The Theory and Practice of Change Management

Question: A synthesis of the change implementation theories, identifying the characteristics of effective organizational change.

Answer: The change implementation theories describe and justify the reason why an organization needs to go through a transformation (Hayes, 2014). This means that the management team assists the change process by making strategic goals and contemplating on the path to follow towards the achievement of the objectives. This follows the identification of both short-term and long-term goals, with the aim of having progressive development. There is also identification of the relationship that exists between the two and how their achievement will affect the processes taking place in the organization. During the change process, an organization adopts practical and realistic models that will transform the firm and embraces strategies that will lead towards the goals within the shortest time. Change implementation is the structure and approach adopted by an organization as it goes through the modification in the way of doing things at the firm (Kaminski, 2011). It means that every member of staff, including the employees and the management team, must be willing to embrace the change and work towards developing and improving operations at the firm.

The characteristics of effective organizational change include improvement in the conduct of business, increase profits and clientele base, a motivated team, and resistance to change (Hayes, 2014). The management adopts a change in the organization with the aim of managing the operations of the firm in a better way. Therefore, there is a new way of doing business as the management seeks to satisfy the needs of customers. In the long-term, an organization targets to have an increase in profits and clients from the improved operations in the business. Employees in an organization are not always open to change since they worry about their job security (Kaminski, 2011). Hence, they might show some levels of resistance and have negative comments about the change process.

Question: A summary of the situation of "Blue Cloud Gets Agile" and the barriers to change that the company could face.

Answer: The situation at Blue Cloud Gets Agile is that the firm is going through a process of change, where it wants to adopt a new technological development in the software production. Agile is the new concept the management wants to introduce, and it needs to commit every employee so that the transformation process can be easy and fast. Previously, any traditional development took one year, which involved testing and implementing before the whole application started. However, with Agile, the management is committed to having the change process take place within the shorted time possible. Some of the barriers to change the company could face include lack of enough resources to facilitate the transformation, a demotivated employee who resist change, and abandonment of the dream by the management (Hayes, 2014). Lack of finances at Blue Cloud means that the management will need to postpone the application of the new technological idea. In addition, if the employees do not support the change, then it might take longer than expected. On the other hand, if the management does not support the dream and remains committed all throughout, then it might be hard to reach the transformation process.

Question: Specific recommendations for how CEO Shel Skinner and other leaders at Blue Cloud should operate for the next 18 months.

Answer: Some of the recommendations for CEO Shel Skinner and other leaders at Blue Cloud include:

• The leaders should operate within the new and improved systems with the aim of helping the employees adjust and adopt the methodology (Kaminski, 2011).
• It is also important for the management team to remain firm and insist on the need to embrace the new system since it has a direct effect on service delivery. Being firm means that every employee will have no choice rather than accept the change and develop a positive attitude in the long-term (Hayes, 2014).
• All leaders should work by direct the employees by being an example. This is because they should perform their duties using the new methodology.
• The management team should also encourage the adoption of working as a team, meaning that the employees and leaders should collaborate with each other so that they can produce improved results at the end of each financial year.

References

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Kaminski, J. (2011). Theory applied to informatics-Lewin's change theory. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 6(1), 1-4.