Preparing for My Career
Ethics Dilemma
Only 1 in f organizations offers some stress management programs for the welfare of the employees. Though organizations offer these programs, many do not participate in it. But why? This is because employees have the insecurity to lose job so they fear to ask help. There is stigma associated with every stress. People don’t want to show that they are incapable of handling the demand of the jobs. Employees don’t want to admit that they need help. What are the suggestions to overcome this? Do organizations have that ethical responsibility of helping employees to deal with the stress?
Skills Exercise
Developing your change management skills
As we all know that managers have achief role in the organizations change process. They are basically the catalyst of the change and serve to lead the change and make them successful. But what is difficult for the managers to handle is that such changes are mostly resisted by their employees. As changes represent uncertainty and ambiguity employees fear to move on with the changes. It threatens their status quo. Now how to effectively manage such resistance of changing? Following are few suggestions that can help in this matter:
Steps to Practice the Skills
A. Assessment of the environment for change: the reason why certain changes are successful in history but others fail to do is because of the readiness of the environment of the organization to change. To assess the climate it will need to ask several questions about the environment of the organization. The more affirmative replies you will get the more you will succeed to change. Following are some questions that will guide you how to investigate the environment:
- Do the sponsor in this change high in the firm to deal with the resistance of changing?
- Do the senior managers are supportive enough to conduct the change & committed towards it?
- Are the senior managers are conveying the necessity of this change & making other aware about the change process? Check whether this feeling is equally spread within other.
- Are the managers are completely aware of the consequences that will happen after this change will take place?
- Are proper measures taken to make the change happen properly? Does the organization have reward system to make the change process successful?
- Is this change effort equally consistent with others change efforts?
- Do the manager of the organization ready to sacrifice his own self interest for the goodness of the company?
- Are the managers do pride themselves for closely monitoring actions and changes by competitors?
- Is organizational structure completely flexible?
- Are employees and managers rewarded for being innovative, taking risks, & looking for better and new solutions?
- Is there communication quiet efficient within the organisation? Does it flow up & down within the organization?
- Are the employees and managers satisfied with the management & do the employees trust them?
- Are the changes which were made in the past having successful records? What were the changes that were made in past?
- Is there proper co operation and interaction between the organizational units?
- Are every suggestion taken into account? How long do they take to make decisions?
B. Take in account a proper approach with which you can handle the resistance to change: There are 6 strategies in the chapter that are suggested to deal with eth resistance. This includes participation, communication & educations, support and facilitation, manipulation & co operation, negotiation and coercion. See exhibit 6-5 for advantages & disadvantages & find out when it will be best for using them.
C. As the change is about to happen or after it is completed talk to your employees and assure them the benefits that they will get but implementing the change: Every person needs support and security before doing something new. Similarly employees needs support and need to know the advantage that they will get after the change takes place. Provide every assistance that your employees will need during the change happens. Your employees should have complete faith and trust in you.
Practicing Skills
Read the scenario written below. Write down notes on how you can handle or manage the situation. Also refer any 3 suggestions you prefer to manage the below situation.
You are nursing supervisor in a hospital who manages both the emergency department and the outdoor area. There are nurse team in each department. Every nurse in the team works exclusively and does almost same jobs. According to your professional education you know that cross nursing training is very much required to improve health of patients and lower the costs. So to implement this new training you have called the chief nurse from both the departments’ names Mary and Suzie to your office for discussing and training them about this. But then you find they are opposite to this idea. Mary says that the emergency department nurses are needed to be in the emergency room because they think that they fulfil the most important tasks in emergency situations whereas Mary also feels that the floor nurses performs much easier jobs than them. Now Suzie the head of the floor nurse department has an opposite idea regarding this. She feels that the job of floor nurses are tough than the emergency department nurses. They claim that they have to face difficult situations because they have to keep continuous contact with the patient’s families. So they feel they should not be pulled away from important floor duties to help the ER nurses finish their tasks. If this is the situation what will you do to solve the problem?
Working Together
Team Exercise
It is expected that within 2011 all companies of the world will in the process of changing to IFRS International Financial reporting Standards. In us where GAAP have been the original standard for many years, this change to IFRS will lead to several other changes such as accounting service firms & other business organizations that will; adhere to this new standard. Make a team of 3 to 4people. This team will lead the changes that will happen in your firm. You will have to make sure that the change process goes smoothly. What are the steps and initiatives the team members need to do so? Use the 2 topics to guide your firm to implement the changing process smoothly. 1- Using education and communication as a source to inform and engage employees. 2- Building needed capabilities and skills.
Come up with a plan that can address each of the issues.
My turn to become a Manager
- You should take responsibility about your future. Do not depend on employees or any other source for providing you training opportunities and career development. Sign up right now for such things that can enhance skills such as workshops, education courses, seminars tec.
- Try to handle changes. Find out what is stopping you from processing those changes. Learn from the records of other managers.
- Pay attention on how other can manage changes. When any family member or friend resists changing try to find out the reason behind it.
- If you find yourself having dysfunctional stress, find out what is the reason behind the stress. What are the stress symptoms you have? And how to deal with it? Write everything down and evaluate how the stress reducers are working and to how much amount you have been able to reduce stress. Your aim is to find out the stress factor and take actions to overcome the stress. This will help you out solve your own problems by yourself.
- Find out through researches on hoe you can be a creative person. You can write it down on a sheet of paper and tech your students in a class about how to be creative.
- What is innovation? Is it about stopping an old process or creating something new? Write for and against the argument. Illustrate each of the views.
- Choose any 2 companies that you are well known to. Find out whether these companies are facing white water rapids or calm water environment. Write them down and explain how these organizations are facing the above two environment. Describe whatever you have learnt from assessing their environment type and also mention which one you would prefer?
- Choose an organization that you are well known to (student organization, employer, family business etc). Explain the organization culture that is persisting in the company. Select any two values or beliefs of the organization that you would want to change. Mention why you would change them and what all you can do to bring the change. Make a report about the information.
- What according to you is a good manager? What 3 things chiefly you have learnt from this chapter about being a perfect manager?
- A powerful learning and useful tool is self-knowledge. Check the my management lab dot com 7 try to complete any these below self assessments exercise: How Well Do I Respond to Turbulent
Change? How Well Do I Handle Ambiguity?How Creative Am I? Am I Burned Out? How Stressed Is My Life?
Identify your personal strengths & weakness by solving out these exercises at your own. This is the best way to know yourself how capable you are to become a perfect manager. After assessing yourself what steps you are going to take to enhance your strength and overcome your weakness?
Links of Previous Main Topic:-
- management and organizations a managers dilemma
- Understanding managements context constraints and challenges
- Managing in a global environment
- Managing diversity
- What is social responsibility
- Managing change and innovation
- The change process
- Case application 1 too big to change
- Case application 2 stress kills
- The summary of the chapter by learning outcomes
Links of Next Fundamentals of Management Topics:-
