1. Give potential internal or external reasons or factors for change in the workplace(12 marks)The world today is in a time of unprecedented changes.
The changes one experiences are happening at faster rates than ever before. For example, some of the gadgets that are common place today such as the telephone, radio and TVs, weren’t even in use decades ago. The forces that drive this change in business can be classified into the internal and external factors. INTERNAL FACTORSThe internal environment of an organization can be said to be those events, factors, people, systems, structures, and conditions inside the organization that are generally under the control of the company.
The company’s mission statement, organizational culture, and style of leadership are factors typically associated with the internal environment of an organization. Generally, the internal driving forces, or sources of change in an organisation may include; 1. Change in Organization’s Mission: The mission of an organization is a written document stating the organization’s core purpose and how it is to be fulfilled. It indicates the essence of the organization’s operation. Hence, any change in the mission means a change in how things are done in the organization. This is an internal change.Example: I once worked in a private company that started off as a marketing and distribution company for heavy duty industrial machines for a given brand as an operations support assistant. However, as the business grew, it expanded its services to include troubleshooting, servicing and repairs or maintenance of these heavy-duty industrial machines.
The company’s mission which originally was “…to become a leading global force in the sales and distribution… (of the brand’s heavy duty machines) …” was revised to state “…to become a global champion in sales, distribution, maintenance and assets management…(of the listed brands’ heavy duty machines)…” This expansion included other brands that were not hitherto included. This revision in mission of the company changed how things are done in the company. It even affected the recruitment process as sales representative would now need to have good engineering background etc.2. Leadership: The success of any organisation is largely dependent on its leadership.
It drives the mission of an organization to the point of execution. In the words of John Kotter, leadership is basically about establishing direction and setting strategies. So, a change in leadership in any team can have a ripple effect of changing the workplace ranging from products/services as well as changes in crew, and marketing strategies.Example: at the outward bound, during the raft building activity, my team initially had a set of leadership who were not involving other members of the team in the project. Their style was that of giving instructions, never sampling opinions.
This affected our progress as we were slower than we could have been. So we unanimously agreed to change the leadership. I was elected the new leader and I began by forming sub-teams for sales, engineers, review board. Each of the team was tasked with an aspect of the project and given a deadline to come up with their resolutions.
In this way everyone was carried along, and by the time we assembled back to look at each teams’ work, the project was already half-way through completion. This made execution swift, and we came tops, finishing in record time.3. Communication: successful organizations always thrive on effective communication. The presence of any form of communication deficiency will negatively affect the workplace. Every action sends a message and gets or receives a corresponding feedback.
The role of communication is a very vital one as it is also a medium for driving change in any regard.Example: in the example stated in 2 above, we can see the role communication played in enhancing the team’s objective and task. The new leadership communicated the tasks to the sub teams and made it clear that everyone ought to be actively involved in the project. This got the job done. Hence, good use of communication changed it all in the team.4. Organisational Culture: This is the behaviour and attitude of both individual and group within the organisation. When an Organisation has a powerful success spirit, and always embraces change and listens to staff and customers, it is said to be forward looking.
Thus, a change in the culture may negatively affect the production of a company.Example: In NLNG, the core values of Integrity, Teamwork, Respect, Excellence and Care greatly define the culture of the company, alongside the 10 behaviours. Before the new MD-CEO assumed office, there was no respect as part of the core values. However, he discovered that there was a general atmosphere of fear of intimidation which prevented some personnel from stating their objective observations before their superiors.
Knowing how this is affecting diversity in opinion in the company, he introduced respect as part of the core values, where all are expected to respect what each person brings to the table. This singular act greatly transformed the culture of the company overtime, introducing ‘first-name basis of addressing everyone, irrespective of status. This has drawn the workforce close together, with each person seeing themselves as part of a larger family.5. Employee Morale: The level of confidence and strength of a person or group is very important in any company. When the employee has low morale, their commitment to their job will suffer, and this will lead to the company going down.
Hence, introducing programs that would boost employee moral would impact on change in the company. Example: In Schlumberger, there is a program that was introduced that enables employees spouses to be taken care of and regularly checked on, while their spouses are on field assignments. This, enhanced commitment from field engineers, as they had no need to worry about their family welfare while they are away. This helps to boost the confidence of the field personnel in the company as one that cares for them in totality.
One of the models for analysing internal factors of change in an organization is SWOT analysis, which is a useful tool that enables you as the leader to understand your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, and for identifying both the opportunities open to you and the threats you face, when trying to understand the internal factors of change. It can be of great help in enabling you to focus on your strengths, eliminate or minimize threats, work on your weaknesses and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you.SWOT TemplateStrengths: here you consider what your organisation does better than anyone others. When looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to your competitors.
Weaknesses: no organisation is perfect. That is why you may need to consider what you can improve upon, what you can or even need to avoid, what people in your market are likely to see as weakness that can cause you to lose sales.Opportunities: here you can consider the interesting trends you are aware of, the opportunities you can spot.
Useful opportunities can come from such things as: Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale, Changes in government policy related to your field, Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, Local events and so on.Threats: here you may consider such things as the obstacles you face, what your competitors are doing, changes in the quality and standards for your related products and services.EXTERNAL FACTORSThe external environment consists of those factors that occur outside of the organisation that cause changes inside organizations. Even though the external environment occurs outside of an organization, it can have a significant influence on its current operations, growth, and long-term sustainability.PESTLE Analysis is a simple and widely used tool that helps you analyse some of these external factors which include Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors.
When properly applied in analysing the business environment, it can help you to understand the broader picture of the changes that you’re exposed to, and, from this, take advantage of the opportunities that they present.1. Political Influence: Political influences include such things like ideology of parties, Government policies, Government decisions, political stability or instability, tax policy, etc. These can positively or negatively affect the business environment wherein the organisation operates. Example: The current political situation where Britain is proposing to exit the European Union is a cause for concern for most businesses. The news has it that work force would largely be affected as greater percentage of the current workforce are non-citizens, and Brexit would likely affect the fluidity with which workforce can easily cross from one European country to another without having to bother about immigration hassles. With Brexit, there is bound to be an adjustment to the immigration policies. For this reason, some organisations are already thinking of shifting the bulk of their operational base elsewhere so as not to be taken unawares2.
Economy: There is an intimate relationship between the business firm and the economic environment. The performance of business depends up on the economic environment. This is largely because any type of financial fluctuations like inflation or deflation can badly affect the business.
Example: In some developing countries that have frequently changing government and unstable economic policies businesses tend to suffer. This is because every new administration usually come up with their own policies, which in most cases are different from those of the previous government. This makes it difficult for business organisations to chart a stable policy direction, as they are uncertain of what would happen with the next administration. These can affect things like exchange rates, inflation, GDP and employment rates. Etc.3. Social Factors: These factors affect how organizations understands their human resources, customers and the values that drive them. It includes things like population growth, ethnic groups, age distribution, religious views of the people, attitude to labour (dignity in labour), health consciousness etc.
Example: In my former employment, the company has its operational base in an environment where the community youths hold a proprietary view on power and resources. Hence, they hold a strong view of self-entitlement that frequently makes them come up with outrageous demands from the company, sometimes, taking the company unawares. They could even go violent when they feel that their requests are not been attended to within their prescribed time frame. Because of this, the organisation had to make changes to their annual budget by cutting finances from other areas. And in order to handle them professionally, a lawyer was employed who advised the company to engage the youths in jobs, contract and scholarships so as to give them a sense of belonging. This helped a great deal because they now realised that when they sabotage the company’s activity, it will affect jobs of which some of them who are staff would be affectedSome helpful questions here can include; What is the population’s growth rate and age profile? How is this likely to change? Are generational shifts in attitude likely to affect what you’re doing? Etc.4. Technology: Technology includes inventions, discoveries and new and better techniques of converting the resources into finished product.
Technology helps in performing the operations in much better and cheaper way.Example: In my former employment, I was in a department that is an integrated suite of both Wireline and Slickline Services in the oil and gas industry. The operations in the Wireline segment had advanced so much with state-of-the-art technological upgrades and this was always an advantage over competition when bidding for contracts from clients. However, then Slickline segment was still largely mechanical, and behind time. This made the segment to lose Slickline jobs to competitors.
A new CEO came on board and decided to task the research and development arm of the company at the global level to venture into transforming all mechanical Slickline services into Digital Slickline services. This was a first in the industry, and because of the massive support of the management, the research and development arm was able to achieve results in record time. When opportunities came to bid for Slickline jobs, the company whipped up this joker in their suite of cards and was able to muscle competitors out. Here are some questions one can ask when analysing this factor; Are there any recent technologies that you could be using? Are there any modern technologies on the horizon that could radically affect your work or your industry? Do any of your competitors have access to innovative technologies that could redefine their products, etc.
5. Legal: these factors are sometimes considered like political factors. But it affects how companies operate costs, facilitate business, and handle product demands, Kiesha Frue May 30, 2017. Example: some firms require several patents to ensure competition don’t copy their products. Also, to overcome the challenges posed by immigrations in most countries about employment of expatriates, the Wireline segment in my former employment has development an application programme that enables remote operations where foreign experts can monitor, supervise and guide junior field engineers while in the field in real-time from a foreign country altogether. Also, the legal battles that companies are bound to face for breaching HSE has great influenced how most companies operate today.6.
Environmental: these factors include climate change, weather, and eco-friendliness of products. The impact of these factors can readily influence the activities of companies in such industries as Tourism, Forestry, and Agriculture. Example: In Nigeria, the bulk of the foodstuff are produced from the Northern part of the country.
This should be a surprise considering that the north is largely desert land in most parts. However, because of the marshiness of the southern region which makes the cultivation of certain crops impossible, and the middle-belt region does not have vast land as in the north, most agricultural companies, in partnership with the federal government and some foreign agencies developed a scheme called FADAMA farming, part of which included irrigation program in the north. Because of this the north has an all year round production of food stuffs.Externally imposed change prompts the organisation to become reactive rather than proactive. Developing an understanding of your environment is a crucial step towards developing your strategy and providing the information and intelligence to inform your Business Goal Setting process. A manager, who has been equipped with the information provided by these models of SWOT and PESTLE will begin analysing the internal environment by looking into inefficiencies inside the organization as well as to the external environment and things occurring independent of the organization. This enables them to make the necessary action plans such as WHO is going to do WHAT? By WHEN? And WHO will they review it with?2.
Explain team members possible attitudes and responses to change at work (16 marks) Usually, we can say that change has occurred when a new thing begins at the end of another. The period between these two points is the transition stage. At this stage, the employee is faced with the challenge of letting go of what was and embracing the new. Even when change is positive, this psychological process affects us. One of the strongest can be a feeling of loss and the fact that we often struggle to accept a new direction.
When a major shift or change occurs within an organization, employees normally experience several types of loss including the loss of:Security- This is a situation where employees feel that they no longer know what the future holds, or where they stand in the organization.Competence- This is the situation where workers no longer feel that they know what to do or how to manage. People sometimes become embarrassed when they are faced with new tasks because they don’t know how to do them.Relationships- The familiar contact with people like old clients, co-workers or supervisors can disappear.
People often lose their sense of belonging to the team.Sense of Direction- This is the situation where employees lose an understanding of where they are going and why they are going there.Territory- This is the situation where employees begin to develop an uncertain feeling about the area that used to belong to them.
This can be work space or job assignments.This feeling of loss is a normal part of transition. One of the jobs of the supervisor is to acknowledge that a loss has occurred, not pretend it is business as usual. Unacknowledged loss will usually lead to resistance and disruption down the road.At any point during the change process, your team will probably not be in one phase, but shifting back and forth between phases. As a supervisor, you need to know what phase your general group is in, as well as the phase everyone is experiencing. To help your team move through the curve toward commitment.
These transition stages are:DENIALEmployees can usually find themselves in this phase when the change comes like a shock to them. In this stage, commonly observed response from employees is withdrawal. There is activity, but not much gets done. Employees begin to compare how things were before to how things have become. Employee can even show tendencies of refusing to hear new information. For example, while in Schlumberger, management introduced a program that required all field personnel to present a requisition of expenditure before field deployment.
Cash would then be given to the tone of the amount stated in the requisition form. Often however, situations in the field are usually unpredictable such that it is difficult to say ab-initio how much one would need for the field. Hence, field engineers didn’t believe that this new program could be successful. Some of the attitudes listed above became very evident.As a manager, when you find your team exhibit these, it would serve better to provide individuals with information. Let them know that the change will happen. Explain what to expect and suggest actions they can take to adjust to the change. Give them time to let things sink in, and then schedule a planning session to talk things over with them.
RESISTANCE This response is characterised by a deliberate effort to avoid the implementation of change in the workplace. Some of the visible manifestation of this will include anger as a result of the feeling of loss and hurt, stubbornness, blaming others, complaining, anxiety, depression and even retirement on the job.Following from the example above, when it became evident that management was not ready to bulge, field engineers started to resist the change. Everyone started blaming everyone else.
Apathy set in. There was the general feeling that management didn’t care about the ordeal field engineers go though in the field. This greatly affected performance negatively to the point that service quality started to suffer.
As a manager during change in the organisation make deliberate effort to listen, acknowledge feelings, respond empathetically and encourage support. If you accept their response, they will continue to tell you how they are feeling. This will help you respond to some of their concerns.
EXPLORATIONThis attitude can be seen in some employees who may remain neutral or even slightly positive to the change. This group of employees may become willing participants in change, especially if they observe commitment from management, receive regular communication from company leaders and feel that they are part of the change process. There is the tendency to seek to clarify goals and even willingness to learn.
Following from the preceding example, when the change in field engineers’ finance scheme was introduced in my former employment, some employees were not resistant to the change. They were more determined to understand why and were even making comparison between the old ways and the prospects that the new way seem to hold. Managers made effort to explain the change, the need for the change, and training was provided for lead field engineers in this regard, which was cascaded down the chain.
As a manager, focus on priorities and provide any needed training. You can decide to conduct brainstorming, visioning and planning sessions.COMMITMENTHere, people’s response is more of supporting the course.
Some employees may warmly embrace a leader’s call for change, as this group may see opportunity for themselves or perceive the change as a natural next step in the life of the company. At this point, people are now aware of why the change is intended or the motive for the change. Employees begin working together. There is cooperation and a better focus. Team members begin to find ways to contribute to making the change a reality.
The new program introduced in Schlumberger stated in the example above was then accepted. Only then did commitment set in and field engineers thenceforth started reaping the benefits thereof. Some field engineers saw it as an opportunity to better themselves in financial management, some who invested so much time in it and learnt so fast were even promoted from field to foreign offices, to provide guide for others. This was a great source of motivation for others.As the manager, set long-term goals. Concentrate on team building. Validate and reward those responding to the change. Look ahead.
3. Identify potential barriers to change in the work place and state how they could be overcome (12 marks)It is crucial to Understand barriers to change in the workplace as this can help the organisation to develop successful strategies for identifying and implementing change. Change is an important aspect of all organizations, and it targets shifting from one state to another. Some of the most common barriers to change in the workplace are often the following:I. LACK OF EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENTThis is perhaps the most common barrier to change management. During change, employees always have the fear and unless they are involved in the change process it is highly likely that even the most loyal member of your employees will resist the change.
To overcome this barrier, it is good to recognize that your efforts to introduce change can only succeed when you get employees involved in the change process as much as possible. Getting the employees involved means listening to their opinion, accounting for their output and assuring them that the change is for the good of all in the organization including them. Providing relevant, resources to drive them towards change will be a necessary thing to do, so that they are comfortable and ready to adjust to the new development within the organization.
Example: at the outward bound, during the raft building activity, my team initially had a set of leadership who were not involving other members of the team in the project. Their style was that of giving instructions, never sampling opinions. This affected our progress as we were slower than we could have been.
So we unanimously agreed to change the leadership. I was elected the new leader and I began by forming sub-teams for sales, engineers, review board. Each of the team was tasked with an aspect of the project and given a deadline to come up with their resolutions. In this way everyone was carried along, and by the time we assembled back to look at each teams’ work, the project was already half-way through completion. This made execution swift, and we came tops, finishing in record time.
II. LACK OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGYIt is wrong for leaders to assume that once they announce the change, people will adjust and be ready to get started with the new development. This is one of the easiest ways to spike off resistance or barrier to the change process. Example: the example in ‘ii’ above still applies here.Leaders should make deliberate effort to communicate effectively with their team members during change. This is because employees do not need to know about the change only. They need to know how the change will affect them as well as how they will adapt to the change.
III. BAD CULTURE SHIFT PLANNINGAnother major barrier to change can be seen in some cases where the planning team totally has no idea that the change will affect people’s welfare. The team at this stage may only be concentrate on planning administrative structure, work area responsibilities, job responsibilities as well as work reporting structure, without taking into consideration the feelings and intuition of the workforce. When the change is implemented, because most employees would naturally first look out for themselves, this omission would suddenly become obvious to them and they would tend to sabotage the change because of that.The only way to break this barrier is for the planning team to understand that the organization must not overlook the feelings of the employees.
The organization must make effort to prevent deep resentments.Example: in my former employment, a new segment was created which was to take care of the peculiar needs of expatriate workers, ranging from feeding, mobility, accommodation etc. some local staff were assigned to work in this department. However, no provision was made by the planning committee to include the welfare of the local staff posted to that segment.
When it was implemented, the local staff could not operate because some of them could not eat the food prepared for the foreigners, and as such would shut down work for longer than required duration at lunch time in order to source for food outside. There was also no provision to accommodate them in the transport system. These greatly affected work that the management mandated the planning committee to go back to basics and incorporate the representatives of the local staff in their planning.IV. UNKNOWN CURRENT STATEA major barrier to change is seen in a situation where an organization lacks a full knowledge of its current state and yet trying to introduce change. Introducing and implementing change without conducting an assessment and understanding the current state of the organization can constitute a major challenge.
The only way to get around this is to analyse and fully understand the current situation of the organization before attempting to introduce or suggest any change.V. LACK OF TRUSTIn an environment where there is no trust, there will be sinister motives from employees towards introduced changes. Furthermore, managers who do not trust their employees will not allow employees participation in the change process even when it is necessary. So, lack of trust is another major barrier to change.This can be overcome by fostering effective channels of communication at all levels in the organisation, meeting deadlines, fulfilling promises, commending hardworking team members etc.Example: I once worked in a private school where management would owe teachers salary for months and when they eventually pay it was never complete.
Even for after school evening lessons they would promise to pay as at when due but they will still owe and end up not paying the complete sum. This generated some measure of lack of trust for management. So when the school decided to introduce Summer lessons which would hold during holidays for interested students, most teachers were not willing to participate in the program. They would rather use the holiday period to engage in other activities that would yield sure pay for them4.
Identify potential benefits of change in the workplace (12 marks)Some of the benefits of change in the workplace can include:1. Fresh ApproachesChange can bring fresh approaches to the everyday work flow thereby eliminating the tiring feeling of boredom that comes with routine activities. For example, learning a new software application program can be daunting and quite frustrating, at first, but if it allows you to improve processes, speed the workflow and to better manage your time, at the end of the day, you may feel less stressed. This is beneficial to both the employee as well as management. In the short term, it introduces change in processes thereby eliminating old and probably obsolete approaches. In the long-term employees get to acquire new skills, which enable the organisation to improve process thereby conquering more market space.
2. New ChallengesChange is the only constant in life. Often, changes in management or personnel can really encourage everyone in the company to step up their own performance so as not to appear to be falling behind.
For example, introduction of a new production process that is in line with technological changes can present such a great challenge as effort would be required to unlearn some techniques, relearn some as well as learn some entirely new ones. Because of the need to keep up with speed, and the fear of losing one’s job, this new challenge can motivate employees to commit and be more dedicated to learning fast to be up to speed. Friendly competition and an internal drive to elevate yourself to peak-performance levels can help you boost your career.3. Updated Policies and ProceduresExperience has shown that changes in ownership can sometimes come with the need for updated policies and procedures, and you may be surprised at what you didn’t even know you were missing. Maybe new management offers regular cost-of-living pay increases or telecommuting options that the previous owner never considered.
Or, perhaps a new internal reporting structure gives you more freedom to work independently than you had before.Example: In NLNG, the core values of Integrity, Teamwork, Respect, Excellence and Care greatly define the culture of the company, alongside the 10 behaviours. Before the new MD-CEO assumed office, there was no respect as part of the core values. However, he discovered that there was a general atmosphere of fear of intimidation which prevented some personnel from stating their objective observations before their superiors. Knowing how this is affecting diversity in opinion in the company, he introduced respect as part of the core values, where all are expected to respect what each person brings to the table. This singular act greatly transformed the culture of the company overtime, introducing ‘first-name basis of addressing everyone, irrespective of status. This has drawn the workforce close together, with each person seeing themselves as part of a larger family.
4. Increased OpportunitiesChange often translates to opportunity for those who are willing to embrace it and who take advantage of resulting opportunities. For example, a new product launch initially may be time-consuming, but if it offers an increased opportunity for earnings in your profit-sharing company — in the big picture — it’s a win-win,Example: In Schlumberger, Slickline segment was initially purely mechanical, and behind time.
This made the segment to lose Slickline jobs to competitors. A new CEO came on board and decided to task the research and development arm of the company at the global level to venture into expanding all mechanical Slickline services to include Digital Slickline services. This was a first in the industry, and because of the massive support of the management, the research and development arm was able to achieve results in record time. When opportunities came to bid for Slickline jobs, the company whipped up this joker in their suite of cards and was able to muscle competitors out. This also provided opportunities for further training abroad for Mechanical Slickline personnel, who came back with a world class certificate that would give them edge over their mates in other companies and as a result translated into promotion and pay raise for them. Other types of change, such as reorganization or mergers, can create new positions, new divisions or departments, or an opportunity to create a new job title.
5. Explain how a team leader can implement change in the workplace (16 marks)When it comes to the issue of change implementation in the workplace, a team leader can either adopt the 3-step model of change by Kurt Lewin or the 8-stage model of change by John Kotter. A. According to Kurt Lewin, implementing change in the workplace can take three steps which are;(a) Unfreezing: disturbing the equilibrium or status quo, (b) Moving: by abandoning old behaviours and adopting new ones, (c) Refreezing: establish new pattern as the normal way to behave.Unfreezing: It is a step that involves exposing or creating situational awareness to employees and letting them know of the need for change in the organization so as to create and maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace or to optimize production rate, as the case maybe. Communication is crucial in this stage, so that employees can be fully informed about any looming change, the reason for such, who and what will benefit from the change, their roles and responsibility to implementing the change. This will more than likely motivate them to understand, accept and implement the change. This will be further enhanced if the desired change is in line with organization’s corporate culture, core values, goals, and the mission.
Moving/Changing: In this stage, change occurs through a random process of looking for new solutions, or a planned approach to solving a problem. This stage is characterized by the people adapting to the new change. This is the stage where employees begin to make effort to consciously learn new the requisite new skills, new behaviours, safety observations & interventions, etc. The role of the team leader should be to establish programs to educate his/her team members on this new behaviour, process, or the required skills. Important tools in this step can include educating, instructing, guiding, supporting, and continuous communication on the part of the team leader, while open-mindedness, willingness to learn, communication and patience are required on the part of team members. Hence, there ought to be co-operation on both sides.
Refreezing: in this stage the change is observed to slow down largely because new ways replace the old ones and become standard practice. Characteristically, team members accept the new situation. The reason why this refreezing step is very important is because it ensures the people do not return to their old ways of thinking or doings prior to the change, in the long run. The team leader can use rewards, awards, and acknowledgement of outstanding individual’s efforts to strengthen the new. The team leader can decide to ensure once short wins are achieved, s/he must remain focused to carefully attain long wins. Any further obstacle to long wins can easily be noticed and removed before it comes to play to ensure that the desired state or change is established.B. The Kotter (1996) model outlined below can also be used to implement and operationalise any of your organisation’s initiative or change: a.
Establish a sense of urgency: one way to implement change is to establish a sense of urgency among your team around the change. Often people are incapable of seeing the problem. Once convinced that the problem does exist, most people are willing to adopt reasonable solutions. For change to happen, it helps if the whole organisation really wants it.
This may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving.below are some of the things you can do to establish the sense of urgency:• Identify potential threats, and develop scenarios showing what could happen inthe future.• Examine opportunities that should be, or could be, exploited.• Request support from members of the team, patients and outside stakeholdersto strengthen your argumentb. Create the Guiding Team: As the team leader you must convince your people that the change is necessary. To do this effectively, you might some form of visible support from key people within your organisation. This is because managing change is not just enough, you need to lead it. Hence, there is the need to bring together team of influential people whose power comes from a variety of sources such as job title, status, expertise, and political importance.
They can help you to drive the change.c. Develop a vision and strategy: as a leader, during change, you need to create a vision to help direct the change effort. This can be achieved by developing strategies for achieving that vision. When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around.
Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember. This is because when people see for themselves what you’re trying to achieve, then the directives they’re given tend to make more sense. Then go ahead to create a strategy for executing the vision in line with the overall goals and objectives of the organisation.d.
Communicate the Vision: the importance of communication in a team cannot be overemphasised, and this is more so even during change in the organisation. As the leader, you should try to use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies. Here, you can decide to have the guiding Coalition to role model the behaviour expected of employees. What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. In order to ensure your vision is kept fresh on everyone’s mind you can use the vision to make relevant decisions and solve problems.
Action speaks louder than words. This is because when you keep it fresh on everyone’s minds, they will remember it and respond to it.e. Empowering action: Get rid of obstacles to change; change systems or structures that undermine the vision; encourage risk-taking and non-traditional ideas, activities, and actions. Common errors here can be permitting obstacles to block the vision. Obstacles could be structures, systems, what people are rewarded for, andcolleagues who block or delay things, or spread cynicism.f.
Generate short term wins: As a manager it is important to recognise common errors here such as not systematically planning for and creating short term wins. Success can be a great source of motivation for your team. At this stage it pays to give your team a taste of victory early in the change process by having results that your staff can see within a short time. One way to achieve this is to plan for visible performance improvements, recognize and reward employees who made it possible. Without this, critics and negative thinkers might hurt your progress.
Each of the smaller target need to be achievable, with little or no room for failure.g. Consolidate gains and produce even more change: This is the stage where you can use increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit the vision. After every win, try to analyse the whole scenario to identify what went right and what needs to be improved. Remind your team that each success is an opportunity to build and improve. Hence, it would pay you to try to set goals to continue building on the momentum you have achieved.h. Anchor New Approaches in the Corporate Culture: As a leader, in this step it is important for you to articulate the connections between the change and organizational success.
This is the point where you begin to consider working on the means to ensure leadership development and succession. Your organisational culture often determines what gets done, so this is the point where you ensure that the values behind your vision must show in daily processes in your organisation. One of the support structures needed here are your team leaders. Effort should be made to retain their support to avoid going back to where you started. 6.
Explain how a team leader can support change in the team (16 marks)As a leader you can make a significant impact on your team’s ability to accept or decline change. Here are some of the ways a team leader can support change in his team:1. Support the organization’s direction: During times of change, because of uncertainty, team members will want to keep a watchful eye on the words and actions of the leader. They will be looking to see if you are supporting the change taking place. As a leader, you ought to show your team that you not only support the change but also accept the change because if you are showing signs of doubt or concern, it will affect how your team accept the change as well. And if they do not accept it, then the overall goal and objective of the organisation in initiating the change would suffer.2.
Communicate as much as you know as often as possibleAs a leader, it is important to realise that incomplete or poor communication raises suspicions that management is hiding something or worse. The same thing happens when there is poor or delayed communication as this can cause the rumour mill to go on. Hence, you should know that you cannot over communicate during a time of change. During change, as the team leader, you must check for the reality not the perception or propaganda and speak objectively to avoid generating and sustaining rumours. It is essential to communicate at the right time, as often as needed, using the right medium, with the right tone so as to send the right message which can inspire, motivate, or offer reassurance to your team members. 3.
Ask the team for their input and listen to their concerns: Another very good way to Support the change process is by accepting input from your team and listening to their concerns. As a leader, during change, ask your staff for their opinions and feedback regarding the change initiative. This is one way to eliminate the barrier of team members feeling left out. In the same vein, you cannot afford to disregard objections, resistance or feeling as this will only drive your team members underground and this can lead to unproductive behaviour ranging from indirect grumbling and complaining to outright sabotage or resistance to the change.4. Celebrate the small successes: one way to support your team through change as a leader is to celebrate the accomplishments of small successes along the way.
This can be very reassuring as well as motivating for the team. Learn to recognize the team for the progress and change that has already transpired each step of the way and ensure that each accomplishment, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is rewarded. One way to subtly discourage your team during change is delaying to recognize a small success until when 3 or 4 more happen.5. Coach people through the change process: You can support your team through change by connecting with them and fully supporting them in reaching their goals. As a leader, recognize that support can come in several forms. The goal is to try as much as is practicable to adapt it to the uniqueness and peculiarity of your team, and this you can only know when you as the leader try to devote time to listening or questioning with your team members. Coaching fits appropriately with times of change which are usually full of chances to learn and grow7.
Explain how to develop and maintain cohesion within a team during change (16 marks) Here are some of the ways to successfully develop and maintain a cohesive team during change:Establish a mission: The most important factor to determine before selecting members is your team’s mission. Before laying out a new task or project, evaluate the objectives you’re hoping to achieve and try to connect them to the company’s core goals. Then decide the goals of the group and how you will accomplish those goals in relation to the company’s core goals. In other words, find the big picture, then, make sure everyone in the company is always going back to it. If they are not, remind them to. So continually invest time in communicating the values and culture of the company. As a leader, such communications are critical for group cohesion and success.Look for diversity: The most successful teams require diversity.
Diverse teams have access to many people with varying skills and experiences. A diverse group will be able to pull from all these experiences in order to achieve the mission. Take your time when hiring a new member. It’s okay to be picky. Carefully consider whether the new candidate has the skills and attitude that you require in order to drive the team towards the company’s goals. Being selective can also make your team feel valued and appreciated; they may even feel like they belong to a highly effective, elite team.Practice teamwork: Team-building exercises are the best way to see how individual members will work together to accomplish a goal. Before your team has to work on important tasks it would help to establish programs that would enable you to see how they handle something simple.
Look out for who took the lead, Who worked well together, etc. Apply what you learn from this to the real mission. As a bonus, your team members will even have the opportunity to bond with each other in the process.Utilize individual strengths: Team leader should determine the strengths of each team member and assign them to specific tasks based on their strengths. Delegating based on strengths is the best way for the group to accomplish its goals. Be clear about what each member is responsible for and hold them accountable. In this way team member look up to each other for completion.
Communicate effectively: A team cannot be cohesive if communication is ineffective. Make sure to us a consistent and clear methods of communication. Clearly explain the team’s instructions and goals. Make sure all messages are constructed for the benefit of the team, and make the team members see how it enhances them as well.Give feedback: As a team lead, always create opportunities to explain what worked well, what didn’t, and the results of their project.
Constructive feedback will make for a more cohesive team during the next project.Ask for feedback: Give your employees a space and time to express constructive suggestions or information. It will help make your workforce feel valued and will also provide an insight into what is working and what may need to be improved. Multiple opinions can really shine a light on flaws in the process. This will also make your team members to feel like their opinion matters when you take it in to account for next time.
Celebrate success: As a team leader, make sure that when your team successfully accomplishes the established task, you recognize them for it. Make sure the group knows you appreciate their work and thank them. Always try to recognise and reward team achievement, and make genuine connections with employees. It will also serve you well, in the interest of ensuring team cohesion to be a positive.Building a cohesive team is a never-ending process. With every new project comes different challenges. It is important to consistently make sure your team is working well together and reaching results effectively.
