Organizations need to continually reinvent themselves in response to an ever changing and continuously more complex environment. This presentation offers insight on the dynamics of change through organizational transformation. There are two approaches to change management, namely, reactive and proactive. In addition to the structure, strategy and principles of the organizational change, the presentation also overviews the essential components of organizational transformation. Some of them are mission, strategic plan, organizational alignment, accountability etc.
Transformation is not something you do to an organization. It is a process that you go through yourself. Transform means to change form. Structure wins and that is the root of of the issue and the key to completing the journey successfully. Both you, and others, and the organization have to change together. This change will be punctuated evolution: long periods of linear change broken by moments of disruptive shifts that are death and rebirth experiences.
Process of successful organizational Transformation from old to new system:
Transformation, a complex, revolutionary, and continuous process, demands fundamental changes in the organizational structures and systems through which products are developed and services are delivered. In this process, laws often must be modified; norms and values, reassessed; and systems of service delivery and finance, changed. In addition, those involved in carrying out the changes as well as those who will benefit from it must be reeducated to acquire and apply new knowledge needed for the transformation.
Definition of Transformation
Although a dictionary definition of transformation – an act, process, or instance of transforming or being transformed – may appear straightforward, modern theorists have spent decades conceptualizing and describing the complex and unpredictable processes involved in transformation. Transformation is meant to identify, leverage, and even create new underlying principles for the way things are done. It also seeks to identify and leverage new sources of power.
Transformative change is fundamentally different than other change processes:
- It results in a major structural and fundamental impact on the entire organization;
- It is complex and chaotic in nature or will constitute a radical departure from the current state, and is so complex that desired outcomes and approaches to achieve them may be unclear;
- The scale of desired change is large and will result in a significantly different enterprise;
- It requires years to complete, with multiple phases and stages of major changes;
- The rules of the game change, including the norms, guideposts, values, and guides to behavior.
Key Elements in the Organization Transition Process:
Vision
A clear and compelling vision is a key ingredient for successful transformation. Developing a vision requires defining a "perfect world" and clear principles to guide the transformation effort. It should constitute a shared image for a desired future state – not a strategic plan, but the inspiration that will motivate people to create such a plan and willingly make the special effort to achieve it
Leadership
Transformation efforts require exceptional leadership abilities. Leaders must have both the capability to formulate a compelling vision and the skills to organize and manage the change processes. These skills may reside in more than one person. In addition to developing and communicating the vision, the leadership's responsibilities involve developing a coherent transformation plan, maintaining a focus on key transformation goals, and managing external changes to complement internal ones.
Alignment
A system's structures and processes must be aligned with the idealized vision in order for relevant persons, organizations, and systems to participate in the transformation process. Discouraged and disempowered employees never make enterprises winners in a globalizing economic environment. But with the right structure, training, systems, and supervisors to build on a well-communicated vision, increasing numbers of firms are finding that they can tap an enormous source of power to improve organizational performance.
Defense Transformation for the 21st Century
Within the United States military, transformation required changing the form or structure of the military forces, the nature of the military culture and doctrine supporting those forces. It also involved streamlining fighting functions to more effectively meet the complexities of the new threats challenging the Nation in the new millennium. It consists of:
- Developing a top-down approach by having transformation an integral element of the DoD corporate strategy (beginning with the President) in order to foster effective management (efficiencies, cutting waste, recapitalization, and modernization);
- Targeting and creating cultural change by use of bottom-up tools such as experimentation; prototyping of a new idea for a process, organization, or technology; and education as life changing experiences in the field where people are lauded for experimenting and using innovation;
- Creating a new underlying theory, such as harnessing the power of the information age, to instill network behavior;
- Aligning metrics and seeing that they are adopted via performance measures, outcome measures, and so forth; and
- Creating new capabilities.
In this process, transformation can occur through both exploratory jumps that "push out the boundaries and big jumps to change the fundamentals of what one is trying to do."
Reflection:
Organizations cannot just remain stagnant, it should from time to time be able to have at least a minimal amount of development and change. An organization should be ready for anything.
Source:
http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC596/fc596.html
http://www.organizationaltransformation.com
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