Change Management

Learning Organizations and Effectiveness
OMM 625

Abstract
Change can bring out some very innovative ideas and can tap into all unexplored areas of an organization. Organizations that develop both formal and informal structures can provide customary ways of reacting to external and internal events. Thus, change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level.

Change Management
Management’s first responsibility to change is to identify processes or behaviors that are not proficient. Particularly, management must come up with new ideas that are more effective within an organization. Once changes are known, it is important for management to estimate the impact it will have on their organization and individual employees on many levels including technology, employee behavior, and work processes. At this point, management should assess the employee’s reaction to an implemented change and try to understand the reaction to it. In many cases, change can be extremely beneficial but sometimes produces a tremendous amount of resistance. For example, what a manager does and how it is done can be categorized by Henri Fayol’s four functions of management to include: Planning, Organizing, Leadership, and Controlling. Through these functions management can be catalysts for change or by definition change agents. First, planning is a process that involves defining the organization’s objectives or goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing a comprehensive hierarchy of plans to integrate and coordinate activities (Robbins et al., 2000, p. 247). One of the reasons for planning is to reduce the impact of change. It does this by creating an environment that is accepting of change and predicting change. For the most part,