The Importance of Change Management for Organizations

This course has given me a new way to look at everything around me in a different way. It has taught me that in order to face any problems or challenges I encounter I must use the resources that I have. In order, to do this I must have a growth mind set, which enables people to face challenges and changes that happen in the world everyday and to adapt to those changes. These changes involve the speed at which technology is advancing, digital capabilities, expertise and innovation the world experiences day by day and last but not the least, cultural change.

In this generation that we live in, work everywhere, in each country keeps changing, its nature, values, their purpose and expectations of their target audience. From this course, I also learnt the benefits of these fluctuations have a great influence on employment, output and income inequality.

Furthermore, the advancement in technology has given a rise to virtual and innovative teams. It does not only affect labors and the nature of work but it changes the structure and shape of an organization. From this course, I have grasped how the business age has changed, how businesses depended on economies of scale and centralization but now we live in a digital age which greatly depends on digital capabilities, diversity, flexible and collaborative working environment.

Moreover, in this generation, the millennial expect freedom to work and be innovative and they want a decentralized company, which motivates them and allows the flow of free ideas instead of a more rigid one. We always see autonomy given up in some way or the other, in companies however, members always have some autonomy they give up to whoever it is the answer to. However there are some issues that organizations face, and we tackled these problems in case studies, examples and in class and their possible solutions which gave me a different look to the way organizations face challenges. From the cases I realized that some real life challenges that companies actually face can have a huge impact on them, examples: bureaucracy, level of power, corruption, `status quo’ etc, and some actions must be taken to overcome these obstacles.

Culture and the Organization

Another concept that I found interesting in this course was the changing culture of an organization. How people manage culture or its factors are the norms/values, thoughts, traditions & artifacts, behavior, and lifestyle etc. It made me realize why people act and talk they were do, it isn’t just their upbringing but many other factors. I also recognized that culture is one of the most difficult things you can change in us humans, and also it’s a challenging aspect of an organization to change; it’s not the technology or physical environment but its people.

We looked at the three levels of culture in this course, which are the artifacts, espoused value and the basic assumptions. It’s fascinating how these three must be changed in order to change the culture of an organization. In addition, in these three levels we understand how important culture is in each of them and its significance. However, the biggest challenges to culture and which we mostly hear about are resistance and indirectness, the way people talk and behave is powerfully influenced by the cultural assumptions they share.

These change how people talk and behave and then later their thoughts and interpretations change. From this class I learnt that we know culture has changed when people change the way they think, their priorities, their values and their assumptions. It is understood that members of the organizations need to understand the values, culture and business goals to succeed internally. Last but not the least, there is a model that can be used to create a climate for engagement and the steps to how members must be engaged, and that all members must implement and sustain change (Kotters model of change). Now it’s more obvious that the way organizations react and deal with the mix and diversity in their internal and external environment says a lot about them.

Effective Leadership, Communication and Conflict

“SELF AWARENESS” is believed to be a key ability to develop for leaders and they must be both good team players as well as a good leader. Through this course I learnt the different types of teams that exist in each organizations and what they all stand for, or what kind of characters are in the group. I understood how important teams are to an organization and their benefits; they bring innovation and diversity to a company as well as foster commitment and support delegation.

Nonetheless, I recognized that management plays a huge role in creating and bringing together a team. They have the power to choose the right people for the right team, to clarify goals and objectives as well as encourage collaboration in their organizations. The Ultimate objective of companies is to HAVE, BUILD, ENCOURAGE, and SUPPORT teams into becoming HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS, this should be a reminder or guide to us, as well as an AIM.

In addition, I understood that building smart relationships with people would greatly decrease tension and anxiety in your life. Communication skills are crucial to developing (and maintaining) friendships and keeping good relationships with members of your organization. In addition, they assist you to take care of your needs and wants, we aren’t born with them but we learn through the errors that we make throughout our life.

A large portion of how we communicate with each other is non-verbal, our body and eyes are far more powerful than words, and so we must be careful how we act around people. Also, communication is the give-and-take of opinions and feelings, therefore in organizations it is what holds the company together, in my opinion without it I feel like an organization will have each person working on their own and not together and this can be a huge disadvantage to the company and its success and harmony.

Knowledge, Power and Politics

A company’s competitive advantage is achieved through its managers. Their ability to learn faster than their competitors. Throughout this course I studied how competitive advantage could be achieved through knowledge, knowledge management and organizational learning. This knowledge is considered as a competence that is to act efficiently and effectively. In addition, people have a kind of knowledge, which is tacit, which helps them to navigate through routines, processes and practices that contribute greatly to innovation. In relation to culture and the organization from above, to change organizational culture organizations must both leave old patterns and learn new ways to store knowledge.

In order to change this way of doing things it is not enough to educate employees; rather, practices have to be changed and turned into new routines. In conclusion I realized that to communicate change we must have shared understanding and trust between us. Furthermore, Knowledge is the key to success but in the age that we live in learning is the most valuable asset and it is everything in this generation, and it should never stop, learning helps teams to better solve problems. An association that keeps on using the same actions imitate what was successful before, and when new ideas or challenges come up they wouldn’t know how to overcome (success trap).

The basic nature of power, is how it shapes our world financially, politically, socially and how it influences every single person in the world in all states, whether at home, at school, at their jobs etc. power raises the obstacles we face, yet it binds us together. In addition, I feel like the exercise and aggregation of power is dominant to us humans. Example, countries or marketers are able to influence other countries or influence investors in by using the power of messages. Again, the most important form of power is people and the education they hold. Also we studied the instruments to maintain power between each sector, level, standard of living, quality of lifestyle and activities. Companies are diplomatic structures; they work by spreading authority and exercising power.

Innovation, Organizational Structure (Bureaucracy)

Innovation is what separates prosperous organizations, giving them competitive advantage. Be that as it may, the business world is regularly centered around results, profits and returns, making it hard to make a culture concentrated on new thoughts and long-term success. Also, I learnt that the move to innovate by numerous organizations is gotten from a need to address issues. However, organizations select to improve with the end goal to increase current standards by the need to make a culture of innovation among workers, one where staff are urged to produce and create thoughts.

Organizations must encourage and tell representatives they are open for development. Companies must do this by creating a space where employees can be creative and innovative. Organizational structure should have new structures instead of moving one way; goal-oriented representatives will have the capacity to move sideways, taking advantage of new markets. A viable structure encourages organizations and simplifies connections, jobs and obligations, dimensions of power, and supervisory or announcing lines. By examining a company’s structure, a supervisor will have the capacity to figure out which human capital and specialized assets are accessible, how they ought to be distributed, and which assets are inadequate.

Organizations have different structures, these structures show:

• How an organization is managed and how it works.
• How information is communicated throughout the organization
• How adaptable or open the organization is.

A director has to recognize what kind of association she or he is working with to know how and if they can change. A clearly defined structure gives the members a way to solve problems and conflict. Overall, I apprehended that structure ties individuals together. It gives significance and character to the members who are in the organization. The organization we work for will have some structure whether it decides to or not. It should be the structure which best coordinates with what sort of business we have, what sort of individuals are in it, and what we see ourselves doing.

Human Resource Management

HRM is a result of launching and developing an association. From this course, I discovered that HR plays a role of boosting the company’s performance in respect to other organizational activities, for example, new creation innovations and advertising or promotions. This is one of the significant duties of the human resource group. I also understood from this course that the HR department has a function of employing the right kind of people for the job that is needed.

Another factor that I realized in this course is that an employee’s performance is greatly driven by the working environment and the culture that is practiced; an efficient human resource department can provide this. Furthermore, I learnt that that the Human resource department is responsible for creating value in organizations. They do this by better understanding people and by creating a friendly atmosphere, which increases job satisfaction for members of the organization.

Due to technological and other factors, presently organizations are:

• More responsive
• Focused on creating customer value
• Focusing on gaining competitive advantage

Structure that organizations use:

• More collaborative and group based
• Supported by technological capability

Team and individual:

•  Intellectual competence
• Bond between employees and employers
• Adapting to change
• Good conflict skills

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