Given that the world is constantly changing and the speed at which these changes occur is very fast, it’s vital that organisations understand the necessity and opportunity of change, before their results or performance start to decrease. Although we always hear everybody speaking about change, this concept still raises many questions and problems, and the managers have difficulties on identifying what changes should be made in their organizations, in developing an action plan to achieve change and to manage the entire process of change. Without changing and without always adapting to new market requirements, which as a result of the process of globalisation includes not only the local market but also the international one.
The need for change is generated by the action of internal and external environment, characterised by a number of factors that affect differently the organisations, depending on the specifics of their business, their size, their organizational culture, etc.
No matter what kind of change takes place in an organisation is important to note that it needs to attract with it an improvement, so that top manager, who have a much clearer vision of the organisation as a whole must promote only those changes that lead to better results than those recorded before starting the process of change.
Methods for change
Methods of identification of the need for organisational change as being opportune. There are many cases where even though the environment has expressed strong influence on organisations, they had no response because their managers did not know how to identify those reactive changes. Whether we talk about proactive or reactive changes, it is important to emphasise that a change needs to attract with it an improvement, so that managers must answer three basic questions before starting any process of change:
- Why Change
- How to recognise the need for change?
- What to change?
- When to change?
- How to change?
Why Change?
Because market forces change. The world economy changes. Innovators emerge with disruptive technologies. More profit is demanded from shareholders. There are many reasons. Organisations that are best suited to withstand rapid change in their industry are nimble, adaptable, and prepared to transform their strategies when the need arises to sustain a competitive advantage.
How to recognise the need for change?
Look at discrepancies at the actual and desired levels of performance of the company. Can it react fast to market change or are the processes slow and outdated. All businesses, no matter the size, should start by evaluating their finances/benefits over regularly. Are you making a profit? Has that profit slowly been decreasing over the last few years? What products, if you have a variety, are not selling? Could be external factors like new technology or regulation.?
What to change?
To answer this question managers can call upon a consulting firm or they can find the answer themselves together with their employees. If calling for consulting firm managers can obtain an opinion from specialists with relevant experience who have an accurate perception of the environment but the associated costs will be significant. If the organisation has the necessary resources, it is recommended for managers and employees to find answers to this question, based on identifying the factors that generate change, the analysis of their mechanism of action, the current state of the organisation and future influences manifested by the environment.
When to change?
The answer to this question is very simple: as soon as possible! Once the managers have found the answer to the first question “what to change” they should take those actions to implement the changes as quickly as possible, but not before considering whether they are indeed appropriate and realistic, with visible results. The actions to be undertaken will be part of an action plan that aims to show how the change will be made, a detailed description of each action, their sequence in time, the responsible persons, the resources and the outcomes.
How to change?
Kurt Lewin developed a change model involving three steps: unfreezing, changing and refreezing. For Lewin, the process of change entails creating the perception that a change is needed, then moving toward the new, desired level of behaviour and, finally, solidifying that new behaviour as the norm (more on this later).
- Unfreeze: This is probably the most important step because it refers to how organizations are preparing for
change, identifying the pros and cons and the motivation to go further. - Change: Change is not an event but a process, so this stage corresponds to a state of transition from the
initial state to the future one where changes have occurred. Here takes place the implementation of the action plan and the reduction of the resistance manifested by the organization’s employees. - Freeze (or refreeze): After the change occurred and reached the required status, new processes, behaviors and attitudes should be made permanent so that desired results are achieved and the progress is recorded.