Capella University Organizational Perspectives - Human Capital Management Resources - Human Capital Research

Leading and Managing Change in a Dynamic Environment

Leaders today are working in one of the most dynamic environments we’ve seen: change is fast, and continual. Applying the theories of how people change along with following some of the best practices of change leadership can enable organizational leaders to not only survive, but also thrive during continual organizational change. Whether your organization is experiencing changes in competition, changing customer needs, new technologies, increased globalization, or industry recession, you can learn to apply some basic principles of change and manage change processes.

Research in the last decade examined a number of major organizational changes, and found that approximately 70% of these organizational change initiatives were not successful and failed to achieve their original objectives (Beer and Nohria, 2000). Change efforts fail for a number of reasons. Companies undertake too many initiatives at one time, which created additional stress in organizations which may have exceeded their capacity to change. Some leaders saw change as a one-time event, and not as a long-term process. Many leaders failed to actively and frequently communicate with and engage employees in the change process. Other change leaders didn’t pay attention to some of the human variables that are important during organizational change efforts. Sometimes, changes failed because companies focus on the future at the expense of managing current operations during transition processes.

Most important to effectively leading change is our mindset as leaders. The work of change leaders is to help employees understand and engage in the change, through communication and support. As leaders, we are likely to understand the need for change, but not understand what it will take to create complex transformation. So, instead of focusing on the entire organization and ways in which to transform and renew it, we may instead focus on changing the mission, vision, or a few programs. We then expect that employee behavior will change, and that the organizational changes will follow suit. However, this approach will not lead to long term, successful change which meets our objectives. For transformational change to occur in organizations, the desired changes need to be supported with the right strategy, structure, and process, along with new skills and behaviors of people in the organization. Organizations can rarely “turn on a dime”—it takes a lot of effort to determine what new skills and behaviors employees need, and to provide the training and support and investment in people to make that happen.

Instead, I remind managers to begin the change process by shifting their fundamental beliefs about the nature of change and how it occurs within people and organizations, and to begin asking questions:

1. What is the change and future which we want to see for our organization?
2. What are the ways in which the vision, mission, and strategy of the organization need to change to align with changes in competition and customer needs?
3. What changes in structures and processes need to be in place to support these changes?
4. How can we invest in people, support people, and grow our human capital and knowledge during the process?
5. What can we learn from the change and how can we continue learning from the change?
6. How can we continue to build our internal capabilities for orchestrating change?
7. What behaviors do I need to change as a leader to ensure that change can occur?

When managers communicate regularly and frequently about the change, and invest in and engage employees during the change process, employees are more likely to be satisfied with the results of the change and believe the change was effective. This may ultimately result in a stronger sense of commitment to the company, and less resistance to the change. As leaders, we can help people through the change process. Some of the fundamental things we can do are to:

Communicate continually to inform people of:

• Awareness and need for change
• Their role in the change
• Why change is needed

Build Skills and Support:

• Knowledge – of how and what to change
• Ability – to implement new skills and behaviors
• Support to sustain the change

Engage people in:

• Planning and implementing change
• Creating success

We must also consider the ways in which our organizational cultures can be supportive of change or get in the way of successful change. For example, organizations with a culture which does not support learning, discourse, and communication, will find that building long term change is difficult if employee do not believe they are free to speak up and that their ideas will be heard. On the other hand, organizations that support employee development and learning, and which have cultures that encourage innovation and employee participation, may be more likely to successfully meet the challenges of continual change. Change Leaders must become aware of the culture and how the culture may need to shift for the organization to become more responsive to change.

Finally, leaders should consider their own attitudes toward change, and reflect on their beliefs. Robert Quinn (2005) suggests that we ask ourselves four fundamental questions:

“Am I results centered?” — Have I articulated the result you want to create?

“Am I internally directed?” — Am I willing to challenge others’ expectations?

“Am I other-focused?” — Have I put your organization’s needs above your own?

“Am I externally open?” — Do I recognize signals suggesting the need for change, in myself, others, and the organization?

According to Quinn: “ …anyone can be a leader of change, but to do so requires the transformation of self”

– Robert Quinn- Building the Bridge as You Walk On It

A webinar entitled “Managing and Leading Change in a Dynamic Environment,” by Dr. Shelley Robbins is available here.

Further Reading

Books

Beckhard, R. and Pritchard, W. (1992). Changing the Essence: The Act of Creating and Leading Fundamental Change in Organizations. Jossey-Bass.

Bennis, Warren and Burt Nanus.(1997) Leaders: strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper Business.

Burke, W.W. (2008) Organization Change: Theory and Practice. Sage.

Kotter, J. (1996) Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press.

Kotter, J. and Rathgerber, H. (2007) Our Iceberg is Melting. MacMillan .

Lawler, E.E. & Worley, C.G. (2006) Built to Change: How to Achieve Sustained Organizational Effectiveness. Jossey Bass.

Quinn, R.E. (1996) Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within, Jossey-Bass.

Articles

Beer, M. &. Nohria, N. ( 2000, May-June) Cracking the code of change. Harvard Business Review, pp. 133-141.

Quinn, R. E. (July, 2005) Moments of Greatness:Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership. Harvard Business Review

Websites

Being First

Our Iceberg Is Melting

The Army Homepage for Quality Management & Innovation

Free Management Library – Organizational Change and Development

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 9:16 am and is filed under Current Topics, Online Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.