03. Challenges of change management
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Adopting employees to workforce diversity
Diversity is a
concept of respecting and accepting unique set of employees within the
organization. The workforce of different ethnicities, age, race and education
types and levels are working towards achieving a common goal. Employees or the
human capital of any organization is a valuable asset. Businesses are keen on
expanding their diversity now more than ever as social norms are accepting of
businesses that include different people and offer opportunities. When
businesses bring about these changes, the employees could find it difficult to
work together however, it is the duty of the organization to establish harmony
and promote diversity (Ferner, Almond and Colling, 2005).
Diversity is
the acceptance of different people and this eliminates discrimination and
bullying at the workplace.
▪
Structural Changes
Being a
business in the 21st century means major
effects of globalization are overtaking organizational activities. Due to
globalization, the world is overcoming barriers in cross-border trading. Different
specializations one different parts of the world come together in order to
produce output and development. This shows the key prominence of diversity (Lund and Manyika,
2016).
▪
Employee resistance
Employee
resistance is a default reaction to change. This could be due to the lack of
motivation and experience. Employees including the management may fail to
understand need and the importance of change (Dent and Goldberg, 1999).
Miscommunication
or distrust among employees is another factor to promote resistance.
▪
Adopting to new technology
Technology is
an ever-changing concept and businesses are forced to change along with it.
Thus, employees are encouraged to learn and update themselves. Even though this
could be a good thing, employees might feel threatened by it as well.
Technology may replace certain vacancies and employees might feel left out if
they fail to keep up (By, 2005).
However, if
the management pay due attention and offer the necessary support, motivation
and training the employees could be encouraged to be adopting technology.
Conclusion
There are many challenges that
arise when trying to implement change within an organization. Employees are
threatened by changing the status quo and thus they may resist change. In the
modern world, businesses try to adopt diversity and this is a challenge to get
all employees on board. The management should strive to overcome these
challenges and must adopt to the market changes.
References:
- Acemoglu, D. and Autor, D., 2011. Skills, tasks and technologies: Implications for employment and earnings. In Handbook of labor economics (Vol. 4, pp. 1043-1171). Elsevier.
- By, R.T., 2005. Organisational change management: A critical review. Journal of change management, 5(4), pp.369-380.
- Dent, E.B. and Goldberg, S.G., 1999. Challenging “resistance to change”. The Journal of applied behavioral science, 35(1), pp.25-41.
- Ferner, A., Almond, P. and Colling, T., 2005. Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer of employment policy: The case of ‘workforce diversity’in US multinationals. Journal of International Business Studies, 36(3), pp.304-321.
- Lund, S. and Manyika, J., 2016. How digital trade is transforming globalisation. by International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) 7 Chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland.
A good concept to talk about Charitha, the organization to determine it as subject to change. It seems that the level of criticality can
ReplyDeletenot always be expressed in monetary terms, which requires a sense of managers and leaders.
It is known that changes begin with the dissatisfaction of the leader. Also known is the
classification of changes in organizations proposed by E. Schein (organizational culture,
strategy, structure, procedures, employee qualifications) (Schein, 2013)
I agree on this too. Thanks for your valuable comment Puthra!
DeleteVery true Puthra. It is a greater responsibility of the management to develop appropriate strategies to successfully implement the necessary change for the businesses and stay current in the ever changing world (Huber, 2004).
DeleteA very timely topic Charitha. Furthermore, del Val & Fuentes (2003) states that resistance to change is an essential factor to be considered in any change process, since a proper management of resistance is the key for change success or failure and defines resistance to change as any phenomenon that hinders the process at its beginning or its development, aiming to keep the current situation.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nelushan. The global markets are changing now more than ever, with the new technology and the due to the implications of a global pandemic (Williamson, Eynon and Potter, 2020). It is a new era and it is critical for businesses to adopt.
DeleteA good blog topic Charitha. The resistance to change is due to the fear factor of needing to keep up with the required standard of the change. And this indicates employees lack certain competencies and/or simply do not want to lose their regular comfort zone. Therefore, according to Dievernich et al. (2014), spreading awareness of factors in governance structures would be a new way of handling or working with resistance.
ReplyDeleteHighly appreciate your thoughts into this topic. Resistance from employees is a real challenge and an obstacle that prevents the accomplishment of successful change management (Dent and Goldberg,1999).
DeleteThe changing nature of technology and the economy necessitate structural and functional changes in organizations. Indeed, some major external triggers that originate outside of organizations include government laws and regulations, societal standards and values, changing technology, demographic characteristics, technological advancements, administrative processes (Dawson, 2003; Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010). Internal forces, on the other hand, emerge from within organizations, promoting the proposed change by Leavitt (1964) are technology, primary task, people, and administrative structures are examples. However, the primary drivers of organizational change are external forces. In particular, the government plays an important role in organizational issues. As a result, to ensure the survival and future success of a company, it must be easily adaptable to external demands (Yılmaz & Kılıçoğlu, 2013).
ReplyDeleteThank you Safiya for your additional thoughts. Yes the external, macroeconomic factors are beyond the control of the business, however, cannot be ignored (Oxelheim and Wihlborg, 2003). These promt the need to adopt change.
Delete