Change is nothing new and a simple fact of life.
Some people actively thrive on new challenges and constant change, while others prefer the comfort of the status quo and strongly resist any change. It is all down to the personality of the individual and there is little management can do about resistance to change (Mullins 2010: 753).
Debate the following statement, providing arguments for and against the point of view proposed by the author. What are your conclusions from this debate?
In fact not a single individual one comes prepared to face the challenges in this world. Every one faces crisis, suffers from the consequences of his doings Such outcomes from the own actions during the crisis period, which can be right or wrong, profitable or loss making - create the cause and effect relations for action and hence the essential impetus for change under guise of improvement, betterment (Schein ,1985). Similarly at work place, the irrelevance of existing practices in wake of transforming market place realities call for introspection and change (Kotter et al,2002) .The common human tendency is to resist the change (Burnes, Bernard, 2009). ..Can managing the change process right to its core be the way forward? Certainly some action is essential on the part of organization to retain and enhance the organizational abilities to deliver amidst competitive market forces (Miner, John B., 2005). In our endeavor to understand change mechanics, one case study form class curriculum, involving a retail industry leader JC Penny, can help us unleash the power of planned approach to change management .Unlike any other organization, this retail veteran also came under direct competition from emerging market dynamics and the current management, inherent organizational culture and the employees learning initiative was found lacking to cope up with challenge. The company zeroed in on new CEO for driving the company ahead amidst economic pressures. .. Yet he faced the problem, the one which every CEO faces. The problem is nothing new yet it involves the successful implementation of change across the concerned organization (Miner, John B., 2005). Upon application of the Jicks model (2003) one can correspond to the changes being observant across the organizational culture across the concerned organization.. The CEO first analyzed the scope and the need for change across the specific areas and functional units of the organization. He chose the employees issue to given priority over the other issues in the march up to better market orientation development. This has to be different from the activities undertaken in the historical past. ..As per the model , the initiative needs to be supported by the stronger leadership roles and the distinct political sponsorship. The CEO in the case of JC Penney secured the recruitment of industry veteran to leverage the new leadership towards implementing the change initiative. The last stage is of course the formalization and institutionalization of the transformed mechanisms to solidify the change mechanisms ..Keeping up the word, the trust, sharing the respect and extending the scope for innovative organizing across the organization-seem to be vital for organizational excellence. The mere realization of need for change is not at all sufficient in this regard. It needs to convert into an action plan backed by
appropriate resource base. Robbins (2005) regards the reinforcement of behavior across the employees as crucial for change management initiative to succeed in the organizational landscape. Such re enforcement can be with the aid of external or internal provision of learning and development orientation for the employees across the concerned organization (Marker, 2000). For such re enforcement, the guidance of leader in our opinion is essential and the trainees a not auto configure their requirements and aspirations.
References Burnes, Bernard, (2009), Managing Change: A strategic Approach to Organizational dynamics. Deal and Kennedy (1982), Corporate Cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life, Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. Jick (2003), Managing Change: Cases and Concepts, Second Edition, New York: Irwin Miner, John B.,(2005),Organizational Behavior: Essential theories of motivation and leadership, Kotter et al,(2002) , Corporate Culture and Performance, Free Press Marker,(2000),Organizational Culture and Identity: Unity and Division at Work, Sage Publications Limited Schein ,(1985), Organizational culture and leadership, San : Francisco: Jossey-Bass
