Change Management

Moving an organization into a stronger competitive position is the number one challenge facing many senior executives. The key issue is the positive, productive management of change by design. Many issues confront organizations and individuals as they attempt to deal with change. Tested theory based management principles are available which organizations utilize to increase productivity and efficiency as well as to improve the personal interaction and accomplishment of organization members.

Perhaps the most critical factor involved in truly effective organization change is the impact of organization culture, which is usually outside an executive's direct control. If the culture is openly hostile to change or threatened by it or simply indifferent, then efforts to change, even though toward greater effectiveness, are likely to be blunted. Once the extent to which the organization culture controls individual behavior is apparent, an important conclusion is that the organization's culture must be made a part of the change effort itself. The culture within which managers live and work and seek to be effective may include the outmoded traditions, precedents, and past practices characteristic of the organization. It may encompass attitudes of mind that accept the status quo as okay and mental straightjackets that say, "To get along you have to go along." Therefore, emphasis to bring about change must shift to focusing on the organization culture as the target of change.

The reason is that each organization has its own culture. That culture conditions people to think, feel, and act in ways that may often be adverse to profitability and/or effectiveness. Traditions, precedents, and past practices come to control what people do, rather than their actions being determined by the requirements of the situation. These kinds of conventional ways of thinking, feeling, and acting come to govern attitudes toward profit margins, debts versus equity financing and cash flow, inventory control, production planning, plant layout, product lines, packaging, distribution, advertising and selling, employment standards, promotion procedures, and a host of other practices.

In other words, a manager lives within a culture of established expectations. To try to change procedures, processes, or products while ignoring the expectations of those who manage only provokes resistance to change and may eventually cause improvement efforts to be set aside. As a result, many organizations are being operated in ways that fit the past but are unsuited to the requirements of tomorrow. This makes responsiveness to future requirements even more demanding. In other words, reliance on traditional ways of management and supervision is failing to bring about desired and needed operational outcomes. Profitability or cost-effectiveness suffers as a consequence. So does human satisfaction, involvement and participation, and the readiness of organization members to commit themselves to the attainment of organization goals. Understanding how an organization's culture can mold character and dictate relationships in a positive way enhances an executive's ability to exploit the powerful potential for cultural change inherent in the application of sound management principles.

Effective Organization Development is a strategy for achieving organization excellence which promotes enthusiasm for change rather than resistance to it. This strategy is used for changing an organization from what it is to what it can be. The goal is reaching the full potential excellence. It may be applied at the headquarters level within a plant, in a district sales office, or throughout an entire corporation or agency.

Effectiveness OD is a systems approach. It is multidimensional. Its unit of application is the organization entity, not individuals. Many of the significant variables of organizations are included. It encompasses individual behavior, team building, intergroup relations, strategic modeling, and the organization's history, traditions, precedents, and past practices of the total organization culture.

The fundamental concepts have relevance for integrating effectiveness wherever people are engaged in the organized pursuit of objectives. As a result Effectiveness OD has been applied in industry, government, hospitals, educational, financial, religious, and other service institutions, utilities, R&D organizations, and others. It is an approach to excellence which transcends cultures. Since Effective OD projects have been initiated in many countries, it is highly relevant for transnational corporations and other organizations which operate internationally.

By using Effectiveness OD an organization is provided a systematic approach and methodology for positive, constructive change. The strategies and tactics of Effectiveness OD enable an organization to develop itself with a minimum reliance upon external resources. It places the responsibility for development and change with those responsible for results the line organization fully supported by a skilled and highly trained staff. It is an approach to change which permits an organization to test and evaluate each step of its development activities prior to committing further resources. Because immediate application of concepts is easily accomplished, an organization is able to realize return on its investment even in the earliest stages of a development project.