ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Review Questions:

1. Why is diagnosis so vital in organizational change programs?

     The diagnosis of present and potential problems involves the collection of information that reflects the level of organizational effectiveness. Data that measure the current state of production, efficiency, satisfaction, adaptiveness, and development must be gathered and analyzed. The purposed of diagnosis is to trace the cause of the problem. In addition to serving as the basis for problem identification, the diagnostic data also establish the basis for subsequent evaluation of the organizational development effort.

2. Explain the concept of organizational intervention and why any particular management or organization change   can be considered an intervention?

An intervention is a specific action that a change agent takes to focus the change process. Although the term has a generally used meaning, it has a specific meaning in the context of organizational development where it refers to a formal activity.

3. Might some managers attempt to implement a particular intervention, such as TQM, without first diagnosing whether the intervention would be appropriate for their organization's problems?

     Choice of intervention depends on the nature of the problem that the management has diagnosed. Management must determine which alternative is most likely to produce the desired outcome, whether it be improvement in skills, attitudes, behavior, or structure. As we've noted, diagnosis of the problem includes specifying the outcome(s) that management desires from the change.

4. Why is it important for the managers to reduce the resistance to change exhibited or covertly practiced by employees?

Resisting change is a human response, and management must take steps to minimize it. Reducing resistance can cut down on the time needed for a change to be accepted or tolerated. Also, the performance of employees can rebound more quickly if resistance is minimized.

5. Evaluate the ethical issues associated with downsizing an organization by reducing its labor force to increase the organization's long-run chance survival. What other ethical issues can you identify in the practice of organizational development as you understand it thus far?

     The core task of the downsizing effort is determining what operations should be closed and which positions should be eliminated in the organization. Once the downsizing decision has been made, the most traumatic aspect of downsizing occurs- the actual shutdown of operations and employee layoffs. Some companies have attempted to help affected employees through this transition by providing advance notice, severance pay, extended health care benefits, and outplacement services. Effective downsizing requires careful analysis of the companies' operations and well-planned implementation that minimizes unnecessary human costs.

6. Describe the relationships among the steps of the change model depicted in this chapter and the process of unfreezing-new learning-refreezing. Which steps of the model are related to which elements of the relearning process?

     The process of unfreezing-new learning-refreezing can be approached systematically. The model consists of specific steps generally acknowledge to be essential to successful change management. A manager considers each of them, either explicitly or implicitly, to undertake a change program. It is the manager's responsibility to sort out the information that reflects the magnitude of change forces.

7. How is the appreciative inquiry approach to organizational change different from a problem-solving approach?

     Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a method of focusing on positive or potential opportunities. Appreciation means to value, see the best in others, and recognize positive potential. The concept inquiry refers to the systematic analysis and the openness to discovery.AI uses the art and practice of asking probing questions that can strengthen an individual or an organization's ability to anticipate, seize, and initiate positive potential. While Problem-Solving Approach is a critical skills in leading and managing -- whether leading and managing oneself, other individuals, groups or organizations -- are skills in decision-making and problem solving. People who are really good at solving problems go about it systematically. They have a way of placing the problem in context. They don’t jump to conclusions. They evaluate alternatives.

A good way to become a systematic problem solver is to adopt the following five-step problem-solving process.

1. Identify the problem. This is critical: you must try to solve the right problem. Identify the right problem by asking the right questions and observing.
2. Analyze the problem. How often does the problem occur? How severe is it? Are there any special circumstances that are present when it occurs? What might be the causes of the problem? Can you rule out any causes? How long has it been going on? Has it gotten worse? How is the problem affecting other processes or people?
3. Identify decision criteria. How will you make decisions when it is time to decide? How will you weigh the criteria? Can you identify independent standards that can be used?
4. Develop multiple solutions. Don’t stop at the first solution that you or others identify. It may be good, but much better ones may exist. Evaluate alternative scenarios. As objectively as possible, assess the pros and cons of each.
5. Choose the optimal solution. Use the criteria you developed in the third step of this problem-solving process to choose the best solution. Develop a base of support that will ensure you can implement the solution. Prepare for contingencies.

When you solve problems systematically, you save time, achieve better solutions, and increase your credibility with the employees and the perceived value of what you’ve done.

Problem solving involves some considerations beyond those addressed by the five-step process. Once you have identified the problem you can sometimes rely on a known solution or a combination of known solutions. At other times, no ready solution is apparent. This includes asking what might be involved in developing the solution, how much time the process would require, and how well suited your organization is to do the job. The issues become more complicated, but the problem-solving process may also be more rewarding.You may need to tap into the knowledge you have acquired in solving similar or even dissimilar problems or the knowledge that exists in your organization.

8. What would be the characteristics of an organization or situation for which the use of reason would be an effective approach for managing change? Are such organizations and solutions relatively rare?

     These nine conditions combine the important points we've made on the chapter Managing Organizational Change and Learning. Taking them together, we can see that organizational development is significant undertaking and that managers should go about it in a systematic way. The model for managing change offers a systematic process for realizing the nine conditions for success that Dyer states are necessary, but not sufficient, for bringing about organizational effectiveness.

• Management and all those involved must have high and visible commitment to the effort.
• People who are involved need to have advance information that enables them to know what is to happen and why they are being asked to do what they are to do.
• The effort must be connected to other parts of the organization.
• The  effort needs to be directed by line managers and assisted by a change agent if necessary.
• The effort must be based on good diagnosis and must be consistent with the conditions in the organization.
• Management must remain committed to the effort throughout all its steps, from diagnosis through implementation and evaluation.
• Evaluation is essential and must consist of more than asking people how they felt about the effort.
• People must see clearly the relationship between the effort and the organization's mission and goals.
• The change agent, if used, must be clearly competent and perceived as competent.

9. Explain the difficulties that you would encounter in attempting to obtain diagnostic information from members of two that believe they're competing for scarce resources.

     Through diagnosis, management associates the problem with skill, attitudinal, behavioral, and structural causes and selects the appropriate intervention. If employee or member's participation is inappropriate because the necessary preconditions don't exist, management must unilaterally define the problem and select the appropriate method. Whether the problem is related to skill or attitudinal, or structural causes, the strategy must include provision of learning principles

10. Explain why a change program should be evaluated and why such an evaluation is so difficult to conduct?

     To avoid the danger or overreliance on productivity data, the manager can generate ad hoc information to measure employee attitudes and morale. A benchmark for evaluation would be available if an attitude survey had been used in the diagnosis phase. The definition of acceptable improvement is difficult when attitudinal data are evaluated because the matter involves “how much more” productive they should be. If a complete analysis of results is undertaken, attitudinal measurements must be combined with productivity measurements.

Case for Analysis: Bayer's Major Changes in One Plant

1. What type of change(s) occured at Bayer?

     The major change that occurs in the Myerstown, is the Change Agent because when the Bayer management realized that given competitive forces and the rate of change in their industry, they needed streamline operations to have a more secure future in Bayer Corporation's newly formed Consumer Care Division. But there was no plant manager at Myerstown from January 1995 until August 1996, so the functional department managers- including the HR manager- worked as a team to manage the plant through that trying time. They soon realized that employees needed to be involved at the heart of any turn around. 

2. What type of employee resistance to change did Bayer have to address?

     Knowing that Myerstown employees were skeptical of new management programs because of the past failures, plant manager John O'niel and the HR team addressed workers at an all-employee meeting about the first initiative-developing a site strategy and goals. In a subsequent meeting, he introduced all five initiatives and the following site strategy: "to be clearly recognized as Bayer Consumer Care's most effective site in the Northern American's region in terms of safety, customer service, value-added manufacturing/packaging, and cost effectiveness.

3. What are the positive and negative lessons learned from how change was handled at Bayer?

     The positive and negative lessons learned from how changes waas handled at Bayer were resistance to change  can be overcome by acknowledging not only the business rationale for change but also for hopes, fears and dreams of those affected, noted the change management experts at Sibson & Co. In the often fail to tell the straight story to people who then write their best scripts. Progressive companies go to great lengths involve people in a transformation that affects them, which sends critical messages about validation and involvement.

By: Pinky A. Tubaon
       BSOAD-3A