Management of Change: Change- A case of UNDP Pakistan
Teaching Notes
Q1. Describe what are the key drivers of the change? What were the factors drove UNDP to launch change process?
The business development is about change. The challenge for the organization is how to stay ahead in an ever-changing environment. External and Internal divers necessitate organizational change. Managing change refers to making changes in a planned and managed or systematic fashion, in case of internal drivers of change. Responding to a change impose by external factors, It is about the response to changes over which an organization exercises little or no control (Spicer at al 2006).
External Drivers of Change:
• Technology
• Market places
• Customers
• Competitors
• Government and Politics
• The economy
• Globalisation
Internal Drivers of Change:
• Management Philosophy
• Organisational Structures
• Organisational Culture
• Systems of Power and Control
In UNDP organizational structure, diverse power was centre in headquarters and country offices which became points of resistance for programme level staff, hence there was a need to change the structure and make UNDP more flatter organization (See Exhibit 8). In new environment there was also need to create entrepreneurial spirit in the organization through the establishment of a demand-driven and client-focused culture and a ‘Learning Organization’, one capable of continuous adaptation to the changing external environment.
The impetus for change process in case of UNDP came from the shift from multilateral to bilateral assistance, the onset of globalization, the mushrooming of crises around the world and the overall decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA), which signalled the end of providing assistance on the basis of entitlement.
Q2. Describe what are different types of change management model available? In current case which model been most widely used?
The change models operate different approaches and processes in different environments. They inherent difficulty in uncovering the informal systems that guide peoples’ behaviour and using a mix of insider knowledge and experience, with objective outsider expertise and facilitation is essential for success. Thus, the key challenge for organisations is to match the model to the context.
Wignaraja (2006) describes change process into three main typologies:
· Top-down change management is based on the assumption that if managers plan things properly, change can be executed smoothly. The only obstacle comes from resistance of some employees, hence focus is on changing the culture of an organisation or the ‘way we do things around here’.
· Transformational change management relies on transformational leaders setting a personal example and challenging people to think ‘outside the box’ and innovate, while providing a safe environment for doing so.
· Strategic change management is based on a certain recipe and are in contrast with the top-down models in that they aim to introduce a new behaviours at work, allowing people to witness the benefit for the organisation and, thus, based on the evidence, internalise the change in their ‘ways of working’.
UNDP change process, can widely categorize as a top-down change management approach. It can be effective as other and depends on the situation. Although it is generally accepted that this approach often fails the most. All approaches highlight the importance of leadership, communications and involving people in the change process.
Q3. Assess the change process and its implementation. Does this follow best practice?
The successful organizational change comes through a total and continuous commitment with adequate resources to sustain the effort. According to Susan M. (2006) best practice and appropriate change management strategies and methods for development organization like UNDP will require:
· A highly flexible approach to result-based planning, budgeting and management that can capture process results and costing, as demanded by change management.
· Training for development agency personnel in process facilitation, negotiation and other specific change management methods and skills;
· Capacity development in this field requires experts, local and international, who have not only technical expertise but also coaching, management development and mentoring skills, to facilitate rather than direct.
The introduction of increased use of appropriate change management strategies and methods in development cooperation will often be resisted due the difficulty of precise definition of their results and the uncertainty of their outcomes.
Change efforts are significantly normative in nature. Positive change is driven by coalitions of aligning interests, soft systems like motivation, ethics and pride and fundamental transformational issues starting with individual transformation in attitudes, values and behaviour. The sense of urgency that would normally fuel a change strategy was not widely appreciated. The diverse power centres in headquarters became points of resistance, hence the commitment of corporate leadership necessary to bring about sustainable organizational change was a missing element.
Prescribed change is likely to be resisted the most. It is therefore important to evolve language and methodology for change that is consistent with norms and values more generally but also with the culture of the organization. It was observed that programme staff were not been given basic information about what is expected of them, nor are they being involved in the change process. The expectations that staff will apply initiative and creativity to achieving organisational goals are unrealistic in this context.
Q4. What were the key features of the change process employed?
A four stage change management process was used, with two broad processes (UNDP change 2001): a) managing the environment of change; and, b) executing the change itself.
Managing the environment of change subsumes two main areas:
A. Creating the momentum for change including making the case, visioning, empowerment and voicing activities
B. Analysis of the change context including diagnosing issues of who wins, who loses, social, cultural, legal and policy issues; data collection and analysis; and operations research on problems.
Executing the change process: here an enabling role is foreseen again in two areas:
C. Facilitation of change including building change coalitions and harnessing champions, process consultation, decision-making methods, consensus building, and brainstorming, all informed by factual information and analysis.
D. Communications about change, including public meetings, various other forms of two-way communications, and information dissemination.
Exhibit 5 shows the framework for change management process. A map of steps, guiding the process step-by-step was defined, with internal primary roles and facilitators were identified.
Q5. What were the issues with the change can you identify?
Change management exercises are highly unpredictable in terms of what they achieve. Experts agree that most change projects fail. Pascale (1999) suggests this is the case for 80% of change programmes. Management experts' opinions converge on several causes that can derail change efforts. UNDP change process management at ADP AJK level rasied many issues.
The participatory approach adopted in launching change process by country office was early success, which lost focus later on staff requirement working in different socio cultural background.
There was insufficient understanding of the constraints embedded in bureaucratic systems, organizational culture and the structure of human interactions which became stumbling block to change management processes later.
Putting in place clear and consistent messages regarding the change process, regular and open stakeholder consultations, airing of grievances, and putting in place feedback and learning mechanisms to enable adaptation during the course of the change process were emphasized in manual but practically no one was caring those.
Q6. What lessons are there to be learned from the experience?
Developing leadership skills, clarifying roles and getting stakeholders on board are all necessary for successful change interventions. However, paying attention to soft aspects of organisation, such as culture, is also indeed as these factors are often paramount determinants of the real direction and pace of change.
The early identification, and addressing of, the sources of resistance to change (in other words, facing up to the reality that change produces winners and losers), is a must-do action. Doing so also involves addressing the values, norms and cultural aspects of stakeholders that are relevant to the change effort, both inside and outside the organization.
It was learnt that the change should begin with an assessment of the change landscape and the organisation’s position in it. Assessments should consider, inter alia, the organisation’s current capacity, performance, leadership, systems, services and stakeholders and the interplay of these in the wider institutional context. The process of managing change must include frequent and innovative attempts at building consensus, demonstrating benefits, dialoguing and communicating.
Q7. Why communication is vital for implementing a change? Specially its importance in project-based organization like UNDP?
How changes gets communicated and talked about is crucial to success. Change must be communicated at all stages. In the conception stage, communications for inclusion ensure that stakeholders buy in and are less likely to become potential resisters of the change process. Communication also helps to dispel uncertainties and mitigate the potential threat it poses to those that see themselves as likely to be impacted by the change (Palmer at al 2006).
This also implies that all stakeholders must be afforded the opportunity to input into the design of change – or at least, as much as is practically feasible. Once change processes have been undertaken, a process of sharing, communicating around its outcome and implications with all stakeholder groups is important.
In case of UNDP, which involved in thousand of projects around the world and operates business in diverse environment, intergovernmental dependencies, multiple ownership of core processes with other donors and within UN system. In many UNDP programme counties, the boundaries of pushing change and reform are set by what is acceptable at the political level.
Secondly, UNDP programmes are based on temporary teams and they are geographically dispersed. It is hard to provide systems and structure for a project in Somalia similar to one in Bangladesh. Any change process success in project based organization is very dependent on communication. Communicating change is about building consensus and coalitions for change, and then enabling the change through process facilitation, negotiation, conflict management, analytical skills, advisory skills and specific change management methods, is clearly a critical input.
Q1. Describe what are the key drivers of the change? What were the factors drove UNDP to launch change process?
The business development is about change. The challenge for the organization is how to stay ahead in an ever-changing environment. External and Internal divers necessitate organizational change. Managing change refers to making changes in a planned and managed or systematic fashion, in case of internal drivers of change. Responding to a change impose by external factors, It is about the response to changes over which an organization exercises little or no control (Spicer at al 2006).
External Drivers of Change:
• Technology
• Market places
• Customers
• Competitors
• Government and Politics
• The economy
• Globalisation
Internal Drivers of Change:
• Management Philosophy
• Organisational Structures
• Organisational Culture
• Systems of Power and Control
In UNDP organizational structure, diverse power was centre in headquarters and country offices which became points of resistance for programme level staff, hence there was a need to change the structure and make UNDP more flatter organization (See Exhibit 8). In new environment there was also need to create entrepreneurial spirit in the organization through the establishment of a demand-driven and client-focused culture and a ‘Learning Organization’, one capable of continuous adaptation to the changing external environment.
The impetus for change process in case of UNDP came from the shift from multilateral to bilateral assistance, the onset of globalization, the mushrooming of crises around the world and the overall decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA), which signalled the end of providing assistance on the basis of entitlement.
Q2. Describe what are different types of change management model available? In current case which model been most widely used?
The change models operate different approaches and processes in different environments. They inherent difficulty in uncovering the informal systems that guide peoples’ behaviour and using a mix of insider knowledge and experience, with objective outsider expertise and facilitation is essential for success. Thus, the key challenge for organisations is to match the model to the context.
Wignaraja (2006) describes change process into three main typologies:
· Top-down change management is based on the assumption that if managers plan things properly, change can be executed smoothly. The only obstacle comes from resistance of some employees, hence focus is on changing the culture of an organisation or the ‘way we do things around here’.
· Transformational change management relies on transformational leaders setting a personal example and challenging people to think ‘outside the box’ and innovate, while providing a safe environment for doing so.
· Strategic change management is based on a certain recipe and are in contrast with the top-down models in that they aim to introduce a new behaviours at work, allowing people to witness the benefit for the organisation and, thus, based on the evidence, internalise the change in their ‘ways of working’.
UNDP change process, can widely categorize as a top-down change management approach. It can be effective as other and depends on the situation. Although it is generally accepted that this approach often fails the most. All approaches highlight the importance of leadership, communications and involving people in the change process.
Q3. Assess the change process and its implementation. Does this follow best practice?
The successful organizational change comes through a total and continuous commitment with adequate resources to sustain the effort. According to Susan M. (2006) best practice and appropriate change management strategies and methods for development organization like UNDP will require:
· A highly flexible approach to result-based planning, budgeting and management that can capture process results and costing, as demanded by change management.
· Training for development agency personnel in process facilitation, negotiation and other specific change management methods and skills;
· Capacity development in this field requires experts, local and international, who have not only technical expertise but also coaching, management development and mentoring skills, to facilitate rather than direct.
The introduction of increased use of appropriate change management strategies and methods in development cooperation will often be resisted due the difficulty of precise definition of their results and the uncertainty of their outcomes.
Change efforts are significantly normative in nature. Positive change is driven by coalitions of aligning interests, soft systems like motivation, ethics and pride and fundamental transformational issues starting with individual transformation in attitudes, values and behaviour. The sense of urgency that would normally fuel a change strategy was not widely appreciated. The diverse power centres in headquarters became points of resistance, hence the commitment of corporate leadership necessary to bring about sustainable organizational change was a missing element.
Prescribed change is likely to be resisted the most. It is therefore important to evolve language and methodology for change that is consistent with norms and values more generally but also with the culture of the organization. It was observed that programme staff were not been given basic information about what is expected of them, nor are they being involved in the change process. The expectations that staff will apply initiative and creativity to achieving organisational goals are unrealistic in this context.
Q4. What were the key features of the change process employed?
A four stage change management process was used, with two broad processes (UNDP change 2001): a) managing the environment of change; and, b) executing the change itself.
Managing the environment of change subsumes two main areas:
A. Creating the momentum for change including making the case, visioning, empowerment and voicing activities
B. Analysis of the change context including diagnosing issues of who wins, who loses, social, cultural, legal and policy issues; data collection and analysis; and operations research on problems.
Executing the change process: here an enabling role is foreseen again in two areas:
C. Facilitation of change including building change coalitions and harnessing champions, process consultation, decision-making methods, consensus building, and brainstorming, all informed by factual information and analysis.
D. Communications about change, including public meetings, various other forms of two-way communications, and information dissemination.
Exhibit 5 shows the framework for change management process. A map of steps, guiding the process step-by-step was defined, with internal primary roles and facilitators were identified.
Q5. What were the issues with the change can you identify?
Change management exercises are highly unpredictable in terms of what they achieve. Experts agree that most change projects fail. Pascale (1999) suggests this is the case for 80% of change programmes. Management experts' opinions converge on several causes that can derail change efforts. UNDP change process management at ADP AJK level rasied many issues.
The participatory approach adopted in launching change process by country office was early success, which lost focus later on staff requirement working in different socio cultural background.
There was insufficient understanding of the constraints embedded in bureaucratic systems, organizational culture and the structure of human interactions which became stumbling block to change management processes later.
Putting in place clear and consistent messages regarding the change process, regular and open stakeholder consultations, airing of grievances, and putting in place feedback and learning mechanisms to enable adaptation during the course of the change process were emphasized in manual but practically no one was caring those.
Q6. What lessons are there to be learned from the experience?
Developing leadership skills, clarifying roles and getting stakeholders on board are all necessary for successful change interventions. However, paying attention to soft aspects of organisation, such as culture, is also indeed as these factors are often paramount determinants of the real direction and pace of change.
The early identification, and addressing of, the sources of resistance to change (in other words, facing up to the reality that change produces winners and losers), is a must-do action. Doing so also involves addressing the values, norms and cultural aspects of stakeholders that are relevant to the change effort, both inside and outside the organization.
It was learnt that the change should begin with an assessment of the change landscape and the organisation’s position in it. Assessments should consider, inter alia, the organisation’s current capacity, performance, leadership, systems, services and stakeholders and the interplay of these in the wider institutional context. The process of managing change must include frequent and innovative attempts at building consensus, demonstrating benefits, dialoguing and communicating.
Q7. Why communication is vital for implementing a change? Specially its importance in project-based organization like UNDP?
How changes gets communicated and talked about is crucial to success. Change must be communicated at all stages. In the conception stage, communications for inclusion ensure that stakeholders buy in and are less likely to become potential resisters of the change process. Communication also helps to dispel uncertainties and mitigate the potential threat it poses to those that see themselves as likely to be impacted by the change (Palmer at al 2006).
This also implies that all stakeholders must be afforded the opportunity to input into the design of change – or at least, as much as is practically feasible. Once change processes have been undertaken, a process of sharing, communicating around its outcome and implications with all stakeholder groups is important.
In case of UNDP, which involved in thousand of projects around the world and operates business in diverse environment, intergovernmental dependencies, multiple ownership of core processes with other donors and within UN system. In many UNDP programme counties, the boundaries of pushing change and reform are set by what is acceptable at the political level.
Secondly, UNDP programmes are based on temporary teams and they are geographically dispersed. It is hard to provide systems and structure for a project in Somalia similar to one in Bangladesh. Any change process success in project based organization is very dependent on communication. Communicating change is about building consensus and coalitions for change, and then enabling the change through process facilitation, negotiation, conflict management, analytical skills, advisory skills and specific change management methods, is clearly a critical input.