CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS

Change and Continuity in Contemporary Business

Abstract

Any changes, including the most useful and well-planned do not occur in the company itself. They shall be controlled. Managing change in organisations often seems more complicated than their design, planning and quality control and the degree of benefit from their implementation. Any changes in the company are often accompanied by painful processes which includes adaptation by the personnel. In many cases, this adaptation can be successfully managed by reducing the degree of resistance to change, speeding up these processes and getting a better return on their implementation. The objective of this paper is to explore the concept of change in an organisation when the organisation is deciding to avail the opportunity of going global.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Globalisation4

Organisational Changes due to Globalisation5

Resistance to Change10

Technical reasons for resistance to change11

Cultural reasons for resistance to change12

Change Management13

Helping Employees Cope with Change14

How to Implement Change15

Conclusion15

References17

Change and Continuity in Contemporary Business

Introduction

Contemporary organisations constantly face several challenges in their modern organisational activities and if they want to survive the consequences of global activities and positive and negative competition, they must fight for it (Kotter 2005, Pp: 59-67). Organisational surroundings change fast as industries struggle to retain their market share and simultaneously offer value services to their consumers. Organisational surrounding consists of both external and internal aspects that may have an affect on the organisational performance and development (Aldrich and Ruef 2006, Pp: 23-28).

Due to such alterations in modern organisational activities, there is emergence of new opportunities and strengths that businesses have to take advantage of them in to increase their productivity of their operations (Kotter 2005, Pp: 59-67).

Globalisation

Globalisation of trade is a sign of growing interdependence between humans, human activities, economic and political systems. With the development of new information technologies and communication networks, we are witnessing a boom in cultural exchanges, scientific, technical, expansion of democratic ideas, essential to advances in terms of fundamental rights (Aldrich and Ruef 2006, Pp: 23-28).

There are companies that benefit from globalisation and companies that suffer from globalisation. A company must think and act much more international today than it was several decades ago. When investing abroad it must also be considered (Pfeffer and Salancik 2008, Pp: 22-36).

Companies must actively take on these challenges and align itself more and more on competition. The previously existing strictly hierarchical organisational structures are broken, flattened management levels (Aldrich and Ruef 2006, Pp: 23-28).

The economic and financial globalisation is part of a liberalization of markets and the imposition of economic rationality based on free enterprise and the profit motive. This globalisation has extended beyond the economic sphere to encompass the field of social, political and cultural. The neoliberal model, which underpins globalisation has not only economic implications but also political and social. It has a vision for society that puts the economic and financial interests (Aldrich and Ruef 2006, Pp: 23-28).

Globalisation has created changes in the socio-economic and political environments in which work organisations operate and this has in ...