Organizational change is about reviewing and modifying management structures and business processes.

Small businesses must adapt to survive against bigger competitors and grow. However, success should not lead to complacency. To stay a step ahead of the competition, companies need to look for ways to do things more efficiently and cost effectively. There is no need to fear change. Instead, small businesses should embrace change as a way to lay the foundations for enduring success. Drivers A company's change drivers include the competitive environment, new technologies, consumer demand, economic conditions and government policy actions. Information technologies have changed how businesses operate and interact with one another. New business models, such as outsourcing and virtual collaboration, would not be possible without high-speed communications and the Internet. Government regulations also force businesses to adapt, as do changing consumer preferences. Recessions usually lead to layoffs, which may require restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions lead to changes in organizational culture. Significance Companies that refuse to embrace change may disappear. However, change is difficult because it involves modifying people's behavior. Resistance may come from employees who are generally skeptical of change initiatives, especially if they have lived through botched implementations in the past. Successful organizational change requires top management leadership and a clear explanation of how the contemplated changes can help employees do their jobs more efficiently. Implementation Organizational change typically consists of three stages: establishing the need, implementation and monitoring. To establish a need for change, senior management could articulate where the company wants to be in five to 10 years and what it needs to do to get there. For example, a saturated local market may force a company to consider international expansion. The second stage involves changing structures and processes, such as reducing the number of management layers, combining business units, reassigning management, reducing employee headcount and giving division managers more decision-making flexibility. The final stage involves monitoring the results from the organizational changes and making appropriate adjustments. Issues Change efforts fail for different reasons, including lack of focus and inadequate communication. Change initiatives that try to do too much tend to fail. It is better to succeed with small change projects, such as improving the response time in customer service centers, and then building on this success to implement complicated changes. Leadership should talk to employees in one-on-one and group settings to answer questions, exchange ideas and generally alleviate concerns.

Definition Company or organization going through a transformation . Organization change occurs when business strategies or major sections of an organization are altered. Also known as reorganization, restructuring and turnaround. Importance of org change

Any business in today's fast-moving environment that is looking for the pace of change to slow is likely to be sorely disappointed. In fact, businesses should embrace change. Change is important for any organization because, without change, businesses would likely lose their competitive edge and fail to meet the needs of what most hope to be a growing base of loyal customers.

Technology Without change, business leaders still would be dictating correspondence to secretaries, editing their words and sending them back to the drawing board, wasting time for all involved. Change that results from the adoption of new technology is common in most organizations and while it can be disruptive at first, ultimately the change tends to increase productivity and service Technology also has affected how we communicate. No longer do business people dial a rotary phone, get a busy signal, and try again and again and again until they get through. No longer do business people have to laboriously contact people, in person, to find out about other people who might be useful resources - they can search for experts online through search engines as well as through social media sites. Today's burgeoning communication technology represents changes that allow organizations to learn more, more quickly, than ever before. Customer Needs Customers who were satisfied with conventional ovens many years ago are sometimes impatient with the microwave today. As the world evolves, customer needs change and grow, creating new demand for new types of products and services -- and opening up new areas of opportunity for companies to meet those needs. The Economy The economy can impact organizations in both positive and negative ways and both can be stressful. A strong economy and increasing demand for products and services will mean that companies must consider expansion that might involve the addition of staff and new facilities. These changes offer opportunities for staff, but also represent new challenges. A weak economy can create even more problems as companies find themselves needing to make difficult decisions that can impact employees' salaries and benefits and even threaten their jobs. The ability to manage both ends of the spectrum are

critical for organizations that want to maintain a strong brand and strong relationships with customers as well as employees. Growth Opportunities Change is important in organizations to allow employees to learn new skills, explore new opportunities and exercise their creativity in ways that ultimately benefit the organization through new ideas and increased commitment. Preparing employees to deal with these changes involves an analysis of the tools and training required to help them learn new skills. Training can be provided through traditional classroom settings or, increasingly, through online learning opportunities. Importantly, organizations need to do a good job of evaluating employees' capabilities and then taking steps to fill the gaps between current skills and the skills required to respond to growth. Challenging the Status Quo Simply asking the question "Why?" can lead to new ideas and new innovations that can directly impact the bottom line. Organizations benefit from change that results in new ways of looking at customer needs, new ways of delivering customer service, new ways of strengthening customer interactions and new products that might attract new markets. New employees joining an organization are especially valuable because they can often point to areas of opportunity for improvement that those who have been long involved in the company might have overlooked. But even existing employees should be encouraged to question why things are done a certain way and look for new ways to get work done faster, better and with higher levels of quality and service. 1. Accommodation of Growth
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As a company grows and expands, it takes on more projects, clients, production and work. While the structure that was in place prior to this growth may have been sufficient to keep operations going, growth can force a company to make structural changes to accommodate the new workload. For example, more people may need to be hired, which would result in a need for more managers and supervisors to coordinate the new worker's efforts. Without changes like these, an organization could quickly become disorganized and overwhelmed.

Address Problems
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As an organization continues to operate and the environment it operates in continues to evolve, it may find out that one of the processes it's been relying on no longer works as effectively as it could. For example, a company that is repeatedly facing suits for sexual harassment may consider changing its training protocol to encompass sexual harassment protocol. Changes such as these can help address issues that continually complicate operations, and save money as time goes on.

Keep Up to Date
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Another motivation for change in an organization may be the need to keep up to date on market trends and technology. Technology is changing at an incredibly rapid pace, and a failure to keep up with it can have devastating effects. For example, a company that fails to update its assembly line may be beat out by a company that has newer technology, can produce more products at a quicker rate, and therefore offers a lower price.

Marketing
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While change may seem inconvenient in an organizational setting, the promotion of that change can not only benefit your company via the alterations made, but by the attention it brings to the organization. Stores that advertise with signs that they are "under new management" may bring in new customers. Companies that change their pay and benefits structure may be able to hire more people, or attract job candidates of a higher caliber.

New Income Streams

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A company takes a risk every time it introduces a new product or service to the market. However, these changes are also some of the only ways to develop new avenues for revenue generation. By making changes, expanding production or adding a new department to an office, you can diversify the sources of income for your company, helping the bottom line.

The initial premise is that there are four kinds of change in organisations:
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Process change. System change. Structural change. Organisational change.

In what follows I will say a little more about eachmuch more than I would expect to say to a potential client, but still being far from exhaustive. Processes Processes are the ordered set of activities which are used to generate the outputs of an organisations. Michael Hammer and James Champney define a business process as, a collection of activities that take one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer. (1995:35) Hammer and Champney contrast the process way of thinking with a simple task focus, where each individual activity is viewed in isolation. Their work is thus a step towards a more holistic view of organisational life. Processes can cut right across structural boundaries such as departments, divisions or even firms; if the process can be managed and designed to operate as a seamless whole enormous efficiencies could follow. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) was sold as a radical form of organisational transformation. By re-ordering the processes to a more natural customer-focused way the hope was that organisations would undergo a step change and move to new ways of working and being. The reality was usually different. This is not the place to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of BPR but the absence of any reference to people in the definition above is very significant. In fact, processes always involve interactions between people, usually on a one-to-one basis. A better perspective on process comes, in my view, by considering the interactions between the people who actually interact with one another to deliver the process. Winograd & Flores notion of commitments (1986) is worth exploring further in this context. Systems When most people in organisations speak of systems they are referring to sets of procedures. Increasingly these will be facilitated by networked computers; so much so that IT systems are now the first kind most managers will call to mind. But there are also HR systems: reward and recognition; recruitment and retention; appraisal and development; and so on. There are Health and Safety systems such as permit to work, payroll and finance

systems, and so on. Many of these are codified into standards such as ISO 9000. Books on change in organisations often spend chapter after chapter advising on how to change systems but although useful and essential, changing systems is unlikely to bring about fundamental change. System change in organisations is often not systemicthat is it rarely takes account of the wider implications for the organisation as a whole. For instance I recently worked with an organisation which re-arranged its shift system for production workers from a six-shift to five-shift system. Production is continuous throughout the day and year and the new system requires fewer workers but means that each shift only spends one week in five on days. The same organisation also introduced a new permit to work system (safety is crucial) which gave more responsibility to the production workers. Each change was made for good reasons but the effect of the two together is that maintenance workers are having to wait hours for their permits, they get frustrated and demotivated and the state of maintenance at the plant is poor. The temptation is to fix one or other of the systems so that they gel together better. The chances are that this temptation should be resisted unless we askwhy this situation was allowed to occur, real change is unlikely. Structures Structure is the outward form of organisation; an indication of the regularities which arise when groups of people get together in pursuit of a common purpose. Structures will inevitably emerge from the interactions between individualsthese people will usually work together; this one will usually adopt a leadership role; these will perform some functions, those will perform others; this group will have more status and power than that; and so on. Yet although structure will always emerge, in modern organisations it is usually imposed from outside. A conscious decision is made: perhaps to move from a hierarchy to a matrix; or from functional divisions to processfocused work teams.

Traditional expert consultants are often very skilled at suggesting appropriate structures for different kinds of organisation in particular environments. Vast sums were expended (and often still are) in creating new structures. How often these projects deliver value for money must be questionedindeed, it can be argued that one of their primary functions is to provide a mechanism to help managers deal with anxiety in organisational life (Hirschhorn & Barnett 1993). Organisation Organisation is the most fundamental aspect of a business, charity, public service or any other goal-directed collection of people. My current working definition of an organisation is a co-creating pattern of relationships. The outward manifestation of organisation is what is often known as culture. I will just briefly look at the three key terms in the definition in a little more detail:
Nature of org change

Nature of Organizational Change

1. The organization change takes place because of internal and external forces. The internal forces may create instant change, whereas the external forces may results in the gradual change. 2. The effect of change in any one part of the organization creates about the fundamental change in the entire organization.

3. The effect of change on various parts takes place in varying degree and rates.

4. The means the effect of change will not be similar in every part of an organization.

Forces of org change Today I will continue with the theme of organizational change that I started on in my last post by providing a brief overview of the key forces that drive companies to consider changes to their human resources, functional skills, technology, and organizational structure. The need to undertake some form of organizational change can arise from any of the same forces that define the environment in which companies must compete: competitive forces, economic forces, political forces, global forces,

demographic forces, social forces and ethical forces. Examples of how each of these forces can impact organizational design include the following:

Competitive forces generally require actions that will allow the company to keep up with and surpass the skills of competitors with respect to efficiency (e.g., cost of production), innovation and product quality and reliability. Economic and political forces continuously impact the market conditions and rules under which companies produce and sell their goods and services and will cause them to reconsider how and where they engage in production and sales activities. The rise of economic and political unions (e.g. European Union) and increasing use of free trade agreements has changed traditional notions of market entry strategies and provided foreign competitors with new advantages. Global forces are clearly important as companies expand into new foreign markets with different languages, cultures and business practices. Changes in the organizational structure will be required in order to allow companies continue to achieve the economies of scale and other advantages associated with global strategies while simultaneously acting like a local firm in foreign markets and satisfying the specific requirements of customers in each country. Demographic forces are important internal and external factors for companies. In the workplace companies must address the rising levels of diversity among personnel and must create and effectively administer managerial and reward systems that take into account the needs and expectations of employees drawn from a wide demographic spectrum. In the marketplace companies must be prepared to tailor their products and services to the unique demands of specific demographically defined customer groups. Social forces have a substantial impact on what employees expect and want out of their careers and the companies they select for employment. Employees have a keener interest in lifestyle balance that employers must consider accommodating and firms must also be prepared to offer employees more opportunities for professional development through training and job rotation. Ethical forces are continuously pushing companies to embrace socially responsible business practices and act in an honest and ethical manner. Laws and regulations pertaining to ethical behavior have proliferated in the United States and in many foreign countries and companies must establish and follow internal rules and procedures to ensure that laws are obeyed and ethical problems are brought to light, independently reviewed and positively resolved. Ethical forces are also at work when companies develop strategies to carry out their activities in ways that preserve the environment and respect the human rights of others (e.g., ensuring the foreign suppliers refrain from operating sweatshops and otherwise mistreating their workers.