10.1 - Managing Strategic Change

• Managing Change

  Managers and leaders of all businesses should constantly monitor their internal and external environment for pressures to change.
• When considering pressures for change, managers and leaders must also consider employee resistance to change, known as forces resisting change.
• Lewin's force field analysis supports managers and leaders in comparing pressures or forces for change against the forces resisting this change
• Success of change

  Lewin's force field analysis states that if pressures and forces for change are greater than the forces resisting change, then such change is likely to be successful.
• Unsuccess of change

  Lewin's force field analysis states that if pressures and forces for change are less than the forces resisting change, then such change is likely to be unsuccessful.
• Factors contributing to change:

  • Responding to poor financial performance may require a business to make changes, therefore acting as a pressure for change.
  • Poor customer satisfaction may require a business to make changes, therefore acting as a pressure for change.
• Factors contributing to resisting change:

  • A lack of resources, including finance and labour, may provide resistance to change if a business is unable to provide the resources needed for change.
  • Employee concerns may provide resistance to change if employees are worried about the impact of the change on their job security or working conditions.
• Strategies to Implement Change

  Kotter and Schlesinger propose six strategies which managers and leaders can use to overcome resistance to change.
• Reasons for resistance (self-interest):

  Employee self-interest may provide resistance to change as employees value their own values and beliefs above those of the business.
• Reasons for resistance (misunderstanding):

  Employee misunderstanding may provide resistance to change as employees simply do not understand the change or do not understand how it will affect them.
• Reasons for resistance (preference for the current situation):

  Employees may prefer the current situation (status quo) and therefore see no reason to change, and therefore resist any change proposed.
• Reasons for resistance (different assessment):

  Employees may have made a different assessment to that of the managers and leaders, and may agree that some change is needed, but may disagree about the type of change needed which can provide resistance.
• Kotter and Schlesinger reasons for resisting change:

  • self-interest
  • prefer the present situation
  • different assessment
  • miscommunication / misunderstanding
• Kotter and Schlesinger ways for overcoming resisting to change:

  1. Education and communication
  2. Facilitation and support
  3. Participation and involvement
  4. Manipulation and co-option
  5. Negotiation and bargaining
  6. Explicit and implicit coercion
• Methods of overcoming resistance (stage 1):

  Educating and communicating with staff can help employees overcome their resistance as discussions can be used to inform staff of the reasons behind why the change is required for the business' ongoing success.
• Methods of overcoming resistance (stage 2):

  Facilitation can help employees overcome their resistance through supporting and providing resources so that employees have the tools needed to address and adapt to change.
• Methods of overcoming resistance (stage 3):

  Participation can help employees overcome their resistance by giving them a sense of involvement and ownership so that they feel involved with the process of change.
• Methods of overcoming resistance (stage 4):

  Manipulation can help employees overcome their resistance through targeting employees likely to offer the most resistance and offering opportunities for these employees to become involved in the change process.
• Methods of overcoming resistance (stage 5):

  Negotiation can help employees overcome their resistance through offering rewards to employees who agree to co-operate with and support change.
• Methods of overcoming resistance (stage 6):

  Coercion can force employees overcome their resistance by offering employees the decision to either co-operate or accept redundancy.
• The ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to change is essential for a business to remain competitive.
• Purposes for Lewin's force field analysis:

  • to decide whether to go ahead with the change
  • to increase your chance of success, by strengthening the forces supporting change and weakening those against it
• Lewin's force field analysis enables businesses to analyse the forces for and against change and it helps businesses to communicate the reasoning behind their decision.
• Forces for change are also called Driving Forces.
• Forces against change are also called Restraining Forces.
• When a business changes its strategy, this means there has been a shift in the balance of the drivers for change and the forces resisting it.
• How can a business become more flexible?

  • restructuring
  • delayering
  • flexible employment contracts
  • organic vs mechanistic structure
  • knowledge and information management
• Value of a flexible organisation (restructuring):

  • As organisations expand they may need to reorganise and base the structure on geographical regions
  • Managers can therefore respond more quickly to regional changes
• Value of a flexible organisation (delayering):

  • Businesses may need to remove levels of hierarchy if costs need to be cut
• Value of a flexible organisation (flexible employment contracts):

  • Flexible employment contracts enables a business to move employees around as and when they are needed
  • However use of zero hours contract has been heavily criticised
• Value of a flexible organisation (Organic vs Mechanistic structure):

  • A mechanistic structure is very formal with clear rules and procedures. Therefore the business performs in a predictable manner with consistent outputs
  • Organic structures are more fluid where teams are created for specific projects. These structures are based on employees ability to contribute to a task rather than their job title
• Value of a flexible organisation (knowledge and information management):

  • Within organisations there is a huge amount of knowledge about customers, suppliers, systems, processes etc. Therefore data should be gathered effectively assuring that the relevant information is available to the right person at the right time