This study is an evaluation of the implementation of change processes in the Lesotho Civil Service, Ministry of the Public Service (MPS). Employees were never involved or asked to participate in the planning process of the change.
Problem Statement
Objectives of the Study
Planned vs. Unplanned Change
Lippit (1982) states that organizational change can be characterized in terms of the motivation or underlying causes of change, as well as the manner in which change occurs. In terms of the motivation for change, it is typically described as planned/proactive or unplanned/reactive.
Planned change
- Types of unplanned change a) Evolutionary change
- The Focus of Change
- Managing change to manage results
- Stages in organisational change
Changes therefore take time leading to an increase in the severity of the problems. In the figure below, the arrows connecting the types of change indicate that a change in one part can affect other parts of the organization.
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RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
- Failure of Change Initiatives
- Strategies for overcoming resistance to change
A detailed discussion of resistance to change and the strategies used to overcome it will be discussed in this section. The unwillingness of employees to accept organizational change either due to fear of the unknown or organizational obstacles is the essence of resistance to change. According to Kreitner and Kinicki (1992), resistance to change can be defined as an emotional or behavioral response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine.
Later in the chapter the strategies to overcome resistance to change will be theoretically discussed and then in chapter three practical references will be made to the Civil Service of Lesotho. To effectively manage change, the following dimensions of resistance to change must be managed. Some of the common reasons for individual resistance to change within organizations include situational variables and social psychological and personality variables, character mechanisms.
The increasing competitive pressure in the market leading to change requires organizations to stay abreast of the changes and development entering all aspects of the business world. The culture of the organization must also change to adapt to the new ways of doing things.
Errors Common to Organisational Change
As discussed in the previous section on resistance to change, resistance can come from the organization itself or from the employees within the organization. From his research, he discovered that change leaders tend to allow too much complacency in the change process. By doing this, they exclude employees from the activities of the change process and this can lead to resistance to the change among employees.
For the change to succeed, the guiding coalition must develop a vision of the future that is relatively easy to communicate and appeals to all stakeholders in the company, customers and employees. These tend to be harmful in the long run as the "little thing" they ignored manifests into something big that has become difficult or too difficult for them to resolve. The last mistake was failing to anchor the changes firmly in the company culture.
When managers fail to do this, it ends up with a culture that has no stake in change and they are unwilling and some resist implementing change. This is why it has been mentioned in the previous sections that for change to succeed, management must first begin by creating a corporate culture that is compatible with the proposed changes.
CONCLUSION
- Mission and Vision of the Ministry of the Public Service Mission Statement
The first thing is to introduce the organization that will be the subject of our investigation. The study includes the organization's historical background with specific reference to change ideas and initiatives in the organization. The main focus of the analysis is on the five variables discussed in the previous chapter, namely: forces of change; lead and manage change; resistance to change; building the desired culture and finally the mistakes common to organizational change.
Another important aspect of this study to note is that the focus will not be on all change management processes throughout the Lesotho government, but only on those led by the Ministry of Public Service. The essence of the transformation is to move away from the paper function of personnel management to a more organizational development personnel. The Public Service Reform and Improvement Program (PSRIP) aims to improve the efficiency of public service delivery and increase public accountability in order to facilitate economic growth and reduce poverty.
34; To ensure the provision of efficient and effective quality services for line ministries and the public through a sound framework of human resources policies that will contribute to poverty alleviation".
Organisational Background
The program is well aligned with the government’s vision of “the establishment of a small, efficient and cost-effective civil service that is results-oriented and responsive to the development needs of the Basotho nation. The Ministry of Public Services has full responsibility for human resource management and organizational structure within the civil service, but very partial responsibility for the other elements. The Ministry of Public Services (MPS), as Minister of Public Services, is accountable to the Prime Minister.
But without giving up this overall responsibility, the Prime Minister recently appointed a Cabinet Minister without Portfolio to take primary responsibility for the ministry's work.
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Measuring Instruments
- Designing the Questionnaire
The questions in the questionnaire required respondents to rate their answers on the Likert scale. The questions in the questionnaire were as follows: (See Appendix 1 for the final questionnaire). In this first variable, the questions asked had to define the need and drivers for change in the organization and the intensity with which the need for change and the vision for the future were communicated.
This second variable focused the questions on the management and leadership of the change processes, how the employees perceive the abilities and the communication style of the leaders of change. Continuous feedback is provided by the leaders as a way to keep the employees informed about the progress of change. Were there any steps taken by the leaders of change to try to change the corporate culture to match the proposed changes.
With this variable, the questions tried to elicit barriers to the change process and whether there were mechanisms to overcome resistance. The questions under this variable focused on finding out if there were mistakes made during implementation and if the change leaders are aware of them.
Internal and External Validity and Reliability 1. Case Study
The patterns may not match and the reasoning behind this is clear from the outcomes of the change process. The structure of relating the information will be such that the answers obtained from both the questionnaire and the interviews will be combined, since the questions asked in both cases are interrelated and complementary. The information obtained from the questionnaires and interviews shows that respondents agreed that there were forces in the organization that warranted change.
The responses further indicated that change managers did not effectively communicate the need clearly, especially to lower level employees in the organization. Respondents also indicated that the need for change based on these identified forces was not clearly articulated. The interviewees also pointed out that the managers of change processes in their organization do not give them enough motivation to undertake changes.
From the information gathered from the interviews it was also evident that the vision itself was not clear about what is desirable for it compared to the actual reality. Also in the interviews it became clear that the respondents (both change managers and employees) did not know the difference between the forces for.
Managing and Leading Change
When the researcher asked them what the forces for change were, they mentioned the symptoms that have already been discussed in chapter three.
Resistance to Change
The changes were led by individual leaders in the organization who thought of themselves as change leaders. It can also be concluded that the change managers in the organization have changes on paper and not effective in the organization. The change managers can also promote teamwork in the organization by involving the employees in the planning process and design of the implementation of the change and any other strategies that they want to embark on in the future.
This is why it was mentioned earlier in this section that organizational change leaders must provide team rewards. The answers from the questionnaires and interviews show that the leaders of change in the organization are not well equipped to carry out the task. The organizational change processes that were generally imposed on employees caused more harm than good.
The most obvious failures attributable to the managers of the change in the organization under study (Lesotho Civil Service) will be discussed below. The leadership and change leaders in the Lesotho Civil Service experienced this type of resistance from employees. This means that the organisation's attitudes, beliefs and values must also change in order to function in the new organizational environment.
Organizational change leaders must be weary of this possibility and put mechanisms in place that will help them overcome resistance.
I am currently studying for an MBA degree specializing in Strategic Human Resource Management at the University of Natal-Durban in the Republic of South Africa. As a prerequisite for completing the degree, I must write a research paper on the topic of my choice. I chose to do a research on the management of organizational change in the public service.
There were internal and external forces for change that drove the organization to undertake change. There is proper management of the new systems that have been put in place as a result of the changes. The changes in the organization had a positive effect on the morale of the employees and thus on the increase of their productivity in the organization.
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