Reasons For Change Within An Organisation Management Essay

Reasons For Change Within An Organisation Management Essay Some changes are implemented as a result of problems within organisations, but many Changes come about as a result of organisations proactively seeking business benefits such as reducing costs or improving services. The Change Management process ensures that standardised methods and procedures are used to minimise the impact of changes on quality of service, and improve the day-to-day operations of the organisation. It is important that in implementing changes to an organization that the board of directors and management of the organisation assess risk to the continuity of the organization, resource requirements needed for the change and maintain a proper balance between the need for Change against the impact of the Change. It is particularly important that Change Management processes have high visibility and open channels of communication in order to promote smooth transitions when Changes take place. It is imperative to get employees to buy into the need for change and the changes themselves. It is very important that all employees be informed about the issue bringing on the need for change, the possible outcomes and the plan for solution. They must also understand their own roles in the process. This will help break down barriers to implementing the change. This study will appraise the implementation of the change process including resistance to change and practical management aspects. In this study we will use Chorus as real life example of the change process and its implementation. Chorus, a steel company operates in a fast changing environment. They had to respond to these changes to beat rivals and meet customers needs. Chorus needed the commitment and support of staff to make changes that shape the business in the longterm. Corus has three divisions, one of which is Corus Strip Products UK (CSP). CSP UK makes steel in strip form. CSP UK has put in place a major change programme called The Journey to overcome any barriers to change and secure a better future for the business. Reasons for change Organisations typically change in response to the external environment, as well as through the development of competitive strengths within the organisation. External environmental factors include: Social factors e.g. changes in demography and consumer buying patterns. Legal factors legal pressures that force organisations to change to comply with laws, e.g. by responding to environmental legislation. Economic factors relate to booms and slumps in general economic activity, changes in interest rates, inflation rates etc. Political factors relate to wider political changes for example, a government taking a particular line on privatisation/the role of the state in society. Technological factors relate to new developments in technology e.g. the development of new web based selling methods by companies. On top of the above SLEPT (Social, Legal, Economic, Political and Technological) factors a major influence on the organisation is what the competition is doing. A SLEPT analysis is an analysis of key changes in an organisations environment. It is sometimes referred to as scanning the environment. The management of change is a key aspect of the way in which an organisation responds to change in an appropriate way. The emphasis should be on managing the change rather than reacting to change. Other ways in which organisations change are by altering their culture, i.e; changing the typical patterns and behaviours within the organisation e.g. moving from a top-down organisation to a more democratic form. Becoming more customer or marketing focused as opposed to production oriented. Most organisations today are developing this customer focus. Altering the scope of their activities e.g. by taking on new activities or by operating in new geographical areas. For example, most large companies today have become global enterprises and they have often reduced the number of brands and products they offer in order to concentrate on power brands in global markets. Usually organizational change can be brought about by some major outside driving force, e.g., substantial cuts in funding, address major new markets/clients, need for dramatic increases in productivity/services, etc. Typically, organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a different level in their life cycle, e.g., going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial organization to more stable and planned development. Transition to a new chief executive can provoke organization-wide change when his or her new and unique personality pervades the entire organization. According to Kurt Lewin good communication is an important part of the process of changing the organisation. This involves communicating the direction of change, the objectives, how the change will be carried out and who will be involved. Downloaded from The Times 100 Editi http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/downloads/theory/the_organisation_and_change.pdf Change in a Chorus was a planned process. It followed a clear structure. Chorus identified the barriers to its changes, created and applied a plan for change and a method for measuring its success. Internal drivers for change at Chorus UK were: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ poor delivery à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ competitiveness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ high wastage à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ low staff morale. External drivers were: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ new rivals à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ changing customer needs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ new technology à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ poor views of the steel sector. Barriers to change Different types of change require different approaches, but fundamentally managers of staff need to ensure that they support their team through the change. Individuals must also prepare themselves for change. Typically there are strong resistances to change. People are afraid of the unknown. Many people think things are already just fine and dont understand the need for change. Many are inherently cynical about change, particularly from reading about the notion of change as if its a mantra. Many doubt there are effective means to accomplish major organizational change. Often there are conflicting goals in the organization, e.g., to increase resources to accomplish the change yet concurrently cut costs to remain viable. Organization-wide change often goes against the very values held dear by members in the organization, that is, the change may go against how members believe things should be done. Thats why much of organizational-change literature discusses needed changes in the culture of the organization, including changes in members values and beliefs and in the way they enact these values and beliefs. Every organization has a distinct culture. Sometimes the culture is fragmented and difficult to understand, but most organizational cultures are very strong. Organizational culture influences and affects many aspects of employees personal and professional life. It affects what decisions are made, who gets promoted, how people dress and how the work force behaves. Culture binds people into a cohesive group. However, change can be perceived as a threat. Yet one thing is constant. People are resistant to change. We are all creatures of habit and will continue doing the things that we are doing unless those habits are reformed in some manner. Organizations can often be more resistant to change than an individual. They are made up of several individuals, each having his/her own resistance, therefore providing collective resistance. Change also requires utilization of limited resources. Costs can be prohibitive. The politics of an organization and threats to an individuals power or influen ce can often deter necessary change as well. Fullan, M. and Stiegelbauer, S. (1991). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press. Excerpted from Leadership and Technology, published by the National School Boards Associations Institute for the Transfer of Technology to Education. Chorus identified from very early stages that change would challenge or threaten peoples abilities, experience, customs and practice. It identified the following barriers to its planed change: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ an attitude of this is the way we do things around here à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ some staff saw change as a threat to their teams and roles à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ some of Corus past changes had led to job cuts. This caused insecurity and low morale à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Corus gave rewards for long service rather than great service. This meant that staff who had been with Corus a long time gained greater rewards than new staff who were performing better. www.thetimes100.co.uk EDITION 15 Downloaded from The Times 100 Edition 15 | www.thetimes100.co.uk Overcoming barriers to change Brief Case Overcoming barriers Cummings and Worley (Organization Development and Change, 1995) describe a comprehensive, five-phase, general process for managing change, including: motivating change This phase includes creating a readiness for change in your client organization and developing approaches to overcome resistance to change. General guidelines for managing this phase include enlightening members of the organization about the need for change, expressing the current status of the organization and where it needs to be in the future, and developing realistic approaches about how change might be accomplished, creating vision Leaders in the organization must articulate a clear vision that describes what the change effort is striving to accomplish. Ideally, people in the organization have strong input to the creation of the vision and how it can be achieved. The vision should clearly depict how the achievement of the developing political support This phase of change management is often overlooked, yet it is the phase that often stops successful change from occurring. Politics in organizations is about power. Power is important among members of the organization when striving for the resources and influence necessary to successfully carry out their jobs. Power is also important when striving to maintain jobs and job security, http://www.authenticityconsulting.com managing the transition This phase occurs when the organization works to make the actual transition from the current state to the future state. In consultations, this phase usually is called implementation of the action plans. The plans can include a wide variety of interventions, or activities designed to make a change in the organization, for example, creating and/or modifying major structures and processes in the organization. These changes might require ongoing coaching, training and enforcement of new policies and procedures and sustaining momentum Often, the most difficult phase in managing change is this phase when leaders work to sustain the momentum of the implementation and adjustment of plans. Change efforts can encounter a wide variety of obstacles, for example, strong resistance from members of the organization, sudden departure of a key leader in the organization, or a dramatic reduction in sales. Strong, visible, ongoing support from top leadership is critically important to show overall credibility and accountabilities in the change effort. http://www.managementhelp.org/misc/reqs-for-successful-change.pdf In my opinion, the first step in implementing change is to get employees to buy in to the need for change and the changes themselves. It is very important that all employees be informed about the issue bringing on the need for change, the possible outcomes and the plan for solution. They must also understand their own roles in the process. This will help break down barriers to implementing the change. Once the changes have been implemented, over time they will become the new habits that bring desirable results. There is a relatively new and innovative process called appreciative inquiry (AI), which addresses change by using the organizations employees, customers and vendors to design the future of the organization. According to the article, Appreciative Inquiry: An Innovative Process for Organizational Change, from Employee Relations Today, Appreciative inquiry engages the entire organization in discovering the best of what has been and dreaming about the best of what might be. Forming transition teams of employees from all aspects of the business can also help to facilitate change and encourage employee involvement and buy-in. Some organizations gather input from surveys, but if that is the preferred method, it is imperative that the results are shared and discussed. Not doing so will destroy employee morale and trust. When seeking input, make sure the responses are communicated. Be honest in providing feedback to the employees. Address their concerns, and if the issues cant be resolved within the resources and constraints of the organization, simply explain the reasons. Willis Mushrush, business specialist MO SBTDC for University of Missouri Extensions Creating Quality newsletter Sept. 2003. Successful change must involve top management, including the board and chief executive. Usually theres a champion who initially instigates the change by being visionary, persuasive and consistent. A change agent role is usually responsible to translate the vision to a realistic plan and carry out the plan. Change is usually best carried out as a team-wide effort. Communications about the change should be frequent and with all organization members. To sustain change, the structures of the organization itself should be modified, including strategic plans, policies and procedures. This change in the structures of the organization typically involves an unfreezing, change and re-freezing process. The best approaches to address resistances is through increased and sustained communications and education. For example, the leader should meet with all managers and staff to explain reasons for the change, how it generally will be carried out and where others can go for additional information. A plan should be developed and communicated. Plans do change. Thats fine, but communicate that the plan has changed and why. Forums should be held for organization members to express their ideas for the plan. They should be able to express their concerns and frustrations as well. Corus has overcome these barriers by working with staff. Staff were also urged to take ownership of the new values. Workers are now more involved in choices and are recognised for doing well. Corus ensures that all staff know what is expected through a range of means. Workshops, newspapers, billboards, intranet, video and direct one-to-one talks spread the message. A programme with shock tactics was brought in to show staff the plants condition, identify weak points and urge staff to make changes. Measuring the outcomes of change Corus set targets to make sure that actions led to results. Steps were set so staff would know how well CSP UK was hitting targets. CSP UK has improved many aspects of its business by facing up to its internal weak points. This has helped it to grow. Key Performance Indicators have shown improvements in: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ production à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ lower costs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ less absence from work à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ quality and service for customers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Health and Safety targets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ CO2 emissions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ the impact on the local community. Conclusion To respond effectively to ever-changing demands, organizations must be prepared to change constantly. Managers must be able to recognize the need for change and identify and manage sources of resistance. The key to successful organizational change is to involve the employees in each step of the process. Change management at CSP UK meant bringing the issues out into the open. CSP UK tackled barriers to change by winning the support of its staff. Its effective plan for change has helped CSP UK to continue to make profit in spite of the recession. www.thetimes100.co.uk EDITION 15 Downloaded from The Times 100 Edition 15 | www.thetimes100.co.uk Honesty Professionalism Integrity Fairness Improvement Transparency Respect Excellence #506 from Innovative Leader Volume 9, Number 12 December 2000

Live Like You’Re Dying Essay

Clean, Cull, and Connect. In his short essay â€Å"Live like you’re dying,† Chuck Palahniuk refers them as the â€Å"Three C’s. † After confirming that suicide is the only escape route, they are the three final chores you must finish on your last â€Å"lively† week. Clean everything. Your bathroom, car, refrigerator, everything. Cull down your resources, donate and destroy needless possessions, and get a good haircut. Connect to everyone you’ve ever known and say something nice, no matter how bad you hate them. Don’t feel humiliated, you’ve got nothing to lose except a few days of your life. Also, know that no one will remember you, know that the world will not change after you die. Know that you will not be missed. And after all of this, Palahniuk says you probably won’t bother to kill yourself, since by then you’ll be surrounded by friends who recognize you as a decent and valuable friend. But there is more to the essay than explaining what the three C’s are. Both the title and content clearly spotlights death as a major concept of the essay, as most of Palahniuk’s writings are. Actually, Palahniuk touches on death so often that it seems he cannot go through a single essay without discussing about it. Also, from start to beginning, his sentences are written in such a clean-cut way that the reader almost feels suicidal. â€Å"Do everything. † â€Å"Destroy it. † â€Å"Treat yourself. † â€Å"Your oven will be clean, your car vacuumed. † Even in the merriest mind, one cannot help but be persuaded that the world will crumble when the essay ends. Why does Palahniuk do so? It seems odd – and arduous – for any writer to be so â€Å"deathly† when he writes. Palahniuk was beleaguered by death all his life. In his mind, his happy family had already died when his parents divorced, leaving him and his three siblings to live with their grandparents. Later on, Palahniuk volunteered at a hospice as an escort, where he had to witness the death of a patient he had grown attached to (which lead him to stop volunteer working). And around 1999, Palahniuk’s father – Fred Palahniuk – was shot and dragged into a house which was put on fire. Palahniuk later on helped the decision of the killer’s death sentence, the ex-boyfriend of Fred Palahniuk’s girlfriend. Although death is a frequently visited topic for Palahniuk, he probably doesn’t always write in such a â€Å"deathly† manner on purpose. But it is also not surprising that Palahniuk ends up writing about death every time. Palahniuk’s word choice during the essay is also different from the ordinary writer. Not only that most of them are short, but all of them are so-called â€Å"easy† words (perhaps â€Å"procrastinate† at the last paragraph is an exception). Of course, it comes from Palahniuk’s minimalistic writing philosophy, but anyone with internet connection to Wikipedia can figure that out. The question is, where does his writing philosophy come from? Palahniuk claims himself to be a romantic who expresses ideas that others do not believe in. It is only natural that he holds different ideas from the ordinary man, regarding the unordinary world he grew up in. Therefore, readers of Palahniuk need to think twice about what he wrote to understand it. But complex words tend to have an accurate meaning to it, which doesn’t leave any space to think again about what he was actually trying to say. This leaves Palahniuk no choice but to use more flexible, simpler and original words. Although it doesn’t show in the essay â€Å"Live like you’re dying,† an exception is when it comes to mechanics. For example, in his novel â€Å"Fight Club,† most of the processes in making plastic bombs or soap is described in an accurate manner. This is probably because Palahniuk used to work for Freightliner as a mechanic, but his tendency to describe mechanical processes accurately has less to do with his flow of words than we have interest to. As it has been clearly shown, â€Å"Live like you’re dying† has a deep relation to Palahniuk’s background, almost as if the essay is a shadow of Palahniuk. Everything that Palahniuk has been through, and is going through, is spilled out and spread, conscious or unconscious, on the computer screen when he writes. He can’t help it. And it would be nonsense to say that this only counts for Chuck Palahniuk – every essay is a shadow of the author in some way or the other, a footprint of what he has been through. There’s a sort of syllogism going on here: what you’ve one is what you are, what you are is what you write, so what you’ve done is what you write. If you disagreed, you’d be challenging Socrates.

Purchasing All about Me Essay

Purchasing All about Me Essay What You Don't Know About All about Me Essay Reading samples of response papers is also an additional way by which you can easily discover how to compose a reaction paper to documentary. It's a long-answer writing item type which tests a candidate's capacity to compose persuasive or argumentative essay on a particular topic. A valid passport is needed. Becoming thoroughly knowledgeable about the test is just one of the greatest methods to get ready for it. When you get ready for the most important test then make certain you know the topics well and the pattern beforehand. After that the principal test will begin which will further incorporate the next topics. The GMAT computerized test has many benefits for example, it's simple to write essay. Remember you need to write only 1 sentence between 5-75 words only. You must compose the words that are missing from the given text. You should describe in your words. You have to retell in your words what you hear. The New Angle On All about Me Essay Just Released Finally, make certain you properly cite you sources. You have to be able to deal with the topic, develop ideas depending on the prompt using imagination and relevant examples to state your standpoint. It's important to get a topic that's specific enough that finding sources is relatively simple, but broad enough that yo u may write many pages about it. Here's What I Know About All about Me Essay It is possible to either choose to support the arguments or ideas in the movie, or concentrate on disputing them. So whenever you're writing an essay, you're harnessing the complete might of culture to your life. You should come up with an idea based on the way the documentary touched you. There's no better approach to do so than to write. Ruthless About Me Essay Strategies Exploited The absolute most efficient writers write every single day, at the very least a bit. For that reason, it's always wise that you watch the documentary more often than once as a way to properly digest it and know what it is about. It is much better to refuse to write an individu essay as opposed to risk the consequences. For instance, if you're writing an essay on How Global Warming can be lowered, it'll be an excellent idea you take a minute to define what global warming is about in your introductory paragraph. Usual ly a kid's essay assignment would consist of a few paragraphs. The essay writer need to know how to structure an essay correctly and likewise be able to share their research clearly and succinctly. You must also understand how to compose a persuasive essay, namely how to organize components of the persuasive essay in how that will get the job done best. What's more, if you think writing lengthy communication essay would create a great impression on your teacher then you're totally wrong, it is only going to help them deduct your marks. Getting specific and detailed can emphasize the subject of the essay, along with, introduce the argument. After all, there are lots of unique fashions of essay that you might be requested to write throughout your career and you must select the time to make certain you fully grasp the precise specifications that are needed for a specific essay assignment and course. Writing an essay assignment is a difficult enough job for everyone, and the help you are able to gain from essay assistance is a rather beneficial aid. Assignments that arrive with instructions would be much simpler to deal with. In English Language, compositions or essays actually are one of the most significant facets of the subject. Make certain you follow the fundamental format of essay writing. Though the majority of people can write, writing a top quality essay isn't as easy as it looks. It's important to get a way of organizing your long essay.

Analysis of A and P by John Updike

Originally published in The New Yorker in 1961, John Updikes short story A P has been widely anthologized and is generally considered to be a classic. The Plot of the Updikes AP Three barefoot girls in bathing suits walk into an A P grocery store, shocking the customers but drawing the admiration of the two young men working the cash registers. Eventually, the manager notices the girls and tells them that they should be decently dressed when they enter the store and that in the future, they will have to follow the stores policy and cover their shoulders. As the girls are leaving, one of the cashiers, Sammy, tells the manager he quits. He does this partly to impress the girls and partly because he feels the manager took things too far and didnt have to embarrass the young women. The story ends with Sammy standing alone in the parking lot, the girls are long gone. He says that his stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter. Narrative Technique The story is told from the first person point of view of Sammy. From the opening line--In walks, these three girls in nothing but bathing suits--Updike establishes Sammys distinctively colloquial voice. Most of the story is told in the present tense as if Sammy is talking. Sammys cynical observations about his customers, whom he often calls sheep, can be humorous. For example,  he comments that if one particular customer had been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem. And its an endearing detail when he describes folding his apron and dropping the bow tie on it, and then adds, The bow tie is theirs if youve ever wondered. Sexism in the Story Some readers will find Sammys sexist comments to be absolutely grating. The girls have entered the store, and the narrator assumes they are  seeking attention for their physical appearance.  Sammy comments on every detail. Its almost a caricature of objectification when he says, You never know for sure how girls minds work (do you really think its a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)[...] Social Boundaries In the story, the tension arises not because the girls are in bathing suits, but because theyre in bathing suits in a place where people dont wear bathing suits. Theyve crossed a line about whats socially acceptable. Sammy says: You know, its one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor. Sammy obviously finds the girls physically alluring, but hes also attracted by their rebellion. He doesnt want to be like the sheep he makes such fun of, the customers who are befuddled when the girls enter the store. There are clues that the girls rebellion has its roots in economic privilege, a privilege not available to Sammy. The girls tell the manager that they entered the store only because one of their mothers asked them to pick up some herring snacks, an item that makes Sammy imagine a scene in which the men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big glass plate. In contrast, when Sammys parents have somebody over they get lemonade and if its a real racy affair Schlitz in tall glasses with Theyll Do It Every Time cartoons stenciled on. In the end, the class difference between Sammy and the girls means that his rebellion has far more serious ramifications than theirs does. By the end of the story, Sammy has lost his job and alienated his family. He feels how hard the world [is] going to be because not becoming a sheep wont be as easy as just walking away.  Ã‚  And it certainly wont be as easy for him as it will be for the girls, who inhabit a place from which the crowd that runs the A P must look pretty crummy.