An organization always has specific goals and objectives that need to be achieved within a particular period of time. However, without proper motivation, an organization will face many challenges trying to attain its set goals and objectives. Therefore, to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations, an organization might be forced to introduce various changes that will contribute to the effectiveness of organizational operations. Therefore, the paper will discuss various factors that might force an organization to introduce new changes to its mode of operation to enhance the quality of service.
Change is considered to be a transition in which a real process takes place. The entire process might take time, but in the end, an individual might be able to learn new things and enhance innovation. At the same time, one might be able to change his or her attitude or perception toward a particular aspect (Burns, 2012). At this stage, great administration and consolation are essential on the grounds that the process might instill fear among the employees, thus enhancing ineffectiveness. Therefore, the entire change process requires a leader to work closely with his or her employees, thus motivating them to be positive toward change.
Uncertainty, volatility, and chaos are among the major factors that drive an organization to introduce new changes into its system. In this case, it is the primary responsibility of leaders to control the impacts of these factors to ensure that the changes introduced to an organization do not affect it negatively but introduce positive changes that will boost the organization’s corporate image.
Uncertainty in the external environment is one of the factors that has been considered to affect an organization in various ways. In this case, the respective organization’s management has the primary responsibility of ensuring that employees are ready to face any challenges they might face. For instance, Uncertainty in the marketing environment has forced most organizations to produce quality products and, at the same time, be cautious not to make a loss in the marketing industry because of the ever-changing nature of the market in terms of demand and supply. In addition, technology has been considered one of the major changes that have positively impacted organizational operations. In this regard, most employees feared that technology would take most of their jobs thus declaring them redundant (Wals and Corcoran, 2012). Therefore, most employees, afraid of the uncertainty, were forced to take refresher courses to improve their skills and expertise. Therefore, uncertainty in this aspect forced most employees to improve their skills, thus enabling the organization to attain the required skills and expertise to effectively and efficiently attain its set goals and objectives within a particular period of time.
Change uncertainty is further classified into strategic, structural, and job-related categories. In this case, an organization’s leaders must consider the above impacts to ensure that change is directed toward the organization’s good. That is, they are expected to reduce the feeling of uncertainty amongst the employees and instill them with a sense of control over the respective uncertainty. As a result, they will be in a position to conquer the fear of the unknown and offer quality service to enhance the quality of operations within an organization. In this regard, open lines of communication are considered vital in that they will enable employees, as well as the management of the respective organization, to be in a position to share ideas, thus introducing positive change in an organization.
Conversely, volatility is the measure of dispersion on returns from a particular security market. In this regard, most leaders, as well as employees, are afraid of taking risks. Furthermore, it is clear that the higher the volatility, the higher the risk thus creating a sense of fear amongst the employees and the entire management (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2015). However, through proper planning and management, volatility can greatly increase an organization’s return on investment within a particular period. Therefore, it is the responsibility of leaders in an organization to come up with advanced strategies to enable the organization to minimize its expenditure and maximize returns, thus being in a position to attract and retain more clients to a respective organization.
Chaos, on the other hand, is considered to be a major factor that contributes to changes in an organization. In this case, changes can be based on various reasons. For instance, chaos can erupt in an organization because employees are overcrowded in one section and the workplace is not spacious enough. Therefore, employees might be chaotic trying to fight for an adequate and conducive working environment. As a result, the management or leadership of the respective organization will be forced to be innovative and develop a plan for how the employees will have a good working environment. A good working environment will motivate employees, and this will make them more productive. Therefore, they will be able to boost the respective organization’s image, thus enabling it to attain a competitive advantage over its competitors within a particular period of time.
In addition, chaos can also erupt because of poor remuneration. In this regard, the management will be forced to change their payment structure to ensure that they offer a completive package that will motivate and attract competent employees to work for that respective organization. Employee motivation is considered one of the key aspects that drives the entire organization. Therefore, it is the role of organizational leadership to ensure that employees are always motivated, thus reducing chaos in an organization and simultaneously enabling it to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in its daily operations.
On the other hand, leaders have a role to play in ensuring that changes are introduced in an organization in a friendly manner. That is, studies indicate that most employees are afraid of the unknown. Therefore, if employees are not well informed about the merits of introducing a particular change into an organization, they might be resistant to change thus disrupting the daily operations of an organization. Leaders, therefore, should prepare employees psychologically on how to handle any respective change to boost the operations of that particular organization. For instance, leaders are expected to carry out the following aspects for the effective introduction of change. In this case, readiness for change is considered the most important aspect that will enable an organization to work together towards the same goals and objectives (Burns, 2012). To enhance preparedness, a leader will have to ensure that he or she opens the channels of communication between the management and the employees, thus being able to receive and respond to employees’ grievances within a reasonable period of time.
It is, therefore, the responsibility of leaders to build a culture that will embrace change. That is, they will have to educate the employees on the merits as well as demerits of introducing new aspects into their area of operation. Employees, therefore, will be flexible and adaptable to changes. In addition, they will also be creative, and at the same time, they will be innovative in the solution in relation to business challenges. Furthermore, with adequate information, employees will be able to take calculated risks to enhance the success of an organization.
Encouraging failure and, at the same time, rewarding sustained efforts is also another major strategy employed by leaders to ensure that their followers are on the right track in adopting new changes in an organization. The leaders are expected to create a room that will boost collaboration and the sharing of information and ideas among the employees, thus facilitating the introduction of new change in an organization without much difficulty (Burns, 2012). Leaders are also expected to train their employees on how to be patient and withstand pressure, thus being able to overcome the challenges that might come from introducing new strategies or new policies into an organization.
Alexander the Great is one of the greatest leaders in the world. In his leadership, he is seen to be smart and employs a military mind to lead his followers. During his reign, he knew that he had a lot of enemies; thus, he ensured that he prepared his troops well to be in a position to encounter any uncertainty from his enemies. In this case, uncertainty affected his decisions in a positive way because he trained his followers well and ensured that they were ready to face any challenge at any time. As a result, he was featured as the greatest king of his time. Also, he is considered to be one of the most chaotic leaders that the world has ever had. He used military strategies to lead his followers, thus instilling a sense of fear among his followers and enemies. In this case, the chaos is considered to have helped him in leading his people towards conquering many nations during his time. He used a dictatorship type of leadership, thus ensuring that his followers followed his directions, thus making it easier to lead towards the set goals and objectives. In addition, his leadership style helped him introduce change to his people in a soft way. That is, through the military leadership strategies, he had no objection from his employees, who considered him a great king, thus enhancing unity amongst his people.
Complex adaptive system models are one of the mechanisms employed by Alexander the Great in introducing change during his reign (Spreitzer and Pertulla, 2004). That is, he ensured that his followers stuck to certain rules that would guide them in interacting with a different environment, thus enabling them to accept changes and be in a position to handle any challenge that came with introducing new changes. Also, computational models are considered vital in implementing change in an organization where a section of a system evolves over time. Therefore, it encourages leaders to introduce changes gradually to their employees thus reducing the rate of friction between the management and the employees.
Therefore, leadership and change are considered to be key elements in ensuring that an organization attains its set goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. An organization will attain a positive corporate image through proper leadership due to a motivated workforce. Therefore, it is advisable that an organization employs good leadership styles in leading its employees toward the set goals and objectives. Just like Alexander the Great, leaders are expected to educate their followers about uncertainty, volatility, and its impacts on their daily operations. As a result, employees will feel like they are part and parcel of that particular organization and will work hard to ensure they have attained the respective set standards.
In addition, to enhance the effectiveness of change introduction in an organization, a leader is expected to encourage innovation amongst the employees, thus helping it attain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Therefore, there are various sections that a leader needs to ensure that the rate of innovation has been enhanced to the maximum. First is an innovation of the organizational structure. In this case, the organization’s management must ensure that it has a modern structure that will allow all in an organization to participate in the decision-making process. Also, the structure is expected to have open lines of communication, thus enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of operations within an organization.
The innovation of the culture is another aspect that leaders give a lot of consideration to while introducing change. That is, most individuals are used to their way of doing things, and they wish to retain that consistency forever. However, the introduction of new strategies for doing things can have a positive impact on the operations of the organization (Spreitzer and Pertulla, 2004). In this case, employees are encouraged to accept new changes that will help them deliver quality work within the specified period of time. The people’s innovation was another aspect that was employed by Alexander the Great in his leadership. That is, although he used military strategies in governing his people, he also allowed them to apply their skills and expertise to invent new things. For instance, he encouraged his followers to develop advanced weapons that he used to conquer most of his enemies and expand his territories. Therefore, although his strategy was risky, he managed to boost the rate of innovation in his nation thus enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of his operation.
References
Burns, J. (2012). Leadership. New York, NY: Open Road Integrated Media.
Dawson, P. and Andriopoulos, C. (2015). Managing change, creativity & innovation. Los Angeles …: Sage.
Jorna, R. (2006). Sustainable innovation. Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Spreitzer, G. and Pertulla, K. (2004). Leadership. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Wals, A. and Corcoran, P. (2012). Learning for sustainability in times of accelerating change. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
