Skills and Effective Practices
Skills and Effective PracticesKrista JacksonAET/560January 18, 2016Dr. Christine NortzSkills and Effective PracticesThe promotion of change is determined by the skills and practices that are implemented with success. There are different theories to approach the changes including Lewin’s Change Theory, Complexity Theory, Giving Voice to Values, and many more. A change agent needs to have specific characteristics, effective practices, and actions to make the organizational change effective and successful. Three TheoriesLewin’s Change TheoryThe Change Theory Model by Lewin consists of three steps, which are unfreezing, change, and then refreeze (Tupper, Deszca, & Cynthia, 2012, p. 52). When an organization experiences a significant disrupt in their working environment, and then they realize there need to be some changes. Realizing there needs to be changes moving the organization into unfreezing the company to allow room for changes. The situations for unfreezing an organization determine whether to unfreeze and what changes to make if they do unfreeze the organization. When the organization decides to unfreeze then, they go into the change phase of the theory. In the change phase, the organization decides what needs to be changed, and puts those changes into motion. The organization may have to reorganize and change some issues that occurred during the change phase, and they gather this data with groups, collaboration, and feedback from employees. Once the organization has made successful changes that are all working, then the organization can refreeze their organization. When they refreeze the organization, then everything goes back to normal with the changes, and they continue to this step until other issues arise. The organization can stay in the refreeze stage for too long sometimes, so organizations need to stay on top of everything going on to effectively make changes for plexity Theory The Complexity Theory is defined as “Organizations are webs of nonlinear feedback loops that are connected with other individuals and organizations by webs of nonlinear feedback loops.” (Tupper, 2012, p. 84). Organizations are complex because they have many different characteristics, and organizations thrive off of being complex. If an organization is not complex, then they will have a hard time succeeding. The nonlinear feedback loop assists with organizational changes because everyone is getting the feedback. Businesses are stable with what they are doing, or they are making changes and disrupting the normal business environment. So, the business is both stuck in one position and not moving forward, or they are under changes or constant changes. To be successful organizations need to realize that they are complex, and they need to find the middle sweet spot to be successful. Complex organizations focus on interdependence, working with others, collaborating, and groups are all good for the organization. Collaborating and groups help with feedback and communication within the business, and that is how they have nonlinear feedback loops. The constant communication and feedback loop helps during changes and helps organizations facilitate the changes easier. Saying an organization goes on the complexity theory is not supposed to be intimidating. The theory just proves that all organizations are complex, and these organizations realize this, and they embrace it within their organization. Giving Voices to Values TheoryThe theory of Giving Voice to Values is “teaching individuals how to develop a strategy and “scripts” to successfully address a values-based challenge and providing them the opportunity to practice their approach.” (Faculty development update, 2012). There are three steps that they address during the giving voice to values theory, which is setting the stage, enhancing self-knowledge, and enhancing the ability to script. During the setting, the stage step, examples of situations are shown, and the employee evaluates how they would respond to the situation with organizational changes. They need to learn how to be positive in these situations to make sure that the situation does not escalate. The employees need to learn how to speak up about values in organizational change and giving voice to values theory will help with this part. The second step, enhancing self-knowledge, the employees need to reflect on what their values are in an organization and life. Making a list to organize their thoughts is helpful in this step so that they can visualize their values. Seeing their values in a list will show the employees a lot about themselves, and that is where their self-knowledge also emerges during this step. Employees need to know what they stand for, and how to speak up during difficult situations like an organizational change. The third and last step, enhancing the ability to script, the employees learn that “Scripting is a form of practice.” (Faculty development update, 2012). Rehearsing is important in this step because it is preparing the employees on how to effectively speak and act during a situation with conflicting values during the organizational change. Ethical and value situations will arise during an organizational change and employees who practice the three steps of giving voice to values theory will assist them in handling changes. Employees should be able to speak up during these situations if the change is not being handled ethically. Speaking up about values can bring effective changes to make the organizational shift successful.Effective Change AgentCharacteristics and skillsAccording to Tupper (2012), there are six essential characteristics of change leaders: commitment to improvement, communication and interpersonal skills, determination, eyes on the prize and flexibility, experience and networks, and intelligence. All of these characteristics will help with the effective change in organizations. Leaders should be committed to the idea of the change. Change agents need excellent communications skills to interact with numerous people in the organization. They must be determined by their vision of the change, and be intelligent enough to make effectively these changes that are needed. Experience and networks help with the change process. Change leaders need to have positive characteristics, so everyone in the organization feels safe and reassured about the changes occurring in the organization.Effective practices to influence changeTupper (2012) states, “The effectiveness of a change agent is a function of a person, his or her vision, and the characteristics of the situation.” Change agents must be an effective person while dealing with change, have a vision of how they want the changes to occur, and knowledge of the situation they need to handle with organizational changes. Communication is one of the key effective practices with influencing change because the change agents need to be able to communicate to everyone. Communication works two ways, though, so the change agent needs to make sure that they are also listening. Employees will have ideas, concerns, and items to address, and the change agent needs to be open to the ideas presented to them. Effective listening can help the organizational changes because it can bring certain issues to the surface that was not apparent. They should be able to assess all situations and develop ideas to remain effective. Feedback is one of the most important practices because employees need to know from change agents how they are doing. Employees need knowledge, motivation, inspiration, and assistance when needed, so feedback can help in all of these areas to influence change.Actions or tasks needed for changeAccording to Tupper (2012), there are seven tools for action planning: to-do lists, responsibility charting, contingency planning, surveys and survey feedback, project planning and critical path methods, force field and stakeholder analysis, and leverage analysis. There are more actions and tasks that can be implemented for organizational change, but these are just a few to get an idea. When there is a change, then someone needs to make a list of the changes, and how they will go about these changes. Charting out who is supposed to do what and staying organized will help in its effectiveness. At least one backup plan for each change helps in case of a failure. Taking surveys from employees and customers, and analyzing the feedback assists in if the changes are working. Any action or task that is planned and executed helps with the organizational change because if they do not take any actions, then nothing will change in the organization.ConclusionThe three theories presented show how changes can be organized during an organizational change process. Each theory has its pros and cons, but each is effective with the right change leader in charge of the operation. If the change agent can use their characteristics, practices, and actions in an effective manner, then the organizational change will be a success. It is all up to the change agent on how effective their skills and practices are in the end to achieve success for the organization. ReferencesFaculty development update – giving voice to values: Practical ethics in action. (2012). Accounting Education News, 40(1), 14-15. Retrieved from , C., Deszca, G., & Cynthia, I. (2012). Organizational change: An action-oriented toolkit (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ................
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