Read the article below and then answer the following questions.
1. Discuss the latest trends in Change management (short background, current situation, best practices and the future in the Change management field.).
2. Why Change management is important for your career
3. How are you planning to incorporate this topic in your future or current professional plans (jobs, businesses, projects, etc.)
FACTORS THAT CAUSE CHANGE
Transformations must be well prepared. The management, the responsible field of initiating and monitoring change, must be aware of, analyse in depth the action scenarios, test them when needed, pilot stations and only later to prepare for the organization; furthermore, there comes planning, organizing, coordinating and continuously evaluating the process of change. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN THE AIR FORCE â€" AFASES2018 353 Change is not for the sake of change and not in any way, but after a proper management of concrete conditions, not copied from others. Each organization has its own peculiarities, which determines us to say that there is no generally accepted preset prescription. Creative solving involves finding innovative scientific ways appropriate to each particularity. Even the inside of the organization does not match the same methods of change. When examining the conditions for triggering change, consideration should be given to political, legal, social, economic, educational, traditional-cultural, psychological issues.
The main determinants of change: -legislative particularities (constitutional, organic and special legislative framework) in the field of interest; -the local, national, subregional, regional, global economic environment; -the degree of price liberalization; -the exchange rate; -the degree of stability/instability of inflation; -ownership structure; -access to information from the organization, versus access to citizens' information; -internal order status; -the banking system; -the degree of state involvement in stimulating the field; -influences of local, regional, global conflicts emerging (deployment); -financial bottlenecks; -law enforcement; -the level of corruption on different levels of power etc. We find that the politico-socio-economic environment is experiencing a process of accelerated transformation. These phenomena translate organizations into a situation of increasing the pace of change. Courageous managers, willingly, who believe in change impose development shocks and succeed. Change is accentuated and is a feature of our everyday life, must be perceived, conceived and applied [3]. The previously mentioned change is a complex process. Like any process, it must be well-guided and, as a result, well-known. Although the literature does not abound in explanations, we still intend to classify this process. The change is classified according to several criteria: a. By the magnitude of the changes: - partial. It targets only certain aspects of the organization (resizing substructures, managerial reorientations etc.); - total. Consider the whole organization (total or overwhelming majority of substructures). b. By the degree of readiness: - planned changes. They are anticipated in advance and implemented according to already prepared methodologies (procedures), reducing the risks of precipitated actions in a hurry. In this case, everything is moving in the way the organization wants; - unplanned changes. They are reactive in response to environmental fluctuations. We have to deal with adaptation to imposed conditions and, as a result, there is always the risk of mistakes in how to design and implement change. Causes can be produced by justified, wide-ranging actions, loss of influence due to conflicts, natural disasters etc. c. By the way of determination:
imposed changes. They take place in emergency situations, under environmental pressure. As a rule, it creates dissatisfaction, opposition, tension. They are imposed either by management or by the structures of execution; - participatory changes. In which, in one form or another, part of the organization's entire staff. Resistance to change is virtually null. It targets long-term changes; - changes caused by re-technology. Performing technologies directly or indirectly influence the whole organization, such as putting into use an intranet, introducing highperformance industrial robots, replacing technology and modernizing transport means, introducing high-performance surveillance and control etc. All of this dismisses some of the employees, increases the professional-cultural degree of the organization, increases productivity, profit, product quality, lowers maintenance costs, widening sales outlets and more. Consequently, for redundant staff, solutions have to be found. For example, one of the solutions could be to set up new service substructures by re-training the workforce and adequately endowing with means of production, but there are certainly other profitable alternatives for the organization and its employees for the nation; - negotiated changes. They are based on discussions aimed at harmonizing the interests of the negotiating parties and the joint agreement to support the implementation process.
THE STAGING OF CHANGE Being a systematic process, change involves several stages. Staging is a logical succession of pre-arranged, interfaced, and flexible operations. In order for change to be beneficial at all levels, it must be well-grounded and deployed according to a concrete situation-based methodology [4]. Stages of change: - external environment analysis; - assessing the organization's response capacity; - identifying, appropriating the need for change; - preparing human resources for change; - understanding the need for change; - diagnosing the organization in sensitive areas; - identifying variations of change; - anticipating and overcoming resistance to change; - choice of time and duration of change; - maintaining the trend of change. a. The external environment analysis is determined by the manifestations that take place. The change is driven by state-of-the-art technologies, new markets and citizens' preferences, government pressures and social expectations. The world has become anxious, hastened and so will it be in the future. The organization, through the possibilities it has, can not influence the external environment. It obeys the action of these external factors. Here are some of their manifestations: • the withdrawal of global, regional, subregional political influence limits; social transformations in the area of the markets (demographic issues, population preparedness, urban/rural population ratio, average family members, population and age ratio, all analysed in dynamics); • the trend of globalization of markets and the expansion of global cooperation in production (for example, a Volkswagen car, in fact, organizations from all continents); • the unprecedented acceleration of technological upgrades (new information and communications technologies shorten life cycles, shorten communication times between people, generate new systems, infrastructures, unpredictable conceptions and developments);
changing attitudes towards environmental protection (organic and chemical products and substitutes are increasingly being sought after). As easily deduced, the organization, no matter how strong it may be, is not capable of confronting these phenomena from outside. b. Assessing the organization's response capacity. The organization behaves like a living organism. It is born, grows, matures, reaches its peak, falls into decline and then goes bankrupt. Throughout the journey, it must be conserved, readjusted, redeployed, maintained through a specific treatment system at functional parameters. Management is the one who views at any point the stage of the organization and, depending on the state in which it is located, applies the appropriate measures. Most of the specialists identified five phases of the organization's evolutionary cycle [1]: • development through creativity (specific to the incipient period of the organization when the founder, with his vision and visionary style, is in the spotlight); towards the end of the phase there is the crisis of authority; • development through management (when the need for an authoritarian manager appears, as the founder maintains in a melancholy state as a "good parent"); at the end of the phase there is the crisis of autonomy; • development by delegation (when authority has become unbearable, and it has to be delegated to more hierarchical employees. This creates a strong sense of involvement of management teams in key-issues with the responsibilities arising from this phase). There is a power crisis, in which the power struggle takes place between professional managers; • co-ordination development (when aligning top-down and bottom-up planning communication becomes essential, managers on different hierarchical stages behave according to the new requirements, a new organizational culture is born, and also a new perception of the employees). The crisis that occurs represents the bureaucracy in which the local initiative is stifled; • collaborative development (where bureaucracy is replaced by simplification and integration of information flows, temporary multidisciplinary team work, co-ordination, co-operation is initiated from inside, not imposed from above). Expecting a new manifestation of crisis. We notice that at the end of each phase there is a crisis that helps the organization to make the next step and move forward, which means a new challenge, agitation, emotions meantg to create new opportunities for change, but that does not have to represent a fear factor. However, the most difficult thing in management is to think about the modalities to interpret and act. This involves careful business monitoring, reporting reactions and well-directed actions. The real assessment of the organization's capacity in relation to the external environment is of great importance, thus avoiding cosmetic, façade changes with no substance, consuming resources and time in vain at the expense of profound transformations. It is worth mentioning that the external and internal environmental factors could also be compared with a vector-powered coupler of communication. The more multidirectional the communication is, the more the result of the vectorial couple is to the advantage of the organization
In the process of change, environmental conditions determine the response of management, which through appropriate strategic planning determines the necessary reorganizations in relation to the existing resources (human resource is essential), the technological changes and other internal factors. The strategy is the lever of change, provided that it is applicable at all organizational levels, that is, to be the fruit of their ideas, based on reality and flexibility. The trend in the organizational construction is Institutional Management of Change. Resistance of the Employees Against Organizational Transformations 356 horizontal, citizen-oriented, network-based and autonomous cell-based (based on Integrated Information Technology) horizontal organizations (with a small number of hierarchical levels). c. Identifying and appropriating the need for change is an important foresight stage. The role of infrastructure is essential, in particular, as regards: - the forms and extent of organized cross-border crime; - the migration and traffic routes etc. are are only a few of the factors that give the first signals of the need for change. The manager needs to consider, diagnose and administer "appropriate treatment". d. Preparing human resources for change. Within this concept, the signal of change must be given by the manager by facts, not only by speaking. The manager is the receiver, the sensitive sensor of the messages of satisfaction/dissatisfaction of citizens and employees. It must ensure the transition from the vertical to the horizontal management by decentralizing the responsibilities and responsibilities to management on the inferior hierarchical levels, to be the catalyst of change, to reconsider the importance of work and the particular life of human resources, to promote the use circuits and information flows
The manager needs to have expertise in evaluating strategies, in managing human resources, in intelligence, in settling misunderstandings and as such dividing its working time. Then human resources have to be taken into account in their organizational integrity (rewards, career development, self-evaluation, communication, effective operation etc.). Competitiveness in the profession on the labour market is decisive. With well-trained people, change is perceived as appropriate and applied unswervingly. Self-evaluation and evaluation must be real [6]. Electronic mail, teleconferencing, internet and intranet, voice mail are the first-ever elements of change. Progress in information technology places humanity, with or without our will, on other coordinates. Getting rid of obsolete "agendas", moving to computerized technologies. New behaviour involves abandoning old habits. A core component of the organization is organizational culture (traditions, history, ideas, values, behaviours, titles, merits, medals, and other characteristic elements). Change can not be cast out. The reality is that it presents itself as a continuous dynamic process. All we have to do is change our mentality. In this direction, the preparation of human resources for the acceptance of change must be oriented. e. Understanding the need for change. Human resources must be encouraged to understand the coordinates of the organization and where it should be. The past is history and must not be insisted too much on it. It is good to draw conclusions from the past, in order to enrich our experience. The main focus has to be on what is no longer the result of new learning in the field, the circumstances of change, practical opportunities, encouragement, the creation of support mechanisms, rewards/sanctions, evaluations, the continuous training of human resources. The risks, the ambiguities, the social safety conditions, the need for emulation that is favorable to change and the long-term change should be explained. f. Diagnosing the organization at sensitive points. It is, indeed, of great importance for finding the symptom, what to do and how, what results are expected. Often, the crossroads are not well formulated. In order to clarify them, meetings between managers and employees are important, and appropriate questionnaires are applied. This way, the scale of specific problems will be better outlined and, therefore, better addressed. After diagnosis, goals of change, attitudes, morality etc. are set. All this must lead to the growth and development of the organization, competitiveness, efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility in new conditions
Identification of variants of change. At this stage, it is aimed at changing the structure, behavioural aspects of employees, technological renewal. Structural change refers to improving the performance of substructures, optimizing management-execution ratio, hierarchical levels, relational and informational procedures and structural interdependencies. Behavioural issues are in the field of motivation, education, professional competence, attraction in decision making etc. Technological renewals must be related to the structures and the level of user training. h. Anticipating and overcoming resistance to change is the main attribute of management at all hierarchical levels. Resistance to change is an attitude, however normal, for the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty, the care of tomorrow. That is why all these manifestations must be anticipated, identified and treated accordingly and knowingly [3]. Resistance to change is due to some causes: - doubt in managerial capacity to implement change; - the suspicion that the timing and methods chosen would be inappropriate; - neglecting employees' proposals; - the consequences of mistaken decisions previously taken; - low tolerance to uncertainties and ambiguities; - misunderstanding the implications of change; - the fear of losing the job, of power, of freedom, of authority; - ad-hoc formation of groups, outbreaks that promote resistance to change. On a case-by-case basis, management intensifies training, education and communication with employees, engages in explaining the reasons for change, providing support, organizing and conducting negotiations to improve asperities and resilience points, manipulating and cooping those who resist due to their optimism, correcting the attitudes of those who persist in resisting change through threats (job loss, transfer, nonpromotion). Tact and diplomacy must characterize the way management is approached by change. i. Choice of time and duration of change. Optimum time is sought depending on the previous operational cycle of change. The duration of change is determined by the influence of environmental factors, the scale and complexity of the process, technological operations, investment, procedures, culture and organizational traditions and others. Planned and monitored compliance with preset deadlines. j. Maintain the trend of change. The change must be irreversible. For this, most members of the organization need to accept and support it [6]. It is also necessary that its propagation within the mass of the organization be manifested as a wave that trains everything in the way