Lewins Planned Change Model - Case Study Example

 Organizational Change: Peppercorn Dining 1. Planned Change 1.A. Lewin’s Planned Change Model The Planned Change Model of Kurt Lewin can be applied to the case of Peppercorn Dining which focuses upon changing the overall organizational environment into a more pleasant place to work for its employees. The first step of the model i.e. “unfreezing” can be applied to the case by surveying the attitudes or the behaviors of all workings staffs of Peppercorn Dining. In order to make Peppercorn Dining a better place to work for, the phase of “unfreezing” would assist the staffs to identify the need for change. Consequently, the “moving to a new level” or the transition phase of the model can be applied to the case by building effective communication with the staff after acquiring an idea about their beliefs and attitudes. Ultimately, the “refreezing” stage of the model would train and conduct frequent meetings with staffs to make change in the place of work on permanent or enduring basis (Burnes, 2004). 1.B. Action Research Model From the perspective of the initial step, i.e. entry or problem identification, it has been viewed that the morale of the employees in Peppercorn Dining was lowering irrespective of the fact that the organization attempted to largely value the productivity of its staffs. In this regard, the organization was willing to make changes in order to create a better workplace for everyone. In relation to the second step of contracting, the assessment of employees’ thoughts, beliefs and attitudes was conducted. Moreover, the evaluation of the kitchen environment, in which the staffs of Peppercorn Dining prepared attractive stuffs for the customers, was performed in the case. With regard to the third step of the Action Research Model, i.e. diagnosis which concentrates on data gathering and preliminary diagnosis, different operational service areas and administrative information have been gathered. Furthermore, in relation to preliminary diagnosis, the recruitment as well as the perseverance of a professional management staff who can comply with any sort of challenges that might arise while performing operational functions was also adopted in the case (Nunes & McPherson, 2004). 2. Collecting Data 2.A. Methods With reference to the case of Peppercorn Dinning, the OD consultant, i.e. Roger and the management of the restaurant, initiated a data collection process which was focused on accumulating adequate information by means of personal interviews and continuous observations. The management also scrutinized the organizational goals, rules, regulations and policies among others when obtaining data with the sole intention of identifying the need for change in particular managerial areas. It is in this context the techniques of informal interviews and continuous observations in the natural setting of the workplace provided with the vital scope for obtaining actual data to support the change program. It can also be observed as a time-efficient and cost-effective process. Apart from these advantages, the used techniques also imposed a few significant limitations. For instance, the use of unstructured interviews through informal interactions implied that the findings were much depended on the perceptions of the interviewers, which created discrepancies in data interpretation. Moreover, reassessment of the data gathered and information interpreted was not considered, which further limited the reliability of the process implemented. In this regard, the management and the OD consultant could have used structured survey process to obtain the feedbacks from the participants, i.e. the employees along with the observation method. This would have reduced the influence caused by the perceptions of the interviewers and the observers thereby assisting in the generation of highly reliable information. Furthermore, no specification was made by the management or Roger regarding the sample size of the data collection process. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the entire workforce population should have been considered by the management to obtain adequate information regarding the change problem. Apart from employees in Peppercorn Dinning, customers could have also been interviewed so as to obtain their viewpoints regarding the need for change in the restaurant services. This would have augmented the organizational efficiency in satisfying the need of the customers (Cummings & Worley, 2008). 2.B. Questions 1. Do you think that change is required to make profitability and to improve organizational effectiveness? 2. Does the aspect of staffing affects the quality and the productivity of any organization? 3. Does proper analysis and change in the operational service areas would support the management of Peppercorn Dining to make the organization a pleasant place to work for? 4. Can the management of Peppercorn bring change in terms of improving organizational effectiveness and morale of its employees by working upon its administrative functions? The importance of the initial question concentrates on the fact that the management of an organization requires implementing certain changes in order to improve their organizational effectiveness. Likewise, the significance of the second question lies in the reality that improper staffing functions can significantly affect the work quality as well as the productivity by a considerable level. In this regard, any organization needs to recruit professional management staffs in order to enhance quality along with organizational effectiveness. The importance of the third question further aims at assisting a proper analysis of the change required in the operational service areas which might support Peppercorn Dining to make a better place to work for its employees. This may be due to the introduction of new operational procedures which might increase the morale of the employees at large. Moreover, by working upon or introducing certain innovative administrative functions, an organization can substantially improve its operational effectiveness in the long-run. Contextually, the new administrative functions may include modified payment structure for the employees and alterations in the routine office tasks among others (Quattrone & Hopper, 2001). 3. Feeding back Diagnostic data 3.A. Force -Field Analysis The aspects of introducing new technology and better raw materials can be considered as the driving forces in the context of Peppercorn Dining because both these factors can influence considerable changes in improving organizational effectiveness. The formation of innovative technologies might change the service operational areas of any organization, such as Peppercorn Dining. Moreover, the implementation of better raw materials would enhance the service quality as well as productivity of the organization by a greater extent. Furthermore, the features which include competition from other groups and supervisor pressures have also been noted as major driving forces. In order to compete with the major competitors, Peppercorn Dining requires changing its operational service areas and administrative functions. The pressures of the supervisors of any organization relating to change would ultimately enhance the work quality and organizational effectiveness at large due to their active involvement in various work procedures. Conversely, the factors such as group performance norms and fear of change are regarded to be resisting forces towards organizational change. The performance of the group would ultimately support the expected changes in order to improve profitability and organizational effectiveness of an organization. The introduction of new technologies and better raw materials can bring a fear of change of any organization as it requires huge investments to perform these significant activities. The facets of member compliancy and well-learned skills as a resisting force can bring higher performance level for any organization due to the involvement of superior level of work training programs. 3.B. Organizational Culture The organizational culture of Peppercorn Dining can be presented by taking into concern certain significant inputs and design components. The inputs may include general environment and industry structure. Similarly, the design components might comprise technology and human resource systems among others. In relation to the inputs required in the change model, it has been identified that the general business environment of Peppercorn Dining possessed good looking kitchen in which it prepares best food stuffs for the valuable customers. The industry structure of Peppercorn laid in valuing the productivity of its employees as they largely contributed the organization to make better food stuffs for the customers. From the viewpoint of design components relating to human resource systems, it has been observed that the Peppercorn possessed the strategy of employing full-time employees and student workers for the motive of increasing their profitability and productivity. It has been learned from the courses of contemporary management and organizational behavior regarding organizational culture that the several components of inputs and design components might improve the organizational effectiveness at large. Moreover, the courses also affirmed that the proper execution of the inputs as well as design components might lead an organization to fulfill its desired business objectives by a considerable level. 4. Organizational Change Interventions 4.A. Action Plan – Short Term The fifth and sixth steps of action research model, i.e. joint diagnosis problems and joint action planning, refer to the procedure which would be most convenient and beneficial for the ultimate execution of the change planned. The joint diagnosis problems step tends to concentrate on the identification of the issues related to the change process, and consecutively, the joint action planning process attempts to specify the required planning which would mitigate the probable limitations identified in the previous step and thereby ensure profitability of the entire change process (Cummings & Worley, 2008). Considering the step of joint diagnosis problem in relation to the adapted change management strategies, it can be observed that Peppercorn Dining had to witness certain issues concerning its training methods. For instance, with due concern to the aim of serving customers with greater variety and efficiency, the organization strategically intended to train its employees by paying for culinary classes by professional lecturers. However, during the implementation of the planned training process, the procedure was observed to be a cost-consuming one. As a result, the management engages the in-house chefs as trainers to retrench cost which ultimately led towards inefficiency in the entire process. Consequently, with the implementation of the joint action planning step, the general manager can take certain measures which would include identifying the fundamental problems faced by the employees in adopting the changed process with due consideration towards their perceptions and suggestions. In this regard, the general manager can consider organizing personal meetings in various instances with every individual employee to obtain an understanding of the imbibed organizational culture, the individual’s perceptions, and the persisting problem in relation to the changed process. Following the personal meetings, a general meeting can be organized in every two weeks to monitor the changes in relation to the employees’ perceptions and the problems faced. This process shall continue until the diagnosed problems are not resolved completely and might be altered in accordance to the requirement of the organizational changes process. 4.B. Action Plan – Long Term Concerning the limitations faced by the organization, Peppercorn can implement strategies to build team work focusing on intergroup relations interventions to encourage efficiency in the human process The organization should also tend to reshuffle its structural design so as to imbibe the cultural rudiments within the change process owing to the gap persisting between the perceptions of the employees and the result of the change Consequently, goal setting as well as employee stress and wellness interventions can also be identified as quite significant for the organization to implement the change process with high efficiency by mitigating the probable chances for perplexities amid the workforce References Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the planned approach to change: a re-appraisal. Journal of Management Studies 41(6), 977-1002. Chen, J. M., Suen, M. W., Lin, M. J. & Shieh, F. A. (n.d.). Organizational Change and Development. T&D, 113 1-13. Retrieved from http://www.nacs.gov.tw/english/_files/1000216-301.pdf Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2008). Organization Development & Change. United States: Cengage Learning. Nunes, M. B., & McPherson, M. (2004). An Action Research Model for the Management of Change in Continuing. Italics. Retrieved from http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/issue3/nunes/008.PDF Quattrone, P. & Hopper, T. (2001). What does organizational change mean? Speculations on a taken for granted category. Management Accounting Research, 12, 403–435. Scribd Inc. (2012). Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/21556594/Change-Management-Lewin%E2%80%99s-3-Step-Model Bibliography Alderfer, A. F. (1980). Employee Resistance to Organizational Change. Retrieved from http://www.newfoundations.com/OrgTheory/Bolognese721.html Lewis, L. K. (2011). Organizational Change: Creating Change Through Strategic Communication Foundations in Communication Theory. United States: John Wiley & Sons. O’Brien, R. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of Action Research. Retrieved from http://www.web.ca/robrien/papers/arfinal.html Senior, (2009). Organizational Change, 3/E. India: Pearson Education India. Read More