Change Management Plan

Introduction

Organizational change is inevitable. Just like anything in life, markets change and cultures change which require constant attention and preparation. In order to be successful in any market, organizations have to be able to successfully move along with any transformation from the norm. "In most industries -- and in almost all companies, from giants on down -- heightened global competition has concentrated management's collective mind on something that, in the past, it happily avoided: change" (Jones, Et. Al., 2007). CrysTel is no stranger to change. CrysTel is a telecommunication company with over 2500 employees and gross about $200 million a year. Their products include data cables, wireless solutions, and network development. They have much competition and have realized the necessity for change. Change is never an easy task, especially within organizations because so many people are affected. There are many factors that can interfere with the success of the change and managers have to be prepared to deal with anything that comes their way.

Resistance to change is expected. When organizations implement changes, employees are not always willing to accept the change. They will resist out of confusion, fear, comfort. Organizations have to be prepared to meet this challenge head on because the inability to change in a market that is constantly changing will endanger the progress of an organization. The organization will become stagnant and their power and revenue will decline. Change is natural and can be brought on my both internal and external forces. CrysTel faced both and had to develop plans that would assist in those changes.

Major Implications/Behaviors to Change

CrysTel has to keep up with the market and be able to compete effectively. In order to do so, they have to change their product portfolio and begin to offer new products on a regular basis. There is much concern that the company is not ready to cope with constant change, but it is understood that they will not succeed without it. Therefore, CrysTel decided to analyze each department in the company. This analysis was to determine which departments are least likely to handle constant change. They had a budget of $65,000 to commission surveys and reports from various consultants. The three surveys considered were employee satisfaction survey, benchmarking survey, and climate survey. With the budget given, it was not possible to do all three so only two were chosen. The two surveys chosen were the employee satisfaction survey and the benchmarking survey.

The next step is to determine which departments will have the most difficulty dealing with change. CrysTel used the surveys to assist in this measure. Two departments were identified to be the weakest and least likely to handle change: marketing and sales and delivery. The marketing department had limited communication between employees and management, minimal team empowerment, and did not initiate mentoring opportunities for the less experienced. The sales and delivery department did not have a particular leadership style, were not risk takers, and did not proactively resolve conflicts. Additional review showed that the marketing department did not lead by example, resolve conflicts and did not take many risks, as well as the sales and delivery department had weak communication, did not empower teams, and did not mentor employees. Realizing these weaknesses allowed management to know where to implement measures to tackle change resistance..

Communication is essential to a positive work environment. "The study of organizational communication recognizes that communication in organizations goes far beyond training managers to be effective speakers and to have good interpersonal communication skills. Moreover, it recognizes that all organizations, not just business organizations, have communication needs and challenges" (Baker, 2002). Risk taking is another aspect that is needed for effective change. "The determinants of organizational risk taking and its impact on economic performance are critical issues in strategic management" (Bromily, 1991). CrysTel was fully aware of this and incorporated certain activities that would assist in the ability of these departments to take risks. Mentoring was another issue faced by CrysTel. No mentoring practices were in place and many employees felt they were not properly trained or prepared to fulfill their duties.

Additionally, there was no conflict resolution program. CrysTel felt it to be a serious issue and recognized that there had to be some sort of resolution process in order for the company and the employees to be able to adjust with change. "By identifying the cause-effect relationships related to organizational conflicts, organizational members can understand each other better and become more willing to transform their ideas into corporate synergy". Finally there was lack of employee empowerment. "The organization has the responsibility to create a work environment which helps foster the ability and desire of employees to act in empowered ways. The work organization has the responsibility to remove barriers that limit the ability of staff to act in empowered ways" (Heathfield, 2007).

Change Model/Plan for Change Resistance

The change model used by CrysTel is Lewin's model. "This model considers that change involves a move from one static state via a state of activity to another static status quo" (Unknown, 2006). The three stages as Lewin refers to them are unfreezing, changing, and re-freezing. Unfreezing is when the change is instituted and resistance to the change builds. This creates an atmosphere for which change can be implemented. The second phase, changing, is when the organization mobilizes the educational resources needed to facilitate the change. Finally, the re-freezing phase is when the new ways are embedded into the organization. CrysTel explained the impending change. Several areas were very resistant due to their weaknesses. CrysTel developed activities for each department to instituted and once done incorporated those into the organization.

Certain activities were chosen to strengthen the departments to better facilitate changes using the table below. The table details the strengths and weakness of each department to assist in choosing the appropriate activities: (Simulation, 2007)

The marketing department had six areas of weakness. The first area was leading by example. The action chose for this issue was to change core competencies into rational action. Which means the senior management will do training to ensure that subordinates understand their core competencies and can better put them into action.