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Managing Change in Organizations: It’s Management’s

Responsibility

We will like to start with some facts to show the importance the importance of managing cultures in the organisation and how lack managing changes could haunt back the companies in terms of mergers and acqusions.

The challenges to merge, and so change two organizations is so huge and it always requires a lot of resources and the right people. According to Business journal ’The successful merging of cultures is difficult, traumatic, and crucial. Individuals and companies with different histories, values, expectations, and beliefs are asked to adopt a unified perspective and to serve as a cohesive unit. This is made more difficult by the fact that in almost any merger situation there are perceptions of “winners” and “losers” as well as fear and uncertainty regarding the future.

The stakes involved are great. Quite simply, mergers often fail, and culture clashes are a key reason for that failure. One 10-year study of 340 major acquisitions found that total shareholder returns for 57% of the merged concerns lagged behind their industry averages three years after the merger (Lublin & O’Brian, 1997). Other studies conclude that over 60% of mergers fail in their intended purpose (Carleton, 1997).

And according to New York Times or the Wall Street Journal clearly demonstrates that success in merging cultures (that is, in preventing “culture clash”) is critical to positive merger outcomes. In fact, many management experts cite culture clashes as the primary cause of merger failures (Lublin & O’Brian, 1997). Several recent mergers have suffered from culture clashes. For example, success of the merger of Harty Press, an old-line printer, and Pre-Press Graphics, a high-tech desktop publishing concern, was jeopardized by a severe culture clash (Welles, 1994). Culture clashes following the merger of Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas have thrown Boeing off course, with its stock well below pre-merger levels (Bernstein, Reinhardt, & Browder, 1998). In similar fashion, the $4 billion acquisition of Santa Fe Corp. by Burlington Northern, the largest in history when it was completed, has become one of the industry’s most disappointing, in large part because of unanticipated cultural gaps. Many other culture-related merger disappointments could be cited.

Then its so clear that managing culture is so important and in this paper we will discuss why managing change is so difficult and why there is always resistance to it. We have to note that employees do not always welcome change and there are the main hindrances as shown many studies conducted over the years.

What Causes This Resistance to Change?

Realignment of the power structure: No matter what type of change occurs, someone or some group will ultimately loose or gain “power” as a result. Until the costs/benefits are made clear, staff will anxiously await the affect the change will have on them personally.

• Fear of job loss: A common fear during a change initiative is whether positions will be come redundant

or jobs will become unnecessary.

• Fear of increased responsibility: Some staff may question whether they will have more responsibilities and/or accountabilities as a result of a change.

• Frustration with process: If staff are not consulted before, during, and after an organizational

change, they will likely be disheartened - particularly if the change has a direct impact on their jobs. If

they were consulted and their positions or suggestions were not incorporated, they will also be frustrated

вЂ" unless their managers can satisfactorily show that their input was not ignored but, rather, discussed

and shelved for logical reasons.

What Can a Manager Do?

1. Do not ignore the people side of “change management”

The practice of Change Management is a combination of the methods used by people (usually management teams) within organizations to ensure organizational transition is completed efficiently and effectively. It is extremely important that management teams consider the “people side” of any organizational change. Too often, managers look at change management as a technical process, rather than a human one. This makes sense, since the field of Change Management is described as the study of “approaches” or “processes” an organization follows when moving from its current state to a desired state. Many academic pieces discuss how

changes to structures, processes, policies, and technologies will improve efficiencies. The buzz-words used to describe this type of organizational change include: organizational reorganization, corporate restructuring, process re-engineering, resource reallocation, etc. For any of these change processes to work, however, the impact they will have on people cannot be overlooked or discounted. If these impacts are ignored, the change initiative will likely fail.

2. Hone interpersonal and communication skills

During the 1980s and 1990s, managers were told that they needed to focus their efforts on managing resistance to their change initiatives. The most common suggestion was for managers to hone their interpersonal and communication skills so that they could help their staff overcome the pains associated with change. Courses like Global Knowledge’s Management and Leadership Skills for New Managers and People Skills for Project Managers offer managers training in the types of interpersonal and management skills needed to help

with staff deal with change. The skills that can help managers “manage change” include: motivational techniques; team building, coaching, feedback, setting priorities, negotiating priorities, stress management, dealing with conflict, systematic problem-solving, and effective delegation.

3. Change is reality and we experience it in our dailly lives

Managers need to accept the fact that organizational change is inevitable, and, its pace is quickening. Basic economics dictates that