Essay on Leadership, Change, and Impact: Navigating Organizational Shifts for Quality and Safety Enhancement

Introduction

The globalization of business today has made it a need for organizations to keep constant changes in their operations. These changes are necessary to accommodate new trends in the markets. Organizational leaders have the sole responsibility of identifying and initiating the changes. Firms that do not accommodate such changes have stagnant growth and barely make it in the global market. Making the changes requires dedication and determination from the executive management of an organization. Through making these changes, the real leaders are distinguished from the figureheads. Organizations can undergo several changes, which include revolutionary, isolated, fractional, and focused changes. The executive leaders have the role of foreseeing the implementation of the change by discussing it with the staff and setting the vision clear for all employees. This paper is a discussion of the role of leadership and management in implementing organizational changes and the effect of the changes on the quality and safety of the business.

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The Role of Leadership and Management in Implementing Organizational Changes

Leaders depend on confidants who vent, complain, or propose ideas to them. These confidants must be bold enough to mention the rights and wrongs done by the leaders (Waynen et al., 2020). The confidants are picked amongst the management, but the picking must be done carefully to avoid creating unnecessary chaos within the management. Even though the leaders will depend on their confidants for correction and proposition of changes, they also have the role of initiating the changes on their own.

What to Consider Change Management

There is a need to have unity amongst employees, which requires observing several things. The first thing is to ensure that the staff does not feel segregated by the confidant. The staff needs to know that they can also propose changes through the confidant (Ján & Veronika, 2017). The confidant should also consider the decisions of fellow employees when complaining to the top leaders. The second thing is that the leaders need to make the organizational vision clear for the staff to accept the change management. Where a vision is clear, all staff will want to be included in making it a reality.

In organizations where leaders need confidants, it is crucial to keep them in a higher department. Keeping the confidants at the same level as the rest of the staff will make them feel threatened, and their freedom is restricted (Ján & Veronika, 2017). Putting the confidant in a higher position makes it easier for the staff to contribute to lead change management effectively. Still, in consideration of the staff’s freedom, the executive management needs to set up an environment for the employees to exploit their creativity. The employees are allowed to thrive in their creativity by accessing rooms necessary for the same.

Implementing the Change

Implementing changes requires thorough research and an adequate workforce. By making significant organizational changes, the leaders aim to attain higher success (Ján & Veronika, 2017). The last thing the leaders want is to control the retention of an employee. Therefore, several aspects need to be considered while making changes.

Change Awareness

The first thing about implementing changes is to evaluate the change needed thoroughly. The executive leaders are to study the market requirements of the change. A good change is one with a positive market change (Moullin et al., 2018). The leaders must also consider the power of the change to sustain the current market as well as the impact it will have on the whole organization.

Adequate research of the change proposed is significant so that the firm does not indulge in a change that will only be sustainable for a short time in a market. Analyzing the change situation is essential because it is not just the company to change but also the employees. Their operations will change according to the change proposed. It is necessary to prepare the staff by considering whether they are ready and able to accommodate the change.

Creating room for change in a business is not easy. The change will need financial, manpower, and emotional support (Ján & Veronika, 2017). The major role of the management leaders is to ask these questions. Can the business support the change financially? Can the available workforce able to bring the change? Is the business in a position to accommodate the change, operation-wise? And how important is the change for the whole business? The ability to answer these questions correctly is the first determinant of whether the current leaders can drive the change home.

In answering these questions, the executive members need to consider the budget for the change and consider the source of its funding. The available employees must be considered concerning the needed change (Moullin et al., 2018). If the employees cannot formulate the changes, new skills must be hired to implement the change.

The operation of the business must be stable to critically host new changes, or otherwise, the changes will cause confusion and even losses. If the change is not crucial for the business, it should be ignored, and only essential changes should be implemented. Making these decisions is important for the business before the changes are made.

Setting Time Frame and Datelines

Once the change vision is clear, the next thing is for the management to set the time frame and datelines for the change. The datelines should allow all partners to participate in the change (Waynen et al., 2020). The leaders should also be prepared for unpredictable ups and downs, thus employing total commitment towards achieving the change.

To reduce the chances of drawbacks, the management should consistently do research and keep updated with the current trends of the change in the market. This way, the change team will not be caught by surprise when a trend draws in with a negative result. Besides, it will help to check the growth process and in the making of timely adjustments.

Communicating the Change

Implementing change requires communication as a key factor. For every change in the firm, the senior leaders have to communicate the change to the rest of the organizational members. Communicating the need for change before the change begins helps in maintaining the trust of the employees and retaining the employer-employee relationship (Moullin et al., 2018). The employees will feel valued in the firm and find the need to execute the change accordingly.

At one point, the staff will criticize the change process, and the leaders have to accept the critiques positively and work towards rectifying them. Expanding the thought process will help in dealing with the critiques positively. The leading team has to look into the concerns of their fellow workers and take feedback from them. This process helps in effectively diagnosing the areas of concern.

Appreciation of Success

Telling a success story is a way of creating positive energy in the workplace. Every small achievement attained in the process of change is worth mentioning and celebrating. When the staff’s work is acknowledged and appreciated, they get morale to keep moving and bringing more good results. Furthermore, the organization members will feel more connected to the firm and will produce more (Moullin et al., 2018). The staff can also relate to the implementation of the change.

Making a success story is not easy; it requires sacrifices, commitment, patience, hard work, and long working hours. Since for the change to be achieved, all the workforce needs to be involved and work as a team, recognition after success should be given to the team as a whole. Such actions will guarantee future support from all the involved employees. The top leaders need to treat the change working team accordingly and with the respect they deserve.

Promise a Value

Even though the staff knows that they will receive compensation once the change is implemented, the leaders need to give them hope. Promising them added value to the organization is a positive step (Moullin et al., 2018). One of the ways to satisfy and retain employees is by helping them add value to the company.

Employees who do not make positive changes in the business feel less valued and may want to move to where they will create value. Promising the employees’ value means assuring them that the change upon implementation will add value to the business. Employees want to be associated with success and development that can be seen by the organization's shareholders and visible to the stakeholders.

From the achieved change, the executive management needs to observe the efforts of each contributor and reward them accordingly (Moullin et al., 2018). The rewards do not necessarily have to be financial compensation. A special recognition, especially in the annual newsletters and update of brochures, is significant. Knowing that they added value to the company is not enough for the employees. Learning that the organization noticed their effort is the most crucial. Acknowledging them in such a manner not only motivates them to work harder but also encourages them to be more creative.

The Impact of Organizational Change on Quality and Safety of the Business

To understand the impact of change, there is a need to first understand the cause of the change. According to Moullin et al. (2018), organizational change is significantly influenced by several factors that directly or indirectly put pressure on change. These factors are divided into two; external and internal factors. External factors include stiff competition in the industry, and pressure from legal, global, technological, environmental, socio-cultural, and economic forces. Internal factors include changes in management decisions, organization modernization of initiatives, operational changes, processes, and technological changes, among others.

By responding to pressure pounding the business from these factors, the organization has to undergo certain changes. The pressure demands the improvement of services, which leads to improved quality of the products produced by the firm (Ján & Veronika, 2017). Depending on the type of change made, which could be revolutionary, fractional, focused, or isolated, business operations are always improved. Improved quality of services means improved quality of the final product.

Depending on the factor influencing change, the quality of products and services is influenced directly. The quality of products and services in a firm is an essential aspect of the position of the business in the market (Ján & Veronika, 2017). If the implemented changes made a small improvement in the quality of services in the business, its value in the market would increase by a small amount. However, significant change causes huge quality improvement, thus allowing the business to scale up the market to a global level. It is important to note that organizational changes do not always cause positive changes in the quality of operations and products.

Changes could also cause harm or, rather, lower quality in the business. Depending on the need involved and how it was implemented, the change can be a hindering block to improving the quality of the firm's operations. Therefore, thorough research is necessary before accommodating a change because a negative change can cause the quality of the business to be lowered.