(Solution) 7C001 ‘Mantra’ Should Underpin Managers Approach to Restructuring an Organisation

Solution

As defined by Amarantou et al. (2018), resistance to change in an organisation refers to the tendency of the organisation or its employees to be against change and prefer to maintain the existing way of carrying out organisational operations. Lack of employee involvement in the change process is often the major reason for resistance (Srivastava & Agrawal, 2020). In a report published by Gartner (2022), it hypothesised that 38% of the staff currently have the will in supporting organisation change. This is from the 74% in 2016 with less than 26% of staff holistically being engaged in change process.

Employees may be alienated and sceptical, and reluctant about decisions made without their participation. Reactions to change are influenced by psychological ownership. As explained by Lewis (2019), those involved in decision making have a sense of control towards transition and are therefore more accepting. For example, in a case of a corporate restructuring in a manufacturing company, the decisions of managers were unilateral leading to widespread and open resistance. Consequently, there was reduced morale and productivity at workplaces as employees feared loss of jobs and procedural uncertainties. On the other hand, one firm that engaged employees early on when discussing the project saw more adaptability and higher levels of cooperation, highlighting the need for employee involvement in change processes to minimise resistance.

Extent to Which ‘Mantra’ Should Underpin Managers Approach to Restructuring an Organisation.

Consequently, managers should take into consideration the principle that ‘people support what they help to create’ when restructuring an organisation because this principle directly affects employee morale, employee commitment and the success of the change process. Involving employees in decision making to some extent creates a psychological ownership in connection with the restructuring efforts, thus eradicating the feeling of uncertainty and opposition (Nwosu et al., 2020). Participation creates trust between management and workers as workers believe their voices count and are heard by management. Galeazzo et al. (2021) explain that this sense of inclusion does not only make employees cooperate more, but also makes them more motivated, as they feel responsible for it, not simply a top-down directive imposed upon them.  When restructuring is perceived as an opportunity and not as a threat, the workforce will likely become more proactive in the process, thus enabling smoother transitions with less disruption to productivity (Lewis, 2019). A good example of this approach was when a multinational corporation was able to overcome resistance to restructuring by establishing employee led-task forces to collect feedback and involve employees in designing the new organisational structure. From this approach, participants found that this participatory strategy was a powerful means of reducing opposition, as it empowered employees who might otherwise have been displaced. Furthermore, the collaboration and their propensity to innovate increased because the employees were prompted to come up with solutions not thought of by management.  This not only dealt with the immediate concerns but also lead to the development of long-term strategies which were related to employees’ needs and the goals and objectives of business.

However, the principle of ‘mantra’ does not always seem to be practicable in all restructuring situations, especially in industries that need rapid adaptation of the market………

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