Dealing with Change Survivors

Change Survivors
- Cynical people who’ve learned how to live through change programs without really changing at all.
- They know that change programs are only manager’s fads. 

- Their reaction is the opposite of commitment.

How to deal with them

Address fear of the unknown by Increasing Predictability
People want to know what to expect. This is why in the middle of change, trust is eroded when the ground rules change.
Not only is the guaranteed career path gone, but so is the guarantee of employment.
The more leaders clarify the company’s intentions and ground rules, the more people will be able to predict and influence what happens to them- even in the middle of a constantly shifting situation.
 

Addressing feelings about capability
Managers and employees must identify needed capabilities and negotiate the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the process before each will trust the situation.
When each sides understands the needs, capabilities, and objectives of the other, trust can be built.

Change is intensely personal:Commit time and energy to managing the change process.
Manage the conversation between the people leading the effort and those who are expected to implement the new strategies. Manage the organizational context in which change can occur. Manage the emotional connections

Change is like balancing a mobile art piece

• The challenge is to manage the dynamic not the pieces.
• To think strategically
• To recognize patterns
• To anticipate problems and opportunities before they occur.

Introducing Change in Organizations - a Checklist

1. Assess the cultural landscape.
Thorough cultural diagnostics can assess organizational readiness to change, bring major problems to the surface, identify conflicts, and define factors that can recognize and influence sources of leadership and resistance. These diagnostics identify the core values, beliefs, behaviors, and perceptions that must be taken into account for successful change to occur.
2. Address culture explicitly. Company culture is an amalgam of shared history, explicit values and beliefs, and common attitudes and behaviors.
Change programs can involve creating a culture, combining cultures, or reinforcing cultures.
3. Address the “human side” systematically.”
New leaders will be asked to step up, jobs will be changed, new skills and capabilities must be developed, and employees will be uncertain and resistant.
4. Create ownership. Leaders of large change programs must overperform during the transformation and be the zealots who create a critical mass among the work force in favor of change. This requires
more than mere buy-in or passive agreement that the direction of change is acceptable. It demands ownership by leaders willing to accept responsibility
5. Involve every layer. Change efforts must include plans for identifying leaders throughout the company and pushing responsibility for design and implementation down, so that change “cascades” through
the organization.
6. Start at the topBecause change is inherently unsettling for people at all levels of an organization, when it is on the horizon, all eyes will turn to the CEO and the leadership team for strength, support, and direction.
7. Make the formal case.People will look to the leadership for answers. The articulation of a formal case for change and the creation of a written vision statement are invaluable opportunities to create or compel
leadership-team alignment.
8. Communicate the message.Too often, change leaders make the mistake of believing that others understand the issues, feel the need to change, and see the new direction as clearly as they do.
The best change programs reinforce core messages through regular, timely advice that is both inspirational and practicable.
9. Prepare for the unexpected. People react in unexpected ways; areas of anticipated resistance fall away; and the external environment shifts. Effectively managing change requires continual reassessment
of its impact and the organization’s willingness and ability to adopt the next wave of transformation.



References
..Managing Change: The Art of Balancing
Jeanie D. Duck, HBR on Change 2000
..Why Good companies Go Bad
Donald N. Sull, HBR on Culture and Change 2002
..Radical Change, The Quiet Way
Debra E. Meyerson, HBR on Culture and Change
..Managing Change in Organizations (Third Edition)
Colin A. Carnall, Pearson Education, 1999
References
..Managing Change: The Art of Balancing
Jeanie D. Duck, HBR on Change 2000
..Why Good companies Go Bad
Donald N. Sull, HBR on Culture and Change 2002
..Radical Change, The Quiet Way
Debra E. Meyerson, HBR on Culture and Change
..Managing Change in Organizations (Third Edition)
Colin A. Carnall, Pearson Education, 1999


 

Organizational culture model

Schein's Organizational culture model.
Schein model for describing and measuring organizational culture is a well known model which is being used variedly by organizational consulters. The model were published by Edgar Schein at the 80' of the 20th century. However, it has some uncertain aspects, in which Raz update of the model is taking care of.

Schein model defines organizational culture as the deepest and strongest aspect of organization life.

The culture has three cognitive levels which one can measure.

1. The first level is where the organizational attributes that can be seen, felt and heard by the uninitiated observer – this level includes – behavior, colors, furnishings, recognition. The attributes can be measured by observation of anyone that meets the culture.
2. The next level is about the professed culture of the organization members – this level includes – slogans, flyers, lists, statements. One can measure there by interviews and reading papers of the organization.
3. The last and deepest level is where lays the organization's tacit assumptions – these elements are unseen, subconscious, the 'unspoken rules' of the organization. To find out those tacit assumptions, one needs to discover the in-depth of the organization by deep observation and interpretation of an expert. Shein's model gives an opportunity to measure these levels and to compare the links between them. if the links are strong then there is a strong organizational culture.

Raz update of Schein's Organizational culture model

Aviad Raz published an update that tries to deal with two problems
The strength of the organizational culture will be measured through two gaps –
 Objective gap – the gap between the values and the norms.
 Subjective gap – the gap between the values and understanding of the employees of what the values are.
If these two gaps are not excised or mild – then there is a strong organizational culture.

SOURCE: Wikipedia