Individuals occupying leadership positions within an organisation are essentially responsible for making sure that everyone knows the company’s purpose. However, if an organisation, along with all its members, misunderstands the mission, it is most likely due to the fact that the individuals in leadership positions themselves misunderstand the organisation’s purpose and vision. The organisation's mission is constantly evolving overtime, making it essential that leaders re-evaluate the mission as it continues to evolve due to factors such as the appointment of new managers or external pressures of change (Brans, 2014). Consider the following practical example: There has been a change of leadership within Volkswagen (VW) …show more content…
Instant messaging enables the company’s members to communicate and collaborate with each other from off-site locations, gives the company’s members the ability to manage multiple conversations at once, presents the opportunity to minimise language barriers through ‘text’ and not ‘voice’ means and finally, it eliminates long-distance calling fees (Kneece, 2015). The value of this is clear; employees need to be empowered with communication and means thereof. This step gives employees and managers various different means to exchange ideas, information and questions. Chat rooms work particularly well. Therefore, in terms of the dysfunctions mentioned above, company-wide conversations using chat rooms, etc. would have improved the communication process between manager/leader and employee as members would have been empowered and given the opportunity to ask questions and clarify any misunderstandings regarding the mission or strategy for …show more content…
Therefore Internet Relay Chat (ICR) services improve both peer-peer communications and employee-manager communications, ultimately empowering and giving each individual a voice on issues, or topics that matter or are unclear. This collaborative solution essentially allows top-level managers to track employee suggestions and harness transparency within the organisation (Kneece, 2015). Therefore, in terms of the dysfunctions mentioned above, horizontal and vertical communications will ensure that in the process of communicating the mission, strategy and consensus, employees are empowered and given the opportunity to offer suggestions and have a voice on issues and matter they are unsure of. This will essentially eliminate the chances of misunderstandings from occurring, or any lacks of consensus for that matter as both employee and manager are on the same page.
Therefore, based on the content – dysfunctions and the proactive warning system – mentioned above, it is clear that organisational change and development (OD), alongside OD practitioners, is an essential part of modern day business. Businesses today encounter various different problems, much like those mentioned above, due to the rapidly changing environment in which businesses operate in. OD plays an important role in rectifying those problems and coming up with proactive procedures to prevent any form of change, or changes, from negatively impacting the