Corporate Governance & Management
The transformation of the company constitutes a major challenge for managers and is reflected, among other things, by permanent and cyclical organizational changes of major importance. "The "generic" problems of business management are both problems of maintenance or internal coordination and of change or adaptation" (A. Desreumaux, 1996).
Managers must adapt their structures to meet external demands and challenges, and to do so, strategic and organizational changes must be implemented.
"Change cannot be managed. It can be ignored, resisted, created, or leveraged, but it cannot be managed or advanced by any orderly process" (Clemer, cited in Mintzberg et al., 1999).
To stay in the race for innovation and growth, companies must redesign their structure, systems, culture, and sometimes even some of their people. Experience shows that companies are not very good at driving the changes needed to reinvent themselves and to stay competitive with the market and their customers' demands.
For employees, most of the time, change is seen as a loss of assets.
Thévenet (1988) emphasizes that companies are part of a unifying trend of valuing change: "More than a simple perpetual movement, management and the functioning of companies are now part of a fashion phenomenon with its paradox: a fundamental and unifying trend of valuing change - change is an imperative step, even an end in itself".
The human being is by essence resistant to change. But change is a constant presence in our lives, whether it is desired or imposed. The dilemma between change and evolution is a daily reality. Of course, "Change" intervenes in all areas of daily life as well.
The key word: "know how to manage a change of situation" to move from a situation A to a situation B, whether it is desired or imposed. In a company, situation A is an agreement (it can take the form of a compromise) between people with the establishment of formal or informal rules, so that everyone can comply. The evolution from situation A to B will establish a new convention. The difficulty will then be to know how to manage, accept and put it into practice.
The implementation of a new convention will introduce suspicion into the original convention and three scenarios arise:
There are many conditions that are favourable to change, and they are rarely all met together, but it is nevertheless possible to draw up a fairly exhaustive list:
As for resistance, sociological studies within companies show that there are three categories of people facing change 80% of the people affected by the change are in a passive and insecure state. The company must therefore focus its main communication efforts on this target.
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Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), an American psychologist, was considered the father of the theory of "change management" within an organization (Frontiers in Group Dynamics, 1947; Resolving social conflicts, 1948). This authorship has often been controversial (Jeffcutt 1996: 173). Edgar Schein (Organizational psychology, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, p 239, 1988) called Kurt Lewin "the intellectual father of contemporary theories applied to behavioral science".
Kanter, Stein and Jick challenged Lewin's model in "The Challenge of Organizational Change (1992)" as being too simplistic, that organizations were far more complex in their processes, and with subtleties in the levels of change contemplated by leaders.
Kurt Lewin said: "Everything shows that it is easier to change individuals as a group than to change each of them separately" (focus group experience). The members of the group exchanged ideas on the new working methods, on the interest of making the change, and thus the group dynamics made the initial convention evolve by automatically removing the resistance. On the other hand, the individual taken in isolation does not feel any interest in change.
To date, Lewin's model (or CATS model: "Changing As Three Steps") has been used in many management books as a practical guide for leaders implementing change.
It is divided into 3 steps:
The failure factors during the complete cycle are generally :
If business leaders decided to put these three distinct steps into practice, then planning for the implementation of change would be possible. The motivation to change (Unfreezing) will be established. Based on effective communication and empowering individuals to adopt new ways of working the change process will be positively set in motion. And the cycle ends when a sense of stability and trust is restored (Refreezing).
Change brings personal development, allows for the discovery of new horizons, and contributes to self-improvement. Change brings flexibility and it becomes a proven habit over time. This is a strength in today's working world. We learn from ourselves and of course from others through change. Change shuffles people around, contradicts conventional wisdom and brings new concepts to life. It strengthens our skills and gives us better opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Leaders have a decisive role in driving change. They must ensure the involvement of all stakeholders to better meet the needs of customers, clients and shareholders, in perpetual evolution.
Author: Laurent Vais ?