Most organizations go through change processes as they try to fit into the dynamics of their specific industries. The cost of change in an organization is high, and most organizations hold a high importance to their change processes' success. A failure in a change process can be catastrophic to the workforce and the organization. Businesses and their manager need to understand the various factors that contribute to a successful change process.
The Factors That Contribute to Successful Change Processes in an Organization
Success factors are defined as management practices that increase the chances of success in an organization's change initiative. The presence of such rules does not guarantee the success of the process, but their absence guarantees the failure of the process. The management practices form a framework that outlines the organizational environment important for seeing through a successful change process (Cameron and Green, 2019, p18). The rules also develop a framework designed to help the organization improve in its performance. The extent to which these management practices are introduced and implemented in an organization determines the level of success that each organization experiences in its change processes.
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One of the most important factors of having a successful change process in an organization is formulating a clear vision and strategy for the change process. The vision and strategy should be accompanied by well-defined benefits that should be used to understand the need for and advantages of the change process. People are most comfortable embracing change if they know what it is and how it will affect them (Espedal, 2017, p155). All change projects must be aligned with the organization’s overall objectives and show actionable plans on how it supports achieving the goals. Managers in organizations should take either the bottom to top or top to bottom strategies in explaining the change processes for the rest of the workforce. The manager should ensure that they present the change process to the rest of the workforce. A manager should tell the workforce how their normal ways of doing things will be affected by the change process.
Change agents in an organization should ensure that the change process is spearheaded by strong leadership and sponsorship. Cameron and Green (2019, p24) discuss that senior leaders and sponsors in the organization should be at the forefront of rooting for the change process to influence the rest of the team towards embracing it. Sponsors and leaders in an organization have an extensive sphere of influence, and they should use their power to popularize the change process. Some of the skills that leaders and sponsors can use are communication and listening skills, integrity, engaging the rest of the employees, and emotional intelligence to sway the team members' opinions (Stouten et al., 2018, p758). The senior leaders' and sponsors' involvement also translates to the ownership of change from the workforce's most senior positions. A manager should also ensure that the change process has open feedback mechanisms to capture all stakeholders' opinions.
A successful change process also relies on the understanding, engagement, commitment, and understanding of all stakeholders in the organization. Different stakeholders have different interpretations of the change processes. A manager should ensure open communication between them and all stakeholders to understand their different perspectives on the change process (Pettigrew et al., 2001, p699). Such interactions with the stakeholders help to gain their understanding and commitment to the change process. A manager must identify the key stakeholders in the change process, assess the impact of the change on them, open communication channels with them, and build strategies to call for their commitment in the process (Shah et al., 2017, p 377). The manager should also nurture the stakeholders to trust the process by influencing other parties involved in the change process.
According to Dellve and Eriksson (2017, p12), a change process cannot be successful if it does not have a team of experts to push its agenda. A manager should build and nurture a change team that combines a vision with strong interpersonal skills. The purpose of the team should be well defined and the responsibilities of each individual in the team. If the change process relies on different teams' efforts, all groups should be advised to complement each other throughout the process. The manager should equip all team members with all the soft skills to push the agenda of the change process. A proper change team should be diverse and multidisciplinary with a clear definition of roles and responsibilities (Dellve and Eriksson, 2017, p12). The manager should also put in place a reward and recognition program to ensure that the team members are motivated towards achieving their goals in the change process. Understanding the teams' motivations helps the manager work on boosting the team’s strengths and getting the work done.
Before setting out on the change process, the manager should ensure that there is a clear framework to be followed by the change team members. If the organization does not have a unique structure, the manager could consider adopting the well-documented change methodologies and standards (Appelbaum et al., 2017,p23). The manager should ensure that the organization's structure is holistic and integrated to cover all the aspects of the change process. Such an arrangement ensures that all the people in the organization align with the requirements of the process. The structure also paves the way for consistent delivery of milestones, improved capabilities, and a better chance of implementing the change project. The manager should focus on being non-dogmatic in their choice of structure and be flexible enough to match the nature of change (Espedal, 2017, p158). The manager should also ensure that the framework has a consistent drip of feedback to ensure that the whole team feels incorporated in the change process.
As discussed by (Jones et al., 2019, p163), a manager should also have the merits to measure the possible success of the change project. A change process is often non-linear and evolutionary, and it is not always easy to assess the possible success or failure of the project at the beginning. The internal and external conditions in the organization may change and affect the direction of the change process. The change process manager should ensure there are measures to engage and communicate with the rest of the organization and assess the impact that the change process has on them. The manager should adopt a mix of qualitative and quantitative measures that focus on relevance, measurability, ease of data collection, analysis of the data, and presentation.
Conclusion
A change process is almost inevitable in any organization because of the need to keep adjusting to an environment's dynamics. The success or failure of change projects relies on various managerial factors that help managers steer the process. Some of the elements have clear frameworks, have a selected team implement the change, and have tools to measure their success. When such factors are adhered to, managers are likely to have a higher chance of a successful change process.
Bibliography
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