Introduction
In modern economic conditions, an organization must constantly change in order to survive. A successful organization is constantly in dynamics; an organization is a living organism that is constantly moving in the direction of growth or decline. All organizations are aimed at development, and accordingly, their goal is to move only in a positive direction, in the direction of growth. With the development of the organization, the evolution of changes also occurs. The main reason for the changes is the action of factors external to the organization.
There are two important components of organizational changes: substantive and process. A meaningful analysis of the changes makes it possible to understand which organizational characteristics have changed over the period of time under study. Process analysis indicates exactly how this change occurs. The significance of changes in the organization’s activities is determined by their purpose, directions, organization and management features, facilities, as well as the benefits that the company expects to receive (Murphy et al., 2021). The purpose of organizational changes is to ensure the manageability of the organization and sustainable development. In addition, changes are carried out in order to adapt to changing external conditions, develop a vision of the future and creative potential, as well as gain new competitive advantages.
Knowledge of Chosen Firm
The strategy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization provides for the expansion of the alliance’s capabilities to implement the functions of a global policeman who monitors the world order and intervenes in its violation based on his understanding. In general, the provisions of the NATO strategy indicate the desire of its leadership to continue the course of creating conditions for turning the alliance into an effective tool for implementing Western plans on a global scale (Petru-Viorel, 2020). In the 1999 concept, attention is paid primarily to the issues of increasing NATO’s military superiority over any opponents and thus consolidating it as an indisputable global force. In the concept of 2010, the main emphasis is already on the development of issues of the use of this force and the maintenance of its global status in various conditions of the situation. In addition, NATO’s expectations include the systematic joint use of political, military, and civilian components in responding to crisis situations.
External Environment
The external environment affecting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is caused by rapid changes in the totality of two relatively independent subsystems: the macroenvironment and the immediate environment, that is, the business environment. The external environment is divided into the environment of direct and indirect impact. The direct impact environment includes factors that directly affect the organization’s activities, such as changes in the laws of the state. The environment of indirect impact on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization consists of factors that have a direct and immediate impact on the organization’s activities. These factors include the state of the country’s economy, technological progress, socio-cultural factors, political factors, relations with the local population and international events (Petru-Viorel, 2020). At the moment, rapid changes that have caused the need for changes in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are caused by political factors. These are the intentions of the state authorities in relation to the development of society and the means by which the state intends to implement its policy.
Theory
The theory of change is currently represented by a number of concepts, approaches and hypotheses. Some of them are suitable only for special cases, others are more general, universal, but there are concepts and approaches that form the core of the theory of change and are universal (Murphy et al., 2021). In relation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in this case, the organic concepts of change will be used.
In contrast to the mechanistic, the organic concept of change proceeds from the fact that an organization is, like a living organism, an open system in dynamic equilibrium with its environment of existence and constantly exchanging matter, energy and information with the environment. In the organic concept, the main quality of the company is the ability to change under the influence of changes in the external environment, constantly adapting to its new requirements in the same way as living organisms do, changing, for example, their lifestyle depending on changes in temperature, power sources, illumination and many other environmental factors. Since the need for changes in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization arose due to rapid changes in external factors, the organic method of implementing changes in this case is more suitable than the mechanical one.
Practice
Practical research shows that the main principle of changes is the constant interaction of the team associated with the changes and the project manager or organization in which there is a need for organizational changes. The authors’ experience demonstrates that during the implementation of changes, urgent crisis measures can be taken, their urgency is associated with the risk of serious losses, including financial losses, for the organization as a whole. For example, it may be an incorrect decision regarding working capital management or conflicts between top managers or credit obligations. Studies demonstrate the use of such a change management technique as the Slatter recovery technique (Ichsan et al., 2021). It shows how a number of actions are carried out, the implementation of which requires constant monitoring. These actions relate to the centralization of control, accumulation of assets, establishment of trust relationships and stimulation of the main stakeholders, an audit of all resources is carried out, the marketing component is updated and the corporate culture is improved.
Strength
When developing a NATO change strategy, strengths take priority in achieving competitive advantages. The strengths of the organization include such factors as adequate financial sources and high competence and qualifications of staff. The high art of competition and access to unique resources also play a role. Among the advantages of the system that should be taken into account, it is also possible to note a reliable distribution network and a clearly formulated strategy (Petru-Viorel, 2020). Outstanding competence, well-qualified employees and protection from strong competitive pressure are also advantages. However, inefficient organization of interaction between departments levels these parties. It slows down the emergence of innovation and jeopardizes financial stability, which is one of the main strengths at the moment.
Managerial Changes
Based on the analysis of theoretical and practical research and the main recommendations for improving governance in NATO will be as follows. First of all, it is necessary to rebuild the control function. It is necessary to strengthen control over the activities of employees to identify facts of unfair attitude to their official duties. It is also necessary to develop a more detailed questionnaire for a better assessment of the level of work (Murphy et al., 2021). In addition, it is necessary to constantly inform employees of changes in legislation and other aspects of their work.
To implement these directions, it is necessary to do the following. There is a need for legal and organizational regulation of NATO’s management activities. The main problem here is the lack of departmental regulations governing the activities of department heads. When creating such a document, it is advisable to clarify the entire system of activities (Murphy et al., 2021). It is necessary to take into account the organizational structure, as well as the competence, the list of functions and tasks assigned to it. It is necessary to take into account official relationships with other state and non-state bodies, enterprises, public associations and formations. The rights and duties of the chief, his deputies, heads of structural divisions and employees also need to be reviewed, which is the initial condition for the formation of a modern effective management style of NATO.
Organisational Changes
The specialization of the functional departments of NATO is an obstacle to the successful operation of the enterprise, since it makes it difficult to coordinate management actions. Functional departments are more interested in realizing the goals and objectives of their divisions than the overall goals of the entire organization. This increases the likelihood of conflicts between functional departments (Ichsan et al., 2021). Therefore, it is necessary to carry out organizational changes from a functional device to a linear one. In linear structures, the linear form of connections prevails. The essence of the linear form of relations in the organizational structure of management is that each department of NATO will be headed by one head who is accountable to a higher-level manager.
Expected Performance Improvement
The expected performance improvement from changing the organizational structure from functional to linear and conducting management activities in NATO is as follows. The advantages of management changes will include the establishment of clear and simple relationships between the divisions of the organizational structure. It will also create an opportunity for subordinates to receive consistent and interconnected tasks and orders. There will be full responsibility of each manager for the results of work, and unity of management from top to bottom will be ensured. At the same time, the overload of managers, incompetence and untimely decision-making, bureaucracy and inflexibility in NATO management will be eliminated.
Advices on Implementing Changes
In the current organization of NATO, the program of changes is developed by the top management, and then becomes mandatory for execution by lower managers. In this case, it is considered that organizational changes are imposed from above. It should be noted that the changes introduced from the positions of power lead to a feeling of dissatisfaction and, as a result, to resistance on the part of those people affected by these changes. The people who will be affected by these changes should be involved in the preparation of NATO’s organizational changes. Then, with the mitigation of pressure from management or in the absence of appropriate sanctions and penalties, the results of organizational changes will be satisfactory.
Before implementing organizational changes, it is necessary to establish how much employees should be involved in the process of discussing the need for changes. In NATO, it is necessary to carry out organizational changes with the active participation of those employees who are affected by them (Ichsan et al., 2021). This approach to changes may take longer and be more expensive than with the changes being implemented, but it is more reliable. It helps prevent resistance and creates a commitment to change. In addition, such organizational changes, based on the participation of employees and the use of their experience, allow to take into account many nuances that may be overlooked by senior management when planning changes.
Justification of Recommendations
Justification of recommendations are presented in practical studies aimed at organizational and management changes. According to Murphy et al., the successful and effective process of organizational changes is primarily facilitated by having a clear plan for organizational changes (77%) and informing the company’s employees (63%). With a small margin, preliminary explanatory work with the employees of the organization follows (62%), followed by confidence in achieving the goals (54%). The degree of involvement of the entire team in the process of organizational changes is 51%, 24% is the material remuneration of participants in the implementation of innovations (Murphy et al., 2021). The research conducted by scientists allows us to draw the following conclusions. It is very significant that more than half of the respondents did not realize, did not understand the goals of implementing organizational changes. Thus, they could not fully participate in organizational changes or accompany their implementation.
A comparison of companies showed that when using the recommended methods, the climate score is more beneficial, which can be seen in Appendix 1. The Multiple linear regression test coefficients presented in Appendix 2 also experimentally demonstrates the advantage of the chosen management style (Ichsan et al., 2021). This process, at one level or another, takes place in all developing companies. The situation in which employees do not realize, do not understand the tasks that are being solved with the help of implementing changes, necessarily entails resistance to these implementations. In another study, the Climate Score was more positive, which helped to avoid problems with employee resistance.
Conclusion
The problem of organizational changes is undoubtedly acute for NATO today. In conclusion, I would like to note that there is no single standard way of making changes within the company, because each of them has its own unique specifics and its own experience. Nevertheless, the art of successfully carrying out organizational changes from the inside is not only a matter of a successful combination of circumstances, and the solution to the issue of a systematic approach to such reorganization can be studied and formulated in the future.
References
Ichsan, R. N., Nasution, L., Sinaga, S., & Marwan, D. (2021). The influence of leadership styles, organizational changes on employee performance with an environment work as an intervening variable. Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government, 27(2), 258–264.
Murphy, G. T., Mtey, G., Nyamtema, A., LeBlanc, J., Rigby, J., Abel, Z., & Mselle, L. T. (2022). Building leadership and managerial capacity for maternal and newborn health services. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1129), 118–134.
Petru-Viorel, E. (2020). Nato-EU partnership: An important step toward accomplishing global security. Romanian Military Thinking, 4(14), 162–175.
Appendixes
