In fact, change is fundamental in life. The reality of complexity and laziness in the environment (external or internal) is that organizations and individuals are constantly pressured to change in one way or another. The change can be fast or slow, perceptible and imperceptible, minor or substantive.
Vecchio (2006) in a tone of finality stated that all organizations (whether profit or non-profit, military or multinational corporations) have no choice but to change to keep up with the pressure of the environment (internal and external) . It is a compelling case of “change or die” (Vecchio, 2006: 365).
Pressures to change can be obvious or implicit. Managers are expected to anticipate and direct the change process so that organizations can benefit from it. Infact Pantea (nd) from Aard University, Romania, suggests that Lewin’s model of the change process is based on the fact that the change process eventually involves a learning experience, as well as the desirability of abandoning the “attitudes, behaviors or current organizational practices “.
The forces of change can sometimes be intimidating and can include forecasts of changing economic conditions, changing consumer preferences, technological and scientific factors, globalization and competition, and last but not least changes in the legal landscape.
Responding to the forces of change may require strategic change or operational change. Strategic change is at the organizational level and has to do with organizational transformation. While strategic change has a long-term focus, operational change has an immediate effect on work arrangements within a part of the organization. Operational change focuses on elements such as new systems, procedures, structures, or technology. Organizational change can be static (Lewin’s model) or dynamic (continuous change process model).
Managing change requires strategic thinking and planning, good implementation, and stakeholder consultation. The desired change must be realistic, achievable and realistic.
Lewin’s vision of the change process provides us with a tool or model to determine the need for change, its implementation and monitoring. (Lewin, 1951). Armstrong (2006) identifies a plethora of models of change, including those of Bechard (1969), Thurley (1979), Quinn (1980), and Bandura (1986).
Lewin’s planned change process model has the following underlying assumption:
1. The process of change implies new learning, as well as a paradigm shift in current organizational attitudes, behaviors and practices.
2. The occurrence of change is based on the existence of motivation to change. This is essential in the process of change.
3. People are critical to organizational change. Whatever the desired exchange rate at the end of the day, it is the individuals who are the target of the change.
4. The greediness of the objectives of change, however intense, does not exclude the existence of resistance to change.
5. If the change is to be effective, the new organizational behaviors, attitudes and practices must be reinforced.
Lewin’s planned change model included three steps outlined as unfreezing, switching, and refreezing. In the thawing stage, you need to raise awareness to change. The balance that sustains existing practices, behaviors, and attitudes must be changed.
Data collection may be necessary at this stage for more in-depth analysis, so that the need for change is apparent to all. In the stage of change, the goal is to transform people, structure, task and technology, as indicated in Vecchio (2006: 373). The refreezing stage requires that the evaluation of the result be carried out in order to make the necessary modifications.
New responses could be developed based on the new information received. Reecho (2006: 374) has identified forces of resistance to change that include: employee security desires, satisfaction with the status quo, narrow force of change, group inertia, threatened experience, threatened power, and changes in resource allocation. .
CHANGE MANAGEMENT AT ADESHINA ADELEKE AND COMPANY
Adeshina Adeleke and knowledgeable company of a group of professionals specializing in real estate services is a single line firm based in Lagos Nigeria. Adeshina Adeleke and company has branches in Abuja and Porthacourt, Nigeria and has developed competencies in Agency, Valuation and Facilities Management.
It has a diversified, yet cohesive workforce. The diversity of your workforce is in terms of gender and ethnic groups. The company has a flat but optimally centralized structure. At the top of the structure is the Principal Consultant, who is the Executive Director.
The branch units / heads are subordinate to him. It has a strong and strategic culture of allies. In terms of strategic grouping, the firm is part of the Pyme group and operates within the real estate industry services segment.
Adeshina Adeleke and company are affected by the forces of change in both a systematic and unsystematic sense. The current economic recession has a great effect on the Nigerian economy, resulting in a lack of liquidity in the real estate market. The illiquidity effect is a high inventory of properties for sale and rent within Adeshina Adeleke’s property bulletin.
Sales and disappointments are low and steady for a quarter. The result of the performance variation analysis caused the need for a strategic and operational change on the part of the company. As a company, we were taken by surprise as the scenario we find ourselves in was never anticipated.
Management felt the need to increase sales and profitability and also to reposition the company through the necessary transformation. Although we were not guided or constrained by any model at the time in managing the desired change, it would be helpful to adopt Lewin’s planned change process to analyze Adeshina Adeleke and the company’s change management process.
To initiate the freeze stage, the company’s leadership created an awareness of the need for change, first among management staff and then among sales teams. The performance results for three months were discussed and analyzed at the management meeting.
The leadership as a whole was made to understand the emerging pattern and be sensitized to the need for change. Subsequently, a management staff was commissioned to meet with sales teams and mid-level managers to educate them on the company’s situation and the need to develop a sense of urgency for change.
Once a consensus was reached on the urgency of the need for change, a management and staff committee was formed to analyze in depth the situation of the company with a view to offering solutions. The committee’s recommendation includes the following:
• Broader consultations with the grassroots to sell the change to most staff, especially influencers who are able to build a coalition to resist the change. It is important that these groups collaborate in the process of change.
• Members of the sales team will be sent to receive training to gain more skills in marketing, especially in sales during the economic crisis.
• The Abuja branch manager is replaced by the Porthacourt branch manager, who has been making waves in Porthacourt.
• One-third of the sales team members must work on commission to reduce overhead, especially during the transition period.
• That networking and cold calling must be at the forefront of the media campaign
• That our media campaign is sustained.
• That an interventionist or change agent should be allowed to lead the change.
The committee report was adopted and a human resources intern appointed to lead the change. Suffice it to say that we are still in the changing stage of the project. Sales personnel come and go from training both on and off the plant. Inquiries are underway on those who will become commission-based staff.
A committee is investigating our business processes and value chain activities with a view to eliminating non-productive activities. The contributions of the strategic business units are also being analyzed so that decisions can be made on their relevance.
The actions of the members of our strategic group are being studied with curiosity. Our IT department is studying the possibility of a massive implementation of e-commerce solutions for higher performance.
CONCLUSION
The company has not yet entered the refreezing stage, rather it is still in transition. Time will tell if these measures are worth it and if new insights will be gained.
I am of the opinion that the change project provides the opportunity to extract data from all aspects and elements of the firm for further analysis and decision making. It seems that the change project leans more towards finance than towards the human element that ultimately makes change happen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Armstrong, M., (2006) Human Resource Management Practice Manual, Tenth Edition, Kogan Page. London.
2. Bandura, A, (1986) Social Limits of Thought and Action, Prentice-Hall, Eaglewood Cliff, New Jersey. In Armstrong, M., (2006) Human Resource Management Practice Manual, Tenth Edition, Kogan Page. London.
3. Beckhard, R ,. (1969) Organizational development: strategy and models, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
4. Lewin, K (1951) Field Theory in Social Sciences, Harper & Row, New York. In Armstrong, M., (2006) Human Resource Management Practice Manual, Tenth Edition, Kogan Page. London
5. Pantea, MIIVV (nd) “Management of change in organizations. Aard University, Arad, Romania.
6. Quinn, JB, (1980) “Managing Strategic Change”, Sloane Management Review, 11 (4/5), pp. 3-30. In Armstrong, M., (2006) Human Resource Management Practice Manual, Tenth Edition, Kogan Page. London
7. Thurley, K (1979) Supervision: A Reassessment, Heinemann, London. In Armstrong, M., (2006) Human Resource Management Practice Manual, Tenth Edition, Kogan Page. London.
8. Vecchio, RP (2006). Organizational behavior: basic concepts. 6th Ed, Thomson South-Western
