Organization Changes: Handel of Resistance and Conflicts

Temur Khomeriki, Professor, TSU Management and Administration Department Head

Despite of European researches management incredible role in the recent years, conceptions of the American management kept dominating.

That was based on the authority of American prominent business –schools and huge American consulting companies running on European market. As Europeans, so Americans acknowledge handle of organization changes obligatory and professionals’ importance. The issue bears huge importance for Georgian governmental and business structures while radical changes ongoing process.
Environment importantly influence on trend of business-organizations development (global, economy, political, social-cultural, demography, technology, ecological and ect;) what certainly claims organize changes and development. Managers have to constantly care about concerning reacts on the influences and which one way (evolution or revolution) realize organization changes. Organization changes explanation includes dynamic process of transferring into desired future condition from current condition, aiming effectiveness growth.
Evolutionary changes going slow and progressively, not claiming organization strategy and structure sharp changes. Organization adaptation towards ongoing dynamic process feces purpose and determined to improving of socio –technical system. The changes ideology based on socio- technical systems and quality complex handle system theories.
When revolutionary changes face their importance, organizations provide re-engineering, restructurization and innovation. Re-engineering is based on fundamental review of organization points and business processes radical changes, for improvement of highlight levels including: expanses structure, quality, service and actions operativeness. Sharp transformative changes (for instance, innovation and re- engineering) is followed with organization points incredible change, for providing of multi- functionering teams creation and the organization preparation for changes is necessary.
Revolutionary and evolutionary elements naturally full each other while organization changes and development process provide. Organizations not realizing re- engineering in their terms are obliged to provide restructurization (decline of organization integration level, annul of hierarchical levels and unites, reduction of employees and ect) or to provide innovation (commercialization of innovations, new- techs based and creation –inculcation of production, also organization changes for consumers claims best way satisfaction.
In late of the recent century, organization development conception was founded on the background of organizations functionering environment changes (technological progress, globalization, society transformation, production vital circle reduction, environment high level dynamics, business integration and ect;) and acting points on organization forming (human role increase, teams and team trend researches, corporative culture development and ect). The conception was based on U. Benisy, E. Sheiny and R. Beckhard theories, explaining organization development as based issue on knowledge, ideas and education, including cultural and structural changes of organization. The issue is directed to each individual, team and entire organization work improvement while maintain of trainings, observation, inquires and consulting. Organization development departments’ creation and expert- consultants is faced necessary concerning issue. As last, every condition is created for each self- training and development while recent collaborators essay sharing, participating in their resolutions issues resolve and provide enforce coordination for common organization goals resolve.
Organization development conception makes reference on formal organizations and teams, individual and organization interests, social cooperating, capacity development via consultant, gradual changes making under organization adaptation towards environment frames, free communication and organize ethics.
Organization development includes normative strategy of changes and directed to the balanced changes. Organization changes include plan and system amendments complex in the sphere of corporative culture and organization behave directed to the organization effectiveness level increase, problems resolve and goals achievement. It changes employees attitude towards the works and maintains modification of their behave, stimulating structural challenges. That is long –term strategy process, oriented on problems and actions, facing systematic attitude towards organization, handling with consulting services and including staffers educating and retraining modern forms.
Organization development should be based on the following postulations:
. Human dealing and organization system interdependence.
. Individual and organization interests may become combining.
. Changes provide aiming organizations are more effective.
. Organization members may agree on principles, necessary for organization functionering improvement.
. There are no ideal technologies and social processes.
. Conflicts are natural in the organization –need to be ruled.
. Employees providing self- education and attempt the organization improvement for the goals achievement.
. Organization assists its staffers professional growth.
. Employees participation in democracy resolutions makes easy its realizing.
. Inter- confidence based collaboration provides background for organization goals effectiveness realization.
. Organization culture change claims amendments making in collaborators behave norms
. Organization managing style assists evolution way changes making.
Organization changes characterized with influence factors of development from one hand, and one- side created crisis factors from the other:
. Organization creative (entrepreneur) growth phase is followed with leader crisis.
. Purpose strategy generation, professional managers convoking by the organization heads- autonomy crisis.
. Organization controversy growth is followed by control crisis.
. Coordination growth by limits crisis.
. Collaborators growth by formal structure crisis.
For organization development controversy reduction, managers have to maintain collaborators attention mobilization on the following issues:
. Changes obligatory substation.
. Support gaining for exact purposes.
. Amendments making team forming.
. Non –formal communications foundation.
. Controversies positions facing.
Organization changes and stability needs determined balance existence, including amendments making factors (“encourages”) and stability keeping conditions (“keeping off forces”) equalize. Managers should right way estimate possibility of every and soften inter- system opposition concerning changes. They should take out organizations from immovable process bringing them into action (realize organization changes of eligible type) and repeatedly facing organizations in eligible condition or keeping achieved progress.
Organization changes come across individuals, teams and organization (system) controversy frequently, absolutely clearly hinder issue for changes making or any sort of support. Most of people opposite changes, actually because of egoistic interest having, low tolerant concerning changes, changes and strategy incorrect understanding and other sort of causes. They are under personal damage expectation, un- confidence concerning initiators and inadequate perception of changes, divulging people ` s fear concerning not ability their capacity responding to rose demands and ect; The named appear in people ` s political behave, clear opposite towards changes, attempting of own prestige keeping and different sort of gossips spreading. The condition gets harder in the case of organization essay full of meaningless reorganization resultless attempts.
On any step of organization development, changes supporter and controverter forces estimation and analyze bears very important. Balance of both provokes organization hesitation that may be absolutely creaked down by concerning attempts of managers: changes controverter forces slacking is necessary issue from one hand, and developer forcer strengthening from the other. Sort of controversy against changes importantly depended on organization structural and cultural forms. Managers’ reaction should face its frequency for creaking down on the issue, and adequate measures taking against:
. Informing and communications –process participators information non- approachable or the issue torture.
. Co- participating in the changes process –changes providers do not domain complete information not change making projecting, but the opponents face to be actually strong.
. Changes adaptations support –people face controversy against changes because of fear of adaptation with new conditions.
. Negotiations and agreements –separate officer and team suffer damage following the provided changes.
. Manipulations and cooptation /eligible role conferring on the one while the changes providing/ –no other tactic could be found for creaking down on the controversy and changes initiator is obliged real manipulations reaching.
. Open and hidden oblige –changes providers have concerning force and the changing is non- adjourn.
Their expedient is determined by created condition and professionalism of the managers, but received result depended on lots of factors:
. Person` s behave causes in organization.
. Head authority importance.
. Necessary information accessibility for the teams.
. Inter- understanding achievement.
. Cooperation feeling while innovations.
. Team resolutions influence on individuals.
. Team leaders’ changes support.
. Organization communications level.
Organization changes are often causing stress and conflicts. Stress is usually determined as person` s responding react on stressor (turmoil, controversy, exhaustion). People accommodate with new demands or provide actual resistantion (controversy). Ability of adaptation reduces while chronic stress and organism exhausts, that assists separate sort of disease creation. Stress is a result of re-tension of a person and founds following increased demands at work and while strict limits (or re-increased duties) creation, also while unemployment existence. Stress creation cause may be hugely deviation form optimal conditions, cause one is not able any more and needs or excessive enforce for creaking down on fear suffering, isolation, team influence, physiological abolishes, ill influences and ect;.
Organize politics frequently comes across team and individual indifferent dependence or self –defense instinct is running. Most of people fear of additional plenipotentiary and responsibilities, on wish having “foreign territory crossing”, while several teams competention is taking place and duties re- imposing probability is big. Psychological models of the stress includes environment demands, human individualism sorts, and defense gears analyze. Stress creation causes is environment influence and person` s compensative ability balance breaching. Environment stressors (physical environment, social environment and ect;) bears huge importance in professional stress providing. According to modern view, physical sorts of environment (noise, bad illumination, vibration, humidity and ect;) are less important that the social ones (rejecting, no social support, conflicts and ect), and work beside conditions (vital problems, hard family conditions and ect) according to stress etymology. Work related stress nervousness creation is based on bordering and monotonic work, work inormal temp and complementary works, including non –correspondence and hugely rose responsibilities and ect; Stress dynamics importantly influenced by person` s psycho-physiology characterizes and health condition of one. Stress influence is not always negative. Constructive stress provides stimulation of productivity and creativeness, but destructive stress need prophylactics, managing and physical –soul condition raise arrangements providing related to the stress.
Conflict is incompatible interests, demands and position sides inter – action, when sides come across controversy while their goals realization. One point of view do not exists concerning role of conflict. One believe it as natural developed issue (functional conflict), but others believe it as organization failure damage (disfunctioneering conflict).
Conflict causes founding faces being very simple while multi-side organization relationship, but it causes demand much more researches. Thee types of conflict separated: goals conflict, different views based conflict and separate feelings conflict (emotions, personal values and ect;) Conflicts may be also created because of separating resources limitation, interdependence duties existence, functions partly coincidence, non-satisfactory communications and ect.
Conflict is five level separated: internal personal, inter-personal, internal team, inter- team and internal organization. Internal personal conflict may be developed because of goals or views controversy sort. Inter- personal conflict may be created on any base and presents most spread sort of conflict. Internal team conflict considered as inter-personal conflict total –influencing on team behave dynamics. Inter-team conflict may be actually based on professional –production, social and emotion background. Inter organization conflict basically created while the leadership status separating and it may have vertical, horizontal and line- functioneering direction. It often related to one ` s role and organization duties accordance perception.
While struggle for the force one side of organization (individual, team or entire organization) may opposite to the interests of the other side. The opposition followed by interests breaching, opportunities and forces real balance. Organization is political system, having problems like in intergovernmental for handling on them manager should apply for “organize diplomacy”. Conflicts resolve methods depended on organizations political systems. There are authority (“we do that way”), bureaucracy (“that way doing is obligatory”), tectonically (“doing that way is better”) and democracy (“what to do?”) attitudes. As most of organization conflicts faced while people controversy, conflicts resolve and their structural characterize bears big importance. While inter-personal conflict resolve method checking, winner and looser sides determination is necessary. Inter- personal conflict resolve have following styles: force resolve conflict (“winner –looser”), inter –collaborator way conflict resolve “(winner –winner”), compromise resolve conflict (“no loose –no loose”), avoid conflict (“loose –loose”), conflict resolve while the other side condition determination (“no loose –win”)
. Organization structural changing and its naming as structural method of conflicts resolving is taking place for organization conflicts intensive reduction. The methods using appears very necessary while organization developing process. Its development may be separate way realized:
. The head influence using (order, direction, directivity and ect;)
. Organization conflict sides separating (functioneering separation and maintain their resource provide, by means of goals and other sorts of separation)
. Reducing inter-dependence (unites differentiation and autonomy providing)
. Special integrating gears providing for the conflict sides (curators, coordinators, common deputy and other persons appointing)
. Common tasks their busying (unites extension, functions widening and ect;)
. Stimulation system development (conflict sides stimulating and forfeiting)
Most people have to change separate workplaces during his(her) lifetime, experience of influences on behave. Organization members uniting under one team of group, as a rule, what is most important structural element of modern organizations. They are resolving task not able to be resolved just by one. Management should maintain transformation of formal teams in a one. Team includes group of people facing intense collaborations aiming common goal achieving, having collective responsibility concerning the duty. Team work effectiveness depended on its members potential realization for organization goals achievement.
As for new team members, so for the experienced ones` organization environment role is mostly important. The role indetermination includes: (persons knows nothing what is he expected), not busing (person` s role unimportant) and over busy (person have a huge work to complete), what provides background for conflicts and needs after negotiations for the team strength keeping. Virtual tram creation become frequent after informative technologies development, providing common work online. Spread conflicts and negotiation under dynamic environment provides organization effectiveness reduction, often bringing organization instance to ruin raising up radical changes providing obligatory agenda. Conflict escalation provides new problems creation, material alliances foundation, processes paralyzing, inter- controversy deepening, communications failing and other activities. Conflicts may be considered resolved after creaking down on its background causes.