1.
By
Ahmad Alkhathami
Academic Prep
ELS Language Center
Jerry Schmuki
June 12, 2008

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Introduction
With the passage of time, the competition among business companies has extended
more and more, resulted from the deregulation rules that countries have started to adopt
and the increase of knowledge and experience of developing products and services.
Hence, the concept of organizational change becomes a main concern of all organizations
that want to success and survive in the middle of hard competition. This change requires
professional skills of creativity and innovation for both leaders and employees since that
change is going to set up new methods of work. This paper considers the organizational
change related to business organizations that produce products or services. It will
consider the necessity of change, and adopt the three factors that each organization must
consider to go through successful change which are the challenges of change, the
methods of change, and the role of both leaders and employees to achieve the satisfactory
change. Thereby, organization will be able to stand in front of any fluctuations in the
market.
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The necessity of change
The economy is very sensitive to change. Numerous factors affect the economy, such
as politics, science and research, human behavior, and even natural phenomena.
However, over the last few decades, new factors have appeared on the surface and have
effects on business organizations and their ability to overcome the challenges that come
with any rapid change of the markets. The main factors that stand behind the importance
of change in organizations are:1
1- Globalization causes a rapid change of the business environmental conditions, such
as the ability to set up a business in new markets and the increase in the number of
competitors in one market with the same kind of brands but absolutely different in
quality.
2- The variation of customer needs with the rapid change of life style and the
economical and social circumstances of the future are very significant.
3- The hard competition in producing new innovative products can eliminate other
products due to their high quality and low prices, which attract customers to these
new products and leave the old ones behind.
4- The change in the marketing rules is also a key factor. Many countries applied the
deregulation on their market and assimilate the global economy which facilitates the
market to receive more international companies to establish their business in the
local market. These procedures have alerted the companies to start searching for new
ways to deal with the new environment of business and face strong competition.
1
David Nadler, Robert Shaw, A Elise Walton, and Associates. “Discontinues Change, Leading
Organizational Transformation”. (p 3-9)
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5- There is a decrease in the benefits with the increase in costs that push the
organizations to initiate and treat these problems as soon as possible.
The challenges of change:
Some people think that change in any unit or process in the organization is easy.
However, organizational change is one of the most difficult tasks of leadership in any
organization. In other words, it is more difficult than founding a new organization. In this
task, the leader not only needs to change the vision and some of the company’s
objectives, but also he/she needs to develop a very professional strategy to change what
has been existing for ages of work approaches and processes. Sometimes, the required
change reaches the values and the behaviors of the employees which is what
psychologists describe as the greatest scheme.
The challenge that we must consider first is the humans’ attitude toward change. In
fact, resisting change is part of human nature, especially in the work environment. People
are afraid of changing what they used to do for long periods of time, due to the fact that
change means they have to do something new, which means they expect failure in their
tasks; thereby, they will probably lose some benefit of their position. In addition, most
employees don’t have any idea about what challenges the company has faced in the
market and how this situation puts the company in a risky position unless they move to a
better means of production.2
The second challenge is that the change needs to unify the efforts of the employees
since nobody can achieve the required change alone. Therefore, the change needs to build
2
David Nadler, Robert Shaw, A Elise Walton, and Associates. “Discontinues Change, Leading
Organizational Transformation”. (p 48)
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homogenous teams under the management of talented leaders who are able to lead them
to perfect results. The third one is that the processes of change are not expected to
improve smoothly without facing setbacks. This may affect the workers negatively which
results weakness in their confidences. The fourth is the full schedule of routine tasks
which distract the workers from going through the process of change and accomplish
them.
The fifth challenge is the need of continuous change. In other words, at the time the
organizations finish the process of change, any unit must evaluate the results. Sometimes,
the assessors find that these results don’t achieve the goals, or something new has
occurred; as a result, they need to set up new processes immediately until they reach their
satisfactory results. During that period, the workers productivity probably will drop, or
they may give up. The sixth is how the planners of this change give the exact duration of
completing all the operations of change, which require skillful leaders who are able to
design a strategy with respect to the all circumstances.
The last challenge is the prediction of the future. In other words, any plans and actions
designed to solve the present problems without clear vision to the future expectations
would be wasting of money and time and would impose the organization to start again
with new processes, but at that time, the chances of success become lower.3
The methods of organizational change:
3
David Nadler, Robert Shaw, A Elise Walton, and Associates. “Discontinues Change, Leading
Organizational Transformation”. (p 194)
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Before talking about the methods of change in economic organizations, there are three
parts of the organization that mostly require change policies:4
1) The organizational processes. In this part, organizations need to improve the
quality of any processes in the organization that consequently enhance the
production, diminish the costs, and improve the productivity.
2) The organizational structure. This is any way that makes the organization more
flexible and achieves a higher performance.
3) The organization culture. This is related to work ethics, workers behavior and
values toward the organization loyalty, and it qualifies them for the new
approaches of work to keep up with the new technologies that are going to be
used.
The methods of organizational change which are the most important part of this
research will guide the organization to success through change in the strategies and the
processes, the work environment such as the work place, new technology, or a change in
the work values. Five factors play an important role in actively changing the organization
to achieve the new objectives of the company. As much as the company is successful in
each of these factors, the company approaches its general objectives. Here are some of
the major objectives:5
1- Recognizing the problems and the solutions.
All the employees should be involved in this task. That means not only the leaders
but others must encourage their employees to do that because they are the closest
people who can identify the problems. Furthermore, this action mostly benefits
4
Harvard Business Essential. “Managing Change and Transition”. (p 8-9)
5
Harvard Business Essential. “Managing Change and Transition”. (p 33-45)
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people when it comes from inside the company and not from the outer consultant.
Also, the company must start this process early before any negative results. One
example is when the Japanese automobile industry spread in the North American
market, due to the high quality and low prices of their products. This caused big
damage to the automobile industries in the USA because they didn’t recognize the
international development in the automobile industry.6
2- Create a clear vision
Diagnosing the problems and the solutions is not enough to start the action.
Specifically, leaders need to state a clear vision and strategies to the employees so that it
is obvious for them why this change is going on and what the benefits are from all these
procedures. Otherwise, most of them will be acting as barriers against the new evolution.
Acknowledging that must motivate the workers and show how the results will be useful
for the organization and thus for the employees themselves.
3- Professional leadership.
The successful change in any organization needs professional leaders who bear the
burden of success, especially; when it is known that the change is critical period in
the company’s time.
4- Make the change in small stages.
Any change aimed at the whole organization as one unit at the same time will not be
useful because every stage needs a lot of analyzing and continuous assessing. That
requires a big effort which is the next point.
5- Observing the processes of change.
6
David Nadler, Robert Shaw, A Elise Walton, and Associates. “Discontinues Change, Leading
Organizational Transformation”. (p27-28)
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Leaders must evaluate the progress of the change strategy, and any micro-changes in
the process need to be observed step by step to quickly overcome all setbacks that appear
during the process of change. Otherwise, the company will end up with negative results.
The role of the leadership toward organizational change
Undoubtedly, business people know how leadership is very important in the success or
failure of any organization. This research paper focuses on the role that the leaders play
in the battle of change their organizations. Although the leaders are responsible of
making the objectives and the strategies of the change, they have very difficult challenges
with changing the values and philosophy of work. Furthermore, during the transformation
in any process, the duty of the leadership becomes heavier and more critical7
. Therefore,
there are five steps that leaders follow in the progress of change.
1- Leaders should be alert to all circumstances that affect the market and
assess the situation of their organization during every change on the
market. (David Nadler, Robert Shaw, A Elise Walton, and Associates. (1995).
“Discontinues Change, Leading Organizational Transformation”. (p194)
2- When the leader states that the organization needs any kind of change in
any unit or part of the organization, it is their task to create the vision that
expresses the values and the way of the organization to the objectives.
After that, they develop the logical strategies that are connected to the
organization’s vision. (Harvard Business Essential. (2003) “Managing Change
and Transition”. p46)
7
Harvard Business Essential. “Managing Change and Transition” (p 46).
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3- Leaders must have the ability to diagnose the problems and the parts of the
organization that require improvement and create the suitable solutions at
the right time.
4- The most difficult role of the leadership in all these processes is the
employees’ reactions toward these changes. In other words, leaders plan a
strategy to guide the all workers to the new methods which include the
needs of training, eliminating of some processes, or adding new ones. All
of these need high motivation from the leaders to their employees. Further,
they should be alert to any negative reactions from the workers and solve
them directly. As a result, the workers accept any new systems in the work
and be willing to share in the development due to the fact that they are the
main factor in the action of change. (Harvard Business Essential. (2003)
“Managing Change and Transition”. (p18-22) )
Employees’ Roles toward the Change
The employees have different attitudes toward change. As mentioned before, some
employees take a resistance stand to change for many reasons. However, the role of the
employees here is very significant because they are the power that applies strategy and
achieves the objectives. Before that, employees must adopt the concepts that represent the
change which are:8
1- They have to expect the change any time and to be aware that change is
fundamental and necessary in any organization.
8
(Paradigm Shift- Companies and Employees in Change).
http://www.going-beyond.dk/uk/paradigm_shift-companies_and_employees_in_change.htm
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2- They need to adapt to the new systems directly and be willing to do that any time.
As a consequence, the task of the company to change becomes easier, and it will
decrease the cost of the change project. However, the change that the company seeks is
not only the leaders’ task. Indeed, the employees may be the first who release the
necessity of change since they work in the frontline of the company and they are
conscious of what the middle and upper leaders can’t recognize. Therefore, there are
some actions they should do to share with the other levels of the organization in the
successful change. These can be summarized as:9
1) The seeking and giving the information. As they work in the frontlines of
production they are the closest people to the challenges, the complaint, or the
customers’ needs. Hence, they can be more knowledgeable of what should be
done. Therefore, they have the information that can be very important to
determine what the organization should consider to improve.
2) Giving suggestions. Since the employees are the most knowledgeable about the
micro-process in their workplace, and they know what exactly the problems they
face, they will be the most expert about the best solutions. Hence, they have to
share in the plans and strategies, and be part of the decision- making group.
3) The share in applying the new strategy effectively and giving always clear
feedback.
All of these can insure all the company’s units integrate with each other to face any
change in the market and to be able to take the right action at the right time.
9
Callies, Letticia, and Miller Venon. “Analysis of Employees’ Recalled Role Negotiation Episodes”
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Summary
Undoubtedly, the need to change has been increasing rapidly, and it is obvious that the
recent situation of markets shows the future will be more challenging and critical for
business organizations in particular. However, the certain conclusion that can be drawn
here is the importance of organizational change that will be achieved when the
organization considers all the issues that are related to this change, in both strategic plans
and actions, in all periods before, within, and after the procedures of change. Thus, any
organization must be alert to the challenge and difficulty of this task, and its requirement
are professional leadership and qualified employees. Finally, it becomes compulsory in
any organization to include change policies in its strategies and to make the concept (the
need to change is endless) part of their vision.
.
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Bibliography
1- Callies, Letticia, and Miller Venon (May, 2003). “Analysis of Employees’
Recalled Role Negotiation Episodes”. Retrieved from the Internet June 10, 2008.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International communication
Association, San Diego, California (PDF).
2- David A. Nadler, Robert B. Shaw, A. Elise Walton, and Associates (1995). “Discontinues
Change, Leading Organizational Transformation”. San Francisco, California, Jossey-
Bass Inc., publishers.
3- Harvard Business Essential (2003). “Managing Change and Transition”. Boston,
Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
4- (Paradigm Shift-Companies and Employees in Change), August, 2003. Retrieved from
the Internet June 10, 2008.
http://www.going-beyond.dk/uk/paradigm_shift-companies_and_employees_in_change.htm
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