Change is the most inevitable episode
that occurs in the life of any
individual or business. A booming
business is the one which adheres to the ‘old
system’ till the time it’s profitable and
captures the ‘new system’ as soon as the ‘old
system’ gets back-numbered. An organization
is called successful when it changes in sync
with the changing environment. And if it
does not, its long-lasting sustainability in the
market can be at stake. These changes can
be external or internal. External changes are
those which occur outside the company and
can be at times beyond its control. For
example, changing technologies,
demographics, government laws and
regulations, degree of competition, etc. On
the contrary, some of the factors are internal and much in company’s control like
deteriorating performance, technological
upgradation, changing existing systems, steps
towards employee satisfaction, to name a few.
Every organization in recent times is facing
tremendous pressure from various driving
forces to change for improved efficiency. In
spite of all these well-known rationale
behind bringing a change, unfortunately, the
employees do not always welcome change
with an open heart and mind, which of course
has considerable reasons to it. Nevertheless,
the external and internal business
environment forces the managers and
supervisors to exercise change in the
practices and procedures of business and
sometimes even, in the entire culture of the
organization. Here is when change management comes into picture. It shows its
prominence when employees find it difficult
for them to change from one situation to
another.
Although ‘change’ simply means altering
the way the work is being done, it is not as
simple as it seems to be. Instead of being a
‘one-click’ job, it is a process which
encapsulates planned and organized
implementation of new methods and
systems. Change management is managing
the ‘people-side’ of change and people
(employees) being a bundle of emotions and
reactions, it is not always easy for the
management to implement change.
Exercising change in the organization can
mean anything starting from the rules and
regulations to an entirely new business
model or an upgraded technology. On the
one hand, where change requires the
employees to emerge out of their comfort
zones, it also demands the management to
build an environment of trust and
involvement in the organization, so that
the employees accede to the change and are
able to cope up with it. It should be observed
by the managers that their job is not to
impose change but to facilitate it.
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