Managing Change at Faslane - Essay Example

Faslane requires managed change that would find this company at a better position compared to its previous state. To begin with, Faslane was entirely operating under the watch of Ministry of Defense and the Royal Navy. Due to need to cut costs and retain operations at the top of the base’s interest, Faslane introduced change that enabled the company decide to establish partnering program with an independent entity that would help reduce the cost of operations and at the same time provide the most effective services.

Therefore, Faslane collaborated with Babcock, a subsidiary branch of Babcock International. The Ministry of Defense signed this partnership with Babcock in 2002 that would last for five years (Schank, 2005:17). Babcock’s task, under the charge of John Howie, was to deliver cost savings of $76 million without affecting the activities or services provided to the UK Navy. In this case, Faslane took measures that would manage their strategies with absolute efficiency since the cut cost would come to Babcock in form profits.

Subsequently, Faslane introduced change that it managed by contracting an independent company that would ensure delivery of effective and quality services at a lower cost. In addition, Faslane comprises of a large number of employees and cost of maintaining them is always high. Therefore, in order to make sure it cuts costs to the lowest amount possible, it seconded Babcock close to 300 Royal Navy personnel and over 1,000 civil servants. It also left the remaining number of civil servants within the site together with the police, Royal Marines, and sailors to Babcock (Gapes, 2010:114).

This change of reducing the number of employees under Faslane watch ensured easier and cheaper management of the company. With respect to these alterations, it is clear that change is manageable at Faslane provided the kind of change introduced maintains the best interests of the company and adheres to its protocol. Furthermore, the strategy Faslane used to manage change was competent since its changing styles resulted in the company’s transition of mindset. This is because; collaborating with Babcock would ensure that Babcock changed the mindset of all the previous employees present at the site.

As elaborated, these employees were mostly civilians who worked at the site for quite a long time and had established empires. This deterred them from seeing the importance of delivering service to the Royal Navy, which is their customer. Hence, for Babcock to achieve its set goals and objectives, it was necessary to change the mindset of these employees who guarded the submarines as well as the ships. Changing the mindset would incorporate means of delivering service at the lowest possible expenditure (Schank, 2005:21).

This means that, even if Babcock does not renew its contract at the end of five years, Faslane employees would still have the knowhow of cutting costs and ensuring effectiveness at the same time. Thus, strategic management of change at Faslane is long-term figurative. Previously, if there were any change at Faslane would take 56 days for it to reach approval. This was due to strings attached by government officials such as politicians. Therefore, to some extent, Faslane had its hands tied up by unscrupulous and lengthy procedures.

Nevertheless, after Faslane introduced a strategic management change that witnessed the establishment of a partnership between them and Babcock,