change.
The next step is to implement the change. Here, resistance to change surfaces. There are several ways to show the resistance.
Hostility Physical abuse Loss of interest in work Excessive idling time Low productivity Tardiness Development of tension & anxiety Groups deciding fairdays work
Aggression Apathy towards work Spoilage of material Corrupting valuable software Absenteeism Resignation Tensed up on the job Imposing their individuals. wall on
Education and communication Participation and involvement Facilitation and support Negotiation and agreement Manipulation and co-operation Explicit and implicit coercion
The final step in the change process is to evaluate the effects of the change. And institute procedural modifications that will ensure that change continues to be implemented.
b) The entire change process can be summarized in six stages: 18. Lewins Process Model: Unfreeze (awareness of need for change) Reducing the forces who wants status quo Change (Move) (movement from old state to new state) Developing new attitudes, values and behaviours Refreeze (assurance of permanent change) Reinforcing new values, attitudes and behaviours
Old Stage
New State
According to Kurt Lewins Force Field Model, effective change occurs. By unfreezing the current situation. Moving to a desired condition. Refreezing the system. So that it remains in the desired state. Popularly called as, three stage model of change system. Highly useful in understanding the ways of managing change.
Unfreezing: involves
Encouraging individuals to discard old behaviours by shaking up the status quo situations. Presenting a case to make the people to recognise for a change and how their jobs will be improved by the change. Searching for new solutions.
Moving (changing):
Aims to shift or alter the behaviour of the individuals, departments or organisation in which the changes e to take place. Moving means developing new behaviours, values and attitudes. Such changes are sometimes through structural changes, sometimes through OD techniques.
Refreezing:
Changes become relatively permanent. New values, attitudes and behaviours are established as the new way of life. New ways of operating are cemented and reinforced. Managers must ensure that the organisational cultures and reward systems encourage the new behaviours and avoid the old ways of functioning. Learning theory and reinforcement theory can play important roles in the refreezing phase.
Transition Management:
Between, the two phases of change, there is a transition which is not shown. Managing the transition is essential to keep the organisation going. Transition management is the process of systematically planning, organizing and implementing the change from the disassembly of the current state to the realization of a fully functional future state within the organisation.
Transition management ensures that business continues while the change is occurring. An interim management structure or interim positions may be created to ensure continuity and control of the business during transition. Communication of the changes to all involved, employees, customers and suppliers, play a role in transition management. Lewins model proposes that for change efforts to be successful, the 3 stage process must be completed. Failure in efforts to change can be traced back to one of the 3 stages. Successful change, thus requires that old behaviours are discarded and new behaviours introduced Those new behaviours have to be institutionalized and rewarded
19. Lewins Force Field Theory of Change: Level of Performance Resistance to Change Change Resistance to Change P2
Time
In any organisation, there are people who push for change and there are individuals who resist for change and desire status quo. Initially the two groups may be equal in their forces. This Lewin termed as quasi stationery equilibrium Lewins theory states how the forces for change and resistance balance; they change; again they balance and balanced at any time between the two opposing forces. When the forces are in balance, the organisation is in a state of inertia and does not change. To get the organisation change, managers must adopt a change strategy to increase the forces for change and reduce the resistance to change, or do both simultaneously. Organisational change can occur at three levels: o Individual Changes in individuals attitudes, values, skills and behaviour.
o Structure & Systems Change in work design reporting relationships information systems the reward systems, etc. o Organisational Climate Change in leadership style interpersonal relations, decision making style and other such aspects.
Lewins model is very simple and straight forward. Many models of organisation change use his approach. However, it does not deal with several important issues. A more complex and more helpful approach is illustrated in the figure below:
This approach treats planned change from the perspective of top management. It indicates that the change is continuous. As change becomes continuous in the organisations, different steps are probably occurring simultaneously through out the organisation. This model incorporates Lewins concept into the implementation phase. In this approach, top management perceives that certain forces or trends call for a change. Such an issue is subjected to the organisations usual problem solving and decision making processes. Usually, top management defines its goals in terms of what the organisation or certain processes or outputs will be like after the change. Alternatives for change are generated and evaluated and an acceptable one is selected. Early in the process, the organisation may seek the assistance of a change agent a person who will be responsible for managing the change efforts. The change agent: o May be a member of the organisation
o An outsider, such as a consultant o Someone from company headquarters a far away place o An outsider is preferred because of his assumed impartiality Under the direction and management of change agent, the organisation implements the change through Lewins unfreeze, change and refreeze process. The final step is measurement, evaluation and control. With this, the top management determines the effectiveness of the change process by various benchmarks and indicators of organisational productivity and effectiveness.
L. LEADERSHIP STYLES:
(Top Down & Bottom up approaches are given in Module 3)
In this type of leadership approach, the leader is just a figure-head. He does not give any directions. He delegates the authority to subordinates. Subordinates must plan, motivate, control and otherwise be responsible for their own actions. The leader acts principally as a liaison between the group and the outside elements. He supplies necessary materials and information to group member. He lets the subordinates develop their own techniques for accomplishing goals within the organisational policies and objectives. The leader participates very little and instead of leading and directing, he just becomes one of its members. This type of leadership is highly effective when the group members are highly intelligent and are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities. This type of leadership is evident in research laboratories where the scientists are fairly free to conduct their research and make their decisions. Also true to university professors.
Advantages:
Creates an environment of freedom, individually as well as team spirit. It is highly creative with a free and informal work environment. This approach is very useful where people are highly motivated and achievement oriented.
Disadvantages:
It may result in disorganized activities which may lead to inefficiency and chaos. Insecurity and frustration may develop due to lack of specific decision making authority and guidance.
The team spirit may suffer due to possible presence of some uncooperative team members. Some members may put their own interests above the group and team interests. OD Definition: is the process of planned change and improvement of organisations through the application of knowledge of behavioral sciences. 3 points to remember in this definition are: i. Organisation development involves attempts to plan organisational changes. ii. Specific intention of organisation development is to improve organisation. iii. The planned improvement must be based on knowledge of the behavioral sciences such as OB, psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology and related field of study rather than financial and technological considerations.
M. OD INTERVENTIONS:
Several OD interventions also called techniques, have evolved over a long period: Good interventions have 3 characteristics: (i) (ii) (iii) They are based on valid information about the functioning of the organisation, usually collected by the employees. The intervention under the guidance of the change agent, provides employees with opportunities to make their own choices regarding the nature of the problems and their preferred solutions. Interventions are aimed at gaining the employees personal commitment to their choices.
9. Different types of OD interventions and the level of their impact: Interventions: Human Process: a. T-Group/Sensitivity Training b. Process consultation c. Third party intervention d. Team building e. Organisation confrontation meeting f. Inter-group relations Technostructural: g. Formal structural change h. Differentiation & integration i. Cooperative union management projects j. Quality circles k. Total quality management l. Work design Human Resource Management: m. Goal setting n. Performance appraisal o. Reward systems p. Career planning & development q. Managing workplace diversity r. Employee wellness Strategic: s. Integrated strategic management t. Culture change u. Strategic change v. Self designing organisations 10. The OD Paradigms & Values:
Values human & organisational growth Collaborative and participative process A spirit of inquiry Strong emphasis on collaboration The change agent as a catalyst Important factors in OD efforts: a) Respect for people:
Individuals are perceived as being responsible conscientious and caring. They should be treated with dignity and respect b) Trust & support:
The effective and healthy organisation is characterized by trust, authenticity, openness and supportive climate.
c) Power Equalisation:
d) Confrontation:
Problems should not be swept under the rug. They should be openly confronted.
e) Participation:
All those who are affected by the change should be involved in decision making surrounding the change. The more we involve, the more will be committed to implementing those decisions
Also known as laboratory training, encounter group or T-groups (Training groups) All refer to a method of changing behaviour through unstructured group interactions. Members meet in a free and open environment and discuss about themselves and their interactive processes. A behaviour scientist directs the discussions. The individuals learn through observing and participating rather than being told. The OD specialist (behavioral scientist) creates the opportunity for participants to express their ideas, beliefs and attitudes. The objectives of T-groups are: 1. Provide the participants with increased awareness of their own behaviour and how others perceive them. 2. To develop greater sensitivity to the behaviour of others. 3. To develop increased understanding of group processes. 4. Increased ability to empathies with others. 5. Improved listening skills.
6. Greater openness 7. Increased tolerance of individual differences and 8. Improved conflict resolution skills b) Implications of Resistance:
It is a tool for assessing attitudes of organisational members. Identifying discrepancies among perceptions and Solving these differences. Even though every employee in an organisation can participate in survey feedback, it is important that the organisational family the manager and those employees who report directly to him participate. A questionnaire is usually filled by all employees of the organisation. The questionnaire seeks to find out the perceptions of the employees on a range of topics like Decision making practice Communication effectiveness Coordination between units. Satisfaction with the organisation Job peers and immediate supervisors
The steps involved are as follows: Data Collection Feedback to organisational unit Action Decision
Is a technique concerned with the interpersonal relations and dynamics operating in work groups. Managers often sense that their units performance can be improved. But they are unable to identify what can be improved and how. An outside consultant to assist the manager to perceive is employed. He understands and suggests the processes which the manager must act upon. Work flow; informal relationships among unit members; formal communication channels are some of the areas. Similar to sensitivity training, but more task oriented.
d) Team Building:
Is a conscious effort by management to develop effective work groups through out the organisation. These work groups focus on solving actual problems in building efficient management teams. Aimed at helping groups to become effective at task accomplishment. It utilizes high interaction group activities to create trust and openness among team members. Team building includes OD consultant feedback in such areas as communication and conflict resolution. OD consultant also helps in assessing group tasks, member roles and strategies for accomplishing work tasks. Team building process involves the following steps: Step-1 Step-2
The team leader defines a problem. The group analyses the problem. Determines underlying cause in such areas as communication, role clarification, leadership style, organisational structure and interpersonal relations. The group proposes several solutions. Then selects the most appropriate solution. Through this process, the participants are likely to be committed to the solution and interpersonal support and trust are developed. The support and trust of group members enhance the implementation of change.
Step-3
e) Intergroup Development:
Seeks to change the attitude, stereotypes and perceptions that groups have with each other. Eg. Engineers accountants production engineers maintenance engineers Such stereotypes can have obvious negative impact on the coordinative efforts between the departments. A major area of concern in OD is the dysfunctional conflict that exist between groups. Hence change efforts are directed towards the group to change their attitudes, stereotypes and perceptions through intergroup development. Problem solving is one of the popular approaches for improving intergroup relations. In this method each group meets independently to develop lists of its perceptions of itself; the other group and how it believes the other perceives it.
The groups then share lists, after which similarities and differences are discussed. Differences are clearly articulated and the group look for the cause of disparities.
This is concerned with helping individuals, groups or departments. To resolve serious conflicts those are related to specific work issues. Or may be caused by sub optimal interpersonal relations. OD consultants help the parties resolve their differences through such techniques as problem solving, bargaining and conciliation.
g) Grid Training:
Grid organisational development is an extension of the managerial / leadership grid concept developed by Blake & Mouton Carried out on an organisation-wide basis. Seeks to promote organisational excellence by fostering concern for production and concern for people. Most organisational problems stem from poor communication and inadequate planning. Black & Mouton proposed a multi step process for improving organisations by attempting to cultivate these skills. The steps in grid OD are shown below: Steps 1 Training Activities In a week-long seminar, key managers learn about grid concepts and how they are applied. They assess their own managerial styles and work on improving such skills as team development, group problem solving, and communication. After appropriate introduction, these key managers will work to implement the grid program through out the organisation. The trained managers bring their new understanding of managerial grid concepts relationships and team effectiveness so that the team operates at 9.9 grid level. This phase focuses on the relationship between the organisations work groups to improve coordination & cooperation. Intergroup tensions are dealt with openly and joint problem solving procedures are developed.
2 . 3 .
4 .
5 .
Organisational Top managers together create an ideal model of goal setting the organisation. They set goals to be tested, evaluated and refined by managers and subordinates working together throughout the organisation. Goal Organisation members seek to make the ideal attainment model a reality. Each submits proposals on how their activities should be carried out in order to achieve excellence and they proceed to take whatever corrective actions are necessary. Stabilization Eventually, the results of all the phases are evaluated to determine which areas of the organisation still need improvement or alteration. Efforts are made to stabilize positive changes and to identify new areas of opportunity for the organisation.
Is defined as the degree to which members of a work organisation are able to satisfy important personal needs through their experiences in the organisation. QWL programs focus strongly on providing a work environment conducive to satisfying individual needs. The programs vary, but the goal of humanizing the work place is of paramount importance. Richard Waltons categories of programs are shown below:
Adequate & fair Compensation Development of Human capacities Social Integration Total Life Space
Social Relevance
One such is work restructuring the process of changing the way jobs are done to make them more interesting to workers. Job enlargement and job enrichment are two such. Another approach in Quality Circles These are small groups of employees who meet regularly on voluntary basis to identify and solve problems related to the quality of work they perform. QWL programs benefit the organisation in these ways: Increased job satisfaction. Organisational commitment Reduced turnover among workers Increased productivity Profitability and goal attainment for the organisation.
Both management and labour must cooperate in designing the programs Plan agreed by all must be implemented.
Most OD approaches are problem oriented. They identify a problem and then look for solutions. Appreciative inquiry is positive. Rather than looking for problems to fix, this approach seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organisation. These qualities are further built on to improve performance It focuses on organisations success and abilities than on its problems. This allows the organisation to change by playing to its strengths and competitive advantages. AI process essentially consists of four steps. Often played out in large group meetings over two or three days and overseen by a trained change agent. The first step is Discovery: The idea is to find out what people think are the strengths of the organisation. For instance, employees are asked to recount times they felt the organisation worked best. Or when they specifically felt most satisfied with their jobs.
The second step is Dreaming: The information from the discovery phase is used to speculate on possible futures of the organisation. For instance people are asked to envision the organisation in five years and describe what different is going to happen.
The third step is Design: Based on the dream articulation, participants focus on finding a common vision of how the organisation will look and agree on its unique qualities. The fourth step is Destiny: In this final step, participants discuss how the organisation is going to fulfill its dream. This typically includes the writing of action plans and development of implementation strategies.
Companies who used this OD technique, have increased their sales and profits by several crores of money.
Limitations
Organisation-wide changes Higher motivation Higher productivity Better quality of work Higher job satisfaction Improved team work Better resolution of conflict Commitment to objectives Reduced absence Lower turnover Creation of learning Individuals and groups
Time consuming Expensive Delayed pay-off period Possible failure Possible invasion of privacy Possible psychological harm Potential conformity Emphasis on group processes rather than performance Possible conceptual ambiguity Difficulty in evaluation Cultural incompatibility
N. CREATIVITY IN ORGANISATIONS:
Creativity refers to the process by which novel but situationally appropriate outcomes are brought about. The essence of creativity is the element of freshness, originality and novelty that is also appropriate to the context.
To call anything creative, the act must be unique and appropriate to the context. The social and technological changes that organisations face require creative decisions. The ability to promote creativity in organisations is an important competence to face the turbulence of dynamics of changes in the organisations.
Researchers have developed a model that outlines the various stages of the creative process. The process of creativity occurs in the following four stages: Step-1 Preparation Preparation: An important condition for creativity. Involves developing a clear understanding of what one wants to achieve through a novel solution Step-2 Incubation Step-3 Insight Step-4 Verification
Incubation: Is a process of reflective thought and is often conducted subconsciously. During incubation, the mind constantly considers the problem and works on it. Plays powerful role in dissolving previously held notions about a problem. The problem or issue not forgotten. The problem is only put in the back burner. But the problem is still simmering in ones mind But it is not at the forefront of his attention. Incubation assists in divergent thinking and generating different approaches to the issue.
Insight: Individuals experience insight at some point during the incubation stage. It is an experience of suddenly becoming aware of a unique idea. The flashes of inspiration have no definite schedules. They might come at any time of the day or night.
Verification: Ideas are generated at the insight stage. It is not sufficient we have come up with an idea, but verification of their value is important. The new idea has to be subjected to evaluation and experimentation. At this stage, tenacity is very important, since other people may resist or reject the creative ideas.
It is said that creative people posses intellectual and personality characteristics different from their less creative counterparts. Some of the traits of creative people include: Willingness to give up immediate gain to reach long range goals. A great amount of energy. An irritation with status quo Perseverance A pursuit of hobbies and specialised interests. Belief that fantasy and day dreaming are not a waste of time. Inventive thinking style. High intellectual abilities.
15. Methods of Enhancing Creativity: a. Brainstorming b. Grid analysis c. Lateral thinking 16. Creativity Inducing Factors: a. These are the supporting environments and facilities to encourage people to search for new ideas: Creative People Organisational Support Organisational Culture
Enhanced Creativity
Exposure
i. Selecting creative people is the starting point in enhancing creativity in organisations. c. Organisational Support: May come in many ways. Sets goals for creativity Encourage employees to take risks and accept failures, if any. Break out of the shell and take risks. Make the job intrinsically motivating. d. Organisational Culture: Openness to new ideas. Friendly supervision Team building Participative decision making Flexible organisation structures.
e. Diversity: Diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Divergent thinking is key to creativity f. Exposure: Expose employees to various kinds of experience. Like foreign assignments, seminars, extended leave, etc. g. Time & Resources: People are more creative when they have funds, materials, facilities, information and time. Lavishness does not work. People need enough resources
O. INNOVATIONS IN ORGANISATIONS:
Innovation is the process of creating and doing new things that are introduced into the market place as products, processes and services. Innovation involves every aspect of organisation, research, development, manufacturing and marketing.
The greatest challenge is to bring the innovative technology into the market in a cost effective manner. 1) Types of Innovation:
Radical innovation major break through eg: xerox System innovation creating new functionalities by assembling parts in new ways eg: automobile Incremental innovation continues the technical improvements applicable to radical and systems also forces organisations to continually improve products.
The process followed by managers when they engage in planned innovation and change are illustrated in the sketch Step-1 Perceiving an opportunity or a problem Step-2 Diagnosing the situation and generating ideas Step-3 Presenting a proposal & adopting the change or innovation
Look ahead for opportunities to solve current and anticipated problems. Do not focus only on immediate problems. Hold periodic sessions with senior/junior managers and elicit suggestions.
This will fix the problems and take advantage of the opportunities. Do not overlook the status of ongoing activities relative to the competition.
Establish the fact that innovation and change are important to the organisation. Otherwise good ideas will be rejected when they are proposed. Preparation of a business plan is necessary for budget proposals.
Understand the reasons and resistance for change. Overcome the resistance.
Moment of truth when the change is put into operation. If the planning is carefully done, implementation will be smooth
Monitor and evaluate what happens after the change has been implemented. Feedback for improvements in successive innovations.
It is not enough to take positive steps to promote creativity. It is also essential to guard against ways which hinder creativity. There are three broad categories of obstructions for creativity, perceptual, cultural and emotional blocks as shown in the sketch.
Perceptual Blocks Cultural Blocks Emotional Blocks Need for Creativity & Creativity & Innovation
Innovation
1. Perceptual Blocks: Include such factors as: The failure to use all the senses in observing Failure to investigate the obvious Difficulty in seeing remote relationships Failure to distinguish between cause and effect.
2. Cultural Blocks: Include: A desire to conform to established norms. Overemphasis on competition or conflict avoidance and smoothing. The drive to be practical and economical. A belief that indulging in fantasy or other forms of open-ended exploration is a waste of time. 3. Emotional Blocks: Include: The fear of making a mistake. Fear and distrust of others Fear of grabbing the first idea that comes along Sixty-One Ways to Block Creativity: 1. A good idea but 2. Against company policy 3. Ahead of the times. 4. All right in theory 5. Be practical 6. Can you put into practice? 7. Costs too much 8. Dont start anything yet 9. Have you considered 10. I know it wont work 11. It cant work 12. Too many projects now 13. It does not fit human nature 14. It has been done before 15. It needs more stud 16. It is not budgeted 17. It is not good enough 18. It is not part of your job 19. Let me add to that 32. That is not our problem 33. The boss wont go for it. 34. The new people wont understand 35. The old times wont use it. 36. The timing is off 37. The union wont go for it. 38. There are better ways. 39. They wont go for it. 40. Too academic 41. Too hard to administer 42. Too hard to implement. 43. Too late 44. Too much paper work 45. Too old fashioned 46. Too soon 47. We have been doing it this way for 48. Long time and it works 49. We have not the manpower 50. We have not the time
20. Let us discuss it 21. Let us form a committee 22. Let us make a survey first 23. Let us not step on toes 24. Let us put it off for a while 25. Let us sit on it for a while 26. Let us think it over for a while 27. Not ready for it yet. 28. Of course, it wont work 29. Our Plan is different 30. Some other time 31. Surely you know better
51. We are too big 52. We can too small 53. we have never done it that way 54. We have tried it before 55. What bubble head thought that up? 56. What will the customers think? 57. What will the union think? 58. What you are really saying is? 59. Who do you think you are? 60. Who else has tried it? 61. Why has not someone suggested it before if it is a good idea? You are off base!