Communicating and Implementing Change - Essay Example

Name] [Unit] [Name of tutor] [Due date] Communicating and implementing change Introduction Abu Dhabi National Oil Company group (ADNOC) is government-owned Oil Company of the United Arabs Emirates, which was established in 1973. The company is the fourth largest oil company in the world with access to the oil and gas reserves of the country. ADNOC operations, as an integrated gas and oil company fulfill every aspect of process in petroleum industry. Its processes are divided into various subsidiaries that include oil and gas exploration and production, exploration and production services, oil and gas processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, maritime transportation, and distribution of refined products. This firm has been growing over the years and it’s currently the largest Oil and Gas Company in the Arab Gulf region. It employs over 25,000 employees where about 4% of its employees leave the company every year for a variety of reasons (ADNOC). However, the future success of this company is based on effective implementation and communication of change. The challenge Like most of organizations throughout the world and across this region, ADNOC operates its business based on yearly financial budget. However, it has a weak process strategy formulation and implementation. The company has been faced with challenges of overstaffing, being out of touch with its core mission, and internally focused. Many change programs has been introduced and have resulted to major reorganization with laid off employees and demotion of managers in order to reduce managerial jobs. In implementation of such changes, the company has been faced with various challenges, which include lack of successful implementation of structural change, aligning the organization with its new vision, overcoming the change of morale on staff, team coordination and discussing strategic issues. The company wants to define its strategic direction that it will follow clearly in order to align the employees and the management’s efforts to a common vision. The implementation of this change will lead to elimination of numerous complaints from the managers for lack of clear strategies. Type of organizational change According Weick and Quin (28), there are three types of approaches to organizational change. First approach is based on traditional view that describes change linearly through gradual and incremental change that progresses in steps with time. Another approach of organizational change is through a non-linear process. The final approach recommends the use of continuous change as a conceptual translation mode. These categories define change as continuous, incremental or radical. The Change in ADNOC is driven by tuning the existing processes and practices in order to increase the efficiency of the company. Thus, this organizational change is incremental. Smith and Cronje (28) argued that change programs within an organization must always be aligned with the intended purpose. Thus, it is important to have a clear understanding of the main reason that the organization is adapting change in order to make a correct choice of the change model as well as the management initiative that the organization needs in order to achieve its purpose. Implementation model For this study, Kotter’s (1996: 23) change model and theory is the most relevant and it will be applied to address the change implementation. According to Kotter (1995: 4), most organizations fail to manage change because they lay more focus on changing the organization itself instead of focusing on making change on the people that work in the organization. Kotter (1995: 8), add that people will never change unless the appeal is made to the heart of every individual who will be affected by the change. He sees the transitions within the organization as events that are usually difficult to manage and the managers fail to implement change due to lack of use of practices for managing change such as communicating in full and timely manner, expressing a clear and compelling vision as well as building coalitions. Thus, he asserts that by using the eight action steps sequentially, the organization will be assured of a successful change. Kotter (1996: 26) noted that his model as simply described has two fold focuses: first, the model employs a step-by-step process for implementation of change. Secondly, the model gives an opportunity to the individuals to prepare and accept change as part of the process of management. His model of change prepares every employee for a change before creation of an organizational vision and it continues to guide the individual after the transition has occurred. Kotter and Cohen (13) argue that people less change what they usually do because they are provided with an analysis that shifts the way they think but, they change more because they are shown the truth that influence what they feel. Based on his model, organizations that are successful know well how to overcome antibodies, which reject any new or different thing, whereby the key challenge is changing the behavior of the people, and influence how they feel. Kotter’s eight stage implementation model The management of ADNOC will implement the Kotters’ (1996: 32) eight steps in sequence from step one to eight in order to ensure a successful change. Step 1: Creating a sense of urgency The issue of structuring the organization is very essential to both the employees and the organization and the management of ADNOC has a great responsibility of making its employees see why they need change and why the change must be made immediately. Since change in structure will directly affect the employees, there will be a need to discuss the crises resulting from the change of organizational structure and the potential opportunities. Thus, by discussing the current situation of the company and what is going wrong, it stands as a sure way of creation of a sense of urgency. Step 2: Forming a powerful alliance This is a change that directly affects the employees and as a result, the employees will resist this change naturally. The most important thing is for the management to build a guiding team, which consists of leaders who understand change and are committed and driven by success. According to Gravenhorst, Werkman, & Boonsta (85), this team will be responsible for initiating change. Step 3: Developing a vision and strategy for change Developing of a clear vision and strategy is the most important step for ADNOC since its current condition is attributed by lack of clear direction of who is supposed to do what. This will be the most effective way of influencing people by considering all stakeholders from the managers and employees to the suppliers and investors. There will a need to clarify how the will be different from the existing condition if the company makes a change and how the future will be made into reality. This is where the vision and clear strategies to achieve this vision will be made right (Kotter 1995: 7). Step 4: Communicating vision At this point, the leading team and ADNOC management must use all tactics to ensure that the vision is passed to every relevant stakeholder. This is where they will ensure that every member understand and accept the new vision and strategy of the company. Lawson and Price (32) note that it is at this point that leaders should clearly understand that the factors that motivate the senior leaders are not necessarily the ones that motivate other employees. They will need to invest significant energy in listening as well as involving employees and encourage them to own the process of change. It will be essential to: Always talk about change and lead by example Apply the new vision to all aspects of the operations of ADNOC, that right from training employees to performance Channels for communicating change Social media With the advancement in technology throughout the world, social media is proving to be a successful way of communication both within and outside the organization. One of the important factor is that it provides a sense of sharing, thus encouraging an open communication. An essential factor of communicating change is by first being open to the people which encourages listening and talking your heart. Given that the young adults and the youths are very common in this company, social media will be an effective way of communicating change as it will encourage sharing ideas. In turn, the leading team will be able to read their minds and improvise the best tactics of explaining and influencing change (Baron, 13). Thus, according to Cialdini, & Goldstein (592), social media will lead to: Mobilization of employees into efforts for changing a certain situation Join together employees in order to achieve a common goal Identification of possible allies in order to use them to influence those resisting change. Share information about the future opportunities on implementation of change, the success so far as well as correcting any failure. Social medial will also assist the change initiative movement to include other employees within the company after creation of a sense of like-mindedness through open interaction and communication. In addition, lead individuals can group together and pressurize other workers with different views to adopt change. Such change is very effective through social media before turning on other stakeholders to influence change (Baron, 13). Electronic mail Electronic mail will be an effective way of reminding the employees on the importance of making a change and it works as a cost-effective way of reminding every person about change every day. Thus, according to Dawley, & Anthony (179), it will assist in performing the following tasks: Communication of new ideas and other information related to change in the company. It will allow the management and leading team to provide brief information on the progress of the process as well as confirming various decisions It will notify the employees about any upcoming changes. It is ideal for communicating changes such as updating on progress, and rescheduling of meetings It will be essential for requesting information from employees in regard to change and replying to requests. It is an effective way of referring a written information or requesting to take action in regard to a certain development It will also ensure that information in regard to change is sent to many people at the same time such as announcement of changes. Memos Communicating change in print form is also essential especially in within the place of work so that every person will be able to access the information. Clampitt (121) noted that memos are very efficient for communicating change within the company in a formal way where the change affects all employees. It will also be essential when making announcements on promoting and rewarding employees about their efforts in implementing change. It will also be used to announce when the company successfully implements its short-term goals in regard to change. Clampitt, (123) add that when management will be required to make request to all employees, a memo will be appropriate. The workers can also be reminded regularly about certain tasks that they need to accomplish for effective implementation of change. Step 5: Remove obstacles Due to a variety of obstacles that affect the implementation of the process, the leading team will ensure others are acting on the vision by encouraging risk taking and getting rid of obstacles. It will be important to (Dam, & Oreg, 317): Alter any structure undermining the change vision Reward and recognize the employees that are making the change happen Take action swiftly in order to get rid of barriers either human or otherwise. Identify those that are resisting change and assist them to see what is required Step 6: Creating short-term wins Success is the greatest motivator and it will be essential for ADNOC management to plan for short-term improvements and wins in performance. This will give a taste of early victory to ADNOC in the process of change. In addition, it will ensure that the always-present negative thinkers and critics will not hurt the progress. It will be important to: Analyze thoroughly the pros and cons of our targets Prevent expensive early targets in order to justify the capability of target Reward employees that help the company to meet these targets. Step 7: Building on the change Pressing harder and faster after short –term success will be essential in order to maintain the momentum of change and consolidate improvements. Each success will provide an opportunity to build what was right as well as identifying what needs improvement. It will also be important to: Set goals that will ensure constant effort on what has already been achieved After every success, the ADNOC management will analyze the drawbacks in order to identify what needs more effort Keeping the ideas fresh by introducing new leaders and change agents to ensure change coalition Step 8: Integrating changes in the corporate culture. Any change stick will now be a part the core of ADNOC. The company’s corporate culture is usually the determinant of what needs to be done, thus the values behind the company’s new vision must show in daily work. The management will enhance a continuous effort in order to ensure that change is visible in every organization’s aspect (Dam, & Oreg, 314). By doing this, there will be a solid change in the culture of the company. It will be essential to ensure that the leaders and the leading team will continue to support change because failure to do so may easily lead the ADNOC back to its current position. Thus, it will be important to: Talk about progress in every available chance and leaders should ensure that they often talk about the success stories about the process of change Introduce change values and ideal on recruitment and training of new employees Always recognize the key members of the original change coalition publicly and ensure new and old staff remembers the importance of their contributions Develop a plan for replacement of key leaders with time as it will ensure that their legacy is not forgotten or lost. Memo Reaction and feedback from employees Every change either major or minor will lead to positive or negative reactions or both. Corner (43) argues that people react first by avoiding change then if guided and motivated they later accept change. Thus, it is expected that people will undergo various stages in order to accept change. These include: Denial due to fears such as lay offs Anger due to factors such as workload leading to low morale Bargaining in order to achieve a balance where everyone will be happy such as prevention of layoffs Depression as a result of loss of job Acceptance which involve accepting the reality that change is happening. This is the reason that the employees will react first by resisting the change. They expect that the change will interfere with their in performing tasks as well as processes in a certain way. This is because they their comfort that is about to be taken away is their source of security that makes them masters of their current environment. Such things inflict fear on them leading to disruption of not adapting and learning the change. Thus, it leads to the fear that their jobs may be harder leading to loss of control and finally loss of employment. Their feedback that results from avoidance leads to development of avoidance questions such as why? How will it affect me? We don’t do it this way, when will this change be over for us to get back to work? Who is doing this to us? The challenge is complicated further because the attitude of an individual employee leads to a different response conditioned by his or her feelings towards change. However, effective leadership on change process can change the attitude of employees from avoidance to acceptance. The acceptance statements will be: the opportunities provided by change? The problems it will solve and what I can do to help among others. Timeline for implementation Stage Begin Cumulative (days) Duration (days) 1 1-Jan 0 31 2 1-Feb 31 20 3 21-Feb 51 30 4 21-Mar 81 30 5 21-Apr 111 25 6 15-May 136 30 7 15-Jun 166 20 8 5-Jul 186 25 Timeline graph Conclusion Implementation of change is a very crucial stage for the future success of ADNOC group. Without this implementation, there is a potential for future financial crisis. Communication will play a crucial role in implementation of change given that communication problem is the root of organizational change. The change in ADNOC will be implemented and sustained by ensuring human communication. Work cited ADNOC 2012. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), accessed from http://www.adnoc.ae/ Baron, A. Build technology into strategy. Strategic Communication Management, 9, (2005): 13. Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, (2004): 591-621. Gravenhorst, K.M., Werkman, R.A., & Boonstra, J.J. The change capacity of organizations: General assessment and five configurations, Applied Psychology: AN International Review, 52.1 (2003): 83-105 Kotter, J. P. Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail, Harvard Business Review, 73.2 (1995): 1-10 Kotter, J.P. Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business Press. 1996: 10-40 Kotter, J.P., Cohen, D.S. The Heart of Change, Real Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations, Boston, Harvard Business School Publishing. 2002: 1-30 Lawson, E., & Price, C. The psychology of change management, McKinsey Quarterly, 2 (2003): 30-41 Smith, P.J., & Cronje, G.J. Management principles: A contemporary edition for Africa (3rd. ed). Juta: Cape Town. 2002 Van Dam, K., & Oreg, S. Daily work contexts and resistance to organizational change: The role of leader–member exchange, development climate, and change process. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57.2 (2008): 313-334. Weick, K., & Quin, R. organizational change and development: Episodic and continuous changing. In Boonstra, J. J (ed). Dynamics of organizational change and learning, England: Chichester. 2000: 25-42. Read More