All Quiet on the Change Front

and its importance cannot be dismissed. Even the human resources who are the foundation of change management cannot be dismissed as well. Lack of human resources would result in lack of execution that damages the purpose of change management.

It is important for the management to understand that human resource must be well accustomed to the consequences of the changes that will take place in the organization.

A change model described by Kurt Levin describes a three-stage process. He has termed the first stage as “unfreezing”. This stage deals with the existing beliefs of the individuals that they will find hard to change according to the needs of the organization. This happens largely due to learning anxiety, that is, the fear of failing to learn a new thing, and secondly because of cognitive redefinition, that is, different scenarios can exist from the present scenarios.

The second stage is known as the “Change” where the individual undergoes changes, wherein he learns new things by relying on a role model who fits into the culture of the organization.

And the third stage is known as “refreeze”, here for stability of change refreezing of mindset is required so that they can deal with changed scenarios.

Some change theories are based on the Kubler Ross model. Its stages describe the personal and emotional stages that an individual goes through when dealing with the death of a lost one. Similar feelings are encountered, as individuals have to encounter change.

According to Gleicher’s formula, for meaningful changes to occur, the organizational dissatisfaction, vision for future and the possibility of immediate tactical action must be stronger than the resistance within the organization.

Prosci’s ADKAR model for change management describes five required building blocks for change to be realized successfully on an individual level. The building block includes awareness, as to why the change is needed, desire to participate in the change, the knowledge to change, the ability to implement new skills and reinforcement to sustain the change.

The above-mentioned models help the organization to achieve a benchmark for managing the people. Donald Schon’s model explores the inherent nature of organizations to be conservative and shield them away from constant change. Schon recognizes the increasing need due to increasing pace of change for this process to become more flexible. This model had two processes. One which required learning above things which would develop the organization and the second one being the “reflection in action”, the mapping by which a process by which this constant change can be coped up with.

It is very important on the part of the management to estimate the impact of a change on the behavior patterns of employees, motivation, work processes and values. Management should assess how the employee will react to a change. It should accordingly create a change program for the employees to provide support for accepting the change. These programs should be monitored for effectiveness and necessary adjustments should be induced.

For effective change management, the organization should be able to change themselves in order to tackle with internal and external changes.

Change management stresses a lot of importance on the human aspect of the change. There are consequences of change that affect people in the organization. This aspect must be given proper weight age in change management. Imagine immaculate plans, objectives but a confused and resistant lot of human resource. It would bring the organization back to square one.

So in order to deal with changes and achieve growth from the changing environment, the workers should be given a chance to participate in the planning process so that the workers do not remain all quiet on the change front and embrace change with a determination to succeed.

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