Organizational Change in a Performance

Organizational Change in a Performance Excellence Culture

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Change is a necessary part of existence, both on a personal level, and a professional level. The changes we make within can be equally as daunting as changes throughout an entire organization. Without change, the human species and the human society would not exist as they do. The paper will present a specific case of an organization that may benefit from organizational change. The paper will examine what performance culture is and why companies make want to engage in changes to produce such a culture in the work environment. The paper will describe a performance excellence culture in relation to organizational change. Effective change requires research, planning, accounting for contingencies, execution, and follow up. The context within which the change will occur must be clearly defined and understood, else the change will not occur, will be ineffective, or will create other unintended effects or changes. The paper will further utilize management and psychological resources to support any theories or conclusions related to organizational change.

Organizational Change in a Performance Excellence Culture

Organizations can learn a great deal from pursuing change. On a grand scale, change is evolution. If a person or an organization cannot adapt to the times, they will be destroyed by them. Like animals, and humanity that evolve, change brings new skills, new perspectives, new opportunities, new challenges, and new solutions. Growth is pleasurable. Change can improve self-esteem of the people of the organization. Living through changes makes people stronger, makes them feel accomplished, and makes them feel ready to take on new challenges. Change also reveals where improvements need to be made. Problems are irritations, cause stress, and diminish profit. Organizations should want to run smoothly. Making a change that solves a problem or improves a condition makes for a more relaxed and efficient environment. A primary goal of organizations is to produce as much as possible, as smoothly, as quickly, and as best possible, to generate the most success as possible.

Creating a performance excellence culture require implementations of several, often, concurrent practices. One aspect is practicing the evaluations of "workforce engagement, satisfaction, and motivation." (Evans, Lindsay, 2011) Performance excellence culture creates and sustains positions that breed "an organizational culture conducive to high performance and motivation." (Evans, Lindsay, 2011) Of course, for legal reasons and for the success of the organization's existence, conditions within this culture are safe and healthy. Assessments of the organization and the changes made must be included as part of this culture, too. Importantly, the strategic use and capitalization of strengths of the workers is evident.

There are several crucial improvements to a performance excellence culture than without it. It is a culture within which people feel motivated to perform excellently. The environment is such that excellence can occur. The environment must also have opportunities for excellence. The environment must provide training and support for those who are not excellent and want to be, and for those who are excellent and what to maintain it. A performance excellence culture would benefit from a token economy with reinforcers and rewards within a performance excellence culture. Yes, some people are internally motivated to achieve excellence, but most are not. When those who are not motivated are provided with a clear, reachable incentive to achieve or produce excellence, they more likely to try and try hard to perform excellently, if only for the sake of receiving the rewards. This condition benefits the individual and benefits the organization.

From a performance excellence culture, organizations can learn how to maintain motivation for the workers. Motivated, happy employees are productive employees who produce outstanding work consistently. They will not complain; they will not sue; they will not waste company time and resources, or at least, the probability of these occurrences decrease in a performance excellence culture. When workers feel appreciated and valued, they remain with the organization. They work diligently. They start to care about the success of the organization. When people care about something, they will go above and beyond to ensure the thing they care about is successful. Organizations can also learn that no matter the accoutrement of the organizational space, the most important resource to the company is the workers. When executives please the workers, many circumstances fall into place and many dilemmas fall to the wayside. Furthermore, when workers are sustained and motivated by a performance excellence culture, they may be relaxed enough, feel safe enough, and care enough to use their own ideas to solve remaining troubles in the organization. Who better to identify and resolve company problems than the people who work in the organization and know the company best? Delaney and Huselid agree: "Job or work structures have also been argued to enhance firm performance by allowing skilled and motivated employees to become more involved in determining what work is to be done and how it is to be performed." (Delaney, Huselid, 1996)

The situation of the organization determines what and to what degree changes need to be made. To be effective, a change may be small or minor. On the other hand, sweeping, systematic changes may be necessary for the improvements necessary. Bowen and Lawley III force the point: "Quality improvement may require changes in mission structure, job design, management practices, and every other facet of the [HR] organization." (Bowen, Lawler III, 1992) Another necessary effective change is the attitude that change is welcomed. If an organization will truly adopt and effective quality change, "the value of improvement must be ingrained in the [corporate] culture." (Bowen, Lawler III, 1992)

In conclusion, change is crucial. It demands preparation. It takes research. It takes courage. Change is only good if one is interested in remaining and attaining success. The suggestion is not to change everything because traditions are valuable. Predicting the outcomes of change is vital as well. Organizations cannot effect change and not track the results. How would an organization know if the change was an effective use of time and assets? If the problem remains or if the original problem is gone, but as a consequence, other problems arise, the change was not effective.