What are the major issues in managing change?

How does learning and development relate to change

management within an organization? How can the business impact of learning and development on
change be determined? Provide support for your comments from course readings and other sources you
find helpful.
Respond to at least one of your classmates' posts. Did you identify a different set of major issues for
managing change (explain)? Can you share experiences with change in your own employment history?

The major issues in managing change can stem from resistance, unwillingness, poor
customer/employee satisfaction and compensation. Other issues include: lack of motivation,
communication, empowerment or skills, unaware of cultural shift or diversity, not obtaining
appropriate feedback, training, and globalization and allowing people sufficient time to adapt
(Kotter, 2012; Rosenberg, 2006). Changes sometimes affect industries and the way an
organization may function. Therefore, if change is effectively managed and a new strategic
direction/vision is successfully implemented then it eliminates any type of turbulence, conflict or
confusion within the company.
Therefore, L&D is of vital importance to change management within any organization because
these traits/ skills must be learnt. Anyone who is a manager/leader must obtain certain
characteristics necessary to lead the company and its followers/employees into the right direction
while making sure the employees needs are being met and aligning those needs with the
organizations vision (Kotter, 2012). These individuals must learn analytic, problem-solving,
computer/ technology, ethical, coaching, organizational, trust-building, networking, personal and
management skills. Once these skills are achieved, then they must also learn how to gain
employee commitment and showing employees the value in the change process.
Changes are a never-ending or inevitable process that is planned and prepared and a constant
battle for survival and should be set as both long-term and short term goals (Kotter, 2012).
Employees should be encouraged to learn about and be a part of the change process. Having an
effective leader with effective strategies and high quality towards goal and not just excellent
management is essentially important in today economy (Kotter, 2012, p.20).
Kotter, J. (2012). Chapter 1. Leading Change, With a New Preface. Boston: Harvard Business
Review Press.
Rosenberg, M. J. (2006). Beyond E-Learning: San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Major issues in managing change are resistance, building incentives, avoiding consequences, setting
priorities, providing training, and giving people time to adapt (Rosenberg, 2006). Employers need to
address and alleviate the fears workers have to change by giving peer recognition, expanding job
opportunities, and preparing workers for the change that is to come by providing learning programs that is
determined as necessary that are aligned with the company goals.
People need new or updated skills such as technology, interpersonal, systems, sales, and project
management. Change can be determined by viewing competitors and seeing what is relevant and fresh
out in the market such as use of surveys and employee feedback. Since traditional classroom training is
too slow for todays workforce and e-learning can lack contextual understanding broader scopes are
being developed using mentoring sessions (Emelo, 2012). Collaborative learning can help bridge the gap
between what skills employees have and what employers need such as more self-directed learning which
can include peer, situational, and reverse mentoring (Emelo, 2012). Being proactive can go a long way
toward building relationships that are critical if a business is to continue to grow and increase business
ventures that in turn increase marketability and profit margins.

The major issues in managing change can stem from resistance, unwillingness, poor
customer/employee satisfaction and compensation. Other issues include: lack of motivation,
communication, empowerment or skills, unaware of cultural shift or diversity, not obtaining
appropriate feedback, training, and globalization and allowing people sufficient time to adapt
(Kotter, 2012; Rosenberg, 2006). Changes sometimes affect industries and the way an
organization may function. Therefore, if change is effectively managed and a new strategic
direction/vision is successfully implemented then it eliminates any type of turbulence, conflict or
confusion within the company.
Therefore, L&D is of vital importance to change management within any organization because
these traits/ skills must be learnt. Anyone who is a manager/leader must obtain certain
characteristics necessary to lead the company and its followers/employees into the right direction
while making sure the employees needs are being met and aligning those needs with the
organizations vision (Kotter, 2012). These individuals must learn analytic, problem-solving,
computer/ technology, ethical, coaching, organizational, trust-building, networking, personal and
management skills. Once these skills are achieved, then they must also learn how to gain
employee commitment and showing employees the value in the change process.
Changes are a never-ending or inevitable process that should be planned and prepared.
Organizations must see change as a constant battle for survival and should set both long-term and
short term goals (Kotter, 2012). Employees should be encouraged to learn about and be a part of
the change process. Having an effective leader with effective strategies and high quality
towards goal and not just excellent management is essentially important in today economy and
are skills mastered through the L&D process (Kotter, 2012, p.20).
Kotter, J. (2012). Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
Rosenberg, M. J. (2006). Beyond e-earning: Approaches and technologies to enhance
organizational knowledge, learning and performance. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

Hello Patricia,
You state in your response that Rosenberg mentions its objective is to move a
business forward towards its goals by improving the readiness and motivation of the
workforce to accept and take advantage of change (line 3), this is very signiant

Rosenberg (2006) defines change management as a set of strategies that focuses on ensuring that an
organization and its people are committed to and capable of executing business strategies driven or
enabled by innovations. [He says] its objective is to move a business forward toward its goals by
improving the readiness and motivation of the workforce to accept and take advantage of change (p.
256). The author said change management is crucial to implementing novel and solid approaches to
learning. Rosenberg articulates several issues in managing change. According to Rosenberg (2006),
one of the main issues in managing change is getting others to adopt or buy into the change. He says
another issue is that people may feel they are not adequately prepared or informed about the change.
Rosenberg declares others might feel the change is too disruptive or burdensome to implement.
Rosenberg (2006) states that if this happens they might treat the change as just another gimmick and
reject it (p. 256).
Learning and development relates to change management within an organization because as Rosenberg
(2006) reports, Training is often used as a change management tool (p. 257). The business impact of
learning and development on change can be determined by whether those who use or are affected by
new learning approaches willingly embrace them and the changes they represent. Rosenberg contends
that good change management programs help users accept the changes and believe in them. This
acceptance will help to sustain the change.
Reference
Rosenberg, M. J. (2006). Beyond e-learning: Approaches and technologies to enhance organizational
knowledge, learning, and performance. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Retrieved from www.pfeiffer.com