Natural - organic may be a better term, as orgs change with the cultural and environmental ebb and flo of the universe
Planned - Problems and other external influences suggest that the current way of doing things needs to change.
So, which describes Sara Palin's announcement?
Reactions to Org Change
In a classical system one would just go with the flo so to speak, org members were told what to do, and they'd do it - the company man.
Today, reactions on all levels are important and critical to the success of the org, that is, if the org values the synergy of all its suborgs and subcultures.
The Impacts:
- Management - Senior management hasthe most impact on change depending on how they react.
- Ownership - who and how many take ownership of the change.
- Resistance - is futile. Remember the Borg? Sometimes when the ownership concept is applied to lower employees they can be in a position to thwart the change.
- Uncertainty - When there's little known about the change, there is more uncertainty. Corporate buyouts, DSC's executive level change.
Communication in the Change Process
A no-brainer, this is the most important step in creating meaning about change. It's believed that employees should be involved in the process by providing relevant information.
Withhold and Uphold is the belief that management withholds as much info as possible, and when directly asked, they lie and uphold the party line that nothing is changing.
Underscore and Explore - management is focused on the issues related to the change and allows the employees the creative freedom to explore various possibilities.
Employees are usually trying to deal with concerns about performance, organizational norms, and uncertainty.
To cope, employees may research and discuss what the change will be like, exploring alternatives to the change, persuading others to either support or not support the change and formally requesting the change not happen.
Leadership Models
Trait Leadership - follows the tenet that leaders are born, not made. Certain trait that make for a good leader, like intelligence, determination, confidence, integrity, and sociability are inherent. Orgs that advocate this approach often use personality tests to select people with the right characteristics.
Contingency Theory - The fit of the leadership style to the dynamic characterisitcs of the org.
Transactional Leadership - An exchange between levels.
Transformation Leadership through Communication - create a relationship between leader and followers where followers reach their own leadership potential transforming all involved.
Central to this is the idea of exemplification where leaders who want to install a sence of work ethic do so by doing it themselves.
Communication is vital to the transformative leader. In crisis saying the right hting and saying it quickly can be very important.
Successful leaders know their direction and understand impacts of context.
