Brief Overview of the
Session:
As usual, we began with a recap of the topics discussed during
the previous session, which were centred round Industrial Development and
Innovation Management. What definitely left a deep impression was Prof’s
comment on the issue of sustainable development which was discussed in the
topic pertaining to Technology & Industrial Development. Prof showed us a
another humbling truth: “If
everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean & us resident,
the world’s oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years.” This makes me realize how
unjust my previous complaint, pertaining to how the US’ efforts in sustainable
development does not match its energy consumption, was. We are actually committing
the same error. I agree with Prof that it is nonsensical to say that because we’re
a small nation, we don’t have to put in as much effort because our consumption
and efforts are so miniscule in terms of the global scale, whether we take
action or not doesn’t make a difference. Even without considering our
shamefully excessive consumption levels, the issue of sustainable development
is global and worldwide. Everyone is involved and has a part, a responsibility
in sustaining resources for the future generation. Instead of wasting our time
on debating on who should shoulder the burden of supporting this crucial
change, we should all gather and focus our energy and concentration on bringing
about this change. This bring up the question on how we go from the passive seat
of change, responding and adapting to change, to being the drivers of change,
taking and initiating the necessary actions to bring about and facilitate change.
This somewhat brings us into this session’s
topics, the Drivers of World Change and Change Management & Change
Leadership.
Interesting
observations & ideas:
4A- Drivers of World Change
Firstly, what is a driver of world change? A driver, is a
factor that necessitates changes in the way we do things. Or as Prof simply
puts it, it is a factor that changes a ball game. There are numerous drivers of
world change, and therefore it is crucial to always remain open and receptive
to unavoidable changes in the world. We have to be adaptable to the constantly
changing environment in order to survive in this fast-paced era. Is that what we
always have to do though? To accept and adapt to the change? This thought-provoking
quote from George Bernard Shaw challenges that idea “The reasonable
man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the
world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” The unreasonable man here is one
that opposes the changes, and their accompanying problems, in the world. He doesn’t
just accept them and strive to generate solutions to tackle the problems that
were brought about by the changes. This link back to the critical aspect of
innovation: Innovating isn’t just about thinking up a good idea (the invention component),
it is also about actually getting up and physically realizing that idea by
integrating it into the market.
There are
many different drivers of world change, Environmental drivers such as global
warming and resource depletion, competition which lead to the creation of innovative
products and product modifications through companies’ drive to attain market
competitive advantage, social and demographic changes such as the Ageing
population, etc. The key focus here would be to be able to identify and focus
on drivers that directly affects your situation, whether as a company or an
individual. We have to be aware of those drivers and evaluate what are their
possible implications on our situation; after which we think of solutions to
tackle and minimize those potential problems. We also have to be able to
predict or forecast the future unknown and unseen changes those relevant
drivers will bring, and think of what we can presently do or plan to do, to
prepare ourselves for them.
It is
interesting to note that certain drivers of change are interconnected. For example,
Globalization causes increased market competition and changing world tastes and
preferences, due to increased international exposure and transmission of social
view, norms and trends. Likewise, competition is also connected to scientific
discoveries & Technology Innovation; through the drive and desire to
possess a competitive edge and becoming market leaders, companies constant
undertake research and development programs which have led to numerous
technological innovations and inventions. Another example would be how
scientific discoveries and technological innovations have resulted in certain
social and demographic changes, a currently prevalent one is the issue of Ageing
Population; advancements in medical capabilities have resulted in a much longer
average lifespan, etc.
We then
moved on to discuss the difference between Evolutionary & Revolutionary
change. Basically, an evolutionary change is one that is gradual and
incremental in nature, whereas revolutionary change is one that is drastic,
sudden and involves overhauling current procedures. In evolutionary change,
there is continuous and incremental improvements. You have to adopt an ongoing APDC
(Acting, Planning, Doing & Changing) approach. You act by recognizing the
need for change, plan what steps you have to take to go about solving the
problem, doing those planned actions, whereby in the process you discover which
approaches work or don’t work, and finally you make changes to your actions and
the situation. In contrast, revolutionary isn’t so gradual, it comprises of a
radical change, a complete departure from what you are used to. It was brought
up during the session, on whether a Disruptive change is the same thing as
revolutionary change. Disruptive change is a change that is irreversible and
unavoidable in your expected future. From this we can say that it is definitely
more revolutionary than evolutionary, because it constitutes a radical
departure from previous habits and methods.
Next, Prof
showed us a curve that depicts the different ways society adapt to technology:
The focus here would be on the Chasm. Early adopters,
visionaries are people who willing to think of solutions and try out the
solution with the initial defects. Conversely, early majority pragmatists are
those people who are willing to adopt new technology early, but they are
unwilling to accept the problems attached to it. They want a system that is
free from those problems and they are ready and committed to finding ways to
generate a working system that is free from defects. They will only accept
something that is already working correctly. Crossing this chasm is very
difficult yet vital. Once again recalling the concept of Innovation, inventing
a good idea is just the first step. The second equally important step would be
to transform it to a viable market solution.
Readings- The
readings for this session were generally to show us the different types of
drivers of change, and see how their importance and relevancy vary according to
country or industry. Reading 1 was from the National England commissioned
report, and its focus was more on the environmental and climate changes. This is
in contrast to reading 3, which is a report generated by the US National
Intelligence Council. Although they did mention climate changes, their
concentration was on economic (economic power shifts to China and India) changes
and world security changes (the issue of terrorism). The second reading shows a
more Asian context, being generated by the Asian Development Bank, on the
advantages and importance of globalisation for Asia. The 4th reading
shows yet another perspective, which I found particularly interesting because I’ve
never heard of it before, drivers of change in the Zambian construction
industry. Likewise, it cites different drivers from the other readings. I feel
this illustrates an important step in adapting and managing change…before we
can do anything, to handle change effectively, we have to first be able to correctly
identify what are the various drivers that are going to directly and
drastically impact us, and from there we would think of the possible
implications and solutions.
Presentations- I felt that the presentations provided a clear
example of how the drivers of world change are interlinked. The 1st
presentation, for example, on how social media has brought about a new
generation that will remake China, by Eric Sim, is about how increasing
accessibility and usage of social media platforms such as online forums, blogs
etc., has result in a change in the way people, especially youths, express
themselves. Gone are the days when ideas in China are carefully screened and
selected by the government before being introduced to the people. The people in
China now demand for social justice and government accountability instead of
just following the government blindly. Eric the China milk powder scandal as an
example, by saying that the government would not have taken action so quickly
had the matter not been blown up so internationally and globally through social
media. I felt this was a very interesting observation, and thought about the
India Gang rape scandal and the Bo Xi Lai scandal. Actions may not have been so
strictly and quickly taken has it not been so widespread and globally
disclosed. Likewise, this wouldn’t be the case had there not been globalisation
and advancements in social media.
4B: Change Management & Change Leadership
We began this second portion on how to differentiate between
a leader and a manager. Basically, a leader is the one who creates the
direction and policy, creates an appropriate paradigm, and the manager is the
one who ensures that this paradigm is follow and maintained. I really liked the
videos for this session, they were simple videos, but they were very effective
and inspiring. The first video illustrates a very interesting point on
leadership. The 1st follower is the one that makes a leader, not the
leader himself. The 1st follower is the one who attracts and generates
other followers, and that’s when an idea becomes a movement. Without this 1st
follower, the leader is just “a lone nut”, and he will stay that way unless his
idea is able to inspire people to follow. I found the 2nd second
video exceptionally inspiring and moving. Despite my not being able to
understand Hindi, the message was stark and clear: Unless you take the
initiative to do something about a problem, the problem won’t change and
magically go away on its own. The leader is the one who is willing to take that
first step and creating an example for other people to follow suit.
Next, we talked about the difference between responding and
leading change. Responding to change is adopting a passive reaction towards change,
whereby you wait for the change to occur first, before thinking of how to
handle it. On the other hand, leading change is a proactive stance towards
change, it involves recognising the need for change even before that change happens.
Prof cited a very good example of the 5th terminal plan that was
recently introduced. This is a plan in response to future national growth even
before that growth has materialised.
There was another curve that Prof showed us, which is the
Pessimism Time Curve:
The
key issue here would be getting over that peak and going from informed
pessimism to
informed realism. Informed pessimism is where you start to know
all the facts and become aware of all the potential problems and obstacles. Informed
is where you become prepared to accept those challenges and become willing to
take the necessary actions to do that. Like the chasm in the aforementioned technology
adaptation curve, this step is very difficult, and many people get demoralised
and drop off before they are able to do so.
Readings- The
readings for this second portion illustrates a few main points. Firstly, we can
no longer maintain the traditional approach to change management and have to
now embrace a modern approach. The traditional approach is one that involves an
unfreeze-change-freeze method. An organisation first unfreezes in order to adapt
to change, makes the change, and freezes again to resume its business course in
a steady mode. This method of managing change is now obsolete. In this era
where ‘change’ is the only constant, we have to employ the modern approach,
whereby organisations have to constantly adapt to change. The second key
takeaway point from the readings would be that importance of including and involving
employees in the change process. Organisational leaders should not just think
of the change themselves and then impose these changes onto employees and
expect them to adopt them as ordered. That will no longer work. If employees
don’t understand how the change works and why it is important and necessary,
they will resist and sabotage the success of the change movement. It is also
mentioned in one of the readings that “People only resist change when it makes
them feel out of control- when it is foisted on them without their consent”. Organisations
don’t change, their people do, therefore it is important to consider and
include the human element, employees, in change management. No one is going to
follow others blindly anymore.
Presentations- I felt that Yap Shien Tah’s presentation
on Jack Welch’s method of change management and leadership highlights certain
interesting observations. Firstly, that leadership doesn’t always have to be
formal. Jack Welch adopts an informal way of leading and interacting with his
employees. I felt this sort of relates to the previous point on how employees
have to have a part in change management. An informal style of leading results
in greater and less constrained interaction and contact with employees and this
makes them feel like they have a part in the company, which is a crucial factor
in determining success in managing organizational change. Another good observation
made is that smart leaders plan for the next generation, they are always one
step ahead. This is similarly essential in successfully managing change. Companies
have to recognize the need for change even before it becomes necessary, just like
how Singapore planned ahead and embarked on a terminal 5 even before it became necessary.
It is best for companies to think and plan for change while it is still at the
top, and not wait for decline to first occur before doing anything about it.
Session rating: 8/10
I really liked the videos shown in class today, and the
individual presentations were all particularly interesting to me this session….especially
Hui Qi’s presentation on edible burger wrappers… :S I wonder how they taste
like…hopefully much better than they look.
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