7.

7 MANAGING CHANGE

Change is inevitable in organizations, considering the advancements made in all walks of

life, in science and technology. Persons learn to cope with change by being adaptive.
However, some people tend to resist change in their work environment.

The Nature of Work Change

The term “work change” pertains to any change that occurs in the work environment. Two
generalizations have been drawn from the study of work change, i.e., (1) the whole
organization tends to be affected by change in any of its parts; (2) change is human as well
as technical problem. Pressure and movement create friction and heat in an organization
thus causing breakdowns.

Organizations tend to develop unequilibrium in their social structure. People develop an

established set of relations with their environment. Employees learn how to deal with one
another, how to accomplish their jobs, and what to expect later. Notwithstanding the
existence of equilibrium to which employees are adjusted, whenever change takes place in
the organization, employees have to adjust anew as the organization seeks to establish a
new equilibrium. Whenever employees are unable to get adjusted to changes, the
organization is said to be in a state of imbalance or disequilibrium. Management’s general
human objective regarding change is to restore and maintain the group equilibrium
and personal adjustment that change upsets.

Response to Change

Each change is interpreted by people according to their individual attitudes. The way
people feel about a change, determines how they will respond to it. Feelings are the causes
rather than the results of change. Such causes are: (1) Personal history which includes
people’s biological processes, their backgrounds and all their social experiences outside
their work. All these are brought to the place of work; (2) The environment itself – Workers
are members of the group that are influenced by its codes, patterns and norms, as well as
by the working climate in which they operate. Feelings are apart from logic. Feelings and
logic belong to two separate categories. Logic alone is an ineffective means of modifying
feelings and that feelings are not much better refuted by logic.

Group Response to Change

Although people individually interpret change, they often manifest their attachment to the
group by joining it in some uniform response to the change. This is illustrated by walkouts
when actually only a few people really want to walk out. Unhappy employees take
advantage of the walkout to manifest their dissatisfaction and to confirm their affiliation
with the group by joining the walkout. They are furthermore propelled by their bandwagon
mentality.

Homeostasis

It is the self-correcting characteristic of organizations that leads people to act to establish a

steady state of need fulfillment and to protect themselves from the disturbance of the
balance. In attempting to maintain equilibrium, a group develops responses to return to its
perceived best way of life whenever any change occurs. Each pressure arising from change
encourages mechanism by which energies are mustered to restore balance whenever
change threatens to take place.

Cost and Benefits

Changes are likely to entail some costs. Said costs may be economic as well as psychological
or social in nature. Because of the costs that go along with the change, proposals for change
are not, at all time, desirable. Proposed changes require careful cost-benefit analysis to
ascertain their usefulness. Changes must provide benefits over and above costs. In
determining benefits and costs all types of each must be carefully considered. Economic
costs may be overweighed by social and psychological costs. Changes involve some
psychological loss arising from the strain the change inflicts on people as they strive to
adjust. Psychological costs are also referred to as psychic costs inasmuch as the affect a
person’s psyche, in the process of adjustment.

Some people may benefit while others may suffer a loss as a result of change. Costs and
benefits must be considered on an individual or on a case-to-case basis. It is incumbent
upon management to consider each individual case and try to assist each person to gain as
much as possible from a change.

Psychic Costs and Physical Health

The psychic cost of change may affect even the physical health of employees. Each
individual has a tolerance level for change such that when the level is exceeded, body
responses related to stress develop. Stress may undermine a person’s physical health.
Cumulative stresses or a major change may cause to overload a person’s system to the
extent that he may not be able to cope with the situation.

Psychic Costs of Promotion and Transfer

Promotion and transfer are important types of change. These types of change are often
sought for by employees for growth and opportunity. Nonetheless, this entail substantial
psychic costs, because they are called upon to learn new skills, systems and procedures in
addition to building new friendships. Their association with new work groups and their
changes in status involve psychic costs as they adjust to the new situations. Ailments
developed by employees like ulcers and high blood pressure, among others, have been
found to be in several cases linked to stress, arising from change.

Psychic Costs and Geographic Moves

Promotions that require movement to other locations brings about psychic costs because
they require adjustments in family life and relationships. Management should therefore,
carefully consider and give attention to human needs in order to reduce the psychic costs
involved.

Resistance to Change

Employees tend to resist change because of the costs entailed; managers are similarly
resistant to change on account of their resistance to new ideas and methods.

Although people have the propensity to resist change, said tendency is offset by their desire
for new experience and the rewards that result from change. Change can be either good or
bad depending on how skillfully resistance is minimized.

Insecurity and change may bring about chain reactions in organizational behavior. By chain
reaction, a problem may intensify to greater proportions where insecurity is felt by one buy
may be supported later by the rest of the group.

Types of Resistance

The various resistances to change are of different types and in combination, and produce
each employee’s attitude toward change. They are as follows:

1. Logical – based on reasoning and science.

2. Psychological – based on emotional attitudes and values.
3. Sociological – based on group interest and values.

Logical resistance arises from the time effort is required to adjust to change, like adjusting
to new job duties that have to be learned. Although change may be favorable in the long
run, cost must first be incurred.
Psychological resistance is “logical” in the light of attitudes and feelings that an individual
employee nurses about change. An employee may fear the unknown, mistrust the
leadership of management, and feel that his security is threatened. Even though
management believes that there is no justification or truth to such apprehensions, still they
are real and must be given recognition and corresponding attention

The types of employee resistance to change are listed by Keith Davis as follows:

1. Logical rational objections

a. Time required to adjust
b. Extra effort to relearn
c. Possibility of less desirable conditions such as downgrading skills
d. Economic results of change
e. Questioned technical feasibility of change
2. Psychological, emotional attitudes
a. Fear of the unknown
b. Low tolerance of change
c. Dislike of management or other change agent
d. Lack of trust in others
e. Need for security, desire for
3. Sociological factors; group interests
a. Political coalitions
b. Opposing group values
c. Parochial narrow outlook
d. Vested interests
e. Desire to retain existing friendships

Social values are powerful forces in the environment. Political coalitions, opposing labor
union values and different community values exist. All the three types of resistance must be
treated properly if employees are to cooperatively accept change.

People have their individual differences and, therefore, could not be expected to give
identical support to each change. Management’s concern should be the creation of a climate
in which people develop a positive feeling toward changes and feel secure enough to
tolerate other changes.

Possible Benefits Derived from Resistance

Resistance may have both good as well as bad effects. It may encourage management to
reexamine its proposed changes as to their appropriateness. In a way, employees serve as a
check-and-balance to assure that management properly plans and implements change.

Specific problem areas where a change is likely to cause difficulties can be defined so that
management can institute remedial or corrective measures before more serious problems
evolve. Management may also be able to communicate the intended changes to elicit better
acceptance. Resistance will also provide management with information on the intensity of
employee emotions on issues, provide opportunities for emotional release for pent-up
employee feelings, and may encourage employees to think and talk more about the change
and thereby make them understand changes better.

Implementing Change Successfully

Management is at times referred to as a change agent because it initiates changes and

attends to its implementation. However, employees are responsible for its ultimate success.
Their support, therefore, has become a major goal in the change process. In addition to
management, there are many originators of change. Many changes originate from the
external environment. The government and the developments attained in the fields of
science and technology are responsible for numerous changes. Customers, labor unions,
communities and other groups initiate changes. Demands made by the consuming public
and other sector may call for a chain of changes.
The Three-Step Change Procedure

Bringing about change generally requires three steps:

1. Unfreezing
2. Changing
3. Refreezing

Unfreezing means the old ideas and practices have to be discarded to give way to new
ones to be learned. Getting rid of old practices offers the same degree of difficulties as
introducing new ones.

Changing refers to the step in which new ideas are learned into actual practice. The
ultimate goal of refreezing is success practice.

Building Support for Change

The selected ways to build support for change are the following:

1. Use of group forces

2. Leadership for change
3. Participation
4. Shared rewards
5. Maintenance of employee security
6. Communication about change
7. Working with unions
8. Working with the total system

Use of Group Forces

The group is an instrument for bringing strong pressure on its members to change. One’s
behavior is firmly anchored to the group to which he belongs. Thus changes in group forces
will greatly influence changes in individual behavior. The strategy is to get the group join
management to encourage the desire change.

The power of a group to effect change in its members partly depends upon the strength of
their attachment to the group. The more attractive the group is to members, the greater is
its influence on them. Influence is further strengthened if members with high prestige in
the group support a change. Change should not adversely affect the group’s social system
more than may be necessary because any change that threatens the group will be resisted.

Leadership for Change – Capable of leadership strengthens the psychological support for
change. Changes should be presented by the leader on an impersonal basis rather than on
personal grounds. Requests for change should be in consonance with the objectives and
rules of the organization. Personal reasons for change will arouse resistance. Successful
change is likely to take place, if leaders who introduce it have high expectations of success.

Participation – One way to draw support for change is through participation. Participation
encourages commitment rather than mere compliance with change among the participants.
Commitment implies motivation to support a change and to work for its successful
implementation. Involvement of the employees from the start makes them feel protected
from surprises and make their ideas desirable to management.

Shared Rewards – Another method to win employee support for change is to offer enough
rewards for the employees in the change situation. Rewards, in effect, imply management’s
concern for the employees’ well-being and also provide employees with a sense of progress
with the change. Rewards may take the form of promotion and financial reward. Employees
also appreciate emotional support, training in new skills and recognition from
management.
Employee Security – Employee benefits need to be given protection to have them support
change. Security during a change is of vital importance. Employers must guarantee
workers’ protection from reduced earnings when new machines and methods are
introduced; absorption of displaced workers must be assured; and, opportunities for
advancement and other benefits should likewise be safeguarded.

Grievance systems give employees a feeling of security that benefits will be amply
protected and a feeling of assurance that the difficult situations will be fairly and justly
resolved.

Communication – In order to improve support for change, effective communication must

be established. As much as possible, all members of the group should be informed about
the change although only one or two in the group are affected by change. Wide
dissemination of information regarding any change will develop in the employees a feeling
of security and maintain group cooperation in the implementation of the changes desired.

Working with Unions – Management is primarily the initiator of change. The union, on the
other hand, serves as a restraint on management in its desire to protect the interest and
security of members. This seeming conflict of interest tends to cause union-management
conflicts about change. Most unions generally favor improvement through technological
change and will approve change that is carefully planned to protect its members’ interests.

Working with the Total System

Management’s responsibilities for change are:

1. Make only useful, necessary change. Change by evolution, not revolution.
2. Recognize the possible effects of change and introduce them with adequate
attention to human needs.
3. Share the benefits of change with employees.
4. Diagnose the problems remaining after a change occurs and treat them.

7.8 STRUCTURAL APPROACT TO CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Lestee E. Bittel explains that human relations refer to the sum of all the agonies and
ecstasies that take place between people when they share common experiences, especially
at work. This interaction is usually judged to be good when it results in productive
behavior of the persons involved.

Understanding Organizational Development

Organizational development (OD) is a new integrated type of training that originated in the
1950s and 1960’s. Keith David states that “organizational development is an intervention
strategy that uses group processes to focus on the whole culture of an organization in order
to bring about the whole culture of an organization in order to bring about change. It seeks
to change beliefs, attitudes, values, structures and practices so that the organization can
better adapt to technology and live with the fast pace of change.”

Organizational development becomes necessary. The reward structure on the job does not
adequately reinforce conventional training and fails to carry it over to the job. Many well-
designed training programs fail because the job environment provides inadequate support.
Under these circumstances, the reasonable next step to take is to try to change the entire
organization so that it will support the training.

The second cause is the fast pace of change, which requires organizations to be extremely
effective in order to survive and prosper. Organizational development aims to develop the
whole organization so that it can respond to change more uniformly and capably. It tries to
“free up” communication by increasing the amount of accuracy of information through
better group dynamics and problem confrontation. This, in short, makes the organization
more humanly responsive.
Characteristics of OD

Focus on the Whole Organization – In order that the whole organization can effectively
respond to change, organizational development is undertaken. On account of change in
modern society, an organization needs all its parts working together, to solve problems and
to take advantage of opportunities brought about by change. Organizational development is
an all-encompassing program aimed at assuring that all parts of the organization are well-
coordinated and that the traditional training strategies to facilitate organizational
development tend to focus on specific jobs or small work groups.

System Orientation – Organizational development is concerned with the interactions of

the various parts of the organization as they relate to one another, as well as with the
structure, processes and attitudes. Stress is more on how the parts work and relate
together, to be effective, rather than on the individual parts.

Change Agents – Employees are change agents who are individuals who stimulate and
coordinate changes within the group. A consultant usually serves as the primary change
agent, who operates independently without pressure or ties within the hierarchy of the
organization. The program is coordinated internally by the personnel director with both
the management and the external agent. A three-way relationship among the personnel
director, a management representative and an outside consultant evolves as they
coordinate activities in the development of the OD program. In some instances, the
organization has its own specialist: an in-house professional consultant.

Problem Solving – Organizational development emphasizes on “action research,” on real

problems that the participants face in their organization. This makes their deliberation
interesting and stimulating. Organization Development has been defined as “organizational
improvement through action research.”

Experiential Learning – The participants learn by experiencing in the training

environment the kinds of human relations problems they encounter on the job. They
discuss and analyze their own personal experiences and learn from them. Theory is
necessary, but what is more desirable is how theories apply to real situations. The
experiences of participants therefore help concretize new learnings. The approach deviates
from the traditional lectures and discussions where participants merely talk about abstract
ideas.

Group Processes – Organizational development depends primarily on group processes

such as group discussions, intergroup conflict resolutions, confrontations, and procedures
for coordination and cooperation. Effort is exerted to improve interpersonal relations, open
communication channels, build trust and encourage responsiveness with one another.

Feedback – Feedbacks to participants play a key role in Organizational Development for

the participants to have concrete data on which to base their decisions. The information
they obtain encourage them to better understand situations and to take self-correcting
action instead of waiting for others to tell them what to do.

In this exercise, participants are separated into groups representing the different
departments in the organization and are asked to develop answers to certain questions.
After all groups have prepared their answers, they assemble and each presents its answers
to the other groups. Concrete feedbacks are given about impressions that each group has of
the others. During the presentation no arguments are allowed. Only questions to clarify
what the other group is saying are accepted. Misunderstanding generally develops. The
groups are again separated to discuss how misunderstandings develop and how to correct
them.

This new feedback enables the groups to develop specific plans of action for solving their
misunderstandings. Feedbacks about themselves become the basis of their activities.
Contingency Orientation – Organizational development is flexible and pragmatic,
adapting actions to fit particular needs. Discussions of several possible alternatives, rather
than having to solve a problem a single way are proposed.

Team Building – Building better teamwork throughout the organization is the general goal
of Organizational Development. Small task teams must coordinate work to be effective.
Cooperation is also needed among small teams that constitute the entire institution. OD
attempts to make each team learn ways to resolve differences and thereby cooperate.

The whole Organizational Development process strives to integrate into an effective whole,
people, structure, technology and environment, to improve organizational performance.

The Organizational Development Process

Because of the complicated process entailed in organizational development, it may take a

long period of time to organize. Top management’s support is highly essential. While
approach to OD may vary, a complete program includes the following steps:

1. Initial diagnosis – Top management needs consultants to determine the type of OD

program that is to be adopted. Meanwhile, the consultant interviews various
persons in the organization to obtain the necessary inputs.

2. Data Collection – Surveys may be conducted to determine organizational climate

and behavioral problems. The consultants probe into the kinds of conditions that
interfere with job effectiveness and what respondents like to change most in the
way the organization operates, through interviews with members of the groups.
Said meetings are done away from the place of work to draw desired information.

3. Data feedback and confrontation – Work group members are designed to go over
data collected, to resolve among themselves areas of disagreement and to determine
the properties for change.

4. Action planning and problem solving – On the basis of data gathered, groups
develop specific recommendations for change in solving organizational problems.
Specific matters like who are to be responsible and when action should be
completed are included in the plans.

5. Team building – The consultant encourages the groups to find out how they can
work together and helps them realize the value of open communication and trust as
prerequisites for improved group work. Team building may be further encouraged
by having individual managers and their respective subordinates work as a team in
OD sessions.

6. Intergroup development – from the small groups are developed larger groups
made up of several teams.

7. Evaluation and follow-up – The consultant assists the organizations evaluate the
results of its organizational development efforts and develop additional programs in
areas where additional efforts are called for.

To obtain the fullest benefit of Organizational Development, all steps of the process need to
be applied.

Laboratory Training

Although OD programs employ conventional training methods such as discussions, films,

and presentations, the approach by and large emphasized in OD is laboratory training.
Laboratory training or experiential learning provides the participants or trainees
experiences through their own interactions in some of the conditions that they talk about.
They, in some way, experiment on themselves. The following laboratory methods, role
playing, gaming and encounter groups are among the suggested techniques.
Role Playing – Role playing is spontaneous acting of a realistic situation involving two or
more persons under classroom conditions. Dialogue spontaneously develops out of the
situation it is acted upon by the trainees assigned to perform. The rest of the trainees in the
group acted as observers and critics. Role playing is considered as a substitute experience
because it allows observation and discussion and involves matters not customarily part of
experience. With a certain amount of imagination other than their own. In role playing
trainees can be broaden their experience by trying different approaches not experienced in
actual situations in which they have only one available. As the participants observe the
different approaches to a problem they see the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

Role playing is time-consuming and expensive. Without effective direction by an

experienced trainor it can easily produce the reverse results. Trainees may be embarrassed
and may hesitate to play their parts. Some may place more emphasis on acting and in
showing off rather than on stressing the problem involved.

Gaming – Gaming has some application that resembles role playing. However, it differs
from it in the sense that gaming focuses more on administrative problems while role
playing emphasizes feeling and tone between people. Gaming covers a broader base than
role playing. It provides a better balance of organizational and emotional issues on the job.

Organizational gaming is essentially a group exercise, in sequential decision, making

undue simulated organizational conditions. A number of participants work in small groups,
each group in competition with the others. Groups make decisions within a system model
that has been created and is at least partly known to them.

A game manifest a number of things such as, how leadership evolves, what kinds of
communication are affective, the disastrous results of internal group conflict, human
factors influencing decisions, and the effect of success upon group cohesiveness. The
different organizational system can be tried to see how each affects the people involved.

Encounter Groups are unstructured small groups that interact under stress in a situation
that requires people to become sensitive to one another’s feelings in order to develop
reasonable group activity. The training groups are also called “T-groups.” The group
consultant provides virtually no leadership. The group plays two or three ridiculous games
in order to break down social barriers and create an informal atmosphere in the
environment.

Benefits and Limitations of OD

The chief advantage of OD is that it tries to deal with change in a whole organization or a
major unit thereof.

The benefits of OD are as follows:

1. Change throughout the organization

2. Greater motivation
3. Increased productivity
4. Better quality of work
5. Higher job satisfaction
6. Improved teamwork
7. Better conflict resolution
8. Commitment to objectives
9. Increased willingness to change
10. Reduced absences
11. Low labor turnover

Its limitations are as follows:

1. Major time requirements
2. Substantial expenses
3. Delayed payoff period
4. Possible failure
 5. Possible invasion of privacy
6. Possible psychological harm
7. Potential conformity
8. Emphasis on group processes rather than performance
9. Possible conceptual ambiguity

Conventional Training Methods

Coaching, lecture and discussions, conference training and the case method are excellent
methods for providing an understanding of behavior, and are needed by many employees.
They are likewise effective in changing attitudes and improving performance.

Behavior Modeling

Behavior modeling is another form of training in which teaching is done by actual

demonstration and acted-out ways to handle commonly encountered behavioral problems.
This method is used to demonstrate how to motivate a poor performer, how to deal with a
tardy employee, and how to give recognition to an outstanding worker. Behavior modeling
teaches behavior first. While the new behavior is learned and observed, the trainees see
that it produces superb results, so they change their attitudes toward it and try to learn the
basic elements that make it effective.

Needed for Job Reinforcement

More reinforcements for new practices on the job should be provided. The best training
becomes ineffective if obstacles at the workplace discourage the trainee from using what
he has just learned. If people find that their cautious efforts to change are rejected or
discouraged, the repetition of the behavior is discouraged, in consonance with the Law of
Effect.