Mace Ford - History and Organizational Changes - Research Paper Example

Change Organizational ModelTable of Contents 1.0 History of Mace Ford 2 2.0 Organization Chart, Mission, Vision and Core Values 3 3.0 Organizational Development Problem in Mace Ford and Its Causes 4 4.0 Recommended Interventions and Reason for Choosing Those 5 5.0 Prospective Resistance to the Changes and Ways to Overcome 6 6.0 References 8 1.0 History of Mace Ford The history and company background of Mace Ford will be discussed in this section that is aimed towards signifying the prospective problems faced by the company since its inception. At present, the dealership business is run by Terry Mace, Patrick Mace and Janet Mace with association from their father Richard Mace. Richard Mace joined the business with his father, Herb Mace. In the year 1924, the automotive business was incorporated by Herb Mace in the site at the Ohio Street. The business at Mace Ford has moved towards challenging phase after it received its dealership from the huge automobile maker “Ford”. The deal came in to effect during the year 2009. Ford provided Mace an intent letter in the month of August 2009 by stating its designation as a Franchisee of Ford in Vigo County. Pertaining to the deal, Mace had to conduct the planning to move its sales activity of both new as well as old cars to a new location at US 41 property. Along with this change in its operations, Mace also planned to open up a body shop in its location at the Ohio State. As a result of the deal, according to Mace, construction of a new body shop may even take place in the US 41 property. According to the report of direct personnel in the Mace, the dealership might lead to increased number of employees in its operation. But the dealership had resulted in a lot many facts that are unknown to Mace Ford (Greninger, 2009). Thus the deal had come as an unrevealed challenge for the new franchise of Ford, “Mace Ford”. 2.0 Organization Chart, Mission, Vision and Core Values Mace Ford is a family-owned business that has been operated by four generations until present. The company follows a flat organizational structure with departments being handled by family members. The following structure is followed by Mace Ford in its organization. Mission, Vision and Core Values The mission and vision statement that Mace Ford follows states: “Let us find it for you”. The core value of Mace Ford is that it deals with both new as well as used car sales. Through its performance, the company aims to provide its customers the cars that hold the most appropriate amalgamation of style, performance and safety for satisfying their exact needs and wants. Mace Fiord provides its customers the assurance of finding the exact vehicle for them that meets their necessities. 3.0 Organizational Development Problem in Mace Ford and Its Causes Considering the operations of Mace Ford over the past several years, it has been evaluated that the most crucial problem that it faced in its operational lifecycle is that of managing the changes in its new location on Highway 41 South, US. The dealership that they had with Ford has led to this change in location because after the deal, Mace Ford were supposed to have Ford trucks, the line of which is much bigger than the line of cars (Hayes, 2009). Quite a few causes have been identified for the prospect problem in the organizational development of Mace Ford after its dealership with Ford. With the move of changing location, the organization faced the challenge of maintaining effective internal communication. The organizations’ people like that of the engineers, contractors and workers cited problems mentioning ineffective receiving of organizational information. The management at Mace Ford was not being able to ensure that up-to-date information was received by each employee. The management and operational controlling heads were not able to provide the appropriate means for accessing the systems of the company in the initial phases of its operations in the new location. The management of the company was much busy with maintaining the scheduled plan for location change and adhering to the present orders of Ford and thus they could not organize their internal communication properly. The dealing with individual employee is also an important task for the management. Each member of the organization should have been treated individually but at the same time should be made feel like a part of the organization. This task, however, becomes difficult when the primary focus of the management is something else. This exactly happened with Mace Ford and these loopholes at the time of the dealership created huge challenge for the company with respect to both internal as well as external business environment. 4.0 Recommended Interventions and Reason for Choosing Those At such point of time when organizational development became a challenge for Mace Ford, the most useful way of improving the conditions in its new location can evolve through smarter communication within the internal environment. Making use of the newer technologies, the head of each department should be provided with a cell phone, or rather, smart phone that are GPS tracking enabled. This would help the company to have exaggerated communication both within the respective departments as well as among all the departments in the location. Mace Ford should maintain such systems through which materials can be instantly scanned and presented to the individuals. This way the management of the company can eradicate the low feelings among the members that they are kept deprived of their liable information from the organization. The preferences and likings of the employees should be realized by the management and thus sort out the root cause of the problem with organizational development and change management. The preference level of the employees can change with the change in organizational design, and also location. However, in the case of Mace Ford, the organizational design has not changed but location has. Location change can lead to disliking of the present environment and culture around the unit by the internal members of the company. This is for this reason that communication should be effectively initiated to and among the internal working environment. For getting the present employees acquainted with the new location and changed atmosphere, the management can relocate the job responsibilities according to the inventory requirements, managers’ preference and even location. It should be inclined into the minds of the top level managers (probably the family members), that communication is not all about conveying the organizational objectives to the employees but it also needs to take into account the employees’ instincts and perceptions. After comprehensive understanding of the employees’ perception and drawing appropriate conclusion about their nature and attitude, it is possible for the management to make the communication effective. 5.0 Prospective Resistance to the Changes and Ways to Overcome The organizational developmental change that aroused in Mace Ford after the dealership with the huge automobile manufacturers Ford, may lead to several resistance to change from the part of the employees. The foremost reason of resistance can be the perceived notion of the employees that their present capability might not be sufficient enough with the new organizational requirements after the change. This means that they have a lack of faith in their own skills and capabilities and this is the reason that they might hold such notion. For overcoming this resistance from the employees, the management is required to ensure the employees that the organization has believe in its present manpower skills and capabilities and based on their skills, the organization has taken the decision of the change. This assurance from the part of the management would not only ensure employees about their present job holdings but would also enhance their confidence level for taking up challenges in the new job environment. Another important resistance might be due to the growing mistrust among the employees and managers. They might resist the change on the perception of losing their job security arising as a result of the new deal. They might perceive that the new deal will force their organization according to the norms of the dealer company and the new rules and regulations might be so harsh that they fail to comply. The consequence of this violation might lead to job cut. For dealing with this resistance and overcoming the cause factor of such resistance, the management would require organizing regular meetings consisting of all the managers from each department. In the meetings, there would be complete disclosure of all the terms and conditions of the new deal. This would provide the employees with the self motivation that the deal will not initiate challenge for their job performance but will provide scopes for improving their present performance with respect to innovative norms and conditions. The last but yet important resistance that can evolve from the employees after the deal is due to the reluctance of enhancing their respective performance level. The deal would result in demanding job performance from the employees that can even put stress and strain in the workplace. Mace Ford is planning to sell trucks (previously selling only cars) initiated from their deal with Ford. Thus the deal might lead to demanding job performance from the employees. For overcoming this resistance to the change from the employees, the organization would require to design special monetary programs with respect to incentives and pay hikes. These would initiate motivating factor among the employees and they would not hesitate to enhance their job performance, thus creating more opportunities for the organization as a whole (Argyris, 1999). 6.0 References Argyris, C., (1999). On Organizational Learning. Blackwell Business; Wiley-Blackwell. Greninger, H., (2009). Mace gets Ford Franchise. Local and Bistate. Retrieved Online on April 16, 2011 from http://tribstar.com/local/x1048538004/Mace-gets-Ford-franchise Hayes, J., (2009). Mace Ford Opens in Terre Haute. Terre Haute, Indiana. Retrieved Online on April 16, 2011 from http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/news_wthi_terrehaute_mace_ford_091420091613 Read More