Organizational change management : general manager’s point of view

Abstract

The aim of this project is to deepen into the process of organizational change. In order to do this, we will interview a general manager of an important business group with presence in Castellon and review the main literature of organizational change. Without a doubt, organizational change has become an important study field for academics but, more than for professors and researchers, managers are the most interested ones. Nowadays, companies are coexisting with an unpredictable environment, which is caused by the advance of new technologies and globalization. The most beneficial consequence of globalization for businesses is a global market formed by billions of potential customers. But, on the other hand thousands of other companies become direct competitors. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have created a network capable of providing access to global knowledge transparency. In this situation, information related to firms is available for the competence and it forces businesses to change. They have to reinvent themselves continuously to avoid being predictable. But, globalization is not the only reason for change. A constant renovation of the organization is not an easy task so, that is why organizational change is very important. Day after day, relevant changes take place and businesses must be prepared to adapt and even, take advantage of that. The ability to make the most of uncertainty relies on several factors like the organizational learning capability and organizational configuration. According to Mintzberg (1989), an organizational configuration is a structure that appears from the interaction of organizational-related components. Organizational learning capability could be defined as the cluster of organizational features that allow and make easier the organizational learning process. Changing is not an easy task. It is a long process that can take years until the total assumption. Moreover, several factors have to be considered and many boundaries will appear during the process. According to the Lewin’s theory for change, there are three basic steps in order to achieve and consolidate the change. The first one is “unfreezing” the present state of the company, that means to motivate workers to lose the customs and routines that define the way tasks are done in the business. Once we have open-minded employees they are ready to performance under criteria of the new model, so the change is implemented. This is the second step. But, this is not the end of the process. After establish the change, the third step is “freezing” the new state. Managers and leaders of the change have to install it in the core of the business. If it is not done