There is no use denying the fact that the modern world could be taken as the age or rivalry and high tempos. Due to the blistering development of science and industry, society also obtained new features that influence the way in which it moves greatly. In the coherent society only strong and competitive persons and organizations could survive and become beneficial. That is why, nowadays such notions as success and prosperity obtain more and more popularity.
People try to do their best in order to guarantee their prosperous existence and remain the part of society. This feature is also reflected in the world of business. Blistering growth of a great number of various companies, triggered by peoples desire to engage in self-realization, led to the increase of the level of rivalry.
Under these conditions, various practices, which could help a company to achieve success and guarantee its prosperity, become especially vital. Moreover, the sphere of management, as that which deals with these practices and helps to implement them in the functioning of an organization, could be described as the most important nowadays.
Besides, one can admit the fact that any organization or a company needs a certain plan that could help it to develop and move in the needed direction. In other words, a well-organized and thought through plan is a guaranty of the companys success. However, this plan should be created in accordance with the most important peculiarities of the modern market.
That is why, under these conditions, the adherence to the main concepts of efficient management becomes necessary as only qualified and skilled manager could create the needed strategic plan and help a company to implement it in its functioning. However, very often a company is not ready to work in the way which could guarantee its prosperity. In that case the process of change should be started in order to reorganize the structure of a company and achieve the needed purpose.
Especially vital it becomes in terms of the world financial crisis as a great number of companies collapse. Resting on these facts, the necessity and great importance of change management become obvious as only efficient and timely process of change could save a company and align its functioning.
Nevertheless, speaking about the great importance of change management, it is impossible not to analyze its main concepts and ideas. First of all, it should be said that change management is taken as the part of the whole sphere of management and, that is why, its main aim is the efficient and beneficial functioning of a company. There are many tools and remedies used by managers in order to achieve success and promote the further development of a company.
Additionally, it should be said that all activities performed by a company should be organized in accordance with the main principles of efficient management Due to this fact, it is possible to state the fact that the zone of influence of this very issue is extremely great and, that is why, managers should be ready to face various changes that a company might face in the course of its functioning.
Change management is the thing that could help a professional to overcome all obstacles and guarantee the efficient functioning of a company in terms of the crisis. It is the sphere of knowledge which main aim is to analyze the main characteristics of a company and help it to evolve by underlining its weaknesses and creating the plan how to get rid of them.
It is obvious, that any company in its functioning passes through the stages of its blistering development and prosperity as well as its decline and stagnation. However, facing the crisis, a company should have a certain plan that could help it to overcome its aftermath and continue its evolution. Besides, It is extremely vital for any organization to be able to accept the necessity of changes and be ready to follow the plan created by the team of managers.
Moreover, it is obvious that in terms of the crisis a company needs some fast and efficient solutions in order to be able to continue it functioning. With this in mind, it is possible to say that due to this fact the efficient change management becomes the only possible solution for a company as it could help to analyze all aspects of its functioning and outline the first steps that should be made in order to achieve at least some progress.
Thus, it is possible to say that change management very often is taken as the remedy that helps a company or organization which suffers from the aftermath of the crisis to recover and continue its beneficial development. However, this definition and idea are only partially true. It should be said that a company could start the procedure of change not only it terms of crisis, however, if it is not satisfied with the level of its performance or wants to increase its efficiency.
Under these conditions, the change management could also be useful as it could help a company to meet all challenges and create the efficient strategy that could help to achieve the needed purpose.
Moreover, it should be said that appeal to the change management could be useful as it helps to determine strengths and weaknesses of a company and show other aspects of its functioning that should be changed for it to be able to increase the level of its performance. With this in mind, it is possible to state great multitasking of change management and its universal character.
Besides, it is vital to admit that change management could have the beneficial effect on the functioning of a company only in terms of clear and professional approach towards the process of change and all aspects connected with it. According to Beer and Nohria (2000) “70% of all change initiatives fail” (p. 1). It means that in the majority of cases the attempt to change the structure of a company and increase the level of efficiency is inefficient.
There are several reasons for these failures. However, the low competence of managers, who are not able to control the change process, could be taken as the most important one (Beer and Nohria, 2000).
Facing the necessity to initiate the process of change, managers are not able to understand the way in which a company should move and the aspects that should be analyzed. That is why, it is extremely vital to outline the most important aspects of change management for specialists in this sphere to be able to understand the main points of this issue and apply them in practice.
First of all, it should be said that there are several main tasks of the issue of change management, however, the most important one is to align all processes of a company for them to become efficient and beneficial. On the basis of this idea, it should be said that there are two main overlapping areas that comprise the whole sphere of change management. The first area could be described as the how-area and deals with the question how to achieve the needed aim and how to manage the whole process.
The second one could be described as the what-area and describes all aspects of the functioning of a company that should be changed in order to improve its results and guarantee beneficial development. Being very important, these areas should interact and be taken into account by any manager as they create the basis of the efficient process of change.
It is obvious that there are several concepts that refer to these areas and could help to organize the efficient process of change of the company. That is why, any process of change should start with the deep analysis of the main peculiarities of a company and determination of things that should be changed and the way in which these changes could be made.
Besides, as it has already been mentioned, it is extremely vital to outline the model according to which all changes should be made. According to the traditional change process model, there are eight important phases of the procedure. It should start with the creation of dissatisfaction of the existing status as people should feel and understand the necessity of change in order to become motivated.
Only after this stage the main objectives of changes should be defined and the coalition, which should manage the process, could be created. The next stage deals with the research of the main organizational issues connected with the outlined objectives. This stage is needed to adapt the process to the conditions of a company. Thus, the analysis of the problem should also be done in order to understand the nature of the challenge.
Having made all these steps, the process of redesigning of the organization in accordance with the new objectives could start. It is oblivious, that all changes and their aftermath should be planned and taken into account. Thus, in case of successful accomplishment of all previous stages, the implementation of all needed changes becomes possible.
Very often, this stage could be taken as very long term and difficult, however, it is also very important for the success of the whole process. Finally, evaluation of the main results of the process should be done in order to analyze the positive and negative aspects and determine the further development of a company.
However, it should also be said that along with the determination of the main pattern of change, it is also vital to outline the main aspects of the functioning of a company that should be changed. One should remember that there are no unimportant details in the company as they have a certain influence on the final result.
That is why, such aspects as strategy, management practices, skills of workers and leadership qualities of managers should be taken into account. Kotter (2007) underlines that a great number of transformational efforts failures happen due to the poor leadership qualities of a manager who is not able to inspire the stuff and outline the necessity of changes.
He also admits the fact that guiding change could become a real test for a leader and his leadership qualities as he has to accept some important decisions and lead people (Kotter, 2007).
With this in mind, it is possible to state the fact that being very important, the issue of leadership is not the only point that should be taken into account while creating the plan for the successful change of a company. Thus, only deep investigation and analysis of all important aspects could help to determine the problematic spheres and introduce some changes to them.
With this in mind, it is possible to say that the great importance of the issue of change management is explained by the fact that it seizes all spheres of the functioning of a company and aims at achieving a great number of various tasks. Additionally, in case of a well-organized process a company could obtain some benefits.
Burnes (2004) states that the planned approach to changes, which happen in the course of the deep reorganization of a company, could help to save money and efforts and achieve greater results. That is why, the manager, who is responsible for the implementation of the main changes, should also take into account the fact that is it for him/her to make the whole process less cost based and efficient at the same time.
Besides, a manager should also remember the fact that knowledge of the main theories of change management and its main concepts could have a great impact on the final result and it is for him/her to make it beneficial.
With this in mind, it is possible to make a certain conclusion. It should be said that the issue of change management becomes very important nowadays. The fact is that it could help companies to survive in terms of world financial crisis and increase the level of performance.
Additionally, there are several very important concepts and ideas that should be taken by a manager into account and used while creating a certain strategy and controlling the change process. Only following all main principles of change management a specialist could help a company and guarantee its success and prosperity
In conclusion, some impressions and reflections on personal experience could be outlined in order to support the given article with some evidence. As it has already been mentioned, it is impossible to be a good change manager without deep knowledge of the main aspects of this process and peculiarities of its implementation. That is why, the information presented in the given paper turned out to be very important and useful for my own personal and professional growth.
Analyzing the main concepts of change management, clear vision of the main stages of this process has been obtained. Additionally, it is possible to say that knowledge of the main aspects of this issue also helped to look at my own life from the other perspective and determine things that should be changed in order to make it more efficient and productive.
That is why, it is possible to conclude that investigation of the sphere of management could be useful not only for the professional development of a person. However, it could also contribute a lot to his/her personal development evolution.
References
Beer, M., & Nohria, N. (2000). Cracking the Code of Change, Harvard Business Review, 78(3), 1-10.
Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal. Journal of Management Studies 41(6), 977-1002.
Kotter, J. (2007). Leading Change. Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review, 92-107.