UGC NET Study Notes on Organisational Change and its Models

1- Overview of Organisational change

• Organisational change is the procedure of development, decline and modification within the organisation.
• It is the modification of organisational relationships and responsibilities of employees of the organisation. The nature of organisational change is structural to a great extent.
• Organisations sustain, develop or decline, which is highly influenced by the changing behaviour of the human resource.
• Organisations change in multiple manners. It can be a change in technology, change in organisational structure, change in human resource or any other element.
• Organisational change process: Anticipating change- Identifying change- communicating the change- mobilising resources for change- managing resistance to change- reinforcing change success- Implantation of change.
• Organisational changes are of two types:
  • Reactive change– It happens only if environmental factors pressurise the organisation to implement change. It is implied in a limited part of the organisation. It reacts to instant symptoms demanded by the environment.
  • Proactive changes– It happens only when changes are necessary, and the organisation is not compelled to implement change. It is a planned change and includes purposive behaviour. Under this, change is implied in various parts of the organisation.
• Causes of Organisational Change:
  • External forces: These are the factors which are part of the external environment of an organisation. It includes a change in technology, machine and equipment, market situation, political and social changes, competition
  • Internal forces: These are the factors which are part of the internal environment of the organisation. It includes a change in structure, deficiency in the organisation, changes in procedures or methods, change in leadership

2- Models of change

     Lewin’s change management model

• Kurt Lewin (1950) proposed a successful change model in the organisation through three main stages which are:
• Unfreeze: The equilibrium state can be unfrozen in any one of the three ways; by increasing the driving forces, by decreasing the restraining forces or, a combination of both. This includes preparation for change by breaking the status quo of resistance to change.
• Change: Also called movement/transition, as the actual implementation of change takes place at this stage by the execution of the latest practices and policies. Quality leadership and reassurance is essential for change to make the process easier for employees who resist change.
• Refreeze: After the implementation, newly adopted behaviours and policies are encouraged under new guidelines. Coaching, training, mentoring and rewarding help to reinforce and things begin to become stable again.

Kotter’s eight-step change management

• Proposed by John P Kotter, this model consists of eight stages which focus on a key element that is related to the response of employees to change.
• This model is an easy step-by-step process that emphasises on creating and adopting change.
• Eight stages of this model are as follows:
  • Increase the urgency for change- includes forming a sense of urgency in the employees in order to motivate them and focus on goals.
  • Team building- Forming a team with the goal of a coalition for managing the change by bringing together employees who excel in knowledge, skills and commitment.
  • Vision for change- Strategic vision and initiatives are created, taking into account the strategy, objective and emotional connect with employees.
  • Communicate the need for change- Healthy communication is initiated with employees involved in the process to discuss the need and importance of change.
  • Empower employees- Staff is empowered with the ability to bring change and get things moving. Obstacles and roadblocks need to be removed, and feedback is supposed to be taken on a regular interval.
  • Short term goals- Focus is on generating short term goals to achieve success in time.
  • Sustain acceleration- the continued pursuit of change in spite of apparent victory is followed. Employees need to stay persistent in the process of change management.
  • Incorporate change- Changes are made permanent and are anchored into the organisation’s culture. Along with managing change effectively, it should be reinforced.

McKinsey 7 S Model

• Developed by Robert Waterman, Tom Peters, Richard Pascale, and Anthony Athos in 1978, this model features seven steps for managing change that operate as a collective agent of change.
• This model helps to analyse and understand an organisation, as it is a combination of rational and emotional elements.
  • Strategy – Creation of strategy includes the development of step by step future plan to overcome competition and achieve the objective.
  • Structure – Involves the form in which the organisation is divided into an organisational structure.
  • Systems – It is related to the operational tasks of the organisation.
  • Shared values – Core values of an organisation on the basis of which activities of an organisation are conducted.
  • Style – The mode in which the changes and leadership are accepted or executed.
  • Staff – Human resource or employees and their attributes and capabilities.
  • Skills – The competencies, experience and knowledge possessed by the human resources.

Action research model

• Action research is the foundation for designing strategies for Organisational Change.
• It is a continuous and cyclic step of actions to be implemented in the organisation to search for a solution to the problem. It is problem-centred and action-oriented.
• The process begins with the perception of the actual problem in the organisation after which diagnosis and identification of the problem are done by an external or internal consultant.
• The problem diagnostic step calls for data collection through personal interviews or questionnaires. Collected data is then considered by executives.
• After this, the organisation prepares for intervention techniques for change. Feedback, which results out of data discussion, is given to executives to seek their advice, on the basis of which an action plan is composed.
• The action plan is implemented, revised, and evaluated on a regular basis to test its effectiveness of implemented change. Ineffective results are forced to repeat the whole action plan process until organisational goals are optimally achieved.

ADKAR model

• It is a goal-oriented theory which allows change management teams to emphasise on activities directly associated with the goals of change.
• ADKAR Model basically stands for
  • Awareness – about the requirement for change
  • Desire – to implement and participate in the change process
  • Knowledge – skill to bring change
  • Ability – potential to implement the change on a timely interval
  • Reinforcement – to reinforce the change on a regular basis.
• This model allows the implementation of the changes into different sections and evaluates change to check its effectiveness.

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