Approaches to Effective Change Management Essay

Approaches to Effective Change Management - Essay Example It is important for change managers to be open for new ideas that may be significant in the change process, which encourages all the stakeholders involved to participate and own the organizational objectives, thereby making it possible for the change managers to accomplish their tasks (Ivancevich et al. 2007). Kotter (1996) observes that change management also requires that the important decisions be defended from denunciation by other players who might not be informed or whose interest might only be focused on resisting change irrationally. If change managers allow new ideas to be dismissed in such a manner, there can be no progress. However, while defending the ideas against criticism, it is important to consider the suggestions of others who might have a different perspective in regard to approaching change. For example, technical personnel who understand the organizational systems better can offer essential advice regarding the necessary changes that are beneficial. Flexibility i n decision making is important for change to be accomplished. In other words, change managers need to disregard the manner in which they have always approached matters related with decision making. They need to allow flexible practices that broaden their scope of thinking, which allows them to identify new opportunities and methods of working. Rigidity in decision making hampers innovativeness in organizations since they do not open up to change (Szamosi & Duxbury, 2002). In other words, organizational culture is important in determining the success of the change process. It may hinder or promote change and therefore change managers should be keen on maintaining a culture of flexibility in organizational decision making. Promotion of flexible working is also important to ensure that the employees are aware that the typical procedures followed in the workplace can be changed at the realization of any opportunity for improvement, which is significant in avoiding resistance to change a mong the organizational staff (Lines, 2004). According to Ivancevich et al. (2007), successful change management involves learning from past experiences. The change managers can use examples of situations where they failed in the past and apply the knowledge to avoid undesirable occurrences in the change process. In choosing the approach towards implementing new ideas, it is important to keep focused on the positive aspects instead of looking at the possibilities of encountering difficulties in the implementation process. Focusing on potential difficulties leads to undesirable pessimism that may hamper progress. Risks also need to be shared by forming strong partnerships that are also significant in developing new ideas (Szamosi & Duxbury, 2002). Bennett & Durkin (2000) observes that the information obtained in the change management needs to be analyzed and sorted out to distinguish between the vital information from the irrelevant. Failure of the change managers to make out the dif ference in such information leads to the presence of surplus data that makes the tasks even more difficult. Such situations cause exhaustion and low morale in implementing the organizational activities, and the change process may be abandoned before the change management goals are accomplished (Mourier & Smith, 2001). On the other hand, Lines (2004) observes that there is a tendency for managers and data collection staff to make assumptions that they collect all the information that can be accessed while they do not. In other words, improper judgment regarding the information received by the change managers leaves substantial information that might be useful to the management