Creating change [Archives:2002/50/Business & Economy]

The Road Ahead
BY RAIDAN A. AL-SAQQAF
[email protected]
“The future is so discontinuous that we can no longer predict it,” said Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric. GE’s solution was to preempt change, to stop coping with it and start creating it. What a smart way of dealing with change.
Change is inevitable in this new millennium and building a strong foundation for change in today’s organizations has become an important managerial task in order to survive. But sometimes, even if the business is flexible and open to change, it has to create change in order to emerge.
Still, creating change is a difficult and enormous challenge. First of all, people are resistant to change; when people first hear about some new idea or change they refuse to believe that it can be done. Then slowly they begin to think about it until they see that it can be done, and then they do it.
In other words people have something known as status quo. It means that as long as they are happy about where they are and what they do, they wouldn’t make any changes. As a matter of fact the more important this thing is to them the more they hold on to it and avoid any changes. For example if you are quietly satisfied with your job and its pay, would you consider changing it? Unless there is a good reason or something new up-and-coming, you won’t.
Again, as a human being, we need to make changes in our lives, otherwise we might become extinct because it is change that keeps us fresh and innovative. We all know the importance of change but rarely we do it, because we are afraid: afraid that if we make changes we might screw things up for ourselves.
Fear of failure is as common as the desire for success, but when the desire for success overtakes the fear of failure, only then do we take the first step and change, keeping in mind that failure is to be expected and accepted. Life is like a game, except however badly you fail and go back to level one, it’s never game over.
The same concept applies for business organizations, managers should keep a close eye on the small changes that occur and know when the business is getting old. In fact, noticing small changes early helps you to adapt to bigger changes that are yet to come and as a result of that, it is possible to assess the potential effect of change and develop a plan to consider alternatives and start moving in a new direction. Such changes keep the business young and powerful.
Remember: Change is essential, and developing a foundation for change is vital for emerging businesses in order to predict it and act fast to discover opportunities.

——
[archive-e:50-v:2002-y:2002-d:2002-12-09-p:./2002/iss50/b&e.htm]