Social process perspectives of managing change

The report will be based on the case study of New Zealand Post and the ways by which change management related perspectives can be implemented. The two major parts of discussion that will be made in the report are based on social process related perspectives and the change management models. The social perspectives that can be used in New Zealand Post in order to implement the program named “creating a high performance culture” will be discussed in the report in detail (Albers, Wohlgezogen & Zajac, 2016). New Zealand Post is an organization that mainly provides postal services in New Zealand and is owned by the state. The New Zealand Post Office is a government based agency that provided postal, telecommunications and banking based services in the country till the year 1987. The New Zealand Post started offering only postal services from the year 1990 (Nzpost.co.nz. 2019). The change management model that will be considered for analysis in the report is Kurt Lewin’s three step model. The model is based on three major stages that include, unfreeze, change and refreeze. The changes that have taken place in New Zealand Post will be analysed with the help of Lewin’s change management model.

Social process perspectives of managing change

Contingency perspective of change management – This approach is based on the behavioural and psychological viewpoint according to which the managers are supposed to take decisions with respect to the circumstances of changes. This perspective is related to the ways by which the managers of an organization are made responsible for the changes that are to be implemented. Different circumstances need to be considered by the managers in order to implement the changes that are necessary. The changes that have taken place in the external environment based on available technologies have been able to affect the ways by which operations are performed in different organizations (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

New Zealand Post has been operating in the country from the year 1840. The organization has developed its position as one of the largest employers and had been operating under the government up to the year 1987. A complex and diverse portfolio has been developed by the organization which is based on different types of businesses including, payment based services, banking, information management and marketing and logistics. The delivery and processing related activities of domestic mail is considered to be an important part of its operations. The implementation of new technologies had however become more important for the company in order to stay competitive in the industry (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).
 

The competitive pressures in the industry had been able to affect the profitability levels of the organization. The manager of New Zealand Post will be able to play a major part in the ways by which employees can be managed and new technologies can be implemented. The change that will be implemented in New Zealand Post is based on increasing the use of new hardware for postal services. The major strength of this change is based on the ways by which the organization can compete in the industry (Nzpost.co.nz. 2019). The implementation of contingency perspective is able to play a major role in the support that is provided by managers to face high levels of competition in the industry. The decision making process will be faster and the organization will be able to implement the changes within stipulated time. The weakness on the other hand is related to the huge financial capability that is required by the organization in order to invest in the new technologies (Anderson, 2016).
The rational perspective for managing change – The managers of modern organizations need to align their work processes with the overall goals that have been set by them. The usage of resources need to be made in such a manner so that the objectives and vision of the company can be understood effectively by the employees. The managers have the duty of providing the best levels of understanding to the employees based on the ways by which different objectives can be fulfilled. The managers in New Zealand Post will also play a major part in the ways by which the employees can be involved in the change implementation based process (Bertram, Blasé & Fixsen, 2015).

Contingency perspective of change management

The diverse portfolio of businesses that are operated by the organization can be managed effectively with the help of different change based decisions that are taken by the managers. The employees or human resources of the organization need to be managed and used in an effective manner in order to implement new types of software in different parts of the operations (Zhang, Waldman, Han & Li, 2015). The culture that can be developed within the organization can be developed in such a manner that can be helpful for the ways by which employees are able to manage the new technologies. The change that has been considered in this perspective is based on improvement of the frontline based leadership of New Zealand Post. The daily results of different organizational operations are considered to be important for the ways by which frontline based employees can complete the responsibilities (Cameron & Green, 2015).
The significant strength of the implementation of rational perspective is based on the proper understanding that the employees of New Zealand Post will have based on the vision and objectives developed by the organization. The collaboration between employees and frontline leadership is an important part of the rational perspective of change management. The weakness related to implementation of rational perspective is based on training that needs to be provided to employees in order to use the new software that is implemented (Caulfield & Senger, 2017).
 

Change management models

Discussion and evaluation Organizational Development Model

Organizational development can be considered to be a process that is based on the ways by which effectiveness and productivity of the organization can be increased. The techniques that can be used for the purpose of helping the organization to adjust to the circumstances are a part of the process of organizational development in the industry. The most significant feature of organizational development is based on the commitment that is provided by leadership to the process. The commitment of leaders is considered to be a major feature related to proper implementation of organizational development model (Elmes & Barry, 2017). New Zealand Post will be able to operate in the industry in a profitable manner with the help of different types of techniques that can be implemented for the purpose of proper organizational development. The objectives and targets of the organization can be achieved in an effective manner with the help of proper organizational development based processes (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016). The employees of New Zealand Post are able to respond to the changes efficiently with the help of implementation of organizational development based activities. The three major models of organizational development include, Kurt Lewin’s model, Greiner’s Equential Model and Leavitt’s System Model. A major weakness of the organizational development model is based on the resistance that is provided by the employees in proper implementation of changes in the organization. The levels of uncertainty in proper implementation of this model are high (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016).

The Goal based programme of New Zealand Post can be supported in an effective manner with the help of Kurt Lewin’s Change management model. The change management model developed by Kurt Lewin is based on three major steps that include, unfreezing, change implementation and refreeze. The stage of unfreezing is related to the ways by which the management is able to convince the employees regarding implementation of the change. This stage is based on the development of an environment that can help in the proper implementation of changes. The stage of change implementation is based on the ways by which the change is implemented in the organizational processes (Elmes & Barry, 2017). This stage is based on the effective implementation of change program. The third stage is related to the development of new organizational processes after the change has been implemented. This is related to the ways by which the employees can adapt to the changed environment after implementation of new processes. The change management model will be applied by New Zealand Post in order to implement the Goal based programme. The employees in the organization will be provided with effective levels of information with the help of the different steps that have been explained as a part of the model. The frontline leaders will provide information based on Goal based programme with the respect to the first stage of the model, that is unfreezing. The Goal programme will be implemented based on the second step of the model namely, change implementation (Helfat & Martin, 2015). The changes in the company need to be implemented in order to develop the new hardware and software that can be used in order to achieve different goals. The changes also need to be implemented in the frontline leadership of New Zealand Post are also important for the ways by which the organization can manage the employees or the human resources of the organization (Elmes & Barry, 2017). The changing needs of employees have to be understood in order to manage the diverse businesses. The concerns that have been raised by the trade unions based on the role that is played by the frontline leadership needs to be addressed with the help of effective implementation of changes. The last step of Kurt Lewin’s change management model, namely, refreezing will be based on the ways by which the needs and concerns of the employees are addressed with the proper implementation of the goal programme (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016).
 

The rational perspective for managing change

A major initiative that has been taken by the organization has been named as “Great Operations and Leadership” or GOAL initiatives. The initiatives are mainly related to the changes that can be implemented in the organization in order to increase the levels of profitability in an effective manner (Helfat & Martin, 2015). The major points that can be stated based on the implementation of changes are as follows,

The most important point that is related to the proper implementation of the GOAL initiative is based on the improvement of the performance of frontline leadership. The leadership based practices need to be developed clearly in order to understand the best practice that is suitable for company and its future operations. The different parts of this initiative is based on different activities that include, skills development, performance management and redesigning of the jobs as well (Elmes & Barry, 2017). Lewin’s change management model will be helpful in making the employees ready for changes that will be implemented in the unfreeze stage. The unfreezing will be done by providing information to the employees based on different aspects of the GOAL initiative. The GOAL initiative will be actually implemented based on the second step of Lewin’s change management model, that is, change implementation. The third step of Lewin’s model will be based on the support that will be provided by the management of New Zealand Post so that the employees can adjust to the changed processes (Kaufman, 2017).

Another major point that is a part of the implementation of goal initiatives is based on the development of a new structure. The job roles that were thereby provided to the employees can be defined effectively with the help of a new structure of the organization as a whole. The administrative and organizational work will be defined with the help of changes that are implemented in the structure (Olins, 2017). The roles that will be played by the employees based on their job will be explained to the employees in the first stage. The second stage will be based on the implementation of changes in the organizational structure and roles that can be played by different employees. The ways by which the employees in New Zealand Post can adjust with the new job roles that are provided is considered to be an important part of the third stage of the change management based model (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2016).
 

Determination related to hard or soft models

The organizational development model and Kurt Lewin’s change management model can be considered to be soft approaches. Organizational development model is related to the ways by which different techniques can be implemented so that the organizations are able to adjust to the changes in external environment. On the other hand, the process of organizational development is quite long and needs proper involvement of employees (Smither, Houston & McIntire, 2016). The soft appraisal related factor are based on the appraisals that are provided to the employees with respect to their soft skills and the professional traits.
Kurt Lewin’s change management model can be applied based on the ways by which the organization can implement changes with the help of three major steps. This requires the acceptance of employees and is not forced on them. The implementation of changes in this model is based on the ways by which the employees get involved in the process and are able to get ready for the changes as well (Wirtz, Pistoia, Ullrich & Göttel, 2016). The hard appraisal based factors are mainly include, job knowledge, job execution, skill levels, initiatives, client orientation, team work and compliance to the practices and policies.

Conclusions

The use of contingency perspective and rational perspective will be able to affect the changes that can be implemented by the organization and the role that is played by the manager as well. New Zealand Post can also use these approaches in order to implement different changes within the organization and develop major collaboration between the employees and the frontline leaders.

The organizational development model and Kurt Lewin’s change management model can be used by New Zealand Post in order to implement changes in the frontline of the management and the entire structure of the organization as well. The two approaches have been considered to be soft approaches as they are not forced upon the employees and require their involvement as well. The proper involvement of employees in the change management process is required in order to maintain the changes that have been implemented by New Zealand Post.
 

References

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