Dealing with Change

Readings for this week to help with assignments:

Change in Leaders

One of the major reasons why organizations are unable to adapt to the fast-paced, changing environments of today is the lack of effective change leadership. Leaders who are successful in guiding their organizations through change are typically those who:

· Embrace change in the environment as opportunities on which to capitalize.

· Are vision artists—they can paint a picture of the future that is vibrant and clear to all

· Have the ability to communicate to all levels of the organizations the values and attitudes that will promote change and adaptability.

· Accept mistakes and the learned lessons they provide.

· Are comfortable working in a world of uncertainty.

In order to understand how to successfully lead change, it is essential to understand the types and process of change. Nahavandi (2012) proposed five different types of change.

Type of change	Description
Planned	Planned change occurs when leaders respond to a specific problem or pressure with a conscious effort.
Unplanned	Unplanned change occurs without an intention to address a problem. It is random or sudden.
Evolutionary	Evolutionary change does not occur all at once. It is a gradual process.
Convergent	This type of change, while evolutionary, is a result of specific actions that leaders take.
Revolutionary or frame breaking	This type of change is typically rapid and dramatic.

Leaders play a key role in ensuring organizational change is successful. Leaders must ensure they create open and supportive cultures within organizations that encourage followers to be open to new ideas. Leaders must be both optimistic and supportive in their approach. Successful change leaders, according to Nahavandi (2012) focus on providing examples of positive change and its positive impact to encourage followers to adopt change, rather than pushing change by providing information and knowledge.

Reference:

South University Online. (2014). MGT3102: leadership: Week 5: change in leaders.

Retrieved from http://myeclassonline.com

Learn to Overcome Resistance

The cycle of change often goes through several stages including denial, resistance, exploration, and commitment on the part of followers. In other words, just as we can count on change, we can count on resistance to change. Change usually involves some type of loss and an accompanying fear of the unknown. Therefore, resistance is not only inevitable, it is natural and understandable. When employees are amenable to change, it is easy for leaders to garner their support. However, how do leaders work through resistance to change?

Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson (2011) provided several helpful strategies for dealing with resistance to change. First, people need a reason to change. Second, having as many people as possible (from all levels of the organization) involved in planning, implementing, and managing the change will increase the likelihood of success. Third, communication about the change should not be considered a one-time effort. Communication needs to be ongoing and designed to educate and prepare employees for the change and its effect. Fourth, leaders need to identify champions or supporters of the change at all levels of the organization, especially powerful, influential people. Finally, leaders should work to create a learning organization that has imbedded within it the capacity and flexibility to accept and to seek constant learning, growth, and change.

There are several specific methods that Nahavandi (2012) also suggested that can be used to reduce resistance to change. One of these methods is providing information. Leaders should use this method when there is a lack of information about the change or when there is fear of the unknown. Leaders should use employee engagement in the change process when people do not have all the information they need. This strategy can be time consuming but can generate new ideas and alternatives. When people are resisting change due to fear, leaders should use a process of facilitation and support. Nahavandi (2012) suggested this in the only option when adjustment is the cause of resistance. Negotiation and agreement should be used when there can be both winners and losers during the change process. When nothing else works leaders can bypass resistance through promises. This, however, can lead to mistrust and resentment. Finally leaders can use power or coercion when there is no time or nothing else works. Although this is effective and fast in the short term to end resistance it can lead to morale problems.

Reference:

South University Online. (2014). MGT3102: leadership: Week 5: learn to overcome

resistance. Retrieved from http://myeclassonline.com

Learn to Lead in Crisis

Change comes in all shapes and sizes. Planned changes can range from small changes in processes such as a schedule change to an entire redesign of the way you make your product or provide your service. What about changes that were not foreseen? What about an unplanned change that occurs without warning, often precipitating crisis?

In the past, the United States has faced many crisis situations, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma in 1995, and the events of 9/11. In addition many of the economic issues both the United States and the world have faced have led to chaotic and crisis situations in organizations today. None of these events has succeeded in destroying the nation's spirit and patriotic pride. This is a result of leadership—leadership at all levels and across the nation.

During crisis situations within a company, employees lose their confidence and fear the situation might worsen if their leaders do not take adequate steps. Companies lose when employees panic. It is these times when they seek their leaders' help the most.

When uncertainty and crisis strike the workplace, employees depend on leaders to regain their belief. At such times, managers need to be prepared to lead with confidence. Leaders play a crucial role at this time. There are a number of things leaders can do to ensure they lead with confidence during a crisis. A leader must avoid becoming to formal, rigid and inflexible. Leaders must stay on the offensive offering new strategies, ideas and visions. They must stay proactive.

An essential task of a leader during a crisis is identified by Robbins and Judge (2013). Leaders must manage the stress and emotional reactions followers face associated with the crisis.Leaders need to assess the level of intervention needed as followers react to the crisis. In some cases, crisis debriefings deliver crisis counseling in the workplace. Counselors are trained in critical-incident stress debriefing. Specially trained crisis-management professionals, , help workers better cope with and understand their reactions to stress as a result of being involved in or witnessing a crisis. Debriefings can create order out of chaos by blending therapeutic counseling with consulting. Debriefing focuses on moving forward, living, and working productively.

In addition to debriefings, Robbins and Judge (2013) suggested that leaders can increase formal communications with employees. Keeping employees informed during a crisis situation can reduce their levels of stress. Many companies have offered employees voluntary leave in order to relax and rejuvenate after a crisis situation. This has been effective in dealing with the stress associated with a crisis (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Finally wellness programs have been found to be very effective in reducing the stress associated with a crisis.

South University Online. (2014). MGT3102: leadership: Week 5: learn to lead in crisis.

Retrieved from http://myeclassonline.com

Case in Point

You are probably so used to seeing Starbucks coffee shops everywhere that you might not realize the company went from just 11 stores in 1987 to 2,600 in the year 2000. This incredibly rapid growth sprang from the company's ability to create a unique experience for customers who wanted to buy its distinct brand of lattes and mochas wherever they found themselves. At Starbucks' core, there was also a culture of treating each customer as a valued guest who should feel comfortable relaxing and taking in the ambience of the store. Whether you were in the company's founding location in Seattle, Washington, or at the other end of the country in Miami, Florida, you knew what to expect when you went to a Starbucks.

This uniform culture was truly put to the test in the face of massive expansion, however, and by 2006 Starbucks' chairman and former CEO Howard Schultz knew something had gone wrong. Schultz and Gordon (2011) noted that "As I visited hundreds of Starbucks stores in cities around the world, the entrepreneurial merchant in me sensed that something intrinsic to Starbucks' brand was missing. An aura. A spirit. The stores were lacking a certain soul." Starbucks' performance had become lackluster, with hundreds of planned store openings being canceled and hundreds more stores being closed.

So, Schultz took the dramatic step of coming back as CEO and engaging in a companywide effort to change the corporate culture back to what it had been before its expansion. All 7,000 Starbucks stores were closed for a single afternoon as part of a training effort of 135,000 baristas. Quality control was a primary mission; baristas were instructed to pour every glass of espresso like honey from a spoon, to preserve the flavor. This emphasis on quality over speed ran counter to the principles of mass production, but it was just what the company needed to ensure it could retain its culture. Espresso machines that obscured the customers' view were replaced with lower profile machines that allowed baristas to look directly at guests while making beverages. And "assembly-line production," like making several drinks at once, was discouraged in favor of slowly making each drink for each customer.

Schultz is convinced his efforts to take the culture back to its roots as a neighborhood coffee shop—one entranced with the "romance of coffee" and treating every customer as an old friend—has saved the company. Today, Starbucks earns more than $10 billion in annual revenue and serves more than 50 million customers a week around the globe.

After reading the above case, consider the following questions:

· What factors are most likely to change when a company grows very rapidly, as Starbucks did? How can these changes threaten the culture of an organization?

· Why might this type of radical change process be easier for Starbucks to implement than it would be for other companies?

· Schultz's change initiative might succeed at another company that emphasis values customization and high levels of customer service, but how would it need to differ at a firm that emphasizes speed and efficiency of service?

Reference

South University Online. (2014). MGT3102: leadership: Week 5: case in point.

Retrieved from http://myeclassonline.com

MORE ON GE and CHANGE - Your assignment shares a quote from Jack Welch on Change...  If you take the URL address in the assignment you will find the actual full letter from Jack Welch. Below is specifically what he had to say about change.  Relishing Change  "We've long believed that when the rate of change inside an institution becomes slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight. The only question is when. Learning to love change is an unnatural act in any century-old institution, but today we have a Company that does just that: sees change always as a source of excitement, always as opportunity, rather than as threat or crisis. We're no better prophets than anyone else, and we have difficulty predicting the exact course of change. But we don't have to predict it. What we have to do is simply jump all over it! Our moves in Europe, Mexico, Japan and the rest of Asia during the '90s were risky, richly-rewarded big swings at fast-breaking change, as was our leap into digitization, and more recently our decision to acquire Honeywell. We strive every day to always have everyone in the organization see change as a thrilling, energizing phenomenon, relished by all, because it is the oxygen of our growth."  GE Annual Report. (2000). Letter to share owners. Retrieved from http://www.ge.com/  annual00/letter/page2.html

Some of you expressed an interest in the videos I have posted previously. Here are some applicable for this week.  Although this is an ad for Professor John Kotter (well known speaker and author on change leadership) learn about his 8 steps in this video...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijCuvSejKD0  Here is a 3 minute clip of Kotter's book Leading Change  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlafZZYHAfM  About Resisting Change  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcz1aZ60k7w 

Chapters:

Listening to Out-Group Members

Overcoming Obstacles

These chapters are in https://reader.brytewave.com/app/#/book/MjA4NzQw/MQ==

Assignment:

To support your work and demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes, be sure to incorporate the key relevant material from your reading as well as outside academically credible resources. All sources should be credited using APA which includes both reference and applicable intext citations.

Dealing with Change

Keki Dadiseth, retired Unilever business executive, followed some basic rules that can trigger change (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). They are described below:

· Focus people's attention of the underlying issues and solutions to create a common ground and understanding about what needs to be changed and why.

· Focus on the ideal, combining resonance-building leadership styles to get people talking about their hopes for the future and tap into the dedication people feel for the organization.

· Move from talk to action.

Helping people realize the reason or need for change is one of the strategies that leaders should use to overcome resistance to change. A related concept in organizational literature is readiness for change.

Dadiseth's rules, as stated above can be understood within the context of creating readiness for change. Based on these rules, what steps can leaders take to prepare followers for change? How exactly does readiness for change impacts resistance for change and the likely success of change initiatives?

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, said, "We've long believed that when the rate of change inside an institution becomes slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight. The only question is when" (GE Annual Report, 2000).

· What did Mr. Welch mean by this statement?

· What are some ways in which leaders can overcome change?

Have you ever as a leader demonstrated courageous leadership? What happened? What did you do? How did your actions affect the followers? What lessons did you learn?

References:

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Learning to            lead with emotional intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.

GE Annual Report (2000). Letter to share owners. Retrieved from http://www.ge.com/            annual00/letter/page2.html