Organizational changes (2)

Intervening in the culture of the organization

Process of organizational changes
The fact that there’s a need for change doesn’t necessarily mean that the change process is also successfully initiated. One organization can continue to work in the old manner even when the staff and the management know that it’s inefficient. Then there’s discrepancy between what the organization wants to be – efficient, effective, legitimate, sustainable and what leads it towards ignoring the need for change – unsatisfied clients and staff, non-quality and insufficient amount of products/services, failure in the fight with the competitors.

From the above-mentioned reasons it’s necessary for the staff and the management to have a real picture of the future. It’s necessary to develop a clear mutual vision on how the future should look like. This picture should be based on clear understanding of the current condition of the organization, but also the staff and the management should have positive expectations for the future. This means that in the organization they should study and analyze:

-hidden possibilities;
-potential dangers;
-unexpected strong points;
-unidentified weaknesses.

The staff and the management should just have a real picture for the future, but they should also believe that it’s possible to achieve that condition and that the organization is in the mood and capable to get there. It asks for a certain level of skills and abilities, dedication and certain level of readiness to take risks.

It’s also necessary to work out concrete ideas for the change process, steps that will be taken with the aim to get closer to the future condition. It doesn’t mean that all the steps should be explained completely in details. There should at least be a wide plan and clearness and consensus for the concrete first steps in the right direction.

The change means uncertainty, because the future can never be fully foreseen. This uncertainty will even increase if there isn’t any clear information about the direction and way of implementing the changes. If there’s an absence of this information, the staff could refuse to cooperate with which the change itself will be difficult or impossible to implement.

For successful changes it’s necessary to have enough supporting powers inside, but also outside the organization. Only a strong coalition of the staff, management, but also of the members of the management board can successfully implement the changes. Sometimes it’s necessary to have external support in order to implement the changes.

The changes are necessary, but unfortunately they are unpleasant work for most individuals both in the everyday life and in the organizations. In the first phase it’s necessary for all individuals in the organization to prepare for the changes that are waiting for them, to know the conditions in the organization, the needs for change and to prepare for their implementation.

In the second phase they should already determine the aim of the changes, i.e. “what we want to achieve”. That’s done with the technique visioning, i.e. the participants in the process of organizational changes develop their own picture of the organization in the future. Then it can be determined how the vision will come true, i.e. what’s the path (strategy) on which we will “walk” in order to achieve the imagined.

Since the organizational changes are a long process, it’s necessary to intervene in the culture of the organization, i.e. first the existing system of values is questioned, its compatibility with the mission and the vision in order to open the path for new components in the culture. This leads to accepting the newly created situations after the organizational changes.

The changes should lead to changes in the organizational strategy and all this should be supported by certain organizational culture. In the fourth phase the organizational process, organizational structure is defined and the organizational structure is equipped.

The future changes in the organization should be appropriately facilitated by motivational energy for changes by the staff. In the fifth phase, energizing, the existing systems of salaries and rewards should be complemented and adjusted to the newly created conditions.

Everything that will be done in the part for planning the changes and adjusting to the systems, procedures, culture of the organization, it’s necessary to implement in the practice.

The transferring is maybe the most important phase in the process of organizational changes. Until this is implemented, the change is only a wish. Most frequently in this phase the biggest problems occur. Namely, the need and expectations of the staff are stated, but there isn’t sufficient potential for the suggested changes to become reality. The reason for this is the frequent resistance of individuals in the organization who aren’t ready to change.

 
Concept page

Organizational diagnosis is a process that provides to “see” inside the organization, to realize its strong and weak points (systems, structure, staff, organizational culture), as well as its mutual connection.

Organizational capacity is defined as an ability of the organization to achieve efficiently the aims that the people who work in it have determined and which are mainly contained in its mission.

Factors that determine the organizational capacity are: organizational abilities, material and technical resources, relations with other relevant actors, organizational studying, capacity and influence of the results of the work on the target group.


Liljana Alceva
(trainer/associate at the MCIC)