Reactive Change Management: Overview and Case Study

Introduction

Life and changes were born together and they will live together, till the last sunset. The concept of changes was born with the organizations, however its evolution, development and connotations have frequently changed and its horizontal, as well as, vertical expansions and applications are extending day be day, with a fast speed. Manifold and multidimensional revolutions from era has enhance the speed of changes and given it many new shapes. It is very interesting phenomenon that inventions, discoveries, concepts, hypothesis and terminologies etc are coined or designed for one specific field, but then they outgrow and enter into many other fields and areas, carrying different meaning, perceptions and interpretations. In the present era of globalization and information technology, the organizations have to face various changes on a very rapid pace. Thus, demanding an increased and active participation of management towards identifying and reacting to the changes. The different ways to manage changes in organizations are being practice at various levels.

Effective Change Management

The process of effective change management enables the organizations to successfully implement changes in the strategies and plans in order to enhance their effectiveness. The strategies can be implemented to deal various changes like changes in consumer behavior, technological developments etc. This concept appears to be helpful in responding to a change in the lifecycle of goods or services produced by the company and changes in the financial stability of the company. Organizations may consider the effective change management strategies from a proactive or reactive situation. Proactive situation demands manager to vigorously assess the current economic market and business atmospheric circumstances to highlight the changes occur in the near long-term future. By assessing these information, the managers adopt to develop business strategies to improve or enhance business operation.

The Concept of Reactive Change Management

In order to cater the major shifts or changes occurs in the corporate world and economic market the organizations consider various strategies. Although, the approach of reactive change management normally appears to be imperceptible but the implementation of effective strategies can not only reduces its negative impacts but enable the companies to increase their market share.

Factors to be Considered when Managing a Change

1. The change agent
2. Determining what should be changed
3. The kind of change to make
4. Individuals affected by the modifications
5. Evaluation of the modification

The Change Agent

The identification and analysis of change agent comes out to be the most important factor while managing a reactive change in the corporate world. The change agent may requires some broad nature decisions like altering the culture of whole organization, or some narrow ones like designing and implementing a new safety program or a new quality program.

Determining what should be changed

Secondly the finalization of the factors which are required to be reviewed for managing changes in an organization is highly important. In common, managers should make only those changes that will increase organizational effectiveness. The organizational effectiveness primarily depends upon activities revolving around the three factors.

a. People

b. Structure

c. Technology

People factors are attitudes, leadership skills, communication skills and all other characteristics of the human resources within the organization. Structural factors are organizational controls, such as policies and procedures. And technological factors are any types of equipment or processes that assist organization members in the performance of their jobs. For the management of organization, while managing changes the theme “Appropriate people must be matched with appropriate technology and appropriate structure” proves to be necessary.

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The Kind of Changes to Make

When the management has to review their current strategies for managing changes the factor of selecting appropriate areas is critical. For example in order to manage technological change the level of current technologies requires to be modified.

Individuals Affected by the Change

A fourth major factor to be considered by the organization while managing changes is the identification of its influences on the individuals both inside and outside of the organization. A good assessment of what to change and how to make the change will be wasted if organization members do not support the change.

Evaluation of the Modifications

In connection with the other factors the evaluation of the modifications being made for managing changes is very necessary. It will enable the management to evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications made to manage change.

Resistance to Change

Resistance to change is as common as the need of change. After managers decide to make some organizational changes, they typically meet with employee resistance aimed at preventing that change from occurring. Behind this resistance by organization members lies the fear of some personal loss, such as a reduction in personal prestige, a disturbance of established social and working relationships, and personal failure because of inability to carry out new job requirements.

Reducing Resistance to Change

To ensure the success of needed modifications, management should be able to reduce the effects of the resistance that typically accompanies proposed change. Resistance can usually be lowered by following these guidelines:

1. Avoid Surprises: People need time to evaluate a proposed change before management implements it. Unless they are given time to evaluate and absorb how the change will affect them. Whenever, possible individuals who will be affected by a change should be informed of the kind of change being considered and the probability that it will be adopted.

2. Promote Real Understanding: When fear of personal loss related to a proposed change is reduce, opposition to change is also reduced. Most managers find that ensuring that organization members thoroughly understand a proposed change is a major step in reducing this fear.

3. Set the Stage for Change: Perhaps the most powerful tool for reducing resistance to change is management’s positive attitude toward the change. This attitude should be displayed openly by top and middle management as well as by lower management. In essence, management should convey that change is one of the basic prerequisites for a successful organization. Management should also strive to be seen as encouraging change to increase organizational effectiveness, rather than for sake of trying something new.

Case Study of Strategic change at Samsung Group

Case study is a research strategy which involves investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon in the real life situation using multiple sources of evidence. More elaborate explanation on the nature of the case study as a research strategy was given by Frenkel, Hommel, Dufey & Markus, (2005). in whose view case study represents ‘a specific way of collecting, organizing, and analyzing data’. Grounded theory represents a strategy which posits that the data is collected through observations and compared to various theoretical frameworks in order to discover which of the data is the most appropriate. This leads the researcher into making predictions about the studied phenomena prior to putting the findings into test. However, the aim of grounded theory is to make studied data records well-developed and understood and to verify relationships between the findings and the case study in question (Frenkel, Hommel, Dufey & Markus, 2005).

Samsung Group, a company based in the Republic of Korea that produces electronic products like televisions and radios, was able to compete favorable in the world market on the basis of low product cost resulting primarily from cheap labor and a cheap Korean currency. But when both the competitive advantages vanished the company had to adopt some different strategies.

The management of Samsung Group evaluated the circumstances and adopted a change in their strategy. They decided to utilize the factor of innovation by exploring new ideas and products instead of depending on low product cost. This change management of the Samsung Group, enabled them to grab big dividends. The top management of Samsung also enabled to guide their employees towards the new strategies of bringing innovative products.

Advantage of Reactive Change Management

The effective utilization of reactive change management enables the management of organizations to increase their market share and to bring success for their organization. Some of the main advantages are discussed below: -.

In-depth Assessment of Changes

The reactive change management provides some additional time to access the impacts of changes being faced by the corporate world. It is obvious that the results of changes at any level can be determined after its implementation and a reasonable time span. Therefore, by adopting reactive change management the organization gets the opportunity to analyze the impact of changes and then finalizing the plans and strategies to cater those changes.

Evaluation of Competitors Strategies and their Outcome

Reactive change management also enables the management to evaluate the changes adopted by their competitors to mange the change. Moreover, the outcome of those strategies could also be judged and considered while finalizing the change management strategies.

Consultation for Change Management Strategies

Reactive change management lets the management to embrace consultations within the organizational setup to evaluate the changes being encountered. Moreover, various suggestions regarding the strategies and policies can be discussed and their implications can be evaluated. This process will enable them to enhance the participating of various organizational members and results in enhancing the effectiveness of strategies and policies.

Enhances the Stability of Organization

Stability of organization is as important as the need of growth. If an organization adopts change management strategies on frequent basis it will questions the factor of its stability. Reactive change management enables organizations to evaluate the factor of stability before adopting any change in their strategies.

Conclusion

Most of the managers agree that if an organization is to thrive, it must change in response to significant developments in the corporate environment, such as changing customer needs, technological breakthroughs, and new government regulations. The study of organizational changes is extremely important because all managers’ at all organizational levels are faced throughout their careers with the task of changing their organization. Managers who determine appropriate changes to make in their organizations and them implement such changes successfully enable their organizations to be more flexible and innovative. Change is such a fundamental part of organizational existence and growth. In additional to organizational change, degree of stability is a prerequisite for long-term organizational success. The organizational survival and growth are most probable when both stability and adaptation are high within the organization. The organization without enough stability to compliment changes is at a definite disadvantage. When stability is low the probability of organizational survival and success decline.