Why are organizational changes needed?

What is an organization

Characteristics of the organization

What is organizational development?

Main stages of development and crises of organization growth

Internal and external reasons for transformations

Change from an organizations perspective

Basic methods of implementing changes in organizations

These days, an organization must change to survive. New discoveries and inventions are rapidly replacing standard ways of working. Organizations that spend the majority of their time and resources maintaining the status quo are unlikely to thrive in today's changing environment.

A successful organization is constantly in flux. An organization is a living organism that is constantly moving in the direction of growth or decline. All organizations are aimed at development, which means their goal is to move only in a positive direction, in the direction of growth.

As an organization evolves, so does the evolution of change. The root cause of change is the action of forces external to the organization. At first, they are barely noticeable and not felt by the company; they are perceived as the external environment. Gradually, changes in technologies, methods and ways of working penetrate into the organizations of competitors and partners. New standards of quality, time and work are emerging. By not taking change into account and delaying consideration of change and further development, an organization jeopardizes its effectiveness. Changes that were external not so long ago are becoming internal. The need for change becomes inevitable in such a situation.

Managers are looking for ways to encourage innovation that will allow organizations to keep up with the changing external environment, develop and move forward towards their goals.

What is an organization?

The organization as such can hardly be seen. Usually, from the outside, we see only the external signs of an organization: tall buildings, computers in offices, employees in their places. On the other hand, we know a lot about the internal activities of various organizations, since we ourselves go to work every day. We can say that organizations have become an integral part of modern society, and therefore many of their features are taken for granted by us.

What are the main characteristics of an organization?

Organizations as diverse as a church, a hospital, and IBM still have something in common. An organization can be defined as follows: An organization is a social entity that is aimed at realizing certain goals, is built as a specially structured and coordinated system intended for some activity, and is connected with the environment.

The presence of a system structure, defined goals and a connection with the environment are common characteristics for any organization.

What elements are most important for the success of an organization?

The key elements of an organization are not buildings or equipment. Organizations are created by people and their relationships with each other. An organization exists when people interact to carry out some actions necessary to achieve a goal. Modern trends in management emphasize the importance of human resources, and most new approaches are based on providing employees with greater opportunities to encourage them to learn and contribute as they all work together to achieve a common goal.

What trends are most characteristic of modern organizations, and what are they striving for?

Most organizations today strive for greater horizontal coordination of their activities, often using an approach in which several employees with different professional responsibilities work as a team on a common project. As organizations face the need to quickly respond to changes in the environment, the boundaries between departments, as well as between organizations themselves, become increasingly flexible and blurred. No modern organization can exist without interaction with consumers, suppliers, competitors and other elements of the external environment. Today, some companies even collaborate with their competitors, exchanging information and technology for mutual benefit.

How do organizations interact with their environment?

Organizations adapt to a rapidly changing external environment and themselves influence the environment. Some large companies have special departments dedicated to monitoring the environment and finding ways to adapt to and influence it.

One of the most significant changes in the environment today is globalization. Organizations such as Coca-Cola, Heineken Brewery and Xerox are entering into strategic collaborations and partnerships with companies around the world to help them make an impact on the environment and meet the demands of a new global world. By doing this, organizations create value for their owners, customers and employees.

Managers must understand which part of a company's operations creates value and which does not; a company can only be profitable when the total price of what it produces is greater than the cost of the resources expended. For example, McDonald's conducted a comprehensive study to determine how it could leverage its company's capabilities and strengths to create the most value for customers. The result of this research was the emergence of Extra Value Meals and the decision to open restaurants in places where there were none before, for example, inside large department stores.

Finally, organizations must be able to meet the demands of today's increasingly specialized workforce and growing emphasis on ethics and social responsibility, and find effective ways to motivate employees to work together to achieve organizational goals.

The activities of organizations shape our lives, and highly professional managers are able to shape organizations and their activities. Knowledge and understanding of organizational theory allows managers to create organizations that operate more effectively.

What is the importance of organizations to society?

It's hard to believe, but organizations as we know them today are a relatively new phenomenon in human history. Even at the end of the 19th century, there were a relatively small number of organizations in the world, but gradually they took a central place in people's lives and now have a huge influence on our entire society.

The importance of organizations:

1. Pooling resources to achieve desired goals and results

2. Efficient production of goods and services

3. Simplify innovation

4. Use of the latest information and production technologies

5. Adaptation to changes in the environment and impact on the environment

6. Create value for owners, consumers and employees

7. Compliance with modern requirements of specialization, ethics, motivation and coordination of employee activities

How do organizations achieve their goals?

One of the main problems that many organizations face is finding and attracting the resources needed to perform specific tasks. An example is the activities of the corporation MaMaMedia, Inc (www.mamamedia.com), founded by Irit Harel. To create an entertainment and educational children's Web site, built on the educational resources of the legendary MIT Media laboratory, Harel needed to raise eleven million dollars, agree on cooperation with such partners as Scholastic, Inc., Netscape Communications Communications), America Online, and General Mills, hire skilled workers, experts in the theory of learning through interactive games, create an environment that encourages constructive creativity, and find advertisers and sponsors for your site.

To achieve commercial goals, organizations must offer consumers the goods and services they need at affordable prices. In an increasingly competitive environment, companies are forced to look for innovative ways to more efficiently produce goods and deliver them to consumers. One of these methods is trading via the Internet and the use of the latest information and computerized production technologies.

The search for new forms of work and the introduction of modern management methods can also contribute to achieving the goals of the organization and increasing the efficiency of its activities. Many organizations create a need for innovation rather than relying on standard products and established ways of doing things.

Characteristics of the organization.

A look at the organization as a system allows us to better understand the basic patterns of the activities of organizations. Studying the characteristics of an organization is an important step in its research. Characteristics refer to the specific features of how an organization is constructed. Characteristics can be said to describe an organization in the same way that personality or physical traits describe people.

What is an organization from the point of view of systems theory?

In the 60s of the twentieth century, a systematic approach to considering organizations began to be widely used in management. Systems theory provides us with the ability to describe both the internal and external behavior of organizations. In the first case, we can see how and why people within organizations carry out their individual and group tasks. In the second case, we can correlate the activities of the organization in question with other organizations.

In the context of systems theory, an organization is a collection of several elements that interact with each other in an interdependent manner. In a simplified form, an organization receives resources (input) from a larger system (external environment), processes these resources (processes) and returns them to the external environment in a modified form (output goods and services). In Figure 1.1. the main elements of the organization as a system are presented.

Rice. 1.1. Organization as a system

It should be noted that systems theory, as applied to organizations, emphasizes two important considerations:

1. the survival of an organization depends on its ability to adapt to the demands of the external environment (the importance of “feedback”)

2. To meet these requirements, the “input - process - output” cycle must be the focus of the organization’s management

What characteristics are identified in the process of studying organizations?

The characteristics of organizations are divided into two types: structural and contextual.

Structural characteristics make it possible to highlight the features of the internal structure of an organization, describe them quantitatively and compare organizations with each other based on these descriptions.

Contextual characteristics describe the organization as a whole, including its size, the technologies and equipment it uses, and the goals it pursues. They also describe the environment that influences the organization and shapes its structural characteristics. Contextual characteristics can be viewed as a set of partially overlapping elements that underlie organizational structure and work processes.

To understand and evaluate an organization, one must examine both its structural and contextual characteristics. All characteristics of an organization interact with each other and can be adjusted to achieve the best performance of the organization's objectives.

What are the main structural characteristics of an organization?

Formalization refers to the amount of written documentation used by an organization. Documentation includes instructions, technical descriptions, orders and charter. These written documents characterize the activities of the organization. Formalization is often measured by simply counting the number of pages of documentation that is used in an organization's work. Large public universities, for example, score high on formality because each has several volumes of written rules covering such things as student enrollment, addition and drop of courses, student associations, residence hall maintenance, and financial management. In contrast, a small family business may have no written documentation at all and will therefore be considered informal.

Specialization shows the extent to which the organization's tasks are divided along professional lines. If specialization is high, each employee is responsible only for his own, rather narrow range of tasks. If specialization is low, the same worker can perform a wide variety of duties. Specialization is sometimes also called division of labor.

Hierarchy of power describes who in the organization reports to whom and the area of ​​responsibility of each manager. The concept of hierarchy is related to the concept of span of control. Span of control is the number of employees reporting to one supervisor. If the span of control of an individual manager of your enterprise is narrow, your hierarchy will most likely be high. If each manager's span of control is wide enough, then the hierarchical ladder will be shorter.

Centralization refers to at what level of the hierarchy decisions are made. If decision makers are concentrated at the top of the hierarchy, then the organization is centralized. If responsibility for important decisions is delegated to lower levels of the hierarchy, then the organization is decentralized. Organizational decisions that may be made centrally or decentralized include purchasing equipment, setting departmental goals, selecting suppliers, setting prices for products, hiring new employees, or identifying markets. As a rule, if approval from senior management is required to make even minor decisions, your company is too centralized.

Professionalism is the level of formal education and training of workers. Professionalism is considered high if a job applicant needs to have a high level of training in order to be accepted into the organization. Professionalism is usually measured by the average number of years an organization's employees have spent on their education; this may exceed twenty years in a medical setting, while less than ten years may be sufficient for a construction company. Knowing how high the level of professionalism of your employees is compared to other organizations working in the same professional field, you will be able to judge the competitiveness of your own company.

Staff ratios describe the distribution of workers across various areas of activity and divisions. Personnel ratios include the share of administrative staff, the share of clerical workers, the share of professional staff, and the ratio of the number of workers engaged in servicing the production process to the number of workers engaged in direct production of the product. These shares (or percentages) are calculated by dividing the number of employees of a given class by the total number of employees in the organization. Thus, knowing the average staff ratios typical for companies engaged in similar business, you can draw a conclusion about how optimal the structure of your own company is.

What contextual characteristics are used to describe an organization?

Size- this is the size of the organization, that is, the number of people working in this organization. This quantity can be measured for the entire organization or its individual components, such as a plant or branch. Since organizations are social systems, size is usually determined by the number of employees. Other characteristics, such as overall sales or assets, also indirectly reflect how large an organization is, but they do not directly describe its size.

Technologies used by the organization- these are the tools, methods of production and actions with the help of which an organization transforms input data (material, financial, information and human resources) into output (finished products or services). Technology refers to the way an organization produces the products and services it offers to consumers and includes, for example, computerized production lines, advanced information systems, or the Internet. A car assembly line, a college classroom, and a 24-hour package delivery service are all equal parts technology.

Ambient (external) environment includes everything that is related to the organization, but is outside of it. The key elements of the environment are the organization's areas of operation, government, customers, suppliers and the financial environment. The elements of the environment that most strongly affect an organization are often other organizations.

Goals and strategies Organizations are the tasks of the organization and the corresponding ways of performing them that distinguish this organization from others. A company's goals are often stated in a written statement of long-term intent. Strategy is a plan of action that describes the allocation of resources and activities necessary to establish relationships with the environment and achieve the organization's goals. Goals and strategies define the organization's field of activity and its relationships with its employees, customers and competitors.

Culture An organization is a set of core values, beliefs, attitudes and norms that are common to all employees. These core values ​​may relate to ethical behavior, employee expectations, efficiency or customer service and are the glue that holds the organization together. The culture of an organization is not written down anywhere, but it can be found in the stories told within the organization, its slogans, official events, the way employees dress, and the layout of office spaces.

Do structural characteristics of an organization depend on contextual ones?

The eleven contextual and structural characteristics described above are not independent and may influence each other. For example, the large size of an organization, standard established technologies, and a stable environment give rise to an organization with a high level of formalization, specialization, and centralization.

These characteristics provide a basis for measuring and analyzing features that may not normally be noticed by the casual observer and provide very valuable information about the nature of the organization.

Useful tips

· When considering change from an organizational perspective, one must always consider how individuals perceive change.

· It must be remembered that not only the environment influences people, but people also influence their environment.

· Organizational change is impossible without changing people.

• We must not forget that any development and change occurs through learning, which helps a person adapt his behavior to changing external conditions. learning is the key to individual change.

Here the main reasons for resistance to change are analyzed, possible options for responding to resistance are considered, and various methods of overcoming resistance are proposed. In addition, here you will find tips on how a company's organizational culture can help implement change, as well as an analysis of common mistakes managers make that increase resistance to change. How to overcome resistance to change

Reasons for resistance to change

How to respond to resistance

Force field analysis

Methods for overcoming resistance to change

Decision making in organizations

Change support

The role of organizational culture in driving change

Typical mistakes of managers

The need for periodic changes is beyond doubt. Changes must be responded to quickly and clearly. Having a vision of the situation and foreseeing how it will change is a valuable quality of any leader and manager.

There are factors that will slow down the implementation of change in an organization. One of the most important factors is resistance to change on the part of company employees. There is no organization without people, so to make changes you need to enlist the support of company employees. This will require a lot of effort: understanding why resistance occurs, how to respond to it, knowledge of methods for overcoming resistance. Changes occur in the internal environment of the organization, and therefore affect the organizational culture. Its role in bringing about change is great. Culture is a subtle matter that affects everyone. This requires managers to be careful and thoughtful when making any decisions related to change.

Cause

Result

Reaction

Selfish interest

Anticipation of personal losses as a result of changes

"Political" behavior

Misunderstanding of goals and change strategy

Low degree of trust in managers laying out a change plan

Different assessments of the consequences of implementing the strategy

Inadequate perception of plans; possibility of existence of other sources of information

Open disagreement

Low tolerance for change

People's fear that they do not have the necessary skills or abilities

Behavior aimed at maintaining one's own prestige

How does self-interest influence resistance to change?

Self-interest is the main reason why people resist change at the organizational level. This is due to one or another measure of selfishness inherent in every person: people, due to their human nature, put their own interests above the interests of the organization. Such behavior, due to its universality and naturalness, is not very dangerous, but its development can lead to the emergence of informal groups whose policy will be aimed at ensuring that the proposed change cannot be implemented.

Why is there a misunderstanding of change goals and strategies?

Misunderstanding usually arises because people are unable to appreciate the consequences of implementing a strategy. Often the reason here is the lack of sufficient information regarding the goals and ways of implementing the strategy. This situation is typical for organizations where the degree of trust in the actions of managers is low.

What is the reason for different assessments of the consequences of implementing the strategy?

Different assessments of consequences are associated with different perceptions of strategic goals and plans. Managers and employees may have different perceptions of the meaning of strategy for the organization and for intraorganizational groups. At the same time, “strategists” often unjustifiably believe that employees see the benefits of implementing the strategy in the same way as they do, and that everyone has the appropriate information to be convinced of its benefits, both for the organization and for each employee, from implementing the strategy.

Why does low tolerance for change occur?

Some people have a low tolerance for change due to fear that they will not be able to learn new skills or a new job. Such resistance is most typical when introducing new technologies, sales methods, reporting forms, etc.

What is the source of the causes of resistance?

Many of the cited reasons for resistance to perestroika stem from human nature. However, they are influenced by life experiences (for example, positive or negative consequences of previous changes). People who have experienced a lot of unnecessary changes (for example, frequent but useless reorganizations) or who have been harmed by changes that at first glance were useful tend to become very suspicious. It is very important. The reasons for failure are often sought in internal resistance, although they may be other things, such as poor choice of a new technology or inappropriate organizational conditions for its application. In such cases, resistance to change is only a symptom, the cause of which must be discovered and eliminated. In addition, people's personalities vary in their resistance to change and ability to adapt to it. Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, those who most need change are often the ones most resistant. This can affect individuals (both workers and managers), groups, organizations and even entire human communities.

Analysis of the "Force Field"

The concept of force field analysis is one tool that can help you take the necessary actions to overcome resistance. This method involves active analysis and assessment of the current state of affairs.

What is a "force field"?

“Force Field Analysis” is an analysis of factors or forces that push and promote change or, conversely, suppress it. These forces can originate both inside and outside the organization, from the behavior of people based on their assessments, way of thinking, value system, or from the systems and processes, resources that exist and stimulate the organization's ability to produce productive change.

What does a force field model look like?

The force field model represents the current situation as a dynamic equilibrium governed by many factors that “leave things as they are.” To move towards a goal, it is necessary to evaluate the resistance and try to change this balance in favor of the forces aimed at achieving the goal.

Force field analysis model

Rice. 2.1. Force field analysis model

Achieving change is nothing more than moving the balance line towards the goal. This can be achieved by strengthening or adding driving forces, reducing or pushing back restraining forces, or a combination of these measures.

How to analyze the “force field”?

1. Define the question.

2. Specify it:

o In the context of the present situation

o In the context of the desired situation

3. Take an inventory of driving forces and restraining factors (these could be people, materials, organization, environment, etc.)

4. List the forces that may possibly eliminate or neutralize resistive forces or create driving forces.

When only strengthened, the driving forces can very well stimulate change, but at the same time there is also an increase in tension due to the emergence of new forces of resistance. By moving away, the resistance forces can cause tension at lower levels, and its effect can be more stable. If the drivers of change have been strengthened, this new level often needs ongoing and sustained support, or the effect of the change may be lost.

How can we make force field analysis easier?

An additional tool that facilitates force field analysis is stakeholder analysis. Unlike the driving forces or resistance forces, which are usually directly related to change, representatives of the so-called “stakeholders” - specific individuals, groups or organizations - indirectly benefit or lose from changes in the situation. These “stakeholders” can also be located both inside and outside the organization, and actively working with them can strengthen the immediate drivers of change, or weaken the forces of resistance.

An approach

This approach is usually used in situations:

Advantages (advantages)

Flaws

Information and communication

When there is insufficient information or inaccurate information in the analysis

If you manage to convince people, they will help you make changes

The approach can be very time-consuming if a large number of people are involved

Participation and Involvement

When change initiators do not have all the information needed to plan the change and when others have significant power to resist

People who participate will feel a sense of responsibility for implementing the change, and any relevant information they have will be included in the change plan

This approach can be time consuming

Help and support

When people resist change because they fear the challenges of adapting to new conditions

No other approach works as well for solving problems of adaptation to new conditions

The approach can be expensive, time consuming and still fail

Negotiations and agreements

When an individual or group clearly has something to lose by making a change

Sometimes this is a relatively simple (easy) way to avoid strong resistance

The approach may become too costly if it aims to achieve agreement only through negotiations

Manipulation and co-optation

When other tactics don't work or are too costly

This approach may be a relatively quick and inexpensive solution to resistance problems

This approach can create additional problems if people feel manipulated

Explicit and implicit coercion

When change is needed quickly and when change initiators have significant power

This approach is fast and allows you to overcome any type of resistance.

A risky way if people remain dissatisfied with the initiators of change

Change support

Organizational change can be effective if it has the support of the people affected. Getting people's support can sometimes be very difficult. Company managers are not always confident that they will be able to provide the necessary support for planned changes. Due to management mistakes, even existing support can turn into its complete opposite and be replaced by resistance; In this situation, it can be difficult to correct the situation.

What needs to be done to support change?

A useful general method for gaining support and reducing resistance is to invite people to actively participate in all stages of change. This helps create an atmosphere in which people feel they “own” the proposed changes: the idea does not come from above or from an outsider, but from within the group. If things go wrong, the group does not look elsewhere for the culprit, but studies the reasons and willingly helps revise proposals.

In order to gain the support of company employees, managers need to take some actions and pay attention to the following aspects:

• Drawing attention to the need for change
• Get support for specific proposals
• Formation of the personal composition of participants in the change process
• Support and creation of an informal information network
• Accounting for objections to changes

What methods can be used to draw attention to the need for change?

There are certainly endless methods available to sensitize individuals and groups to the need for change. However, there are two particularly interesting and proven methods.

The most effective way to stimulate immediate attention is to create an atmosphere of anxiety. In special cases, a state of extreme anxiety is certainly effective - for example, a building will be cleared very quickly if it is reported that there is a bomb planted in it. However, practice shows that prolonged use of this method usually leads to the fact that people eventually begin to ignore such threats, especially if the supposed events do not occur.

Despite this, minimal anxiety is effective as a long-lasting way to make people more alert. A particularly successful combination is to use anxiety to draw attention to specific needs and then proceed to develop solutions to meet those needs.

The second method is a two-stage information process. The basic idea is that change is accepted and effectively implemented as a result of the effect of stimulating the flow of information.

Research data shows that people who are most willing to experiment and embrace innovation have certain characteristics. These individuals, called “isolates,” often have a strong technical focus, read widely on their particular topic, frequently attend meetings and conferences, and travel to learn about new designs. They may be considered something of a "weirdo" in their group. Oddly enough, they rarely directly influence other members of their group. However, their activities are constantly monitored by a second type of individuals who have characteristics similar to the “isolates”, but usually, due to wide interests in other areas, do not have enough free time to experiment and deeply test new methods. This type, called the "evaluative leader", has significant influence within the group and even outside it. In addition to being highly technically skilled, he usually occupies a significant social position in society.

In the normal life cycle of new method adoption, a new design is first studied along with other possible options in isolation and selected over other alternatives due to its technical superiority. At the next stage, the “evaluative leader” accepts the new idea, making sure that the “isolate” understands everything well. Then the “epidemic” phase begins, when the followers of the “evaluative leader” also adopt the new approach. Thus, restructuring typically emphasizes the highly technical aspects of the new approach in order to attract and persuade the “isolates” and “evaluative leaders” who would normally help and influence other group members.

russia management management globalization

Changes in an organization are determined by the organization's response to environmental developments (connections, demands and opportunities). Organizations are forced to constantly adapt to the environment in which they exist. They themselves also generate changes in the external environment, developing and launching new products and technologies that become dominant and widespread. Change itself is a gradual or stepwise process of taking an organization to a new level using existing ideas and concepts.

Implementation of the change program

The innovation process takes place in three stages:

• · preparation - ideas from previous practice are processed and staff are prepared for changes;
• · direct implementation of changes - employees are convinced of the need to abandon the old principles of work;
• · consolidation of results - new principles of work are consolidated and develop into new practice as a whole.

The main stages of changes are the following:

• · unfreezing: analysis and processing of ideas and results of previous practice; At the same time, staff are prepared for changes;
• · change: staff are convinced of the need to abandon old ways of working;
• · freezing: new ways of working are consolidated or develop into a new system accepted by the staff;
• · evaluation: the efforts and costs associated with introducing innovations are compared with the initial successes, as well as with what is expected in the future.

Larry Greiner model

Successful carrying out changes in an organization is associated with the theory of Larry Greiner and the use of his model.

Stage 1. Pressure and inducement. The first step is for management to recognize the need for change. Senior management or other leaders who have the authority to make and implement decisions must be sensitive to the need for change and prepared to implement it.

Stage 2. Mediation and reorientation of attention. Management, even when they feel the need for change, may not always be able to make an accurate analysis of the problems and implement the changes properly.

Stage 3. Diagnosis and awareness. At this stage, management collects relevant information and determines the true causes of problems that require a change in the existing situation.

Stage 4. Finding a new solution and committing to its implementation. Once a problem is recognized, management looks for a way to correct the situation. In most cases, management must also obtain agreement to the new course from those responsible for its implementation.

Stage 5. Experiment and identification. An organization rarely takes on the risk of making major changes in one fell swoop. She is more likely to test planned changes and identify hidden challenges before implementing innovations on a large scale.

Stage 6. Reinforcement and agreement. The last step is to motivate people to accept these changes. This can be achieved by convincing subordinates that the changes are beneficial to both the organization and themselves.

The process of renewal (transformation) of an organization is understood, based on the introduction of innovations into organizational processes. The relevance of changes and innovations is due to the need to adapt the organization to the requirements of the external and internal environment, to master new knowledge and technologies, which is especially important in a market economy. The amount of knowledge that humanity possesses doubles approximately every five to seven years, and accordingly, the number of new situations requiring an adequate solution also doubles. This leads to increased importance of change management tasks. Minor adjustments to the basic parameters of the organizational environment (structure, tasks, processes, personnel, etc.) are recommended to be carried out regularly in the organization, major ones - once every four to five years. The purpose of change is to implement progressive changes to move the organization into a highly effective state.

The reasons for organizational changes and innovations can be economic, ideological, organizational, informational, personnel, etc. The most common are changes in external working conditions (actions of competitors), the emergence of progressive technologies for solving management problems (automation and computerization), bureaucratization of the management apparatus (increase in management costs ).

Diagnostic signs that determine the need for change can be direct and indirect: deterioration or stabilization of the organization’s performance indicators, losses in competition, passivity of personnel, unreasoned protest against any innovation, lack of a procedure for canceling ineffective management decisions, a gap between the formal responsibilities of personnel and their specific work, high frequency of punishments in the absence of incentives, etc.

Innovations can be divided into 3 groups:

• technical and technological (new equipment, devices, technological schemes, etc.);
• product (transition to the production of new products, materials);
• social, which includes:
  • economic (new material incentives, indicators of the remuneration system)
  • organizational and managerial (new organizational structures, forms of organizing work, making decisions, monitoring their implementation, etc.)
  • actually social, that is, targeted changes in intra-collective relations (election of foremen, foremen, new forms of publicity, educational work, such as mentoring, creation of new public bodies, etc.)
  • legal, mainly acting as changes in labor and economic legislation.

Sometimes economic, organizational, and legal innovations are combined with the concept of “managerial”.

Classification of changes and innovations:

on organizing the event:

• planned
• unplanned;

by timing:

• short-term
• long-term;

in relation to staff:

• increasing staff efficiency;
• improving the skills of employees;
• aimed at improving the climate, increasing job satisfaction, etc.

According to the method of implementation, innovations should be distinguished:

• experimental, that is, going through the stage of testing and testing;
• direct, implemented without experiments.

By volume:

• dot (rules);
• systemic (technological and organizational systems);
• strategic (principles of production and management).

By purpose:

• aimed at: production efficiency;
• improvement of working conditions;
• enrichment of labor content;
• increasing the manageability of the organization;
• improving product quality.

Possible positive impacts of innovations:

• cost reduction;
• reducing the harmfulness of work;
• advanced training, etc.

Possible negative impacts of innovations:

• financial costs for their implementation;
• decrease in work efficiency at the initial stage;
• social tension, etc.

To successfully implement a transformation, it is necessary to analyze their causes, objects, positive and negative sides, clearly formulate goals and only then make changes.

Any innovations as certain changes in the labor process are inevitable, since they are caused mainly by objective factors. At the same time, it must be emphasized that reorganization is not an end in itself, but a means of implementing new tasks and areas of activity.

Reorganization of an enterprise can be carried out in various forms: merger, accession, division, spin-off, transformation, reduction, repurposing. With each of these types, a corresponding restructuring of the management system occurs, which entails changes in the structure, technology, personnel, organizational culture and other essential parameters of the organization’s functioning.

The priority goal of changes and innovations should be considered to be the achievement of better results, the development of advanced means and methods of work, the elimination of routine operations, and the implementation of progressive changes in the management system.

Organizational Change Policy

Change management should be viewed from two aspects: tactical and strategic. From a tactical point of view, change management means the ability to carry them out in an adequate time frame, achieve set goals, reduce resistance to change, and increase employee adaptation to it. In a strategic context, change management means incorporating permanent changes into management practices to the extent that they become habitual and expected for all personnel in the organization, and their temporary absence would cause anxiety and concern. It is the provision of strategic change management that can lead to a significant increase in the competitiveness of the organization.

Change management can be implemented based on two principal approaches:

Reactive approach— allows you to respond to current events, adapt to changes, and mitigate their consequences. In this case, there is a time lag in internal changes in response to external influences, which can lead to the loss of the organization’s competitive position.

Proactive (preventive) approach- makes it possible to anticipate events in the external environment, get ahead of them and initiate changes yourself. In this case, the role of the manager is to carry out constant organizational changes that allow him to control the very “destiny” of the organization. This approach allows you to radically manage change.

Changes based on frequency are divided into one-time and multi-stage; in relation to the staff - into those perceived positively by the majority of staff and those perceived negatively.

The main objects of organizational changes and innovations are:

• goals of the personnel and the organization as a whole;
• organization management structure;
• technology and tasks of personnel labor activity;
• personnel composition.

One of the components of introducing innovations is the organization’s mastery of a new idea. The author of the idea needs:

• identify the group's interest in the idea, including the consequences of the innovation for the group, the size of the group, the range of opinions within the group, etc.;
• develop a strategy to achieve the goal;
• identify alternative strategies;
• finally choose a strategy of action;
• draw up a specific, detailed action plan.

People tend to have a wary and negative attitude towards all changes, since innovation usually poses a potential threat to habits, way of thinking, status, etc. There are three types of potential threats when implementing innovations:

• economic (decrease in income level or its decrease in the future);
• psychological (feeling of uncertainty when requirements, responsibilities, work methods change);
• socio-psychological (loss of prestige, loss of status, etc.).

When introducing innovation, the organization of work with people is carried out in accordance with the principles:

• informing about the essence of the problem;
• preliminary assessment (informing at the preparatory stage about the necessary efforts, predicted difficulties, problems);
• initiatives from below (it is necessary to distribute responsibility for the success of implementation at all levels);
• individual compensation (retraining, psychological training, etc.).

The following types of people are distinguished according to their attitude to innovation:

Innovators are people who are characterized by a constant search for opportunities to improve something. Enthusiasts are people who accept new things regardless of the degree of its elaboration and validity. Rationalists - accept new ideas only after carefully analyzing their usefulness, assessing the difficulty and possibility of using innovations.

Neutrals are people who are not inclined to take the word of a useful proposal.

Skeptics are people who can become good inspectors of projects and proposals, but inhibit innovation.

Conservatives are people who are critical of everything that has not been verified by experience.

Retrogrades are people who automatically deny everything new.

Policy options for introducing innovations in a team

Directive policy. Its essence boils down to the fact that innovations are carried out by the manager without the involvement of team members. The goal of such a policy is rapid changes in a crisis situation, and team members will be forced to come to terms with changes due to their inevitability.

Negotiation policy. The manager is the initiator of innovation; he conducts negotiations with the team, in which partial concessions and mutual agreements are possible. Team members can express their opinions and understanding of the essence of innovations.

Policy for achieving common goals. Its essence is that managers, attracting consultants - specialists in the field of management, not only obtain the consent of the team to introduce innovations, but also set goals for introducing innovations for each member of the organization, defining their responsibility for achieving goals, both personal and overall. organizations.

Analytical policy. The manager attracts specialist experts who study the problem, collect information, analyze it and develop optimal solutions, without involving the team of workers or taking into account their personal problems.

Trial and error policy. The manager cannot define the problem clearly enough. Groups of workers are involved in the implementation of innovations, who try approaches to solving the problem and learn from their mistakes.

Having realized the inevitability of the proposed reforms, the main task of management is to convey this idea to the consciousness of the company’s employees, and first of all, to the heads of the relevant departments. And who, if not a specialist responsible for human resources in a company, can become a conductor of a policy of change? Unfortunately, in whatever department the planned changes take place, the staff will carry them out, and in the worst case scenario, the staff will also fight them. So, no matter what part of the business the planned changes relate to, the personnel service will have to be actively involved in the process of their implementation. Moreover, changes are inevitably associated with changes in work technologies and often with changes in methods and methods of remuneration. And this is directly the diocese of the personnel management service.

Regardless of who the customer and leader of the changes are, in what department, and for what purpose they occur, the HR manager has the job of overcoming resistance to change in the organization.

Essentially, this work consists of two elements:

Convincing employees of the correctness and inevitability of reforms, informing staff,

And control over changes introduced to reward the loyal and punish the dissatisfied.

The first part of the activity belongs without a doubt in the field of internal PR, the second lies in the field of human resource management.

Stages of reform

Stage 1. The manager's awareness of the need for change.

Stage 2. Description of required actions.

Stage 3. Creation of a reform team. Proclaiming a change leader. Conducting a PR campaign at the level of key groups (top management, group leaders). The strategy of "rational persuasion".

Stage 4. Definition of "opposition". Involving the opposition in developing a model of change. "Negotiations and trade" with members of the group responsible for implementation.

Stage 5. Making changes to the masses. The stage of avalanche-like transformations. PR companies at the level of the general public (company employees). Clarification of the goals of change and setting objectives. Carrot and stick strategy, 21 days to adapt.

Stage 6. Control of implemented changes. Rewarding the loyal and punishing those who disagree. Changing the reward system depending on the effectiveness of the changes.

Stage 7. Rest and recuperation. Digestion of the changes made by the team. Psychological rest. Translation of “new” into “old and familiar”. Creating a comfort zone. Research and evaluation of results.

If necessary, this sequence can be repeated the required number of times.

Key groups for implementing changes. For changes to be successfully implemented, they must find support among key groups in your organization. Without this, no matter how much effort and money you put in, your transformations are doomed. What kind of groups are these?

Firstly, your reform must have a Customer. That is, the person who makes responsible decisions in your company and manages resources. Depending on the scale of the planned reforms, the Customer may be a specialist, a subsidiary of a holding company, or the chief executive of the company. It is the responsibility of the Customer of Change to allocate the necessary resources to carry out the reform (both human and material) and delegate authority to the Reform Leader.

Naturally, the best option in which the reform will take place with the greatest efficiency is the case when the Customer of the changes is the first person or the owner of the company.

Secondly, the changes being implemented must have a Change Leader. The change leader is the manager who will manage the development of a set of necessary measures and introduce new rules in the life of the team. At the same time, the main qualities for a Reform Leader should be personal charisma, confidence in the need for change and authority among key groups. As a rule, in the case of major changes (large-scale reforms), the Change Leader forms and heads a separate project team, whose main work is the development and implementation of the proposed changes. As practice shows, a manager simultaneously performs his usual duties and works on a transformation project, achieving success in one of the areas. As they say, either the work will start, or the project will fail.

Finally, for the reform to be successful, it must be supported by the key persons of the company. The list of such Key Persons includes top managers of the company (board of directors), heads of key business divisions and informal leaders of the company. It is their approval or disapproval that is decisive for the success of the planned changes. And if the initiators of the reform enlist their support and, most importantly, active participation, then half the job is done. Paradoxically, to implement successful changes you do not need to seek the approval of middle management and the consent of ordinary employees. All you need to get from the “broad masses” is an understanding of the goals of the reform being carried out and the expected results.

However, it is in this group of Key Persons that change agents encounter the most serious resistance.

"The only constant is change "

Heraclitus,500 BC e.=

• Factors influencing the need for change;
• Reasons for failure in change management;
• Key principles of change management;
• Analysis of the current situation in the company. Identification of problem (including potential) areas;
• Opportunity Analysis companies: personnel, sales, financial, technological, logistics, production and others;
• Drawing up/formulating/adjusting plans and tasks necessary for the organization to achieve the desired state;
• Assessing plans and tasks for the necessary resources for their implementation;
• Assessment of influencing factors on the implementation of changes, change management and assessment of the degree of their influence;
• Development and entry into the system of plans for possible scenarios depending on the influence of external factors;
• Development/reengineering of existing business processes and procedures for planning, management and reporting;
• Selection (if necessary) of software tools for effective management and control of implemented changes.

"You don't have to change.

Survival is not a responsibility ".

= Edwards Deming=

Change management

IN In modern conditions, changes in organizations of various forms of ownership and industry affiliation acquire an importance that is difficult to overestimate. The need for constant changes is dictated by the following factors:

Implementation of changes And change management

in the company, in other words, has long since moved from the fieldPOSSIBLE to the region MANDATORY. Systematic activities aimed at improving the forms and methods of work, business processes, strategic and operational business management, relationship building, production and distribution activities of the organization, as well as many others,becomes a prerequisite for the survival of organizations in modern market conditions.

Despite the obvious need for change and transformation, most initiatives to bring about any changes in the organization “from the inside” fail or do not bring any tangible benefits to companies. Analysis of the reasons for such “failure” forced us to try to formulate the main reasons that may be present in various “complete sets” in your or any other organization:

• lack of understanding of the need for changes on the part of the business owner and/or top management of the organization,
• lack of proper experience, qualifications and management skills of the project manager,
• low status of the initiator of introducing changes in the organization,
• one-sided approach to problem solving,
• resistance to change (defense of positions and struggle for resources),
• excessive bureaucratization of the organization and its overregulation,
• unclear definition of the goals of the proposed changes,
• the inability of the project team to concentrate on the change project without distractions to perform core management functions,
• lack of funding and incentives for the project.

From our point of view, the most important reasons for unsuccessful transformations are the following:

• lack of understanding and support from the head of the organization,
• undeveloped management system in the company,
• lack of proper qualifications and experience in implementing such changes,
• lack of correct vision of the problem, determination of priorities, planning and provision of “feedback” with all key project participants,
• lack of funding and motivation of change project leaders.

It should also be noted that the success of implementing changes is often influenced byinfluence of medium resistance. Resistance to change represents certain conscious actions or inactions of personnel aimed at delaying decision-making and/or implementation of certain actions in the field of implementation of changes. Change management experience says that resistance to change always arises and this does not depend on the changes being implemented, be it implementation, changing the structure of the company or moving to a new office. Resistance to change always has a subconscious explanation: change is always associated with a situation of uncertainty and loss of something (status, time, money, new responsibilities, etc.).

Resistance to change can be active or passive.

• Active resistance can be expressed in strikes, strikes, boycotts or active criticism of the changes being introduced;
• Passive resistance usually expressed in doing work in the old way, reducing the intensity of work, escalating a negative psychological climate in the team and laying off staff.

Change management is an area of ​​activity for consultants that must be addressed when dealing with .

It is well clear that any radical transformations, one of which is anti-crisis activities, will in any case imply:

* change in organizational structure,

* change in the functional responsibilities of company personnel,

* changing the value system within the organization,

* changing the organization's management system,

* changing the attitude and procedure for managing and managing materials,

* changing the staff motivation system,

* changes in work relationships between employees,

* change in the internal communication environment,

* changing relationships within the team,

*