Running Head: Organizational Change

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Name of the Student

Name of the University

Author’s note
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Organizational Change

Change is an essential aspect of growth and expansion. In the provided case study two

multinational corporations, owing to their personal as well as the interest of their stakeholders

have decided to undertake a merger. Both the companies have their set niches of products,

while Takara has its healthcare oriented production, Illoura focuses on researching and

developing drugs that cure terminal diseases. Apart from these both the organizations have

their own company culture. Takara focuses on having a progressive and am empowering and

an engaging culture towards its employees where they are constantly trained and focus

mainly on quality. However, the same stands opposite for Illoura as they have a very

competitive environment and their organizational culture is driven on grants provided for

research. Thus, this paper aims to understand the scope of resistance here concerning the

merger and the approaches to handling them.

In the provided scenario, resistance can arise from both the sides but a higher intensity

can arise from the side of the Takara group. The main reason for that is the employees of

Illoura group have not been provided the freedom of an open culture from early on and

change consultations will also be not be undertaken for them, however, the former can be

afraid of change owing to the reputation Illoura has concerning management of the

organization and the treatment of its human resources. They will be scared to change paths

and cultures as they have conflicting characteristics and remain unsure of their collaboration.

Resistance to change can be destructive to the organization as it can slow down the

process of change which in turn can be incur more cost towards the management (Amarantou

et al., 2018). Furthermore, it can also lead to disgruntled employees which showcase a major

affect on their productivity as well as can lead to strikes from the employees union, if one is

present. It can also lead to high employee turnover and cause the change program to
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miserably fail (Kroll et al., 2019). Furthermore, there might be several cases for the resistance

which encompasses attributes such as negative perception of the other company culture, fear

for materialistic avenues as well as their concern for the firm. However, addressing these are

of the essence to the firm.

Agency theory also might explain such as this portrays the employers to be money

makers at the expense of the employee’s struggles which might not be accepted by the

employees (Chen, 2020). Similarly, if so is the case, then the stakeholder theory will also be

excavated by the employees which state that even of the employers are looking to expand

their interests by undergoing significant change, they are also accountable to look after their

prime stakeholders that means the employees of the organization(Freeman et al., 2020).

Therefore, in accordance to both these theories, significant resistance might be faced during

the process of change.

In such a scenario, significant steps are to be undertaken. Firstly, the steps to educate

regarding the change process should be communicated to the employee base with the utmost

amount of clarity. Such interpersonal interventions are essential to make them understand the

process of change and the major rationale behind it. Additionally, it is essential to educate

them on the goals of the organization during the change period so that they can align their

goals with them and source common ground for the goal. Likewise, they are also to be

integrated in the change process so that they do not feel alienated to the core.

Furthermore, integrating organizations is a major change process that can bring about

drastic changes in both the culture of the organization as well as the job roles of the

employees. Therefore, adequate support and assistance is to be provided to the employees

while doing so. This is to ensure that they do not feel frustrated and incompetent in sliding

into the changed environment and the altered job roles and values. Techno-structural changes
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are to be well explained to the affected population (Galli, 2019). In such a scenario, positive

support is an essential requirement. Leadership is to be defined in such a situation and a

supportive environment speaks for a smoother change process among both individuals and

teams.

These are the views supported by the Kotters’ theory of change management as well

as the seven lever model which also encompasses assigning short term goals to the employees

for facilitating change and providing them with the satisfaction of short term wins (Rajan and

Ganesan, 2017). Providing rewards and recognitions can complement change management

(Galli, 2019). Furthermore, after such initial steps, relenting for obtaining the vision of

change can be undertaken as through the initial stages, the members of the staff would have

familiarized themselves with the changing process of the organization and would comply

with further alterations.

In summation, the process of change management can be met with absolute resistance

by the employees in most cases and doing so can prove to be detrimental towards the

company’s position. Therefore, a strategy to manage change and aid the members of the staff

to ease into it is crucial during such a process. Thus, definitive strategies bound by tried and

tested models and approachable theories are to be implemented to facilitate change and

integrate the workforce towards a healthier and a strongly built organization.

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References

Amarantou, V., Kazakopoulou, S., Chatzoudes, D. and Chatzoglou, P., 2018. Resistance to

change: an empirical investigation of its antecedents. Journal of Organizational

Change Management.

Chen, J., 2020. THEORIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. In Актуальные проблемы

авиации и космонавтики (pp. 386-388).

Freeman, R.E., Phillips, R. and Sisodia, R., 2020. Tensions in stakeholder theory. Business &

Society, 59(2), pp.213-231.

Galli, B.J., 2019. Comparison of Change Management Models: Similarities, Differences, and

Which Is Most Effective?. In R&D Management in the Knowledge Era (pp. 605-624).

Springer, Cham.

Kroll, C., Kelly, D. and Rates, C., 2019, November. Leading Change for Effective Faculty

Development Programming. In E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in

Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 181-187).

Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

Rajan, R. and Ganesan, R., 2017. A critical analysis of John P. Kotter's change management

framework. Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management, 7(7),

pp.181-203.