Change Management in an Organization: A Literature Review Analysis

This literature review examines the multifaceted concept of change management within organizations. It explores the significance of organizational culture and how it impacts the implementation of changes. The review delves into various models, including Lewin's three-step model and the McKinsey 7S model, which provide frameworks for understanding and managing change. It also addresses the critical issue of resistance to change, outlining strategies such as communication, participation, and negotiation to mitigate negative impacts. The review emphasizes the importance of effective leadership, communication, and employee involvement in ensuring successful change initiatives. The impact of structure, people, and technology on organizational effectiveness is also analyzed. Ultimately, the review underscores the need for proactive and innovative approaches to navigate change and maintain a competitive edge in today's dynamic business environment. This assignment provides a comprehensive understanding of change management, crucial for organizational success.

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Change management in an organization
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Literature review
The concept of the organizational culture is one of the hotly debated topics in
organization science. The researchers, managers and public often use the term organization
culture, even though there is no clear interpretation universally. All the organization has culture,
but some are stronger than others (Deshpande & Webster Jr, 1989). Culture is the total sum of
the knowledge, beliefs, customs and the attitudes to which people expose themselves in their
social condition. Individuals can acquire values; learn a language and habits of the thoughts and
behaviors (Carmeli & Sheaffer, 2009). Every day in our life we are facing the idea of the change.
Changes always affect the workers in the organization and therefore it is important to
manage it carefully to avoid the resistance to change or failure of the modification. Change in the
management can take in radical form, gradually or rapidly. According to the Lewin's model; the
refreezing stage is a good definition of the change (Burnes, 2005). In the 21st century, there is
no need to refreeze because competition will overtake the organization. (Zeffane, 1996) suggests
that change management is how the change affects the organization, and the processes are the
same irrespective of whether there is reassigning of the work practices in one area or the re-
specification of the management and whole organization structure Organization is dynamic
entities and therefore changes all the time due to the development of their outputs and operation
in the case of the effectiveness and efficiency. Management of the change is one of the most
discussed topics in the management field (Patterson, Warr, & West, 2004). Hence, it is crucial to
understand why individuals resist change to support that part which cannot cope with the
modification through coaching and motivate and handling the problems that arise as a result of
the change. As William Shakespeare thought” Thing must change or cease” (Day, 1994).

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Management of change is about detailed planning, inspirational leadership and comprehensive
implementation.
Culture of the organization or group is a collection of beliefs and assumption about the
world, nature of the space and time, human relationships and life. The beliefs are cultured
responses to the problems of the survival in the external environment (Prajogo & McDermott,
2005). The core of the existence of the organization is the fundamental external problems. The
primary objectives are based on these strategies and mission to conform to the mentioned
purpose. Culture establishes and reinforces order, membership criteria, conditions,
communication patterns, priorities, punishment and nature of power and reward, management
practices and decision-making processes.
Numerous models describe the relationship between the variables and phenomena of
organization culture (Khazanchi, Lewis, & Boyer, 2007). The system approach emphasizes on
the interdependencies between various elements and sub-system in an organization and also
offers a holistic approach. The organization system models show the relationship between
organization sub-system; technology, psycho-sociology, management, structure and goal
(Khazanchi, Lewis, & Boyer, 2007). The primary determinant in the workplace depends on the
complex interaction between groups and individuals which take place at different levels within
the firm, between other body and external environment. Complex environment represents the
patterns of the interaction between roles, peoples, and the external technology in business.
The dimensions of the culture encompass the following; mission and vision; it determines
personnel’s understanding of the values, vision and purposes of the company and it can
transform into team goals and objectives (Spender, 1996). External environment determines the

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extent of focus on internal customers, external and employee’s perception of the effectiveness of
community surrounding (Spender, 1996). Another dimension is the leaderships which
concentrate on particular sections that strengthen leadership. Interpersonal relationship focuses
on the relationship between personnel, managers and management of conflict. Management
process focuses on the method in which management takes place including formulation of the
goals, controls and innovation process, goal development and communication (Prajogo &
McDermott, 2005). Finally, the organization image focuses on the how the outside perceives the
organization.
As earlier mentioned, five concepts of the organization culture include; job challenge,
communication, trust, innovation and social cohesiveness (Prajogo & McDermott, 2005). Job
challenge concept refers to the complexity and diversity of the work. Communication principles
focus on the effectiveness of communication between employees, top management and between
employees (Spender, 1996). Trust exists between the managers and their staff or in-between
employees who enable open-minded environment and free discussion. Social cohesion is the
relationship among members of the organization which further features as a sense of solidarity
and cooperation (Ford, 1999). Finally, innovation concept is the supportive environment for new
ideas, problem-solving and creativity.
In managing change, consideration of areas such as activities, behaviors and structure is
vital. Leadership affects culture more than management (Ford, 1999). For the employee to
acceptance, employees need to understand the requirement for the new positions and
organization implications regarding the relationships and behaviors and new activities which can
result in their needs satisfaction.

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Successive change comes through the participative approach of the management even
though it originates from the senior level of the control (Day, 1994). To cope with change and
ensure acceptance and motivation, managers should listen to employee concerns accordingly and
provide them with advice, assist and support.
(Burnes, 2005) Suggest managing change model that relates to the managerial strategies to
counter the resistance to the change. They suggest that contingency approach should adapt to
every change in management; the leaders should select the best way of responding to an
individual situation. Selection for appropriate management style and strategy for change is
crucial for each type of resistance.
Basically, six approaches have been put forward as a method of controlling resistance to
change; education and communication, participation, negotiation and agreement, facilitation and
support, and coercion (Burnes, 2005). Firstly, The McKinsey 7S model comprises of “S”
component and changing of any “s” it will have an impact on the other elements. This element
includes; staff, skills, systems, style, shared values, strategy and structure. The McKinsey 7s
model provides an efficient model for analyzing an organization and its operation that
determines if the organization is weak to adjust to any changes (Burnes, 2005). Additionally, the
model assists in avoiding sources that contribute to resistance to change.
Secondly, Lewin three step model of change consists of the steps; unfreezing, changing
and refreezing (Burnes, 2005). The unfreezing stage, there is the creation of the motivation for
the change in the workforce. At this point, the employee should get enough reasons, and good
communication is essential before the implementation step. Hence, to avoid the resistance to
change, management should encourage and discuss, and explain the reasons for the change.

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Change level is where there is an identification of the new behavior, procedure and
encouragement of employee to adopt new norms (Patterson, Warr, & West, 2004). Managers
should implement change successfully, monitors and assess the feeling of workers. Refreezing is
the final stage and leader should reinforce, and stabilize the new culture to avoid employee to go
back to the old habit (Burnes, 2005). Incentives regarding the rewards are crucial for motivating
employees for adapting to the new culture. Hence, the whole process is achievable through
communication, leadership, training and education.
Different researchers explain the concept of the change communication in a very
differing way. Change communication is the propagation of information that concentrates on the
training, knowledge, ideas, facts and directives of action concerning the change (Armenakis &
Bedeian, 1999). (Todnem By, 2005), argues that communication is informing the desired
changes as well as giving the reasons for them. Effective communication helps the leaders to get
the individuals in the accomplishing certain task and therefore assist in implementing change
successfully. (Todnem By, 2005), proposes that if employees do not participate in the change
process, they will feel that there is no value to their opinions and suggestions.
Study shows that the participations raise the level of the commitment among workers and
decrease the levels of the resistances towards a particular change (Mintzberg & Westley, 1992).
Participation offers specific benefits to workers to reduce the degree of the resistance of the
employees.
Conclusion
Clearly, in the present days, change is inevitable, and it is vital in the current competition
for a business to survive in its operation. Taking the company at the right time and step will save

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the firm from getting out the business. Change should reflect the organization’s goals in a sense
that the organization members can understand, implement and its goals accordingly. For the
resistance reduction, there is no universal way, but likely approaches suggest in various
management literature. Moreover, participative management is one of the better ways to reduce
resistance.
Additionally, the participative approach is useful in improving the change process. An
analysis of the organization culture and on how to overcome resistance to change shows that
change will always affect all the organization globally. Therefore, it is safe not to be reactive but
proactive. For the organization change to occur efficiently, then innovation is very crucial. It is
also essential to manage change carefully and successfully and avoid change resistance since
change always affects people in an organization. Structure, people and technology are factors
that determine the organizational effectiveness (Todnem By, 2005). Structural are more of
policies, control and procedures of the organization. People factors are leadership skills, attitudes
and characteristics of the human resources. Lastly, technology factors are any types of the
process that helps members in the performance of their jobs.

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References
Armenakis, A., & Bedeian, A. (1999). Armenakis, A. A., &Organizational change: A review of
theory and research in the 1990s. Journal of management, 25(3), 293-315.
Burnes, B. (2005). Complexity theories and organizational change. International Journal of
Management Reviews, 7(2), 73-90.
Carmeli, A., & Sheaffer, Z. (2009). How leadership characteristics affect organizational decline
and downsizing. Journal of Business Ethics, 86(3), 363-378.
Day, G. ( 1994). The capabilities of market-driven organizations. the Journal of Marketing, 37-
52.
Deshpande, R., & Webster Jr, F. (1989). Organizational culture and marketing: defining the
research agenda. The journal of marketing, 3-15.
Ford, J. (1999). Organizational change as shifting conversations. Journal of Organizational
Change Management, 12(6), 480-500.
Khazanchi, S., Lewis, M., & Boyer, K. (2007). Innovation-supportive culture: The impact of
organizational values on process innovation. Journal of operations management, 25(4),
871-884.
Mintzberg, H., & Westley, F. (1992). Cycles of organizational change. Strategic management
journal, 13(S2), 39-59.
Patterson, M., Warr, P., & West, M. (2004). Organizational climate and company productivity:
The role of employee affect and employee level. Journal of Occupational and

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Organizational Psychology, 77(2), Patterson, M., Warr, P., & West, M. (2004).
Organizational climate and company productivity: The rol 193-216.
Prajogo, D., & McDermott, C. (2005). The relationship between total quality management
practices and organizational culture. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 25(11), 1101-1122.
Spender, J. (1996). Organizational knowledge, learning and memory: three concepts in search of
a theory. Spender, J. C. (1996). Organizational knowledge, learning and me Journal of
organizational change management, 9(1), 63-78.
Todnem By, R. (2005). Organisational change management: A critical review. Journal of change
management, 5(4), 369-380.
Zeffane, R. (1996). Dynamics of strategic change: critical issues in fostering positive
organizational change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17(7), 36-43.

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