Management of Change
...agents seek involvement in and commitment to the change by utilising the efforts of specific actions identified through research and experience. The core function of most planned changes is the Lewinian three-stage process of unfreezing, changing and refreezing. (Sashkin, 1984). Planned change attempts to reduce the level of complexity within the context of the organisation in order to empower people throughout the change process. Guided changing stems from within the organisation and this approach seeks to focus upon and enhance the effects of the myriad changes that are incorporated within. This approach attempts to utilise the expertise and creativity of the organisational members as change continually emerges and evolve. Hence, directed change, planned change and guided change may be suitable for a particular organisation depending on the current context of the organisation. However if one of these approaches is used inappropriately, problems will arise allowing for organisational discontent and resistance to occur. Accordingly, three key factors will influence and impact upon effective change management within an organisation. These being organisational complexity, socio-technical ambiguity and the context / capacity of the organisation. Buono et.al (2005), refers to organisational complexity as the number of different components and extent of differentiation in the organisation, in which the change is to be implemented. Indicators of complexity stem from such factors as organisational size and geographical dispersion. In addition to this, the nature of the interdependencies and related technology and the array of stakeholders contribute to the overall complexity. The degree of organisational complexity increases the more organisational change incises across different facets of the organisation, ranging from different hierarchical levels to the different work units. Buono et.al (2005), refers to the socio-technical ambiguity to the deposition regarding information processing and decision-making required for the change, based on the extent to which the tasks involved are determined, established or exactly known. If there is no organisational repertoire of appropriate techniques and procedures to facilitate and combat change, members of an organisation must then draw on their own judgement, intuition and expertise. Resultantly, the solution to change within an organisation is typically the result of wisdom / knowledge and testing rather than following a set of standardised procedures. (Nurick, 1982) (Waddell et.al, 2004) Buono et.al (2005) expresses the context of an organisation with reference to the infrastructure and culture that facilitates the change process. Readily available communication technologies, flexible systems and processes provide a smoother transition for change to occur. Furthermore, the context of an organisation will provide an un...