Chapter 10 : Organizational Change and Leadership Processes

Summary from Textbook:

Change is viewed as a constant and never-ending process. It is an enduring feature of organizational life, and the degree and impact may vary.

An organization may go through several phases: the start-up phase, the growth phase, the harvest phase and the decay phase. Depending on the company, such phases may be over a long period of time. Usually change within the organization is planned, in which the organization explores the need for change and possible solutions, plans for how it can be instituted, implementation of change dissemination of information, and integration of change into the operations of organization. It has also been seen that planned change involves a number of different types of change, and might be accomplished through a variety of methods. However, due to the interdependence between task, structure, culture and strategy, no change process is straightforward.

There are many reactions to organizational change, and not all of them are accepted by all parties involved. Problems such as: lack of management support, top managers forcing change, inconsistent action by key managers, unrealistic expectations, lack of meaningful participation, poor communication, unclear purpose of program and improper identification of responsibility for change could affect outcomes of the change.

There are many strategies implemented by managers to communicate about change: spray and pray, tell and sell, underscore and explore, identify and reply, withhold and uphold. Different strategies have different positives and negatives.

Sometimes, change can occur within an organization due to factors outside the management’s control. These are known as crisis, events that are unpredictable, threats that affect organizations, industries or stakeholders negatively.

There are three stages to organizational crisis: precrisis- where everyone can work together to prevent or prepare for problems, crisis- trigger that threatens the organization’s survival or reputation, postcrisis- overcoming the crisis and preparations for future.

Due to problems mentioned above, leadership within the organization is important, as one can make or break an organization depending on how effective one is, although sometimes external factors may play a part in bringing down an organization.

There are many models of leadership; one main one is the trait theory, where leaderships are based off past common traits of effective leaders, to create one model to select people with the best combination.

The second one is the style theory that was mentioned in chapter 3, where leaders were valued in terms of their concern for production and concern of people.

The third theory is the contingency theory, where leaders who focus on achieving task goals may be more effective in structured situations than leaders who focus more on relationships.

Two leadership models are the transactional leadership model, in which there is an exchange or promise between leader and follower, and the transformational leadership model, which helps followers achieve their full potential, as well as improving the leader in the process.

Communication in the leadership process is very important, and content varies with situation. The way the message is delivered is important as well, strong delivery styles, the way in which the message was framed, and the timing in which it was delivered played an important part in leadership success. This can only be done if the leader has a clear understanding of their view on reality, and their own goals for the organization and for communicating the message.

The ways in which change and leadership are viewed by different approaches can be seen below:

• Classical- change is viewed negatively unless it is controlled. Leadership is tied to management


• Human relations- change as a human process , leaders to focus on needs of workers


• Human resources- change seen as a way to harness skills and abilities of workers, skills of leaders are adapted to suit different situations


• Systems- change viewed as an outcome of chaotic systems of complex information


• Cultural- change seen as reflections of organizational values and assumptions, effective change and leadership depends on understanding prevailing cultural and subcultural believes


• Critical- planned change and leadership viewed as mechanisms in which management establishes and maintains a relationship of power and authority

This chapter highlights the importance of change and how it can affect the quality of work in a workplace. It also shows how effective leaders can either enhance the effectiveness of change, or reduce the negative effects of it. It also shows how poor communication can increase the negatives of leaving the workplace.

Reference:

Miller, K 2009, Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, 6^th edition, Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Company.