Alan Cohen opines that courage is required when letting go of what is familiar and embracing the new. In the business arena, letting go of traditional practices and adopting change is often met with scepticism yet it can yield significant benefits. Change in an organization occurs in different forms and refers to any alteration in the usual strategies, procedures, cultures, or structures (Fløvik et al., 2019). Such change can be deliberate with the aim of attaining a certain goal or may be enforced by the business environment. Admittance to change gives room for new ideas and practices that will spur growth to come into play. When a business entity blocks the avenue through which change occurs, then opportunities for growth are also being shut down.
While change is often met with resistance, it is inevitable in any given work environment. Consequently, businesses should be prepared for change and the discomfort that it may cause for the sake of the accompanying long term benefits. In any given business environment, change is necessary in the development of competitiveness in a dynamic labor market. Changes have to be made both internally and externally through effective change management practices such as training and development (Sartori et al., 2018). While it may feel secure to keep holding on to familiar matters, change is unavoidable in the business environment and it allows for less meaningful affairs to be releaased.
However, embracing change should only be done after careful consideration. The pros and cons of change should be weighed and be directly aligned to an organization’s purpose and values (By, 2020). Acknowledging change should be a matter of careful consideration so that it can yield maximum benefits. Going back to Alan Cohen quote, change is an inevitable and necessary part of the business journey, but one that has to be carefully calculated and considered.
References
By, R. T. (2020). Organizational change and leadership: Out of the quagmire. Journal of Change Management, 20(1), 1-6.
Fløvik, L., Knardahl, S., & Christensen, J. O. (2019). The effect of organizational changes on the psychosocial work environment: Changes in psychological and social working conditions following organizational changes.Frontiers in Psychology, 10. Web.
Sartori, R., Costantini, A., Ceschi, A., & Tommasi, F. (2018). How do you manage change in organizations? Training, development, innovation, and their relationships. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1-11.