Change Management KI

A change is a significant element of the company’s development in terms of the contemporary business competition and market penetration. The company can hardly keep the leading positions or move to the next level of competition without paying attention to the required chain of changes within its structure. It is necessary to learn how to decide on the appropriate moment for the changes and prepare the company for the introduction of the innovations and implementation of new technologies. The change management is a mandatory part of the development of any company that is willing to achieve success and its goals. It is obvious that the change management is a required part of the performance in any organization as long as it reflects the entity’s ability to adapt to the changeable business environment. On the example of KI, it is possible to understand the most significant points of the company’s performance and the process of transformation that the company has to pass in order to move to the new levels of development. In fact, there is a need to consider all the aspects of the company’s activity in order to improve it to the level of competing with the other players in the market. The current case study helps evaluate the most crucial points in the company’s traditional performance caused by the need for implementing continuous changes. The market penetration and nature of the business environment, as well as other factors, contribute to the crucial task of the company of retaining both their employees and customers in order to grow and expand the boundaries of its business. The case study reveals some aspects of the company’s performance, which create the interest in the further investigation.

Characteristics of the Office Move, Restructure, and Home Working as a Change Situation

KI’s performance is possible to be associated with the following change management techniques: Grundy’s bumpy incremental change, Tushman’s frame of breaking change, and the TROPICS model. It is crucial to study each point in the perspective of the company’s performance. Every issue should have a separate consideration as long as it can have a significant influence on the company’s performance in different areas. In general, all these techniques are most likely to improve the company’s ability to adapt to the changes coming from the external environment leading to the chain of improvements. It is necessary to create a comprehensive system of steps leading to the overall improvement of the company’s sustainability and profitability.

First, it is necessary to consider Grundy’s bumpy incremental change, which can essentially boost the process of the change management and local transformation of the selected areas. The bumpy incremental change is a type of transformations that take place in the process of reorganization, which can boost the company’s performance in a rapid way (Grundy 1993). Its main characteristic feature is that it accelerates the pace of change. For example, in the case of KI, it may refer to the re-strategy and reorganization of the processes with the aim to keep the company’s performance at the same pace with the competitors. In the perspective of the frame-breaking changes, the company meets the criteria for modifying its strategy, improving communication tools, and switching to the appropriate mode of performance aimed at generating the additional competitive benefits (Senior & Swailes 2010). In addition, this concept helps reorganize the processes and involve the new ones in the areas that require changes. For example, in the case of KI’s performance, there is a need to integrate several processes in a single system; it will create a comprehensive system of services offered by the company. A home-based workplace can become a valuable option in introducing flexible hours of performance, which will increase the level of employees’ retention (Bais 2012). There are specific areas in the company’s performance, which lead to the enhancement of changes. The TROPICS model is also an essential part of the entity’s performance that facilitates the establishment of a holistic system of changes improving the development of the change management strategies, in general. It is a test, which includes both hard and soft sections. This model helps characterize the nature of changes, evaluate resources, and understand the difficulties to be faced on the way to the changes (Ree, French & Rayner 2010). This model is appropriate in terms of KI’s performance as it allows identifying the hard and soft changes and resources spent on their implementation, as well as objectives and controlling options.

How Leadership Skills Contribute to the Change Management

Leadership is one of the most important aspects of the change management. It defines the way employees will respond the change management initiatives. First, it is essential to remember that the notion does not have a single definition, which can suit all the aspects of the performance of any company (Allio 2012). Leadership should have its original meaning to the company, which requires applying the effective change management and leadership approaches. Moreover, every manager has the own vision of the definition of leadership and its meaning to the management principles. However, there is a common idea regarding leadership; it asserts that a leader is main performer who works for the achievement of the company’s goals and approach towards inspiring employees to engage in the company’s strategies and plans. In the perspective of the change management, there is a strong need to follow a leader, who can influence the decision of employees of whether to implement the changes introduced by the management (Wolf 2012). In this regard, a leader should possess a diversity of the leadership skills in order to help employees understand the need for implementing various changes. First of all, an effective leader should work on creating a collaborative environment that would inspire employees to adopt any innovation processes (Solansky 2010). In addition, a leader should work on motivating employees in an appropriate way, which can introduce the initiatives and personal desire of every employee to contribute to the mutual success into the working environment. The delegation, in its turn, can help avoid the trust issues and obtain an appropriate level of cooperation and corporate spirit. In fact, there are far more leadership skills; however, in the case of KI’s performance and its need for the changes, the skills mentioned above are the most important ones as long as they can boost the implementation of the new elements. For example, a leader should inspire employees to unite their teams and fulfil their duties in different modes of the entity’s performance, which require the changes. A leader should show that there are some benefits of every change introduced by the company. For example, a home-based workplace can help employees work in comfort and spend less time on driving to the office. In the case of KI, it is appropriate to apply the contingency theory, which can help in developing a specific style that can improve the company’s performance according to its specific needs (Tsumoto 2009). In addition, it will be essential to join the peculiarities of the company and the outstanding leadership skills that depend on the situation. The contingency theory is the most applicable and appropriate one in terms of KI’s performance.

Ethical Considerations

Ethics plays a significant role in the development of the change management initiatives. It is unacceptable to apply any changes or innovative elements that contradict the standards and rules of the employees’ performance (Reed 2014). In addition, ethics helps not to cross the line and introduce the changes in a violent way. One of the most obvious ethical issues in the performance of KI refers to the need to leave some employees in the office-based settings while the others will have to work at home. It means that the company will intentionally define those employees who deserve working at home and those who need a strict supervision in order to perform with the same intensity (Argandona 2014). However, this initiative may cause diverse arguments from the side of employees. Therefore, there is a strong need to explain the situation to them and create a system, which will fairly select employees according to their skills and performance. Straightforwardness, honesty, and clarity of selection should be a mandatory element that will help meet their requirements and respect their needs at the same time (Holmquist 2013). In the perspective of ethics, it is possible to apply the deontological theory. The theory claims that it is important to respect each other’s duties, obligations, and rules of performance (Linder 2014). For example, if there is a need to organize the communication in the company at the virtual level and transfer some employees to the home-based performance, it is important to explain the necessity of such changes. Moreover, the company should explain that there is a need to have the same set of duties for each employee in order to prove that the company does not change the core of its activity (Krasniqi 2014). Employees will eagerly agree that it is necessary to apply the changes if they understand all the issues and difficulties of the company’s development. It means that the management of the company should not have any secrets from the employees and conceal some facts.

The Impact of Flexible Working on the Behaviour and Culture of KI

The behaviour and corporate culture based on the employees’ activity are the other aspects of the change management implementation in any organization. The culture characterizes the main aspects of employees’ behaviour and their response to the new transformations provided by the company. It is necessary to look at the culture of KI through the lens of Schein’s Organizational Culture Model and Handy’s classification model. Schein identified three levels of the organizational culture including the artefacts and behaviours, values, and assumptions (Schein 1985). KI should work in these three directions as long as it is obvious that there is a high percentage of employee’s resistance to the changes. If the company proves that there is a strong need for changes, employees will eagerly engage in the implementation of the prescribed changes. Each level should have a separate consideration as long as it has its significance and importance to the overall level of the change management. Handy’s classification model, in its turn, suggests the power culture, the task culture, the role culture, and the support culture (Handy 1993). All these types of the organizational culture can help boost the company’s adaptive options. The task culture is one of the most appropriate options for KI as long as it can focus on the separate projects and areas. For example, the change in KI’s communication can be a separate project helping employees to switch to another level of interactions including the virtual communication.

Recommendations for the Change Agent

The change management is responsible for the implementation of changes in the company’s performance. Usually, it is a person working on the design of a plan including all the peculiarities of the company’s activity in the successful implementation of the changes. In order to make the changes effective and introduce innovative aspects in the company’s activities, it is important to follow the five rules leading to the facilitation of the changes (Lawrence 2015). First, the change agent should have a clear vision of the current situation and the situation that the company is willing to have after it makes appropriate changes. Another rule refers to the patience of the change agent. The changes implementation does not mean that the results will immediately follow the transformation (Vakola 2013). Therefore, a change agent should keep patience and persistence at the same time. Following a plan of the set steps and processes can help regulate the implementation of the change management strategies. The third rule for the change agent refers to asking the questions in the process of the company’s transformations. The agent should ask both employees and managers the questions regarding the changes within the company. Nobody should hide any dissatisfaction as long as it may allow adjusting a plan according to the needs of the company (Rekha & Devi n. d.). The fourth rule means that the change agent should have enough knowledge and experience in order to prove the others that the changes are necessary for moving to another step of development. Finally, the fifth rule is a result of the previous ones; the company should perform in terms of mutual trust and understanding. Such friendly environment will help maintain the balance between the company’s plans for changes and employees’ willingness to accept these changes. Kotter and Schlesinger mention that the resistance from the side of employees may be a result of their unwillingness to step away from the zone of comfort (Kotter & Schlesinger 2008). In addition, they may have a strong belief that the changes will have no positive influence on the company’s performance. These are the main aspects of the performance in terms of KI’s situation, which the company needs to consider in order to achieve its goals in the change management initiatives. If KI pays attention to all the aspects of employees’ retention and the need for change in the selected areas, it will move to a brand new level of performance, increase own competitive benefits, and extend the boundaries of its activities.

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