Organizational Behavior and People Management

Behaviors in Teams Signaling Change

Managers are likely to encounter resistance behaviors from their subordinates as a result of the introduction of changes into the organization. In particular, workers may intentionally reduce their productivity, or appear demoralized and demotivated because of the introduction of change in the organization. The resistance mainly occurs because workers fear that unfavorable outcomes may inconvenience them, and their well-established habits (DuBrin 2008, p. 283). The world’s largest beverage manufacturer, Coca Cola, was once faced with workers’ resistance following changes introduced by a new CEO who was taking over the reins at the company following periods of sluggish performances.

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In a move that experienced strong and extended resistance, the company was forced to reassign its top managers, or in some instances lay others off after they refused to adopt the new changes (Daft, Kendrick & Vershinina 2008, p 418).

However, not all change behaviors by subordinates in organizations are necessarily negative. Workers may also embrace change in a positive way mainly because of the characteristics in the immediate surrounding environments. According to Donaldson & Ko (2010, p. 181), the quality of leadership employed during the change execution could positively impact on the workers, and consequently enhance their positive behaviors towards the change. If the manager heading the change is confident, hopeful, future-oriented, moral, optimistic, and gives priority to the workers as well, then the subordinates will positively embrace the change.

Positive Organizational Change Development, ODC, could also result in positive change behaviors among the subordinates. The ODC particularly focuses on positive aspects together with processes that can effectively eliminate stressful organizational change. For instance, a change involving downsizing of the workforce could potentially result in negative behaviors but it could also be positive when members are full of optimism. The optimism can only be achieved through positive ODC.

Necessary Managerial Skills needed to oversee Organizational Change

Managerial skills for effective change management can be categorized into three main groups of cognitive, functional, and social skills. The cognitive skills include self reliance, high creativity, and ability to solve problems. Additionally, strong analytical skills, as well as critical approach and future oriented capabilities are necessary for managing change. In other words, managers must be able to strongly believe in their ideals, and be able to solve problems amongst subordinates for purposes of achieving harmony.

Functional skills important for change management include career planning abilities, communication capabilities, strong decision making capabilities, together with technological knowledge and understanding. Since managers head groups of people, they need to be able to communicate with them effectively, and with clarity to make the understanding of directives and orders clear. The subordinates also expect to advance in their careers and, therefore, the manager must be able to balance this desire of his team with the desire to attain goals and objectives. Social skills include interpersonal capabilities, such as the ability to openly and freely discuss with subordinates without using threats, cross cultural abilities, as well as stress management capabilities, and ethical skills. Teams are made up of people from various backgrounds and managers must be able to manage the teams without any favor or bias. Workers also encounter stress related or unrelated to their job and it is upon the manager to efficiently handle this in order to get maximum participation from his subordinates (Pagon, Banutai & Bizjak, 2008, p. 4).

In addition to the above three skills, managers can handle change by suggesting to the team an approach to managing change. A great approach, which works well when it involves a project, is to first initiate certain concepts that entail change. Secondly, the manager should go ahead and plan adequately for the expected change so that all processes will run near normal once change occurs. It is advisable that a baseline is set so that it becomes possible to make evaluation of the impact the change has brought to the team or to certain processes. At this stage, the manager can go ahead and execute the change. This way, minimal resistance is likely to arise from the team members.

List of References

Daft, RL, Kendrick, M & Vershinina, N 2008, Management-International Edition, Cengage Learning, Hampshire

Donaldson, SI & Ko, I 2010, ‘Positive organizational psychology, behavior, and scholarship: A review of the emerging literature and evidence base’, The Journal of Positive Psychology, pp. 180-190

DuBrin, AJ 2008, Essentials of management, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH

Pagon, M, Banutai, E & Bizjak U 2008, Leadership competencies for successful change management, a preliminary study report, University of Maribor, Slovenia, pp 1- 25