Advantages of internal and external change agents

How Does One Become A Change Agent?

LECTURES

In Module 2, we'll discuss three aspects of organizational change. The first is your role as a change agent. You will learn about how the skills, knowledge, experience, attitude, and behavior of the change agent affect the change process. The personality and image of the change agent plays a vital role in forming relationships with people within the organization. The nature of this relationship often contributes to the success or failure of the attempted change.

The second aspect is problem diagnosis. You will learn the importance of correctly identifying problems within the organization. A quote that is often repeated among OD change agents is, "Correct diagnosis of the problem is half the problem solved."

The third aspect is resistance to change. You as a change agent should necessarily expect a reasonable degree of resistance to change. People are usually fixed in their ways and find it difficult to cope with change. We'll discuss ways in which you can manage resistance to change initiatives.

The Change Agent (1 of 3)

Before we proceed further in the course you need to understand your role as a change agent. A change agent initiates change, espouses its need, and works toward its implementation. The change agent may be an outsider who focuses primarily on managing organizational change or an employee of the organization who visualizes the need for change.

Whether internal or external the change agent brings with him/her a package of skills and personality, which affects how the change process is implemented and the relationships of people involved in the change process.

Change Agent—External versus Internal

In layman's terms your role as a change agent is to handle change—regardless of whether you are from within or outside the organization. The status of the change agent influences critical issues such as low productivity and high employee turnover in the change process.

The Change Agent (2 of 3)

An external change agent comes with fresh and unbiased perspectives, with new and creative ideas. The external agent is usually someone of high repute with considerable success in change management and may already have the respect of the people within the organization.

Unlike an external change agent, an internal change agent may not have an unbiased stance due to increased level of involvement in the change initiative. This does not however mean that the insider is less successful. Often the external change agent is brought into the change process only when things are out of hand. Alternatively the internal change agent has the advantage of recognizing problem symptoms as they arise.

The internal agent has an already established relationship with the employees of the organization and may find it easier to gather information. The insider also knows who to contact to get specific information. The external change agent does not have this advantage and has to work on getting to know employees and gain their trust.

The trust levels may reverse when there is a great divide between the management and employees. The internal change agent may be viewed as an individual who is biased towards senior management. Employees may fear repercussions for themselves if the confidentiality of the information they share with the change agent is not maintained. In these situations the external change agent usually has an advantage if he/she can convince employees that confidentiality will be maintained.

Another key challenge is the availability of the change agent after the change process is complete. The external change agent disengages from the organization, which may need to handle any post-implementation issues that may arise. However the internal change agent is available to work with the organization on post-implementation issues.

The Change Agent (3 of 3)

You learned that internal and external change agents bring some inherent advantages and disadvantages with them. However their position in the organization is not the only factor that influences the consulting process. Consulting styles also play a very important role.

Change Agent—The Consulting Style

Supervisors are often classified as task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Task-oriented supervisors focus on performance and achievement, and relationship-oriented supervisors try to build and maintain relationships with employees. On a similar vein change agents, both internal and external, can be classified on the basis of the degree of task- and relationship-orientation. The pathfinder is high in both relationship- and task-orientation, but the stabilizer is low in both. The cheerleader is high in relationship-orientation, but the analyzer is high in task-orientation. The persuader tries to find a middle ground to achieve a balance between task- and relationship-orientation.

Research shows that each consulting style can be associated with specific skills that are handy during the consulting process. Being a change agent you'll find it extremely useful to identify your own consulting style. You also need to be aware that you should not be limited by your consulting style. Instead of bracketing yourself into one category and identifying your current skills, you may wish to identify critical skills that you need to build on.

It is important to reiterate that internal and external change agents, regardless of their consulting style, should build a productive relationship with the employees for the change initiative to be successful.

Forming the Agent-Client Relationship (1 of 3)

If you are an internal change agent, you'll likely have relationships in place even before the change process is initiated. As an external change agent your relationship begins when the client contacts you with a potential problem. You can decline from entering into this relationship if you want.

The Contract

After the initial meeting and probably a site visit, the first step is to chart out a written contract. This contract should define the scope of the assignment, the remuneration, time lines, list of resources, responsibilities of the client versus the change agent, expected results, operating rules, arbitration rules, and so on. Contracts are necessary but they can also be restricting if they are not flexible. Therefore it is a good idea to include contingency plans in the contract.

If you are an internal change agent you may not be able to define an all-inclusive contract with internal clients. An alternative is to develop a written proposal and obtain necessary approval from the concerned authority.

Forming the Agent-Client Relationship (2 of 3)

A contract is extremely useful from a legal perspective, but its contribution to the success of the change initiative is limited. The success of the initiative depends on the interpersonal relationship between the client and you as the change agent.

The Agent-Client Relationship

The agent-client relationship begins even before the drafting of the contract. The contract or proposal provides broad guidelines for the entire consulting process and sets the stage for the agent-client relationship. The relationship between you as a change agent and client progresses along with the consulting assignment.

As a change agent you should be aware of what the client expects from you. Similarly as a client you should be able to set expectations for the change agent. It is important to engage in impression management. Both the change agent as well as the client needs to gauge the other party in initial meetings. They should use their intuition to assess the nature of the other person and their commitment to the proposed change initiative.

Impression management plays a critical role in the change initiative. If you are a change agent you need to impress upon the client your skills and capabilities. In doing so you may be tempted to talk about successful previous assignments. Keep in mind however not to reveal the identities of earlier clients or share confidential information. This may cost you the assignment because you break the trust of your earlier clients and indicate to your prospective client that you cannot be trusted with company information. Instead you can show reference letters if the client requests.

Forming the Agent-Client Relationship (3 of 3)

If you are a change agent it is also important to assess the client's commitment to change and check if the client is interested merely in superficial changes. On the other side as a client in an organization seeking a change agent's services, you'll need to assess the change agent's degree of commitment. You may want to determine if the change agent will treat your organization as just another project or is really concerned about the success of your organization.

A change initiative will be successful if the relationship between the change agent and the client is based on trust, understanding, and similarity in personal values. While the relationship is cordial please bear in mind that too much closeness between the change agent and client might not be in the best of interests. For the external change agent it may be difficult to disengage from the organization at the end of the assignment.

Finally the change agent should establish a network within the organization. You learned from the systems view of organizations that a change initiative involves various parts of the organization either directly or indirectly. Therefore relationship- and trust-building should extend to the entire organization. As a change agent you will then be able to ensure a greater degree of participation and involvement from employees.

When you encourage greater participation from employees you'll observe that you are able to correctly identify problems and gather sufficient information to gauge employees' resistance to change.

Diagnosing the Problem (1 of 3)

As a student of organizational change management and a future change agent, you need to understand the role of problem diagnosis in the process of change management. Diagnosing the problem correctly is fundamental to implementing a change process.

The Symptom versus the Problem

When you go to a doctor with a problem, the doctor first puts you at ease, asks a series of questions about your symptoms, and tries to diagnose the problem. For example, you have a headache, fever, and nausea. The doctor may suggest a pain reliever to ease your pain but this solution is temporary. The doctor then tries to identify your problem based on your symptoms and narrows down the diagnosis to flu, stress, or bacterial infection. The doctor tries to diagnose the problem to prescribe the appropriate medication.

Note that the doctor analogy mirrors the change agent who attempts to diagnose the problem in the organization. Being a change agent you are the doctor and the client is the patient. There are two mistakes that change agents can make in the problem diagnosis stage. They may treat only the symptoms and provide quick-fix solutions without addressing the root cause of the problem. For example, you cannot cure a bacterial infection by prescribing a pain reliever. Second, change agents may not diagnose the problem correctly. For example, prescribing an antibiotic to treat flu may actually cause serious harm to a patient.

Diagnosing the Problem (2 of 3)

Here is a story of how a change agent realized the difference between symptoms and the actual underlying problem. The change agent was called in to help a company solve the problem of high manpower turnover. The change agent learned about various methods to increase retention in organizations such as raising pay and making tasks more challenging. Armed with several ideas, the change agent presented her list of suggestions to the management. To her surprise she found that the organization had already tried many of the techniques and had failed.

Out of curiosity she asked to examine company records and was given the permission to do so. She discovered that the turnover was high in one department, but the figures for other departments were at par with industry figures. Closer examination revealed that the manager of the department in question was domineering and hard to work with. Employees did not like working in this atmosphere and either quit the company or sought transfers out of the department.

In this case high turnover was only the symptom of the problem. The actual problem was one of interpersonal issues. Based on this information the change agent was able to provide suggestions to resolve the issues.

It is not easy to correctly diagnose problems. Similar to the doctor who received relevant training, the OD change agent needs to learn about tools and concepts related to the diagnostic process.

Diagnosing the Problem (3 of 3)

Using Diagnostic Tools

Several diagnostic tools are available for managers and change agents to diagnose problems. These tools are:

Performance-gap analysis

Force-field model

Systems model

Six-box model

Cultural climate surveys

Each of these tools has advantages and disadvantages. None of them are perfect and despite various claims, none can be classified as the best tool for diagnosing all problems. You'll be able to perform better as a change agent if you understand the advantages and disadvantages of using each tool, and you may often use more than one tool.

In addition correct diagnosis is not possible without gathering relevant data from the client organization.

Data Collection

In the doctor analogy the process of data collection is similar to the doctor asking the patient what the symptoms are. There are several ways of collecting data from an organization. Archival data can be retrieved from company records. Focus groups and interviews provide rich personal data. Surveys can be used to reach out to larger audiences. The type of data being collected determines the appropriateness of the method to be used. Some methods of data collection assure anonymity more than others. For example, it may be harder to identify an employee from a survey than from personal interviews.

You should remember that trust and interpersonal relationships play important roles in effective data collection. Data collection is also easier if support from top management is evident and if the change agent does not appear biased towards the management.

Data that is gathered is essential to diagnose the problem, re-evaluate the problem if necessary, determine appropriate measures of intervention to correct the problem, and assess organizational resistance to change.

Resistance to Change (1 of 2)

Organizational consultants and change agents caution against resistance to change. But do people really abhor change?

Change is not bad or difficult. After all who wouldn't like to buy a new car or who wouldn't like to replace their old wardrobe? The problem with change arises when it is forced.

Often while initiating change the change agent and management do not involve the employees of the organization who are usually the people most directly affected by the proposed change. They are often involved in the process only during the change implementation phase. No wonder then that they resist the change!

Fear of the unknown is another reason for resistance to change. The results from the change initiative are uncertain, and there is a fear of negative repercussions. This fear can be mitigated if there is a support mechanism as a buffer.

It is reasonable to expect resistance to change. Yet you as a change agent should also expect that there may be some who favor and welcome the change initiative. When this happens you can try to gather support from this group of people to sell the change initiative to the rest of the organization.

Resistance to Change (2 of 2)

Here are some tips to reduce resistance to change:

Use a participatory approach to change.

Involve employees in diagnosing the problem.

Welcome and encourage suggestions from employees.

Obtain employee buy-in to the change initiative.

Involve employees in the change implementation plan.

Provide employees information about the pros and cons of the change initiative.

Encourage the organization to provide a support system to answer questions and queries from the employees.

Do not make false promises.

Summary

This week you learned about three aspects of organizational change.

The first aspect was your role as a change agent. You learned how the skills, knowledge, experience, attitude, and behavior of the change agent affect the change process. In addition you learned that the personality and image of the change agent plays a vital role in forming relationships with people within the organization.

The second aspect of organizational change that you learned this week was problem diagnosis. You learned the importance of correctly diagnosing the problem within the organization.

Resistance to change is the third aspect that you learned about this week. You learned that as a change agent you should expect a reasonable degree of resistance to change. People are usually fixed in their ways and find it difficult to cope with change. You also learned a few useful tips to manage resistance to change.