Control Function Analysis paper

Control Function Analysis paper

Control Function Analysis paper

Change management is all about managing change in the workplace be it in the company’s policies or organizational culture and thought process. In change management, there is a focus on new and emerging approaches and at the same time there is also a focus on existing techniques and theories that are applied in new and improved ways (Nolan, 2012). “Change management is the oversight of transitions in or throughout an organization, and may be either one element of a manager’s duties, or the specialization of a particular type of manager” (Change Management, 2015). One of the biggest Challenges that leadership face is to implement the change at employee level since employees tend to remain in their comfort zone and want things to continue in the same manner. Hence, it is important for leadership to both motivate and support employees so that they can continuously adapt to change while creating opportunity in their careers. This paper will discuss about how change management can help retain or promote employee loyalty by taking into account motivation, monitoring employee performance through control function of management, and communication of change process both at strategic and tactical level.

Motivating Individuals to Stay Engaged

Motivation among employees is vital if management wants to implement change at employees’ level. It is particularly important when the change is carried after a long time since the employees were used to old systems and will not happily welcome the new system. An example of such type of change is accounting software. When accounting software were introduced in the market the accountants preferred the old paper and ink method of keeping the records and used their own calculations to prepare financial reports. There used to be a behemoth of paper bundles in the accounting offices. But gradually with time accountants understood the benefits of digitalization of accounting system and the competitive edge it brings to the table. As a result, all the accounting activities are performed on computer ever since. In this change, the accountants started using the accounting software because of the motivation it brings through fast processing, less time taken, and competitive edge.

Companies usually bring change to improve an already existing system or solve any problem. But employees are not usually aware about it. Hence, the first step for the management is to communicate the reason behind the change. However, it is still not enough to convince employees to get used to the change. Management must clearly clarify all the benefits the new change will have for the employees. Management must also be aware about the views of employees regarding the change and consider any possibilities of small manipulations in the new system to tackle the problems employees have with the change.

Company can motivate employees to stay engaged by rewarding them for their good performance. Getting reward for the effort put by employees targets the basic human psychology where a person puts more and more effort if they are continuously getting reward for their efforts (Vanthournout et al., 2014). Hence, leadership can reward top performers for their performance during the change as it will motivate employees to carry out the change to the best of their abilities. Another advantage of reward system comes from the fact that it provides flexibility to the employees without sacrificing organizational objectives (Cummings & Worley, 2015). Hence, employees can stay motivated during the change even if they are not comfortable around it.

Company can also motivate employees by motivating them through knowledge. Company can survey employees and ask them about the areas they feel they are weak in and can impact their performance during the change. This will motivate employees to enhance their skills through proper training where they will work on their weaknesses and try to eliminate it. During the surveys, management can also ask for areas of concern for the employees during the change. If there are some particular areas that are bothering majority of employees then company can bring in some modifications to address these concerns so that employees can feel they are being heard and are also a part of change process which will motivate them to become the agents of change.

Monitoring Employee performance

Control functions during change management ensures that changes are raised, recorded, reviewed, authorized and implemented consistentlyprior to implementation. It is important to continuously monitor employee’s performance during the change as it provides important details about the strengths and weaknesses the employees are facing as a unit during the change. This will allow the company to address the weaknesses. Company should monitor and review employee performance for a long period of time to ensure there are very minimal issues that are faced by the employees as it will lay a perfect platform the company to finally implement the changes on the company level. If a company has several branches then company can learn through observations in one branch and implement the newly improved system in other branches as well. Constant monitoring of employees’ performances provides empirical proofs to the company on what problems are faced by the company during change and how they can be improved.

Communicating Change

Both strategic and tactical levels concern different entities of the company. Strategies are usually centralized and made the top management of the company where they take decisions that provide overall direction to the company. Strategy involves where the company is now, where it should go, and how to get it there. Once a strategy is decided, it is properly documented and emailed to all the important stakeholders that owns a significant share in the company. Strategy is also communicated to investors, creditors are directly associated with the company. The summary of the change is communicated to the shareholders through electronic media.

The tactics involve practical steps to implement strategic changes. Changes on tactical level are usually communicated to managers, supervisors, and senior employees. For example, the managers are being informed about the step by step tutorial on how to implement a particular change which usually involve training etc. Managers regulate and implement the tactics to ensure all the steps are followed properly. Managers are informed about tactical level changes through emails.

References

Change management. (2015). In J. Mcray (Ed.), Leadership glossary: Essential terms for the 21st century. Santa Barbara, California: Mission Bell Media. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/mbmlg/change_management/0

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2015). Organization development & change (10th ed.). Cengage.

Nolan, S. (2012) ‘Change management’, Strategic HR Review, 11(5). doi: 10.1108/shr.2012.37211eaa.001.

Vanthournout, Gert, Noyens, Dorien, Gijbels, David,Van den Bossche, Piet. (2014). The relationship between workplace climate, motivation and learning approaches for knowledge workers. Vocations and Learning, 7(2), 191.