Developing systems to involve stakeholder planning

It has been seen that many states have developed strategic plans and have involved stakeholders in the planning of change. And those plans have been successful where stakeholders have been involved which has gained their support. Strategic planning requires the consideration of certain values. The plan should take everyone’s opinion involved in the process and should reflect their views. Those states that have been successful in designing and adopting plans, they have included and involved everyone interested in the process of planning. They involved program mangers, providers, legislators etc (Thames and Webster 2009).

One way to involve them is through is to play it straight. In this the basic needs of the specific stakeholder is kept in mind and then presenting them with the information which can benefit them. The success of this strategy depends heavily on the knowledge of the change agent. They should have the ability to persuade them. They can also make use of the case studies, expert’s testimony, educational material, research reports etc (Armandi 2005).

The inclusion of stakeholders may take much of the time and also this requires the resources to be actively involved and devoted to the activity. Though, involving them is highly beneficial and is therefore beneficial and sustainability of the organization.

Evaluate the systems used to involve stakeholders in the planning of change.

The systems involving stakeholders in the planning of change yield positive outcomes. The stakeholders set objectives and then follow them in order of preference in order to find the practical solution for the problem at hand. In other words they synthesize the problem area into clear goals (Cook and Macaulay 2004).

For instance it results in realistic and effective policies and plans, and afterwards their improved implementation. Basically these improvements are a result of the stakeholder’s decision-making process. They make it easier to have realistic yet effective policies, regulations, laws and also projects by focusing on greater information and also greater experiences (Nilakant and Ramanarayan, 2006).

They introduce new initiatives into the existing legitimate local institutions or organizations and also the cultural values. And last but not the least they help in reducing opposition to proposals to the greater extent. Management often tries to “hide” further problems in fear that needed employees will desert the sinking ship. Unfortunately, rumor and scuttlebutt will magnify every problem and the secrecy will only seem to reinforce the rumors. So honesty is critical, as is communication (Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills 2008).

It may be necessary to build in some redundancy by cross-training workers to do more general tasks within the organization. Once again, communication is essential to make employees feel that this is a way of building job security by becoming more valuable to the company (Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills 2008).

Be aware of office politics. Some employees will respond to uncertainty by stepping up negative “political” behavior. One manager went so far as to reset clocks 15 minutes ahead to make it look like everyone in the department was late for work (Anderson and Anderson 2001). (The same manager Okayed an employee schedule change “to accommodate day care” but didn’t tell the boss-once again making it look like the employee was arriving late every day).

Still other employees will appear to really “buckle down” in order to prove themselves valuable to the company. Again, this may appear to be a good thing, but it’s important to remember that the underlying motivation is uncertainty (Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills 2008). They may be working just as hard at sending out resumes!

Other employees may develop the attitude that “I’ll show up. I’ll do what I have to do to earn my paycheck. But that’s it.” If the company allows customer service to suffer, it can begin a downward spiral that leads to more downsizing, worse morale, worse behavior, more downsizing. Employees may have some valuable suggestions to improve the bottom line without further downsizing. It may be helpful to hold a series of round table discussions encouraging suggestions for cutting costs, increasing revenues, and improving productivity (Anderson and Anderson 2001).

As a new manager, some “obvious” changes could be made. Be careful! There may be a reason they haven’t been made. One new bank manager prided himself on the fact that he noticed tellers were arriving back from lunch 10 or 15 minutes past their scheduled time. He installed a time clock to “catch” them. Payroll and overtime costs increased by 25%–they were coming back “late” because they were leaving “late” dealing with a lunchtime customer rush (Armandi 2005; Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills 2008).

Management may also choose this time to step up enforcement of absence and tardy policies. It is important that employees understand the economic basis and not see it as further erosion of job security or a personal threat (Anderson and Anderson 2001).

Explain what systems and processes would need to be/have been developed to ensure involvement of the stakeholders in the change, and justify choice.

There are many ways which have been introduced to ensure the involvement of the stakeholders in the change. One of the most widely used processes and is yet a simplest one is to have direct one to one talk with the stakeholder instead of presenting him/her with the vague ideas regarding the organization. In such kind of process the focus is given on the things which might be beneficial for the stakeholder and the change agent presents it in the manner that it looks like an attractive proposal/idea to the stakeholder (Armandi 2005). For this many other processes can be used by the change agent like education material, case studies, research reports etc. This builds up trust between then two and turns out to be an effective relationship in the greater interest of the organization (Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills 2008).

It has been seen that involving stakeholders has always turned out be in the interest of the organization (Anderson and Anderson 2001). They make the plans turning into reality with having everyone satisfied with the new change and help them in the better adaptability to the change process. The implementation of the plans and various strategies is done in the right manner and results in an effective and efficient working environment (Armandi 2005).

Create a strategy for managing resistance to change.

There is not just one strategy but a number of them for managing resistance to change. They are;

One of the very important strategies that can be used is to think the way drivers can be applied for change in analysis in order to either weaken or eliminate an opposing force.

Make the fiercest resistors realize the personal gain that they can have out of the e change like salary bonus, status, recognition and so on and so forth. Show them the bad side if the change would not take place like financial loss or job outplacement.

Let the customers or even the suppliers explain the employers the bad consequences if the current situation would not be changed and how it can be a disadvantage for them.

Give the resistors some of the decisions making power or have them play their role in the change process.

Have an open discussion and meeting with the employees and managers in order to diffuse the political power plays amongst them and in order to introduce them to such processes which will leave a little or no room for individual discretion.

Try to put oneself in the resister’s shoes and see the change from their perspective. Listen to them openly and honestly. This will help bring about the change in a way which would not create that much resistance in accepting the change.

Review the effectiveness of management actions to overcome any identified instances of resistance

The effectiveness of management actions to overcome any identified instances of resistance is of no comparison. The organization in managing the change effectively moves from its current state to future oriented goals that too at the minimal cost.

It helps to diagnose the current state of the organization, which includes identifying the problem areas within the organization/company, making each one of the employees feeling important, and analyzing the types of changes required in order to solve the problems (Armandi 2005).

It aids greatly in designing the future state of the organization, which involves idealizing and picturing the perfect situation for the organization once the change would be implemented, bringing this vision in everyone’s notice especially who would be part of the change process and designing ways of transition to the complete new state. An essential part of the transition phase is maintaining the stability for instance organization’s main objective or key personnel. These two aspects are very important to be kept constant in order to alleviate people’s anxiety (Anderson and Anderson 2001; Armandi 2005).

Most of all, the effectiveness of management actions lies in the way it implements the change. This includes managing the transition in an effective way. It becomes quite helpful to draw up a plan, assign resources and have the key person appointed to take the charge of the change process (Cook and Macaulay 2004).The company’s leaders keep everyone’s spirits high and act as role models by sharing their goals with everyone. Sometimes it works better for small victories and later builds a way for the later success (Anderson and Anderson 2001).

In nutshell it successfully brings change with wisdom, prescience, persistence, communication, energy, education, training, timing, right incentives etc. And those who bring change this way, always take the lead among their contemporaries (Thames and Webster, 2009).

Describe the most important features in the successful implementation of organizational change, drawing upon at least two organizational models.

Change is surely something that is appreciated by the people but whenever change is implemented it is not always a success. Therefore whenever change is implemented, especially on organizational level then it should be implemented in such a manner that it turns out to be a successful change. Implementing a new change on organizational level is surely not less than a challenge especially when new paradigms have to be introduced as a replacement of the existing ones (Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills, 2008).  Generally the success rate or the acceptance level for the change involving the whole organization is quite low but there are some important features, if they are present while implementing change, then the change would surely be a huge success. 

One of the great features for successful implementation of the change is determination. When implementing a change managers should stay determined and focused and shouldn’t cancel the changes because of the non-cooperative or negative attitude of the employers. Another very important feature is that of discipline (Thames and Webster, 2009). Whenever a change would be implemented it would take time for acceptance but in the mean time the discipline of the organization shouldn’t be disturbed at any cost (Helms-Mills, Dye and Mills, 2008).  There shouldn’t be any panic situation because of the change but instead the discipline of the organization should be maintained. 

Another very important feature for the successful implementation of change is that the plan for this implementation should be crystal clear and there should be no ambiguities about it. When it would be clear then the organization would take less time in accepting and adopting the change and it would definitely be successful in less time. Moreover, commitment and persistence are also two key features that are essential and of utmost importance for the successful implementation of the change (Cook and Macaulay 2004). 

Management is another essential feature. Resistance is always expected whenever a change is implemented therefore those implementing change should have the quality and ability to manage such resistance in such a way that ultimately it turns out to be successful.

There is a model named as leveraged support model recommended by Dr. Resnick for the successful implementation of the change. This model is meant for the changes at organizational level.  This model revolves around the basic concept and strategy that the designing and implementation of the change should be carried out by the employee of the organization (Armandi 2005). According to this model this not only results in, increased internal competence in the organization but commitment is also ensured and the organization also saves money which they had to spend in case of external consultants. 

Another model presented by him is systemic model for the implementation of change. This model focuses on the vision of organization. This vision revolves around guiding and directing every employee of the organization for the newly implemented change.

Plan to implement a model for change and develop appropriate measures to monitor progress

If any of the organization plans to implement any model of change then they should be developing appropriate measure in the following manner to monitor progress.

The very first thing required in this regard would be to preparation for change which includes current provisions, resources, roles and responsibilities, identifying and assessing the stakeholders, winning the support of key individuals, identifying the obstacles, understanding why change is resistant, and lot more. Then comes the part of building the visions in order to develop a clear vision, clearing out the why, what, where and how (Cook and Macaulay 2004). Next step would be to planning the change that involves designing the change, allowing people to participate in planning change, getting everyone involved etc and the last stage is of implementing the change by checking on recording progress, making sure that change is permanent, evaluating the change, improving on any weak areas, overcoming resistance, involving all personnel affected, keeping everyone informed, devising an appropriate reward system, providing support and training and monitoring and reviewing on the regular basis.