Page 262 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

CHAPTER 8 • Managing Change and Innovation 261
What Is Change and How Do Managers Deal with It?

8-1 Define If it weren’t for change, a manager’s
organizational job would be relatively easy.
change and When John Lechleiter assumed the CEO’s job at Eli
compare and Lilly, he sent each of his senior executives a clock
contrast views on ticking down the hours, minutes, and seconds until
the change the day when one of the company’s premier cash-
process. generating drugs went off patent. It was a visual
reminder of some major changes the executives had
better be prepared for. By the end of 2016, Lilly was
losing $10 billion in annual revenues as patents on three of its key drugs expired. Needless
to say, the company has had to make some organizational changes as it picked up the pace
1
of drug development. Lilly’s managers are doing what managers everywhere must do—
implement change!
Change makes a manager’s job more challenging. Without it, managing would be rela-
tively easy. Planning would be easier because tomorrow would be no different from today.
The issue of organization design would be solved because the environment would be free
from uncertainty and there would be no need to adapt. Similarly, decision making would be
dramatically simplified because the outcome of each alternative could be predicted with near
pinpoint accuracy. It would also simplify the manager’s job if competitors never introduced
new products or services, if customers didn’t make new demands, if government regulations
were never modified, if technology never advanced, or if employees’ needs always remained
the same. But that’s not the way it is.
Change is an organizational reality. Most managers, at one point or another, will have
to change some things in their workplace. We call these changes organizational change,
which is any alteration or adaptation of an organization’s structure, technology, or people.
(See Exhibit 8–1.) Let’s look more closely at each.

1. Changing structure: Includes any change in authority relationships, coordination mech-
anisms, degree of centralization, job design, or similar organization structure variables.
Examples might be restructuring work units, empowering employees, decentralizing,
widening spans of control, reducing work specialization, or creating work teams. All of
these may involve some type of structural change.
2. Changing technology: Encompasses modifications in the way work is done or the
methods and equipment used. Examples might be computerizing work processes and
procedures, adding robotics to work areas, installing energy usage monitors, equipping
employees with mobile communication tools, implementing social media tools, or install-
ing a new computer operating system.
3. Changing people: Refers to changes in employee attitudes, expectations, perceptions, or
behaviors. Examples might be changing employee attitudes and behaviors to better sup- organizational change
port a new customer service strategy, using team building efforts to make a team more Any alteration of an organization’s people,
innovative, or training employees to adopt a “safety-first” focus. structure, or technology

Exhibit 8–1 Categories of Organizational Change

Structure Technology People
Authority relationships Attitudes
Coordinating mechanisms Work processes Expectations
Work methods
Job redesign Perceptions
Spans of control Equipment Behavior