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Unit 12: Organisational Change
(f) Employee Expectations: Changes in employee expectations also can trigger change in Notes
organisations. These forces may be:
(i) Employees' desire to share in decision-making.
(ii) Employees' demand for effective organisational mechanism.
(iii) Higher employee expectation for satisfying jobs and work environment.
(iv) Employees' desire for higher wages.
All these forces necessitate change in organisations. Besides these forces, a company that hires a
group of young newcomers may be met with a set of expectations very different from those
expressed by older workers.
Although organisational changes are important, managers should try to institute changes only
when they make strategic sense. A major change or two every year can be over-whelming to
employees and create confusion about priorities. A logical conclusion is that managers should
evaluate internal forces for change with as much care as they evaluate external forces.
12.2 Forms of Change
Change has become the norm in most organisations. Adaptiveness, flexibility and responsiveness
are terms used to describe the organisations that will succeed in two basic forms of change in
organisations that will succeed in meeting the competitive challenges that businesses face.
There are two basic forms of change in organisations: Planned change and unplanned change.
1. Planned Change: Planned change is change resulting from a deliberate decision to alter
the organisation. It is an intentional, goal-oriented activity. The goals of planned change
are:
First, it seeks to improve the ability of the organisation to adapt to changes in its
environment.
Second, it seeks to change the behaviour of its employees.
2. Unplanned Change: Not all change is planned. Unplanned change is imposed on the
organisation and is often unforeseen. Responsiveness to unplanned change requires
tremendous flexibility and adaptability on the part of organisations. Examples of unplanned
changes are changes in government regulations and changes in the economy.
The Role of Change Agents: Change in organisations is inevitable, but change is a process
that can be managed. The individual or group that undertakes the task of introducing and
managing a change in an organisation is known as a change agent. Change agents can be
of two types:
(a) Internal Change Agents: Change agents can be internal, such as managers or employees
who are appointed to oversee the change process.
Internal change agents have certain advantages in managing the change process.
They are:
(i) They know the organisation's past history, its political system, and its culture.
(ii) Internal change agents are likely to be very careful about managing change
because they must live with the results of their change efforts.
There are also disadvantages of using internal change agents. They are:
(i) They may be associated with certain factions within the organisation and may
easily be accused of favouritism.
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