Human Resource Management: Organisational Change Management Report

This report examines the role of an external change agent in the context of organizational change management at ABC Company Pvt. Ltd., an Australian company facing internal issues. The report begins by highlighting the benefits of engaging an external change agent over an internal one, emphasizing objectivity, experience, and the ability to navigate organizational politics. It then details five key activities an external change agent must undertake: investigation, advocacy and mediation, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, and management. The report also identifies potential difficulties in implementing change, particularly stemming from differing viewpoints between employers and employees. Finally, it underscores the critical role of diagnosis and feedback in ensuring successful organizational change, including the use of diagnostic models and data collection methods to inform interventions and manage resistance. The report draws on academic sources to support its arguments and provides practical examples to illustrate key concepts.

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT – 944367
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Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................3
Change Management...................................................................................................................3
Case Background..........................................................................................................................3
External Change Agent vs Internal Change Agents.............................................................4
Benefits of an external change agent over an internal change agent...........................................4
Activities to be performed by an external change agent....................................................5
Difficulties in implementing the change.............................................................................7
Role of diagnosis and feedback during organizational change...........................................8
Organizational diagnosis..............................................................................................................8
Feedback......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................9
Bibliography....................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Change Management
Since the spread of globalization, the business world has undergone a number of changes and
the competition between rival firms has reached a global level. Globalization has converted
the entire globe into a potential market for products and services and business organizations
are trying their best to expand their operations overseas and use the local resources of
different countries for achieving a competitive edge.
Another effect of globalization is that business organizations have become vulnerable to a
greater number of internal and external business environment factors, such as economic,
social, technological, etc. These factors can undergo changes in real time, which forces
business organizations to introduce changes in their operations or processes to cope up with
the changing trend and also to remain competitive (Tams, 2018). The internal and external
factors forcing business organizations have increased rapidly and management of programs
has become a necessary evil for human resource managers.
Case Background
ABC Company Pvt. Ltd. is an Australian company that has been operating in the Australian
market since 1982. The company started out small but has been able to grab a major portion
of Australia’s consumer electronic goods market. The company has been facing a number of
internal issues of late, which has been having an impact on the business of the company. As a
result, the management of the company has planned to implement certain changes, which
would be aimed at implementing planned interventions to improve the internal operations and
processes of the company. One of the employers of the company has also engaged an external
change agent to consult and manage the change program. The employers of the company
believe that they have identified the root cause of the problems but the employees of the
company think differently, which has created a situation of dilemma.
Therefore, this report has been prepared to discuss the benefits of recruiting an external
change agent and the 5 most important activities that the change agent would be required to
perform during the change program. The report will also discuss the importance of diagnosis
and feedback in the process of organizational change.
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External Change Agent vs Internal Change Agents
As an external change agent, I can personally assure the company that my input in the change
program would add a lot of value and ensure successful implementation of a change. As I am
not a part of the company and will only be hired for the purpose of planning an intervention, I
would be able to analyze the issues in the company with a greater efficiency. I would present
the facts as they are and would be able to identify faults in the day-to-day activities and
processes as well. I would be able to share my past experiences related to change programs in
other organizations with the company and motivate the employees to accept a change as it
would have benefits for them as well.
Benefits of an external change agent over an internal change agent
An external change agent is a person from outside the company, who is recruited by a
company to plan, manage and implement a change program. In general, an external change
agent is recruited by business organizations when they feel that they are not proficient enough
to handle a change program and might fail to implement a change in case they do not receive
help from a professional in the field of change management (Docsity, 2017).
On the other hand, an internal change agent is a person who is continuously involved in the
change process. An internal change agent is selected according to the need of an organization
from within the organization. Internal change agents are usually those people who have an
influence over the other employees in an organization or have been trained in the field of
change management by external change agents.
In this case, recruiting an external change agent is an appropriate choice because an external
change agent would offer the following benefits to the company:
- First of all, an external change agent will be able to assess the situation of the
company in a better way. Being someone from outside the company, he or she will be
completely unbiased and have an open-minded approach towards dealing with the
problems of the company,
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- Secondly, investing in an external change agent adds more value to the change
program. As they will be invited to the company by the employers, the employees
would perceive it with a greater importance and would definitely offer a positive
response to whatever he or she brings to the table.
- Thirdly, an external agent will not be affected by any kind of ongoing politics in the
organisation. An external change agent would not be dependent on the company for
any kind of raise or promotions and would present all the facts as they will be. An
external change agent will be completely neutral and would have no stake in the
institution (Alagoz, et al., 2018). On the other hand, an internal change agent might
have some biasness towards a particular group of people in the organisation and might
not assess the satiation freely
- Fourthly, an external change agent would be highly proficient in the field of change
management and will think out of the box to help the company in dealing with its
problem. An external change agent would also be able to identify organizational
issues in a better way because he or she will be able to assert, challenge and question
the norms of the organization without any hesitation (Case, et al., 1990)
- Fifthly, an external change agent would be able to direct the organization towards the
change program in a better way and ensure higher chances of success because they are
experienced in the field of change management. Using efficient models of change
management, skills and techniques, they will be able to minimize the resistance to
change and make the change happen.
- Lastly, an external change agent would be free from any kind of day-to-day work
obligations of the company and will be able to carry out the change process with a
greater efficiency than an internal change agent (Change Management Forum, 2014).
It can be clearly seen that an external change agent can have a number of advantages over an
internal change agent, especially for companies like ABC Company Pvt. Ltd. that are already
facing a situation of dilemma even before the process of change has been introduced or
started. In such cases, it is always better to rely on an external change agent to take up the
responsibility of implementing the desired changes in the workplace.
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Activities to be performed by an external change agent
As discussed above, recruiting an external change agent can have a number of benefits for a
business organisation that is planning to implement a change in its workplace. An external
change agent is always a professional in the field of change management and charges an
organization for helping it in achieving the changes that it desires. Therefore, the expectations
of an organisation from an external change agent are always high and an external change
agent has to put in his best to ensure successful implementation of a change program. Certain
activities that an external change agent is required to carry out, while planning and
implementing a change, are discussed below:
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Investigation:
As external change agents are people from outside the business of a company, the first and
the most important activity that they have to carry out while planning and implementing a
change program is investigation. An external change agent has to carry out multiple
investigations that would be helpful in digging below the surface and discovering the
dynamics of the organisation. Investigation requires dealing with the human element of an
organization and finding out areas of inefficiencies (Stagl, 2011). It is also during
investigation that the external change agents look for clues that give away the prime reasons
that are preventing a change from happening. Investigation during the planning and
implementation of a change program requires a lot of observatory and analytical skills.
Advocate & Mediate:
External change agents are not only held responsible for planning and implementation of a
change program but also for acting as mediators between the employers and the employees.
A change in the workplace is never easy for the employees as they are the most important
stakeholders in the business and would bear the maximum impact of the change program.
External change agents have to speak up on behalf of the employers and convince the
employees to accept the changes by keeping them engaged in the process. In certain cases,
external change agents also have to mediate whenever there is a conflict on interests amongst
different (Deepti, 2015)
Stakeholder Engagement:
One of the prime reasons behind the failure of change programs is the inability of business
organizations to deal with resistance to change offered by the stakeholders. Resistance to
change is defined as the tendency of the stakeholders to oppose a change program if they
perceive it as a threat to their job or against their interests. Resistance to change generally
occurs because the stakeholders develop a fear of the unknown in their minds. To deal with
resistance to change programs, it is importance that the external change agents are able to
engage the stakeholders in the change program by implementing appropriate strategies.
Engaging the stakeholders in the change programs helps change agents in setting up a
communication channel within the organization and sharing the right information with them
at the right point of time (Rust & Freidus, 2001). Further, engaging the employees in the
change program makes them an important part of it and they start to feel that the change
program is being implemented for their own betterment.
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Facilitate:
Planning and implementation of a change program are two different things and each one of
them requires a lot of careful execution on behalf of an external change agent. One of the
most important activities of a change agent is to continuously facilitate the change throughout
the change program (De Caluwe & Vermaak, 2003). There can be times when the employees
are unable to demonstrate a desired change in their behavior or work operations. In such
conditions, an external change agent will have to assess the situation to find out the problems
that are making it difficult for the employees to show a change and find out a solution to them
in order to make the change possible.
Manage:
Change agents are solely responsible for managing the change program by preparing goals,
objectives, due dates and timeline for the change program. They have to keep a track of all
the progress that has been made during the implementation phase. They are the ones who
have to delegate authority to people and hold them responsible for achieving the desired
targets. Further, the change agents also have to decide rewards and punishments for the
purpose of reinforcing the change in the minds of the employees (Stanford Univeristy, 2017).
Difficulties in implementing the change
The process of change management will not be an easy one for ABC Company Pvt. Ltd.,
which is evident from the fact that the company has taken a decision to recruit an external
change agent. The company is already facing a situation where the employers and the
employees have a different view point regarding the change program, which has already
created a situation of dilemma in the company.
The company is most likely to experience difficulties in the change program in the very first
stage itself. Even before conveying an urgency for change, it is important for the employees
as well as for the employers to identify the root causes that are forcing the organisation to
undergo a change. These causes can be related with internal strategies, processes, operations,
human resource management policies, etc. or can also be because of changing external
environment factors, such as social factors, legal policies, laws, technology, etc. Without
identification of the right factor that is having an impact on the business of a company and is
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creating an urgency for a change, it is impossible to even plan a change program. Therefore,
the change agent will first of all have to bring the employers as well as the employees on the
same page of the book and collectively discover the areas of inefficiency. Once the correct
areas of inefficiencies are discovered, it is only then that a change program can be designed
and implemented to deal with the inefficiencies existing in the workplace.
Role of diagnosis and feedback during organizational
change
Organizational diagnosis
One of the most important activities in the field of organizational development and change is
the collection of data of an organization and using it to decide the future courses of action.
This process is known as diagnosis. Diagnosis is considered to be highly important in the
contemporary business world (Worren, 2013). Business organisation are continuously
collecting terabytes of data that is related to their own organization, their competitors, the
local and the global market and also of the industry in which they operate. Diagnosis not only
helps in keeping up to date information about the changing market trends but also in
analyzing the position of a company with respect to its past and the position of its competitive
firms in the market. It is only through diagnosis that an organization can discover the areas
where it lacks efficiencies and identify performance gaps. Once a company is able to identify
the gaps in its performance levels and inefficient areas, only then it can design and implement
planned organizational interventions in the form of a change program. Therefore, diagnosis is
the foundation stone of any change program.
Feedback
Feedback is simply defined as a process of collecting and analyzing the reactions of a group
of people towards a particular thing. In relation to an organisation, feedback is defined as a
process of gathering information from stakeholders of a company to design and implement a
new strategy or to make changes to an existing strategy.
Employee feedback cannot only help business organisation in gathering information and
employee reactions to a change program but can also help the employees in coping up with
the change. In most of the cases, employee feedback has also been found to prove beneficial
in designing and facilitation of a change program. For example, SendGrid is a company that
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was undergoing a change in its leadership. The company used Culture AMP to gather
feedback from the employees, which was aimed at gathering information about the key areas
where the employees felt that the new CEO should focus on. The new CEO of the company
used the information gathered through employee feedback to design and implement his
change program and communication along with his own experience. The feedback program
not only made it easier for the company to implement the change but also became a factor
that facilitated the change program (Elzinga, n.d.).
Employee feedback during a change program can be helpful in identifying the problems that
they have been experiencing while making a transition from a previous state to a new state or
a desired state in the future. Using the data collected through employee feedbacks, the
managers or the change agents can make appropriate changes to the change program and can
make it easier for the employees to accept the changes, which would otherwise have resulted
in the employees offering resistance to the change program. Employee feedbacks also send
out a message to the employees that their employer values their opinions, which can have a
positive impact on the employees and motivates them to accept the change that their
employer wants to implement (Carter, 2014).
It can be clearly seen that diagnosis and feedback have a vital role to play while designing
and implementing an organisation change. In absence of proper diagnosis, it can never be
possible for an organization to identify a need to change whereas in absence of continuous
feedback, it can become impossible for an organization to identify the on-going problems and
the progress that has been made during the change program. Therefore, diagnosis and
feedbacks should be continuously and carefully carried out by business organizations in order
to ensure long term success and survival in the market.
Conclusion
Change has become an inevitable part of business organizations and there is no way in which
a business organization can save itself from implementing a change in the workplace. As a
result, it has become imperative for business organizations to foster a workplace culture
where the employees are more open to change programs and have tie-ups with external
change agents to increase the chances of success of a change program. Further, the changing
business environment also makes it imperative that business organizations continuously
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diagnose the environment in which they operate and gather feedback from their employees to
make change programs more effective and successful.
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