Case study - managing change

Introduction

Organisations today are going through constant change brought about by competition, economics, business innovation and a realization that remaining stagnant may mean organizational death. As the business environment increases in complexity and changes rapidly, organization and management consequently experiences significant transformation to cope with these changes. On a micro level (company level), these changes would include the transformation of the internal corporate culture as well as enhancements in the management of human resources in response to increasing workplace diversity and the evolving needs of the workforce. Therefore, the ability to change is an important part of the organization's business environment while the ability to help it adapt to change is equally a critical business challenge for the leadership.

Change is imperative

Organisations can't escape change. So what is change? - It is adjustments, transformations, transitions, and revolutions which is a never-ending cycle of birth, growth and death (Topping, 2002).

Organisation

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Top Hat

Change disrupts everyone's life; the only question is for how long.

Leader - the change agent

When an organisation is at the crossroad of change, it is in the crisis stage. DuBrin (1989) defined crisis as a turning point for better or worse, or a situation that has reached a critical phase. When a company is in a crisis, it requires decisive and bold leadership to identify, isolate and manage the crisis (Topping, 2002). Leadership now requires very different behaviour from the leadership tradition that we were used to. It requires leaders who are able to speak to the collective imagination of their people, co-opting them to join in the business journey. It also requires convincing motivators that lead people into making that extra effort of a full commitment. It is all about human behaviour and understanding the way people and organizations behave; creating relationships; building commitment; adapting behaviours to...