Changes That Occur as a Result of a Merger

Change Resistance

Human beings are by nature change-resistant and particularly within an organizational context there is anxiety about change, given fears of job losses or simply being unable to adapt. It is essential to convince change agents of the need and urgency for change and also of the congruency of the change with the evolving vision for the company.

Vision statement

A "vision statement should have four elements: a customer orientation, employee focus, organizational competencies, and standards of excellence" ("Changing the game," 2015:3). The change should be demonstrated to enhance all of the organization's capacities, not simply improve its bottom line in the short-term. Having an effective vision statement is necessary for effective change. The Lewin Model of organizational change stresses the need for a three-part adaptation process called unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. In other words, the organization must be temporarily destabilized or unfrozen before it returns to a new equilibrium. "This first part of the change process is usually the most difficult and stressful. When you start cutting down the 'way things are done,' you put everyone and everything off balance. You may evoke strong reactions in people, and that's exactly what needs to done" (Thompson 2015).

Change resistance

Organizational members may go through a stage of denial or resistance that can be very difficult to overcome, particularly if the attempted change is more proactive and anticipatory in nature rather than driven by immediate, external events. A crucial part of selling the change requires "sharing competitive information, creating behavioral dissatisfaction, using models to produce dissatisfaction, and mandating dissatisfaction" ("Changing the game," 2015:5). Organizational transparency regarding the reasons for the change and the consequences of the change (even the anticipated potential negative consequences) is required. The outside environment is always changing and a good business is always engaging in environmental scanning to inform its strategic planning. Certain aspects of the company may need to be adapted to current circumstances, although the core vision of the organization should remain constant.

There is no singular 'one-size-fits-all' approach to change management, however, and a variety of models may be deployed over the course of the organization's history. According to the textbook, there are two essentially different navigational approaches to change, an analogy often made between organizations and sailing ships: "the European navigator begins with a plan -- a course -- which he has charted according to certain universal principles, and he carries out his voyage be relating he every move to that plan" and if there is a need for change, the plan must be changed ("Changing the game," 2015:7). In contrast, the Trukese navigator focuses on the final objective and changes his course depending upon the moment-by-moment observations of the environment, "this effort is directed to doing whatever is necessary to reach the objective" ("Changing the game," 2015:7). Both approaches may be useful, given that organizations today require strategic change plans to be functional but must also be responsive to unexpected changes.

Conclusion