Management of Change in T-Mobile - Case Study Example

Management of Change There is a wide range of forces acting upon organisations which make the need for change inevitable. These forces of change can be summarises in five broad concepts: changing technology; knowledge explosion rapid product obsolescence; changing nature of the workforce; and quality or working life. The organization under analysis is T-mobile, USA. T-Mobile USA represents one of dynamic and fast growing branches in the United States and around the world. Change originates within the organisation itself. Much of the change is part of a natural process of ageing. For example, as material resources such as buildings, equipment or machinery deteriorate or lose efficiency; or as human resources get older, or as skills and abilities become outdated. Some of this change can be managed through careful planning; for example, regular repairs and maintenance; choice of introducing new technology or methods of work; effective manpower planning to prevent a large number of staff retiring at the same time; management succession planning; training and staff development (Handy, 1993). A senior manager should take into account internal and external factors that influence the company. T-mobile can only perform effectively through interactions with the broader external environment of which it is part. The structure and functioning of T-mobile must reflect, therefore, the nature of the environment in which it is operating. Factors such as uncertain economic conditions, fierce world competition, the level of government intervention, scarcity of natural resources and rapid developments in new technology create an increasingly volatile environment. In order to help ensure its survival and future success T-mobile must be readily adaptable to the external demands placed upon it. External change drivers External change drivers are caused by innovation rapid technological changes and innovations proposed by competitors within the industry. One of the major changes deals with the specification of goods which may be considered in terms of their design features and performance characteristics (Vonderembse, White, 2003). Together these measurements define what the item is and how it is intended to perform its purpose. Also, the specification of a transport may be expressed in terms of its "design" and performance. In this context design i.e. the nature of the transport, movement may be expressed in terms of the origin, destination and route of movement. Present day situation in T-Mobile USA is marked by two factor - specification, which is to do with the 'design quality' of service, and conformity, which is to do with the 'process' quality which is achieved are of particular importance to customers. Ultimately they are the two factors which determine the quality levels provided by T-Mobile USA to its customers. These two factors however are themselves determined by other factors. Service concepts are based on understanding the unique environment in which T-Mobile USA operate. Service concepts include improvement of communication, and the environment composed of all the individual services used for implementation of the group communication primitives. T-mobile planned organisational change is triggered by the need to respond to new challenges or opportunities presented by the external environment, or in anticipation of the need to cope with potential future problems. Major competitors of T-mobile, Sony and Samsung, recently develop a completely new model of portable mobile phones which goes ahead all models exciting on the market, that is why further technological development is an urgent need for T-mobile. This planned change represents an intentional attempt to improve, in some important way, the operational effectiveness of T-mobile. The basic underlying objectives can be seen in general terms as: modifying the behavioural patterns of members of T-mobile; and improving the ability of T-mobile to cope with changes in its environment. Internal change drivers The increasing need for change in T-mobile Corporation was created by internal need to improve technology and labour skills; attitudes of employees; size of organization; need to improve performance. For T-mobile, change is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of staff who are technically and socially competent, and capable of career advancement into specialist departments or management positions. There is, therefore, a continual need for the process of staff development, and training fulfils an important part of this process. Training should be viewed, therefore, as an integral pan of the process of total quality management. In a time of rapidly changing technologies and ever-shorter product life cycles, product development often proceeds at a glacial pace. In an age of the customer, order fulfillment has high error rates and customer enquiries go unanswered for weeks. In a period when asset utilization is critical, inventory levels exceed many months of demand. The usual methods of boosting performance - process rationalization and automation - haven't yielded the dramatic improvements for T-mobile need. In particular, heavy investments in information technology have delivered disappointing results - largely because companies tend to use technology to mechanize old ways of doing business. In this case, external drivers have a direct impact on the internal needs of the company. It should be mentioned that the external and internal factors such as structure, people, technology and task are all interdependent as a change in one. For example technology, will influence tasks (nature of work changes, i.e. output is greater and quicker); organization structure and staff (Hammer, Champy, 1993). In T-mobile performance deficiencies result from motivational problem which is closely connected with lack of skills. To improve this situation T-mobile needs to change employees' motivation taking into account rapid environmental changes. The purpose of change is to improve knowledge and skills, and to change negative attitude towards work. This can lead to many potential benefits for both individuals and the company. The new technology development needs skillful workers able to cope with new complicated tasks. Today, T-mobile feels lack of professionals able to cope with new complicated tasks including product development and the market analysis. Needless to mention, modern equipment requires skilled personnel and the T-mobile service centers need a team of dedicated and well-trained service professional. Management staff also needs focusing on employee's motivation and work design programs to help worker identify their goal and professional development strategies. Bear in mind the data it is possible to say that employees feel lack of HR support in the process of personal development. "Current state" According to the T-Mobile (www.tmobile.com) the quantity of defective articles and spoilage are rather high because many new employees feel lack of experience to perform a particular type of work. For instance, the level of spoilage is about 20 % (permissible level is about 5-7%). A significant and disturbing feature of the T-Mobile was the negative attitude towards the benefits of change shown by many employees. Too often change is seen as a necessary expense to achieve output targets. It is not seen as providing long-term benefits or improving organisational performance. A common view of change was an activity undertaken by large corporate bodies who can afford it. As the result, the company has a significant decrease in sales. T-Mobile USA develops poor relations with foreign intermediaries because of poor service and quality of products. There is much for conflict between manufacturers and intermediaries as both are seeking to maximize their profits at the expense of the other. Conflict might arise for a number of reasons, but very often intermediaries and manufacturers disagreed on price. Intermediaries could cut prices in order to move stock, lowering the returns for the manufacturer. Intermediaries, based on their closeness to the market and understanding of customers, sometimes perceived products as uncompetitive which gives them less incentive to promote them. Moreover, helpful advice made by the intermediary to the manufacturer is often ignored as it failed to fit with the manufacturer's understanding of the product and competition based on experience from other countries. That is why the need is to change policy of quality design in order to achieve market demands. Source of resistance Change is a threat to routine and their role in the organization. It is also true that many persons do not know what their role is, and in recent years attempts have been made to clarify individual roles or objectives by management by objectives. In T-mobile, 47% of workers are about 32-37 years who do not want any technological and structural changes because they will need to spend time on additional training. They tend to respond to situations in an established and accustomed manner. Habits serve for them as a means of comfort and security, and as a guide for easy decision making. Proposed changes to habits, especially if the habits are well established and require little effort, may be resisted. However, if there is a clearly perceived advantage, for example a reduction in working hours without loss of pay, there is likely to be less, if any, resistance to the change. Although some people may, because of habit, still find it difficult to adjust to the new times (Dalziel, Schoonover, 1988). One of the most important factors in the successful implementation of organisational change is the style of managerial behaviour. In certain situations, and with certain members of staff, it may be necessary for management to make use of hierarchical authority and to attempt to impose change through a coercive, autocratic style of behaviour. Some members may actually prefer, and respond better, to a directed and controlled style of management. If staff are kept fully informed of proposals, are encouraged to adopt a positive attitude and have personal involvement in the implementation of the change, there is a greater likelihood of their acceptance of the change (Sterman, 2000). With the participative change cycle, a significant advantage is that once the change is accepted it tends to be long lasting. Since everyone has been involved in the development of the change, each person tends to be more highly committed to its implementation. The disadvantage of participative change is that it tends to be slow and evolutionary - it may take years to implement a significant change. An advantage of directive change, on the other hand, is speed. Using position power, leaders can often impose change immediately. A disadvantage of this change strategy is that it tends to be volatile. It can be maintained only as long as the leader has position power to make it stick. It often results in animosity, hostility, and, in some cases, overt and covert behavior to undermine and overthrow. Research into industrial psychology has changed to the examination of organization psychology, with emphasis on groups and relations between groups. The emphasis was on individual training and development, but it appeared that a broader outlook was needed to consider the complete organization, concentrating on organizational, group and interpersonal processes, and develop plans to improve the whole system (Carroll, Buchholz, 2000). Many workers and managers in T-mobile are naturally wary of change. Among many there is an uneasy mood - a suspicion that change is out of control. pinpoint the exact reasons for the resistance. Leadership and management. T-mobile Corporation employs formal communication which is created to achieve specific organisational objectives and are concerned with the co-ordination of work activities. In this company oeople are brought together on the basis of defined roles within the structure of the organisation. The nature of the tasks to be undertaken is a predominant feature of T-mobile. Goals are identified by management, and certain rules, relationships and norms of behaviour established. T-mobile tends to be relatively permanent, although there may be changes in actual membership. T-mobile uses line communication which means authority flows vertically down through the structure, for example from the managing director to managers, section leaders, supervisors and other staff. There is a direct relationship between superior and subordinate, with each subordinate responsible to only one person. Line relationships are associated with functional or departmental division of work and organisational control. Line managers have authority and responsibility for all matters and activities within their own department. The decision making in T-mobile involves the isolation of those functions most directly concerned with the achievement of objectives and the identification of main decision areas or sub-systems. Viewing T-mobile as a system it is important to emphasis the need for good information and channels of communication in order to assist effective decision making in it. A more participative and supportive style of leadership and managerial behaviour is likely to assist in change management; for example, showing an attitude of respect and trust; encouraging personal self-development; creating a work environment in which staff can work co-operatively together. A participative approach to leadership and management may also help to create greater employee commitment. Prognosis If the design of an organization is inappropriate, this can be costly and inefficient. The pessimistic scenario is possible, because the science discoveries and innovations keep abreast of time, and if competitors will develop new technology earlier than T-mobile the company will decline. The lack of motivation among employees will resulted in increasing a number of defects and low quality of products. In this case, T-mobile loses potential customers and brand loyalty. If the change does not take place in the nearest future, the company will need to spend more money and time to gain a strong market positions and restore customers loyalty. In any case, even if it happens, the will be a demand for low quality products for a definite period of time (approximately 1 years), which makes it possible to redevelop the company. There is a danger of ignoring the environment, as customers and their needs, competitors, changes in technology, etc., can play an important role in determining competitive success. If necessary changes will be implemented, T-mobile will retain its dominant position as the top company on the market, while expanding its operations to encompass server services, development of work-stations and become a global player. Its new technology achievements and overall business strategy, potential and capability to support high performance environments are the key elements for the next five years. It is possible to say that in the next ten this will be one of the profitable industries in the world. T-mobile will be able to maintain high-speed growth through continuous optimization of is product mix and constant technological innovation. If T-mobile management team adopts technological and workforce changes the company will be well-positioned and can obtain a leadership role within the industry. It will have the resources and certainly in its the technological capability. T-mobile will be able to adopt new marketing strategy which deals with competitive pricing, selling, and distributing a product. It can capture a larger share of an existing market for current products through market saturation and market penetration or develop new markets for current products. The allocation of resources refers to the fact that there is likely to be a cost associated with the actions required to achieve the objectives. A change program A change program will be based on refreezing. It means stabilising change at the new level and reinforcement through supporting mechanisms, such as policies, structure and norms. The five broad areas include: changing technology; knowledge explosion rapid product obsolescence; changing nature of the workforce; and quality (Boone, Kurtz, 1992). The rate of technological change will be greater than at any time in the past. It will include advances in information technology automation and robotics. The TQM technique will help to improve the quality of goods and services; production processes; information and communications; transport and distribution. Knowledge explosion will be based on education programmes and training needs. Training development will requires a combination of on-the-job-training, through, for example, delegation, project work, coaching and guided self-analysis, trial periods and simulation; and off-the-job-learning. For factory workers the following plan will be the most appropriate: training sessions and self-assessment programs. With this rapid increase in the knowledge explosion, knowledge in a particular field quickly becomes outdated or obsolete. For instanced, through certification tests and qualification inspection, T-mobile grants the standard range respect following the quality system certification standards.A worker hired by T-mobile will have to confirm his category passing a standard professional test. This requirement is legal, and based on the company's policy to meet high standards of performing work. Changing nature of the workforce will include changes in the composition of the working population. These variables serve as 'entry points' and organisational change can be initiated by alteration of any one, or a combination, of these variables. The implementation of change can be approached, therefore, in terms of a choice of strategies relating to modifications of the task. It will create a working environment in which formal authority is supplemented by authority based upon knowledge and skill, and increases the job satisfaction and enthusiasm of employees and encourages open communication. It is possible to conclude that change is a part of an integrated process which is involved with all the other aspects of the business. T-mobile operates in changing environment and that is why there is a constant need in changes and improvement to meets the company's goals and satisfy its customers. References 1. Boone, L.E., Kurtz, D.L. Management, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1992. 2. Carroll, A. and Buchholz, A. Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management 4th edn. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western Publishing Co., 2000. 3. Chase R.B., Jacobs R.F. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, Hill/Irwin; 10 edn, 2003. 4. Dalziel, M,, Schoonover S. C., Changing Ways: A Practical Tool for Implementing Change within Organizations, New York: Am. Management Association, 1988. 5. French, W. L. and Bell, . . Organization Development: Behavioral Science Interventions for Organization Improvement, Fourth edition, Prentice-Hall, 1990. 6. Hammer, M, Champy, J, Re-engineering the Corporation. Nicholas Brearley, London, 1993. 7. Handy, C.B. Understanding Organisations, Fourth EditionLondon: Penguin, 1993. 8. Sterman, J. D., Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World, Irwin McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000. 9. T-Mobile, www.tmobile.com 10. Vonderembse, M. A., White G. P. Core concepts of operations management. Wiley, 2003. Read More