Ethical Considerations for Change Management

Introduction

The contemporary world is dynamic, thanks to the various technological inventions that

characterize human operations in the business sector. Consequently, organizations are forced to

adapt to the changes as fast as they can or face the possibility of collapse or extinction. Effecting

change is a move to improve organizational performance and enhance a firm’s situation or

circumstance. However, change is also a facilitator to adverse developments within individual

sections of the company. Either way, there are ethical dilemmas that affect companies

implementing change in their processes and operations. Ethical consideration, therefore, is an

essential aspect of organizational change management, and the analysis of a hospital’s moral

change management considerations is applicable for the paper herein.

Ethical Considerations for Change Management

Two main ethical issues are surrounding the implementation of change in organizations.

Many experts view the role of change agents and the outcome of the unfreeze-change-refreeze

process as the main ethical issues. Organizational change requires the input of change agents to

implement their theoretical perspectives and strategies. The implementation process, though, is

subject to minimum ethical standards with which the agents of change must comply. The

minimum ethical standards for change management requires agents to commit to confidentiality,

refrain from coercing the various stakeholders, and limit their promises to realistic objectives for

the company. Unfortunately, most change agents ignore such standards and resort to

questionable tactics to ensure their positions on the change processes are adopted. Experts and

research indicate that change agents abuse confidentiality, flout stakeholders’ privacy rights, and

explore for weaknesses of the said stakeholders for potential coercive purposes. Blackmail,