Thursday Aug 13 at 10:17pm
Week 1 Discussion Forum
ORG8510
VanTrease
Ashford University
A change leader can provoke successful organizational change initiatives by first changing the business as usual with themselves. For instance, if a leader normally does not arrive to work on time or is late to meetings, then he/she must change the narrative by acknowledging the bad habits and then changing them.
The “do as I say and not as I do” mentally must cease and desistfrom the character of the leader. The leader should cause his/her subordinates to follow him/her as they follow the right directives and rules and regulations. Carucci states that when a change leader acknowledges or accepts the narrative in black and white that reveals the answer to “Why do I keep doing that?” the powerful step to re-scripting it has been taken Carucci (2016).
Great leaders understand that as much as they believe they need to make changes across the organization, they also must be willing to make changes within themselves to mirror the mission of the organization. For instance, if the rest of the leadership is business attire professionals, then you as the leader must come out of the collar shirt and jeans and put on the appropriate attire. As leaders understand how they will react during change, the better it will be for them to ignite change within themselves, others, and the organization in which they are associated Carucci (2016).
In the Department of Veterans Affairs, the leaders receive training on how to change with the re-modernization or re-organization of the facility or whatever service is revamping within the agency. For instance, my current supervisor stated to us that when the re-modernization was implemented in the human resources department, he had to make a decision to change with it or be left behind as a leader, and someone else takes his place.
One of the things he pointed out was that since he now is responsible for leading HR Specialists and Assistants in three different facilities, that he had to consider which of the facilities processes were better, and not just be biased with the facility that he physically worked in. By allowing each of us to present how we use the time-2-hire (T2H) model to recruit, onboard, and complete the process with an entry on duty (EOD) date, he involved all of us in the change.
When change leaders are also servant leaders, they provoke and ignite loyalty from their subordinates and the result is satisfaction for the customer, the employee, and the organization.
Reference
Carucci, R. (2016, October 24) Organizations can’t change if leaders can’t change with them. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/2016/10/organizations-cant-change-if-leaders-cant-change-with-them(Links to an external site.)
Thursday Aug 13 at 10:22pm
The idea that an organization goes through stages of life, or life cycles, has often been proposed, along with different models and different terminology, but still the same idea. (Svensson et. Al 2018) These models resemble that of a biological life cycle as if the organization itself is a living being. For something to grow, in terms of biology, it would have to have access to all of the required resources needed to do so. If one or more of these resources are missing or perhaps not available, this could hinder its growth. (Svensson et. Al 2018) When an organization is not growing or perhaps it may be going through a loss, this is an indication that something isn’t working as it should.
One of the biggest issues affecting organizations right now is the COVID-19 pandemic. Another issue affecting organizations that is not new, but is finally receiving attention in the news is racism. These are issues that affect all humans, our way of life, and therefore the way we do business is also altered. At a minimum, leaders must make accommodations to maintain the ability for the workforce to function safely. This means the way they are currently doing things must change to allow for solutions to come forward.
According to Carucci leaders who lack self-awareness may struggle with “their ability to affect change within themselves.” (2016) This is often because they do not understand how their behavior affects others. When leaders can adapt themselves to their environment, this ability to recognize the need for change and how to implement it is necessary to be able to do the same in terms of leading an organization. “The more a leader knows how they will react during change, the better equipped they’ll be to foster real change in themselves, others, and the organization.” (Carucci 2016)
References:
Carucci, R. (2016, October 24) Organizations can’t change if leaders can’t change with them. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/2016/10/organizations-cant-change-if-leaders-cant-change-with-them(Links to an external site.)
Katcher, R. (2020, June 11). Leading Toward a Transformed Future in a Disrupted Present.
Retrieved from Nonprofit Quarterly:
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/leading-toward-a-transformed-future-in-a-disrupted-present/(Links to an external site.)
Svensson, P. G., Andersson, F. O., & Faulk, L. (2018). A Quantitative Assessment of
Organizational Capacity and Organizational Life Stages in Sport for Development and Peace. Journal of Sport Management, 32(3), 29
Thursday Aug 13 at 10:26am
Organizational Structure
Afunctional structureis a common organizationalstructure. The functional structurefocuses on a group of employees that specializes in a set of roles or tasks. Change cannot happen without structure. The structure of an organization influences the challenge of organizational change. A functional structure specializes in units that report to authority such as top management. Organizational change and functional structure can take many forms the change can involve strategy, procedures, and culture. A functional structure divides the organization into departments according to each function. This is done to ensure that the employees are skilled to achieve the business objectives. The functional structure focuses on stabilizing the change of the organization.
How does structure determine performance?
Structure determines performance by evaluating the value and growth of the organization. The structure of an organization reduces or promotes performance it depends on how effective Organizational structures can reduce or promote performance; depending on how effectively the workflow influences productivity. The structure of the organization or company should be effective for the company to operate fully; the employee’s performance plays a vital role in determining if the structure of the organization is successful or if there should be changes made within the structure of the organization.
How would each structure adapt to change?
An organization functions in several different ways of adapting to each structure of change has its advantages and disadvantages because the structure of change that is not managed properly will cause issues within the organization. Many different structures can determine performance such as functional, multiple independent business units, matrix, front-back. A way that each structure can adapt to change is through open communication with each department in the organization which can be human resources, marketing, or marketing and finance. According to Aujla, and Mclarney, (2020), states “Organizational change has been defined as when an organization constantly changes its direction to accommodate the changing demands of internal and external customers.” (p. 8). Organizational structure can be effective when everyone in the company can adapt to the change.
What can be done to make it more adaptable?
To make change more adaptable employees should be involved from all levels of the organization, communicating the planning progress with the employees will allow them to feel that they are a part of the change process. The reason for the change and the benefits is that the structure will help the change become more effective and adaptable. ( Durr, and Kamins, 2013, para.5). leaders should always clearly communicate the reasoning for the change. A leader should never assume the strategy that is being used is clear and that employees understand the change.
References
Aujla, S., & Mclarney, C. (2020). The Effects of Organizational Change on Employee Commitment.IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior,19(1), 7–22.
Durr, J., & Kamins, C. (2013, March 14).Four rules for successful change management. [Web logcomment].Retrieved from
https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/170519/four-rules-successful-change-management.aspx(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)
Thursday Aug 13 at 11:06am
Organizational Structure-Organizational Change
Matrix structure is the most favorable structure most conducive to organizational change because the change management is built into the matrix structure. Due to the project-based focus centered on the organizational environment. This structure has already existing capability to support these changing needs of operations and knowledge baseupdates, which offers less time to retool and remodel the structure as it has already been accounted for adoption will be more efficient (Lawler &Worley, 2006).
Structure has a direct impact on determining performance, depending on how an organization is structured will determine the performance and its measurables. If the structure is customer-focused, the customer feedbackdrives the performance and motivation of the organization. That same customer feedback is less relevant to a business unit team that has less customer-centric performance measures that they are accountable for (Lawler & Worley, 2006).
The way in which these various structures adapt to change will vary based on their initial construction. The Front-Back structure has both a customer focus and product/service focus may have more difficultyand complexityshifting their structure on the end side as they would on the front side yet in order to meet the customers' needs efficiently will be required to make and accept changes consistently. Structures without jobs can have less complexity in adapting to change as the attributes and character of this structure is to not accept/adapt to any working responsibility-permanently. This type of structure characterizes the work as a relationship with interchangeable responsibilities and outcomes(Lawler & Worley, 2006)..
The teams structure has a complexity variable based on the nature of the team; their short-term product/project teams are better positioned to make change happen successfully faster than the more permanent teams. Well-structured virtual work teams have less complexity in adapting to structural changes immediately there is not physical office/desk space change required and personal life disruptions unless their working time will change. This type of structure must be well rounded and connected to the non-virtual parts of the organization to make adoption to change more feasible. Business unit structure is not positioned or equipped to understand and execute change. A better way to facilitate a structural change in the business unit model is to lift and shift entire business units to other organizations-this way the deficit of missing specific skills in a few team members will be less impactful when the entire business units shift intact (Lawler & Worley, 2006).
Reference
Lawler, E.E. & Worley, C.G. (2006).Built to change: How to achieve sustained organizational effectiveness.New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.