Organizational change is an essential element in the work of any company. A good manager has a clear idea of how necessary periodic changes in the company’s activities are. Nevertheless, the implementation of steps to reorganize work often causes difficulties that cannot always be overcome. Obstacles in the implementation of changes can arise for many different reasons. One of the most common negative factors is the unpreparedness of the enterprise and its staff for the global restructuring that the manager has planned. Often, when managers of a large enterprise plan to change a segment of their output, they do not take into account that this requires new specialists. The qualifications of previous employees may not be sufficient, and, to retain staff, professional retraining must be conducted before the reorganization begins.
An equally common difficulty in implementing change is a disagreement between the manager and other employees in the company. Many employees, in the course of daily work, are comfortable, accustomed to themselves, and do not notice the need for change (Hawk & McChrystal, 2020). Managers do not always manage to convince the staff of the expediency of the decision taken in a short time. Disputes with employees often consume a lot of resources and do not always lead to a positive result.
Large-scale organizational changes have a multi-stage structure and involve many different steps. A major challenge for a manager is to maintain persistence and determination in situations where some of the reorganization steps are not working properly. For the work of reorganization to proceed most effectively, the manager needs to have a team of like-minded people who can help troubleshoot at any time (Hawk & McChrystal, 2020). Otherwise, failures in the course of reorganization can demoralize the initiator and subsequently lead to the cancellation of the change.
An important demoralizing factor is the lack of rapid positive results of changes. The lack of improvement of financial conditions, as well as working conditions of employees, causes dissatisfaction with the reform activities of the manager and often leads to a decrease in productivity. To avoid this difficulty, the manager should share with the staff the interim objectives and action plans for the transformation. This is necessary so that the organization’s employees understand the current stage of reformation. As a result of changes that have already been implemented, it is often apparent that they have not assimilated into the organizational culture. To solve this problem, it is necessary to conduct periodic work with employees, to monitor the degree of their understanding of the goals and objectives of the reform; otherwise, the transformation will prove unsuccessful.
If organizational change has not led to the desired result, it is primarily an indication that mistakes have been made on the part of the manager, both practical and strategic. Nevertheless, the adverse effects can be caused by the illiterate performance of employees who were not willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of a successful transformation. Often the reform is unsuccessful because of the lack of coordination within the manager’s team of like-minded people, who are also responsible for the result. Organizational changes, though initiated by management, are implemented through the fruitful work not only of the administration but also through the activities of other employees. All participants in this complex transformation process are, to varying degrees, responsible for the result.
Reference
Hawk, R., & McChrystal, S. (2020). Welcome to management: How to grow from top performer to excellent leader (1st ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.