Role of Leadership in Change Management Role Research Paper

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Role of Leadership in Change Management

Role of Leadership in Delivering Change-2

Other factors necessary in delivering Change-5

Arguments for and Against Change Management-6

Perspective towards Change Applications in an Organization-10

Any Topic on Organizational Development

The paper will tackle any topic from Organizational Development. The topic in this case that I choose to look at is Leadership Development but I will be narrowing it down to look at 'The Role of leadership in Change Management. In this case, the paper will attempt to look at how leadership affects change in an organization. It will also look at whether change is really necessary in an organization and what role the leaders have in effecting the change. What are the implications of change to the organization and the entire structure including the employees? How should it be implemented? What are the challenges? These are some of the questions that will be answered in the process of tackling of the paper.

Thesis Statement

Change is inevitable, not only in organizations but in every sphere of life, and this is the argument that I wish to support. The following are the forces driving change- The changing needs of clients, technology, globalization, political forces. In today's world, business is highly competitive. For an organization to survive it is imperative for an organization to reshape to the needs of a rapidly changing world. Organizations can longer resist change and doing so is taking a blind alley street that will possibly end up no where or that is so dark to see to the needs of its customers, stakeholders and others. Every day, customers are demanding more and excellent services. If you do not supply it, competitors swerve to the delight of providing what you cannot. As a result organizations are quickly reshaping themselves in order to meet the ever changing needs of their customers.

Role of Leadership in Delivering Change

Leaders in an organization are realizing this that not every problem will require money to solve, sometime it is just about moving with the trends. Money is important in any organization but it can fail to buy or even to deliver the best results if used in an erroneous context. As a leader you need to accentuate action to make the changes quickly and smoothly as possible. Resistance to change is futile. However it is not just about adopting change, it is highly on how to go about it, because an organization can be good at adopting change but does not have the necessary skills of doing so and its efforts are futile. The ability to respond to change is a key role in any leadership position, and how well to cope with change and direct the overall transformations is crucial to your organization's success. It is for this reason that excellent leadership is necessary. Change can range from transitioning to new software to a complete reorganization of the company. For an organization to develop, they often must undergo significant change at various points in their development .Why it is very critical for leaders and managers to be successful at organizational change. I will provide supporting evidence to this question:

According to Patrol & Troop, (1972), 'There are no rules for leadership. But there are certain skills that every good leader seems to love.' Given the definition of leadership as the process of social influence in which a person enlists the aid and support of others in order to accomplish a task, one thing for sure is that the person at the point of social influence must always lead the others in proficient ways. This is a responsibility that is placed on a person or persons and which means great responsibility. It is an exciting activity and often pleasurable, but it always means responsibility and doing things right. 'Manager are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing.' (Patrol & Troop, 1972)

To understand better the necessity of efficient leadership it is ideal to look at the main changes that an organization goes though. Organization evolves through various cycles just like people must evolve through various life cycles 'Organizations normally go through four main changes thought their growth,' (Klepper 1997). There is the Formative period when the organization is just getting started. In this stage, the organization only has the vision but no prescribed definitions to the organization. A lot of experimentation and innovation is needed here. To overcome obstacles and accomplish breakthroughs, the changes of creativity and discovery are needed.

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The next stage involves the organization finding direction and coordination to maintain growth and solidify gains. This stage is the rapid growth period. Change is focused on defining the purpose of the organization and on the mainstream business. This is followed by the mature period where the organization's strong growth curve levels off to the overall place of the economy. Changes are needed to maintain established markets and assuring that gains are achieved. Lastly we have the declining period stage that is quite a rough ride. Changes like downsizing and reorganization are inevitable. To survive, changes include tough objectives and compassionate implementation. The goal is to get out of the old and into something new. Success in this period means that the four periods start al over again.

These stages must be well understood so that the organization can adjust well to the different transformations and needs in every stage. Organizations that fail to recognize this or to effect the needed changes in any of the four growth periods risk failing and death of the organization. It is in this case that we call for good leadership skills and this also determines whether a company will succeed or not. Some companies do it successfully while others do it poorly. Continual improvement is needed in every step of the company's growth. It is never ending quest to do better. And you do better by changing. Standing still allows your competitors to get ahead of you. 'To prevent yourself or the organization from becoming stranded on the mudflats of an obsolete ideology you become a champion of change.' (Patrol & Troop, 1972)

Great leadership skills are crucial in change management. Employees need to place great confidence and trust in leadership so they can accept change and not only that but so that they too can be part of the change. In fact, employees look to leaders to direct the imminent change. Change without leadership can cause confusion and turmoil or even distrust from employees or investors and ultimately the vision of the change will be lost. Poor leadership results in negative responses from employees and instability within the organization. Leaders are responsible for demonstrating the need for change, establishing common goals and appearing as noticeable and convincing leaders during the change process.

For desirable change to be achieved by leaders, the leaders must establish attainable targets; unrealistic targets will get a company no where, it will just result into a waste of time and resources. There is also need for transparent and faultless communication, not only from top to bottom level but also from bottom to top. The organization also requires constructing futuristic plans for generating positive results. The business also need to have a good risk management that should be able to understand and measure the risks and also help the system in the smooth flow of the business for longer period. A good risk management system should be able to understand and measure the risks, and outline new policies that will be executed on the right time to overcome the risks. Besides that, the leader should be in place to set standards. The set standards are practiced in the future for better productivity and quantitative terms. And lastly the leaders should be in a position to adopt quality information and knowledge of the related areas to run business in a better way. The knowledge management might be treated as new concept with knowledge management, the conventional business activities are getting paradigm shift.

Other factors necessary in Delivering Change

However we can not rule outright that the only fundamental aspect for organizational success in carrying change is only in great leadership. Yes, efficient leadership is the major component for facilitating change but there are other factors that come into play. In fact even with all the needed skills, leaders still fail to succeed in implanting change especially if the employees are not change oriented mainly due to their backgrounds. Different people often have very different and strong opinions about change and how it should be conducted. Even the best of managers can fail if there is no will from other areas, especially if it is resisted by the employees and other people of interest to the organization.

Whenever humans are forced to shift to adjust to shifting conditions, pain is ever present. Due to this they are likely to resist change. This is because they do not want to the places and old habits that they are accustomed to.….....

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