The Change Management of Engenco Company - Case Study Example

?Business Case Study Table of Contents Task 3 Question 3 Question: 2 5 Question: 3 7 Works Cited 10 Task Question Identify and Discuss the Impact of Any Changes Identified In the Case Study on the Employees of Engenco From the provided case study, it is recognized that the issue which Engenco, one of the leading players in the United Kingdom’s energy industry faces is related to change management. The facet of change management incorporates a significant involvement of organizational leadership in order to ensure that the required activities are sustained in an efficient. In this process, the focus is around broad change management practices and skills that will help the organization to understand along with accept and support the needed business changes. The emphasis is on communication, training and the overall culture or value system in the organization (Hiatt and Creasey 10). In relation to the provided scenario in the case, it is observed that Engenco’s operations comprise most kinds of energy generation and supply, with making investment in order to develop new technologies, including piloting household wind turbines along with supporting the creation of domestic fuel cells. Engenco employs around 25,000 personnel solely within the UK as well as another 5,000 primarily in North America. The average age of employees is between 25 and 35 years. Moreover, a substantial portion of employees i.e. 30% are women. The various activities of the company are performed across national boundaries, which bring in the aspect of cross-cultural management. The European Commission’s proposed energy strategy will address these different attitudes by breaking up companies that produce and supply energy into separate ownership. The company also developed a reputation for its scheme to employ women into engineering and initiatives to facilitate individuals with disabilities. Apprenticeship schemes had been prepared in both the UK and Canada, where there was a shortage in terms of skilled trade. These activities also substantiated the organization’s focus to possess ethical culture and to act in a proper way. The company also invested in training of 1000 newly recruited engineers along with providing their other 7500 engineers with advanced training. This training was kept almost in similar pattern for customer service and engineering support staff and 2,500 had been recently trained in new systems. Management development programs cover each stage of a manager’s career, ranging from the talent development to delivering the business strategies which further include change, people, business and personal skills. Typical development activities included work shadowing, coaching, and mentoring, projects and secondments comprising international m opportunities. The senior leadership program had been developed in conjunction with a major business school for high potential senior managers. The company also offered flexible benefits and savings to buy shares with a bonus scheme to encourage higher performance of the employees. For senior management, rewards included performance related pay, opportunities for international experience, contracts altered as per the individual needs and flexibility to fit with lifestyle. Flexible working is also supported to enable other employees to balance work and caring commitments with the added benefit of saving on office space. After obtaining an understanding of the scenario prevailing within the organization, it can be stated that the changes made the employees dissatisfied as they were working in that particular environment in a flexible manner when suddenly the company decided to move their most of the operational activities to foreign destinations such as India. The employees became dissatisfied with such decisions which lowered the employee engagement and they thought of not recommending the company to their friends. It significantly affected employee morale as they were not satisfied with the changes. The employees wanted to stay in their flexible environment and work accordingly. Question: 2 What Issues From The Perspective Of Employees, Shareholders And The Board Of Directors Must Engenco Management Consider When Making Major Job Cuts? Job cuts can be recognized as one of the major concerns for employees especially when an organization is endeavoring to initiate certain kinds of changes. With this consideration, from the perspective of employees, the management should consider that the employees are working from many years and they are familiar with the company along with the working environment. In case if such decisions are made to move the operation work to India or to close the head office building to reduce cost, the employees should be informed about these changes through proper communication in a meeting and also the management should engage the employees before taking a final decision. The Engenco management must also consider about the scenario of employees after they are rendered jobless. Thus, their future prospects need to be a vital consideration for the management. Moreover, invaluable employees need to be retained within the organization during the process of job cuts so that the working process does not get disrupted. From the perspective of shareholders, it is observed that they play a vital role in a company both for the long-term as well as the short-term basis. The shareholders trust needs to be provided utmost importance while making any major changes such as job cuts within the organization. The management must consider the opinions of the major shareholders regarding their willingness to initiate job cuts as if the trust of the shareholders gets lost then it might severely affect the company in the long run (Ventris 32-50). From the perspective of Board of directors (BOD), it is apparent that they primarily consider about the company’s profit, how the market share can be increased and the methods that can be employed to survive in this competitive business environment. The BOD provides direction for the organization and moreover the board has a strategic function in providing the vision, mission, and goals of the organization. The BOD has the responsibility of enacting a system of governance for the business. It prepares policies to guide its own actions and the actions of the managers. When the company i.e. Engenco decided to initiate certain changes like making significant amount of job cuts to accommodate benefits like cost saving then BOD’s prerogative would be consider the major gains from such activities for the company. Thus, the management needs to ensure that their activities in terms of each and every move are known to the BOD so that any miscommunication does not arise amid the concerned members (Armstrong and Stephens 5-10). Question: 3 Having Identified This Information, Provide An Action Plan To Manage This Change Within The Organisation, Using Your Knowledge Of The Theories Of Change Management, Motivation And Teams That Will Aid A Smooth Transition. Change is an unavoidable part of life. It is the fundamental nature of entity that is intrinsically involved in the organizational activities. A lack of change can stall the progression of an organization such as Engenco. As change manifests it character in a diversity of ways, it does not hold the similar relationship across people, condition and contexts. Identifying the need for changes in the organization and leading the organization through change is amid the most critical and challenging responsibilities in an organization today. To implement change in an organization, change agent plays an essential role to make familiar with the change to the employees (Department of Human Resources, “Change Management”). With regard to the case, it can be illustrated that the change agent i.e. the managers in Engenco will show the employees the benefits of change which is going to happen in the organization. A substantial amount of motivational factors need to be demonstrated to the employees so that they become eager to accept that the intended change in the organization i.e. Engenco. The action plan which can help the company to manage changes within the organization is depicted hereunder: Steps How Sensible Measurable Achievable Realistic Timed Management should talk personally with the employees Management should conduct meetings to convey the intentions behind the changes It would help to make familiar the changes to the employees which would in turn facilitate them to easily accept the changes It can be measured with the help of observation The aim of conducting meetings and communicating the desired reasons behind the changes would certainly be beneficial for the organization Reasonable cost 1 Month Management should discuss the benefits with the employees Having informal Conversations with member or staff It would help the employees to present their viewpoints in a convenient way so that management is able to consider their concerns and ideas, which is a key aspect of functioning in a team It can be measured with the willingness of the employees Informal meetings can facilitate the employees to be free about their opinions which would enable to prevent any kind of grievances Reasonable cost 1.5 months Training programs Conducting diverse training programs for the employees Training programs can help the employees to be motivated towards the change as they will gain an opportunity for personal development It can be measured with the help of observing the employees eagerness to learn new facets in a training session Once the employees are properly trained, they will be more eager to accept the varied intricate facets related to change in Engenco Reasonable cost 2 months In this similar context, it can be said that the leadership style would play a critical role in the proposed action plan as the employee involvement will be the key endeavor of the management. The required leadership style from the part of the management has to be participative as the invaluable employees need to be taken into confidence so that they wholeheartedly support the management to overcome the observed challenges that might occur in the change process. The employees’ opinions need to be valued in the entire process so that any kind of mismanagement does not arise and employees do not become afraid of their position within the organization. In this case the leader of the organization should communicate with the employees properly. Leadership is about functioning with and by the aid of people to achieve organizational goals. The leader also needs to create an environment within the team, which facilitates the realization of common goals. The proper management and leadership should control the overall performance of the organization. The management should aim to motivate the workforce by providing them pertinent training regarding the activities they need to handle in the changed working environment (Gamage and Pang 219-224). The other crucial aspect of leadership that can be quite fruitful in this circumstance is ensuring that the employees who had been a part of Engenco for a long period of time do not suffer unfairly. Proper communication need to be made with such employees who might face retrenchment so that they are able to properly deal with such scenarios. The aspect of outplacement can be thought of as an alternative option by the management of Engenco so that employees facing job cut do not suffer completely (East Tennessee State University, “Leadership Theories and Styles”). Works Cited Armstrong, Michael and Tina Stephens. A Handbook of Management and Leadership. United Kingdom: Kogan Page Publisher, 2005. Print. Department of Human Resources. Change Management. n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013 East Tennessee State University. Leadership theories and Styles Leadership, 2009. Web.19 Mar. 2013. Gamage, David Thenuwara and Pang, Nicholas S.K. Leadership and Management in Education. China: Chinese University Press, 2003. Print. Hiatt, Jeffrey M. and Creasey, Timothy J. Change Management. United States: Prosci, 2003. Print. Ventris, Gwen. Successful Change Management: The Fifty Key Facts. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Read More