HCS 475 Implementing Change Paper

To successfully implement change, employees need to understand how this will benefit them and impact their daily work. One of the things is that something might look good on paper can have drawbacks that are not realized by the planners, but can be easily identified by the employees who must implement the change. Therefore as a manager you need to bring the idea to the employees and get their feedback and continue to empower the employees to make the change that will work for them. Since change doesn’t happen overnight a manager needs to continually in monitoring the process and to assist the

Step 2 is forming a powerful guiding coalition. Leadership will have to be on board and on the same page in regards to the change. Kotter and Cohen reveal the core problems people face when leading change. Their main findings are that the central issue concerns not structure or systems but behavior and how to alter it (Farris, 2008). The success of the changes will depend on the ability of the managers to show their commitment to change and motivate the employees to do the same. Without any process to track the implementation, the change can also fail.

When employees are unwilling to accept change there is a strong possibility that they don’t understand the change or do not understand why it is being suggested or implemented. At this time is when communication is essential in letting the employees know what the changes are trying to accomplish and what their roles are during the change. As a manager it is crucial to have an understanding of the employees you oversee and to know what to expect when they are confused and concerned about procedural changes. The overall morale of the organization will be good if the employees are kept involved in both the planning and the implementation of any changes.

The more active the participants are in the planning, the less resistance there will be later (Sullivan & Decker). If staff does not trust leadership, does not share the organization's vision, does not buy into the reason for change, and aren't included in the planning, there will be no successful change, regardless of how brilliant the strategy (Goman, 2000). How people react to change is important to understand. Change takes an emotional toll on people, some more than others. It is important not to underestimate that toll and understand who will have a harder time adapting to change. Fear of change has many roots. Those roots can be a lack of trust, fear of failure, fear of loss of income or a belief that the change is unnecessary (Sullivan & Decker). By understanding the reason for the resistance a manager can help the employee overcome his or her fear and become a supporter of the change. The last two steps are to provide feedback mechanisms to keep everyone informed of the progress of change and evaluate the effectiveness of change (Sullivan & Decker). People need to be kept informed of the change process to minimize anxiety. Sometimes there are unexpected consequences to the change, and it is important to have a system in place for those consequences to be discussed and if needed more changes made in order to accommodate those consequences.

Communication breakdowns within an organization may contribute to resistance in changing organizations. Managers must be prepared to talk candidly about the needs for change, otherwise fear and uncertainty will remain a prevailing element that can damage morale and prevent successful implementation of the desired changes at all levels of the organization. Employees need comprehensive information about the nature, processes, and consequences of organizational change.

Managers need to determine the best method of communicating the changes to the employees that are directly affected. This material presented in last weeks class and in the course material helped us understand how important communication is when implementing changes in a work environment. The course book identified four main approaches to managing change in an organization. Lewins’ Three-Step Model argued that successful change in an organization follows three steps: Unfreezing the status quo, movement to a desired end state, and refreezing the new change to make it permanent. (Robbins & Judge, 2011). This approach requires manages to evaluate the need for change and implement a plan of action to help the organization manage changes effectively.

If the change is found successful by filling target objectives the new process is in the adoption mode and becomes part of normal routines. Reviewing never stops but goes into eternal observation with the organizations staff and internal or external systems. More questions are asked (Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., 2011).

Organizational change is a necessary outcome when considering various scenarios contributing to the resulting vision. Perplexing as it may seem, change initiatives don’t always result in positive outcomes. In fact, many never succeed. As a change agent, one should always have formulated a vision of what change will “look” like for the organization. One would be hard pressed to paint a landscape without having a vision of what the landscape should resemble. Yet, resistance to change usually becomes a significant factor contributing to an initiative’s failure. It is likely an

Change in an organization can be and usually is difficult for various reasons. Much of the difficulty is in the approach used to initiate change and the willingness to stay engaged and stamina to sustain change through to the end. Organizations can choose to lead by recognizing and implementing change, follow in the shadow of organizations leading the market, or get out of the way by standing still and eventually going under. With this said; if change was easily done and successful for every organization there would be no need for change management specialists and years

This management plan is based on Frontier Communications, and how Human Resource policies and procedures that are currently in place need to be changed. This plan will introduce areas of change that need to be implemented right away. Moreover, by using the eight stages of Kotters Process of Creating Changes can better help me to implement such changes. In doing so implementation of change and imitative of these procedures to expand the quality of service the company wants to achieve, by recommendations to upper management.

According to Cummings and Worley (1997) there is a five-phase process for managing change, including: motivating change, creating vision, developing political support, managing the transition, and sustaining momentum. Motivating change involves creating a work environment that embraces change and developing approaches to overcome any resistance to change. The general guidelines include: enlightening members of the organization about the need for change, expressing the current status of the organization and where it should be in the future, and developing realistic approaches to change.

Additional strategies that can help management with introducing organizational changes is making sure that the employees are knowledgeable “about the policies, obligations , rules and a detailed structure of the organizational changes which are to be implemented.” (Organizational Change Management – Strategies for Implementing Organizational change. (N.D.), and changes that may impact their individual responsibilities. By doing so, managers can effectively dismiss the feeling of insecurity and uneasiness among employees.

As a leader, it is important to accept the employee’s resistance and be able to understand their emotions. Give them time to accept the change and let go. Leaders should acknowledge the loss and a variety of reactions and be able to give people instructions on how to move on to the next stage (Brisson-Banks, 2009).

Change management defined by Weiss (2001) as cited in Hughes 2006 P: 11) involves the transfer of information, status, influence, authority and power as described by some researchers. Over the years, Lewin (1952) has suggested one of the various management strategies for ensuring effective change in an organization. The management strategies are usually classified into a three staged process which is: Moving, Unfreezing and Refreezing (Senior & Swailes 2010). In the Moving stage, the opinions of the organization are heavily emphasized and implemented while on the unfreezing stage change appears to be integral and encompasses the opinions of different people in the organization involved in its daily operations. Lastly, the refreezing state is all about ensuring stability by issuing training systems and support groups to enhance the new and desired behaviors among the employees. (Burns 2004 cited in Hayes 2007)

Implementing these changes has significant challenges, and a strong Change Team who have a clear vison will be required for the change to be successful. Regular and targeted monitoring of the change process should support this, however these feedback mechanism are not the only tool. Every employee must be enabled to participate in the change effort and be exposed to it through multiple leverage points. Those who perform well and embrace the change should be recognised and rewarded. Sufficient resourcing will need to be acquired with the