Drawing learning experiences in organisational change management

Change Management Theory

Change management is a discipline studied and implemented in various organizations. The existence of this discipline spans for over half a century currently. Thus, it is a discipline of old time, with quite a number of years in existence. However, it is surprising to note that despite the huge investments that various organizations and companies employ to facilitate organizational change studies still indicate that between 60% - 70% fail (Anderson & Ackerman, 2010 p. 37). This is a remarkably high rate of failure for organizational management change projects. The statistics holds from years of 1970's to the moment. There are numerous tools, trainings and thousands of books that organizations turn to employ to implement the change they perceive fits their organization. When the failure occurs, the question is always, should the company go back to the drawing board. Most of these organizations employ various success factors developed by agents of managerial and organizational change. Nonetheless, these projects seem to fail still. Therefore, following through this finding, the semester shaped my understanding and perceptions of change management to a different level.

Perspectives of managing change held by agents in the case

In the learning process, we went through various study scenarios. However, there is an example that depicted the wholesome image of managing change and the perspectives held by agents of change within an organization or industry. This example features a major healthcare company. This company is large and well established. However, it has been on the road to implement organizational change through the years, with the project failing. The company held various perspectives as any other organizations hold. The agents of change for this particulate healthcare company focused on introducing managers to facilitate the change management. In their course of implementing change, they held the following perspectives. To begin, they held that change is an aspect of success for the organization brought by having the best managers in the company. This is remarkably true. However, the problem comes in when the organization mandates the manager to implement the change and manage the effects in their capacity (Burke, 2010 p. 75). The healthcare company in question employed many managers without arriving at the change level they envisioned. Thus, the perspective that leaders or managers are the change agents with the responsibility of implementing and managing change in an organization is one assumption held by this healthcare company.

Secondly, there is the perspective that change is effective when there is an intensive training for employees in the organization towards the tools of implementing change. The healthcare company in study held this perspective, and thus, it employed extensive resources into the training of the managers and employees towards the new systems it sought to establish for the company. Skill is a significant factor in the process of managing change. When the players in question do not have a skill to engage the expectations that the change brings, then the project will certainly fail. However, the process of gaining this skill wastes numerous company resources and most trainings fail. For instance, the healthcare company, despite employing various techniques such as sourcing for skill from outside, and training their particulate staff, the change failed due to poor management of the changing process (Burke, 2010 p. 83). The company realizes that change management is a significant factor in the success of a company, especially if it is to survive in this dynamic world of technology and other improvements. The company faced challenges in managing the change it sought to implement, due to their perspectives concerning the management of change and not the failure of the change itself.

The effect of these assumptions on the process and outcome of organizational change

It is appraisable that the healthcare company in this case as an illustration noted the two significant aspects of managing change. Their perspectives concerning the organizational change management showed the desire and purpose to hold the change within the company. However, the results of the process left them with many unanswered questions. The factor of employing various managers to facilitate the change process and manage the change effect seemed to work at the beginning of new tenure for a new manager. However, as time passed and familiarity set in, the procedure seemed to come to a standstill. The managers become used to the system and its actions, leading to their push for change disappearing within the mixture brought by the conflicting ideas. Additionally, opposition to the manager who is facilitating this change process from within the company also caused the failure of the process of implementing the change. Therefore, the effect of the perspective that the change manager can handle the changing process on their personal capacity leads to the failure of the whole change process. Secondly, the assumption that giving skill to the people in the company who work with the new system also failed. The company sourced for skill from the outside, a factor that failed as the present workers perceived this as a threat to their positions of employment. Therefore, the sourced skill did not have exclusive support from the people who were already in the system. Additionally, training the employees only gave them skill to advance their knowledge rather than manage the whole change process (Hughes, 2006 p. 67). The change management entails more than just knowing how to interact with the new system. Therefore, this perspective led to the failure of the change process. Additionally, the leadership of the healthcare company failed by assuming that having the qualified manager to facilitate the change, and giving skill to the employees would take the company through the change process. Thus, as leaders and overall managers of this company, their perspective of managing change in the company led to the failure of the change they envisioned for the company.

Personal perspective of managing change and its change over the time of study

Change management is a process that determines the success factor of an organization in the future. Change is not for the present, but the future as planning entails having a vision for the future and consequently planning in line with that vision. This is my fist perspective concerning change itself as employed in various aspects of life, including business, in service delivery, in politics or personal life and relationships. With this assumption in mind, the learning process proved to my expectations that change management is an intensive and crucial factor in the implementation of change at all levels of application of the change. In my personal perception of change, the philosophy there in included the shaping of organizational change for aligning with the expected outcomes of the change. I held the vision that change entails the will and drive to hold the change to the end despite the challenges that the organization may encounter. Change in this perspective I held is that it entailed the coaching image as the leading factor towards managing change. Additionally, I also held the perspective that change entails including the whole organization and making it have a central agreement among themselves to ensure the success of the change. Therefore, going into this class shaped my initial perspectives towards the overall overview of what the management of change should entail; in addition to, the agents of change and their expectations, as well.

My personal experience

My personal development in the subject of change management grew while working part time in a suppliers and distributors company as their agent. The management style in this place entailed a top down chain of command, with emphasis on obedience and actions. However, with time, the organization sought to establish a platform for employees to share their visions and views concerning the company. In addition to how it could progress to attain higher successes. However, although the change initiative was good for the company, there were various challenges due to the management of the change brought into the company. The people who held higher positions of office felt degraded, having to interact at almost equal platform with their juniors. Thus, the change management process failed due to the perception that it was a threat to others. There was no proper preparation by the agents of change to facilitate the process for the company. However, with time, the management established an image-shaping platform for the employees, a factor that contributed to acceptance of change within the company. This experience drew my attention when the question of perspectives on the agents of change arose in the course of study.

The learning experience through the study

In the learning process, I came across various aspects and procedures of managing change that influenced my perception of managing change. The first learning point of focus is that of contingency approaches in managing change. Reflecting on my personal perception of change management, I always had the view that there is a way that best covers the process of managing change within any organization or company. I thought that there is a model that is universally applicable to any field in the procedure of managing change. However, the theory and approach of contingency caused me to think otherwise. This approach challenges my personal perspective and view that there is "one best way" of going about organizational change management. The contingency approach indicates that the style of change varies in view of the scale of change and the reception that the organizational members have towards the change. Therefore, in view of this approach, I learnt that there is no particulate way of managing change to the effectiveness of all organizations and companies. The approach specified that the change is only equal to the uniqueness of the situation in question. This is true as the managerial or other change that a company that deals in the manufacturing process is not similar to that in the hotel or service industry. These industries have different platforms of engaging the customers; thus, every organization needs a change management strategy that inclusively caters for all the stakeholders in that organization or company (Senior & Fleming, 2006 p. 81). Additionally, the reception of the organizational members to the change features significantly in this approach. There are no people react similarly when in a given situation. People have varied degrees of reacting, thus the management of change should consider that reception the organizational members will have towards the change.

Another factor that came through in this learning process is the complexity theory and functions of leadership in managing changing change. Most organizations, such as the case study of the healthcare company, leave the management of change to the managers they employ to implement the change. However, as the complexity theory puts it, management of change begins with the leadership. In this perception, the function has three key roles in managing change. The leadership has the administrative function, in which it has the role of directing, aligning, budgeting, allocating resources and regulating the change process. Secondly, the management has the responsibility of enabling, which promotes rich interaction and flow of information, which loosens the structures of administration. This opens new channels for administration and members of the organization. Lastly, is the adaptive function, which advances innovation and solutions t adaptive issues to the change. Thus, in this study, I learned that the leadership is essential in facilitating and managing the change process in the organization. The leadership facilitates the essential factors of organizational climate, environment and culture towards the adaptation of the change; thus, paying mountainous contribution towards the management of the change in the organization.

Additionally, another factor that I experienced shaping my perception towards managing organizational change is shaping image. In this study, it featured a comparison of the organizations in the past and present. In these comparisons, it was clear that changing times have varied influences on the organizational structures in place. The procedures and structures that used to work in the early 1970's are not similar to those of 1990's, which also vary from those of the present (Saunders, 2010 p.101). Thus, this dynamic aspect of the world development necessitates the process of shaping the image of the organization to manage the change in process. Change is incremental and participative, having a long-term focus to enable it achieve the action-oriented goals. Therefore, in view of the procedures to apply in managing change in the organization, it is essential to establish the changes around the world affecting the organization. Thus, as change is institutional, it also seeks the incorporation of the image that the organization will portray to the organizational members and other stakeholders. Secondly, in shaping the change, there it is essential to take the approach of a coach to facilitate the change process. A coach takes a keen interest in all his players, as the team cannot achieve common goals unless there is cohesiveness. Thus, working as a coach means that the change process incorporates all people's visions, needs and expectations; thus, leading the organization towards adoption of the change successfully.