Organizational Management

Organizational change and stress management

The school you are currently attending is currently undergoing some sort of change to adopt more closely with its environment. Discuss the external forces that are driving the change. What internal drivers for change also exist?

I will relate this in real life changes called ‘New Normal’ regarding the set up al school. Before this pandemic and lockdown, we were comfortable in doing face to face classes until the virus started. So, the national solution for this is to stop face to face classes until there is an effective vaccine. External forces that drive change are forces that cannot be controlled by the organization  and the virus and pandemic is the best example this time. Nobody can control the spread of virus except God so I think I can categorize it as Health and Disaster force? A global pandemic is not something we expected but it still happened, and it caused the changes we are experiencing right now. I can also include the Governmental force in this situation because the government implemented the nationwide lockdown and quarantine as the solution for increasing the number of positive COVID patients.  In terms of internal force that drove this change, maybe the structural and social forces can be considered because the fact that face to face classes requires a lot of money to be able to successfully implement and be ready for actual execution is not possible if budget and workforce.

2. Any form of resistance is a symptom, not a problem, in the change process. What are some of the real problems that may underlie resistance?

It is true that not everyone likes to change so it is natural that others would refrain or oppose the implementation of change. Like the model of Lewin, change needs to start by unfreezing or by realizing that change needs to happen for the better and in the process of unfreezing, there will be some who will not be able to look into the positive side of making changes based on their calculations and personal sentiment. We can never really just boss around and scare the employees to agree with everything, thus, resistance is not a problem easily overcome by an organization with diverse people. Resistance to change have sources and it is particularly related to personal beliefs and values that is developed through the course of life and not easily modified. Change is inevitable and the process of change is a natural happening in an organization that develops and grows. As there are resistance in change process, the problem underlies on the different reactions during its process. Some would agree and others might not which can lead to divided system and can ruin the teamwork and cooperation for a more successful implementation. The resistance can spread uncertainty to others and can cause fear of the outcome not going with the expectations.

3. Change is often not a welcomed reality and we often say that individuals, like organizations, do not like change. For example, who wants to change from a recently that individuals (perhaps like organizations) are embracing change. Please give several concrete examples of this phenomenon and suggest reasons as to why his might be the case.

Resistance is a natural reaction to the process of change. I will once again relate this to the situation we are experiencing during this pandemic. Other businesses closed up because of sudden drop of profit and it is impractical to continue the business without enough fund from the customers. I think the change that happened to some is to minimize the workforce to balance out the limited revenue from the expenses and others would get laid off for the solution. Naturally, the employees or workforce would oppose to this change because who would want to lose their job especially in this time where inflation is high. The resistance is based on who would be chosen to lose their job and they will naturally not be happy with the decision and those who would stay would also be affected by it because of their relationship with their co-workers. The source of resistance started from the very plan to downsize the workforce and it may mean unfair treatment and manipulation. This is the reality for many employees during the pandemic and it is one of the changes that is not really positive and will not benefit everyone in an organization.

V. ASSESSMENT

Answer the following

Describe forces that act as stimulants to change.

In my opinion, change is inevitable. Change is constantly happening in all aspects of life and with all the things happening right now, the long days of quarantine, we are experiencing the new normal. The forces that act as stimulants to change includes technology social changes politics and social factors. These forces contribute the changes. Even our desires and the expectations we have stimulates our choice to make a change. I think technology is a powerful stimulant that drives change because there's many technological inventions and innovations that are in the possession of almost everyone. Social media are powerful force that drives people specially the younger ones to change themselves and conform to society. Social changes are driven by social factors. The people we meet, the culture, and experiences can lead to changes. Politics are also relevant these days because youths are starting to engage in political issues that matter. Political views can affect our behavior and decisions in life which may lead to shift in point of views. Lastly, the environment that we live in contribute to transformation and transition of some aspects of our life.

Describe the sources of resistance to change.

Individual sources of resistance towards a change exist in the basic human tenets or characteristics and are influenced by the differences in perception, personal background, needs or personality-related differences. It is important to understand those triggering factors or issues which refrain individuals from endorsing change or extending their support and cooperation towards any change initiatives at an organizational level.

We are all capable to resisting change based on our human nature and characteristic. This resistance is coming from our diverse perception, personal background, and personality. The thing that refrains us from cooperating or agreeing to the society is mostly personal reasons. We are all different individuals that have our own ways or habits that define our lifestyle. our habits influence the change and decisions that we want to do God gave us free choice to be able to do that and we can choose to agree and disagree based on the principles and values we have. Another reason for resistance to change is our fear of accepting the change that might happen, some prefer to have things the way it is normally done. Also, another source is our fear that in the process of change the result might not be the expected outcome. We might regret our decisions so might as well resist the change and Lastly, the fear of uncertainty is a powerful reason to not go out of the comfort zone and make a change. This fear of unknown future can lead us to fear the change and stay stagnant in a way.

    Summarize Lewin's three-step change model.

Kurt Lewin's change model consist of three steps. These steps is all about understanding the process of change and it starts with the first step unfreezing. Unfreezing just like in frozen the movie is thawing or defrosting something frozen. This step means creating an awareness or acceptance that an organization may be hindering opportunities because of its structure or how things work in an organization. Basically, unfreezing is resisting to naturally accept whatever the organization is throwing at you. As an individual we have the ability to determine what benefits us and what does not so unfreezing is processing and examining whether an organization creates a healthy ambiance that helps us grow or if it corrupts us in some way. Change must happen once we realize the need for change for our own good.

Once we have an idea the change needs to happen and we already unfreeze ourselves then we can start to move and that is called Changing. Based on Kurt Lewin, change is a process of transitioning from one state to another and he called it movie which indicates implementation of change. during the step, we start to learn new ways of thinking and behaving that is critical to implement and be familiar with the change. this step is crucial because we are applying the changes in our life which will soon bring different outcomes which may not be what we expected.

The final stage in this change model is the refreezing step which symbolizes reinforcing, stabilizing, solidifying the new state after change. Basically this is the step when changes are made to the organization and people are accepting new norms and goals offered alongside the change that happened. This last step is important to make sure that we do not go back to our old ways This is an effort made to guarantee the change is not lost rather it is being solidly implemented and it will stay that way for the long run. The new state will bring new behavior, structure, process, and rewards that will benefit the people who applies the change.

Explain the relationship between Lewin's change model and Kotter’s plan for implementing change.

As I have summarized in the previous question, Lewin’s model is simple and has only 3 steps, on the other hand, Kotter’s model is more in depth, which works to its advantage in that it provides clear steps that can give guidance for the change process. It has 8 steps change model that we can conclude just by that that it has more detailed steps. However, it’s rigidity of method means that steps cannot be skipped, and furthermore the process can take quite some time to accomplish. Unlike Lewin, the steps only take 3 phases which are general and easily understood compared to Kotter’s.

The relationship between the two lies on its process of change. I learned that in Lewin’s model helps to visualise the strength of opposing forces that can influence your idea for change. Change is implemented by those who clearly wants something different and more advantageous. Both models teach the individuals on how to resist stagnant growth for a change that will bring better outcomes in the organization and these models guide us on the steps on how we can overcome that and go for the gold.

Describe potential sources of, and ways of managing, work stress.

Based on what I have searched on the Internet, I found out that the leading cause of stress is money. Financial problems really hit different because it makes everyone overthink and have anxiety with the uncertain future and possible problems that may arise, and money makes the world go round. Without money, it is hard to do something at ease because almost every movement requires money. Stress can also be caused by work, school, and family responsibilities which most of us experience. We cannot help but to overthink whatever is on our plate and whether we are doing well or not. Health problems can also be the reason. During this pandemic, this concern with health is prevalent and everyone feels the anxiety to feel well especially that being hospitalized is once again requires money.

The ways to manage stress is easier said than done. It is hard to be unproblematic about it because the reality slaps us that we can’t protect ourselves from stress because it is natural to feel stressed from time to time. In my own way of shielding myself from stress, what I do is either run away from it or face it head on and get it over with. Some triggers our stress for me is self-implicated. For example, overthinking small things bring stress to me when I could’ve avoided overthinking which is hard for me. I tend to eat up the stress and let it bother me until I realized I can control it by not focusing on the problem and focus on ‘unproblematic’ things that make me happy instead. In short, thinking happy thoughts can help relieve stress. If I hope during hard times, pray and be faithful to God, it is possible to work out stress and turn it as a testimony of my faith.

Explain the values underlying most organizational development (OD) efforts.

An organization needs to be stepping up to keep up with the changes and innovations happening which means that an organization’s development efforts are necessary for a successful one. Development is defined as continuous process and it accommodates many changes that occur in science and technology, economic, market, political environment, education, knowledge, values, attitude and behaviour of people, culture. I mentioned changes in the previous question and that explains why an organization needs to implement the changes which will benefit them instead of resisting. The organizational development efforts would support the organization’s journey to improving and developing their relationship, structure, and the members. An effective organizational development (OD) effort would mean that an organisation can respond to changes so that it can face the challenges ahead. A good organization with effective OD efforts can most likely overcome changes in all aspects and can improve the well-being of its members.