Change Management - How to Build Long-term Sucess

change management report.docx

14/11/14 CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Long-term success is based on the companys ability to create and sustain practices and processes that enable employees to perpetually generate new ideas and to create cultures of change and innovation.

CONTENT 1. Introduction (p.3)

2. The influence of quality management in the implementation change (p. 4-5)

3. The importance of the Human resources in an successful organization (p. 6-7)

4. Change, innovation and creativity (p.8-9)

5. Conclusion (p.10-11)

6.References (p.12)

INTRODUCTION Change is a primordial element in todays unstable and uncertain business world. If we look back at the past years, we can see tremendous changes in the fluctuating growth and demand occurred due to recession, war and unemployment rate.For an organisation, change is a crucial step undertaken to implement and most importantly to get the change correctly and sustain it. It is not as simple as it may sound, many leaders and managers struggle everyday to get the right changes to the organisations, and it is a highly risky process. A sustainable change is the intervention and achievement of new ways of doing business that makes profound change in the organisation and delivers the expected outcomes. It continues to improve its process and always strive to deliver the best.In the long run, success lies in the organisations capacity to create and sustain practices and processes that allow employees to continuously come up with new ideas and to develop a culture of change and innovation. There are many ways to attain long term-success for a change management but here we focus on three main points:The influence of quality management in the implementation change, the importance of the Human Resources in a successful organization and Change, Innovation and Creativity We will see in the first part how quality management is related to change management and the outcomes out of it. Secondly, we talk about the implication of employees in generating ideas can lead to a more satisfied work experience which affects positively the change culture. And finally, we mention how innovation and creativity have an impact on Change.

1) The influence of quality management in the implementation change The process and implementation of change can occur on different levels such as the organizational where it could be for example a strategic move in order to increase competitively. It can also happen on a unit level through the creation of special task forces or teams with specific goals that need to be fulfill. In an organization it will happen at a specific level but it will always needs to be support by the top management. The commitment of the managers is an essential part in order to create a successful politic or process in change management. Jeanne Almaraz studied how quality management and process of change are related. She explained that organizations tend to try to reach a Quality Management Paradigm, which she defined in three ways: user-based definition where the quality is focused on the customer satisfaction degree, product-based definition where the quality is focused on how well the product is developed in term of attributes and finally as manufacturing-based where there is quality when the product doesnt need lots of reworking and the process is simple and efficient. Companies have different tools to implement change and quality managers use quality programs that are focused on different aspects of the organization. Those programs apply change on people, tasks, technologies or the organization structure. By doing so managers will influence the company culture, which is defined by their beliefs, values and expectations. They will also have to be aware of the resistance to change from the employees. In every company change is going to meet problems because employees might feel uncomfortable with the fact that someone is telling them that their way of doing thing is wrong or need improvements. This is why company managers should try to estimate the organization readiness to change. In 2008 Areva, the French nuclear company changed its whole organization chart in order to improve each department. They created business units based on the different activities of the group. Before that they were using a regional chart where each sub-group worked as subsidiaries but they faced lots of problems due to the lack of interconnections between co-workers who basically did the same job but on different part of the world. The top management prepared this change for more than a year in order to be completely ready to make it as easy as possible for the employees. The modifications had effects on the structure of the company but not only. It had also effects on the customers/users because the commercial management was completely modified. Customers dealt with more people and had more opportunities. Thanks to the new organization, the top management faced a bit of resistance because this change also included a move in the location of the offices from the inside of Paris to La Defense. The employees were also afraid of losing their jobs because reorganization often means the suppression of a few jobs. As Paula and James Weber explained in their studies there are several variables that will influence the implementation of change. Employee participation is essential because it will first make them feel concerned, secondly also it will be more efficient and finally it will build a feeling of trust between the management and the employees. They also found that feedback had not that much of an effect on the feeling of support of the management. Those factors had influence on the change in Arevas reorganization. The year that the management used to prepared the change was to be able to ask the employees what are their problems and expectations and also how they would do it.After 6 years the employees now clearly see the effects and improvements of the reorganization and the fact that none of the employees had been let go only repositioned to better fit their competences and skills, was really appreciated and increase the trust of employees in the management. Nowadays the company manages to create a long-term vision of change and its culture. It used to be a traditional and a little bit archaic company but thanks to the will of change of the top management followed by their employees, they are now a strong leader on the market and have an organization that is more adaptable to changes in the market.

2) The importance of the Human resources in a successful organization

a) The employee satisfaction The enterprise culture is something really important in any kinds of companies. It has to be linked with the vision of the company because the human resources is a major key of success in a firm. Indeed, the most successful companies are the one where employees enjoy going every day. Therefore, a company has to highlight the importance of the employees to succeed. For instance, Forbes establishes every year a ranking of the best companies to work for in. In 2014, firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter are in the top 10 and those three companies are also among the most successful companies. Nevertheless, making sure the employees will be satisfied in the workplace is not an easy task. Indeed, the first step to achieve the employee satisfaction occurs during the orientation stage. The first impression and experience a new employee will have in a company is crucial. IBM really enhances the orientation of the new employees. For instance, the international company really focuses on introducing all the aspects of the company to the new workers such as the culture of the company, its values, processes, organization and history. IBM is giving a face-to-face experience to the newcomers. And the most important thing IBM is doing while setting up the orientation for the new employees is asking them for feedbacks. Only after few hours in the workplace, the company expects the new IBMer to give his point of view about how to make the orientation stage better for the future employees. By doing this, the new comer already feels as a part of the company and will be willing to work hard for his new firm. Examples such as maintaining a safe, clean and positive workplace, consistent rewards and setting up flexible hours for employees can be good examples of incentives for an employee to perform better. However, every employee has different expectation in a company, so it is very important to make sure to set up shared objectives within a firm in order make the company successful.

b) An employee-oriented organization Though the employees can be satisfied if they have good incentives such as monetary incentives, it might not be enough to achieve performances and to make the company successful. Indeed, the structural organization of a company is really important. For instance, if the employees manage to generate ideas but if the organization of the company doesnt allow the employees to share their ideas, it will be useless. Therefore, a company should use all the human resources it has in order to succeed and generate new ideas. The good ideas dont especially emerge from the executives of a company. In theory, there are two mains organizational structures: the horizontal one and the vertical one. However, the horizontal one is the most reliable if the company wants to use the strengths of each employee. For instance, one important advantage of a horizontal organizational structure is that it enhances team works and an employee-centered approach to leadership. Indeed, in this kind of organizational structure, team works are really important. The first advantage of team works is that the employee feels he belongs to a group. Besides, by working in small teams, it allows the employees to broaden their minds by sharing their thoughts, which will be really good in order to come up with innovative solutions.Besides, a company can be successful depending on the management. In a participative management style, leaders emphasize on the employees involvement in the management process.The main goal of using this kind of management is that it is the best way to enhance communication in the organization. Indeed, the employees can participate in the decision-making process and so they can more easily communicate their ideas to the managers. The employees in this kind of management style feel prouder. Therefore, the employees know that they are important in the organization and so they are more willing to generate ideas because they know their ideas will be taken into consideration. The participative management style is a good way to enhance the employees motivation.Nevertheless, a company often has to face changes, either inside or outside the firm. So it has to make sure that the values of the company will not change by building some really strong basis to make sure the employee will always have an important role in a company and so to enhance the generation of new ideas.3) Change, innovation and creativity

The market, the industry is constantly moving around us and change is integrated in our culture. If many leaders are afraid about change and tend to keep their positions at the cost of innovation, the reason is that the move they might want to go for, may not be the right one of the best one to do and so have critical repercussions on their business. However the key to this issue is to make decisions. No one is able to predict with perfect certainty which outcomes will result of the change but we need to undertake this risk to go forward and build the future.We experience change in our daily life, at the workplace, at home but also in the way we manage social relationships. Organizational change is a movement over time from a specific ongoing present to an uncertain future which is often planned in order to secure anticipate objectives and to fit with our goals on a long-term basis. The difficult part in the process is to deal with unforeseen risks or any event we didnt plan and that is where change management is crucial to implement the right change at the right time.

The companys ability to create and sustain practices and processes that enable employees to generate new ideas is based on how you much succeed to implement the change and how aware people are of the innovation importance. Innovation refers to the solving problem process, where ideas and opinions are crucial to improve the way people do things in creating value.The whole process of innovation, creativity and changes involves people to be responsible of the movement from the way the currently do things to a new way of working and add values to the product, services and organizations we are offering to the society. Long-held assumptions and traditional belief can eventually inhibit new ways of seeing things, new ways of thinking and soften the benefits of innovation. Change, innovation and creativity are possibly some of the key ingredients to reach a profitable and commercial success within organizations nowadays.Regarding the current economical context it is relevant to focus on the development of the new ideas. If we stay fixed on old believes, we might have difficulties to deal with dynamic economic pressures and so fail to find alternative ways of doing things. Being innovative and creative is essential if you want to keep a competitive position on the market and adapt yourself to the shifting demands of your consumers (Rickards, 1999).It has been proved (De Brabandere, 2005) that companies which tend to use customers and suppliers as a source of inspiration rather than trying to imitate what competitors are doing on the market, are most likely the one that will get higher rewards on the market place by earning more market share and increase their brand awareness. The business world is full of example and a proof that linking creativity, innovation and change is a great way to remain competitive and sustainable on the market industry. If we analyze the case of Apple Computers, they were almost destined for bankruptcy but its managers manage to restructure their way of working and focus mainly on innovation and high-quality products. What is the result today? Apple became a global household name known for its innovative and well-designed products.Nowadays, market economic forces are designed as a promotion to the need for new products and services in markets are changing and evolving more rapidly than ever. However, cultural barriers and social beliefs have been identified as important determinant to understand whether the implementation of the change would be successful or not (Furglsang and Sundbo, 2002).The process remain very complex and if understandable, difficult to apply in daily business life. When you are managing change and trying to find news days of doing things, you need to generate ideas and then select the good ones to translate it into innovations. Then, you have to move the organization with its news ideas forward to meet the demand of customers settled on dynamic business markets.

If they want to be successful, managers shouldnt neglect on the other side the development of the right organizational conditions such as organizational structures, culture, leadership style but also resources. It is crucial to be aware of its resources capabilities because before implementing an effective change, you need to transform raw ideas into the right future products and services in the marketplace you are targeted. If you fail to implement the change with every components around it, and that employees do not understand the benefits of the difficulties they have been through to implement the new decisions, it may not be worthwhile and even make the situation worse that it was before.

CONCLUSION

A change can occur at any level of management whether in a unit or organizational level when there is a requirement for it. In order to fulfill the change, there should be a tremendous support from the management level and commitment from the managers. Jeanne Almaraz study shows how interrelated is change management to quality management, the change in the process of an organisation can affect the quality of the outputs. When the organizational structure changes, the companys culture will be modified to meet the expected objective of the organisation. But organisations can face resistance from the employees whose first reaction could be rejection of the new implementation.Therefore, when implementing the change, organisations should make sure that employees participate in the change to make them feel concerned about the companys future, this will make them to be more efficient and will build a trustworthy relationship between the management and employees. A successful change in the long run can bring best managers and leaders and also satisfied employees. The company culture is very important in an organisation; the success to a better functioning of a company is the human resources. When the employees satisfaction is high, there are many chances of employees to succeed. Organisations such as IBM focus to give a best impression and a good experience when an employee joins the company.It is crucial for a company to provide a good working experience to an employee to get back in return an effective work. An employees satisfaction factors do not limit to mere incentives, health insurance, flexible working hours or promotion, they strive to generate ideas and expects the ideas to be implemented. To sustain a successful company, the leaders emphasize involvement of employees in the management level. The objective is to create a strong communication in the organisation between employees and managers. This style of management makes employees feel integrated, respected and make them feel proud and important to the company, therefore, they will be highly motivated.

In the fast developing and fast changing world, organisations should change according to the new technologies and innovation to be up to the level of the competition. Many leaders are reluctant to change because of the high risk. But the best practice to sustain a successful company is to generate ideas, solving problems, create value and ready to change according to the circumstances to avoid economic pressures and fail to satisfy customers expectations. According to De Brabandere, organisation who takes inspiration from its suppliers and customers instead of trying to imitate competitors, have more recognition and compensations on the marketplace and increase their brand awareness.

Cultural barriers and social beliefs are the main elements to take in account to determine if a change would be successful or not. But organisations should pick up the best way of doing things and generate ideas to get a stable grip on the business market with its resources capabilities.

REFERENCES

Almaraz, J (1994) - Journal of Organizational Change Management, Quality Management and the Process of ChangeDeutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (2012) - Managing change and innovation: A challenge for Modern OrganisationsPaula S. Weber James E. Weber (2001) - Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Changes in employee perceptions during organizational changeHammel, G. (2006) - The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation.Mann, L. and Chan, J. (eds) (2011) - Creativity and Innovation in Business and Beyond: SocialScience Perspectives and Policy Implications.King, N. and Anderson, N. (2002) - Managing Innovation and Change: A Critical Guide forOrganizations.Andriopoulos, C. and Dawson, P. (2009) - Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation.Keeley, B. (2012) - Managing Innovation is about Managing Changehttp://www.forbes.com/pictures/efkk45ffdhl/no-9-orbitz/ http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/orientation.shtml http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/profit/archives/opinion/041111-bmagusin-359275.html http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-horizontal-organizational-structure-30904.htmlhttp://www.andrewjensen.net/motivating-employees-with-participative-management/

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