Change Managment

Change Management

Ruthe Anne Schmutz

Ashford University

Learning Organizations and Effectiveness

OMM 625

Lisa Smart

February 18th, 2013

Change Management

In today’s fast paced world of the information age, change is occurring all around us all the time at an increasingly rapid rate. As a result, professional organizations must be able to change as well in order to adapt to a fluctuating business and market climate. Sometimes these changes can be quite significant and proper care must be practiced to ensure the most effective transition. Managers face numerous challenges in guiding their employees through significant changes within an organization. Catalysts for resistance range from individual predispositions that are simply inherently resistant to change, dysfunctional organizational cultures as well as fears of failure and loss of status or job security. Individuals can become even more uncomfortable when the changes are perceived as extreme or abrupt (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009). 

Ignoring the impact of significant changes on an organization’s culture can create a platform for failure and hinder the ability to make effective or lasting improvements within the organization. Managers can lessen the negative impact of significant changes to the organization by avoiding abrupt and radical implementation methods. Author K.J. Kezar (2005) stated that the overall effects of radically implemented change are usually negative and provide little to no lasting improvements to an organization that has undergone a radical change to their system of governance or processes. Kezar explains that most cultural models describe abrupt and radical change as rare and largely dysfunctional. The reason for this is because change within an organization requires, “… the altering of values, beliefs, habits, myths, and rituals…” which can seldom occur completely (Kezar, 2005; 639-640). Because history and traditions bind an institution, they are very difficult to...