Organizational Change

1.  Why is diagnosis so vital in organizational change programs?

           Because we can recognize the problem of areas in an organization through diagnosis, and we can do any appropriate action necessary preceded by diagnosis of problems.  In addition, employees issues can be assessed through this.  At may comes about through interviews and human resource management department information.

2.  Explain the concept of organization intervention and why any particular management or organization change can be considered an intervention.

          It is a specific action that a change agent takes to focus the change process.  An organization can be an intervention because there's a changing process that happens in an organization in order to improve it.

3.  Might some managers attempt to implement a particular intervention, such as TQM, without first diagnosing whether the intervention would be appropriate for their organization's problems?

          I think, they should diagnose first the intervention so that they could prevent any problems of an organization.  The intervention was made to have a change in a particular organization, in able to improve them, not to destroy it by taking a risk of disregarding the process of diagnosing.

4.  Why is it important for managers to reduce the resistance to change exhibited or covertly practiced by employees?

          Resistance change is a human response, and management must take steps to minimize it.  Reducing resistance can cut down on the time needed for a change to be accepted or tolerated.  The performance of the employees can rebound more quickly if resistance is minimized. 

5.  Evaluate the ethical issues associated with downsizing the organization by reducing its labor force to increase the organization's long-run chance of survival.  What other ethical issues can you identify in the practice of organizational development as you understand it thus far?

          For me, downsizing the organization in a process of reducing its labor force can not help increase the organization's long-run chance of survival.  We all know that the manpower is the most needed in any business operations or organizations, without it, you can not run your organization 'cause they are the one who performs different tasks.  I think, we should empower the labor force in order to have the survival of a company or organization.

6.  Describe the relationships among the steps of the change model depicted in this chapter and the process of unfreezing-new learning-refreezing.  Which steps of the model are related to which elements of the relearning process?

         Management and all those involved must have high and visible commitment to the effort.  People who are involved need to have advance information that enables them to know what is to happen and why they are being asked to do what they are to do.  The effort must be connected to other necessary.  And management must remain committed to the effort throughout all its steps, from diagnosis through implementation and evaluation. Evaluation is essential and must consist or more than asking people how they felt about the effort.  And, people must see clearly the relationship between the effort and the organization's mission and goals.

7.  How is the appreciative inquiry approach to organizational change different from a problem-solving approach?

          An appreciative inquiry approach is an organizational change process that focuses on diagnosis and presentation of positive characteristics of change, the process and outcomes.  It is also a method of focusing on positive or potential opportunities.  A positive approach to change that completely lets go of problems-based management.  It's also an emphasis on individual engagement to bring about creative solutions.

8.  What would be the characteristics of an organization or situation for which the use of reason would be an effective approach  for managing change?  Are such organizations and situations relatively rare?

          Organizations should become more organic, virtual, flat, or modular.  Jobs and work can be enriched, combined, expanded, or converted to a virtual arrangement.  The approach focuses on changing or redesigning jobs, work-flow, or organizational structure.

9.  Explain the difficulties that you would encounter in attempting to obtain diagnostic information from members of two groups that believe they're competing for scarce resources.

          There is a confusion that exists as to roles and relationships.  Members often pay more attention to the tasks of the team than to the relationships among the team members.


10.  Explain why a change program should be evaluated and why such an evaluation is so difficult to conduct.

          We have to evaluate in order to gather data and then analyzing it in such a way that the resulting information can be used to determine whether your organization or program is effectively carrying out planned activities. An evaluation can also illustrate the extent to which your organization or program is achieving its stated objectives and anticipated results.  It will be difficult because program evaluation conducted on a regular basis, which requires understanding the differences between monitoring and evaluation. 

          Case for Analysis:  Bayer's Major Changes in One Plant

           There are several types of changes occurred at Bayer's, first one is, in the production facility in Myerstown, Pennsylvania,  the plant had changed ownership three times and the workforce seemed to have dissolved as lines.  That was a lot change to absorb in a facility that had been steadily producing over-the-counter and prescription pharmaceuticals for more than half a century.  Another, the employees were uncertain about what it would be like to work for Bayer, and the plant manager post had been vacant for a while.

          Bayer involved the employees needed at the heart of any turnaround.  Selecting some employees at random to participate in seven focus group meetings to get a clear indication of what was going on at the plant.  They addressed workers at an all-employee meeting about the first initiative- developing a site strategy and goals.

           Several changes can lead us to improve different grounds in an organization.  The reason why failure exists in their management is that, there is less collaborative and reactive management style, instead of proactive one. But knowing those things can help us realize on what alternative steps could be done in order to overcome those problems, and develop new strategies to attain specific goals of our organization.  I have learned that we should value each person's opinions, and treat people equally.  And building a harmonious relationship between every member in an organization is very important, because they could enjoy each others companionship when they perform their individual tasks.