Organizational change is inevitable and change leadership is one of the most difficult responsibility of a business leader (Gleeson2018). This is evident with 70% of change transformations failing (Bucy et al.2016).
Management and Change
I disagree with the statement by Mullins and Christy (2010) that “there is little management can do about resistance to change”. In my experience, strong leadership is the anchor and the deciding factor on how the changes in an organization is weathered and this is supported by the findings by Pratap (2017) that leaders or management play a critical role during organizational changes. In fact, leadership and change management goes hand-in-hand and needs to be viewed as one cohesive skill (Quinn and Quinn 2016).
However, it cannot be denied that when individual employees are committed or involved in the change, it increases the success rate and sustainability of the change implemented (Bundy 2017). Individual employees must be willing to explore new information and adapt to new behaviors and approaches needed to assimilate to the change in the organization (Perkins 2018). Employees are found to be more accepting of change once the idea is communicated clearly and consistently and when they are given the opportunity to participate in the direction of the change (Heathfield 2018).
The change management model to use and why?
The success of organizational change and changing the behaviour of individual employees depends on the ability to communicate to the individual employee’s emotions and this can be done using Kotter’s 8-step change model (Webster and Webster 2018).
8-Step Process (Kotter 2018)
The advantages of Kotter’s model include it being an easy step by step model that gives leaders a clear idea and guidance on the process of change which can be easily implemented (Juneja 2018). Another advantage of Kotter’s 8-step model of change is that it is applicable in most cultures especially cultures of classical hierarchies (Viherlaiho 2014). However,the downside of the model includes its assumption that it’s a one-off event with everything falling into defined beginnings and successful endings (Warrilow 2018) and that it is time consuming to implement (Juneja 2018).
An organization that showcases both good and bad implementation of organizational change
GE has been synonymous with change since its founding in 1878 by Thomas Edison and its incorporation in 1892 to present day. GE was founded to market Edison’s incandescent lamp and it evolved to be one of the largest, most diversified corporation in the world (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2018).
During one of the most tumultuous times in the 21st century with the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the financial crisis in 2008, and Japan’s nuclear crisis in 2011, GE was led by Jeffrey Immelt (Malone 2011). In 2009, the stock fell to about $7 per share creating the urgency that forced Jeffrey Immelt and his team to review their situation and implement changes quickly with the hopes of improving the situation (Bradt 2016). In an interview,Jeffrey Immelt recognized that one of the biggest challenges in initial stages of leading organizational changes was convincing people especially those in the high levels that there is job security which led them contribute to the acceleration of growth (Prokesch 2009). As a transformational leader, Jeffrey Immelt changed the company by spinning off its financial services, real estate,and media divisions to shift the focus to its core industrial roots and innovation as a growth strategy which doubled the company’s profits (Pomerantz and Van Dusen 2017).
However, Jeffrey Immelt’s focus on only wins and continuous growth through acquisitions began to take a toll on the company – it was unrealistic and unsustainable (Bacharach 2018). In 2017, it was announced that GE was the worst performer of the Dow component stocks with the share plunging from above $31 per share in January 2017 to $17.45 on the 29th of December 2017. In August 2017, Jeffrey Immelt was replaced by John Flannery as the CEO of GE (Sherman 2018).
Conclusion
As leaders, change management is part and parcel of the position. In my experience of organizational changes, it is essential to allow the employees to voice their concerns, to participate in the planning, to be involved in the implementation, and this will allow the employees to buy into the change, reduce the fear of uncertainty, and lower the rate of resistance. As leaders, it is important to communicate clearly and consistently, to be honest,and to have a clear vision of the direction of the company to be able to implement lasting changes to the company.
(750 words)
References:
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Leading in a Changing World 
Hi Charmaine , a very interesting blog of GE example. Do you think Jeffrey Immelt do the right thing?
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Thanks, Nancy! 😀
I think Jeffrey Immelt managed to transform the company to one that is stronger in this present day with a focus on its core. If GE continued down a path of business diversification, it may not have survived to this day and age.
However, continuous, expansive, and expensive growth will take a toll on an organization and its employees with the re-organization that is required within every time change occurs. It is an aggressive strategy that is ideal for short-term transformation but too exhaustive for a long term sustainable transformation.
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Good read. Is there a company that has failed because they refused change?
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Thanks, Anuja!
GE was at the brink of failure for the use of the same strategy for a prolonged period of time, for the failure to change.
Another company that has failed because of the lack of change is Blockbuster Video – the home movie and video game rental services. In 2004, it had 84 300 employees worldwide with more than 9000 stores. However, it’s lack of transition towards a digital model and the recognition of the impact of a digital model (like Netflix) caused it to file for bankruptcy in 2010.
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Very interesting example! Have you experienced organisational changes in your workplace?
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Thanks, Jean 🙂
In my previous workplace, when I joined in 2011 – the company was spinning off it’s mobile devices branch of the company – a branch that made the company a household name. The direction of the leaner company was to focus on solutions. There was a lot re-branding involved, a lot of processes, and paperwork.
It required constant communication in the times of uncertainty, it required leaders to be responsible and to be available to answer questions by employees, it required the employees to be vocal about their fears to be able to move forward, it required clear boundaries of what we can or cannot do while innovating for new solutions, and ultimately it required a clear goal – an end in mind.
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Informative blog, could you explain a new change bought by the new CEO of GE that benefited its progress?
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Thanks, Vaseem!
While Jeffrey Immelt transformed the company to one that is leaner, where he seemed to have miscalculated was to keep the company at the same aggressive momentum for a prolonged period of time.
John Flannery was an excellent communicator. His goal was clear – that is to create “a simpler, stronger, and more focused company”. He planned to redefine the culture, to go back to basics, and to reduce the complexity of the company.
It is also important to note that on 1 October 2018, John Flannery was replaced by H. Lawrence Culp Jr. as the CEO of GE. John Flannery was the shortest serving leader of GE in its 126-year history.
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Bravo. Any particular local company that embraced change and failed big time ?
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Thanks, Jered!
A good example would be Rayani Air. It was innovative being the first Shariah compliant airline, they had potential to set themselves apart. They were first in the category but they were plagued with many issues like being not ready with the usage of handwritten boarding passes, pilot strikes because they were not paid and poor leadership with the CEO not appearing when summoned by the Department of Civil Aviation.
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