Change Management on Groups and Individuals

Change in an organization involves many stake holders starting from the employees to the clients. The process of change usually modifies the existing state of things to a new way of doing things. The changes in organizations are usually made when a certain practice or program in the organization needs to be improved. Change usually resets the organization’s way of doing things and makes it more efficient and productive. Organizational changes are supported by both people working on individual capacities and those working in groups. These are the parties that inspire and realize the need for change in the organization.

Individual Minded People

The individual minded people cannot be considered as the best team leaders. More people should be in governance in a group and organizational capacity. They make it easy to implement change in an organization when they agree to the need for change. The change is usually led by people who are workers. The organization is more likely to move in the positive direction of change when the individual minded people are understood and accommodated in the group. Individual minded people also may work well with virtual connection (MT Team, n.d.). They are more likely to adapt to virtual communication techniques to enhance communication than group minded people who tend to prefer personal communication. 

Group Think

Group think is a tendency of people in a group to agree on ideas that they would otherwise not agree with in an individual capacity. It is important that group think is applied with caution. Group influence can slow down the performance of the individuals in the group. Members belonging to a group are exposed to other group dynamics like social loafing (Cherry, 2016). This causes people to underperform because they know that another group member will perform more and at the end of the day, the minimum required amount of work will have been done. Dealing with a group can be taxing where the individual minded people subscribe to social loafing and the group minded people tend to work more when effecting change in an organization. It essentially slows down the rate of progress in change projects.

Group minded people are the ones who embrace thoughts that they concur with as a group while they would act differently to the same ideas when alone. These are the people who when in a group, perform poorly than when working alone because there is motivation in the group to reduce the level of competence (S, 2016). It can also be positive where people in a group take advantage of the group mindedness to advance progressive thoughts. This trait in an organization is crucial in effecting change. People in a group are easy to incorporate in the effecting of change in an organization because one only needs to convince the active group members and the rest of the group members will follow. For this group of people, it is easy to break an organization if they are not well understood. They require hands-on guidance while at the same time being given a chance to be creative in order for the organization to change.

The roles of individuals in accepting, supporting, and promoting a change initiative is diverse. Their roles are usually based on them changing their ways of doing things. They have to take part in the change process by first accepting that there is need to change (PROSCI, 2017). This is the role of the leaders of change to ensure that all the stakeholders in the change process realize the need for change. Support is found in people who have accepted that there is need for change. It is also these people that make a change process successful. Their acceptance translates to cooperation and ultimately success. Individuals make up the groups, therefore, they are the basic threads of groups in organizations.

Individuals are responsible for the implementation of change in an organization. Individuals in leadership positions are especially the most crucial people in effecting change in the organization. When the management team is well convinced about change, it is possible for the rest of the organization to also accept change. The management of a hospital for instance, may realize that there is a high readmission rate of patients. Following this realization, they then decide to retrain their personnel and enhance follow up services for their patients. Such a change in the organization can only be pushed forward when the individuals at the management level have foresight. Subordinate staffs in an organization are responsible for following up and being creative about the change strategies. They have a role of exploring their abilities in contributing to the change design for the organization. At this point in the hospital case, the nurses may create a rotation for the follow up services and present the same for approval by the management. This can be a poke the box scenario if the management had not realized that there was a problem in the hospital. The nurses will have pointed out with the hospital management on the areas of operation that need change. A change project can be accomplished when the team working on the implementation is selected diligently. A manager can ensure that a change project is successful by knowing their staff well. This will ensure that they know which people work well in a group and those that perform well when working on their own. Putting together a team that will enhance change in an organization works well when people are motivated to participate. This can be done by accepting the views of the team members when drawing out the plan for change and regularly awarding the best contributors to change.

Virtual Teams

Nowadays, organizations have virtual platforms with the advent of technology. Virtual teams are now created by the organizations when they connect their departments to one communication platform. This makes it easy for departments within the organization to work hand in hand when effecting change. For instance, in the hospital’s case, the nurses’ department can easily communicate their findings to the management and the laboratory departments at the same time. This makes the flow of information very quick. With quick information flow, change in an organization is likely to be very effective. It is monitored, evaluated regularly, and improved where necessary by keeping the flow of information constant (Chand, 2016).

The team that has been designated to effect change in an organization must be made real by constantly holding team building and evaluation sessions. The ADKAR model for change is good for a team to use in the implementation for change in an organization. The ADKAR model for change incorporates the poke the box theory in formation. The two are easily evaluated in both individual and group levels (Mulder, 2014). The first step in the ADKAR model is to realize the need for change while poke the box is about the individuals inspiring change in the organization. Leading change can be taken as an individual perspective of evaluating the process of change in an organization (Godlin, 2011). This is the role of the management but the subordinate staff can also be part of the leading change team. It is the people who are quick to accept change that lead change in organizations. When picking out a team to lead the change in an organization, the management must find out who in the organization will be more receptive to change and put them on the team. 

Evaluation of change projects

Change projects in an organization must be evaluated. This requires the people involved in designing the change to be keen on short term goals which ultimately leads to the major goal of the change project. Organizations usually change when there is more that can be done to perform better. The health care sector has for a long time been an organization which values both individual and group minded people. The research projects that have been undertaken in the health care sector have been done by both individuals and groups. This means that when effecting change in a hospital setting, the management has to factor in all these personalities. The individual minded people should be assigned tasks that require people working on their own. This will ensure that this team of individual minded people performs well on their own but still virtually belong to a group using technology to communicate. These types of people benefit the most from virtual cooperation. They can work from different departments but compare their notes on the joint hospital platform.

Creating an Effective Partnership

In a hospital setting the group thinkers are usually the surgeons and their nurses, the emergency staff and general medical practitioners. This means that they have the ability to coordinate with other people on a personal level. These are the people to whom change has to be structural and designed with their input. They are the people who implement change as a group. They ensure that the organizational goals are met as long as they are achievable. The ADKAR model for change also applies to this group of people (Godlin, 2011). The group thinkers may collectively identify the need for change. After the identification of the need for change, they present the idea to the management which is then expected to design a change program. Change in the organizations is usually implemented for the purposes of moving the organization towards positive progress. The groups and individuals involved in the change process are the parties responsible for the success of the process as a whole. Changes are inevitable especially with the progress in technology that is never ending in the world today.

References

Chand, S. (2016). Virtual Oragnization: Advantages, Disadvantages and Features. Retrieved from Your Article Library: www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/virtual-organisation-advanteges-disadvantages-and-features/35535

Cherry, K. (2016, May 10). What is Social Loafing? Retrieved from www.verywell.com/what-is-social-loafing-27

Godlin, S. (2011, July 12). Poke the Box. Retrieved from Marketing First: www.marketingfirst.co.nz/2011/07/poke-the-box-by-seth-godlin/

MT Team. (n.d.). Working in a Virtual Team. Retrieved from Mind Tools: www.mindtools.com/pagese/article/working-virtual-team.htm

Mulder, P. (2014, January 8). Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model. Retrieved from Change Management: www.toolshero.com/chnage-management/8-step-change-model-kotter/

PROSCI. (2017). Roles in Change Management. Retrieved from Prosci: www.prosci.com/change-management/thought-leadership-library/roles-in-chnage-management

S, D. (2016). Accounting Notes. Retrieved from Pyschology Discussion: www.psychologydiscussion.net/social-psychology-2/group-behaviour/study-notes-on-group-mind-psychology/1336