Change Management

            Prior to exploring the true meaning of change management I was clueless on the matter. Now I can say that without a doubt change management is an important part when it comes to business,  organizations in the field of social justice, and things in people’s day to day lives. In this writing, I will explore change management, change agents, their importance, key concepts, and how it all ties into social justice.

            To start off, we have to understand the meaning of a change agent. Change management is essentially the ability or practice of managing change usually in a workplace. That change can be technological, systemic, organizational, etc. The change management is done by a change agent.   A change agent is a leader or manager inside of an organization or business that are tasked with managing different change such as; organization, new ideas, or any short of change in the workplace. In order to be successful these change agents need to have leadership and change management skills. Management skills include principles and competencies that were outlined in the required reading. Some principles include; how people react to change, how people handle loss, and how many fear change. In terms of competencies, there are things like; knowing objectives, communication skills, being able to negotiate,  and the list goes on.

          As for the importance of change management, it is important because in many cases it is very challenging to change things in a work environment. Many people fear change, as they would much rather continue doing the things they typically do.  Essentially, people love having a routine. Moreover, managing change is important because if change is unmanaged, the lack of organization can lead to the failure of a company or business. Taking things off of the business side, change management is a great skill can that apply in many other fields. People who possess this skill have a high level of leadership that they can use in their personal lives, household, etc.

Overall, the skill insures that when change occurs, everyone is on board and the transition will be smooth.

          Moving on to key concepts that I found in the reading, there were many. From tolerance, cooperation, determination, and the list goes on. However, the most important concept that I found was teamwork. Although teamwork is not directly referenced in the reading, there were a multitude of factors that dealt with teamwork, and that is why I believe it is the most important concept when it comes to change management. Within the reading you have things like; communication, negotiation, tolerance,  and team building that all tie into teamwork.  Moreover, there are the 5 principles that all deal with teamwork. Some of these principles include; meeting people’s fundamental needs and ensuring that fears about certain types of change are erased. Again, without teamwork, principles and goals like these cannot and will not be met. That is why I find teamwork to be a key concept in all of this.

            Lastly, as for how this all ties into social justice, I believe the link is clear. After fully understanding all of the elements of change management, I realized that the skill can easily be applied to the field of social justice. Social justice advocates work with many public or private non-profit agencies and advocacy groups. If we treat these agencies and groups like business then the connection is made clear. Thus, A business’s goal is to make profit, a social justice advocacy group or agency’s goal is to advocate on behalf of those who are oppressed in order to see change. Within a social justice agency sometimes change is warranted. Strategies sometimes are not working, planning can be unorganized, and goals can become unmet. In this case, advocates like me and you can use our change management and leadership skills to fix these problems. We also need to value the key concept of teamwork in order to achieve our goals. With this, it is clear that change management can play a key role in the field of social justice.

          All in all, understanding the importance of change management and agents is necessary not only in the business field but also in the social justice spectrum. Moreover, understanding the key concept of teamwork and all of the other concepts is something that is necessary in order to connect the field of social justice to change management. Personally, I plan to use this newfound information on change management and become somewhat of a change agent in my community and or household.