Change Agent Strategies

Question: Case Study: Ecology Matters. Answer: Introduction Changing of the agent strategies goes through a lot of steps which will lead to the success of the organization. John Katui has been a part of the organization named Ecology Matters which helps to enhance the natural environment of New Zealand. The organization is responsible for the hygiene of the forests as well as the rivers and lakes (Booth, 2015). However, the organization has been facing some disadvantages which are related to its financial status as well as its customer satisfaction. Therefore, John needs to undergo some changes being an agent so that the organization can again flourish. In order to undergo the changes, John needs to evade the change whiplash. This means that when John will initiate the changes, it will take time for the other members who are associated with this organization to get adapted to these changes. While initiating the changes, being a Change Agent John needs to seek a friendly environment (Brosseau, 2013). In the Lewins Model there are forces that are driving changes as well as restraining current and potential changes. It has been identified that where equilibrium exists between the two sets of forces there will be no change. The driving force needs to surpass the restraining force so that the change can take place (McAleese et al., 2013). The forces driving and restraining current and potential changes are as follows: Internal forces the internal forces involves the wide-ranging sense that the business can perform better. The internal forces that are driving the change are the wish to augment the profit as well as other performance measures. The internal force also includes the need to reorganize in order to increase the competence as well as the competitiveness (Riley, 2016). Figure 1: The Driving Forces and the Restraining Forces (Source: Cultureofyes.ca, 2016) External forces the external driving forces are the greater competition as well as the uncertain financial condition. It also includes the enlarged demandfor a superior quality client service. The change in the technology as well as globalization also acts the driving force (Cummings Worley, 2014). Figure 2: The Lewins Force Model (Source: Tutor2u.net, 2016) The restraining forces these includes the provincial self interest that is the individuals who are concerned with the insinuation for themselves. This force also leads to a misunderstanding of the need for the purpose of the change. The low acceptance of change is also associated with this force. In this case, if a new technology is introduced that will lead to uncertainty among the workers regarding their job. The situation where there will be a divergence over the need for change will also take place. The restraining forces are mostly harmful for the employees working in the organization. The restraining force also deals with the habit of the individuals which provides both console as well as security (Melnyk, 2012). Irrespective of the size and age of the business, it is requisite to undergo some changes as the world is also changing and so the organizations need to change. John also needs to undergo some changes in his organization as the organization is being depleted from fund as well as there are also some problems that are arising with the projects that use volunteers. In this case, the Lewins change model needs to be incorporated. The stages that are involved in this process are as follows: The stage of unfreezing at this stage of change, John needs to prepare the organization so that they can accept the changes. At this stage, John needs to smash down the existing status before building up the new methods. John needs to develop a compelling message for his staffs to explain to them why the previous methods cannot be carried out. The advantage of this model is that, with the help of this model John can point out to his colleagues that he needs to change the techniques because of the poor financial status as well as the poor customer satisfaction. He can make them understand that the things need to change in the way that everybody can understand (Cummings et al., 2016). However, one of the disadvantages that are associated with this course of action is that in the beginning of the process, John will find it demanding as well as hard. The reason is that when he will try to make the staffs understand the need for change of this process they may not agree with him (Werner, 2013). Figure 3: The Lewins Change Model (Source: Web-books.com, 2016) Change after the hesitation in the previous that is unfreezing stage, the change stage is that stage where John will begin to resolve all the hesitations. He will in turn look out for the new ways to execute things. In this stage, the volunteers as well as the office managers will support the new way. The evolution from the unfreezing stage to the change stage will not happen on the immediate basis. It will take a lot of time for the workers involved in the organization to embrace the new way and accept it. However, one of the disadvantages that are associated with this stage is that every individual will not accept the changes and it will take time for them to understand how it will benefit the organization (Hayes, 2014). Figure 4: The unfreezing to refreezing Stage (Source: Flat World Knowledge, 2016) Refreeze the organization will become ready to refreeze when the changes are taking shape and the workers have also accepted the changes. The advantages of this stage are that the sign of refreeze involves reliable job explanation as well as steady organization chart. This stage will help John and his organization to internalize as well as institutionalize the modifications. The disadvantage that John will face is that without this stage John and his workers may get caught in a transition trap (Burnes Cooke, 2013). The individuals who will support the changes will be the volunteers, the officers. If John is able to apply the Lewin Change Model appropriately, then the above mentioned individuals will be benefited. The office administrator who has little skills about maintaining the website will be able to benefit from this change because John will bring in new methods that will include the usage of social media that is Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. With the advancement of this method the office administrator will be able to do his job more appropriately. The volunteers will also be benefited because with the introduction of the new methods the volunteers will not complain any longer about the clients. John might make it a point that in order to get a good service from his organization the clients have to thank the volunteers. He can also introduce a technique in which if the clients leave without thanking the volunteers then they can leave a thank you message once they return. John also needs to do their work in innovative ways as they are getting complains of doing their work in a similar way. In order to get rid of the accusation, John has to incorporate some innovative methods that will draw the clients (Yin 2013). Figure 5: The Lewins Model (Source: Anon, 2016) The individuals who will oppose the change will be the engineer. The reason is that as per John the engineer does not have the necessary decision-making skills to lead the new organization. As a result, John decided to play the role of the engineer himself. These will a disadvantage for the engineer as he will lose the job with the new changes that will take place in the organization (Benn et al., 2014). The action research approach that will help to diagnose the need for change, introduce interventions, evaluate the results and stabilize changes is the Jicks Change Model. He developed a planned level model to direct the execution of key organizational change. The model generally helps to guide as well as commence the change or appraise the changes that are already taking place in an organization. The action research approach is established on the concept that organizations may be understood experimentally through the procedure of premeditated change (McNiff, 2013). This action research approach helps in implementing the changes in a rather practical outlook. The first step incorporates the reviewing of the exact organization and diagnoses the need for change. Once it diagnoses the need for change, the second step involves the creation of the shared revelation and a general direction. The third involves the significance of extrication the present proposals of changes from the proposals that have taken place in the past (Coghlan Brannick, 2014). The fourth step of the action research approach involves the creation of a sense of importance which is related to the shared revelation and the split from the past. The fifth step of the action research approach of the Jick Model involves providing of the support of the strong leadership. In this step, John requires a team around him so that he can get support from his staffs and thus he can carry out the change revelation (Stringer, 2013). In the sixth step, Jick focuses on line up political support where John gains buy-in form leading management and main influencers that could help move the change initiative forward. As soon as the vision is generated and the buy-in form leading management has been held, John needs to craft and generate an execution plan which is the seventh step in the Jick Model (Herr Anderson, 2014). The development of the facilitating structures is the eighth step in the model that will help John to remove any anticipated obstruction that may hamper the development of the change. Communicating and being honest with the people is the ninth stage, which is involved in the model. This stage will help John to involve in a distribution of an honest message amongst the workers (Al-Haddad Kotnour, 2015). The last and the tenth stage involve the evaluation of the results and stabilizing the changes. This step ensures that the changes will be maintained well. The tenth step Jicks Model ensures about the safety of the organization. Conclusion It has been concluded that John needs to smash down the existing status before building up the new methods. John needs to develop a convincing message for his employees to explain to them why the previous methods cannot be carried out. According to John the engineer does not have the necessary decision-making skills to lead the new organization. As a result, John decided to play the role of the engineer himself. John might make it a point that in order to get a good service from his organization the clients have to thank the volunteers. It has also been concluded that the Jicks Model involves providing of the support of the strong leadership and that John needs to undergo some changes being an agent so that the organization can once again thrive. 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