Change is inevitable in any organisation that is aimed at better performance or has a greater objective to be achieved. Managers are the main drivers of change as their power and influence allow them to assist other employees, embrace, accept and commit to new changes that have been set up. Management of change is known to be an integral part of managerial duty as a manager has to constantly handle the pressure of staff turnover and changes in technologies, market structures and cultures (Dana, Mukaj, & Vishkurti, 2016). The changes affect the organisations negatively or positively, but they have to be handled in a way that they do not become detrimental to a firm.

The structure and culture of any organisation are seen as the major drivers of an organisation’s change strategy. Both the culture and structure of an organisation influence its ‘shape’ and, as a result, the choice of the best measures and practices that can be used to implement the changes without any negative effects on the particular firm (Cameron & Green, 2015). For any cultural and structural changes, managers should ensure they take into consideration any possible contingencies that can occur in the course of implementing changes in their organisations, and interpret them in a way that is best suited for their particular organisation.

Hersey and Blanchard’s theory of situational leadership explains that variable leadership depends on some circumstances that are present in any given organisation. The theory proves that to make implementation of plans or activities successful, the managers need to have intellectual stimulation, which will provide new ideas and empowerment (Hersey, 2014). The theory also says that managers need to have inspirational motivation that will assist them in overcoming organisational resistance to changes and idealized vision that helps them to believe in the ideas that they propose to the employees of their organisations.

Changes are not easy to implement within any given environment. Changes bring resistance, which, if not controlled in due time, may lead to failure or even to sabotage of the whole change management strategy. Every manager needs to understand the political environment and structure in which they are trying to introduce every new change (Williams, 2013). Managers also need to evaluate the environment in regard to the readiness for a change and if they need to have a strategical change in their approach to change management (Hayes, 2014). Through evaluation, managers should know if an organisation is ready for the proposed change or not.

Lewin proposes that every change occurs in three steps. The first step is the unfreezing step, which involves identifying what needs to be changed, drawing a roadmap as to how to implement the change and establishing the future effects that may arise due to the change. The second step of the change is known as moving. During this phase, managers identify how they convince their employees to follow the change, how this impacts their employees’ roles and also if the organisation is ready to implement the changes. The final phase is known as refreezing. During this phase, managers identify ways of measuring success and implement the change (Burke, 2013). Managers also need to cope with resistance and be ready to deal with it whenever it arises at any step of the three-step model and the coping cycle.

Change management is the key to the success of any organisation. For any change to be implemented successfully in an organisation, all the employees must be willing to comply with and conform to the particular change. Different change strategies should, therefore, be applied to ensure that employees cope with the introduced changes and are comfortable with the existing structures that allow modifications of the particular changes to take place. Managers also have to fully understand how their organisations operate before implementing the changes as this gives them the opportunity to calculate the chances of success or failure of the changes to be introduced.

References

Burke, W. W. (2013). Organization change: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. London, UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

Dana, B. G., Mukaj, L., & Vishkurti, M. (2016). Creating a model culture of management change. Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 25(1).

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hersey, P. (2014). The Hersey and Blanchard situational leadership theory. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-central.com/situational-leadership-theory.html#axzz4ZRbA0M6X

Williams, C. (2013). Principles of management. Boston, MA: South-Western/Cengage Learning