Managing Change and Others' Expectations

"Implementation must ensure that the strategies succeed."- Gordon

Changing Organizations in a Global Environment

For practical purposes, we shall use the Consulting Model of Change and discuss briefly the seven steps contained in
the model: scouting, entry, diagnosis, planning, action, evaluation, termination.

  1. Scouting.  Change begins by obtaining preliminary information about those involved in the change situation.
  2. Entry.  The change agent next attempts to negotiate a written or unwritten contract with the organization.
  3. Diagnosis.  The diagnosis step involves problem definition, further goal specification, and an evaluation of the
    resources available to deal with the problem.
  4. Planning.  The change agent and client generate alternative strategies for meeting the objectives of the
    change.
  5. Action.  The change agent implements the best strategy.
  6. Evaluation.  The change agent collects data about the nature and effectiveness of the change as it occurs.
  7. Termination.  Plans for continuing the change into the future or for knowing when it will end should be
    specified.

Identifying Forces For and Against Change

What forces for change, also known as driving forces, exist?   

Changes in the organization's environment, such as new laws or regulations, rapidly increasing competition, or an
unpredictable rate of inflation, may require the organization to implement new structures or reward systems.
New product development or product selection resulting from the availability of improved technology, changes in
competition in the industry, or unusual requirements of a new client may also affect the organization.

Changes in the work force, such as more educated workers, more women, or more technically trained management
may call for new forms of decision making for communication.

Reduced productivity, product quality, satisfaction, commitment, or increased turnover or absenteeism may call for
changes in intra- or interdepartmental relations..  Frequently, one or two specific events external to the organization
precipitate the change.

Forces, known as resistance forces, counteract the forces for change.  Resistance results from a variety of factors.  
(See my page Can You Overcome Resistance to Change?)   

It occurs when a change ignores the needs, attitudes, and beliefs of organizational members.
Individuals resist change when they lack specific information about the change; they may not know when, how, or
why it is occurring.

Individuals may not perceive a need for change; they may feel that their organization is currently operating
effectively and profitably.  In these cases,change often is neither voluntary nor requested by organizational
members.   

Organizational members frequently have a "we - they" attitude that causes them to view the change agent as their
enemy.  Particularly when change is imposed by representatives of a distant corporate headquarters or of an outside
consulting firm, organizational members may feel inconsequential to the change.

Fifth, members may view change as a threat to the prestige and security of their supervisor.  They may perceive the
change in procedures of policies as a commentary that their supervisor's performance is inadequate.

Employees may perceive the change as threats to their expertise, status, or security.  The introduction of a new
computer system, for example, may cause employees to feel that they lack sufficient knowledge to perform their
jobs; the revision of an organizations structure may challenge their relative status in the organization; the
introduction of a new reward system may threaten their feelings of job security.

For effective change to occur, the change agent must confront EACH of these factors and overcome the resulting
resistance to change.

Implementing Organizational Changes

Implementation must ensure that the strategies succeed.  Although careful preparation for change, including
description, diagnosis, and prescription, increases the chances of success, it does not guarantee effective action.  
Implementation requires an ongoing assessment of the reactions of organizational members to the change.

The use of a broad-based steering committee to oversee the change may increase its likelihood of success.   
The dynamic nature of organizational systems calls for flexibility in action:  All efforts must included contingency
plans for unanticipated costs, consequences, or resistance.

A strong commitment to the change on the part of top management can buffer change efforts for such difficulties
and can ensure the transfer of needed resources to the action program.

In managing large scale change, the elements involved include four processes: pattern breaking, experimenting,
visioning, and bonding and attunement.

  1. Pattern breaking - involves freeing the system from structures, processes, and functions that no longer are
    useful.
  2. Experimenting - by generating new patterns encourages flexibility and yields new options.
  3. Visioning - calls for the selection of a new perspective as the basis for change.  Visioning activities, such as
    building shared meaning throughout the organization and using current mission statements, generates
    support for and commitment to the planned changes.
  4. Bonding and Attunement - management attempts to integrate all facets of the organizational change to move
    members toward the new way of action by focusing them on important tasks and generating constructive
    interpersonal relationships.

Ethical Issues in Implementation

Change agents often confront issues of integrity in their interactions with organizations.  Five types of ethical
dilemmas include misrepresentation and collusion, misuse of data in change efforts, manipulation and coercion,
value and goal conflict, and technical ineptness.

Some managers may implement their personal change agenda at the expense of solid diagnosis of the
organization's needs.  Still others may promise more than they can deliver.  Some consultants fail to build ways of
institutionalizing  the change into their processes so the organization can continue to rely on (and pay) them.

Organizational leaders, as well as internal and external consultants, should ensure that the selection and
implementation of change strategies respond to well-documented organizational and individual needs.  They must
also ensure that the change process respects the rights of individuals in the workplace.

Danger Signs of Unethical Behavior
  • Emphasis on short-term revenues over long-term considerations.
  • Routinely ignoring or violating internal or professional codes of ethics.
  • Looking for simple solutions to ethical problems, being satisfied with quick fixes.
  • Unwillingness to take an ethical stand if there is a financial cost.
  • Creation of an internal environment that discourages ethical behavior or encourages unethical behavior.
  • Dispatch of ethical problems to the legal department.
  • View of ethics solely as a public relations tool.
  • Treatment of employees that differs from treatment of customers.
  • Unfair or arbitrary performance appraisal standards.
  • Lack of procedures or policies for handling ethical problems.
  • Lack of mechanisms for internal whistle-blowing.
  • Lack of clear lines of communications.
  • Sensitivity only to shareholder needs and demands.
  • Encouragement of employees to ignore their personal ethical values.

Making Organizational Transformations

Four types of changes can be called transformational:

  1. Changes in what drives the organization, such as marketing or production
  2. Changes in the relationship between parts of the organization
  3. Changes in the way work is done
  4. Basic culture change

Observations about Organizational Transformation.  Transformation is...
  • response to environment and technological change by different types of organizations
  • a new model of the organization for the future
  • based on dissatisfaction with the old and belief in the new
  • a qualitatively different way of perceiving, thinking, and behaving
  • expected to spread throughout the organization at different rates of absorption
  • driven by line management
  • ongoing, endless, and forever
  • orchestrated by inside and outside experts
  • represents the leading edge of knowledge about organizational change
  • generates more open communication and feedback throughout the organization  

Most organizations evolve through relatively long periods of incremental change and adaption. Such transitions
correspond to significant changes in the primary tasks or goals of an organization and its strategy to achieve them.  
Transformational leaders play a major role in transforming and revitalizing organizations. They must overcome
resistance to change in the organization's technical, political, and cultural systems.

The Four Stages of Transition:

Stage 1:Shock - people experience impending change as threat. They shut down thinking and as many systems as
possible (just as in physiological shock).  People need warm blankets and rest, that is, time to recover, emotional
support, information, and an opportunity to gather with others.  Productivity is low.  People cannot think and do not
remember.

What to Do.  Help people look for common ground in shock, build support network, and give information again and
again.  Managers should give visible support.  Do not involve people in planning.  Provide safety, that is, clear
organizational expectations, reward systems, support systems, and available resources.

Stage 2:Defensive Retreat - Holding on, attempting to maintain old ways.  A great deal of anger, refusal to let go of
the past.  People and organizations can get stuck here or recycle back to Stage 1 as each element of change is
introduced.

What to Do.  Help people identify what they are holding on to, and then how to maintain it in the new situation or how
to let it go.  Identify areas of stability:  things that are not changing.  Give information continually and consistently.  
Ask "what is risky?" and provide safety in response to discomfort with risk taking.

Stage 3:Acknowledgement - Sense of grief and sadness over loss.  Letting go, beginning to see the value of what is
coming, and looking for ways to make it work by considering the pros and cons.  Ability to take risks begins here.  It
takes the form of risk taking and exploring new ways to look at things and to do things.  Can lead to high energy if
managed well.

What to Do.  Involve people in exploring options and planning through use of careful decision-making process as a
structure/support.  Overtly encourage and support risk taking by pointing out ways that the organization will support
it.  Emphasize that everyone is learning.

Stage 4: Adaption and Change - What is coming has arrived.  Ready to establish new routines and to help others.  
Risk taking comes into full bloom at this stage relative to changing methods, products, whatever is called for.

What to Do.  Implement plans.  Encourage and support risk taking using the supports and structures developed in
stage 3.  Establish feedback loops so that information travels in all directions, new learning occurs, and mid-course
corrections can be made when necessary.

Effectiveness in Response to Crisis

Crisis in organizations can also precipitate change.  Consider the threat posed by a hostile takeover attempt.  An
organization immediately alters its structure and personnel to prevent such a crisis.  Crisis can arise from potential
bankruptcy, industrial accidents, product defects or tampering, major computer breakdowns (See Critical
Information You NEED to Know), or a myriad of other causes.

The effectiveness of an organization's response to a crisis depends on several factors.
  • the organization's members must have or be able to secure adequate information and resources to cope with
    the emergency.
  • they must define emergency work, distinguish it from regular work, but maintain functional roles while doing
    it.
  • the organization must demonstrate flexibility in operations and decision making so mangers can deal readily
    with uncertainty and loss of autonomy and control.
  • organizational members must think creatively and avoid group think in a crisis.

Managers should conduct crisis management in five phases:
  1. be alert to crisis warnings, events that signal the advent of a crisis
  2. top management must prepare for and prevent a disaster
  3. crisis management team can systematically watch for and respond to early warning signals.
  4. management should have contingency plans for containing and limiting damage
  5. implementation of short- and long-term recovery mechanisms follows

Change Outcomes

Follow-up - both informal and formal - is critical to the success of any organizational improvement and should occur
regularly as part of action.  Evaluating the change is to consider it more akin to a training intervention and then to
consider the participants affective reactions, learning, behavioral changes, and performance changes.
(See  - Learning Curves in Implementing Automation).

Change outcomes include:
  • Affective Reactions - participants' attitudes toward the intervention.
  • Learning - participants' understanding of new ways of acting and acquisition of new skills as a result of an
    intervention.
  • Behavioral Changes - include participants' actions on the job.
  • Performance Changes - reflected in objective organizational measures, such as productivity and quality rates,
    sales volume, profit, absenteeism, and turnover, as well as more subjective performance appraisal ratings.  

Common Behavior Changes in Successful Organizational Change Efforts
Common behavior changes for individuals at all levels of the organization.

  • Communicating openly - Sharing intentions, motives, needs, feelings, and cognitions relevant to the work
    situation.
  • Collaborating - Solving problems as close to where they occur as possible.
  • Taking responsibility - Figuring out for oneself what is necessary to be effective in one's job and taking
    initiative for getting whatever information, cooperation, services, or materials are needed from other relevant
    parties inside or outside of the organization.
  • Maintaining a shared vision - Developing and communicating written statements of philosophy.
  • Solving problems effectively - Defining problems from a win/win perspective, with an open-minded search for
    solutions that are mutually acceptable instead of pressing for one's own "right" answer.
  • Respecting/supporting - Providing recognition for a job well done.
  • Processing/facilitating interactions - Stopping meetings or "one-on-one" discussions to examine the process
    when things are not going well.
  • Inquiring - Taking multiple and numerous measures of the discrepancies between the organization's goals and
    its current state.
  • Experimenting - Taking risks.  Having a "bias for action" and not waiting for the perfect design or plan before
    trying things out.

Common behavior changes for managers.
  • Generating participation - Linking planning and implementation in terms of time and who does it. Involving
    people when they have the necessary expertise, etc.
  • Leading by vision - Continually articulating the organization's purpose, goals, values, and standards and the
    means in which they are to be carried out operationally.
  • Functioning strategically - Talking about underlying causes, interdependencies, and long-range consequences
    and acting accordingly.
  • Promoting information flow - Clearly communicating the elements of the job that need to be accomplished in
    order to succeed.  Being clear about feelings, needs, expectations, commitment, and loyalty issues.
  • Developing others - Teaching needed skills.  Helping subordinates identify needs, interests, skills, aspirations,
    and talents.

Organizational Effectiveness

Researchers have argued that effectiveness serves as a central focus in all organizational analysis, acting as the
goal or organization design and organization change.  Although some researchers suggest that there are limitations
in the definition of this concept, many agree that the organizational effectiveness concept reflects and represents a
wide range of desirable organizational outcomes.

Organizational effectiveness has been defined and assessed in four major ways:   
  1. the organization's ability to achieve its goals,
  2. its ability to acquire needed resources from its external environment and thus achieve a competitive
    advantage,
  3. its ability to satisfy, at least minimally, all of its strategic constituencies, including suppliers, consumers,
    members, and so on,
  4. the relative emphasis the organization's key constituencies place on people over organization, flexibility over
    control, and means versus ends.

Managing Others' Expectations

My argument is that managing change is really managing others' expectations: shareholders and stake-holders in
the firm.  Not only do you have to manage those well, but you must be aware of the limitations of others to manage
expectations within their respective organizations.  Do not be lulled into a sense of security because you believe you
have managed other party's expectations very well.  You must make sure that they too "can and are" managing
others' expectations well.

Whether it is your point of contact at your lending institution or the janitor who cleans your offices, you must
understand that each and every individual inside and outside of your organization is managing expectations in their
own way with their supervisors, peers, and subordinates.  You must understand that they may NOT be managing
expectations well, and in most cases, aren't ...intentionally.   You must make every effort to communicate up and
down the organization as well as outside the organization to the various constituencies of your stake-holders if you
want to minimize the potential damage from other's inabilities or agendas.

Communicate openly, frequently, and consistently, up and down the various organizations that have stakeholder
expectations of you and your firm, and internally within your own firm. Make sure their expectations are in line with
reality and are connected to what you have put forward.  If there is mis-management or mis-information behind the
scenes by others, this will help overcome "smoke and mirror" problems created by them.   

Remember, generally, people do not like surprises.  Do not "blindside" others, nor be "blindsided" by them, from
expectation variances.  Manage expectations well for success.
AllenWeb Site - since 1995
Managing Change and Other's Expectations - Jun 1996
Change Management
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