Understanding and Coping with Change Essays

Understanding and Coping with Change Essays Understanding and Coping with Change Essay Understanding and Coping with Change Essay Change is an evolutional event that causes a transformation or modification, which occurs when something passes from one phase to the other. Change in inevitable, why are we resistant to it? Surely, we are all aware that as we are born, we will develop; as we develop, we will progress, as we evolve, as we evolve we will expire. Change is everywhere, why do we resist it and why does change disrupt our behavior? Change is a good thing: it prevents stagnation; it prompts improvement, and it links directly to the ongoing success of organizations Forsyth, Patrick. Creating Success, Volume 44: Managing Change. London, KGB: Kananga Page, 2012. Protest Barry. Web. 15 September 2014. According to (Cotter Schlesinger, 1979) employees may resist change for several reasons such as self-interest, lack of understanding, lack of trust in management deferring assessments of the need for change, and a general low tolerance for change (Aback, 2012 Sec. 10. 4 Para. 2). The only thing that is consistent about change is change. Change affects individuals in different ways; some may welcome it while others may struggle with it. Change is a step process of growth that we all must treasure and respect as it will surely happen. Change can be positive for an organization, and one must confront it as it provides us the ability to create value-added services for the organization and the public. Individuals who struggle with change may be more concerned with themselves. Although, change is inevitable for growth in a business organization, change is also inevitable also in individuals for personal growth and development. Change should be consider as normal part of life and living. Many have not learned to embrace change, some may become complacent with their level of growth, and the effect caused them to be stagnant in life. Some individuals may fear change will cause unwarranted stress, and they want to shield themselves from it. However, we must learn to prepare for change at any time, and we must learn to manage change instead of allowing change to manage us. The basis of managing change is accepting the reality that change is unavoidable and sometimes unpredictable, and regardless of the nature, it will occur. Managing change required that we must first acknowledge it, as we look around us, we can see changes happening. Whether is minor and considered unimportant or large and challenging. Observing the signs of change allows us to better prepare ourselves to deal with them. By acknowledging the possibility of change, we are creating a mental perception of caution. This perception allows us to create a coping process or system to effectively shield ourselves from harm of disappointment. By understanding change we are able to cope with the situation thereby, avoiding an over saturation of emotions. Coping with change may also require that you look at the situation from the outside in and decide worst-case scenario. Deciding the worst-case scenario can assist in the development and planning process that will allow you to empower yourself to authorize the hanged. Accept the fact that change will happen whether or not we are ready for it. If change knocks you down you must proudly pick yourself up and start again. Change can be appalling to some individuals because it is now viewed an opportunity as it should be. Change forces us to re-examine our lives. It is similar to establishing a new link to growth and development. It reinforces our lifes routine and assists us in avoiding complacency. We should expect new outlines and designs throughout our life cycle and treasure the memories of the past but welcome the knowledge of the future. My organization has undergone many changes over the last several years, including relocation the corporate office to implementing a new computer system. Prior to implementing a new system, our leaders initiated a meeting announcing the company will be undergoing many changed over the next several months, as our divisional office will become the new home of the Business Service Center (BBS). The BBS will combine several divisions of our organizations, including South, Mid, and NW territories. Our leaders further detailed that we will be implementing a new computer program called SAP, which was capable of handling all transactions and porting that our company will need in order to operate. During the course of several months, we were provided information about the process and the next steps as well as the period that changes would occur. As this information became available, changes were being implemented, the process was happening quickly. First, we moved too new building capable of holding a large group of people. Then communications were published about implementing a new computer system. The system is an ERP (Enterprise, Resource, and Planning) business management system capable of integrating several applications that organizations use to collect, store, engage and interpret data computer system known as SAP (System Applications and Processes). SAP is a massive program and can cover various departments, including manufacturing, purchasing, sales, accounting. Just the sheer thought of this new system frightened my coworker Laura. Laura 59 years old and close to retiring, she worked in cash application department. As part of the change, our organization was communication about migrated from an old dos based program known as Computers Unlimited (CUE) to a new innovative program called SAP, which is windows based program. Laura feared the process of learning a new system at her age; she was a Eng-time employee and was used to the old dos based program Computers Unlimited (CUE). Laura believed this program would alienate her from the new younger employees because the technology was foreign to her. CUE was the only system she has worked on her entire life. She feared she would not navigate through the new system processes with ease. Every part of the system was alien and accelerated. Laura dreaded learning a new system to the point making herself ill. Although, she was not ready to retire, she contemplated it, as she feared being laid- off or fired. Although, the new computer system was idea for our organization, and it loud enable easy access to information sharing that flows between our leaders and shareholders it had a negative element for Laura. Laura was in a sense selfish; she serves as a great example of an employee who was not embracing change. Laura sought stability in her last few years before retiring, she was not ready for to embrace the change. Although, change is necessary for growth in a business organization change must also occur in individuals who are part of the organization. However, individuals such as Laura sometimes become complacent with their level of growth and are resistant to change. Laura believed was older and feared she would to be able to navigate through the new processes of SAP and her Job nor did she feel the desire to learn something new. Laura was having difficulties coping with change. The first step in coping with change is to become educated on it and communication about it, and remember we are going to be trained. During our many discussions regarding SAP, I informed Laura the system massive, but it is very easy to navigate as I have worked on it in the past is very similar to Microsoft Excel and windows. Laura and I met on break and often communicated about relocating the office to the new system we were to be put in place, and she must get comfortable tit the idea that she was must learn how to work. She became calm and did not fight the change. Our progressive conversations appeared to have given her confidence that she would be able to handle it. In a sense, this method a sense of urgency as described by Cotter in his eight-step plan regarding change. I was able to assist Laura in seeing the need for the change. Over the next several months, our leaders chose several people that trained offset in order to gain the knowledge required in order to train employees. This followed the second step Cotters plan of forming a power coalition to lead the change. Once it was time for the training, our leader was ready to provide the knowledge we required in order to navigate the system. Once the training was complete, we were required to take a series of test to evaluate and certify the training. Laura performed wonderfully; she ultimately saw importance to embrace the change despite her initial fears and challenges. Although, Laura was resistant to change she ultimately saw that change was going to happen whether she was part of the organizational process of not. Laura was able to acknowledge, accept and cope with change by embracing it through the immunization, and the raining provided by the company.