answer the question in 250+words with reference and citation & (comments below #1? about 3 lines)
Organizational change can be an anxiety producing process. What are ways that change can be managed to reduce the level of anxiety experienced by organization participants? How can crucial conversation and well written memos to staff make a difference?
comments
#1
Organizational change, this can be terrifying even if you are working for an organization that is doing strong in the economy, when there is change there is always anxiety because the employee’s do not know what is going to be happening. The questions are asked, will I still have a job, is my pay going to be cut, who is going to be my boss? Is my boss being replaced? These are all questions that go through one’s mind.
There are 5 various stages to organizational change, those are stagnation, preparation, implementation, determination, fruition. When an organization is going to make change, it is best to have someone that the employee’s trust to tell them about the change. Trust is huge and if the employee’s trust, the anxiety levels decrease significantly. The biggest anxiety trigger that people have when they talk about change is layoffs.
A manager who is trustworthy can alleviate this worry/anxiety trigger by explaining to everyone that there is not going to be layoffs, but there does need to be change if we are to stay in business or continue making a profit that will allow the organization to keep everyone working (Johnson, 2009).
A manager who can manage the anxiety levels of the employee’s, is a manager who can help push this change through quickly. The way that a manager can do this is through communication, working closely with the employee/employee’s, making sure they feel like their basic needs are still going to be met. That they are still a valuable asset to the organization. Utilizing some of these methods goes a long way in organizational change (changing news room, 2008).
#2
A paradoxical thought: resistance to change is engraved in human mentality by the nature, even though the nature never stops changing. It is important to understand, that changes in an organization are likely to be met with anxiety and resistance and it is expected and normal (Campbell, 2014). The reason for that, is that changes shatter familiar flow of things to build something new, yet unknown. This lack of knowledge about the future after things will change make people naturally alert.
However, this doesn’t mean that any change is doomed to fail. And it is in the power of management to engage employees in the change implementation and reduce the risk of this failure. It is important to have clear communications about the change and how this will affect the work environment. Clear plan and transparent communications are great facilitators in this process. It is also important to leverage from informal communication channels to disseminate knowledge even more efficiently (Kamoche, 2001). Well-written and clear memos and conversations with subordinates can significantly reduce anxiety within organization.
To summarize, the most effective strategy to ensure collaboration across organization is to have effective communication plan. Both formal and informal networks can and should be used to disseminate the information about the change and to achieve better synergy.
