Change Essay, Research Paper

Change is an essential requirement for organizational health. Without adequate

adaptation to potential future situations, no organization can optimize its future performance and achieve success. Changes are necessary in all systems, processes,

methods and individuals, especially in top management and middle management.

All employees play significant roles in transformations and other enabling

activities. Each change process is unique to an organization and its

special circumstances. Although there are many general frameworks for any

development activity, these most likely have to be modified and tailored to

meet specific situational requirements. This is to ensure both the optimal

development effort with desired return on their “change investment” and

adequate assurances to maximize gains from any future opportunities. If

special future business, technological, management and operational

requirements are identified and used, while designing reward and punishment

systems for optimal transitions, the successful completion of any future

business endeavors may be more easily achieved.

Environmental changes are affecting all levels of an organization.

Depending on an event and variables involved, the nature of required system

modifications often varies. Methods, instructions, forms and some

procedures may change very frequently, while some structural elements, main

processes such as a design and development process, management review

systems and other main sub-systems remain constant for longer time periods

due to significant capital investments in these processes. Changes can be

initiated through various information channels: quality audits, design

reviews, employee initiatives, management reviews, corrective and

preventive action processes and any other process where specific

improvement can be obtained. Quality system designers have to pay special

attention to the development of proper and effective escalation processes

for ineffective activity items. Occasionally some specific actions may not

result in immediate and perceivable improvements, but in the long run they

may influence other activities and initiatives positively. No change is

ever a failure. Your quality system and its key resources have to be ready

to maneuver in a flexible manner at any time, when your market observation

system with its weak signal mechanisms sends a signal for either corrective

and preventive actions.

How can an organization be changed? There are many different ways to

evaluate, design, initiate, implement, verify, follow-up and maintain a

required transition. Quality in your change processes is highly important

to prevent the loss of resources including human and information assets and

to maximize an overall effectiveness of changed processes to achieve

desired results. It is recommended to maintain a listing of all change

activities with assigned priorities. Each item should be perceived as a

project with specific allocated resources (information, human, finances,

material), timelines and objectives. In addition, often it is very

beneficial to identify any interrelations between change projects and use

project-mapping techniques to analyze a big picture of the whole

organizational transition. This can also be very helpful, when designing

and initiating any new projects. Training is an effective tool during all

phases of the process and organizational development. However, it should be

integrated into an overall strategic and tactical communication plan as one

tool of many communication tools and techniques to lead, facilitate and

manage change processes. One of the first things that you should train

within your system is the understanding and acceptance of “an on-going

and continuous change”. Every person affecting quality in products should

expect changes in the future and be willing to support these projects with

his or her actions.

To move you and your management systems from a position A to a position B,

a complete management commitment is needed. This should be expressed in

management policies and supported with actions, clear communications and

necessary reward / punishment systems. Resource allocations to change

processes is essential, which is one of the best measures also to

understand the level of the management commitment in an organizational

change. A company and its management is the key and should understand their

significant role. If you have a problem in this area, there are some

options how you can improve your system capabilities. Often this issue may

be caused by the lack of the system knowledge, but sometimes also by

individuals’ pure ignorance. When the executive management commits

resources to develop a system, resources are also automatically committed

to change the system. No system – yours, mine, your suppliers, customers or

competitors – is ever perfect and one should never assume this attitude.

The attitude of continuous changes should be adopted and accepted as a part

of our daily organizational life.