¶ … Power critical understanding difficulties managers confront seeking manage change'. Discuss. This undergraduate Essay (Level III) If resources reading list I
Power is critical to understanding the difficulties managers confront when seeking to manage change
Long gone are the times when firms would operate solely to generate profits and this represented their stated mission. Today, economic agents across the globe peg their success not only to financial results, but also to their ability to serve the various needs of the multiple stakeholder categories. In other words, while the final objective is that of registering profits, the aim is attained through a combination of strategic efforts targeted at serving the stakeholders.
For instance, the employees are the most valuable organizational assets and they are treated as such. The customers are not the forces purchasing whatever the company produces, but they represent the force telling the company what to produce. The technologic community is adding to these pressures by creating innovations that stir up competition and generate financial pressures. And last, the public is not just a passive witness, but an active party demanding the company to operate in a socially and environmentally manner.
In such a setting, economic agents are forced to devise and implement a wide array of change strategies by which to ensure that the needs of the stakeholders are attained, as well as the objectives of the firm are accomplished. This subsequently translates into the constant implementation of change strategies.
The implementation of change within the organizational setting is quite a difficult process, generally since change is often met with resistance. In this setting, a question is being posed of whether a powerful manager can reduce the resistance and implement the change. In a different formulation, the premise of the current study is that power is essential to managing organizational change and understanding its complexities. In discussing this assumption, several sources would be consulted.
2. Definition of terms
Organizational change
The concept of organizational change is used to identify a situation in which an economic agent strives to move from the status quo to a different context. The causes of change are different, as are the manifestations. Generically however, the reasons stimulating change are hopes of gains and benefits, including an increased access to resources, better trained staffs or other such, all materializing in financial results.
Managing organizational change
The main challenge with the implementation of change within the organizational climate is represented by the need to manage it. According to the U.S. Legal website, the process of change management is defined as follows:
"Managing organizational change is the process of planning and implementing change in organizations in such a way as to minimize employee resistance and cost to the organization while simultaneously maximizing the effectiveness of the change effort" (U.S. Legal, 2012).
Power
The concept of power is widely debated within the specialized literature, with a multitude of definitions having been forwarded. At this level, the concept of power will be presented from two angles -- the general one and its application within the organizational climate.
From the general perspective, power is understood as the ability of an individual to influence a situation and generate the desired outcomes. Other meanings of power include the ability to control a group, the possession of control and authority over others, be this control political or physical (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2012).
Within the organizational setting, power is defined in terms of the relationships which are developed between the various organizational parties, such as executives, staff members or resources. According to Renee Miller:
"Organizational power is the capacity to persuade a group to work toward the accomplishment of a company's organizational goals" (Miller).
Miller also points out that the style of the organizational power depends primarily on the personal traits of the individual exercising the power. In this light of thoughts, she identifies five different types of organizational power: reward, coercive, expert, legitimate and referent. These types of power are not only characteristic to the manager, but it is also possible for them to be implemented by the same manager, in various circumstances. A good manager will find a balance between the five types of power and use them in accordance to the specifics of each situation.
3. Discussion
In the setting of the numerous challenges posed by the changing internal and external environments, organizational leaders have come to devise a series of methods by which to cope with the mounting pressures. One important method relevant at this stage is represented by Total Quality Management, more commonly...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now