Abstract
Change management practices apply to business firms, and they are a critical component of organizational operations. A critique of the book, “Deep change: Discovering the leader within” by Robert Quinn covers multiple theoretical interpretations of change in modern business. The review shows how the concept of deep change allows organizations to reinvent various activities they do to enhance the value they offer their clients. The analysis also covers influential aspects of leadership and how they affect the actions of multiple stakeholders in a firm. The Christian worldview is also an integral component of organizational change because it shapes leaders’ moral actions and decisions they make. An overview of the book’s arguments allows the review to expound on the significance of change in modern business and how the concept has transformed organizational behavior.
Literature Analysis/Review
In modern organizations, change influences business strategies that leaders implement at any given period. Primarily, change determines a firm’s ability to adapt to multiple situations it is likely to face in its operations and its ability to deal with uncertainty. Quinn (2010) argues profound change helps an organization transform its thinking to cope with risks that may threaten its existence in the long-term. Firms need to reinvent themselves through innovative leadership to ensure they actualize their goals in an industry at a specific period. Leaders must be proactive in identifying the needs of their organizations and how they can fulfill them through effective deep change. By pursuing impactful strategies, they can account for different performance elements affecting their organizations to enable them to achieve their objectives in the future. The concept of deep change allows leaders to rediscover their resolve, allowing them to pursue strategies that transform business operations in organizations they head.
Summary
The discussion has illustrated the significance of different viewpoints affecting the impacts of leadership in organizational change. The influence that leaders have helps them explore specific habits affecting their employees’ output and improvements they must make to realize progress. Primarily, the discussion has addressed how successful influencers shape directions their organizations follow and specific outcomes they realize (Franklin, 2014). Alternatively, the discussion addresses balancing between profit and social sustainability and how such considerations shape an organization’s overall success. Thus, firms should take seriously different issues that are likely to impact their progress to ensure they conform to different expectations they have set. Incremental changes enable organizations to review specific change management elements that define their operations in a market. Therefore, they can get lessons from failures or achievements they make in various activities they undertake in specific periods.
The Christian worldview offers valuable insights on ethical guidelines, and modern companies should be aware of while undertaking different actions in various locations. Thus, Christian doctrines offer firms a useful religious basis they can build on to improve their internal and external processes to achieve their long-term goals. Religious teachings encourage business leaders to focus on critical values defining their existence in various industries, while undertaking improvements that lead to positive outcomes. Primarily, the Christian worldview encourages firms to initiate changes in different production processes they undertake to enable them to build trust with their stakeholders (Franklin, 2014). Moreover, the approach guarantees solid mutual relationships between the firm on one hand and its clients and employees on the other. Thus, the discussion has revealed significant issues determining change management issues in modern organizations and how they contribute to performance.
Discussion
Different theoretical interpretations affect how modern organizations adopt changes and specific results they expect to achieve in the long-term. For deep change to take effect, an organization should exhibit courage, motivation, and orderliness to satisfy all stakeholders (Quinn, 2010). Such sacrifices make it easier for leaders to address different forms of lethargy that contribute to poor performance in various units of a firm. A leader also needs to adopt strategic planning that transforms the quality of multiple operations that employees undertake in their workstations. Such considerations make it easier for a firm to streamline external and internal activities. Notably, high levels of morale and productivity allow an organization to be proactive in dealing with challenges and opportunities it encounters in its operations. Therefore, a change-oriented leader tackles uncertainty by realigning all tasks to the set goals to achieve positive outcomes.
The influential component of leadership is critical in determining the path an organization follows at a given period. Grenny, et al. (2013) assert that influential leaders encourage people to act differently to enable an organization to realize its purpose within a specific timeline. Such factors help leaders to build strong relationships with their subordinates that focus on exchanging ideas to enhance mutual trust between two parties. Likewise, the influence leaders have over their subordinates makes it easier for all parties involved to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Leaders as influencers can transform the attitudes of various people who look up to them in different organizations. Thus, they should propose new ways of solving different problems affecting their subordinates to improve their creative thinking capabilities. Consequently, such actions allow organizations to institute ideal measures that make all employees understand the steps they need to take to attain better results.
Managers should also consider peculiar factors they are likely to face whenever they introduce changes in their organizations. Drucker (2012) argues that leaders should identify assumptions influencing collective actions by employees in various departments to determine how they impact performance. He reviews General Motors’ previous business model to demonstrate how large firms often ignore external elements affecting their success in the market due to strong assumptions. Thus, market structure, consumer identities, and existing technology affect the nature of changes a firm can initiate in a given industry. Crucially, such factors require organizations to be aware of their core competencies and actions they need to take to be successful in the market. Modern organizations should continually challenge their product development systems to determine whether common assumptions that their employees and customers have are accurate. Such approaches allow organizations to transform their overall thinking in the long-term.
Alternatively, business organizations should note future directions they intend to follow to help them accomplish their objectives in various industries. Schultz (2011) argues that business firms must avoid distractions and focus on the core aspects of their operations to achieve positive outcomes at a given period. Using Starbucks as an example, the author insists that many firms are more obsessed with growth, making them ignore beneficial incremental changes. Thus, they need to challenge themselves by adopting new philosophies and strategies to improve their future thinking. Moreover, leaders should build and sustain connections with other people to help them accomplish various goals they have set in the industry. Progression of ideas allows a firm to strengthen the relationships it has with its customers using various products. In Starbucks’ case, the firm has a solid reputation for providing high-quality coffee to various consumers in its sophisticated establishments. Therefore, effective marketing strategies help a firm to change general consumer perceptions towards its products and services.
Change also impacts the direction a firm follows and how various consumers understand its actions in the long-term. Kotter (2012) insists his eight-step change management process allows a firm to develop a strong vision that influences its growth in an industry. A firm must examine competitive factors in the environment it operates to find out why it needs to adopt changes to its business model. Alternatively, it must focus on creating strategies that will guide change efforts to actualize its objectives in the industry. Such processes influence specific actions a firm has to undertake to deal effectively with various situations it might face in an area. Equally crucial, a firm should prepare for both wins and losses that are likely to impact its credibility in a particular location. Thus, such situations require leaders to determine specific elements of corporate culture, shaping their organizations and connections they seek to achieve in the future.
Often, organizational missions borrow heavily from religious teachings that guide leaders’ decisions regarding how to attain better outcomes in their operations. Auxier (2015) argues that the Christian worldview affects business leaders’ ability to participate in various initiatives that are crucial to the success of companies they head. Such considerations allow leaders to use their moral foundations to instill ethical values in their subordinates, leading to positive changes in the long-term. Further, the Christian worldview encourages people to be honest, diligent, decisive, and transparent in their dealings. Such virtues can form a strong foundation for a change management process because they encourage leaders to look inward in what they seek to achieve in different organizations. Further, they make it easier for people to be more selfless in what they do by making sacrifices that yield positive collective outcomes in an organization. Therefore, organizations should continuously instill moral values in their employees to make them more effective in the different roles they perform.
A Christian worldview also relates to change management processes in various organizations because it reinforces leaders’ beliefs in noteworthy social progress. Deep change processes should go beyond short-term economic benefits a firm realizes from its operations in a particular industry (Mele & Fontrodona, 2017). Even though modern firms seek to increase their competitiveness in various markets, they should apply Christian principles in multiple decisions they make to safeguard the wellbeing of different parties. Such considerations make it easier for companies to undertake social and business improvements that fulfill the needs of their employees, clients, and other stakeholders. Thus, modern organizational change practices require companies to do more in making societies where they operate more livable for future generations. Essentially, the Christian worldview integrates ethical thinking with modern business practices to enhance equality, environmental standards, and human rights in organizational behavior.
Conclusion
The discussion offers valuable insights into the process of change and its general implications on multiple companies’ business activities. Deep change is a vital concept that encourages leaders to account for various decisions they make while maintaining strong relationships with their followers in a particular environment. Consequently, the discussion has illustrated various viewpoints that shape change management processes in modern organizations and how they impact a firm’s success in an industry. The Christian worldview makes companies understand their ethical obligations to their employees, clients, and surrounding communities.
References
Auxier, W.R. (2015). A comparison of worldviews of business leaders from disparate geographic cultures. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 8 (2), 1-10.
Drucker, P. (2012). Managing in a time of great change. Routledge.
Franklin, M. (2014). Agile change management: a practical framework for successful change planning and implementation. Kogan Page.
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. McGraw Hill.
Kotter, J.P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard Business Press.
Mele, D., & Fontrodona, J. (2017). Christian ethics and spirituality in leading business organizations: Editorial introduction. Journal of Business Ethics, 145, 671–679.
Quinn, R.E. (2010). Deep change: Discovering the leader within. Wiley.
Schultz, H. (2011). Onward: How Starbucks fought for its life without losing its soul. Wiley.