Creating Organizational Change

Posted 8 months ago at 6:08 pm. 1 comment

The best way to understand an organization is to try to change it (Freedman, 2006). Commitment to a change can be difficult so here are a few quick tips/ideas I’ve adapted from a few articles on Organizational Development.

1. Resistance is going to happen because people naturally have defense mechanisms against messing with their stability. This resistance can be on many levels according to Maurer (2006).

a. People might just need more information to really get what you are trying to do. This is pretty common and easy to change (though often forgotten about), so keeping people in the loop is very important.

b. Emotional reactions are also very common, so you have to let people take some time to get adjusted to the idea. It is easier to talk to people when they have taken some time to process. This means expecting people to embrace a change overnight is unrealistic.

c. Sometimes resistance isn’t to the idea, but to the messenger. The person who delivers the message of change is going to affect how people perceive it. Middle management is especially important for change because they communicate the message down to their employees (assuming that the change comes from the top, which isn’t always the case). Sometimes managers say what they are supposed to say, but they don’t really commit to it, so that is going to affect the success of the change initiative.

2. There are also different types of commitment, which have different effects according to Herscovitch & Meyer (2002). 

a. The best kind of commitment to have is affective, meaning people are emotionally invested in the idea. The more people are involved in the process and have a voice, even if it doesn’t go their way, the more likely they are to be affectively committed.  This is the best way to get people to engage in discretionary behaviors in the workplace like cooperation and championing.

3. There needs to be a sense of urgency related to the change. People/companies rarely want to change when things seem to be going well. Organizational Development consultants suggest doing a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) to really get at that sense of urgency (Maurer, 2006). 

To sustain commitment over time an organization needs strong (and well-respected) leaders, clear communication with people at all levels of the organization, enough resources to make the change happen, a little time, and clear measures of success.