Drivers of World Change
There are essentially 3 ways to cope with change:
Option A: Make it happen
Option B: Respond when it happens
Option C: Be surprised when it happens
As always Prof Gurinder starts his lesson with a quote, the above quote was the quote for this week which I found really interesting because it can be applied to all kinds of situations in life. I think most people fall into option B: respond when it happens. Like for example during the H1N1 epidemic, Singapore was quick to respond to it, tapping on the experience we had gained during the SARS epidemic previously. Temperature taking in schools and hospitals; wearing a mask when you are sick etc. We were readily prepared for this tough fight because we knew the safety procedures that we had to take to prevent more people from falling ill. Even though H1N1 and SARS are two different viruses, the safety procedures were quite similar, thus the H1N1 epidemic was quite well-managed. Maybe if we were not equipped with the past experience of handling SARS, the H1N1 epidemic might have been a tough task to handle. Thus, the past experience we have can be valuable to us when we have to cope with changes because we would know how to react, hence we won’t be filling lost (option C).
Besides the above situation, the quote can be applied to the triangle (dominant players-rising stars-falling stars) which Prof Gurinder taught us during session 2. Rising stars who are keen to invest in new ideas would fall into option A: the ones who make the change happen. The willingness to create something new is how the rising stars in option A embrace change. Take the American multinational conglomerate 3M Company as an example. They react quickly to the changing needs of consumers these days by inventing great innovations for consumers to use. Quoting Charles Darwin “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change." Thus, it does not matter whether you are the best in the field or not, just like the dominant player. As long as you stay resistant to change, the others would soon surpass you and you would find yourself becoming a falling star. Hence, it is imperative that we embrace change with an open mind.
In addition, I found Reading 1 to be a good summary of the change that we are experiencing now and what is predicted to happen in 2025, which is in 15 years time. Change in the demographics of the world, change in climate, change in the world’s economy etc. Huge changes are going to happen and we are already experiencing it now. I feel that change is driven by competition. Without competition, the rate of change would be substantially slower than it is now. Countries have to compete with each other for resources to survive. Be it for water or raw materials. Hence, competition for resources increases their prices by an exponential amount because of the high demand which the country which owns the resources benefits largely from by selling away these resources. Therefore, the competition for resources has caused it to be depleted at an alarming rate because everyone is only concerned about obtaining it for their own survival.
Change Management and Change Leadership
Reading 1 - Human Change Management: Herding Cats was a good read because it brought to my attention the importance of managing change effectively in an organization. 75% of all organizational change programs fail because employees feel left out of the process. So, they may be unwilling to adopt the new system. I find this to be very true because if you do not account for the change and involve the people, it would be very hard for people to accept it because they do not understand why the company wants to change, thus unable to identify with it. Hence it is vital that the Human Resource Department of the company implements the change properly. It is easy to implement change in technological innovations because they are just a click away. They do not have feelings. You do not have to convince them to change because you are the one who controls them. However, when it comes to Man, it is a whole different story. Man are human beings which have sensitive feelings. Thus, you need to convince them to embrace the new system and change accordingly. Perhaps, the HR department should consider involving the employees when implementing the change because it would give them a sense of ownership and hence, the change process would be very much easier and more efficient.
I find the different concepts we learn in each lesson linking themselves together which is really good. :) I would rate the session 7/10.
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