Organizational change refers to actions organizations take to modify a significant component of their activities, such as their technologies, services, and products (Cameron & Green, 2019). For this change to be effective, organizations must consider how it affects their operations and systems and prepare their employees for it.
In this paper, I will discuss the change that I see as necessary for Bechtel Corporation, the appropriate change model, its applicability, and finally, the proposed strategies for implementing the change.
Change Needed for Bechtel
Although the Bechtel compBechtelory of development, modernization, and the trend towards sustainability, it needs to catch up with a new building technology, which is preferred: building technology (Modular building). For example, although Bechtel is considered the largest construction company in the world, the list of the 20 largest modular building companies does not include Bechtel's (Pro Crew Schedule, 2021).
Modular building depends on dividing the building into units equipped in factories and then assembled at the construction site. This technology relies on environment-friendly materials and takes less time, costs, and fewer workers than traditional construction methods; however, it needs higher technologies and more advanced technology, as it saves a lot of time and effort. (The Ark Hotel) in China was built in less than 6 days with this technology (Sun et al., 2020).
Change Management Models
It can be defined as a set of strategies and steps that can be followed to make a change (Smith, Skinner & Read, 2020); these models are numerous to reach more than 10 models, I will choose three of them and will combine them to make the change in Bechtel.
Lewin's change model:
According to (Levaseur, 2001), it is considered one of the first known models of change; it was developed by the scientist (Kurt Lewin) in the fifties; it consisted of only three steps, namely unfreezing, by determining what should be changed from the old method, then replace the change and put it into practice, and finally re-freeze and maintain the change and ensure its effectiveness.
Kotter's change model:
According to (Gupta, 2011), created by Professor (John Kotter), this model consists of eight steps. They are stimulating change, building a change team, identifying the dimensions of change, communicating with those in charge, addressing barriers to change, dividing change into smaller goals, constantly pushing for change, and maintaining and monitoring the results of change.
ADKAR change model:
According to (Ali, Zafar, Mahmood & Nazim, 2021), developed by author Jeff Hiatt and is the latest and most popular, this model is based on the initials of ADKAR, "Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement," the first is to make sure that everyone in the organization understands the change, the second is to spread the spirit of belief in change, the third is knowledge of the steps for change, the fourth is the ability of employees to make the change, and the last is to make sure that the change is going well.
Applicability of the change model to Bechtel
I will use a combination of the above models as change projects are often complex and costly within organizations as large as Bechle. It is important to think about all the factors necessary to make the change, both at the level of senior management and employees. Working for a long time in a specific building method makes it very difficult to change to a newer building method with the long experience of employees and getting used to one approach.
Bechtel's Change Strategies
In the beginning, I will define the change and evaluate its future impact on the company in all respects, whether economic or technical or affect the efficiency of the final product and the ability of employees to achieve. I will develop a new vision for the organization that adopts the culture of this change; based on this vision, a comprehensive plan will be developed for the steps of this change, with numbers and graphs, after which these plans and their results will be transferred to the senior management to add their comments on the change, then communicate the plan to the employees with a mention of the reasons for the change and motivate them to do so, after that, collect feedback from the employees and give feedback on the change, then implement the change in stages of varying size according to the difficulty of its implementation, then monitor the implementation of the plan and time to time, evaluate the overall performance of implementing the change.
Conclusion
Often, companies that want or are forced to change face enormous challenges, obstacles, and barriers to complete this change according to the plan and the initial vision for this change; according to these challenges and the success in overcoming them, change management comes to update the methods of dealing with the goals of change and see what is appropriate to implement it and what is impossible at the present time, change leaders must understand that some changes take longer than they think and they must act accordingly.
References
Ali, M. A., Zafar, U., Mahmood, A., & Nazim, M. (2021). The power of the ADKAR change model in innovative technology acceptance under the moderating effect of culture and open innovation. LogForum, 17(4).
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2019). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools, and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Gupta, P. (2011). Leading innovation change-The Kotter way. International Journal of Innovation Science.
Levasseur, R. E. (2001). People skills: Change management tools—Lewin's change model. Interfaces, 31(4), 71-73.
Pro Crew Schedule. (2021). Top 15 Modular Construction Manufacturers in the US in 2020
https://www.procrewschedule.com/modular-construction-manufacturers-in-the-us/
Smith, A. C., Skinner, J., & Read, D. (2020). Philosophies of organizational change: perspectives, models, and management theories. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Sun, Y., Wang, J., Wu, J., Shi, W., Ji, D., Wang, X., & Zhao, X. (2020). Constraints hindering the development of high-rise modular buildings. Applied Sciences, 10(20), 7159.