LEADERSHIP E CAMBIAMENTO ORGANIZZATIVO |
It has been said that the only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper. Changes that someone else initiates are particularly hard for us to accept. In this regard Jack Welch, the outgoing CEO of General Electric, has said that, "Change has no constituency. People like the status quo. They like the way it was. When you start changing things, the good old days look better and better." Due to the rapidly increasing rate of change, we have all been put under increasing pressure to adapt or go under. For example, most universities today offer web-based, catalogs, application, and registration. Attempts to create planned organizational change must begin with leaders at all levels. Ideally, the changes should begin at the top and be in alignment at all levels. However, I believe that each unit leader has the potential to initiate and create change at any level. All of us have attempted to improve our respective campuses and have probably experienced some successes and some failures. Fifty years ago, Kurt Lewin wrote about the challenge of trying to get people to change. He called this force field analysis. This theory states that any situation occurs as a result of the combination of various competing forces. If you have ever tried to live up to your New Year's resolutions, you have experienced this. Your motivation to live up to your new year's resolutions represents the driving forces for change. If you are thinking of exercising more, or losing weight, several arguments can add to your motivation toward change (better fitting clothes, better appearance, better health). The restraining forces are all the reasons why you don't live up to your resolutions (it's fun to eat, it's too cold (or hot) to exercise, or it takes more effort to lose weight as you get older (and your metabolism slows). By the way, research has shown that the average diet lasts about 72 hours. This shows just how powerful those restraining forces can be. Force field analysis is often applied to organizations as well. As a leader, you are interested in creating a better future and have the responsibility to create changes that you think will improve your university. However, others in your organization may be much more interested in maintaining the status quo. You may have heard the expression attributed to Henry Kissinger that, "The reason university politics are so vicious, is that the stakes are so small." Or that university policies and practices usually change at "glacial speed." The status quo in any organization is called the "dynamic equilibrium" that is created between the driving forces and the restraining forces. Change can occur by either increasing the driving forces or decreasing the restraining forces or some combination of the two. If you want to try this analysis to help you implement change, you may want to try analyzing some of these questions. What are some of the arguments that resisters might raise? What are your counter-arguments? When you encounter resistance, are there ways that you might modify your plan to accommodate their opposition? Are there any ways that you can channel into constructive forces for change? Can you create an inventory of resources and supporters who can be called upon to assist? Have you fully developed your case for change? People not only resist change, but they also may resist the way in which the changes occur. This is the good news for leaders. We can often control the way or the process in which we go about making the changes. John Kotter (1996, 1999) at Harvard Business School has developed one of the most highly respected models for creating planned organizational change. His model consists of the following eight stages.
Although these eight stages appear to be intuitively obvious, if you have ever tried to implement these ideas you will immediately appreciate their complexity. In addition, Peter Drucker (1999) has offered the following useful advice for leaders on managing change:
Keep in mind that the alternative to change is extinction. Charles Darwin taught us that those most likely to survive are not the biggest, nor the strongest, but those most able to adapt to the demands of their environment. ReferencesPeter Drucker. 1999. Change Leaders. Inc. June: 65-72. Andy Grove. 1996. Only The Paranoid Survive. Currency/Doubleday. John P. Kotter. 1996. Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press. John P. Kotter. 1999. On What Leaders Really Do. A Harvard Business Review Book. Everett M. Rogers. 1995. Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.). The Free Press.
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