BSc.

SEMESTER-V
DSE-PSY-02: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Paper Code: BPSYDSHC2
Dr. Shabana Azmi
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University

Unit: 4 Organizational Change: Concept and Model

The dictionary meaning of change as a noun is — ‘making or becoming different,

difference from previous state, substitution of one for another, variation’ etc. We are
experiencing changes in all spheres of our lives — food, drinks, clothing, relationships,
ambitions, living standard, work, tools, techniques.

Change is the alteration of status quo or making things different than before. Change is
the disturbance of equilibrium presently prevailing. It is any alternation that occurs in
the overall work environment of an organization. Hence, Organizational change refers
to the process of growth, decline and transformation within the organization.

Mr. John Bull defines organizational change as “When an organizational system is

disturbed by some internal or external force, change frequently occurs. Change as a
process, is simply modification of the structure or process of a system. It may be good
or bad, the concept is disruptive only”.

Organizational change refers to the process of growth, decline and transformation

within the organization. Organizational change is necessary for companies to
succeed and grow. Organizations may change their strategy or purpose, introduce new
products or services, change the way they produce and sell, change their technology,
enter new markets, close down departments or plants, hire new employees, acquire
other organisations become acquired by other organisations and what not ! In doing so,
they may turn larger, smaller or stay the same in terms of size.

Organizational changes are of two types:

1. Reactive changes and

2. Proactive changes (planned changes).

1. Reactive Changes:
Reactive changes occur when forces compel organization to implement change without
delay. In other words, when demands made by the forces are compiled in a passive
manner, such a change is called reactive change.

2. Proactive Changes:
Proactive changes occur when some factors make realize organization think over and
finally decide that implementation of a particular change is necessary. Then, the change
is introduced in a planned manner
There are numerous visible and invisible forces, which are constantly affecting changes
in organizations, a few of them may be enumerated as follows:
Technology — Tools, techniques, instruments, methods, procedures
Work force — Knowledge, skills, ambitions, expectations, needs.
Economy — Liberalization, globalization, privatization, breaking the barriers resource
imbalance
Competition — Mergers, acquisitions, entry of new organizations, new products,
lowering prices, better services.
Social trends — Nuclear families, working couples, late marriages, one child norm.
Political — Warning ideologies, new equations, transitory relationships, coalition
Govts etc., single superpower.
Financial — New types of Finances and Financial Institutions

All changes are not similar in nature. Some changes keep on happening on their own
and some are planned. There are three types of changes.
1. Evolution
2. Revolution
3. Planned change
When people are not willing or / and not prepared for facing the change, change comes
gradually as a natural process, in small adjustments or shifts in response to emerging
problems — this type of change has been called Evolution.

When people reach a state of readiness to resolve conflicts by applying force on others
to comply through coercion or suppression, revolution takes place. When efforts are
made to make others experience the need of change and determine the ideal or desired
situation and striving to achieve the ideal or desired state through planned actions —
planned change takes place.

Change Targets
There could be a variety of possible targets of change in an organization.
Few examples are:
⚫ Vision, mission task, and goal
⚫ Structure
⚫ Strategy
⚫ Systems, procedures, technology
⚫ Organizational Values
⚫ Management styles
⚫ Culture
⚫ Human resource : knowledge, skills, attitudes, values

PROCESS OF CHANGE
Change is process of moving from the current state to the desired state (vision) of future.
Making a change involves, moving the organizations people and culture in line with the
strategies, structure, processes and systems to achieve desired state (vision).

Existing Change (Transition) Vision (Desired

Situation Situation)

The existing situation is the status, which is prevailing at the moment, what the organizations
looks like now. The desired situation is the status which one desires to prevail; it is also called
vision. A vision helps in clarifying—
⚫ What do we want to become?
⚫ How much needs to change?
⚫ What the Organization should look like when the change is completed?
The transition state may be defined by ascertaining the activities and processes
necessary to transform the organizations from its current state to the desired state — a
road map — for specifying the activities, crucial interventions and events during the
transition period. For making an organization move from the existing state to desired
state some ‘force’ is to be applied. Some forces applied by the individual(s) undergoing
the change oppose the force applied for moving to the desired state — this is called
resistance.

Virtually every organization will, at some point, undergo a transition or change in order
to remain feasible or alive.

Unfortunately, organizational change isn’t always easy to adapt to and can be

intimidating for all team members who find themselves impacted by it. There are many
models are available to organizational change but what change model is used,
depending on the situation and level of former organizational change experience.

Lewin's Change Model

A very simple change model was invented by social psychologist Kurt Lewin
(Kreitner,Kinicki, 2007, p. 584). According to Lewin’s three step model, successful
change in organizations should follow three steps:
1. Unfreezing,
2. Changing, and
3. Refreezing.
This model assumes the change is planned and emphasizes that no matter what kind of
change is being made (i.e. structure-, system- or behavior-related), people are always
the root of the change. This model also places a heavy focus on reducing resistance to
change by referring to two forces in an organization-driving forces and restraining
forces. Driving forces are reasons people are motivated to change. Restraining forces
represent reasons people are hesitant to change.
For affecting the change:
1. The Driving forces should be identified, assessed and intensified / added.
2. The Restraining forces should be identified, assessed and weakened /
removed.
3. Both strategies are followed simultaneously.

With these forces in mind, let's look at Lewin's change model.

Stages of Lewin's Change Model-

1. Unfreezing- For making any change something has to be done in a planned way to
disturb the status quo: this is called de freezing (unfreezing). For example, for a
stagnant product, every product will remain stagnant and non-competitive leading to
decay vertically down unless and until an external, innovative and relevant technology
is proposed to cause its growth vertically upwards. This stage aim sat disturbing the
existing equilibrium and creates motivation to change using mechanisms like — (a)
lack of confirmation or disconfirmation (b) sharing one’s concerns and perceptions
openly, looking in to feelings, removal of barriers of communications, induction of
guilt and anxiety and creations of threats by reduction of psychological safety,
presentation of alternative scenarios etc.

In case of any change, the effort is going to face individual resistance and group
conformity. These change efforts for overcoming the pressures of both individual
resistance and group conformity. This stage is the preparatory stage for a change to
occur and takes places as driving forces become greater than restraining forces. People
are more motivated than hesitant to change. People prepare to make the desired change.
However, to get to this point, a lot of resistance, such as fear of the unknown or
breaking old habits, must be overcome. The following tactics may be used to reduce
resistance. Each can be used in the appropriate setting.

Communicating the Rationale behind Change-

It is very essential that the people should know-why change? What is the motive behind
change? What is that justifies change? People are eager to know the answer to these
questions before they are asked to act upon. Hence, it is very essential to bring home the
rationale behind the change which is possible through effective communication.
Keep people updated about the status of the change. Make employees aware of how the
change will impact them, for good or for bad. One interviewee stated that not being
transparent bothers people more than the change itself (V. Agnihotri, personal
communication, September 11, 2012}. An interviewee, who was in the middle of a
large organizational restructure, said that most people are willing to look past
themselves and support the change if they can understand the "why" behind it.

Training- Give people the knowledge and skills needed to reach expectations.

Employee involvement -Include certain employees in decisions about thechange.

Allow them to share their ideas.

Stress management-Give employees opportunities to discuss with someonetheir

concerns regarding the change. Sometimes simply knowing what is manageable(in
regards to making adjustments to the change based on an employee'sconcerns} is all an
employee needs to be satisfied that his or her concerns weretaken into consideration as
much as possible. Then this individual is willing tosupport the change.

Negotiation- Give employees something they want to persuade them to makethe

change.
Creating Conducive Atmosphere for Change- Change for the better is impossible
unless the organisation has conducive atmosphere for change. The high yielding
systems such as total quality management (TQM), total preventive maintenance (TPM),
total cost management (TCM), six-sigma, re-engineering, cluster dynamics,
re-organisation and the like are likely to fail because the management is disabled to
bring about change in work-climate.

That is why Professor Victor S.L. Tan says that even the well-orchestrated change will
fail if the environment is not conducive; the plans, efforts and morale get defeated along
the way; thus, it is necessary to develop an environment that is positive for change.
Coercion- Give employees an "ultimatum": Make the change or be let go. Thisis an
extreme example, but people don't change simply because they are askedto {C. Ganiere,
personal communication, August 22, 2012). They need a reasonto do so, and
sometimes this method of reducing resistance is necessary.

2. Changing/Intervening-This stage is when the change actually occurs. People

learn the new behaviors, systems, structures, etc. The steps to be taken for making the
desired change should be planned considering all aspects — Tasks, Technology,
Structure and Human Resource .This step aims at developing new responses by
providing new information.

3. Refreezing- This stage is where the change is reinforced. This is done through
feedback and organizational rewards for demonstrating the desired behavior.
Refreezing stabilizes a change intervention by balancing the forces which have created
the desired (driving forces) and those, which are inhibiting the changes to occur
(restraining forces).
This stage helps stabilizing and integrating the changes. This is gained by integrating
new responses into persons and into significant ongoing relationships through
reconfirmation.

Lewin's model demonstrates the process of change in one of the simplest forms
possible. Specific resistance-reducer tactics are outlined to facilitate the least resistant
and least stressful change process possible.

References and Web link

1. [Link]
1897
2. Calder, Ashley May, "Organizational Change: Models for Successfully
Implementing Change" (2013). Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. 144.
[Link]
3. IGNOU Study material on Organizational development and change.