COURSE ORIENTATION:Course objectives, Reading material, Scope of the subject

BENEFITS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT:Traditional management domain >>

Change Management MGMT625

LESSON #1

COURSE ORIENTATION

Norms Setting

Most of the time first or earlier sessions are meant to build norms which entail course expectations,

scope and objectives of the course and host of consideration for understanding and learning this

course appropriately.

Course Expectations

What is considered essential for the student of advanced courses on Management like this one is to

have good grasp over pre-requisite or fundamental courses of management such as "Principles of

Management", "Human Resources Management" and "Organization Behavior". Therefore unless

you are well versed with the basic management concepts better understanding and comprehension

of this course will be difficult.

As this is an advanced course on management so in case of difficulty or to seek clarification - you

have to be in an interactive mode (and to give us feed back very regularly).

Course objectives

1. To develop significant level of understanding of change-management literature: conceptual

framework, theories, typologies, strategies and techniques.

2. To understand change-management phenomenon especially how managers successfully

manage change in organization.

3. Over this entire course is designed to help students in building and developing their analytical

and applied management skills in context of business organizations.

Learning the Subject's Vocabulary

Every subject or discipline has its own vocabulary and terminology. For examples doctors,

engineers & Accountants express themselves in the language of their profession not only when they

are on job but also in social domain as well. Why? Because the professional training and approach

they learn and develop also influences their socio-psychological thinking and life style and

facilitates for resolving problems in ordinary day life. The subject we are concerned with is more

related with social behavior than that of medicine, engineering and accounting etc. Therefore

imperative for us is not only to learn and understand but one has to develop ability to express

ordinary day life phenomena in the subject's vocabulary.

Reading material

Books: Understanding Organization by Charles Handy, published in 1976

Gods of Management by Charles Handy in 1995

Organization Culture and Leadership by Edgar Schein

Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation, by Robert Paton & Mc

Calman

Articles: I particularly emphasize students to develop a practice to follow and rely on research

articles more than books. Nonetheless one thing is important to know that not all published and

available articles especially on internet have authenticity and credibility. I recommend only those

published in the leading and international research journal such as available on HEC data base, or

now the Google Scholar is an important source of getting access to the scholars of repute. Therefore

students must have the skills to differentiate good reading material from that of academically junk

substance. Here is one such criterion to identify and hunt for good article. First is to know the

author, his qualification, repute and belongingness (to any school, institution or university). Second

is through the quality of publication (where it gets published?). Normally journals have reputation

and ranking in terms of prestige and impact. For instance related to management (and change

Change Management MGMT625

management) such journals are ranked as of higher order quality like Academy of Management

Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies,

Journal of Organization Behavior and Human Relations to name few. Finally, articles are

considered of better worth for their citation in references or the article is written by using quality

and authentic references. Journal of Change management is also suggested in particular for students

to follow throughout the course.

A good starting point would be to consult Managing change through manager and organization

development (Chapter-1 of Harold Koontz's text book on management) Management: A Global

Perspective 10th edition.

Organization Change and Stress Management (Ch -17 of Stephen P. Robbins text book on

Organizational Behaviour)

Similarly Frederick Luthan's book on organization is also generally relevant where he talked about

managing diversity, learning, creating and designing organization culture

Other leading authors on the subject which a student must consult are Chris Argyris, Edgar Schein,

D. Schon, Peter Senge, Karl Weick, Peter Drucker, Hannan & Freeman, Quinn, James March,

Herbert Simon, Michael Beer, Nohria

The HEC's digital library provides access to these leading scholars and journals through data bases

like J-store; Springer link etc

Examination & Assessment Perspective (Knowledge, Analysis, Evaluation & Application)

Students are required to possess, develop and demonstrate the following set of skills from

examination point of view. First is to have knowledge and understanding of terms, definition of the

specific content and subject. Moreover, they should be able to analyze the problems and issues by

differentiating and distinguishing concepts, implications of theories and making valid

generalization and inferences. Third is evaluation. Different scholars use different concepts for

similar observed phenomenon and come forth with the same term or concept but with different

meanings and explanations. Therefore academics are concerned with coining terms and giving

meaning which often compete with each other. The job of a student is to comprehend, evaluate and

synthesize such differing and competing ideas, models and explanations. Final is the application of

generalizations and theories in particular context of organization and nations. For example

organizations differ with each other in terms of their context (size, number and industry etc.)

Therefore students ought to know the application of any theory model or concept which is relevant

and valid. The skills which are valued most and considered superior by Examiners at this stage and

in this subject are of analysis, application and evaluation as against mere possession of knowledge

which is just a function of memory. As far as application is concerned student must take caution or

special note of level of analysis while describing or applying any concept related to change

management. The level of analysis may be individual, group like department or production unit,

business or corporation, organization or nation etc. Similarly it may be public or corporate sector,

or small, medium or large organization.

Another important advice for students to improve their performance is to develop following

learning skills and styles which are: Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. Different people

exhibit their reliance on different types of skills. Some are good reader while others are good

speaker, listener and writer or in some good combination of these skills. Though all four types of

skills are considered equally important in personality development and performance of an

individual yet if we need to prioritize for students it is the writing skills which are of utmost value.

Students cannot translate their potential into actual without having good writing skills. Teachers

and Examiners know and evaluate their student on this attribute as examination is heavily oriented

towards this activity. Therefore students ought to focus themselves to cultivate this type of skills.

On the significance of these skills the recommended article to go through is `Managing Oneself'

Change Management MGMT625

written by Peter Drucker, published in the Harvard Business Review, March April 1999, and this

can be accessed through the HEC's digital library.

One Important Instruction

Please go through the original text or articles of author referred and recommended at the end of

these lecture handouts, and do not merely rely on video lectures and lecture handouts only. Reading

original article is mandatory and has no alternative, and as redundancy and repetitions stands

essential to enhance learning effectively

Scope of the subject

The subject is of integrated nature related with multiple disciplines and has got diverse and

kaleidoscopic application. For instance this is closely related with other subjects like Strategic

Management, Organization Development, Training or Management Development, Knowledge

Management and Organizational Learning. This is pervasive in nature and is widely applicative

from individual, organization or nation in perspective. From individual's perspective learning

means change in knowledge, skills and attitude. Similarly individual has to manage changes taking

place not only on the job but also socially. Learning appropriate behaviour and role and to strike

balance between workplace and family is the concern of all. The training programmes either formal

or informal are by design managing change whether the purpose is formation of general managerial

values or up gradation of technical skills seek direct application of this course. Similarly with the

onslaught of globalization, structural changes in world politics and rapid transformation on

International economics has made traditional, stable and bureaucratic organization highly

vulnerable. With such type of on-going qualitative changes the foremost objective of organization

becomes its survival and to avoid what is known as organizational extinction. At the same societies

like us are also in transition from agrarian to industrial, rural to urban, traditional to modern all the

more emphasizing the need to study this phenomenon.

Specifically from the organization perspective the purpose of this advanced course on management

is just like the same as that of basic course, principles of management. The perpetual concern of

management is to learn or to manage so as to enhance productivity of a manager or for organization

to achieve its goals effectively and efficiently. Therefore imperative for organization is to manage

changes going on at two levels: one at external environmental level and second is at internal

managerial level. For change at external level means organization to manage change relations vis-à-

vis change in government policies, change in technology, change in customers' preferences or taste,

change in society' expectations. Similarly extraneous change always impacts the internal dynamics

of organization. Consequently organizations have to renegotiate terms with individuals, resource

allocation pattern and budgeting preferences may change leading to restructuring and downsizing

and processes like decision making, controlling and communicating could be centralized. Similarly

the trend could be diametrically opposite given the change at extraneous level conducive for

growth; organization may develop new products, new markets owing to expansion in the market

and industry and as such organization decentralizes its operations. In either case anticipating change

and at appropriate timings moving in the right direction is imperative.

Why to study change Management?

Its answer given by some leading expert of the subject as under

"The next few decades will bring about an avalanche of change and that most people and

organisations will not be prepared for the vastly accelerated pace of change."

Alvin Toffler, Future Shock

(1970)

Here followings variables are highlighted:

- Rate or pace of Change

- Quality and quantity of change

- Individuals

- Organizations

Change Management MGMT625

Un-preparedness

"If we could understand the ways in which individuals were motivated we could influence them by

changing the components of that motivation process."

Charles Handy, Understanding organizations,

(1976)

Three things focussed here

- Individuals

- Changing the components

- Motivation Process

The underlying theme here is that individuals can be control and their behaviour can be predicted in

a scientific or methodological manner which is the focus of this subject. The focus of subject like

management and change management is how to control, predict and motivate human behaviour for

productivity enhancement.

According to Schein, "Learning that creates stability and culture is different from the learning that

enables organisations to innovate as they encounter changing conditions in both their external and

internal environment."

Edgar H Schein, Models and Tools for stability and Change in Human System, (Society for

Organisational Learning & MIT; 2002)

Here Schein referred to change phenomena defined in terms of learning which are:

- Learning in stable organisation

- Learning in changing or innovative Organization

- Interaction with internal and external environment

This means learning attributes in stable environment is distinct from learning characteristics in

dynamic environment. Change takes place by reconciliation among forces internal to the

organization and external to the organization.

Another popular paradigm to understand change at individual level, because according to one

approach every thing eventually rests at individuals' personality at work as he has to take action.

The three dimensions are:

- Knowledge

- Skills

- Attitude

By this change means change in knowledge, skills and behaviour. It reveals of methods for change

as well. For instance change in the state knowledge can right be there by reading an article or

listening a lecture. Skills means repetition of knowledge or practice of knowledge like certain

disciplines are skills oriented, and one cannot learn without practice, for example mathematics,

accounting or computers (IT). Some level of difficulty is involved in building skills. More crucial is

the third one that is to have positive attitude or behaviour towards work. For instance how to make

or transform an unwilling person to work or learn into a willing one to work or learn. Adding one

more level of difficulty to it, which is how to transform the behaviour of a group from non-willing

to a willing one? The subject change management deals with such issues within the context of

organization.

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