Organizational changes (1)

Adjusting to the external surrounding

Organizational changes
The organizational changes are a necessity for every organization because of the need for adjusting to the dynamic external surrounding. The constant changes in the surrounding – new requests of the clients, facing the competition, facing a new donor, changed government policy, changed social-political environment, must be followed with certain reaction of the organization, change of the rules, systems and procedures, changes of the working performance, new products and services, another way of management etc.

According to Adizes, every change causes a problem that needs to be solved further on. One of the biggest dangers during the process of changes is to provide determination for implementing the changes, to overcome the possible resistance so that the change will result with improving the things, not with chaos. In order to avoid creating a chaotic situation, it’s necessary to make a good strategy for organizational changes.

In a situation where there’s a big difference between the real and the desired state, a well-planned strategy for changes is necessary in order to be sure that the change will lead to a real improvement of the organization.

While developing a change strategy of one organization, it’s important to be conscious about the difference between what should be changed (contents) and the way in which the change will be conducted (process).

In order to start the process of changes in an organization, a need for changes must exist. They are so called change drivers.

Change drivers
The need for organizational change is also called a change driver, something that drives the process for change and motivates the people from the organization to implement the change process. The change drivers can be internally or externally motivated.

External change drivers can include changed needs of the target groups, the clients or the customers, or a changed composition of these groups, more intensive competition that asks for an improved quality of the services, improved technologies that open the perspectives for decreasing the expenses, intenisifying the quantity/quality of services or changed laws, policies and rules (governments, donors etc.) that ask for a different approach.

The internal change drivers include: changed composition of the personnel with changed abilities, expectations, motivation and culture of the personnel that ask for a change of the organizational structure, the working methods and procedures, the working styles etc. The management change can also lead to different changes in the organization.

Concept page

Organizational changes are the changes done by the organization in order to adjust to the dynamic external surrounding. The reaction of the organization mostly includes changes of rules, systems and procedures, change of the way of management etc.

Change drivers are those that drive the process of change and motivate the people from the organization to implement the change process. The change drivers can be internal and external.

Liljana Alceva, trainer/associate at the MCIC