Change

Question 1

Internal causes of change

Answer 1

• leadership/ management style = can lead to changes in organisational culture and structure
• better than budgeted performance = expansion to take advantage of profits
• poor financial performance = retrenchment
• staff changes = no longer having the required skills, changing to HR recruitment, retraining or outsourcing of workers
• Business growth = expanding into international markets, adapt product range
• Business type= innovative business- consistent development in the ways it is run

Question 2

External causes of change

Answer 2

• new technology = faster cheaper means of production
• consumer taste change= alter product range to fit demand
• economy= slower economy , less disposable income, product prices may need reducing
• law changes= affect methods of production - greenhouse gas omissions, change to local suppliers
• ethical views and social awareness of customers resulting in the business having to purchase ethically sourced products
• changes in competition = loss of market share

Question 3

Disruptive change

Answer 3

Suddenly doing things differently

• ‘creative destruction’
• Coca Cola changing receipe in US after colouring agents had connections with cancer causing
• closing or selling off subsidiary companies

Question 4

Incremental change

Answer 4

Making changes slowly day to day to achieve strategic plan

Question 5

Lewins force field analysis

Answer 5

restraining forces- reasons for not changing
driving forces - reasons for changing
number from 1-5 on relevance and whatever side has the highest number is the decision that should be made

Question 6

Mechanistic business structure

Answer 6

• centralised, traditional structure, well defined hierarchy of power
• decisions made by managers at the top
• tall structures = communication issues
• slow to make changes within the business
• employees are specialised in certain tasks and tend to work separately on them
• very rigid = work well for stable business environments
• Cannot adapt to change easily

Question 7

Organic structure

Answer 7

• decentralised structure, employees get more say in decision making
• flat structure
• allowing fast communication
• best suited in changing environments
• employees work in teams rather than having specific tasks

Question 8

Flexible employment contracts and change

Answer 8

• More effective to managing change
• zero hour contracts allow businesses to cope with increased demand
• peripheral workers ca help with additional work when managing change, core workers can provide stable environment for change
• flexible businesses can outsource work to manage change
• can be easier to hold onto skilled workers as they are given working hours that suit them and open up more job opportunities for skilled applicants = may not need to retrain and ability to adapt to change
  HOWEVER
• ## Flexi-time could lead to poor communication and teamwork between staff who work at different times

Question 9

barriers to change

Answer 9

• Organisational structure - tall structures communication can be difficult
• resources = without such change can take longer and be ineffective
• poor management= again poor communication leading to unengaged employees
• passive resistance = people carrying on their old ways despite being aware of the new change and know how to implement it
• ## active resistance= people arguing against the change and challenge the motives

Question 10

Kotter and Schlesinger four reasons for resistance to change

Answer 10

• Self interest= people more concerned with their own situation if they can’t see how it benefits them they are unlikely to do it, employees cannot see the full picture
• Misunderstanding = not fully understanding what it means for them they think they will lose more than they gain, result of poor communication and incorrect information (rumour). breeding uncertainty and confusion, increasing anxiety, NEED for high levels of trust
• Low tolerance for change= people get used to what they know and resist change as they fear the won’t be able to develop new skills, may believe they won’t perform and so fear they’ll loose their job, NEED FOR LOYALTY AND EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS
• Different assessments of the situation= key stakeholder may have strong disagreement over the reasons for change and therefore they won’t accept the change, not able to see the advantages and so resist

Question 11

Six ways of overcoming resistance to change

Answer 11

1. communication and education
2. participation and involvement
3. facilitation and support= listening to concerns, support groups, training
4. negotiation and agreement= financial incentives, if no agreement made = redundancy or early retirements
5. Manipulation and Co-option = resisting employee given a desirable role to gain their co-operation - risky as they may feel tricked
6. explicit and implicit coercion = threatening employees with redundancies, loosing promotion opportunities, transfer (LAST resort)