Change Management

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- Research Objectives

The following are the objectives of my research:

- . To find out why employees resist change in different organizations in ZAMBIA;

- . To find out what the attitudes of different employees in different organizations are to change;

- . To find out whether employees believe that something can be done to by management to counteract their resistance and what strategies they think are probable;

- . To find out what extent employees are fearful and uncertain about organizational change;

- . To find out the best strategies to use when instituting change in an organization.

- Research Questions

The following are the main research questions:

- What major changes occurred in your organization?

(b)What was the benefit of that process?

(c) How was the change process managed?

(d) How did staff react to the process?

(e)Was the change process successful?

(f)How long did the process take?

(g)How many staff where involved?

(h)Was it an up down or down up process?

(i)Who were the most affected?

(j)What level of staff resisted the change the most?

(k)What were the reason(s) for resistance?

(l)What did you(r)/organization/management learn from this?

(m)How do you react to change?

(n)Do you believe that something can be done to by management to counteract your resistance

and what those strategies might be?

(o)What extent are you fearful and uncertain about organizational change?

(p)What is your conclusion?

- Rationale

It’s important to note that organizations move through a number of identifiable stages as they grow and develop. In some cases these changes are planned, in others they are unplanned. Sometimes the forces for change come from within the organization and at other times they will be caused by external forces or influences. The need for organizations to meet and to cope with changing conditions requires innovation, creativity and flexibility.

- Literature review

Some of the statements made by some of the guru’s and researchers of management and Organizational Behavior which are relevant to my research are listed below:

- Change is an inevitable and constant feature. It is an inescapable part of both social and organizational life and we are all subject to continual change of one form or the other. Laurie J Mullins—Management & Organizational Behavior—Ninth Edition, 2010, Prentice Hall

- Public Sector Executives face unique obstacles in leading organizational change, in part because of entrenched civil service bureaucracies, procedural constraints such as managing performance and firing employees, and dealing with many stakeholders with competing priority. Laurie J Mullins—Management & Organizational Behaviour—Ninth Edition, 2010, Prentice Hall

- One of the cornerstone models for understanding organizational change was developed by Kurt Lewin back in the 1950s, and still holds true today. His model is known as Unfreeze – Change – Refreeze, refers to the three-stage process of change he describes. Lewin, a physicist as well as social scientist, explained organizational change using the analogy of changing the shape of a block of ice. Lewin, K. Field Theory in Social Science, Harper and Row (1951)

- Today’s dynamic work environment is causing organizations to reframe the traditional view of what “normal” is. We are witnessing the effects of globalization, technology advances, complex multinational organizations, more frequent partnering across national borders and country boundaries- Just to mention a few enablers and accelerators of change. IBM Global Services, ‘Making Change Work’ October 2008

- Kotter, J.P and Cohen,D.S described the eight (8) steps to be taken to secure successful and sustainable change:

7.5.1 Create a sense of urgency among relevant people, whatever the nature or size of the organization.

7.5.2 Build a guiding team with the credibility, skills, connections, reputations and formal authority to provide change leadership.

7.5.3 Create visions which are sensible, clear and uplifting and set of strategies

7.5.4 Communicate the vision and strategy in order to induce understanding and commitment.

7.5.5 Empower Action and remove obstacles that stop people from acting on the vision.

7.5.6 Produce short term wins that help to provide credibility, resources and momentum to overall effort.

7.5.7 Don’t let up but maintain the momentum, consolidate early changes and create wave after wave of change.

7.5.8 Make change stick by nurturing a new culture, and developing group norms of behavior and shared values.

7.5.9 By Kotter, J.P and Cohen, D.S. The heart of Change, Harvard Business

School press (2002)

7.6 Lewis drew attention to the importance of cross cultural training and the generic model of cultural categorization. The model classifies cultures under three main headings: Linear- actives, multiactives; and reactives. Lewis R.D. The Cultural Imperative: Global Trends in the 21st Century, Nicolas Brealey (2007)

7.7 Newton states that the central point is that there is not one type of change, and there is not a single way to approach change. Change management methodologies are only helpful if they are applicable to both the change you want to make and the environment in