Management of change - How organisational structure and culture can Essay

Management of change - How organisational structure and culture can influence the promotion or inhibition of change strategies w - Essay Example As such, the only way to remain competitive is to be able to change strategies in a manner that ensures the company remains competitive. This is particularly important for the engineering organizations that operate in a very competitive environment. Despite the benefits that change brings in an organization, most managers and employees are often resistant to change. Martins and Terblanche (2003, p. 68) noted that most employees and managers fear change and will often resist it. The reasons for resisting change are many, including fear of losing jobs, fear of changing the organization structure, culture, and fear of new responsibilities, just to name but a few. However, the organizational structure and culture has a huge influence on the change strategies that an organization may adopt at any one time. In this regard, the organizational structure and culture can either promote or impede the change strategies within an organization. The aim of this discourse is to explore the extent to which an organizational structure and culture can promote or inhibit change strategies within an organization. Organizational Culture and Change Management Culture plays a crucial role in driving a company to success. Pheysey (1993, p. 9) defines organizational culture as a set of norms and beliefs of an organization. In other words, it refers an organization’s ways of doing things. As earlier stated, organizations operate in a dynamic environment where change is necessary. Today, no company can compete favorably without embracing change, according to West and Farr (1990, p. 5). However, most managers tend to resist change when faced with the pressure of change. This is partly due to the organizational culture. For instance, most managers would try to deal with challenges facing the organization they manage by reverting the company’s traditional ways of doing things. In this regard, whenever a manager is confronted with the pressure for change, the manager will most l ikely try to deal with the situation in suh as way that is in line with the organizations ways of doing things. However, sticking to these cultural nuances impede the management of strategic change. Kotter and Heskett (1992, p. 13) advised that sticking to cultural ways of dealing with pressures of change may not be good for an organization since it inhibits the management of strategic change in an organization. For example, instead of adopting a new strategy of dealing with a situation in an organization, most managers tend to search for what they can understand and manage in terms of the existing paradigm. The adoption of cultural ways of doing things has been reported in the engineering companies where most managers tend to stick to traditional ways of dealing with situations that require change. However, this is dangerous since it inhibits the management of strategic change (Dent and Goldberg 1999, p. 36). For instance, report indicates that when managers are faced with the prob lem of declining performance in the engineering organizations, they have the habit of first seeking ways of improving the implementation of the existing strategy. This may involves actions such as tightening organizational controls. This implies that they only attempt to tighten up their accepted way of operation. However, in case this proves ineffective, then the managers change a strategy, though the change