All these concepts and ideas are best put into practice -- meaning also that the company stands an increased chance of successfully implementing change, becoming more flexible and a responsive learning organization -- through the creation and implementation of a management for change.
Also referred to as management of change, the concept is generically understood as the "set of processes that is employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and systematic fashion to effect organizational change" (Tech-FAQ, 2009). The greatest challenge of the change management is that of overcoming the resistance to change. This is a natural reaction of the organizational staff members, which must however be reduced.
There are five specific criteria that have to be met in order for the practices of change management to be successful in their efforts. These are generically organized under the term ADKAR, the acronym standing for awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. In terms of awareness, it is crucial for the organization or the manager to realize the rationale behind the necessity for change implementation. Secondly, it is pivotal for both manager as well as staff members to be not only willing, but eager to participate to the change process. Third, it is important for the manager to know how exactly to go about in implementing change. Fourth, it is required for the organization to have the ability to change; this basically means that it must employ new technologies, allocate more financial resource, train the staff members and so on. Finally, it is of the utmost importance to continually reinforce the practices introduced throughout the change process, otherwise there is an increased risk for the company to return to the...
This can be achieved through several approaches. First, employers must maintain permanent and open communications means through which to clearly inform the staff members of the necessity of change. Secondly, it is important to inform the employees why the change would be beneficial not just for the organization as a whole, but for the individual workers as well. For instance, the introduction of a new technology could have the benefit of reducing costs and increasing product quality for the organization, but also the individual advantage of reduced workloads. Employee empowerment, including even the possibility to individually implement change when possible, is yet another useful technique (Gelfand, 1988). It is futile to say that these strategies will work on all staff members; they will however generate a positive impact upon most of the employees, with the ultimate benefit of having them increase their efforts and performances to sustain the entity in reaching its overall change objectives.
