Organisational Change Approaches: Paper

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE APPROACHES 1
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE APPROACHES
Commissioned by and prepared for:
HRM 3008 Organisational Change B.A. (Hons) Business and Management University of
Northampton, United Kingdom
April 2017 module (Cohort 13)
Tutor: Dr. Kaylie Tan
By:

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE APPROACHES 2
Organisational Change Approaches
Introduction
The paradigm shift in the production process is defined by high technology era
demanding organizations to change their modes of operations so that they may remain relevant
within the market segment (Vaara & Tienari, 2011). As a way of appreciating technological
innovations, most organizations are on the verge of facing out the old ways of production.
Having worked as a sales person, I have gained diverse skills of marketing. Such experience
helps me remain innovative, creative, team player, focused, and determined to achieve. This
paper structurally based on three basic approaches to change. They include; use of power to
facilitate change, organizational learning approach to managing employees' stress and emotions,
and finally, the concept of organizational communication strategies in managing a workforce in
mergers and acquisitions (Jiali Zhang et al., 2015). The aim of choosing these three themes is to
enable me study more and understand the importance of communication in managing employees
for mergers and acquisitions. The significance of these approaches is that leadership influences
emotions and practices within the workplace. Therefore, it is paramount to learn how to approach
changes to ensure the change program is acceptable to all.
Use of Power to Facilitate Change
Review
The use of power to influence and persuade employees in organizations is a fascinating
discovery I ever meet as far as organizational change approach is concerned. Manager’s use
power to influence production practices and employee participation (Jiali Zhang et al.,
2015).Therefore this topic is significant in creating a mutual understanding between the
management and the staff. Power is defined as the ability to take action and influence others. To
promote continued thinking, I focused on legitimate power and expert power. Legitimate power
is based on the title one holds such as manager, supervisor, and others. This kind of power
comes with ability and responsibility to reward and punish. For example, staff raises and
restricted asses to resources. On the other hand, expert power comes from expert skills that are
highly valued and personal associations with people (Riad, Vaara & Zhang, 2012).
Application of Power Model in Facilitation of Change Programs

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE APPROACHES 3
Expert power
The management invoked a change program that encouraged customer relation through
improving service delivery (Jiali Zhang et al. ,2015).Different parties were brought together to
share experiences that would lead to successful customer relationships across the business. The
staff became part of decision making hence a greater achievement was witnessed (Vanston,
2007). This is expert power. After observation of O2 case scenario, I established that expert
power is most effective when it comes to maintaining an organizational image as well as
boosting customer relationships. The comments indicate strengths and weaknesses in this
approach as follows.
Strengths. Expert power has the potential to influence behaviours of others within the
system. In our case scenario, participative leadership was heightened through sharing
experiences that would lead to successful customer relationships across the business (Graebner,
2009). Additionally, this helped me to realize that expert power builds trust and self-confidence
which forms the basis of decision and opinion acceptability within organizational setup. The
evidence of this collaboration between the management and the staff was systematic thinking
(Weber & Fried, 2011). This approach acknowledges dynamic systems that impact both the
external and internal populations (Xing, Liu, Tarba, & Cooper, 2014). Groups easily influence
people into buying the idea, product or service as stated by the collaborative theory (Vanston,
2007). Common language choice and approach is achieved collaboratively within organizations
multiplying change efforts.
Weaknesses. I realized that expert power needs high-level experience in terms of
knowledge and skills hence daily improvement is needed. Additionally, it is easier to close one
gap as others grow wider (Graebner, 2009). For instance, O2 runs the risk of delayed
implementation since it has to get the response from other staff members who are as well
represented. I have a greater awareness that expert power is subject to diminish as expert skills
are shared across the members thus lack of influence. For instance, shared experiences that
would lead to successful customer relationships across O2 would soon be common to all
members linked to the organization losing their unique value before their inception into the
system. (Jiali Zhang et al., 2015).

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE APPROACHES 4
Action plan
Participative leadership. Competitively, use of power to influence change programs has
opened my scope in participative leadership (Shook, & Roth, 2011). I perceive power as a
management tool that sets organizational values and leadership behaviours. This approach is
systematic and allows collaboration between leaders and staff members in the implementation of
business processes (Weber & Tarba, 2011). Participative leadership leads to more staff
commitments towards meeting organizational goals. Second, it bridges the distance between
senior management and staff thus creating labour-management relationships leading to
resourcefulness and resilient behaviours during changing period. Weber & Tarba (2013) argues
managers use empowerment approach to shift beliefs, values, and attitudes at every level of the
organization. The study establishes that the management encouraged employees’ input by
breaking some rules to improve customer experiences. Additionally, different parties were
incorporated into decision-making exercise and shared experiences (Vanston, 2007).
In a nutshell, use of power to invoke change program is about collaborating with staff
members in terms of beliefs, values, and approaches (Shook, & Roth, 2011). This can be
enhanced through participative leadership through partnering, shared values and beliefs, and
systematic thinking. The outlined approaches enhance labour-management relations leading to
resourceful and resilient behaviours during change period (Jiali Zhang et al., 2015).
Other Theories
Other theories that have facilitated to my improved experience as a salesperson in the marketing
plans of an organization towards its change include:
Stage theory of organizational change: Organizations pass through a well detailed series of
changes, and it is here where employees learn continuously. Through this fact, I have been
learning the right means to innovations as well as the best ways to resolving the underlying
marketing challenges.