Organizational Changes free essay sample

This is a time of unprecedented change in our society. The changes one experiences are happening at faster and faster rates. As examples, the telephone, radio, TV, and microwave werent even in use decades ago, and today these gadgets are commonplace, along with the computer, Internet, and fax machine. In just a few months, the technology that an organization uses on an everyday basis may be outdated and replaced. That means an organization needs to be responsive to advances in the technological environment; its employees work skills must evolve as technology evolves. Organizations that refuse to adapt are likely to be the ones that wont be around in a few short years. If an organization wants to survive and prosper, its managers must continually innovate and adapt to new situations. Every organization goes through periods of transformation that can cause stress and uncertainty. To be successful, organizations must embrace many types of change. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Changes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Businesses must develop improved production technologies, create new products desired in the marketplace, implement new administrative systems, and upgrade employees skills. Organizations that adapt successfully are both profitable and admired. Managers must contend with all factors that affect their organizations. The following lists internal and external environmental factors that can encourage organizational changes: * The  external environment  is affected by political, social, technological, and economic stimuli outside of the organization that cause changes. * The  internal environment  is affected by the organizations management policies and styles, systems, and procedures, as well as employee attitudes. Typically, the concept of organizational change is used to describe organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller changes such as adding a new person, modifying a program, and so on. Examples of organization-wide change might include a change in mission, restructuring operations (for example, restructuring to self-managed teams or due to layoffs), new technologies, mergers, or new programs such as Total Quality Management, re-engineering, and so on. Managers should note that all changes should be implemented as part of a strategy to accomplish an overall goal; these transformations should not take place just for the sake of change. While the external environment (competitive, regulatory, and so on) will  continue to play a role in an organizations ability to deliver goods and services, the internal environment within the organization will increasingly inhibit it from delivering products required to meet the demands of the marketplace unless it is able to adapt quickly. The major areas of changes in a companys internal environment include: * Strategic:  Sometimes in the course of normal business operation it is necessary for management to adjust the firms strategy to achieve the goals of the company, or even to change the mission statement of the organization in response to demands of the external environments. Adjusting a companys strategy may involve changing its fundamental approach to doing business: the markets it will target, the kinds of products it will sell, how they will be sold, its overall strategic orientation, the level of global activity, and its various partnerships and other joint-business arrangements. * Structural:  Organizations often find it necessary to redesign the structure of the company due to influences from the external environment. Structural changes involve the hierarchy of authority, goals, structural characteristics, administrative procedures, and management systems. Almost all change in how an organization is managed falls under the category of structural change. A structural change may be as simple as implementing a no-smoking policy, or as involved as restructuring the company to meet the customer needs more effectively. * Process-oriented:  Organizations may need to reengineer processes to achieve optimum workflow and productivity. Process-oriented change is often related to an organizations production process or how the organization assembles products or delivers services. The adoption of robotics in a manufacturing plant or of laser-scanning checkout systems at supermarkets are examples of process-oriented changes. * People-centered:  This type of change alters the attitudes, behaviors, skills, or performance of employees in the company. Changing people-centered processes involves communicating, motivating, leading, and interacting within groups. This focus may entail changing how problems are solved, the way employees learn new skills, and even the very nature of how employees perceive themselves, their jobs, and the organization. Some people-centered changes may involve only incremental changes or small improvements in a process. For example, many organizations undergo leadership training that teaches managers how to communicate more openly with employees. Other programs may concentrate on team processes by teaching both managers and employees to work together more effectively to solve problems. Most scholarly works focusing on organizational life cycles have been conceptual and hypothetical in content. Only a small minority have attempted to test empirically the organizational life cycle model. One widely-cited conceptual work, however, was published in the  Harvard Business Review  in 1972 by L. Greiner. He used five growth phases: growth through creativity; growth through direction; growth through delegation; growth through coordination; and growth through collaboration. Each growth stage encompassed an evolutionary phase (prolonged periods of growth where no major upheaval occurs in organization practices), and a revolutionary phase (periods of substantial turmoil in organization life). The evolutionary phases were hypothesized to be about four to eight years in length, while the revolutionary phases were characterized as the crisis phases. At the end of each one of the five growth stages listed above, Greiner hypothesized that an organizational crisis will occur, and that the businesss ability to handle these crises will determine its future: Phase 1—Growth through creativity eventually leads to a crisis of leadership. More sophisticated and more formalized management practices must be adopted. If the founders cant or wont take on this responsibility, they must hire someone who can, and give this person significant authority. Phase 2—Growth through direction eventually leads to a crisis of autonomy. Lower level managers must be given more authority if the organization is to continue to grow. The crisis involves top-level managers reluctance to delegate authority. Phase 3—Growth through delegation eventually leads to a crisis of control. This occurs when autonomous employees who prefer to operate without interference from the rest of the organization clash with business owners and managers who perceive that they are losing control of a diversified company. Phase 4—Growth through coordination eventually leads to a crisis of red tape. Coordination techniques like product groups, formal planning processes, and corporate staff become, over time, a bureaucratic system that causes delays in decision-making and a reduction in innovation. Growth through collaboration, is characterized by the use of teams, a reduction in corporate staff, matrix-type structures, the simplification of formal systems, an increase in conferences and educational programs, and more sophisticated information systems. While Greiner did not formally delineate a crisis for this phase, he guessed that it might revolve around the psychological saturation of employees who grow emotionally and physically exhausted by the intensity of team work and the heavy pressure for innovative solutions.