D2 Change Management - Essay Example

? Organisational Change Management Teacher’s [Pick the Definition D2 is a French car manufacturing entity having various production facilities at different locations. However, recent economic downturns have forced it to shut down its production processes at other locations and concentrate more on central production facility in Blois, France. The firm’s management intends to close down UK production facility; it has its product development team residing there who will be made to relocate to the central factory in Blois. In the light of these circumstances, there are various challenges that may emerge if same policy is applied to the staff moving to France. Firstly, the nature of change is highly problematic. Forces that are responsible for change are economic conditions due to business cycle (external force) and changes in business strategy (internal force). Such change requires modifications in organisational processes. The change being introduced is transformative which may appear abrupt and highly random to the workforce (Bovey and Hede, 2001). Such implementation of the desired cost-cutting regime can introduce panic and anxiety in the existing workforce. The main challenge is to keep the existing workforce after the shutdown motivated and willing to be on job for a longer period as employee turnover can add to more costs. Secondly, the product development team is basically responsible for innovation in D2’s products that have been the main competitive edge of the workforce. Therefore, it is important for D2 to retain this talent. However, relocating this whole team may not be viable as team members may resist it. Forced relocation would not provide steady developmental progress (Baker, 1989). The given scenario presents resistance from employees be the central challenge faced by the management. Where cost-cutting is the intended objective, heavy employee turnover can add to HRM costs. Secondly, changes in organisational processes that can also hamper the performance of existing workforce. Resultant will be increased costs, low-productivity due to lower efficiency causing lower profit margins. Where D2 is highly dedicated to protect the rights and interests of stakeholders mainly investors, such performance pattern can be highly risky (Baker, 1989). Another challenge faced by the management is the manner in which change is lead by the key managers. Since employees are highly vulnerable whenever change is introduced, therefore being authoritative and forceful instead of providing support and open communication channels can initiate change failure (Bovey and Hede, 2001; Yuh-shy, 2011). All these factors are dependent on employees’ resistance that may take place due to multiple reasons. Theoretically speaking, it can be seen that there are environmental, perceptual, cognitive, emotional and cultural blocks that may hamper effectiveness of the change management process (Piderit, 2006). Detailed analysis of main factors behind employees’ resistance can be lack of job security, loss of autonomy and career growth, social factors and lack of support from management (Bryant, 2006; Dent and Goldberg, 1999; Robbins and Judge, 2009). Jobs have tendency of affecting personal and professional needs of the employees. Once a portion of a workforce is laid off, rest is likely to feel threat to their own economic stability. In addition to that, some of the employees resist change not for only specific reason but to display their power and influence when a threat to their authority is perceived. These changes are also perceived to bring alterations in organisational culture and policy model that may not be welcomed by the workforce. In the given scenario, position of B2 team is of specific importance. This is so because this team is responsible to provide D2 with products that provide management an edge over other market players. This team greatly benefits from its strategic location. It is present amidst of region where major product development activities of auto industry take place. Such strategic strength has a direct impact on the performance of this team. Other than deprivation of this advantage, laying off rest of the workforce in UK may create demotivation in this team due to social alliance. Thirdly, relocation can have impact on the personal needs of the team members of B2. These factors cumulatively may hinder performance of this team even of their retention is ensured. Discovery Employee’s willingness to change is dependent on their discontent with current situation and perceived personal risk. D2’s policy regime illustrates that it has paid considerable attention to the motivation and satisfaction of the stakeholders i.e. employees. Although the current state can be perceived as being harmful for employees’ welfare however, paying attention to pace, scope and manner of change can help management in addressing the emerging problems (Piderit, 2006). It is important that D2 takes care while rolling out the changes. Introduction of change should not be so abrupt that it creates panic in the workforce and result in the crisis-oriented situation. On the other hand, slow change implementation may not communicate the actual purpose of change to the work force and will increase the time of change acceptance. Secondly, it is important that change is communicated well to the employees (Bryant, 2006; Piderit, 2006). Clear communication helps mitigate fears and anxiety of the workforce and also motivates them to perform well during transition. Secondly, it is important that management is willing to listen to employee concerns and address them accordingly. Furthermore, addressing underlying causes of resistance is also critical. Thirdly, it is important that scope of change is also given due consideration (Bovey and Hede, 2001). In D2’s case, change is expected to take place from one workstation however it is expected to have its repercussions on the rest of the workforce as well. Possible options for resisting change is educating, participating and involving workforce in the change, allowing negotiation with workforce and facilitating explicit and implicit coercion between management and workforce. In order to identify possible means of addressing the underlying causes of challenges faced by D2, it is important to analyse them in the light of Bolman and Deal’s four-frame model. Since employees’ motivation and productivity act as the main driver of challenges faced by the workforce, therefore human resource and symbolic frames are more applicable in this case. This four-frame model illustrates that a workforce is driven by social alliance. Therefore, metaphor of the organisation can be family or carnival (Bolman and Deal, 1997). In order to implement change, management is required to use success stories to gain employees’ support. Furthermore, employees’ needs and relationship within workforce and with management acting as central concepts behind change. Here, basic challenge faced by management of D2 is to align organisational objectives with needs of workforce. In the light of these frames, it can be said that engaging employees is a suitable methodology that should be adopted by the management of D2 (Robbins and Judge, 2009). In this regard, first step should be clear and timely communication of the change being introduced (Dent and Goldberg, 1999). Secondly, management should identify the basis of the employees’ resistance and address these issues. Thirdly, employees should be equipped to deal with the change (Baker, 1989). In the given case, D2’s workforce is trained and skilled. However, it may perceive threats to job security and may develop dislike for the new changes being introduced. Therefore, it is important that management takes measures that allows workforce to perceive job security in the long-run. Furthermore, cultural changes being introduced should conform to the background of workforce (Bryant, 2006; Zaltman and Duncan, 1977). Here, management styles also play a significant role. The situation requires management to be affiliative. This management style focuses on team work and gives employees an opportunity to be part of change being introduced. Therefore, a holistic approach can help management promulgate a change by motivating employees and also addressing their needs. Dream Kotter (1996) has suggested a suitable approach towards change management. This approach comprises of eight stages. These steps provide a holistic approach which involves change in individuals as well as teams and organisational processes. First step of change management is to create urgency. With the help of this phenomenon, D2 is required to identify potential threats exerted from external economic pressures and should make them known to the workforce. While creating urgency, it is important that D2 implements an open communication policy. This regime may also involve sharing market intelligence with the team. This step needs to be concurrent with the change introduction. Secondly, D2 is required to form a powerful coalition with its workforce. This regime is concerned with changes in organisational teams and groups. Usually once the change is introduced; it is followed by development of formal and informal groups. While doing so, it is important that management is aware of this team formation phenomenon and utilise it in its own favour. In order to form coalition with teams, management is required to select change leaders/ agents that can facilitate introduction of change. Planning of this phase should be performed while devising change implementation plan. These change agents should be individuals that are well-respected within the organisation and have support of the workforce. In addition to that, targets/ areas/ departments should be assigned to these change agents and their performance should be examined. It is important that these change agents are from every part of an organisation. Creating a vision for change forms a third step of change management. When change is planned, managers provide different ideas that can be beneficial to overall change management process. It is important that management identifies new values following the change and include them in the new vision. In D2’s case, new values can be efficiency and effectiveness in organisational processes. Furthermore, management should make senior leaders of D2 to be aware of these values that form part of the change and ensure that these values are made part of the coalition process as well. Leaders within new teams should be able to communicate these changes to the workforce. Finally, D2 should alter its existing mission and vision statement accordingly so that it reflects the changes intended and workforce finds it easy to relate to it. Formation of a new vision is an organisation wide approach which can have repercussions on the organisational processes as well. Communicating the vision is another stage of change management (Kotter, 1996). This stage is concerned with practical execution of change and allows employees to be aware of the change being introduced. It is important that management of D2 devise policies and procedures that are concurrent with the new vision. In order to enhance the importance of change being introduced, it is important it is shared with the workforce on frequent basis. Here, role of the change leaders is particularly important as they are more close to the workforce as compared to the management (Dent and Goldberg, 1999; Mindtools, 2013). Management of D2 should allow workforce to be able to share their concern. Open communication facilitates removing anxiety and addressing concerns of the workforce. Once change is introduced, all the policies and procedures should adhere to it. In case of D2, cost-reduction and operational efficiency is the desired change. Therefore, same should be communicated to the workforce along with the rationale of doing so. Fifth step of change management is removing obstacles. Although earlier steps give management of D2 an opportunity to win employees’ support however a certain degree of resistance from some employees or group of employees is inevitable (Kotter, 1996; Mindtools, 2013). Checking change management process for identifying possible resistances and barriers form an important part of change management process. This task should rest with change leaders. Furthermore, examining organisational models and processes to corroborate with identified barriers will be effective. Followed by removal of barriers, creating short-term wins is necessary to build morale of the workforce. Employees need to view immediate results therefore; management of D2 should communicate achievement of short-term targets and reward those who are responsible for this change. However, it is important that focus should remain on long-term achievements. Therefore, change should be built upon. After achieving short-term targets, their role in long-term goals should be examined. This process should be followed by introduction of new change agents so that coalition should remain strengthen. Anchoring the change in corporate culture forms the last stage of change implementation. In the given case, D2 is under external economic pressures. Once the changes have proven to be achievable and employees have beginning to support them, management of D2 should use these success stories to win further long-term employees’ support. Apart from sharing these new beliefs with the old workforce, sharing them with the new recruits can also anchor these changes into organisational culture. Once the change leaders leave, new change agents should replace them. Design Once the change management stages have been identified, how and when should the changes be implemented should be management’s focus during change implementation. Since first stage of change management is to create urgency therefore management should identify the sources of that can help in introducing change. Using change agents and leaders can be an effective strategy. For this purpose, team leads and senior managers can be the source of change introduction. Where departmental managers and team leads should be used to create sense of urgency, frequent meetings, circulars and industry newsletters can be used to strengthen this communication. This can be an effective policy for workforce being deployed in Spain and France. However, team B2 that is working in UK (and which is also of critical importance to the workforce) should management’s centre of concern. Since this team is under more stress due to closure of facility and termination of remaining workforce. Therefore, senior managers should form a close liaison with this team and should communicate the need for future change. Second important part of change management is definition of the role of change agents. These leaders should be given defined targets and made aware of the organisational vision and need behind this change. Frequent meetings should be conducted between senior managers and workforce in the form of seminars, open house debates and anonymous complaints service so that employees should be able to share their concerns with the management. Newsletters and organisational gatherings can also provide a facility to employees for sharing the reasons for reluctance behind change. Where team leaders are given specific targets towards coalition, continuous follow up can provide management a clear outlook of employees’ motivation. Management of D2 should form a statement that envisages the values which act as the foundation of new change (Dawson, 2003; Mindtools, 2013). In the case of D2, cost-effectiveness and Kaizen (i.e. continuous improvement) should be the underlying values. D2’s new mission statement should define these fundamental values. In addition to that, organisational strategy should define that vision too. Strategic, economic and human resource management aspects of this strategy should also reflect this vision. This vision should be communicated to change managers and they should be trained to elaborate the rationale of this new vision to the workforce. Once vision has been communicated, anxiety among workforce is likely to arise. Labour in Spain and France may face anxiety and stress due to lack of job security. Management of D2 is required to tie everything to its new vision. Further employee turnover due to job insecurity can add to management’s problem as it will against cost effectiveness regime. Therefore, management should focus on employee retention. Providing training regarding new manufacturing processes and increasing job contracts and other benefits can help in doing the needful. As far as workforce in UK is concerned, they might be reluctant to shift to France in long-run. Therefore, while ensuring that this talent is retained through better benefit structure, additions should be made in this product-development team to replace any engineer who plans to leave. Along with communicating this change, management of D2 should act as an example of the desired change. For removing obstacles to change, change leaders should be selected from within the work force. A good choice for D2 can be departmental mangers and middle managers. These managers work with senior management as well as operational workforce. Therefore, they can share message of strategic management to the lower workforce. However, careful selection can enhance the effectiveness of the whole process. Furthermore, management of D2 is required to form projections of desired performance for short-term and long-term. These projections can provide direction to overall change in the performance of the workforce as well as change leaders. D2 should also devise a reward system in the form of bonuses, paid vacations and other awards to reward key players. Such policies will motivate workforce to adhere to changes being introduced. Change leaders should identify those who resist change. Their personal motivations and reasons behind resistance should be identified and addressed through organisational policies (Dawson, 2003). All long-term projections should be broken into short-term goals as their achievement will make workforce realise that change is actually being materialised and over returns as well. Management of D2 should also have a QAD team that can examine process of continuous improvement. Frequent cross-checks between expected and actual performance can help. Management of D2 should ensure that success stories are shared with workforce through newsletters and frequent discussions so that employees remain motivate and realise that shutting down operations at one station was actually beneficial in terms organisational performance. Destiny Despite all the clear communication and support, it is possible that employees tend to only process selective information and chose not to assess the whole message. Such behaviour can lead to panic and anxiety in the workforce. Here, managers and change agents are required to identify this trend and also ensure that it is communicated to the senior managers as well. Since such employees can also be the source of organizational grapevine therefore their concerns should be addressed on timely basis (Dawson, 2003). Another major limitation is the restricted control of management over team B2 as compared to rest of the workforce (since switching production to Spain and France means requirement of more workforce). This is the team that is mainly responsible for providing competitive edge to D2. Although better compensation and other benefits along with career progression can be opted however social factors cannot be undermined. Anxieties due to termination of rest of the workforce, pressure of working overseas and personal factors are human factors that are under limited control of management. A continuous guiding mechanism from senior managers and offering the members of this team to bring their family along with them to the new location can help in doing the needful. References Baker, S.L. 1989. Managing Resistance to Change, Library Trends, 38(1), pp. 53-61. Bovey, W.H. and Hede, A., 2001. Resistance to organizational change: the role of defence mechanisms, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 16(7), pp. 534-548. Bolman, L. G., and Deal, T. E.,1997. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice and leadership (2nd edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Boohene, R. And Williams A. A., 2012. Resistance to organizational change: A case study of Oti Yeboah Complex Limited. International Business and Management, 4(1), pp. 135-145. Bryant, M., 2006. Talking about change: Understanding employee responses through qualitative research. Management Decision,44(2), p. 246-258. Dawson, P., 2003. Dimensions of change, understanding organizational change: The contemporary experience of people at work. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications. Dent,E. and Goldberg,S., 1999. Challenge resistance to change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 135(1), pp. 25-41. Kotter, J.P., 1996. Leading Change, Boston: Harvard Business School. Mindtools., 2013. Kotter’s 8-step of Change Model, [online] available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm [Accessed 13 May, 2013]. Piderit, S.K., 2000. Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: a multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organizational change. Academy of management Robbins, S. P. And Judge, T. A., 2009. Organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Zaltman, G., and Duncan, R., 1977. Strategies for planned change. New York: Wiley. Yuh-Shy, C., 2011. Individual Resistance from Employees to Organizational Change, [online] available at: http://www.jgbm.org/page/19%20Dr.%20Chuang,Yuh-Shy.pdf [accessed 13 May, 2013]. Read More

 

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