1. Triggers Of Change..!!
What Is Change?
Change Is.....
Change is something that presses us out of our comfort zone. It is destiny-
filtered, heart grown, faith built. Change is inequitable; not a respecter of
persons. Change is for the better or for the worst, depending on where you view
it. Change has an adjustment period, which varies on the individual. It is
uncomfortable, for changing from one state to the next upsets our control over
outcomes. Change has a ripping effect on those who won’t let go. Flex is the key.
Even a roller coaster ride can be fun if you know when to lean and create new
balance within the change. Change is needed when all the props and practices
of the past no longer work. The statement ‘just hang in there’ does not comfort
change but with the statement ‘you can make it’. We don’t grow in retreat, but
through endurance. Change isn’t fixed by crying, worrying, or mental tread
milling. Victors not victims win change; and that choice is ours.
Change is awkward -- at first. Change is a muscle that develops to abundantly
enjoy the dynamics of the life set before us. Change calls own strength beyond
anyone of us. Change pushes you to do your personal best. Change draws out
those poised for a new way. Change isn’t for chickens. Change does have
casualties of those defeated. Change will cause us to churn or to learn. Change
changes the speed of time. Time is so slow for the reluctant, and yet it is a
whirlwind for those who embrace it. Change is more fun to do than to be done to.
Change seeks a better place at the end and is complete when you realize you
are different.
Change is measured by its impact on all who are connected to it. Change is
charged when you are dissatisfied with where you are. Change doesn’t look for a
resting-place; just the next launching point. Change is only a waste to those who
don’t learn from it. Change happens in the heart before our works proclaims it.
Change chaps those moving slower than the change itself. If you can change
before you have to change, there will be less pain. Change can flow or jerk,
depending on our resistance to it. Change uses the power invested in the unseen
to reinvent what is seen. Change is like driving in a fog – you can’t see very far,
but you can make the whole trip that way.
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2. Triggers Of Change..!!
Change Is.....
The human experience consists of matching our capabilities against the
challenges we face. A sense of balance, is maintained in our lives when:
=
Ability/willingness Danger/Opportunity
We seek this kind of balance because it makes us feel that things are predictable
and thus easier to manage.
Change occurs when this balance is disrupted. There are two ways the
status quo can be disrupted; positive change or negative change:
< Positive Change
or
When people believe their capabilities exceed a challenge, they generally
feel positive because the outcome is not only desirable but expected (for
example the birth of a child.) When the reverse is true, people feel
negative not only because the outcome is undesirable, but also because
such situations lack predictability.
< Negative Change
Most people find it is extremely uncomfortable to face situations filled with
the unknown because of the loss of predictability. We are attracted to
situations that are familiar because they allow us the feeling of being in
control.
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3. Triggers Of Change..!!
FORCES FOR CHANGE:
Two opposing forces influence change in an organization:
One that drives for change and one that resist.
Which of the following forces affect your organization? Check the ones, which
apply to your group.
Driving forces initiate change and Resisting forces act against the driving
keep it going. They may be forces for change. They are usually
external or internal. internal.
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4. Triggers Of Change..!!
• •
Your source of funding is being Your group fears new ideas and
reduced or increased. prefers to do things the way they
have always been done.
• •
The interests and needs of the Your group functions the same way
people in your community are it did 20 years ago, out of habit.
changing.
• •
Government support is increased Your group performs activities just
or diminished. for the sake of keeping busy.
• •
There is pressure to use modern Your group's executive has very few
technology. changes or low turnover.
• Membership is increasing or
dropping.
• Members have different views of
the group's purpose.
• When projects or programs are
evaluated, a need to change is
identified.
THE CHANGE PROCESS:
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5. Triggers Of Change..!!
The following model for change can be used to understand and plan for change.
It uses the analogy of an ice cube to explain the change process of an
organization.
The ice cube in its original shape represents the current state of the organization.
In order to change, the ice cube must be unfrozen, moulded to its new shape,
and then, refrozen. Similarly the organization, in order to change positively, must
melt any forces, which resist change and create a climate of acceptance and
trust that will reinforce or refreeze the new state of the organization.
UNFREEZING/REFREEZING MODEL FOR CHANGE
Recognize the need for Change is implemented Reinforce new behavior and be
change by identifying driving through a strategy, which open to feedback
and resisting forces. decreases resisting forces.
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6. Triggers Of Change..!!
The following example of a fee increase in an organization builds on this concept:
CHANGE MODEL FOR ORGANIZATION FEE INCREASE
Proposal for fee increase Fee increase accepted
- Identify driving and resisting - Communicate need for fee - Keep communication lines
forces increase to membership open
- Get small group of - Reinforce the change by
individuals committed to communicating positive
increased fees to help results of the change
- Increased - Cannot - Devote extra energy to those - Celebrate success in the
expenses afford it who have difficulty accepting organization - thank members
the fee increase for commitment
- Decreased - Increase not - Negotiate better services for
external funding justifiable increased fees
- Dropping
membership
Once a change has been accepted and implemented by a group, the initiators of
the change must keep working with the members and emphasize the positive
effects of the change. If this is not done, the group may slowly lapse into its old
habits. The whole process of unfreezing-change-refreezing may take a long
period of time.
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7. Triggers Of Change..!!
Characteristics of the Transition State:
Low stability.
High, often undirected energy.
Past patterns of behavior become highly valued.
High emotional stress.
Control becomes a major issue.
Conflict increases.
Organizational Change Management:
It is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and
organizations from a current state to a desired future state. Organizational
Change Management is characterized by a shift in behaviors and attitudes in
people to adopt and embrace the future state.
Organizational Change Management must be differentiated from Change
Management as the previous term is used in project management, while the
latter term is used to mean the practice of managing changes to technical or
project specifications in a rigorous way in order to prevent scope creep.
Organizational change management includes processes and tools for managing
the people side of the change at an organizational level. These tools include a
structured approach that can be used to effectively transition groups or
organizations through change. When combined with an understanding of
individual change management, these tools provide a framework for managing
the people side of change. People who are confronted by change will experience
a form of culture-shock as established patterns of corporate life are altered, or
viewed by people as being threatened. Employees will typically experience a
form of quot;griefquot; or loss (Stuart, 1995)
Dynamic conservatism
This model by Donald Schön explores the inherent nature of organisations to be
conservative and protect themselves from constant change. Schön recognises
the increasing need, due to the increasing pace of change for this process to
become far more flexible. This process being one of 'learning'. Very early on
Schön recognised the need for what is now termed the 'learning organization'.
These ideas are further expanded on within his frame work of 'reflection-in-action'
the mapping of a process by which this constant change could be coped with.
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8. Triggers Of Change..!!
The role of the management:
Management's responsibility (and that of administration in case of political
changes) is to detect trends in the macroenvironment as well as in the
microenvironment so as to be able to identify changes and initiate programs. It is
also important to estimate what impact a change will likely have on employee
behaviour patterns, work processes, technological requirements, and motivation.
Management must assess what employee reactions will be and craft a change
program that will provide support as workers go through the process of accepting
change. The program must then be implemented, disseminated throughout the
organization, monitored for effectiveness, and adjusted where necessary.
Organisations exist within a dynamic environment that is subject to change due
to the impact of various change quot;triggersquot;, such as evolving technologies. To
continue to operate effectively within this environmental turbulence, organisations
must be able to change themselves in response to internally and externally
initiated change. However, change will also impact upon the individuals within the
organisation. Effective change management requires an understanding of the
possible effects of change upon people, and how to manage potential sources of
resistance to that change. Change can be said to occur where there is an
imbalance between the current state and the environment.
How does Change Management work?
Change management is a procedural based process. It starts with the detections
of a change trigger and ends with the implementation of a new strategy within the
organization. Below is the complete lifecycle of change management.
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9. Triggers Of Change..!!
Value of Change Management:
Motivational, incentive, and environmental barriers can be reduced by managing
change within an organization. The key to implementation is recognizing a need
for change and applying appropriate measures to turn the problem into a
solvable opportunity. Table 1 below illustrates some examples in which change
management is an appropriate intervention for motivational, incentive and
environmental problems.
Barriers/Drivers Example
Motivation - lack of value Problem/Opportunity: Grandparents resist using email to
or confidence; don't care or communication with family and friends.
understand the benefits
Solutions: Change your strategy from begging them to get a
Motivation = Value x computer and just learn to use it to explaining the benefits
Confidence of email. Such benefits may include immediate delivery of
messages, quicker response time, more frequent
communication and instant access to family pictures.
Demonstrating the value of something is a motivating
factor.
Incentives - performance Problem: quot;Supervisors who rate employees as other than
goes unrecognized, doing it stellar expected to fill out forms and attend meetings to
is painful and not doing it is justify these ratingsquot; (Rossett & Sheldon, 2001, p. 41).
ignored
Solution: Mange change by creating an incentive program
in which supervisors want to honestly rate their employees.
It's important that the appropriate performance or actions
are rewarded.
Environment - processes or Problem: Documents and tools are placed randomly
jobs are poorly designed, throughout the office. Employees waste time searching for
necessary tools are documents and office supplies.
unavailable, a continuously
changing world Solution: Create a work environment, which minimize the
amount of time waste looking for supplies and maximizes
the amount of productive work. Change management could
develop a strategy for accomplishing such a task.
Managing Change in an Organization:
The following are real-world examples of change management in action. (Cases
were adapted from The Change Management Handbook)
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10. Triggers Of Change..!!
Case 1: Shake-up at the GTE Corporation
A deregulation in the telephone industry that was capped by the antitrust
settlement broke up the Bell system and triggered the great shake-up at
Situation
the GTE Corporation.
External environmental change triggered by government laws.
Trigger
Driver/Barrier Environmental
The company was forced to refocus its telecommunications business and
Actions Taken
discontinue its other unrelated industrial businesses.
GTE is attempting to integrate local phone service with cellular business
to create a streamline network. This would allow customers to easily call
Results
almost anywhere.
Case 2: Need for quicker product deliveries at Black Box
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11. Triggers Of Change..!!
Black box wants to improve the efficiency of the organization by
Situation
delivering their products quicker to the customers.
Internal organization problem in which slow employees triggered the
Trigger
change.
Driver/Barrier Incentive
A change agent at Black Box used action in the form of a reward system
Actions Taken to incentives employees. He dramatized the need for faster deliveries by
implementing a new bonus plan for the employees.
Warehouse fulfillment teams worked overtime taking extra orders and
sending out same-day shipments. Employees earned 140% of their
Results
bonuses and nothing else suffered.
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13. Triggers Of Change..!!
In order for organizations to learn, people must learn. Individuals within an
organization learn as they carry out what is expected of them, both written and
unwritten expectations. Written expectations are often delivered through job
descriptions, memos, e-mails, and official documents. What is less clear for
individuals within an organizational structure are the unwritten expectations.
According to Maira and Scott-Morgan (1997), there are three groupings within
organizations that best support an understanding of unwritten expectations:
(1) motivators,
(2) enablers and
(3) triggers, delineated below.
Triggers, or triggering events, can be defined as circumstances which act as
catalysts to organizational learning. As with human beings, organizations do not
learn proactively (Watkins and Marsick, 1993). Given the tremendous pressures
to perform and produce results, organizations tend to over-invest in exploiting
existing knowledge and under-invest in learning or developing new knowledge
(Levinthal, 1991).
Motivators are items that are important to individuals within an organization.
quot;Motivators correspond to what is actually important to people, what they valuequot;.
Maira and Scott-Morgan (1997) state that Enablers are those who are important
to individuals within an organization. This may or may not be in line with an
organizational chart, but involves those who are the actual quot;power brokersquot; within
a firm. quot;Triggers are how people get what is important to them: the conditions that
lead an enabler to grant a reward or impose a penaltyquot; (Maira & Scott-Morgan,
1997).
As motivators are items that stimulate individuals to learn, triggers (as explained
above)serve as a kind of motivator to stimulate organizations to learn. Motivator
tends to elicit the learning desire from individuals; however, trigger tends to force
organizations to respond the changes of the environment such as socioeconomic
changes. The learning motion motivated by motivators is more vountary; rahter,
the learning motions motivated by triggers is more involuntary.
Do organizations learn specifically through operational learning, or is conceptual
learning another facet of learning potential? Are these different levels of
learning? Lane (2001) speaks to this saying “another preoccupation of
organizational learning theory is the elaboration of a distinction between different
levels of learning: between operational and conceptual learning” These two
levels are referring to routine and imitation that comes from learning versus
conceptual thought which assumes people will question processes they are
learning. These are different forms of triggers within individuals and groups as
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14. Triggers Of Change..!!
they learn. Understanding these and other triggers will help a person, group, or
company evolve into learning organizations.
According to Brookfield (1987, 1994), “triggers” are life events “that prompts a
sense of inner discomfort and perplexity.quot; A life event such as a birth of a new
child, divorce or corporate downsizing can trigger the adult learner to critique
their existing knowledge through reflection and determine what additional
education is needed for improvement and job security. Knowing and
understanding the triggers that motivate adult learners can aid educators in the
development and design of learning modules, whether they be educators in the
academic sense or leaders and educators within operating organizations.
According to Mohanan (2006), the characteristics of the teacher who is likely to
trigger learning include: quot;a) has a deep knowledge and understanding of the
subject matter, b) is committed to teaching and is hard working, c) continually
seeks ways to improve, innovate, and be up to date, d) has a strong passion for
subject, e) has a high enthusiasm for teaching, f) is an inspirational role model to
students, g) has a high emotional intelligence to empathize with students, and h)
is eminently approachablequot;. Again, this need not be in the academic arena alone.
The organizational leader is in a sense the teacher and must demonstrate these
same characteristics to trigger organizational learning.
Hence,
“Any disorganizing pressure, arising outside or inside
the organization, indicating that current arrangements,
systems, procedures, rules and other aspects of
organization structure and process are no longer
appropriate or effective is known as a trigger causing
change.”
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15. Triggers Of Change..!!
It is useful to identify both external and internal trigger in your own organization.
Subsequently it can be helpful to consider reactions to change so that change
management strategies can from the outset take account of the human and
organizational experience, and seek to overcome resistances and to support
people through change.
It is also helpful to consider what it is that change impacts upon. Reference is
made below to systems thinking, and to the interdependencies, systems and
sub-systems that make up organizations.
How triggers are Analyzed:
Various managerial tools are available in order to gain an essential
understanding of the environment, both external and internal.
A PESTEL analysis:
Here, one can consider devices like a PESTEL (political, economic, social,
technological, environmental, legal) analysis to pick up factors in the local or
micro, and national or macro contexts that managers need to take account of.
A STAKEHOLDER analysis:
Similarly a stakeholder analysis, and a cultural or values audit will provide an
understanding of some of the people factors over and beyond a resource audit.
A SWOT analysis:
A simple approach like a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and
threats) can provide a structure in which to lay out the need and the readiness of
the organization for change.
Change can be triggered by the desire to alter the knowledge, skills, attitudes,
behavior and relationships of people in the organization in order to improve, for
example:
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16. Triggers Of Change..!!
Skills and skill levels
Job design
Responsibilities
Product design
Technology
Physical environment
Innovation
To allow the organization to improve or maintain its position, in the face of
competition or declining fortunes from whatever source.
.
Frequent causes of change:
Wille and Hodgson’s (1991) survey on the reasons for change found the
following:
Financial losses and profit reductions
Increased competition) almost 50%
Technological development
New chief executive
Industry in recession
Grundy (1993) states that major changes can be triggered by “ a multitude of
factors”, the main ones being:
External
Changes in competitive forces
o
Regulation/deregulation
o
Changes in customer expectation
o
Changes in standards
o
Technology changes
o
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17. Triggers Of Change..!!
Internal
Performance dips
o
Changes in the management team (particularly the chief executive)
o
Grundy (1993) further suggests that when a number of factors converge major
change can crystallize. For example, internal performance may be flagging;
external competitive pressures may be increasing; and at the same time a new
CEO wants to put his/her stamp on the organization. Where these influences
coincide “a wave of change” can be produced which managers find difficult to
cope with.
Trigger Events:
Trigger events can be characterized as internal or external triggers.
Internal triggers are events arising from within an organization. Major internal
triggers include
(1) Human resource issues of executive succession, expatriation, personnel
turnover;
(2) Project implementation issues such as IT, TQM or innovations; and
(3) Creating new inter-organizational interdependencies and collaborations in
the form of joint ventures, franchise agreements, strategic alliances, etc.
External triggers are environmental jolts that occur external of the
organizations. They refer to changes in various dimensions in the environment
that require organizations to change existing routines and rules.
These external triggers include:
(1) Rapid changes in business environment such as demographic
changes, and changes in consumer tastes and market demands;
(2) Rapid changes in technological environment such as pace of change
in IT;
(3) Redefinition of economic environment such as new trade zones, and
switch from planned to market economies; and
(4) Changes in legislation resulting from changes in ecological
environments or political regimes.
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18. Triggers Of Change..!!
Internal Triggers
Human Resource Issues
Organizational learning requires humans as agents. Accordingly, changes in
human resources within any organization pose major impetus for OL. In Virany,
Tushman, and Romanelli (1992), the researchers examine how changes in the
chief executive officer triggered off necessary organizational learning among
members in the top management team. In a study on expatriation, Vink and
Schapink (1994) argued that organizations must learn to work beyond Western
ethnocentric theories of behavior. Effective intercultural managers are those who
have acquired and shared their collective experiences on unfamiliar and different
cultures. On the relationship between personnel turnover and organizational
learning, Carley (1992) showed that hierarchies were less affected by high
turnover rates than teams, particularly when the task is nondecomposable.
Implementation Issues
The introduction of a new technology, innovation, or R&D often triggers need for
organizational learning (see George 1983; Bessant and Buckingham 1993;
Carlsson and Kean1976). Implementing a new innovation often alters existing
work routines, reward structures, or communication patterns to the extent that
organizations must ensure sufficient slack resources to support learning activities
to incorporate the innovations successfully and to obtain full benefits of the
innovation.
Inter-organizational Relations
Organizational learning is an emerging paradigm for the study of strategy making
when firms diversify into new practices, products or services and collaborate with
other firms in creating new interorganizational relationships or IOR (Alaharkonen
and Rutenberg 1990) (Kazanjian and Drazin 1987). The need for close
collaboration and cooperation with others in IOR such as strategic alliances
imposes an unprecedented emphasis on organizational learning as parties to the
relationship need to institutionalize and amalgamate distinct organizational
practices, new job definitions, new ways of managing and even redefining the
nature of the firm (Lewis 1991).
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19. Triggers Of Change..!!
External Triggers
Business Environment Issues
Business turbulence comprises one of the most significant environmental jolts
faced by firms. Rapidly changing dynamics of industries and competitive forces
require firms to learn faster than competitors to order to achieve sustainable
competitive advantage. To survive, organizations must learn to shift from
managing and producing in the world of stable markets to one with short product
lifecycles, continual innovation, and rapid changes in customer demands.
Organizations must build a capacity to learn: to conduct quick studies and tackle
novel problems (Maccoby 1993; Hosley, Lau, Levy, and Tan, 1994)
Technological Environment Issues
The greatest jolt from the environment is the unprecedented pace of change in
technologies. Because of the high rate of technological change, formal education
in schools will never be able to totally prepare workers for their lifetime’s
technological work demands. It is thus paramount that firms create a learning
environment within their organizations to promote on-the-job learning and growth.
Continual learning and investing in the full spectrum of employee talents with
teamwork are cornerstones for coping with relentless pace of change in
technology (Benett and O’Brien 1994; Atkinson 1994).
Economic Environment Issues
Economic environment issues take on many forms. With globalization of markets,
organizations must learn to break the limited mindsets of national markets to
compete on a worldwide basis (Ghoshal and Butler 1992). Firms in economic
recessionary regimes must learn new survival skills to re-vitalize the
organization, steering the organization from danger to opportunity (Hollingworth
1992). Organizations in East European economies and other communist regimes
face great challenges when reforms coverted centrally planned markets to free,
open markets (Swiderski and Seiderski 1986). Firms had to erase old
organizational memories and routines of a socialist economy and generate new
rules, standard operating procedures to compete in a new open market
economy.
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20. Triggers Of Change..!!
Ecological & Political Environment Issues
Occasionally, organizations learned from natural disasters (e.g., Bhopal
disaster). Disasters make explicit organizational policies on safety measures
(Bowman and Kunreuther 1988). As nations become more concerned with the
ecological environment, and as new laws and statutes are enacted to protect the
natural environment, organizations need to develop new rules, behaviors and
business practices to abide by the “green” laws (Mylonadis 1994). Organizations
also need to learn to cope with new regulation following changes in political
leadership and regimes (Godkin and Montano 1991).
Changes in socioeconomic values as triggers
Jurgen Kadtler discusses how ‘social movements’ and ‘interest groups’ act as
Triggers for organizational learning. Some organizations are forced to adapt to
surrounding social, environmental, or regulational factors (Dierkes, Antal, Child,
& Nonaka, 2003). Often these factors are outside their control and they must
react to them. “Whether the organization acquires the capacity to manage the
crisis and deal with the concern of social movements or interest groups is
determined by organizational learning. This refers to the tension between and
analytical and a normative perspective on organizational learning” .
One such trigger is the change of socioeconomic values of society as a whole
and within an organization. Von Rosenstiel and Koch (2003) contend that for the
past several decades there has been a shift in socioeconomic values that have
played a role in how organizations learn and adapt within a greater societal
context. In other words, as values change, so must the organization change to be
able to effectively interface internally (within the organization) and externally (with
stakeholders outside of the organization, such as customers, vendors, etc). The
changes that an organization must go through to operate effectively are
facilitated by necessary learning. Put bluntly, the organizational learning would
not occur were it not for the values shift, which acts as a trigger in this instance.
Akin to the concepts presented by Von Rosenstiel and Koch (2003), Kädtler
(2003) suggests that, quot;organizational learning that is triggered by social
movements or interest groups is a form of involuntary learningquot;. The broad
spectrum of social movements and the clear identification of such is not easy to
define. Kädtler (2003) contends that neither the academic community nor the
general public can easily define a social movement. Perhaps Kädtler
(2003)attempts to bring some clarity by suggesting, quot;Social movements are
public activities...(who) strive to integrate their general aspirations into the system
of values and norms that constitute legitimacy in a societyquot;. Essentially, as the
social culture changes, predicated by social movements, the values of an
organization may change to coincide with societal change.
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21. Triggers Of Change..!!
Unlike the learning that trickles through an organization as necessitated by
(usually slow) socioeconomic changes, transformation processes typically
require rapid learning that is neither forgiving or without anxiety for those going
through the process. Merkens, Geppert, and Antel (2003) delineate the types of
triggers for organizational learning both in the context of ‘structuralist learning’
and ‘constructionist learning.’ Structuralist learning can be thought of as learning
that is the result of one way communication and fixed content; whereas,
constructionist learning is the result of interaction between the learner and the
environment. Listed below are some examples of these two types of triggers.
Triggers of structuralist learning during organization
transformational
(adapted from Merkens, Geppert, and Antel, 2003)
Privitization and opening of markets
Mergers and acquisitions
Implementation of new technologies
Influx of capital
Triggers of Constructionist Learning During
Transformational
(adapted from Merkens, Geppert, and Antel, 2003)
Need for legitimacy
Culture Clash
Social embeddedness of values and ideals
Inquisitive and well-educated workforce
Implementation of new technologies
The above lists are not intended to be exhaustive. They are merely
examples of triggers that can encountered during times of organizational
transformation.
Technological Visions as Triggers
Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary (2001) defines vision as a “mental picture –
an image or concept in the imagination [and as] far-sightedness – the ability to
anticipate possible future events and developments”. Although visions have been
heralded as an all important component of organizational leadership, there has
been – up till now, little research conducted to better understand the concept of
visions. New insight, however, confirms that visions facilitate vicarious learning
and serve as “points of orientation…based on core values and shared
perceptions….[and that they] do more than just appeal to the logical and rational
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22. Triggers Of Change..!!
mind; they touch upon the internalized norms, values, and preconceived notions
underlying people’s perceptions, thinking, and decisions” (Dierkes, et al., 2004,).
Metaphorically, overarching visions may be thought of as stars in the night’s sky
used as points of orientation for navigating the organization. It is important to
note, however, that visions – even overarching visions, are not necessarily
fixated. This is especially true of technological visions because of the inherent
unpredictable nature of technological advancements. It is within this context that
Dierkes, et al., support Collins and Porras’ (1994) “argu[ment] that organizational
visions must transcend existing products and practices or they can easily
become obsolete”.
Cognitive and Experiential Triggers
Clark and Mirabile (2004) put forth the concept of “knowledge mapping”, a
process of quickly and consistently organizing the mountain of information that
faces an organization. After devising a framework of categories into which
organizational information can be logically placed, a mapping strategy is
essential to identify and classify the information. Clear and accurate mapping
would require triggers – words, topical labels, or key indicators in order to
differentiate the knowledge sharing into appropriate categories. Clark and
Mirabile would suggest a listing of triggers that in turn would create a dictionary
of categories.
Clark and Mirabile (2004) use the term triggers to emphasize the cognitive
content of established knowledge as the basis for adding or “mapping” additional
information to the current body of shared knowledge. This is in contrast to
Brookfield who stresses the context of experience and the impact of certain
events, often painful and negative, in the adult learning process (Merrian &
Caffarella, 1999). These events serve as triggers that motivate adults toward
change, evaluation, and renovation of the personal fabric of life. It is advisable
that when any discussion or research done in reference to triggers, care should
be taken to define the term in order for all to understand the context and
framework of the concept.
Creativity as a Trigger
Cunha, Cunha and Kamoche (2002) suggest that an open minded and, indeed,
creative approach to errors may serve as the trigger for organizational
improvisation and learning. Rather than simply rewarding employees and
managers for fixing problems, we should encourage their use as stimuli for
further learning. Consider, they say, “an example from Nordstrom's department
store where employees are encouraged to quot;respond to unreasonable customer
requests.quot; Stories circulate about an employee paying a customer's parking ticket
when the store's gift wrapping took too long”.This type of accommodation should
be rewarded and viewed as a departure point for a learning journey aimed at
discovering what caused the process to fail to produce the desired result.
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23. Triggers Of Change..!!
Anxiety as a Trigger
Edgar Schein, as cited in Coutu, (2002), provides a useful and realistic view of
the essential triggers of organizational learning. He maintains that anxiety is
necessary as a trigger for learning. In this interview, he maintains that little is
actually known about organizational learning and that true organizational learning
is more than the sum of individual learning. Adopting a distinctly unpopular
stance, Schein maintains that learning is coercive. He believes that anxiety, or
more correctly, “learning anxiety” occurs when we are afraid of trying something
new out of fear of failure, embarrassment, or the desire not to give up old
paradigms. Conversely, “survival anxiety” is the realization that survival of the
individual or the organization depends on change. Schein tells us that “the
evidence is mounting that real change does not begin to occur until the
organization experiences some real threat of pain that in some way dashes its
expectations or hopes” .
Case studies & workplace examples
A“trigger event” occurred four years ago. A high school was accused of recruiting
international students for our athletic program. The only truth in the allegations
involved some inaccurate information shared on I-20 requests for the students to
spend time at the school. There was also some misunderstanding concerning the
guardianship requirements for international students staying with host families.
Nonetheless, the accusations were picked up by the media and the state High
School Athletic Association. They were placed on a 3-year probation and issued
a substantial fine.
The “appraisal” stage for a student involved a great deal of guilt. They were
discouraged because the student was not better aware of documents being
signed and the overall process of enrolling international students (both
responsibilities were given to other administrators). The student was
embarrassed for the school and his position.
The third stage “exploration” involved an internal investigation into the process,
the recognition of their responsibilities, seeking the forgiveness of their student
body and athletic teams, and the absorbing of the falsehood and untruth printed
in the media. The school chose not to challenge the ruling of the state, but to
submit to their decision.
The “developing of alternative perspectives” took some time as the
consequences of the ruling produced many ripples into the integrity of the school.
After some further personal investigation the student began to regain his
confidence in the school’s motive and purpose for enrolling international
students. Their missionary outreach program and our desire to offer a Christian
education to international students allowed the student to recommit his
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24. Triggers Of Change..!!
confidence in the global interests of his school. The revamping and revisiting of
various policies involving foreign exchange student has renewed a positive
perspective in this part of their educational program.
The “integration” of these new ways of thinking into the fabric of the student’s
educational ministry took place with an increase of sensitivity to athletic eligibility
issues and an awareness of the microscope under which Christian schools are
viewed. The student was amazed at the vindictive, aggressive, and destructive
position that the media took on this issue. This experience brought into our
thinking the need for extreme care in dealing with student enrollment and the
acceptance of student athletes into the school system. They successfully
completed the probationary period and have been reinstated with no restrictions.
Ford Motor Company
Two specific factors facing organizations today include social movements and
special interest groups. For example, Ford Motor Company has been advertising
in gay and lesbian magazines, recently. Some in the special interest evangelical
movement has strongly objected to Ford’s advertising practices and see it as a
promotion of a lifestyle to which they object. They have sought to use boycotts to
convince Ford to change it advertising policies. How Ford responds can have
negative financial implications on either side. However Ford reacts in the above
situation will be a learning organization challenge. In whatever direction it goes,
“new organizational competencies have to be acquired if critical issues are to be
addressed successfully”
U.S. auto industry
Schein states that “survival anxiety” is the realization that survival of the
individual or the organization depends on change (Coutu, 2002). This is
demonstrated very clearly when one studies the U.S. auto industry and changes
made for the sole purpose of quot;survivalquot;. All domestic competitors have
undergone significant changes as a means of surviving the attack of foreign
competition within our own market. U.S.-based manufacturers have had to work
collaboratively with the unions that represent their workforces to make changes
in wages, benefits, operating practices, and work rules. They have also had to
make significant changes in product development, styling, value, and quality, in
efforts to maintain a presence in the market. When there were only few
competitors in the market, just 20 years ago, the quot;needquot; for change was not as
great. Now, with well over 300 nameplates competing in the U.S. market,
dramatic changes have had to been made just as the quot;price of admissionquot; -- for
example without excellence in product quality and safety, a manufacturer cannot
even hope to get in the market. The threat to survival of individuals and
organizations has become a reality, and has driven changes that are ultimately
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25. Triggers Of Change..!!
good for the customer. One wonders if, without this threat to survival, would the
changes have occurred at all.
Leavitt's Model Of Organizational Change:
Leavitt’s (1965) model of organizational change can provide insight. Leavitt suggests that
the effectiveness of any change program –– can only be achieved through a balance of four
organizational subsystems: technology, structure, tasks and people. The model shown in
Figure illustrates how all four of these items are interrelated. Leavitt’s model suggests that
all four subsystems must be coordinated and balanced to create an effective KM culture.
T
Task
Knowledge
Management
T P
Technology People
C
Culture
C
S
Structure
Leavitt's Model of Change: Task,
Technology, Structure, and People
T
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26. Triggers Of Change..!!
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL CHANGE
There may be one or many driving forces:
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL CHANGE
There may be one or many driving forces initiating change in your organization.
Groups will usually respond to a driving force by showing resistance. If you push,
people push back.
Resistance to change is normal and can be expected.
Change is more easily accepted by decreasing resisting forces rather than by
increasing the driving forces. An adult may attempt to force a child to eat
vegetables by threatening the child. The driving force is the fear of punishment.
Force-feeding is likely to result in increased resistance, or the food being spit out.
Success will only come by removing the resisting force. The child may not eat
vegetables because they taste bad. The change strategy might be to coat the
vegetables with good tasting cheese or chocolate.
The following strategies can be used to decrease the resisting forces to change
in any organization.
Strategies
Communication Provide adequate information to your members on the need for
- change in order to gain their support. Make the purpose of the
change clear. Fear of change can be as disturbing as the change
itself.
Participation - Involve everyone in planning and making the change. It is much
easier to support something you have a stake in. If possible,
committees using small groups of people should be set up to
review and make recommendations for change. Surveys and
newsletters are also tools that can be used.
Support - Be prepared to spend extra time with members who have difficulty
accepting the change. Ensure that you, as the person initiating the
change, are seen as trustworthy and credible.
Negotiation - Work out a win-win situation for all parties involved. Match the
personal goals of the members to the objectives of the change.
The change will be resisted if it blocks personal goals
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27. Triggers Of Change..!!
BREAKING THROUGH BARRIERS
Thus far this fact sheet has discussed what change is, how control enters into it,
and change as a process.
With this background information, it is time to understand how to break through
the real-world barriers that get in the way of cooperation and change. The five
most common ones are:
Your reaction:
The first barrier lies within you. Human beings are reaction machines. When
you're under stress, or when you encounter a NO, or feel you are being attacked,
you naturally feel like striking back. Usually this just perpetuates the action-
reaction cycle that leaves both sides losers. Or, you may react by impulsively
giving in just to end the negotiation and preserve the relationship. You lose and,
having demonstrated your weakness, you expose yourself to be bullied by
others. The problem you thus face in negotiation is not only the other side's
difficult behavior but also your own reaction, which can easily perpetuate that
behavior.
Their emotion:
The next barrier is the other side's negative emotions. Behind their attacks may
lie anger and hostility. Behind their rigid positions may lie fear and distrust.
Convinced they are right and you are wrong, they may refuse to listen. Seeing
the world as eat-or-be-eaten, they may feel justified in using nasty tactics.
Their position:
In joint problem solving, you face the problem and attack it together. The barrier
in the way is the other side's positional behavior: their habit of digging into a
position and trying to get you to give in. Often they know no other way to
negotiate. They are merely using the conventional negotiating tactics they first
learned in the sandbox. In their eyes, the only alternative is for them to give in -
and they certainly don't want to do that.
Their dissatisfaction:
Your goal may be to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement, but you may find
the other side not at all interested in such an outcome. They may not see how it
will benefit them. Even if you can satisfy their interests, they may fear losing face
if they have to back down. And if it is your idea, they may reject it for that reason
alone.
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28. Triggers Of Change..!!
Their power:
Finally, if the other side sees the negotiation as a win-lose proposition, they will
be determined to beat you. They may be guided by the precept quot;What's mine is
mine. What's yours is negotiable.quot; If they can get what they want by power plays,
why should they cooperate with you?
Getting past no requires breaking through each of these five barriers to
cooperation: your reaction, their emotion, their position, their dissatisfaction, and
their power. It is easy to believe that stonewalling, attacks, and tricks are just part
of the other side's basic nature, and that there is little you can do to change such
difficult behavior. But you can affect this behavior if you can deal successfully
with its underlying motivations.
Think of a person of whom you want to convince/change. What is their emotion,
their position, their dissatisfaction, and their power play? What barriers are
holding you back?
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29. Triggers Of Change..!!
The Breakthrough Strategy:
This fact sheet lays out a five-step strategy for breaking through each of these
five barriers - the strategy of breakthrough negotiations.
The essence of the breakthrough strategy is indirect action. It requires you to do
the opposite of what you naturally feel like doing in difficult situations. When the
other side stonewalls or attacks, you may feel like responding in kind. Confronted
with hostility, you may argue. Confronted with unreasonable positions, you may
reject. Confronted with a pusher you may push. Confronted with aggression, you
may escalate. But this just leaves you frustrated, playing the other side's game
by their rules.
Your single greatest opportunity as a negotiator is to change the game. Instead
of playing their way, let them have your way - the way of joint problem solving.
Breakthrough negotiation is the opposite of imposing your position on the other
side. Rather than pounding in a new idea from the outside, you encourage them
to reach for it from within. Rather than telling them what to do, you let them figure
it out. Rather than pressuring them to change their mind, you create an
environment in which they can learn. Only they can break through their own
resistance; your job is to help them.
Their resistance to joint problem solving stems from the five barriers described
above. Your job as a break-through negotiator is to clear away the barriers that
lie between their NO and the YES of a mutually satisfactory agreement. For each
of the five barriers, there is a corresponding step in the strategy:
Step One:
Since the first barrier is your natural reaction, the first step involves stopping that
reaction. To engage in joint problem solving, you need to regain your mental
balance and stay focused on achieving what you want.
Step Two:
The next barrier for you to overcome is the other side's negative emotions - their
defensiveness, fear, suspicion, and hostility. It is all too easy to get drawn into an
argument, but you need to resist this temptation. To create the right climate for
joint problem solving, you need to defuse their negative emotions. You should
take their side by listening to them, acknowledging their points and their feelings,
agreeing with them, and showing them respect.
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30. Triggers Of Change..!!
Step Three:
Accept whatever they say and re-frame it as an attempt to deal with the problem.
For example, take their position and probe behind it: quot;Tell me more. Help me
understand why you want that.quot; (Reword their opposition so that it is not so much
a quot;brick wallquot; but a quot;screen doorquot;).
Step Four:
While you may now have engaged the other side in joint problem solving, you
may still be far from reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement. The other side
may be dissatisfied, unconvinced of the benefits of agreement. You may feel like
pushing them, but this will only make them more resistant. So do the opposite.
You need to bridge the gap between their interests and yours. You need to help
them save face and make the outcome look like a victory for them.
Step Five:
Despite your best efforts, the other side may still refuse to cooperate, believing
they can beat you at the power game. You may be tempted at this point to
escalate. Threats and coercion often backfire, however, and lead to costly and
futile battles. The alternative is to use power not to escalate, but to educate.
The sequence of the steps is important. You cannot defuse the other side's
negative emotions unless you have controlled your own. It is hard to quot;build a
bridgequot; unless you have changed the game to joint problem solving. This does
not mean that once you have taken one step, you have completed it. On the
contrary, you need to keep focused throughout the negotiation. As the other
side's anger and frustration resurface, you need to keep stepping to their side.
Breakthrough negotiation can be used with anyone - an irrational father, a
temperamental teenager, a hostile co-worker, or an impossible customer. A
family trying to discuss the farm transfer, lawyers trying to avoid a costly court
battle, or spouses trying to keep a marriage together, can use it.
Because every person and every situation is different, you will need to marry the
five breakthrough principles with your own knowledge of the particulars in order
to create a strategy that works for you. There is no magic recipe that will
guarantee your success in every negotiation. But with patience, persistence and
the breakthrough strategy, you can maximize your chances of getting what you
want in even the most difficult negotiations.
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