Effective Change Management and Cross Cultural Issues

許詩詩

Organizational change is made manifest as firms attempt to adapt to environmental changes to gain competition advantage. Employees normally resist such a change because they are worried of unpredictable outcomes. Thus， change management is a critical organizational challenge. Public relations professionals and departments are often viewed as the agents of change since they are endowed with communication skills and knowledge needed to effect organizational change and amicably address conflicts emanating from such change （Burnes， 2009）. According to the literature， public relations professional and departments do the following to assure change in organizations： they communicate reasons for adapting to employees； motivate workers to enthusiastically be in attendance to change activities； reinforce and establish shared change vision； gather feedback from employees in adjusting to change implementation； and they effectively establish coalitions and alliances for change （Diefenbach， 2007）. But this is not the case as the organizational change should involve all stakeholders in decision-making， formulations， and implementation.

Effective change management is a process involving the use of tools and techniques in managing people to achieve the desired business outcome. By definition， change management incorporates the use organizational tools to help workers embrace successful individual transitions leading to change adoption and realization （Kotter， 1996）. Thus effective change management majorly focuses on people who are to be impacted by change. Consequently， culture has to be taken into place. For effective change management to occur， the national culture and organizational culture should be favorable to employees. The current paper critically reviews literature relating to effective change management for China， Nepal， and Thailand. Additionally， the essay explains on how the cultural factor affect issues in effective change management and what can be done in coping with such concerns in the these three countries.

Effective Change Management - China， Thailand and Nepal

Change management has been confused with project management in many instances. Project management simply deals with the application of skills， knowledge， techniques， and tools to project initiatives in meeting project requirement， whereas involves the application of such tools and techniques to manage people in meeting business outcomes （Ghobadian， 2013）. Therefore， change management is focused on people， while project management concentrates on tasks. In other words， change management is part and parcel of people's side， while project management forms part of the technical side in any organizational process， system， structure， or role. To this end， change management and project management are two parallel activities as clearly illustrated in the figure below：

Source： Ghobadian （2013）

As much as change management focuses on people， it has to be effective to help businesses meet their goals and objectives. Effective change management involves five activities， namely： motivating change， creation of vision for change， development of political support， management of change transition， and momentum sustenance （Gersick， 1991）. But these initiatives of effective change management are summarized in the Lewin's model of planned change. In fact， Hendry （1996） commends this model by stating that， "if you scratch any account of creating and managing planned change， Lewin's Model will not be far below the surface" （p.625）. The model is composed of three distinct phases， namely： unfreezing， moving， and refreezing. These stages of phases of planned change as enshrined in the Lewis model are used to critically review the subject of effective management for my country （China）， and other two countries， that is， Nepal and Thailand as far as management of multinational corporations is concerned.

To begin with， Lewin （1947） is of the opinion that the stability of human behavior is based on a quasi-stationary equilibrium supported by complex force of driving and restraining fields. He furthers his argument by categorically stating that the force of inertia which upholds the point of equilibrium should be first unfrozen or established in order for the old behavior to be discarded and a new one embraced or adopted. According to Gersick （1991）， the unfrozen stage in the Lewis model is explained by the saying， "you cannot make an omelette without breaking the egg." In other words for change to take place， organizations have to adjust by considering necessary measures for any eventuality. For instance， due to the promising economic growth and population density in China， multinational organizations enters into the market with the attitude of reaping more revenues hence they widen their production lines to incorporate sufficient activities. In reality， multinationals disrupt their prevalent operations to increase performance stemming which is rapidly implemented. Indeed， there is change motivation. On the contrary， Nepal and Thailand do not have large population hence attract limited multinational corporations （MNCs） （）. As such， MNCs do not freeze in the two countries. Such organizations create visions for change but are not motivated. As a consequence， they lack the foundation for effective change management leading to lack of success， fortune， and satisfaction among managers （Iguisi， 2009）. For example， Polyfiti is a multinational organization dealing in building merchandize and construction with its branch in Thailand that sells in small quantities， yet it provides to an established market （Gong， 2003）. This has made the organization to have a small market share hence the absence of effective change management.

Subsequently， moving is the second stage in the Lewin's model. In particular， this phase represents the actual change process. Similar to the analogy of unfrozen ice which is actually moving， an organization should be on progress as "point of equilibrium" has been destabilized （Gong， 2003）. Additionally， the organization is ignited to produce at its maximum potential. Chinese market is business friendly due to availability of raw materials， good infrastructure， and free trade area （）. These resources have played a great deal in making MNCs proper in prospects and facts in China. Additionally， Chinese leaders are authoritarian and， therefore， they embrace a work-centered behavior that assures task accomplishment （Lertxundi， & Landeta， 2012）. Moreover， this style of leadership mainly focuses on job progress and work procedures as well as elimination of stumbling blocks to progress. As far as this style is good in developing political support， but it does not suffice in managing change transition， a typical of effective change management. To this end， expatriates have been used by MNCs to accommodate workers from different cultural origins and backgrounds （Lertxundi， & Landeta， 2012）. In most cases， expatriates possess transformational leadership， which is all-inclusive making employees to be part and parcel of the organization. Unfortunately， Nepal and Thailand also adopt authoritarian leadership style which is only functional in such countries and to their citizens as well. To this end， employee voice in its various forms such as engagement， empowerment， involvement， and participation is curtailed. Nevertheless， employee staffing in China has been found to be admirable as opposed to the bureaucratic control employed by Nepal and Thailand consisting of a wide range of rules， regulations， and procedures that limit organizational control by other managers （Raymond and Oliver， 2010）. As a result， the shared norms and values which could have been used in directing work processes， organizational behavior， and other operations of MNCs are not fully exercised.

The final phase is refreezing. This stage seeks to make steady a firm at a new quasi-stationary equilibrium point that assures that the newly embraced behavior is not susceptible to regression （Lewin， 1947）. As in the case of the moving water which recollects again upon gaining a new state， the change process is stabilized and the new course of action is maintained. According to effective change management， there is momentum sustenance coupled with change transition management. This exerts persistent willingness towards the achievement of organizational goals conditioned by individual needs satisfaction （Vo & Stanton， 2011）. Additionally， in this phase the change resistance is overcome and a secure discretionary effort is attained. In China， the majority of change initiatives are established in improving performance and enhancing customer satisfaction （Goog， 2003）. However， most of counterfeit products emanate from this Asian country. This has been attributed to the fact that a steady change process is gained quickly leading to production of various products. Moreover， since resources are cheaply available， more items are manufactured leading to several substitute products and bogus items as well. But this is not the case in Thailand and Nepal. This is because attaining the refreezing phase is not easy leading to production in small quantities of genuine products （Ma & Trigo， 2012）. Thus， MNCs participating in China have to confront such production malpractice making the change management in China to be questionable.

Effect of Culture on Effective Change Management

Culture is a vital success factor for MNCs in relation to successful global human resources management. By definition， culture refers to the "sum total of the beliefs， rules， techniques， institutions， and artifacts that characterize human population" （Pulakos， 2009， p.24）. According to Anderson et al. （2002）， human resource is a dimension of both organizational culture and national culture. As such， Vo and Stanton （2011） argue that MNCs are faced with two cultural bedrocks that significantly influence their performance， hierarchy， general functionality， and norms as far as effective change management is concerned， namely： organizational functionality and national culture. Organizational culture refers to the norms and customs of people living in certain country， whereas organizational culture is the established way of doing things by organizational staff. Therefore， it goes without saying that national culture has influence on the organizational culture. This relationship is explicitly expounded by Hofstede （2001） model in light of the following five facets： power distance， long term or short term orientation， masculinity or femininity， collectivism or individualism， uncertainty avoidance， and power distance. These variables influence effective change management based on the country of study.

To begin with， power distance defines the degree to which people in an organization are capable of tolerating power inequality. Due to the divergent views of the power distance by the staff， a manager should ensure that he/she considers the extent to which every employee can contend with discrepancies in power in attempt to influence them to accept change. For instance， countries with high power distance like China are less legitimate compared to countries with low power distance such as Nepal and Thailand （Cook， 2013）. This necessitates an informed understanding of the culture from which members originate.

Collectivism verses individualism is a situation in which some countries accept individualism like Nepal while others embrace collectivism system such as China （Ehner et al.， 2014）. These two systems influence the manner in which employees execute their responsibilities hence the manager assures institutional collectivism that cuts across these disparities in the system to promote a collective action to achieve the objectives of the organization. In a nutshell， collectivism easily accepts change as compared to individualism. Therefore， Nepal and Thailand are vulnerable to resistance in embracing effective change management.

Femininity and masculinity is another factor that must be put into consideration when managing multicultural organizations. This facet defines the function of both the male and female genders whereby males are subjected hard duties and female lighter task （Deal and Kennedy， 2010）. China， Nepal， and Netherlands are countries grouped as masculine by Hosftede. Thus， effective change management adoption and implementation does not successfully go through， and this necessitates some mitigation to be put in place.

The fourth factor as enshrined in the cultural framework is the long term orientation vs. short term orientation. Since MNCs have futuristic plans of making their products to be known both locally and globally， organizations must be to be future oriented in the first place by strategizing investment plans to assure realization of organizational objectives （Pulakos， 2009）. However， organizations emanating from cultures which are short-term oriented find it difficult to implement effective change management. Therefore， it is only those MNCs operating in countries with long-term orientation that are able to realize the plans articulated in change management.

Lastly， uncertainty avoidance is a very vital factor to be investigated as well as far as effective change management is concerned. Uncertainty avoidance refers to a scenario to which a factor reacts when confronted with eventualities （Ryamond & Oliver， 2010）. In culture where there is high uncertainty avoidance， people tend to face uncertainties as they are having the ability predict futuristic events. This scenario is evident in countries such as Greece and China， which are very aggressive and comprehensively evade risks by whatever means available at their disposal （Cook， 2013）. On the contrary， in low uncertainty avoidance countries such as like Sweden， Thailand， and Nepal， there are vulnerable to risks taking hence they easily meet eventualities （Woods， 2011）. This must be painstakingly considered by the expatriate managers.

How to address Issues Brought by the Cultural Factor

First， the managers of MNCs should ensure that the power is shared equally amongst the assorted cultured employees to avoid tensions rising from power distance. This involves exclusion of ethnocentrism and prejudice which overwhelm effective change management （Deal and Kennedy， 2010）. It also encourages promptness of workers and promotes proper performance of responsibilities. Otherwise， there would be a series of deviations among the workers making it challenging to realize organizational goals and objectives.

Secondly virtually all countries should embrace collectivism since it enables the workers to identifying with the broader societal welfares as opposed individual endeavors and interests. This is a very key factor that if exercised properly， will bring together all employees to a single action unit that safeguards the expectations of an organization. Additionally， the managers of MNCs should be endowed with the necessary skills that will enable them to ensure objectivity and unity by all the staff in the organization irrespective of the various cultural practices and geographical dispersion； the leader has to ensure that there is an existence of loyalty and cohesiveness of the members of the team to realize a proper execution of the task through devotion and in-group collectivism. The division of the members of the management on the basis of cultural beliefs can adversely affect the operation of the organization in converting the product from mere export to a global product （Cook， 2013）. Therefore， united MNCs with their subsidiaries are needed.

Thirdly， expatriate managers should assure gender parity through minimization of the differences in the gender roles that is an indicative of prejudice in the management. Ensuring equality among the employees irrespective of their gender in the multicultural organization is the way to go. As a consequence， every worker who happens to be the implementers of the effective change management would be united for a common good.

Conclusion

Effective change management is primarily concerned with the affairs of employees or workers. It involves five key activities， namely： motivating change， creation of vision for change， development of political support， management of change transition， and momentum sustenance. These factors ensure that employees' interest in MNCs is catered for hence successful implementation of effective change management. Additionally， the Lewin's model gives a summary of these modules through three phases including： unfreezing， moving， and frozen. In the unfreezing stage， there is change motivation and subsequent creation of a vision for change， which is only embraced in China and not in Thailand and Nepal. In the moving phase， the change is put into action involving the incorporation of change transition management and development of political support for effective change management， whereby China is found to an active participant as compared to the two countries. Lastly， unfrozen stage involves momentum sustenance， which poses a challenge in the three countries. The influence imposed by the five tenets as explained by Lewin's model directly influences the operations of MNCs in the countries under study. Culture influences effective change management in fives ways as well， namely： power distance， orientation， gender， collectivity/individuality， and uncertainty avoidance. To this end， various issue are raised requiring mitigation such as sharing of power equally among employees， being gender sensitive， and embracing collectivism for effective change management to be real and beneficial in MNCs.

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