Image Change Analysis

Introduction:

In many organizations today, change is more and more common every day. In order for companies to stay in business, change is vital. In a lot of situations change was not even something that was discussed and that is something that caused them to go out of business. Many companies are under strong economic pressure and change is inevitable. Change is important and is the only way for some.

The way we see organizations changes our understanding of what we may be thinking that is happening in the company according to various writers and practitioners. Depending on the view of the organization will determine how we manage the change and our ideas are influenced by our images, analogies, or frames that we hold, both from managing and from change. Therefore, using different angels and images is how managers should manage change.

Management as control and management as shaping are the two primary images of managing. Intended, partially intended or unintended are three primary images of change outcomes. Director, Caretaker, Coach, Navigator, Interpreter and Nurturer are six contrasting images of managing change. Each of these images rely on if deliberate outcomes of change can be reached and this depends on the images held while managing.

Management as shaping is one that involved molding the behavior of people in an organization by encouraging them to participate in decision making and to point out areas of improvement. Management as control is one that has a hierarchical view on management. With this method it is more of a drive, management pretty much tells everyone what to do and their roles.

Application Analysis:

New York Life which has its main operation in New York has recently undergone a large change. George the head of our IT department, New York, at the time had informed us that we were going to change our system over for processing payments to Imagevision. Since none of the other locations were given the option to allow this change, I would say that George's method of change encapsulates the director image. After the change was told to us then we received a list of requirements and when things would be done to successfully implement this change.

The next change manager was at our local facility in Tampa, FL, Art. His method of change had several images of Navigator, Caretaker, and Nurturer. In his role as the navigator, Art manages with having his implementation complete by November. There are have been quite a few roadblocks that may prevent the implementation from happening in November. There have been problems with the download and compatibility of programs working; I would have to say that these were external mishaps but some changes have taken place regardless. Then there were issues of when we could start using the program. They wanted and expert to come in and assist but in the