Management of Change. Why General Electric was required to bring about Essay

Management of Change. Why General Electric was required to bring about a complete transformation in the organization - Essay Example The importance of stakeholders in organizations has become all the more important over the years. Thus organizations are constantly confronted with the crisis of managing change so as to keep themselves at par with stakeholders’ needs and requirements. The project seeks to bring forth the process of cultural change that was brought about in General Electric. Elaborating the factors which initiated the change process in the organization, the project goes on to weigh the actual outcomes against the desired outcomes in the organization. Finally the project provides an evaluation of the extent to which GE has been successful in implementing the change process in the organization. Organizational Change Theorists have brought forth some generic definitions of organizational change. Burnes (1996) noted that organizational change is regarded as the alterations taking place in organizations at the groups, individuals and the entire organizational level. According to Van de Ven and Pool e, (1995) change is defined as the observation of differences over a period of time on a variety of dimensions. Researchers and practitioners exploring change through social-cognition perspective or cultural perspective in organizations consider focussing on such aspects as values and mental maps of participants in the change, rather than on aspects like organizational structures, size etc. Since the language of change differs across perceptions of researchers it is difficult to find a unanimous and common perception of language fir change. However, there are certain common concepts in change theories produced by authors, such as sources of change, forces of change, first order and second order change. These common concepts are available within the major sources literature of change like Burnes, 1996; Levy and Merry, 1986; Goodman, 1982; and Spreitzer and Rajagopalan, 1996. More and more studies related to change increased the critical points of these concepts in their analysis. Mor gan (1986) makes the main assumption underlying the evolutionary theories that change is a response which is generated due to situational variables, external conditions and environment surrounding organizations. He regards social systems as being complex, diversified and interdependent, which evolve over time naturally responding to external demands (Kezar, 2001, p.4). The planned change models or Teleological theories assume the fact that organizations remain purposeful and adaptive to change. It is because organizational leaders, change agents and others see the needed change in organizations that change happens or occurs. Even though the change process is regarded as being linear and rational, Carnall (1995); Carr, Hard and Trahant (1996) regard the individual managers to be more instrumental in the process. Morgan, conceptualises the process of change as a being a natural part of organizational development. Researchers have a brought a direct association between organizational c hange and consequent performance and productivity of firms. Change process is said to act as a catalyst or facilitator of organizational growth and performance. Some of the leading examples of organizational changes which have subsequently reflected through enhanced performance, productivity and competitive position in the market are British Airways, General Electric and Rover Group (APOC, 1997, p.5). Effective change