Complexity Theory and Organizational Change: A Comprehensive Report

This report delves into the application of complexity theory to understand and manage emergent change within organizations. It examines the impact of political behavior and suggests strategies to mitigate its negative effects. The report emphasizes the importance of adaptable leadership and the use of diverse organizational development techniques, such as employee involvement, to facilitate successful change management. It highlights the need for managers to understand complex systems, respond to external environmental factors, and foster innovative thinking. The report also underscores the significance of customer relations and technological advancements in navigating organizational complexities. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive analysis of change management, leadership, and the practical application of complexity theory in the business environment.

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Use of complexity theory to understand emergent change..............................................................3
Reduction of negative impact of political behavior.........................................................................7
Managers need to use different organizational development techniques to lead organizational
change............................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
It is imperative for organizations to develop a unique proposition so that an edge can be taken
over other competitors and this can be done by managing change in the organization. In this
report, we will study about complexity theories which help to change in the organization can be
scrutinized closely. Such theories help the managers and leaders in the organization to respond
easily to ever changing business environment. Managing change in an organization is very
important in the ever intensifying global business environment. Theories of organizational
change need to be developed after regular intervals to deal and survive such changes.
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Use of complexity theory to understand emergent change
If we define complexity, it means the level of heterogeneity or complications in the external-
internal factors affecting the organization such as political, social, technological factors etc.
Complexity theory put emphasis on how the factors at smaller levels in a complicated system
affect the behavior and overall results at the larger level. More the complexity more time taken to
understand and predict the changes. When complications in the system start increasing, the
managers and leaders need to become more far-sighted so that they can predict the changes to
avoid any losses. The changes occur in many governmental policies which has the capacity to
affect any organization to a great extent. Adapting the changing environment is a problematic
process and it is very difficult to introduce any kind of change in the organization. People in the
organization do not accept the change easily and sometimes it becomes very difficult to convince
them to accept such change. The organizations come up with innovative ideas to deal with
changes. The complexities in the organization can be curtailed down by some effective strategies
(Amagoh, 2008).
Characteristics of complex systems: - One of the characteristics of complex systems includes the
high number of interacting mediums in the system. When the interacting elements are more in
the organization, the information conveyed from one end to other end doesn’t reach as it is and it
gets filtered out. Many rumors are added to such information which makes the information
unreliable. It is very important to convey the right information in the organization because that is
the basis of the whole working system. The external environment is totally beyond the control of
any organization and consists of the competition, the socio-cultural factors, the economy,
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political and legal factors, technological factor and the natural environment as well (Cleveland,
2009). As we know that organizations are complex in nature, an understanding which comes out
of it is that the organization can learn from its environment and alter its internal working to
respond to the external environment and adapt the changing environment. It is very significant
for the organizations to respond to the changing environment as quickly as possible because
otherwise the system becomes stagnant and cannot grow (Chiles, 2001). Dealing with the
complexities in the system is a cumbersome process and authorities need special expertise to
handle it which in turn raises the cost of production, but on the other hand also helps the
organization to go into losses.
Complexity theory is used in business as a medium to motivate innovative thinking and effective
responses to change by allowing the organizations to self-organize. In order to make the
complexity theory in action, organizations need to give up the rigidity and make the system more
flexible so that change can be easily managed. A rigid system makes the progress stagnant and
doesn’t let the organization grow. Day to day the organizations have to work on the management
of the complexities and evolve a pattern that is in consonance with the working of the system
(Webster, 2016). The management while dealing with the complexities should not forget that
customers are an important part of the organization and they should not be ignored while dealing
with changes. The customers can add more to the complexities. Hence, a separate department
should be there in the organization to deal with complaints by customers and maintain database
so that a proper record can be maintained and get back to it whenever any information is required
(Arora & Barak, 2007).
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A complex system is a system where many independent people maintain a connection with each
other in a couple of different ways. Such number of people within the system leads to self
organization. Self organization takes place when nobody is in charge and nobody supervises the
working and people work independently. Where the organizations fail to understand the complex
systems, they fail to respond to desired changes. We all know that change is constant. It will
always take place after regular intervals and it is duty of high authorities to help people working
at lower levels to adapt to changes and respond in a better way.
Many employees even tend to leave the organizations because they are always unable to respond
to changes in a practical way. Changes may be made in the salary of employees, post of
employees, designation, leave rules etc. Accepting the change is the only option left to people
when the authorities impose such changes on them and they do not get enough time to adapt to it.
Another significant concept in complexity theory is that there is no head controller of any
working system. Rather, the strong and robust system behavior is developed by the competition
and coordination between the elements that is always present. And the elements of a system have
varied levels of organization for example an organization consists of different segments, which
has a couple of departments, which has a number of workers. Technological factors are the most
ever changing factors. It provides for innovations that impacts the industry and a right use of
technology can make the industry reach the heights. It is to be scrutinized as to which technology
favors the company and which doesn’t (University, 2015). To maximize the exposure of the
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brand, people can be informed through educational campaigning method via all the digital media
system. People need to be educated regarding the brand and other important things. With the
bursting of e-commerce, it is important to reach the customers through this medium and
discounts and prices should be visible on the first page of the website at a first glance. This is one
of the technological advancements. This is one of the recent changes.
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Reduction of negative impact of political behavior
Being a leader, it is very important for him to understand the values of employees, how a
particular project is to be managed, what will be the consequences of a particular management
system and what can be the impact of political behavior on organizational change. However,
these things do not form the foundation of a leader who addresses all the political problems; it
needs to be in conformity with all the complexities arising out of any system. For analyzing the
political behavior, it takes a little more extra effort. Managers are at work all the time and they
put in extra effort to bring about a positive change in the working of employees and in the
working of the organization as a whole. This kind of the working system imparts such kind of
practices which help people come out of their comfort zones so that they can work beyond their
strengths and that too independently. This is the practical aspect of this theory. There are many
transformational problems which almost all companies face. Such problems are sometimes
related to attitudes, behaviors or even culture. It is very difficult to analyze such problems so for
that close scrutiny is important and it is a cumbersome process but very imperative. After
analyzing many management principles, this theory was given by him. For a manager to be
successful in reducing down the negative impacts of political behavior, it is important for him to
understand what goals are to be achieved and after attaining comprehensive information about
goals, the manager should work on the choice of method by which such goals can be attained and
that too in less time (Levy, 2007). A theorist has very beautifully presented the way a leader
should lead that is a leader should know how to bring a change and change can only be brought
by people, so in order to lead change a leader should know how to lead people. The managers are
well known for bringing about change in perceptions which are held for a long time. So, it is like
a revolution to break the long held norms or practices. These kinds of managers are often
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described as visionary and they look through the future and start preparing for unforeseen crisis.
The managers always need to walk with a mission in their head and this is what the organizations
need the most to succeed and to hold it for long in the market (Cacciattolo, 2015).
This need to be used to analyze what changes in political behaviors can affect organizations and
various methods are used by the leaders to alter the thinking and expectations of the employees
to work and achieve the set targets. In this type of situations, both the leaders and employees join
hands and bring out the desired changes. They club together and analyze what changes can be
introduced in order to make the organization reach heights of success and after determining those
changes they start working upon it. It basically helps to remove the difficulties which the
organization faces while working to achieve their long term and short term goals. In order to
manage the change, it is important to increase the interest of employees in the work and then
they give better performance (Goltz, 2008). The seminal approach brings out the personality of
people in difficult situations, how they react to a problem and what remedial actions do they take
in order to tackle that problem.
It provides that the authorities should approach a flexible technique of working and adapt
according to the environment. It must get difficult for a leader to understand every individual and
work in accordance with them. The managers have to adopt different styles in order to cope up
with the dynamic environment to enhance the congeniality of the working environment. The
contingency model measures three aspects: leader-member relations, task structure and position
structure. If these three aspects are in affirmative, then the managing style adopted suits best for
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the respective organization and for individuals as well. As a manager or leader, it is imperative to
analyze what could be the financial problems, promotional techniques or other problems that can
be faced in future before delivering the services to customers in the market. Being a self
organized element, it must be very difficult to understand that how the individuals work in the
organization (Thanos & Kapoutsis, 2016). In order to cope up the dynamic environment needs to
adopt the different practices to determine the unforeseen changes. The authorities should appoint
personnel who attain skills to manage the uninvited political steps which affect the organization
in the long run.
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Managers need to use different organizational development techniques to lead
organizational change
There are many organizational techniques used by the manager to make a change in the
organization and one of the best techniques that are used by companies is employee involvement.
As we all know that the every organization have different types of employees and it is very
essential to retain the employees for a longer period of time. Also the recruitment and training
process of new employees in an organization involves a huge amount of expenses and time as
well. So, it is important to keep the workers happy and satisfied so that they can work for an
organization for quite a long time. By doing this it helps to promote the brand image of an
organization and helps in building the goodwill of the organization as well. Every individual has
their different needs as some needs monetary rewards for motivation; some needs non-monetary
incentives and some of them needs both (Apostolou, 2000). Thus, the employees are the most
important source in an organization and it is very important to keep them happy because if they
are happy they will work with more enthusiasm and produce better results. Managers keep on
searching for strategies by which they can create a congenial environment in an organization
because a positive environment has a very positive impact on employees and the outcome is
improved. A good environment should be created at the workplace so that employees can feel at
home while working and do not take the work as a burden. Expert professionals should be
appointed by the organization to create such an environment and provide the employees with the
best atmosphere. The culture of the workplace should be such as to keep the employees free from
stress. A happy environment at job should be created to maximize the output of employees. The
leaders should understand what will help the employees to give their best output. When the
duties for the employees are increased, it is known as job enlargement (Hodgkinson, 1999).
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In today’s world, the participation of employees in the decision making process of organization
is increasing day by day. Many biggest organizations like Tata, Birla all are focusing on the
employees and create a feeling of importance in which they feel happy and satisfied and
participate in making decision to achieve the goal of the organization. As a result, it increases the
motivation, ownership and helps in retention of the best and old employees in the organization
and create an atmosphere of organizational change.
The term Employee involvement is defined as an ongoing process to increase the efforts of the
employees that leads to the rise in the performance of company and human resource well being.
The success of employee involvement depends on the four elements and these elements are
power, information, knowledge, skills and rewards (Wittig, 2012).
The goals of employee involvement and organizational change are: -
 To increase participation in decision making of the company.
 To increase productivity of the organization
 To manage the employee communication and coordination
 To encourage employees and increase motivation
 To increase the level of satisfaction and commitment
 Retention of the best employees.
 To increase the work quality.
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It is clear that the employee’s involvement is very helpful for the organization because each
employee working in the organization will come up with new ideas and techniques that can be
useful for the organization and of course there are different categories of employees working
experienced people as well as young people (Saxena, 2015). The ideas or the thought shared by
these employees are different in nature because of the generation gap and upgrade of new
technology. However, it is important to note that when the workload for the employees is
increased, they should be fully satisfied otherwise the employees will start leaving the workplace
and it is important to retain the employees. Retention of employees is important because a lot of
money is spent on their training programs and all goes in vain if the employees turn of the
organization. So, a balance between enlargement and enrichment is imperative for increasing
productivity of employees. When the responsibility for work is given to employees, it is
necessary to delegate the desired authority to employees as well, so that they can take decisions
properly, but the authority delegated should not be more than what is required since sometimes
the employees start misusing the authority. When the work is delegated, the employees are
accountable to the employer for every decision they take as it has a direct impact on the
productivity of the organization. So there should be a balance between delegation of authority,
responsibility and accountability (Tripon & Dodu, 2011).
At last, the new employees who are appointed should have the potential and talented enough to
handle the team of employees. The management should involve the employees in important
decisions of the organization as it helps them to feel that they are an important part of the
organization. Hence, they work with more enthusiasm and zeal. It is very difficult for the top
managers know what is happening with the employees who are closest to the point of action. In
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other words, to put it simply, it becomes problematic for the white collar people to know what is
happening with the blue collar people HR personnel should be efficient enough that he conveys
the information without filtering and creating misunderstanding between employees (Sahni,
2006). The communication channels should be strong in an organization because it becomes a
backbone and no rumor should be added to important information conveyed. This is the reason
the management believes in conveying written information as it is more accurate than verbal
information. The filtering of information leads to many problems and can even make the
organization go into losses. Hence, all the personnel should work towards the profit of the
organization because in turn only they will be benefitted. A satisfied employee is a happy
employee and once he knows that he is important for an organization and the company is
working hard to retain him, he will put in double efforts. It is a two way street and it is the
responsibility of both the management and employees to work with each other in harmony.
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