Change Management: Transforming Organizational Behavior into Performance Olivia Herriford, DM University of Phoenix November 2006

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1 Change Management: Transforming Organizational Behavior into Performance Olivia Herriford, DM University of Phoenix November 2006 Knowledge of organizational behavior is essential to effective implementation of change because turning a business decision into the desired outcome is the result of the efforts of people and how people work together. Organizational behavior places an emphasis on achieving high performance within a context that must consider global competition, diverse workforces, and rapidly changing markets, technology, and social factors. While the environment continuously shifts, the dimensions remain the same. Organizational behavior is the system of relationships between an organization s core values, structure, and processes, and the myriad collection of people working together, both internally and externally, to achieve its common purpose. Interestingly, it s not organizational behavior we hear and read about in business dialog and press. When organizational performance is the issue, managing change, or change management, is the term most often bantered about. The primary reason change management has become such a buzzword is the attention placed upon the never-ceasing challenges organizations face as a result of turbulent and rapidly changing economic and social environments. Where once organizations simply adjusted to expected incremental change, there is now a constant onslaught of radical, transformational change creating major performance implications for organizational structures, systems, and processes (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2003). The discipline of organizational behavior itself must continuously evolve. The following are recent trends that organizations have just begun to address and integrate into how they get things done. 1

2 Demise of command-and-control - traditional hierarchical structures are proving too unwieldy, slow, and costly to do well. Emergence of new workforce expectations - a new generation of workers is bringing with it less tolerance for hierarchy and boundaries, more informality, and concerns for performance merit rather than status. Increasing impact of information technologies - the implications for information utilization are far reaching and substantial while the enabling technology changes as rapidly as the environment. Belief in empowerment - a dynamic, complex environment places a premium on knowledge, experience, commitment, which only thrive in high-involvement and participatory work settings. Emphasis on teamwork - organizations today are less vertical and more horizontal; work is increasingly team based with a focus on peer contributions and a common purpose for which all are accountable. Concern for work/life balance organizations are finding that supporting employee-centered efforts such as flexible work arrangements and benefits, child care, community involvement, and education decreases negative impacts to the bottom line such as turnover, absenteeism, and health-care costs. Any company that has successfully leveraged these trends understands the significance of organizational behavior and how it underpins change management. Defined, change management is the task of managing reactive or proactive change (Nickols, 2004). Change is now the only constant in today s business environment. Continuous improvement, total quality, increased productivity, and employee engagement are examples of initiatives introduced and sustained by constantly managing change. It s unfortunate that organizational behavior isn t as popular a topic because one of the reasons that change management efforts fail to get their desired results is the inability to modify the behaviors necessary to 2

3 attain the goals (Rieley & Clarkson, 2001). Effective change management is the effective modification of organizational behavior. The models, methods, and techniques of change management draw upon psychology, sociology, business administration, industrial engineering, economics, systems thinking and the study of individual and organizational behavior (Nickols, 2004). The actual practice of change management requires the following skills and strategies. Managing change requires understanding that an organization is an open system, interacting with other systems, with a purpose driven by a mission, values, and a host of goals and objectives. Managing change requires recognition that people - characterized by all manner of sizes, shapes, colors, intelligence, ability, gender, sexual preferences, nationalities, languages, beliefs, work/life attitudes, personalities, and priorities are essential to organizational performance. Managing change requires communication and interpersonal skills Managing change requires adeptness with power and politics. Managing change requires decision-making, problem solving, and analytical skills. Finally, managing change requires leadership because like anything else of a turbulent, chaotic nature, you don t really manage it, your grapple with it (Nickols, 2004, p. 12). Individually and combined, these practices are the behaviors one expects to find in a viable organization. Merriam-Webster defines behavior as the response of an individual, group, or species to its environment. Considering that organizations are becoming living, global institutions, they are certainly a species one that is having a profound affect on our environment, government, and social structures. This may be the reason why culture, values, ethics, sustainability, and social responsibility have also become critical elements of organizational change initiatives. Change 3

4 initiatives that are incongruent with the organization s culture, values, and informal practices will be difficult to manage. The change agent has two choices change the initiative or change the culture. Even given that kind of simple choice, the decision is perplex because it requires an understanding of the alternatives for both paths. A different initiative must be consistent with the existing culture. Any cultural change must be integrated within the initiative decided upon. Either way, understanding organizational behavior is a prerequisite to change. It should be noted that, like change management, culture is another fundamental of organizational behavior that is increasingly linked to performance. Organizational culture is the system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members (Schermerhorn et al., 2003). Corporate culture is the way things are done in the organization; the shared common values; and the taken-for-granted truths that employees share as a result of their joint experience. The wide-spread assumption is that culture is difficult to change and attempting to do so can be destabilizing. Because culture is how members perceive, think, and feel about things, there is usually little variation, confrontation, or debate of the behavior. This is where culture draws its power and perpetuates itself. But the assumption is actually incorrect. The behavior of leaders can change a culture when they heighten their awareness of how they impact organizational behavior and how organizational behavior is the key to managing change and performance. Every discipline of organizational and management study is concerned with achieving performance through strategies, structures, culture, people, and processes, all concerns of organizational behavior. Organizations can continuously improve if their approach to change embraces these values and guiding principles: Alignment of strategy (goals, objectives, and activities) with culture (values, practices, and behaviors) 4

5 Creation and ongoing development of intellectual capital - the sum total of knowledge, expertise, and dedication of an organization s workforce. Linkage of business competencies with people competencies. Integration of work processes with behavioral practices Priority on customer value and retention Change as a matter of principle Nickols, F. (2004, February 4, 2004). Change management 101: A primer. Available: [2004, August 15, 2004]. Rieley, J. B., & Clarkson, I. (2001). How companies shift organizational behaviors to improve performance. Journal of Organizational Excellence, (20)4, Schermerhorn, J. R., Hunt, J. G., & Osborn, R. N. (2003). Organizational behavior. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. 5