Managing Change & Innovation

The changing business environment presents many challenges. An organization interacts with its external and internal environments. The four types of change are changes in strategy, in structure, in technology, and in people.


Change also takes one of two broad forms: incremental or radical. People go through four distinct stages when facing change. The four stages of the change process are denial, resistance, exploration, and commitment. People resist change because of fear of the unknown, learning anxiety, self-interest, and fear of economic loss or loss of power, status, or control.

Seven steps can help you overcome resistance to change:
1.Develop a positive trust climate for change.
2.Plan.
3.Clearly state why the change is needed and how it will affect employees.
4.Create a win-win situation.
5.Involve employees.
6.Provide support.
7.Create urgency.


Organizational that stimulate innovation are commonly structured as flat organizations with limited bureaucracy, have a generalist division of labor, coordinate with cross-functional teams, and are flexible. Use of the informal system is common, and authority is decentralized. Job design includes job enrichment and work teams.


Diversity refers to the degree of differences among members of a group or an organization. An organizational culture can value innovation, quality, and diversity.

Organizational development is the commonly used method of managing change. Organizational development (OD) is the ongoing planned process of change used as a means of improving performance through interventions. The humans resource management department is usually responsible for OD. There are nine OD interventions.

Source:
Management Fundamentals, (2006) by Lussier, R. N.,(3rd ed.). Thomson.