Introduction
Strategic change is an important concept for all business organizations that want to survive in the constantly changing global economy. Strategic change is defined as the change that takes place in a company’s strategy. It is the organization’s attempt to align its strategies with those of the external environment.
It involves changing the organizations vision, mission and objectives as well as the strategies that are used to achieve these objectives. Changes in the external environment such as economic changes, political changes and environmental factors require organizations to adapt in-order to survive.
Adapting to the external environment will require companies to change their business strategies so as to remain relevant in today’s economy. There are a number of approaches that can be used in carrying out the strategic change process.
These approaches have to take into account the employees of the organization, the cultural setting and value system that are in use within the organization and the business environment that the organization operates in. The next section covers the various strategic models that can be used by managers in the strategic process (Hughes 2006).
Strategic Change Tools and Models
Strategic change models and approaches are used to reflect the intentional and strategic changes that take place within organizations. Clear goals and measurement scales are used in these approaches to gain some feedback on how the change process will affect the business operations of the company. The type of strategic change model that is used should be in line with the process of change implementation for the organization.
The change process involves preparing the organization for the change process. This will involve communicating the changes that will take place to the important stakeholders of the company such as the employees, investors and shareholders to ensure they that they are all prepared for the change (Gunn 2009).
Once the necessary changes have been communicated to all important stakeholders, the next phase of the process will involve implementing the change management plan. The changes will be implemented in accordance with the agreed business goals, objectives and strategies.
The next stage after implementation will involve providing ongoing support to the implementation process as well as undertaking improvements to the change management plan.
The purpose of this stage is to ensure that there is a continual support of the changes that are taking place within the organization. The last stage of the change process is important as it ensures that the changes have been implemented successfully within the transformed organization (Gunn 2009). There are a range of strategic change models that can be used in initiating change within organizations.
These models include Lewin’s three step model, Kotter’s eight steps for organizational change, Bullock and Batten’s planned change approach, the processual model, Beckhard and Harris’ approach to organizational change, the Naslar and Tushman model of organizational change, Carnall’s change management model, Stacey and Shaw’s responsive processes, Senge’s systematic model and William Bridges model of managing transition in an organization (Cameron and Green 2004).
The models that will be focused are Lewin’s three step model, Bullock and Batten’s planned change approach, the processual model, Naslar and Tushman model of organizational change, William Bridges model and Kotter’s eight step model.
Lewin’s Three Step Model
The first model which is the Lewin three step model was developed by Kurt Lewin in 1951 for use in the organizational context. His model for organizational change is the most recognised and used by many company managers today. Lewin introduced the three step model for organizational change as a result of a study he conducted to determine the phenomenon of group change amongst an organization’s employees.
He noted that organizational change amongst employees lasted for a short time as employees returned to their original behaviour after the change was implemented. Lewin concluded that for change to be more permanent, the old habits of performing work had to be completely eliminated. His solution to permanent change saw him develop the three step model of change (Robbins 2009).
For organizations to achieve effective organizational change, they had to employ the three step model which is made up of unfreezing, change and freezing. The unfreezing step involves ensuring that the organizations employees have a need or desire for change. This need is usually achieved by conducting a confrontation with the employees or employee education that will ensure their perception of organizational change is different.
This stage ensures that the organizational members understand the need for change as well as create a desire for change amongst these members. The unfreezing stage also ensures that employees are made aware that the old way of performing business is unacceptable and they should therefore embrace the new system of change (Robbins 2009).
The next step was where the actual change occurred. This stage ensured that the organization moved to the desired state of change that had new policies, procedures, structures and goals. The refreezing stage involved reinforcing the changes into the organizational system by ensuring that these changes were consistent with the employee’s behaviour.
To demonstrate the three step model an example will be used of a call centre that has been receiving poor customer evaluations. The company’s managers have realized good customer service is important in achieving success and therefore want the company to be more customer-focused (Mills et al 2009).
The use of the three step model will see the company unfreezing the current status of customer service in the call centre. This will be done by conducting staff meetings and reviewing customer surveys to determine how to improve customer service. The change step will involve providing the customer service representatives with the necessary training that will initiate a change in how they interact with customers.
The refreezing stage will involve rewarding the representatives on an hourly basis as well as rewarding them with bonuses for any positive customer feedback and surveys (Mills et al 2009).
Lewin’s model for organizational change basically requires a significant commitment on the part of the organization before, during and after the change. This model is suitable as it considers the organizations, internal and external environment (Kritsonis 2005).
Bullock and Batten’s Planned Change Model
The change model was developed around project management activities which included exploration, planning, action and integration. The exploration stage involves identifying the need for change and acquiring the specific resources that will be used to initiate the change. The planning step involves including decision makers in the development of the change management plan that will be used in the change process.
The plan is then implemented which results in the action stage. The integration phase is initiated once the change plan has been fully implemented and aligned with changes that have occurred within the other areas of the organization.
This approach of organizational change views the change process as a technical problem that can be solved with a technical solution. This method is suitable for less complex organizational problems and in dealing with isolated cases (Cameron and Green 2004).
Processual Model of Organizational Change
This approach to organizational change ensures that the complex nature of change is managed in an ongoing and dynamic way. The task of managers who use this model of change is to navigate through the complexities of change by examining the available options and resources.
Instead of directing change, the manager’s role becomes that of ensuring the organization’s members respond to the change by embracing the necessary skills and knowledge to effect the change. The processual model is based on the premise that organizations facing change go through a variety of dynamic states that interlock and overlap forcing the change process to be analysed on emergent character context (Ramanathan 2008).
Understanding organizational change under this approach therefore involves studying the events that lead to the change and how the change affects the overall processes of the organization (Ramanathan 2008).
An example of this approach in an organization that is undergoing a major change in all of its business processes will be to conduct staff meetings, staff education, training and communication networks that will ensure that the complex components of the change process have been broken down into manageable and simple components.
Kotter’s Eight Step Model
This method of organizational change was derived from Kotter’s study of 100 different organizations that were undergoing change. The results of the study highlighted eight key lessons that were later modelled into the eight steps of organizational change. These eight steps were used to address some of the power issues that arose during the organizational change process.
The first step of the model involved the creation of a sense of urgency which involved studying the market trends and changes after which the requirement for change within the organization would be analysed, the second stage involved the formation of a powerful guiding coalition that would be used to steer the change process, the creation of a vision was the third step in the eight step model.
This stage involved developing a vision that would be used to bring about change within the organization (Sabri et al 2007).
After coming up with the vision, the next step involved passing on the set goals and vision to the important stakeholders of the company after which they would be authorized to proceed on the set goals. This involved getting rid of the obstacles to change within the organization. The next step of the model involved planning and creating short term wins.
This would involve looking for short term visible improvements that would be used in the change process. After this was done, the improvements would be consolidated into the change process so that they can continue producing more change within the organization. Once the changes were consolidated, they would then be institutionalised into the culture of the organization (Singh 2010).
An example of how this approach can be used in effecting organizational change in a consultancy company that is facing a decrease of business is to create a sense of urgency that will assess the competitive nature of the consultancy’s environment after which a team will be formed to deal with effecting the necessary changes to the firm’s business operations.
A vision will then be developed to empower the team members and the rest of the employees within the organization to act on the vision which will see the actions being consolidated and institutionalized into the company.
Nadler and Tushman’s Model for Organizational Change
This approach to organizational change emphasizes the importance of the transformation process and how organizations are made up of different components and parts that interact together. These components exist in a state of relative balance that ensures they fit together.
The four important elements that make up this model include tasks which encompass the work to be done, the skills and knowledge of individuals, the formal organization which is the explicitly defined process of the organization and the informal organization which encompasses the less explicitly defined understanding of the organization’s processes (Bezboruah 2008).
According to this model, the successful handling of change inside an organization means ensuring that all four components of the model have been identified and controlled. If a change takes place in one component, changes have to be effected on all the other three components to reduce the chances of organizational homeostasis from occurring.
Homeostasis refers to the organization returning to the old way of doing things which leads to a lack of congruence. This model is therefore important in dealing with the power and control issues that arise due to the homeostasis condition within the organization. An example of the application of this method is when a production company has a market demand to produce a new product.
The demand will require a specific task to be performed in order to produce the required output. This will involve incorporating the other components of the model which will be the individual’s skills and knowledge, the formal and the informal processes of the organization (Anderson 2010).
William Bridges Managing Transition
This model of organizational change focuses on the transition process that takes place during change. William Bridges’ focus on transition creates an extensive understanding of what happens in an organization during the change process. He views transition to be a process that involves eliminating the old way of doing business and adopting new methods/techniques.
This model engages three stages which are the new beginning, the neutral zone and ending. The ending stage involves completing the old system of company operations before the new changes are initiated.
The neutral zone involves dealing with employee reactions once the changes have been implemented while the new beginning involves defining the purpose of the change and what the outcomes of the changes will be (Bridges 2009).
Conclusion
The above models and approaches to organizational change demonstrate that change can be implemented in a just and fair way within an organization that is undergoing change. The methods can be used depending on the type of change the organization is going through.
The basis of these methods is to ensure that the change process is not cumbersome and complex to the people who have been charged with the responsibility of initiating change within organization. The strategic change models ensure that the change process has been broken down into more manageable processes and components.
References
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