Organizational Management Change

The support and resistance of middle managers in strategic change of an organization

Business organizations have three layers of management employees, or there are three stages of organizational structure. It is considered that top management makes the strategic decisions for change management. Middle managers are responsible for taking care of all the operational functions and roles throughout the improvement process. The lower-level managers are responsible for tactical decision-making in manufacturing or service functions. Middle-level managers guide and manage lower-level employees to get the desired work done as per the standards of business organization (Conway and Monks, 2011). It is discussed here how and why middle managers will affect organizational changes. It is considered that middle managers are whole and sole for managing operational employees and mechanizing production and service management. Organizational changes are required for the betterment of existing processes and conditions of business practices. If there are multiple operations in contradictory order, then middle managers will be destroyed to execute the assigned jobs. First, the discussion is done on how middle managers affect the management of organizational changes.

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Middle-level managers are the employees who strive for the strategic decisions that are taken by the senior or top management. The top management identifies the issues and problems in the business operations and defines some strategic change requirements that are executed by the managers (Cameron and Green, 2009). In an organization, the top management affects the decision-making and methodology of working towards business objectives and goals. The middle managers are responsible for managing different functional teams with special tasks and roles. For example, if a business firm is planning to change its organizational structure, then it will require taking concern from its top and middle management for adequate implementation and change monitoring as well as control. Middle managers make operational decisions, which are focused on handling the job roles and responsibilities of team members and acting upon the strategic decisions of senior management (McCann, Morris, and Hassard, 2008). All the business practices and functions are monitored and controlled by the management team in an organization. Middle managers are responsible for taking work from the lower-level employees who execute work for the customer's value proposition. When changes are implemented in an organization, then middle managers are required to change their working style, management approaches, and management practices so the laborers and supervisors can be diverted toward the improvements (Friday and Friday, 2003).
Middle managers have the right to get the work done by lower-level employees in their way. Due to improvements and changes, they are required to practice according to the new business practices and methods. A better response from middle managers always leads to desired outcomes in change management. It depends upon the behavior, nature, ability, skills, and competency level of a middle manager about how he or she responds to the change implementation in an organization (Paton and McCalman, 2008). The changes in the existing organizational system are processed through effective planning, directing, implementing, monitoring, and control functions. There are different functional teams under operational departments in a firm that takes care of all the improvements.

Secondly, the discussion is done for the reason that middle managers are supporting or restricting the organizational changes. It is observed that every individual has a different perspective on working for an organization. They have different behaviors and perceptions for accepting or rejecting the change implementation in existing systems. It is observed that middle managers may support the improvement tactics or restrict the changes in their job roles and responsibilities. If the changes are complex and have a drastic nature, then it will affect the acceptance by middle managers (Diefenbach, 2007). It is understood that middle managers are responsible for supporting the top management decisions for reacting to change management. People react based on personal and professional experience. The competency level of employees affects their ability to support management decisions. Sometimes it may be possible that middle managers will not support the changes commanded by the senior management due to the complexity or nature of managers. The other obstacles are the behavior of subordinates, team member's behavior, issues in training and learning the changes, etc. It is seen that middle managers may restrict the organizational changes because of personal welfare. If some changes are practiced in job roles, compensations, responsibilities, and management practices. Middle managers are affected by the human resource policies of the organization, which affect the performance in the implementation of changes. According to X and Y theory, it is understood that some of the middle managers will accept the changes and few managers may restrict the changes in business practices (Middle Management: Definition, Roles & Responsibilities, 2015). It will create a positive environment in business if middle-level management supports the organizational changes and implementation of a new operational strategy. Middle managers have to lead and guide their subordinates, which will affect the acceptance and rejection of new business plans. Some of the middle managers may accept a few changes and the rest of them restrict the change implementation as a whole. Generally, the changes in organization structure, business methodology, and involvement of advanced tools and techniques affect the middle manager's behavior towards industrial improvements. The changes in business operations are either accepted or rejected as per the reactions of middle management. According to Vroom's expectancy theory, employees like to do only those jobs that are easy and understandable to them. The changes can affect their personal goals and objectives, which will not be entertained by them (Vitez, O., 2015). If the management changes are implemented as per the set objectives, there will be fewer chances of rejection. The involvement of middle management in change management decision planning reduces the rejection of changes. On the whole, different conditions and situations have an impact on management decisions made through acceptance and rejection of changes by the middle managers. The internal and external factors of a business organization have positive and negative impacts on the decision-making of middle managers in the organization's management of changes.

Why do models of planned change not bring about cultural change?

Organizations may introduce planned or unplanned change depending on the satisfaction within the industry. Organizational culture changes with the organizational change. Organizational culture can be defined as the behavior of humans/employees in an enterprise. Unplanned change often occurs because of change in a significant change in the external environment that causes the organizations and their members to respond in a highly disorganized fashion. On the other hand, planned change occurs when managers/leaders in the company realize the need for significant change for proactively organizing the plan to drive change (Resistance to Change in an Organization's Structure & Culture, 2011). Thus, it refers to different approaches to deliberate change and managing the same. Generally, planned change occurs in an organization when an entity witnesses the successful execution of a strategic plan or strategy for reorganization. It is important to note here that although planned change is based on a well-organized strategic plan, leaders often fail to manage change in a company in an organized manner. Rather, planned changes in contemporary organizations tend to occur in a more disruptive fashion. There are various planned change management models, which are described in brief to create insightful information for the same.

Kurt Lewin's change management model

It is also known as a three-step change management model comprising three steps, including unfreezing, transforming, and refreezing. This model was developed by Kurt Lewin and represents the practical implication of change management in organizations. This model has contributed to the development of various modern models (Senior and Swailes, 2010).

Kotter's eight-step model

This model was developed by renowned change expert John Kotter, who introduced the model in his book “Leading Change”. The eight steps of this model are described below, which can be used by organizations to lead the change.

• Creating urgency for change in the company
• Forming a powerful coalition
• Creating a vision for change
• Communicating the vision
• Removing obstacles to change management
• Creating short-term wins
• Building on change
• Anchoring the changes in corporate culture (Koster and Sanders, 2006).

McKinsey 7s Model

A holistic and practical approach to organization was presented by the McKinsey 7s Model in 1978. The model considers the seven factors that operate as collective agents of change in modern organizations. These seven factors include shared values, strategy, structure, systems, style, staff, and skills.

In addition to the above-specified planned change management model, there are some other models which are often used. However, it is argued that these models have certain limitations due to which they fail to bring about cultural change. (Burnes, 2004) in their study provided that in this dynamic world, the organizational change phenomenon is a doubtful decision because many organizations have witnessed issues in the same (Vitez, 2015). It is an interesting fact to know that 60% of the change plans fail, which has provided a vigorous topic for debate as to which approach or planned model to select and implement in the organization. He further investigated the case of XYZ Construction Company in 1999 and 2000 for both planned and unplanned change approaches. The results of his study revealed that there are certain challenges of planned barriers like lack of integration, lack of employee engagement, and workforce resistance (Hosie and Smith, 2009).

However, a well-structured plan with effective communication can be implemented effectively. From the above discussion, it can be stated that organizations need to have proactive approach of overcoming barriers to change so that it can be implemented effectively. In this context, companies are suggested to avoid seeking a single best way of change management. Additionally, business enterprises can select the best-suited approach for both planned and unplanned change in the organizational context (Sheard and Kakabadse, 2004).

 Similarly, Harris and Ogbonna (2002) also represented the views and provided that implementation of planned changes within the organization results in unintended consequences of cultural interventions because management may not be successful in bringing about change in the culture. Furthermore, the study carried out by them presented an overview of contemporary research into the nature of culture. The findings of this study clearly show that management programs for driving change result in serious consequences due to cultural interventions (Harris and Ogbonna, 2002). Thus, organizational culture is a set of values and practices followed by an organization that is developed over some time, and therefore, planned models of change management often fail to cope with the organizational culture. Change in the organizational process triggers the emotions of staff members' experiences and the transformation of the business. Effective organizational culture assists in shaping the emotions that are expressed by the employees during the change process and other aspects of the organizational life cycle (Smollan and Sayers, 2009). However, it is important to address here that change in the culture provokes employee emotions, which fails in the change management process. Nonetheless, if the expressed emotions of employees shaping organization culture are treated with respect by leaders, employee engagement in the change management process can be secured. This is because the attitude of the present culture of the business enterprise produces an emotional response to aspects of change. 

 Cameron and Green (2009) also documented the negative reaction of employees when change models and theories are employed in organizations. Results of this study reveal that employees perceive that the cultural change is initiated because, for organizations, shareholders are more important than employees but that may not be the actual case (Cameron and Green, 2009). From the above discussion, it can be stated that planned change is an emergent approach and beneficial for contemporary managers to change organizational culture gradually and incrementally before change in the process (Burnes, 2004). Nonetheless, planned models do not incorporate provisions to initiate change in the organizational culture; therefore, often planned change models do not bring about cultural change. However, managers can consider such unintentional consequences to bring about a culture change (How to Change Your Organization's Culture, 2015).

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The Impact of leadership behaviors on employee commitment to organizational change

Leadership is a process of influencing stakeholders of a business for the achievement of business objectives and goals. A leader is responsible for the strategic changes and implementing business operations according to the requirements of an organization (Thomas and Hardy, 2011). Leadership influences various teams and departments in a firm that is responsible for business operations. Leadership is a process of influencing people for the betterment of all the clauses of an organization, along with practically managing employees and groups of different functional groups. It is the responsibility of a leader to convince all stakeholders to accept the change proposed to improve the existing system. Leadership is implemented in different styles and approaches, which has positive and negative impacts on employee's commitments. There are four leadership styles: autocratic, democratic, participative, and laissez-faire, which are used in business organizations for change management. The autocratic leadership style is practiced in a firm that is either manufacturing or focused on the personal objectives of a leader or founder. Apart from this, in a democratic leadership style, employees are treated with bilateral communication for decision-making (Friday and Friday, 2003). To make a positive impact in leading a business organization, it includes the development of business along with motivation, coordination, practical training, communications, etc. to make them understand all the changes and their respective impacts.

Along with these leadership behaviors of leaders or managers, the participative style emphasizes the focusing involvement of all the team members while implementing strategic decisions or changes in an organization. The final decision is taken by the leader with the concern of all the employees in the organization through participative leadership. Another leadership style is laissez-faire, in which employees are assigned the responsibility to make their own decisions for executing assigned jobs. It includes the responses from leaders or managers if asked by the subordinates while executing the job. The behavior of a leader can affect employees in either a positive or negative way. So the leader's approach and style have a significant role in fulfilling employees' commitments to accept the changes.

In autocratic leadership, employees are not involved in the decision-making process. Multiple departments like HR, marketing, finance, operations, productions, etc. are led by a manager or leader (Lundy and Morin, 2013). All the employees in an organization are committed to the betterment of operations and effective outcomes. There are various roles and responsibilities of employees, which affect their decisions for working as a team. It includes the personal and professional aims of employees for which they can emphasize their performance in a given role. While agreeing to do the assigned job, some obstacles and challenges are faced by an employee. It defines the leadership, motivation, and teamwork that affect individual performances in a business firm. When the top management of a business firm decides to implement changes in the existing system, then there may be some conflicts and disputes among the team members and leader or manager (Gill, 2003). Although all the employees are ready to accept the change implementation, there might be some issues while implementing different changes in operations. There are some pros and cons of leadership behavior in implementing business decisions for changes.  Here, the discussion is done to understand the positive and negative impact of leadership behavior on the employee's commitment to organizations. First, the positive impact of leadership is listed as follows:

Leadership has positive influences on the employees through which an organization achieves its decided targets in change management. Different leadership styles have different impacts on employee's commitments. The democratic and participative leadership style has a positive impact on the employees while implementing the changes in management operations. The business practices are governed by the leader or manager and are to be performed by employees of the organization. The motivational, cooperative, and effective leadership of managers affects the team members to perform their best in accepting and implementing changes in business organizations.

If the team building and working style are set up for the welfare of all the stakeholders, then all the employees will be active in change management implementation and control (Vitez, 2015). The planning of business operations is managed by top and middle management, which can be more stringent through the involvement of all the employees of the firm.

The profitability and market share will be increased with effective change management practices, which are led by an effective manager or leader (Senior and Swailes, 2010). If employees work according to their potential, then the organization will meet its change management objectives in an improved business system.

The improved system can be well accessed by the commitments and acceptance of employees, which makes a better future for the organization. It will have the desired outcomes through the satisfaction of all the stakeholders and the effects of changes. Leadership will enhance the attainment of effective planning, implementation, monitoring, and control through the involvement of the whole organization.

Different leaders have different behaviors, which influence subordinates to achieve individual as well as organizational goals. Each employee feels confident through effective teamwork and leadership practices, which can decide the growth of the organization.

Apart from these positive outcomes, there are some negative impacts of leadership behavior during organizational changes. These negative impacts are listed as follows:

The change management implementation may fail through the lack of leadership behavior of the leader. Organizational changes may not be understood by employees, which can result in change failure.

In an organization, employees may break their commitments if changes are guided or governed in an autocratic leadership style. It can affect the project planning of change management (Sharyn et al., 2006).

If all the employees are unable to make their commitments to change management practices, then the leadership would be responsible because the manager or leader is responsible for improvements in change management practices. It will create a negative image of the business organization in the global market.

CONCLUSION

The present study seeks to define the organizational change management process along with various aspects of the same. It also outlines various factors affecting the process of cultural change. The research reveals that middle managers often resist change, which is a concern for an organization. Furthermore, it outlines various planned change management models used by companies to bring about change in an organization's culture. In addition to this, it also addresses a question about how leadership behavior affects organizational change in a positive and negative sense.

REFERENCES

• Burnes, B., 2004. "Emergent change and planned change—competitors or allies?: The case of XYZ construction.". International Journal of Operations and Production Management, pp. 24(9): 886-902.
• Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2009. Making Sense of Change Management. Kogan Page.
• Conway, E. and Monks, K. (2011). Change from below: the role of middle managers in mediating paradoxical change. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), pp. 190-203.
• Diefenbach, T., 2007. The managerialistic ideology of organizational change management. Journal of Organizational Change Management. 20(1). pp. 126-144.
• Friday, E., and Friday, S., 2003. Managing diversity using a strategically planned change approach. Journal of Management Development.  22 (10). pp. 863-880.
• Gill, R., 2003. Change management or change leadership. Journal of Change Management, 3(4), pp. 307-318
• Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E., 2002. The Unintended Consequences of Culture Interventions: A Study of Unexpected Outcomes. British Journal of Management. 13(1). pp. 31-49.
• Hosie, P. J. and Smith, R. C., 2009. A future for organizational behavior? European Business Review. 21(3). pp. 215-232.

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