Cawsey, Deszca, and Ingols: Organizational Change, 3e - Understanding the Forces

Question

Cawsey, Deszca, and Ingols: Organizational Change, 3e - Understanding the Forces for and Against Change: The Force Field Analysis

Issue: Organizations have distinct structures and cultures that influence their direction and reactions to change. My director is thinking about proposing a new process for sales that represents a fairly large shift in the way things are currently done. The director would like to meet with you to discuss any possible resistance to the change that may originate from your organization's culture and structure.

Consider an organizational change situation you are familiar with. Use the following questions to guide you through the process of drawing a force field analysis.

1.      What are the forces for change? Include external forces as well as a consideration of key individuals or groups. How strong and committed are these forces? (Who will let it happen; who will help it happen; who will make it happen?

2.      How could these forces be augmented or increased? What forces could be added to those that exist?

3.      What are the forces that oppose change? Include structural forces such as reward systems or formal processes in the organization. Consider as well the effect of informal processes and groups or the culture of the organization.

4.      How could these forces be weakened or removed? What things might create major resentment in these forces?

5. Can you identify any points of leverage that you could employ to advance the change? For example, deploying key well-respected individuals who support the change or providing low-cost guarantees related to serious concerns.

Explanation / Answer

1,

Forces for change are:

1.       Competition

2.       Economics

3.       Technology

4.       Globalization

5.       Senior management of sales team

6.       Finance team

7.       Customer support team

8.       IT team

Competition, technology, IT team and senior management are more committed as compared to other forces.

2.

Senior management of sales team and customer support team related forces can be augmented by offering required training and changing incentive process.

Finance team related force can be augmented by designing new services and offering cross-functional training.

HR& training team is another force that can be added

3.

Forces that oppose change are:

1.       Incentive criteria

2.       Irresistibility to use of technology

3.       Poor training and support documentation

4.       Lack of training facility

5.       Unreal job description

Author's Note: Please be specific to the question that need to be answered.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse C
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.