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Check out this comprehensive book about the technology initiative in schools published by the one and only ISTE.

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How Internal and External Factors Drive Organizational Change

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How Internal and External Factors Drive Organizational Change

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Watch this video for insight on how internal and external factors drive organizational change.

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Navigating in today's chaotic business environments is much like trying to steer a tiny boat back to shore while caught in the center of a hurricane. There are many forces at work that a person will need to respond to in order to make it safely back to port. Just like this tiny ship, today's organizations and their managers are faced with a significant amount of factors that require an immediate response, often in the form of organizational change. The forces that drive this change in business are known as the internal and external environments. This lesson will discuss how both the internal and external environments of an organization induce change.

The Internal Environment

The internal environment of an organization refers to events, factors, people, systems, structures, and conditions inside the organization that are generally under the control of the company. The company's mission statement, organizational culture, and style of leadership are factors typically associated with the internal environment of an organization. As such, it is the internal environment that will influence organizational activities, decisions, and employee behavior and attitudes. Changes in the leadership style, the organization's mission, or culture can have a considerable impact on the organization.

The External Environment

The external environment are those factors that occur outside of the company that cause change inside organizations and are, for the most part, beyond the control of the company. Customers, competition, the economy, technology, political and social conditions, and resources are common external factors that influence the organization. Even though the external environment occurs outside of an organization, it can have a significant influence on its current operations, growth, and long-term sustainability. Ignoring external forces can be a detrimental mistake for managers to make. As such, it is imperative that managers continually monitor and adapt to the external environment, working to make proactive changes earlier on rather than having to take a reactive approach, which can lead to a vastly different outcome.

Environmental Scanning and Change

In order for managers to react to the forces of internal and external environments, they rely on environmental scanning. Environmental scanning refers to the monitoring of the organization's internal and external environments for early signs that a change may be needed, to accommodate potential opportunities or threats, and to make adjustments to allow the company's strengths to combat its weaknesses. If you recall, one common type of environmental scan is the SWOT analysis, which looks specifically into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the internal and external environments. A manager will begin analyzing the internal environment by looking into inefficiencies inside the organization, and will then look outside to the external environment and things occurring independent of the organization. Environmental scans allow managers to use the knowledge gained during the scanning process to decide what strategic steps, or changes, the organization needs to take to create or maintain a competitive advantage.

Changing for the Internal Environment

To better understand changes in the internal environment, let's look at the following example. After graduating from college, Cassandra decided to buy an existing tanning salon in her community. Before Cassandra purchased the salon, it was in terrible financial trouble. Many of the employees complained about the general manager's leadership style, and the staff were often confused about what products and services they offered at the salon because the manager continuously implemented his next 'bright idea' with little warning, most of which were complete failures.

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how internal and external factors drive organizational change - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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How Internal and External Factors Drive Organizational Change - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Navigating in today's chaotic business environments is much like trying to steer a tiny boat back to shore while caught in the center of a hurricane. There are many forces at work that a person will need to respond to in order to make it safely back to port.

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Overcoming Employee Resistance to Change in the Workplace

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Overcoming Employee Resistance to Change in the Workplace

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Gain some insight on how you can overcome resistant to change in the workplace.

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Overcoming Employee Resistance to Change in the Workplace | Paycor

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Employees are often resistant to change. But with the proper communication plans and protocol in place, resistance can be minimized. Learn more here.

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Establishing Community Amongst Staff and Fostering Teacher Buy-in

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Establishing Community Amongst Staff and Fostering Teacher Buy-in

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Trying to implement change, but having trouble with teacher buy-in" Read this article!

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This article provides you with a unique metaphor for change.

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Watch this inspiring TED Talk about change in schools.

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The only way to change school: Jean-Baptiste Huynh at TEDxBergen

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10 Reasons Your Educators Are Resisting Your Change Initiative

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10 Reasons Your Educators Are Resisting Your Change Initiative

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Participate in this blog discussion about why educators may be hesitant about change.

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Here's a little something for you to think about over the weekend. Those resisters and naysayers in your school organization? You know, the ones that are pushing back against your change initiative? The ones that you like to complain about because 'the train is moving' and they're not 'getting on board?' What if they're right?
10 Reasons Your Educators Are Resisting Your Change Initiative

1. Surprise, Surprise! Decisions or requests that are sprung on administrators and teachers without notice.

2. Excess Uncertainty. Not knowing enough about the change will result in the "walking off a cliff blindfolded" syndrome.

3. Loss of Control. Feeling that changes are being done to, rather than done by, those affected.

4. Loss of Routine. Concerns that change will require administrators and teachers to question familiar (and comfortable) routines and habits.

5. We've Seen This Before. Expectation that the initiative is temporary and it will stay incomplete, meaning the best strategy is to lay low and not contribute to success.

6. Loss of Face. Change implies that the former way of doing things was wrong. Some administrators and teachers may feel embarrassed in front of their peers or staff.

7. Concerns About Future Competence. Educators can question their ability to be effective after a change: Can I do it? How will I do it? Will I make it in the new situation?

8. Ripple Effects. Change in one area can disrupt other projects or activities, even ones outside of work.

9. More Work. Organizational change often increases workloads.

10. Sometimes the Threat Is Real. Change often creates real winners and losers, and people worry about where they will end up when the project is complete.

Additional thoughts
As a school leader, if you want your change initiatives to be successful, you MUST address these issues. More important than whether you think you've addressed them is whether the resisters believe that you've addressed them. It's what is in their heads and hearts, not yours, that's important.

What else might we add to this list? I'd probably add:

1. Under-Resourcing. The initiative is not accompanied by sufficient resources (e.g., time, support, funding, training) to actually make it happen. So why should we bother?

2. Innovation Fatigue. Too many simultaneous initiatives. [this contributes to both 5 and 9]

Source
FYI, the "top 10" list comes from IBM's online Change Toolkit for educators, which is built on the work of Rosabeth Moss Kanter. The Change Toolkit is a powerful resource for school leaders who are interested in better facilitating organizational change. Learn more and sign up for a free account!

Scott McLeod [ cross-posted at Dangerously Irrelevant]

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10 Reasons Your Educators Are Resisting Your Change Initiative

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Here's a little something for you to think about over the weekend. Those resisters and naysayers in your school organization? You know, the ones that are pushing back against your change initiative? The ones that you like to complain about because 'the train is moving' and they're not 'getting on board?'

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Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation

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Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation

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Check out this book about organizational change and how creativity and innovation drive it.

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Students can save up to 80% with eTextbooks from VitalSource, the leading provider of online textbooks and course materials.

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The Effect of Changes and Innovation on Educational Improvement

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The Effect of Changes and Innovation on Educational Improvement

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It is always a good idea to keep in mind the effects of change on others.

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5 Strategies For Managing Change In Schools

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5 Strategies For Managing Change In Schools

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Learning to deal with the idea that change is a constant in schools.

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by Iain Lancaster
ed note: this has been republished from a previous post
We've come to accept that just about the only thing that seems to be constant in this day and age is change.

But we sometimes don't spend enough time thinking about how to manage change. Here are some things to have in mind before undertaking any significant change within a school environment.
1. Manage the perception.
Many people see change as something that just happens, something that's "done to them" without their consent and outside their control.
2. Make change a part of school culture.
Sometimes this is true, but for most undertakings within a school environment teachers and administrators have some autonomy as to how (or even if) change is effected. The more opportunity and encouragement people are given to have some input, the more control they will feel and the more "buy in" will occur with the staff. Research shows pretty clearly that a greater sense of ownership is more likely to lead to successful change implementation within an organization.

Just as some people are more comfortable with change than others, some organizations are more comfortable with change.

For schools where change is anathema (and they do exist!) starting with small but visible changes that make a positive difference is the key. As these small "wins" accumulate, staff members become more open to trying out new things. If something that's undertaken doesn't work, or has unintended consequences don't hide it, failure is also a learning experience.
3. Appreciate the skeptics.
Dealing effectively with setbacks is critical if change is going to be an accepted part of a school's culture. But jumping in with both feet, trying to "impose" significant change on a staff before its members are comfortable with new ideas and processes will doom the project before it's even started.

When someone is questioning a proposed change the first reaction can be to get frustrated or even angry.
4. Know the history of change within the organization.
Keep in mind though that it's always good to have skeptics in the mix, they ask the tough questions. If someone poses a reasonable question for which we can't provide a reasonable answer then we need to rethink something that's being proposed. It's great to be optimistic about new initiatives, but the skeptics are the ones that keep us grounded in reality

Before moving forward with new ideas always look to the past. What was the last significant initiative?

When was it undertaken?

What impacts has it had?
5. Always be aware of preconceived notions.
Organizations that undergo change too often (or perpetually) tend to become jaded about new ideas, and organizations that have had negative experiences with change will be much more reticent to try new things. There are no hard and fast rules, but as with many things in life, looking to the past can provide vital information regarding how things may (or may not) work moving forward.

There are many stakeholders in education, students of course, but also administrators, teachers, and parents.

All members of the latter three groups have been to school and most of them have some preconceived notions as to what school should be about. After all, the structures of school (both physical and metaphorical) have changed little over the past 200 years.

However, maintaining this status quo much longer is looking increasingly difficult, not to mention counterproductive. Change leaders must consider and respect individual notions of what school should look like, while at the same time convincing people that what they're proposing will be better.
Image attribution flickr users usaceeuropedistrict and josekevo
Not all preconceived ideas can be dispelled, after all, there are people that would rather not let common sense and reason get in the way of their opinion. But being aware of people's preconceptions (and yes, prejudices) can help as we formulate strategies and frameworks for implementing something new, and hopefully better.

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5 Strategies For Managing Change In Schools

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by Iain Lancaster ed note: this has been republished from a previous post We've come to accept that just about the only thing that seems to be constant in this day and age is change. But we sometimes don't spend enough time thinking about how to manage change.