Change Challenges Faced by Neil McGregor Restoring the British Museum - Essay Example

Change challenges faced by Neil McGregor Change challenges When Neil McGregor took over the management of the British Museum in 2002, the facility that was once the largest museum in the country was a mere shell of its former self. Among the features of the museum prior to 2002 that resulted in the poor state of the affairs that additionally constitute the field force analysis, include the lack of motivation and conflict in the management and lack of effective visions and mission statements. Field force analysis of the museum at the time of Neil McGregor’s arrival portrays several factors that opposed his success. However, the charismatic manager exhibited numerous management and leadership qualities that countered the opposition thereby earning him the success he enjoyed. Among the major factors that threatened his success included the lack of motivation exhibited by the employees. The fact that the museum had announced a job cut that would affect more than one hundred and fifty employees of the museum demoralized the entire workforce owing to the anxiety that resulted from the announcement. Motivation refers to a set of mindset that influences the performance of the human resource in an organization. The state of the mind is a fundamental influencer of productivity since it varies the fears an individual feels thereby affecting their productivity (Mills, 1988). The other major challenge the manager faced at the facility was the cultural clash in the existing management. The structure of management that included two managers both of whom were competing for roles and responsibilities created a major confusion in the organization’s culture that threatened the future of the museum. Coupled with the unmotivated employees, Neil McGregor inherited a stagnating facility that would take more than zeal and charisma to revitalize. Neil McGregor inherited such a sluggish workforce. This became his greatest challenge since he could not reverse the mindset of the employees. One hundred and fifty is such a large number that would not only decrease the size and efficiency of the workforce but also threatened the success of Neil McGregor. Prior to his arrival at the facility, the museum had about one thousand five hundred employees. Despite such a large workforce, the rumor of one hundred and fifty employees losing their jobs threatened most of the employees who thus became withdrawn and unmotivated. Each of the employees moved about sluggishly waiting for their retrenchment. The fact the employees who faced the job cut had nothing to lose makes them among the most difficult to manage (Markus, 1977). Organizational cultures refer to the way of doing things within an organization. Every organization has a mission and vision statements that portray the hypothetical view of the organization. Additionally, the two statements portray the organizational cultures and the ways in which the organization undertakes its activities in order to register the desired outcomes. The organizational culture influences such fundamental features of the organization as the style of management and models of communication that the organization uses (Kotter, 2007). In 1999, prior to the trustees of the museum introduced two parallel directors to the facility one remaining with the curatorial issues while the other taking over executive functions of the museum. The dual directorship created a confusion as the two directors began clashing over roles and responsibilities. This resulted in a confusion that slowed the pace of operations thus profitability of the museum (Bligh, 2006). Neil McGregor thus inherited an organization with such a confused management structure a feature that frustrated his tenure. He strived to harmonize the management but faced intense opposition from either of the two offices both of who claimed equal powers. While the management clashed, operations at the museums slowly stopped owing to the lack of an effective command. Coupled with the unmotivated employees, the productivity of the museum dwindled resulting in the state of affairs Neil McGregor found in 2002. Addressing the challenges Neil McGregor’s primary objective at the museum was to solve the major management challenges at the museum before introducing his unique management styles. He worked hard to improve the motivation of the employees of the museum in order to appeal to them thereby influencing them to adopt his management styles (Barney, 1986). Besides motivating the employees, Neil McGregor sought to harmonize the management culture at the organization a feature that compelled him to take over both the executive and curatorial roles at the museum, with the view of harmonizing the management thus settling some of the past clashes that had affected the management of the museum. Overcoming the two challenges was a major and progressive undertaking that required effective introduction and adoption of management theories in order to change the mindset of the employees thus compelling them to steer the organization to the desired success. Neil McGregor adopted strategies that appealed to both the museum’s benefactors and employees thereby ensuring that the benefactors donated more money thereby facilitating the operations of the museum. On the other hand, he motivated his employees accordingly thereby ensuring effective utilization of the resources thereby enhancing the productivity and growth of the museum as observed with the first two years of his tenure as the chief executive of the museum (Price, 2011). Neil McGregor’s primary objective was to change and harmonize the culture of the organization. Harmonization of the organization’s culture implied resolving the management conflicts that had existed in the organization thereby streamlining the operations of the museum under a new culture. In changing the structure and operations of the museum, Neil McGregor observed the Kotler’s model of transformational leadership. Just as the name suggests, managers are leaders in different capacities, Neil McGregor therefore adopted numerous leadership roles at the museum in order to motivate the employees besides introducing a change in the style of management. The Kotler model provides eight stages of introducing change in the organization that Neil McGregor observed at the management of the organization (Lewin, 1943). He for example created a sense of urgency. This way, he made the junior managers of the museum and the other employees realize the need for change thereby adopting his policies immediately. This resulted in the immediate success he registered at the museum. Secondly, created a guiding coalition one that would steer the change process, he created a group of successive managers and employees who would oversee the change during his tenure. This increased accountability besides providing an effective platform for him to delegate some of his roles. Neil McGregor created a new vision for the museum thereby carrying out a major rebranding project that sought to position the museum strategically to both the benefactors and the public who constituted the target market. He further developed effective communication models within the museum thereby permitting the junior employees of the organization to communicate freely with the managers and vice versa. This improves the efficiency of management thereby improving the productivity of the museum within the shortest time. He further empowered broad based actions besides creating short time wins in the organization (Bossidy, Charan & Burck, 2003). This way, he could assess the progress the organization made. Evaluation The fact that Neil McGregor revitalized the operations and the fortunes of the museum within the first six years portrays the success he realized by introducing appropriate management strategies in the museum. He portrayed charisma among other effective leadership traits that made him appeal to his junior employees thereby influencing them towards the prosperity of the museum as he had envisioned when he took over the management of the museum. He concentrated on important features of the management that would revitalize the profitability of the museum (Heizer & Render, 2011). This validates the rebranding exercise he undertook. He changed the vision and mission statement of the museum a feature that portrayed the management culture that he sought to introduce. He therefore introduced a collaborative approach of both management and leadership by developing effective communication models at the organization thereby succeeding in developing a cohesive organization that operated as an efficient system. Additionally, Neil McGregor concentrated in motivating the employees of the museum. Motivation is a fundamental management feature in any organization. Prior to his assumption of office at the museum, the employees were demoralized and could not engage in any productive undertaking at the organization (Hill & Jones, 2011). Neil McGregor thus employed effective motivational techniques to help revamp the productivity of the employees. The success of such endeavors contributed to the success of the museum within the first six years. References Barney, J. B. (1986). "Organizational Culture: Can It Be a Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage?". Academy of Management Review, 11(3), pp. 656–665. Bligh, M. C. (2006). "Surviving Post-merger ‘Culture Clash’: Can Cultural Leadership Lessen the Casualties?" Leadership, vol. 2: pp. 395 – 426. Bossidy, L., Charan, R. & Burck, C. (2003). The gap nobody knows in Business Leadership: A Jossey Bass Reader, (pp. 474-495). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons. Heizer, J., & Render, B. (2011). Principles of Operations Management. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall Hill, C. W., & Jones, G. R. (2011). Strategic Management: Palm Beach State College Edition BAS Capstone Course 9th E. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Kotter, J. P. (2007). 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