Aiding the Management of Change Research Proposal

Aiding the Management of Change - Research Proposal Example A survey conducted in 2002 (Online Executives 2006) highlighted that the main driver for change was increased competition, however, most domestic businesses have adapted to this by adopting similar processes and acquiring the necessary technology. However, in 2006, the survey was repeated and found that the main driver for change was the desire to increase efficiency. This is indicative of an environment that is becoming difficult to control and predict and has made planning and strategy on a short term basis. The need for efficiency is not confined to one industry but rather applies to all businesses, and this has resulted in a number of change management initiatives that are designed to increase efficiency, reduce costs, restructure the organization, and become more competitive and to make the business more innovative. However, by increasing efficiency, reducing costs and restructuring the organization, most businesses are directly impacting on employees as these drivers will have a negative impact on jobs. These drivers often result in redundancies and the key to a successful change management initiative will lie in an organization’s ability to handle and communicate with its employees (Chin and Benne 1968). Failure to communicate and implement change management to employees will make the initiative susceptible to failure through reduced morale from the remaining employees (Chin and Benne 1968, Scott 20,05), which in turn will affect the manner in how customers are treated, which in turn will affect the organizations' competitiveness. This implies that change management is not about changing physical attributes, but rather it is about managing the process of it, which includes people management. This paper will briefly look at the factors responsible for both successful and disastrous change management initiatives, and it will also look at how culture and commitment, leadership and downsizing can be managed for change.