Organizational Change
HRMT19020 – Week 3- Why Organisations Change - Notes
Changes are necessary in order to accomplish goals and objectives such as improving efficiency, cost effectiveness, competing for money and resources, or improving services to clients. However, nowadays, it has become fashionable (if you like) to describe all “planned change” efforts as necessary, and to describe people who resist proposed change as “unwilling to leave their comfort zones,” or simply, “resistant” (Quinn et al. 2011, p. 311). It is important to mention here, that many organisations have been over-burdened from too many changes being imposed too quickly. Therefore, when a change is being considered, the manager must ask whether a change is absolutely needed, if so, what specifically should be changed?
Many of the forces for change affecting organisations come as a direct result of changes that have happened in the external environment. For example: changes in government regulations (Workplace Relations Act 2009), technology (highly sophisticated and extremely expensive diagnostic equipment for hospital and medical centres), economic conditions (uncertainties about interest rates and currency exchange), and social values. There is no doubt that these can all create pressure on organisations to change. Additionally, some forces of change are derived from internal initiatives that may or may not be related to external forces for change. For instance, if a company makes a strategic decision to pursue a low cost strategy, there will be pressure to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness for the organisation. In contrast, a strategy that focuses on differentiation might create pressure to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. Bearing in mind, that whichever force of change dictating (external or internal), organisations need to align their strategies (of change) with both the external environment and the internal environment as pressures from these could be highly risky
Changes are necessary in order to accomplish goals and objectives such as improving efficiency, cost effectiveness, competing for money and resources, or improving services to clients. However, nowadays, it has become fashionable (if you like) to describe all “planned change” efforts as necessary, and to describe people who resist proposed change as “unwilling to leave their comfort zones,” or simply, “resistant” (Quinn et al. 2011, p. 311). It is important to mention here, that many organisations have been over-burdened from too many changes being imposed too quickly. Therefore, when a change is being considered, the manager must ask whether a change is absolutely needed, if so, what specifically should be changed?
Many of the forces for change affecting organisations come as a direct result of changes that have happened in the external environment. For example: changes in government regulations (Workplace Relations Act 2009), technology (highly sophisticated and extremely expensive diagnostic equipment for hospital and medical centres), economic conditions (uncertainties about interest rates and currency exchange), and social values. There is no doubt that these can all create pressure on organisations to change. Additionally, some forces of change are derived from internal initiatives that may or may not be related to external forces for change. For instance, if a company makes a strategic decision to pursue a low cost strategy, there will be pressure to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness for the organisation. In contrast, a strategy that focuses on differentiation might create pressure to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. Bearing in mind, that whichever force of change dictating (external or internal), organisations need to align their strategies (of change) with both the external environment and the internal environment as pressures from these could be highly risky