Three phases of change management

Discuss about the Cohn and Wolfe Launches Strategic Consulting.

When any organization takes the initiatives to improve the performances and grasp the opportunities or address different key issues they require implementing changes of different types. This might involve change in processes, job roles, organizational structure and the use of different kinds of technologies. However it is important to mention that among all these changes, the most important fact is that the real change needs to be brought among the employees. It must be realized that it is the employees who have to change. It is the employees who have to cope up with the change and bring alterations in their habits in order to successfully implement the change that is desired by the management. If the employees fail to accept and bring about the modifications, the change that is desired will fail along with the implementation. It must be understood that changes are unique so are individuals. After decades of research, it has been discovered that there are actions that could change people. This is where change management comes into play. Change management provides a detailed structured analysis that would help to bring about the change in an organization. Change management provides the path that needs to be followed in order to successfully implement the change that is desired. This study helps to understand the implementation of change management to an organization. With the help of the study the researcher would be able to understand how different types of changes can be brought to the organizations depending on the type of organization and its employees. The study is mainly based on the study of Robert K Yin who developed specific structure for case study. The case considered in this research is based on the organization WPP which deals in marketing communications.

Before bringing change into individuals, it is essential to understand that it is the natural psychological as well as physiological tendency of humans to contradict any change to which they are introduced. However with proper support and help, it is possible to bring about the desired change in the individuals. Individual change management is important because it helps to understand the how people accept the changes and are willing to do as required. According to Czichos (2014) individual change management helps to understand how people are experiencing the change and the messages that people need to hear. Since individual change management involves changing in the character of people, therefore there are some facts that people like. For instance a person might prefer to receive a message or information from a certain person. In such cases the speaker for the change also plays significant role. Sometimes people prefer to hear the message from a person with specific authority. Hearing from a specific person about the requirement of change would help people to get motivated and this leads to easier introduction of individual change.

Values and ethics of managers

Next comes organizational change management which involves restructuring of the operations in the organization. In the words of Have (2017) after changes in the individual level are done, it is required to change groups of individuals. In case of organizations groups are referred to as the people who comprise different levels of employees such as staffs, management, board of directors and different other people belonging to specific designations. When bringing organizational change, the organization needs to customize plans accordingly in order to make sure that the people holding different positions are influenced and explained the advantages of the change that is planned. With the help of the explanation, it would be possible for the stakeholders to get an understanding of the processes and the positive aspects of the change.

The final phase of change management is the enterprise change management which involves changes in organizations based on the changes in different other organizations. The organizations which plan to undergo change management should understand the fact that the change should involve an overall alteration in the management. This includes introduction of new equipment and technology and even work structure. The organizational structure involves people of different designations, roles and work processes. Enterprise change involves modification of all these facts. According to “What Is Change Management? | Prosci” (2017) enterprise changes are mostly brought with the purpose and objective of improvement in the performance of the organization. As a result of enterprise change, individuals would be able to accept and adapt to the changes easily. The enterprise change is not an abrupt process but requires strategic thinking and critical approach.

Once the different phases of change management are understood, it becomes easy to understand and determine the roles of the managers of the organization. As a matter of fact the managers play the most significant role. Since the basic phase of the change management involves changing the individuals, therefore it must be kept in mind that the individual staffs need to be changed with too much care. as Since the managers are the people who act as a bridge between the board of directors and the staffs, therefore it can be understood that the managers have to play the crucial role of determining the initiatives that would help to influence the staffs. Simultaneously it is the duty of the managers to report the problems to the board of directors so that the directors would be able to rectify or modify a complicated situation. It is the managers who would play the key role right from the beginning. It is the managers who would report the different parameters that would determine the requirements of the change in the organization. Simultaneously the managers would also be responsible for motivating the employees for accepting the change. It will also be the responsibility of the managers to assign the tasks and explaining the tasks to the employees. The task of the managers is quite challenging because the managers have no idea of how the employees would accept the change. Depending on the assessment of the employees the managers have to take different approaches to influence the employees.

When the organization of WPP is taken into consideration, the management underwent a recent organizational change. Major restructuring was involved in the change. The first change that was involved was the change of the leadership in different parts of the world. Next the company decided to make significant changes in its operations.  As mentioned in “Major agency restructuring continues with changes at Publicis, WPP” (2017) the company has made changes in its operation to make it simple for the clients and employees. They decided to bring these changes in order to make the data integration, promotion and other feature simple and easily executable. Additionally the company has introduced some major changes in customer relations. WPP has introduced more and more electronic features in the customer relations. This helped to speed up the process and reduce human effort. It also helped to reduce the chances of human errors. The company also started to explore the digital advertisements. The company started promoting products on social media which helped to reach a larger mass of people.

While introducing changes to the organization, it is important to consider different aspects such as cultural value, ethics and diversity. While structuring the changes the management needs to pay heed to the fact that the changes do not offend anyone’s sentiments. It must also be taken care of the fact that the changes are brought about following the ethics of business. This includes maintaining the employment and labor laws as well. The managers should keep in mind that while dealing with the employees they do not offend the staffs in any way trying to influence them. The managers need to keep in mind that the employees need to be kept happy. The managers should convey the message in favor of the change keeping the legal formalities intact. Sometimes the managers face problems of language and mode of interaction trying to interact with the employees. It is highly essential for the managers to use technique of interaction so that the employees understand the facts easily and at the same time they are not offended. With the help of proper communication techniques, the managers can easily convey the desired message and influence the employees. This is why appointing a person who is able to understand the local culture and can influence the people without offending them is important. In case of WPP appointing an America born CEO for operations in America would help the company to get the favor of the employees because she would be able to influence the employees easily without hurting their sentiments. Simultaneously it would be easy for the CEO to understand what the staffs as well as the clients would demand. Understanding the culture is also crucial which will be followed if the CEO has the same origin. The sentimental value is also important with the feeling of having a boss from the same origin would help to prevent any sentimental conflict. Considering all these facts, the change management introduced by WPP was crucial and wand highly effective. With the help of the change the company was able to satisfy the clients and make the employees happy. Additionally the company was also able to improve its performances on the global basis.

Conclusion

This research helped the employees to understand the significance of change management. With the understanding of the change management, it would be possible to strategize the change management accordingly. Apart from the understanding of the change management the researcher was also able to understand how the change management would affect the organization. With the progress of the study the researcher was able to have an in depth idea of how change management should be done. The different phases of change management explained in the study helped the researcher strategize plans of how to bring about the necessary changes. This would help the researcher to introduce changes in the future whenever required. In order to have a better idea of change management, the company used for studying change management was WPP. This study helped to understand the change management in a much more practical sense. The significance of culture and ethics on change management was understood through the study. With the help of the change the company was able to satisfy the clients and make the employees happy. Additionally the company was also able to improve its performances on the global basis. The practical application of change management on the organization helped the researcher to understand how it would affect the organizations in different manner. to conclude the study, it can be said that the study provided an in depth understanding of change management with the practical application of the same on an organization.

References

Cohn & Wolfe launches Strategic Consulting unit – WPP. (2017). Wpp.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.wpp.com/wpp/press/2015/apr/08/cohn-wolfe-launches-strategic-consulting-unit/

Czichos, R. (2014). Change Management. Freiburg im Breisgau: Haufe-Lexware.

Have, S. (2017). Reconsidering change management. New York: Routledge.

Hill & Knowlton launches Change & Internal Communications offering – WPP. (2017). Wpp.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.wpp.com/wpp/press/2008/feb/19/hill-knowlton-launches-change-internal/

Major agency restructuring continues with changes at Publicis, WPP. (2017). Marketing Dive. Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.marketingdive.com/news/major-agency-restructuring-continues-with-changes-at-publicis-wpp/446570/

PR: What to Do When the Public Does Most of the Relating by John H. Bell – WPP. (2017). Wpp.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.wpp.com/wpp/marketing/publicrelations/public-relations-is-changing/

Sanoubar, N., & Forghani Bajestani, M. (2015). Organizational Change Cynicism. Change Management: An International Journal, 15(2), 19-33. https://dx.doi.org/10.18848/2327-798x/cgp/v15i02/50770

Shaw, D. (2015). Managing dualities in organizational change projects. Journal Of Change Management, 16(3), 201-222. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2015.1118142

What Is Change Management? | Prosci. (2017). Prosci.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.prosci.com/change-management/what-is-change-management