Change Management Plan Paper

Change Management Plan Paper

Rapid change pervade today’s business environment and a company’s success often hinges on its ability to effectively adapt to this change. A predictor of how a company will handle such adversity often derives from its organizational and power structures, politics, and culture. Companies that establish change management strategies and design organizational structures conducive to open communication and teamwork, often fair better than those stuck with a purely hierarchical structure. This paper identifies major implications of change at CrysTel, a leading telecommunications company, suggests an effective model for change and recommends an appropriate leadership style to inculcate the new initiative. The paper concludes with recommend measure to monitor CrysTel’s change progress and addresses three leadership challenges CrysTel will face in the coming decade.

Implications of Organizational Change

Description of CrysTel

CrysTel is a dynamic, U.S.-based telecommunications company that seeks to be the first choice for telephony, data, and voice services in Illinois. In order to provide customers with the most reliable services and to meet market demands, CrysTel must constantly change its product portfolio which consists of data cables, wireless solutions and network development (University of Phoenix, 2006). To remain competitive, the organization needs to first gauge whether it can cope with constant change. Based on this assessment, CrysTel must then develop a strategic and holistic plan for the two departments identified as being most resistant to change: marketing and sales and delivery.

Implications of Change at CrysTel

Through climate and employee satisfaction surveys, CrysTel isolated several negative implications change will have on the company if CrysTel management leaves the present structure and processes as is. These behavioral implications also serve to highlight why the current situation is not conducive to transformation and how these two departments might even serve to undermine change efforts.

Employees in both the Marketing and Sales and Delivery departments voiced concern over the lack of communication among CrysTel departments and between the power levels. Employees surveyed also felt that managers do not lead by example, that there is little company mentoring, teams do not feel empowered, and that both departments lack a culture of risk-taking and conflict resolution (University of Phoenix, 2006). Change in such an environment would likely result in operational confusion, a faltering commitment to CrysTel’s mission and, ultimately, low employee morale.

Ramifications of not Addressing Change Implications

While the failure to concentrate on the implications of change on the current structure will negatively affect the company, the ramifications of not addressing the change implications are potentially fatal. Organizations will always face some resistance to change and, therefore, managers should view resistance in a positive light, according to an article published in Management Services. The goal is to help these internal resistors to see the benefits of change (Atkinson, 2005). CrysTel currently lacks the open and honest communication necessary to limit opposition and, therefore, the net result would be excessive passive or active resistance that could completely derail the company’s competitive edge. Passive resistance might manifest in an employee’s unwillingness to embrace new systems while active resistance could bread naysayers and informal critics.

Another ramification of operational confusion resultant of too much change or ill-defined procedures and functions could lead to organizational paralysis because employees no longer understand company processes. This in turn creates deep frustration and even resentment among the workforce. Finally, if employees fail to understand the reason behind the change and/or the company’s new vision, commitment to strategies and goals will waver and morale will plummet. Employees’ might manifest their frustrations in muted creative problem-solving and/or an outright unwillingness to adapt.

Human Variables of Change Implementation

Change is an essential component in today’s business environment. Some companies manage the transition well by empowering and motivating their employees to embrace change. Others implement short-term fixes to problems (as is often the case with many American companies) or turn a blind eye to change altogether (Kreitner-Kinicki, 2003, p. 676). There are many models of organizational change available; however, after reviewing the results from CrysTel’s employee satisfaction and climate surveys, management should use a holistic approach which takes human variables and potential resistance into consideration.

Recommended Change Model

The following model developed by an MBA student at the University of Phoniex is based on several theories although its basis is found in Lewin’s change model. Lewin’s model advocates for the role of habits in peoples’ thoughts and actions. In his model, Lewin’s outlines a three step method of (1) unfreezing old thought and behaviors, (2) changing, or learning new behaviors, and (3) refreezing new habits through positive reinforcement, coaching and/or modeling (Kreitner-Kinicki, 2003, p. 677). Using Lewin’s concepts, MBA student Clinton Kliethermes created a holistic, step-by-step approach to change management which would be appropriate for addressing CrysTel’s issues. The change model is as follows:

1. Observe the current situation. Many models do not require a company to examine itself before implementing a change initiative. However, in order to identify vulnerable areas that must be addressed, companies such as CrysTel need to conduct baseline surveys and assess existing information. Fortunately, CryTel already started this process by conducting the employee satisfaction and climate surveys, the results of which helped analyze resistance levels and factors within departments.

2. Create a vision of change. Now that CrysTel has identified the two weakest departments that it needs to address, it must involve all employees involved in the change initiative in a discussing on their vision. Doing so ensures that the entire workforce understands the impetus for change from the outset which serves to alleviate confusion and future frustrations.

3. Create