A4 –Change Implementation Process
Good work . I hope you are enjoying the course and finding that the readings and assignments are helping you to reflect on some of the changes you have faced in your life.
On to the next assignment.
Regards, Keith Whitmore , M.Sc., MBA, CPA, CGA, P.Eng.
Faculty – Thompson Rivers University – Open Learning
| Section | Mark out of / |
| Q1 Challenges in gaining commitment | 12/15 |
| Q2 Feedback mechanisms to determine commitment | 18/20 |
| Q3 Five Indicators that illustrate commitment | 15/20 |
| Q4 Five ways to sustain change momentum | 22/25 |
| Q5 Five interventions to help regain momentum | 18/20 |
| Format – Length 1500- 2000 words, font Times New Roman size 12, line spacing 1.5 to 2
Deduct 3 marks each for lack of compliance Failure to use Report Format |
Need to use report format
– 3mks
|
| Intro, Summary, References | – 2mks |
1,885 words – good you are within the specified range.
Commitment to Change and Sustaining Momentum for Change
Introduction
The environment dynamic and so do organizations. The purpose of this report is to explore organizational change. As such, various aspects including challenges in gaining commitment, feedback mechanisms to determine commitment, indicators of commitment, and ways to sustain change momentum will be discussed. There will be also an identification of some of the interventions that could help regain momentum when lost during an implementation process.
If you are looking for extra assistance with your writing – Open Learning (OL) students have access to The TRU Writing Centre who offer online help. You might want to view the details at the following link.
http://www.tru.ca/studentservices/writingcentre.html
This needs to be personal.
– 2mks
- The Introduction
All assignments should lead in with a brief introductory paragraph that states your objectives and purpose for the assignment. The introduction serves as a guide for your writing and should clearly state each topic that you will develop into paragraphs within your assignment.
As such the introduction in this course is not a traditional introduction to the topic but rather is a more personal statement about what you will discuss and what you hope to learn. An illustration is
Introduction
My purpose for this assignment is to increase my understanding of the institutionalization of change. In this assignment, I will discuss my understanding of the institutionalization of change
You need to use report format where you first repeat the question.
Q1 What are the challenges in gaining commitment during a change implementation process?
Employees may not necessarily understand what “change” means. Accordingly, it happens when the top management fails to convey information about a change to employees properly. Therefore, there is a need for the organization to communicate enough information for the employees and involve them in decision making process in order to gain their commitment. In addition, the change plan should be documented to act as guides for employees.
According to Cummings &Wolley (2005), employees are likely to embrace a change when provided with information early enough. An organization may need to inform not only the stakeholders but also employees the reason for a change. In most cases, change involves alterations that may impact not only the roles and responsibilities of employees but also threatening some of their positions.
In regard to Bevan (2011), change efforts require resources in terms of financial, human, and equipment. Employees are also likely to resist change when resources for managing such a change are not in place. Thus, an organization should commit enough financial and human resources for extensive training that is crucial for the anticipated change in the organization.
As Hodges & Gill (2014) put it, change and communication are inevitable. Communication allows managers to create not only a shared sense of direction but also plans and priorities. Organizations should be prepared for uncertainties in the change process. Conversely, a manager or supervisor who fails to communicate fails to build trust among the employees and thus cannot get them to be committed (Hodges and Gill, 2014).
Gelaidan& Ahmad (2013) assert that a transformational leader is likely to get employees to be committed to change while transactional leadership discourages employees from being involved in the affairs of the organization. The leadership in an organization also plays a critical part in dictating whether employees may be committed or not. Notably, a transformational leader would create a sense of freedom among the employees thereby encouraging them to share their concerns about the change.
Some of the challenges in gaining commitment during the change implementation process may be:
- the change itself is not understood. This could be helped through communication including better documentation of the change plan.
- the reason for the change is not understood. Perhaps the reason for the change needs to be better explained
- adequate resources to support the change are not in place
Per Tips and Guidelines in Blackboard
Describe your understanding of how to gain commitment that would include the challenges of gaining commitment; provide examples and cite references to the readings.
Ways to garner support for the change may be taken from the Ten Commandments (Jick, 1991):
- Analyzing the organization and its need for change
- Creating a shared vision
Q2. Feedback Mechanisms Used to Determine Employee Commitment
Some of the feedback mechanisms that can be used to determine employee commitment include questionnaires, interviews and observation. In this case, open-ended questions are used to facilitate meaningful responses. However, one of the limitations of the method is that answers will differ in scope or levels of details. In addition, some employees might find it difficult to express their views in a written format.
In order to draw the necessary information from an interview, the questions will need to be management and personal-based. For instance, the employees may be asked whether the management has informed them of any change. Accordingly, if they have been informed, their perception towards change would be paramount. Thus, interviews will give one a platform for genuine feedback on the suitability of the change process (Chawla &Kevin Kelloway, 2004).
However, observation will be the best tool to identify employee commitment towards organizational change. Employees who support organizational change tend to demonstrate behavioral support for the change (Sin, Seo& Shapiro, 2015). Accordingly, observing employees working in teams and wasting minimal time while working would assist a great deal.
Yes
Feedback mechanisms that I would use to determine employee commitment include:
- observations, unobtrusive measures, interviews, surveys, and questionnaires would be the basic feedback mechanisms. Often the act of observation is an excellent way of verifying as action is often more evident of a person’s belief
Q3. Five Indicators of committed and enthusiastic Employees
You need a lead-in sentence
Five indicators that would illustrate employees are committed and enthusiastic about the change include:
- Employee feedback: As noted, feedback mechanisms are crucial in the identification of employee commitment towards change. Therefore, a high number of employees who respond positively to interviews and questionnaires concerning an organization change could imply that they are enthusiastic about the change.
- Improved performance: In relation to Senge et al. (1999), performance is linked to work effectiveness. Thus, an employee who is committed to change will deliver a high and quality output at the set time. For instance, an employee who used to produce 10 items in an hour is likely to produce more at least 12 with the new methods
- Increased individual learning: Employees who are interested in organizational change will attend meeting and training regularly. In addition, employees who used to work on their own will start participating in teams.
- Improved quality of relationship with management: The quality of employment relationship during a planned change plays a significant role in employees’ acceptance and involvement in the change (Turner et,.al., 2008). Accordingly, an employee who is enthusiastic about change will be in good terms with the managers and supervisors in order to draw enough information on the planned change.
- Role autonomy: Employees who believe that they have acquired the necessary training will execute their actions freely and adjust their behaviors accordingly. Thus, managers and supervisors will keep reminding them on how to go about their assigned tasks. Good
Q4. Five Ways to Sustain the Momentum of Change
You need a lead-in sentence
Once commitment is evident, five ways to sustain momentum might include:
- Providing necessary resources for change: Implementing an organization change demands extra financial and human resources (Cumming & Worley, 2013). Notably, some of the change activities that require extra resources include training, data collection, and meetings. Therefore, as a change agent, one needs to ensure that the organization budget for training and special meetings is addressed. In addition, employees will be given a period of not less than three months in order to adjust accordingly.
- Building a support system with fellow change agents: Cummings and Worley (2013) acknowledge that change agents may be isolated while trying to offer emotional support for employees. One of the ways in which they could break such isolation is through building their own support system to help cope with emotional challenges. Ideally, it is necessary to build a network with fellow change agents as a platform to help them express the challenges they face while trying to sustain change in the organization. From a personal perspective, the support system will assist in identifying new ways of handling challenges in sustaining change momentum.
- Developing new competencies and skills: Since organizational change calls for new knowledge and skills from employees, one has to ensure that the organization not only facilitates the training of employees but also creates employee involvement programs. According to Cumming and Worley (2013), change agents are supposed to facilitate continuous learning for the employees. As such, one has to providie on-the-job counseling and coaching for each employee after identifying the challenges that employees are confronted with in their daily activities.
- Reinforcing new behaviors through rewards: In most cases, employees are engaged in behaviors that bring them rewards (Cummings & Worley, 2013). Evidently, some of the behaviors that sustain momentum for change in an organization are the involvement in teams. As a change agent, the management should reward the team which has performed beyond expectation. In addition, employees who handle their tasks independently will be rewarded singly. One should encourage the supervisors and managers to personally recognize the employees whose efforts towards organizational change is evident.
- Giving change enough time. Cumming and Worley (2013), assert that change requires time. As a change agent, it is important to make sure that employees are accorded enough time to train, learn, and develop new behaviors. In addition, one is supposed to monitor employees’ activities to identify any decline in performance and productivity. Also, one should organize for extra meetings to encourage the employees to echo their perceptions of the change.
Good
Q5. Various Interventions to Sustain Momentum after Previous Failed Attempts
- Consultation: One could have failed to sustain momentum due to group problems. Notably, not all the employees may be able to integrate into a particular group. As a result, there is a need to consult every group in order to identify their problems. Ideally, this form of communication should spread to all other groups to ensure similar mistakes will not reappear in the future. In addition, teams should be reorganized to enable employees to integrate into teams which may promote their organizational interests.
- Team Building: Sustaining momentum may call for employees to be involved in teams to learn new skills and knowledge as a team. It is essential to ensure that employees are organized into teams and each member is conversant with their roles. As an agent, one should be involved in group’s tasks to identify the challenges that members may be going through. In addition, one should identify the behaviors that may prevent members from handling the assigned tasks in an appropriate way.
- Goal Setting: Organizational change calls for setting clear and challenging goals. Thus, one needs to be involved in setting general and specific goals for every team. Conversely, it involves calling upon the team to present their accomplishments and challenges they were confronted with while executing their tasks.
- Confrontation meeting: A momentum may fail due to individuals whose behaviors demonstrate that they may not be ready for a change. As a result, one may organize a confrontation meeting to challenge the teams to identify the problems that they could be going through in their lives. After establishing the resources that could be needed for the immediate problem solving, one should ensure that the management addresses such issues accordingly.
- Coaching and mentoring: This intervention would align with goal setting. Accordingly, an agent may act as a coach to identify the challenges that employees might be going facing. Through the relation, focus needs to be put on personal learning and strategies that would enable the employees to improve their performance. Yes
Summary
This paper expands one’s knowledge on organizational change. One is able to identify the indicators of employee commitment and challenges that an organization may go through while trying to gain commitment in organizational change process. In addition, one is acquainted with the ways in which an organization may sustain change momentum. Thus, this assignment has been crucial in understanding the dynamics of organizational change.
- The Summary
All assignments should end with a summary that briefly synthesizes the assignment and provides a comment on the value this assignment had to your learning about Change Management. In other words, the brief synthesis should encapsulate what you have learned from this assignment. Note this is a more personal and reflective approach.
For example
Summary
This assignment helped to expand my knowledge regarding institutionalization of change by allowing me to become aware when institutionalization is truly evident and when it is not. A manager does not have an easy task when it comes to creating a work culture devoted to continuous change, learning, and improvement but there are tools available to help aid this culture to become a part of an organization. Most importantly, an organization should be open to change, as it is more than apparent the world itself is never going to stop changing.
References
Bevan, R. (2011). Changemaking: Tactics and resources for managing organizational change. eBookIt. com.
Chawla, A., & Kevin Kelloway, E. (2004). Predicting openness and commitment to change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(6), 485-498.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2013). Organization Development and Change (10th ed.). Oxford: Cengage Learning.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2005). Organization, development, and change sustaining momentum. 8th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western.
Gelaidan, H. M., & Ahmad, H. (2013). The factors affecting employee commitment to change in public sector: Evidence from Yemen. International Business Research, 6(3), 75.
Hodges, J., & Gill, R. (2014). Sustaining change in organizations. New York: Sage Publications.
Senge, P. M., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Roth, G. & Smith, B. (1999). The growth processes of profound change. In, The dance of change: The challenges of sustaining momentum in learning organizations New York, NY: Currency/Doubleday.
Shin, J., Seo, M. G., Shapiro, D. L., & Taylor, M. S. (2015). Maintaining employees’ commitment to organizational change: The role of leaders’ informational justice and transformational leadership. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 51(4), 501-528.
Turner P, J., Cadwallader, S., & Busch, P. (2008). Want to, need to, ought to: employee commitment to organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 21(1), 32-52.
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