Term Paper on "Role of Leaders in Change Management"

Term Paper 5 pages (1593 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Business

The Role of Leaders in Change Management

According to Watkins (2004), in order for a change management leader to be successful they have to manufacture momentum early on in the change process by gaining wins. Watkins defines a win as dissimilar things depending on the situation. In a start-up, getting an accurate team in place and attaining strategic focus are key wins. If one has to choose what they are not going to do, they then have to discipline company not to do it. In turnarounds, getting the correct team in place is also a key possible early win, as is recognizing the defendable center of the business and making key development in parting the company back to it. In realignments, attaining the need for change and putting in place a sense of necessity are frequently big early wins. Finally, in supporting success situations, gaining and displaying accepting of what has made the company victorious is a key early win because it helps one win the right to make choices about the company's future.

In Kotter's 1996 piece Successful Change and the Forces that Drive it, the author identifies 8 steps that are essential for successful change management.

1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency -- a good leader must look at market and competitive actualities and be familiar with and talk about disaster, probable crises or main chances.

2. Creating the Guiding Coalition -- leaders must bring together a group with adequate power to lead the change endeavor and give assurance to the group to work as a team.

3. Developing a Change Vision -- leaders must generate an idea to assist direct the change effort by developing strategies for attaining that vision.

4. Communicating the Vision for Buy-in -- leaders must use every way achievable to speak about the new vision and strategies and teach new behaviors by the example.

5. Empowering Broad-based Action -- leaders must get rid of obstructions to change by changing systems or arrangements that gravely weaken the vision and by supporting the risk-taking and nontraditional ideas, actions, and events.

6. Generating Short-term Wins -- leaders must plan for observable performance improvements and generate those developments by distinguishing and gratifying workers involved in the developments..

7. Never Letting Up -- leaders must use augmented trustworthiness to change systems, arrangement and strategies that don't fit the vision by hiring, promoting and developing workers who can put into practice the vision. They must also revitalize the process with new projects, theme, and change agents.

8. Incorporating Changes into the Culture -- leaders must articulate the connections between the new behaviors and company accomplishment by developing the means to make sure leadership development and series.

According to Kanter (1999), organizational change has become a way of life as a consequence of three forces: globalization, information technology, and industry consolidation. In today's world, all companies, from the Fortune 500 to the local nonprofit agency, need larger reach. They need to be in more places, to be more conscious of regional and cultural dissimilarities, and to put together rational strategies the work occurring in different markets and neighborhoods. The first two forces for change, globalization and technology, will unavoidably grow. But it's not sufficient for companies to just go global or get networked. In a worldwide, modern world, companies need to be more liquid, comprehensive, and receptive. They need to administer intricate information flows, grab new ideas rapidly, and spread those ideas all through the business.

When looking at Watkins and Kotter and how they see change management it can be seen that all agree on the fact that it is important for a leader to figure out what needs to be done and then do it. What appears to be important is that a leader must have a plan and then implement it. This allows them to gain momentum and hopefully buy in from others in the company. These two are settled on the notion that the most important thing is the process of who change is implemented and this is what leaders should focus on. When looking at Kanter on the other hand, the important thing appears to be the leaders understanding what is driving the change in order for them to manage it successfully. From Kanter's point-of-view it is not so much about how the change is implemented but more about what is causing the change to be undertaken, which then drives how the change plan looks.

When change is forced within a company, clearly the most significant determinant of getting through the change is the capability of leadership to lead. In a company where there is confidence in the abilities of official leaders, workers will look towards the leaders for a number of things. Throughout radical change times, workers will expect efficient and levelheaded planning, positive and effective decision-making, and standard, complete communications that are appropriate. Also throughout these times of change, workers will recognize leadership as helpful, concerned and devoted to their well-being, while at the same time be aware that tough choices need to be made. The best way to summarize is that there is an environment of trust among leaders and the rest of the team. The subsistence of this trust brings optimism for better times in the future, and that makes dealing with extreme change much easier.

In companies thought to have poor leadership, workers often expect nothing optimistic. In an environment of doubt, workers learn that leaders will act in impossible to read manners and in manners that do not seem to be in anyone's best interests. Poor leadership means a lack of hope, which, if permitted to go on for too long, results in a company becoming totally nonfunctioning. The company must deal with the sensible force of unpleasant change, but more significantly, must go on under the weight of workers who have given up, have no confidence in the system or in the capability of leaders to turn the company around. Leadership prior to, throughout and after change implementation is the key to getting through the issue. Regrettably, if one hasn't created a track record of effectual leadership, by the time they have to deal with hard changes, it may be too late.

Triumphant change management necessitates a large pledge from executives and senior managers, whether the change is happening in a department or throughout an entire company. Leaders must found an understandable vision for the change management process. They must lay out where the company will end up and the expected outcomes. Leaders need to make certain the outlook is one of realism and not what people wish would happen. It is vital that there be an executive champion who is in charge of the change management process and makes sure that other senior managers, as well as other proper people in the company, are concerned.

Leaders must take notice to the changes that are taking place. They should ask how things are going and focus on the advancement being made and any blockades that come up. One of the worst potential scenarios is to have the leaders pay no attention to the process. It is significant to found an arrangement which will support the change. Leaders must ask for and act upon comment from other members of the company in order to keep everyone on the same page.

Leaders must make sure that they take into account the human component in the change. People have dissimilar needs and dissimilar ways of responding to change. They need time to deal with and amend to change. Senior leaders must also partake in the training that other company members go through, but, even more significantly, they must display their learning so that they can lead by example.

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