Management

Organizational Change

At a given point, organizations are needed to undertake some changes to remain viable and scale to more significant opportunities. These changes can range from opening new departments, employing new employees, to merging with another institution. Such changes are likely to have a substantial effect on the business trajectory. Implementing these changes can be hectic for varied reasons and can be intimidating for all team members who might be affected by the process. Any person or a manager in charge of such operation or guiding workers through it should acknowledge steps of the process and things to expect.

Reasons Why People Resist Change

One of the primary reasons people resist change is the perceived loss of power. Employees might feel like the intended change might hinder their power and influence in the institution. Typically, there are times when a change will lower the power base of a person, a group, or a unit. The prospect of such degradation or loss of power will form resistance even though such modification might be helpful to the business (Palmer, Dunford & Buchanan, 2017). Another reason why people resist change is because of the emotional effect the perceived change can cause. This typically happens if the past experiences with change have not been positive. It eventually leads to misunderstanding and lack of trust so that even when the change is well intended, its importance is misinterpreted; thus leading to resistance. The third reason is poor communication with the employees and other stakeholders involved in the change process. If the change has not been relayed to these individuals in time, this will cause resistance.

Solving Resistance

Engaging those opposed to change is an effective remedy towards curbing change resistance. This process allows the manager to review everyone’s concerns and possibly alleviate the problem on time. Giving employees time to give their input makes them part of a team that minds about its employees. Another way of overcoming change resistance is through implementing change in several stages. Organizations should first prepare for the change then take action on the change.

Formal and Informal Groups

Groups engage more individuals who come together to accomplish a similar objective. In an organization, communication can be done through formal or informal groups to get things running effectively. The primary difference between informal and formal groups is that the formal groups are created to carry out official functions of the business and do formal communication through official channels of communication (Daniel, 2018). On the other hand, informal groups are created by workers without any formal strategy.

They are created based on factors ranging from attitudes relations to workers’ personal preferences. Still, the characters of formal group members are controlled by formal regulations, while values and norms control the informal group’s behavior of members. Formal groups can quickly be abolished, which is not the case with the informal ones because the informal groups are the secondary of natural aspiration of interaction between humans, and a business cannot control such groups. Leadership is still essential in controlling the two groups because it assists in directing all the business’s resources for enhanced efficiency and accomplishment of goals. Both the groups are created for a purpose that can only be motivated with strong leadership.

References

Daniel, C. O. (2018). Impact of informal groups on organisational performance. International journal of scientific research and management (IJSRM), 6(9), 686-694.

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Buchanan, D. A. (2017). Managing organizational change: A multiple perspectives approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.