Critically discuss the potential impact of reducing individual bonuses on the motivation and engagement of employees within the case study organisation.
Introduction
Globalization has immensely enhanced the competition among organizations worldwide by converting this world into a fast global village. In this context, the survival of any organization is mainly dependent upon innovative ways to conduct business. The impactful maneuver concerning the efficiency of organizations owes its progress to the rule of thumb, i.e., leadership. In other words, the role of leadership at all levels regarding innovations and organizational change is crucial. A leader, as an agent of change, can manage the change management process only if h/she is competent enough. Fast technological innovations, enhancing demands of customers, rapid market trends and mountainous competition compel organizations to reevaluate their working phenomenon. To pace with the modern global world, organizations have no choice other than to undergo the implementation of new advancements and inventions (Carnall, 2007). In this scenario, change management within the boundaries of any organization becomes compulsory. However, to cope and muddle through such extraordinary situations, the role of leaders concerning effective change management becomes the central concern of organizational survival.
Leadership is the primary role for sustainable progress as the change management cases have become complex due to high competition waves. Research shows that about 70% of change management fails to achieve its targets due to inefficient leadership. In this context, effective leadership to ensure desirable goals has become crucial, especially on the grounds of changing management in an appropriate manner (j Mullins & Christy, 2013). This essay will explore the core role of leaders in making effective change management concerning resistance to change, internal and external drivers of change, along with the leader’s role in the decision-making process, removing barriers of change, diminishing the negative role of change, devising strategies and implementing operations.
Significance of Leadership concerning Change Management Process:
During any change management process within any organization, the significance of leadership increases to manifolds. The leadership slot is the actual mirror through which any organization’s future progress and shape can be viewed depending on the ongoing situations. In this context, the change management process has to face grave resistance due to several reasons. It is also a notable fact that such a change has an in-depth impact on several factors or drivers. In these aspects, the significance of leadership can be judged from the facts enlisted below:
Resistance to Change Management within an Organization:
The entirely natural fact and phenomenon in the way of effectively implementing the change management process is resistance. Whenever any particular organization plans to change or execute change, resistance will be a mandatory entity as a massive hurdle. In this context, several reasonable factors are there that mound such resistance. It is pertinent to mention that almost all such factors are usually interconnected with each other and also breed more aligned factors. Concerning the in-depth analysis, multiple theoretical approaches indicate a high chance of workforce modification accompanying any change management process within an organization (Ozmen & Öner, 2018). Ultimately, it breeds more lay-off situations for the origination, as employees have the primary concern of their employment, and such changes create tremendous discomfort in their zones. As there are chances of adopting new ways, techniques, technologies and modern operation strategies with the change management process, a natural fear spreads among employees’ circles. In addition, the main resistance arose concerning the lacking of modern skills on the part of the workforce to work effectively. In such cases, technologically advanced and technically nourished business expectations with the change management process increase the discomfort among employees at almost all levels. Further, the fear of losing authority and modification in working patterns with such change within an organization tends to cause severe resistance in this regard.
Drivers of Change Management Process, Internal & External:
The planning for the change management process within an organization is the accumulative effect of both internal and external drivers. In some scenarios, these internal and external factors or drivers have so linked with each other that the decision about their division becomes difficult for experts sometimes. However, internal factors may include cultural aspects, human resource capital, overall organizational structure, missions in the pipeline and value-based systems. Almost all these factors, with some exceptions, propel the change management process in the organization to acquire long-term sustainable progress (Harsch & Festing, 2020). Such drivers are the leading indicators and propellers in organizations to meet modern market competition.
Moreover, there are also some external factors that build pressure from outside the organizations and have severe impacts. These factors or drivers are termed as external, but they have a direct impact on proceeding with the change management process within the organizations, especially on dimensions of organizations’ growth, sustainability and operational capacity. These factors pour a lasting impact on the overall progress curve of the organization. Political scenarios, economic conditions of the said country, global technological innovations, social trends and customers’ demands are some external factors, but they put pressure on the internal roots of the organizations and pave the way towards a change management process. So it is mandatory for decision-making authorities to evaluate and monitor such internal and external factors that lead towards massive change management processes within an organization.
Role Dimensions of Leadership Concerning Change Management Process:
Multiple dimensions and scopes can vividly express the crucial role of leadership in leading the respective organizations to sustainable development in the change process. Some of them are discussed here.
Senior and Mid-Line Leadership; Responsibility Demeanor Slots:
The primary responsibility in the crucial hour of changing management process lies on the shoulders of senior leadership in alliance with mid-line leadership. Such a leader is considered a frontline role player in a change scenario. Especially mid-line leadership is pondered as not only close to employees but also a common channel to both ends of the organization. Research shows that in the case of a change management process, such leadership must be taken on board to execute change efficiently. Leadership ensure the necessary support to respective quarters to execute the change process effectively (Dumas & Beinecke, 2018). Other than fulfilling the responsibility, they act as a coach to provide valid, updated and consistent guidance to adapt to changing management processes within the organization. In this context, the leadership slot is liable for liaison in order to engage the workforce and declare them a part of the change. In addition, by doing so, leaders can relinquish resistance along the lines of the change process in the best possible manner. Similarly, leaders on both ends, i.e., senior and mid-line, play a communication channel role among the multiple organs of the respective organization. In other words, leadership proves a lifeline in the changing process.
Crucial Decision-Making to Save the Organization During Change:
Leaders are the frontline policymakers in the changing management process, so crucial decision-making becomes their foremost responsibility. Undoubtedly, such a changing process is very delicate, and policies or decisions leave a lasting effect on the future of organizations. In this context, high pressure on the nerves of leaders may take a make-or-break position in the progress of an organization. So leaders must be able to take the right decisions at the right times to execute the change process effectively. In addition, the right decisions at the right time may lead the organization to heights of progress in the market. However, various aspects of internal and external factors of change may accompany future scenarios. In this way, leaders ought to take such decisions while keeping in mind the future possibilities of the market trends. Therefore, decision-making competency needs such leaders who have the ability to see beneath the surface (Khoreva & Vaiman, 2021). Such leaders can ensure the changing management process effectively within the organization, and their role is pivotal concerning the primitive qualities of decision-making at a crucial time.
Removal of Obstacles and Empowerment of Actions:
Leadership is the entity that is solely responsible for identifying hurdles and obstacles, removing them and smoother execution of actions. During changing management processes, leaders aim to accomplish the ongoing changing processes efficiently. The most potential obstacles in this context may include organizational legislation, conventional tendencies, resistance from employees, or even infrastructure deficiency, etc. All these hurdles and obstacles become monsters if not removed timely. For example, lacking infrastructure in a particular organization in the context of IT equipment or advancement in the IT sector, if not identified correctly, may lead to chaos. So, the competent leadership slot is mandatory for the identification, removal and smooth line of the changing process. However, failure of such action execution may lead to organizational failure (Mansaray, 2019). In other words, the role of leadership becomes lifesaving in such conditions for organizations.
Executing Steps to Ensure an Effective Changing Management Process:
During the changing process, leaders are required to adopt various steps for practical work. In this context, there may be several steps which are considered necessary by the experts to bring the necessary change within the organization. In present global scenarios, implementation of these steps is necessary before, during or after the changing management process. The first one is determining whether the need for change within the organization is essential. Determining such needs is crucial for building the required platforms for such a change. Further, the identification of specific areas where such change is required, and finally, the process of changing comes in line (Harrison et al., 2021). After the changing process, the steps must be implemented to curtail backlashes of changing process. If one analyzes deeply, the role of leadership is mandatory to ensure efficient changing management processes within the organization. Lack of particular leadership or competency among leadership may create chaos, and the final result will be the deterioration and destruction of the organization.
Curtailing Negative Waves of Change Regarding Organization:
It is an inevitable fact that changing management process breeds multiple impacts, and several of them may prove negative concerning the progress and growth of the respective organization. To identify and curtail such negative impacts, the role of leadership is matchless. Leaders may adopt different measures to nip this evil in the bud. First and foremost is the implementation of a particular support system that helps to discard such impacts. The support system may be devised on different organizational levels in this context. After estimating such negative impacts on a particular site or organ of the organization, the leadership may execute such a plan to rectify the issues. In addition, effective communication may reduce the severity of such negativity and leaders in an organization are solely responsible for proper communication channels (Shulga, 2021). Another aspect is the training side of the workforce to equip themselves for the upcoming changes in the organizations. In this way, the resistance from the employee slot becomes minimal. Another way is the detailed analysis of the said change and all the aspects to formulate a specific strategy to chalk out negative impacts. The leaders can measure and evaluate future perspectives to enhance organizational progress. In other words, whatever may be adopted will solely extend to the leadership for the outcome. The role of leadership in dividing or executing several ways to diminish the negative impacts of changing processes is significant.
Leadership Execute Strategies to ensure a flawless Change Process:
In the current world of competition, organizations develop a change-enabling culture which owes its existence to competent leadership. Management theories explain such a culture and its establishment to face several uncertain obstacles of change. In such cultures, leadership formulate and execute strategies by setting new objectives, upgradation of staff through training, and dedicated programs for managing the change process (Harrison et al., 2021). For the implementation of such strategies concerning the changing management process, leadership plays a pivotal role. The global mindset in this aspect poses high responsibility on the shoulders of leadership for smooth change within the organization.
Conclusion
From the above in-depth discussion, it can be concluded that globalization has dramatically changed our world. Such a quick change is solely the result of advancement in technology, modern innovations, novel business trends and magnified competition in the business sector around the globe. In addition, the expectation of customers has tremendously increased. So, changes within organizations especially changing management processes, have become crucial these days. However, organizations undergo severe existential threats during changing management process, and competent leadership can play a vital role in its effective execution. In the modern global business era, much focus is placed on the crucial role of leadership at different levels. On the part of leadership, it is mandatory to have a blueprint of detailed plans, strategies, steps, hurdles and executions of decisions for an effective changing process. So effective change management process within an organization is indebted to the decisive leadership role.
References
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Harrison, R., Fischer, S., Walpola, R. L., Chauhan, A., Babalola, T., Mears, S., & Le-Dao, H. (2021). Where do models for change management, improvement and implementation meet? A systematic review of the applications of change management models in healthcare. Journal of healthcare leadership, 13, 85.
Harsch, K., & Festing, M. (2020). Dynamic talent management capabilities and organizational agility—A qualitative exploration. Human Resource Management, 59(1), 43-61.
j Mullins, L., & Christy, G. (2013). Management & Organizational Behaviour. Pearson Education.
Khoreva, V., & Vaiman, V. (2021). Talent management: decision making in the global context. In The Routledge Companion to Talent Management (pp. 81-93). Routledge.
Mansaray, H. E. (2019). The role of leadership style in organizational change management: a literature review. Journal of Human Resource Management, 7(1), 18-31.
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Shulga, L. V. (2021). Change management communication: The role of meaningfulness, leadership brand authenticity, and gender. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 62(4), 498-515.
