Buffl

Lecture 5

WP
by Wouter P.

What increases departmental power?

Ability to cope with environmental uncertainty: Departments gain power if they are seen to make the environment appear certain. Thus, marketing and sales departments gain power by bringing in future orders, diminishing the impact of competitors’ actions, and providing greater certainty about the organization’s future vitality in the marketplace. During times of economic turbulence, finance departments gain power through their ability to help the firm navigate its way. Likewise, other departments and functions either enhance or diminish their power based upon their ability to absorb uncertainty and make the world more predictable and manageable for the organization


Low substitutability: Whenever a function is essential and no one else can do it, the department has power. Think, for example, of the power of human resources departments when no one else can authorize hiring of new personnel or the power of technology departments that often gets to decide what kind of hard- and software a firm will buy and use.


Centrality: Power flows to those departments whose activities are central to the survival and strategy of the organization or when other departments depend on the department for the completion of work. In most large white-collar organizations, systems people have power because of our dependence on the computer and the information derived from it. Close the management information systems and you shut down the organization. Highly regarded and well-developed information systems anchor the success of firms such as Federal Express, Walmart, and Statistics Canada

What are steps that can be taken to Minimize the Negative Effects of Change?

  • Engagement

    • Trust is increased and rumors are reduced when leaders share story after story about the problems that are driving the need for change, what is known and not known, process, action plans, and timelines.108 When coupled with the personal involvement of engaged leaders and executives and a meaningful degree of employee involvement in decisions that affect them (at minimum, the ability to ask questions, voice concerns, and receive answers that reduce uncertainty), individual adaptation and acceptance are advanced.

  • Timeliness

  • Employees often want to vent their concerns and frustrations, and, at times, grieve what has been lost. If this is to be handled constructively, they need to hear in a timely fashion and be given time to constructively process what they have heard. Employees often want to vent their concerns and frustrations, and, at times, grieve what has been lost. If this is to be handled constructively, they need to hear in a timely fashion and be given time to constructively process what they have heard.

  • Two-Way Communication

  • Change communication needs to be two-way, as change leaders need to be open to learning as much from exchanges as followers. A variety of communication channels are available to change leaders, and multiple channels are best. Redundancy is clearly preferable to gaps. Exposure to employees’ feedback and reactions allows change leaders to adapt strategies and approaches in an informed and sensitive manner.


Author

Wouter P.

Information

Last changed