For a business to remain competitive in the market, it needs to incorporate changes that increase the competitive edge it has in the market. To provide the change needed, the managers have the responsibility of ensuring that the implementation of the change is right. Therefore, the managers need to play various roles and responsibilities to ensure the transition to the change goes smoothly.
One of the roles is to ensure that there is understanding of the change by the workers. Managers should therefore organize workshops; the main aim of having them is to ensure that the workers understand the objectives that need to be met, as well as the commitment they should have (Lipsitz,1973). It is also through these workshops that the workers are enlightened on the plans of the organization regarding implementation of the new changes.
The managers also have the responsibility of ensuring that the workers understand the benefits that will be accrued due to having the change. It is also important to ensure that the workers get to know the impact the change will have to their daily work; therefore, the manager should expect the workers to give him feedback to the effect of the change (Turner, 2009).
Monitoring the change as well as the progress is also another role that managers should play. Change takes some time to happen, therefore, the managers need to keep checking on its implementation to ensure that the plan laid down is being followed, and any changes needed to adjust it are formulated.
The managers need to ensure that the management is done in a formal way. By using the principles of project management, the manager can make sure the right team is in place as well as the strategy that is laid down is been followed. Through this, the desired effects may easily be achieved as well as the effectiveness of the project plan.
The manager should also ensure that the required resources needed to implement the change are put in place; resources may include time and money to mention but a few. The manager should ensure that these resources are there at the time of need and in the right quantity. It is therefore the responsibility of the manager to make sure that even the resources that are far placed are accessible to the implementers at the time of need, and there is no time lag.
Change always comes with new levels of technology, which might not be available in the organization, it is therefore the responsibility of the manager to make sure that the level of education, and training matches with the new change. If there is need to train the staff of the new change, it should be done before the implementation to prevent a scenario of having a change that the staff cannot be able cope with (Turner, 2009).
It is not always that a new change will be welcome by the staff as well as the employees of the organization. It is therefore the responsibility of the manager to ensure that any resistance that comes on the way he is able to handle it (Bruce, 2002). Having a good communication network between the staff and the management is one of the things that need to be there to ensure that the implementation process goes smoothly.
Any queries that may arise through the process of implementing the change should be able to be tackled. The benefits that come with the change need to be made known to the staff and the workers, and their importance highlighted. The managers should ensure that the individuals that are bringing out the resistant are given time to speak out their feelings. An understanding can be arrived at through constant communication as both parties learn to handle the new change (Rothwell, 2001).
By involving the employees in the whole process of coming up with change, incidents of resistance will be minimal. The manager therefore has the responsibility of ensuring that there is the involvement of the employees in different stages of coming in with the change (Pathak, 2011). It is also easier for the manager to implement something that he/she has been involved with for long, than something that he is not familiar with.
Possibilities of new ideas emerging from involving the employees in the process that may be beneficial to the organization are high. Also, there may be an improvement in the relationship between the employees and the management, since they will feel part and parcel of the process of decision making, minimizing any chances of resistance between the members (Rothwell, 2001).
For change to be successful there needs to be a way or a process to make sure that it diffuses well in the system. The main processes involved in this exercise are inclusive of the following. First there need to be the assessment. Assessment is the process of collecting information about an organization with an aim of establishing the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization.
The aim of doing it is to ensure the organization maximizes on its strengths as well as minimize on its weaknesses. Through this exercise, the organization is able to know the needs of the society and how well to meet them to their advantage. The feedback got through the process of assessment helps the organization to establish an effective plan as well as try to increase their performance. The next process that follows is the planning process.
Determination of the problem is first done in this stage so that a solution can be established. The actions or reasons that lead to the problem are then determined so as to ensure an establishment of a framework that will tackle the problem (Woodman, 2007). The planning process is dependent on the type of the problem in question, and may be long-term or short term. A plan is an outline of the action that the management is willing to do to solve the problem.
The next step is the implementation of the plan laid down. At this stage, actions that regard to the defined plan are worked on. The employees and the management work together to ensure the success of the plan laid down, as well as the strategies. The necessary resources should be provided and at the right time to ensure that the implementation is completed in the desired time.
The right team needs to be in operation at this time and communication among the parties involved is important. During this process, the management needs to have a constant review of the developments of the change to ensure that only the desired effects are achieved. Evaluation of the whole plan is the final action (Woodman, 2007). It has everything to do with assessing the change that has been introduced in the organization.
The goals achieved in the process of implementation are compared with the outcomes, to ensure the successes of the change. Evaluation should not only be done in the final stage but there should be numerous evaluations during the evaluation stage to ensure that everything is on track. The final evaluation should be able to determine the success of the whole process and whether the goals that were set to be accomplished are successfully met (Roussel, 2006).
To remain competitive in an organization, it is necessary to ensure that an organization incorporates various changes to ensure that they have a competitive edge in the market (Kirst-Ashman, 2008). Effective ways of ensuring that there is effective incorporation of change is therefore needed. It is therefore necessary to incorporate the necessary procedure to ensure that quality change is brought in and accepted by the parties in the organization.
References
Bruce, A. (2002). Building a high morale workplace. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Kirst-Ashman, G. H. Karen K. (2008). Generalist Practice with Organizations and Communities. Califonia: Cengage Learning.
Lipsitz, L. (1973). The Process of innovation in education. New Jersey: Educational Technology.
Pathak, H. (2011). Organisational Change. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Rothwell, W. J. (2001). The manager and the change leader. Virginia: American Society for Training and Development.
Roussel .L, R. C. (2006). Management and leadership for nurse administrators. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Turner, J. R. (2009). The handbook of project-based management: leading strategic change in organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Woodman W. A.Pasmore, R. W. (2007). Research in Organizational Change and Development. Amsterdam: Emerald Group Publishing.