Changing Organizational Model

Changing Organizational Model

I asked one of my colleagues “When is the right time to change?” She replied:”Now.”

“How about tomorrow?” She laughs.

Change usually happens to an organization at all times. It can be distinguished from change that is planned by, generally initiated and implemented by managers. Planned change is made in order for them to increase the organization’s effectiveness and capability to change itself.

Why there is a need to change? Organizations change to solve problems, to learn from experience, to reframe shared perceptions, to adapt to external environmental changes, improve performance, and to influence future changes.

One of the sharers discussed the model of change by Kurt Lewin. She presented the change process as consisting of the following three steps: (1) unfreezing, (2) moving, and (3) refreezing.

Lewin’s model provides a general framework for understanding organizational change. These three steps of change are relatively broad, considerably effort has gone into elaborating them. As an example, the planning model developed by Lippitt, Watson, and Westley arranges Lewin’s model into seven steps: scouting, entry, diagnosis (unfreezing), planning, action (moving), stabilization and evaluation, and termination (refreezing). Similarly, Kotter’s eight stage process can be mapped onto Lewin’s phases: establishing a sense of urgency, creating the guiding coalition, developing a vision and strategy, and communicating the change vision (unfreezing); empowering broad-band action, generating short-term wins (moving); and consolidating gains and producing more change, and anchoring new approaches in the culture (refreezing).

Therefore, Lewin’s model is used to illustrate how other types of change can be implemented. For example, Lewin’s three-step model has been used to explain how Information Technologies can be implemented more effectively.

Lewin’s change model conceived of change as modification of those forces keeping the system’s behaviour stable. Specifically, this particular set of behaviours is the result of two group of forces: those striving to maintain the status quo and those pushing for change. When both sets of forces are about equal, current behaviours are maintained. In order to change that state, one can increase those forces pushing for change, decrease those forces maintaining the current state, or apply some combination of both. Lewin suggested that decreasing those forces maintaining the status quo produces less tension and resistance than increasing forces for change and consequently is a more effective change strategy.

Organizational change is a must to achieve certain goals. A very good example, our class in Organizational Analysis is facilitated by a good leader; he changed the way our class discuss over different topics. In a class everybody is considered a sharer.  A traditional hierarchical class normally a teacher is a manager of the class and talks everything in a lesson (spoon feeding) while students just listen. Our professor in the class changed the usual traditional hierarchical structure into a flat organization.   There is an open discussion where everybody can add ideas to the matter being tackled, as well as share their learning and related experiences from their organization where they belong.

Another change that was implemented was the address of the students used to call their Professor. Instead of calling him by “Sir” it was changed into by calling him with his first name “Randy”.

I doubt, if this will be adapted in our organization because it would surely raise one’s eyebrow. You should call her “Madame” or “Dr. ______” (kay taghagoan ug tag gastohan daw).

As the adage goes “If you don’t adapt to change, you are still part of the 19^th Century. Better resign, transfer, or retire”.