The Role in the Organizational Change and its Justification - Dryburgh Footwear Company - Case Study Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: The role in the Organizational Change and its Justification Dryburgh Footwear Company was one of the leading Footwear Companies in Australia. The growth of this Company is attributed to the high tariffs levied on foreign investors back in the 1960s. Dryburgh had an advantage in that they never paid too much tax on to the government and therefore they were able to subsidize the prices of their products. However, in the 1980s, the law changed so to favor foreign investors. This can be due to the realization by the government of the great advantages that comes with foreign direct investment. According to Kenneth (2008), foreign direct investment has significant advantages to the host Country such creation of employment opportunities. For this reason, governments should do all it takes to encourage foreign direct investment. The government of Australia lowered its tariffs on direct investors something which led to a rise of international Companies offering the same services as Dryburgh. As a result, the Company’s sales and profits reduced substantially forcing the management led by Bill Brown, personnel officer, to take the greater study of the Company’s operations such as employee’s turnover and absenteeism. The study established that many employees never turned to work something linked to low salaries. Employee’s salary is one of the essential things in employment, and a little salary lowers employee’s motivation while a high wage increases the employee’s motivation (John, 2007). Bill Brown had a difficult time trying to bring a change that would ensure a continued growth for the Company bearing in mind that the overall manager was authoritative and hardly entertained any idea from someone else. In this paper, the primary goal will be formulating a plan that would be helpful to Bill Brown and the Company in general. The plan would ensure that there were a sustained change and development of Dryburgh Footwear Company. Vivette (2005) argued that any change in an organization needed a proper planning so as to ensure that the modification doesn’t’ have any adverse effects on the Company but instead a positive one. The plan that is going to lie down in this paper is crucial as it is detailed and follows strictly the measures that have been outlined by different scholars. Without a suitable plan like this one, there are very high chances that a Company trying to implement changes would collapse or suffer massive losses (Vivette, 2005). Identification of issues to be addressed Before planning for a change, one has to identify the issues that need to be addressed. Muayadd (2012) in his work has outlined a five-step procedure for an action research. The first step is the collection and analyzing of data. The researcher has the obligation of collecting all the required data through suitable methods such as interviewing the employees. The second step is the interpretation of the data collected where the researcher takes his time to interpret and familiarize himself with the data he has collected. Discussion of the possible solutions is the third step. In this case, the change agent shall work together with all the relevant parties such as the employees and the managers so as to get the possible solutions as to solve the problems. The fourth step is the implementation and taking of action. This is the main aim of the whole process; to implement what has already been well researched and agreed upon by all parties of the organization. The evaluation of the consequences of the changes is the last step. If there are any adverse effects, the change agent should go back to the plan and rectify the mistake done. This proposed organizational change of Dryburgh Footwear Company will follow these five steps. The main problem of Dryburgh Company is a low salary for the employees which are being termed as to ‘a sickening salary.' As mentioned before, the employee pay is vital and determines their morale. A little salary in the Company has led to high levels of employee’s absenteeism which in turn has resulted in many problems in the Company. These issues included; lower employee productivity due to less experienced replacement, disruption of workflows, reduced quality, lost production, additional training, redirection of management time and adverse morale effects on other employees. Therefore, this issue of low salary to the employees needs to be addressed. Convincing the administration of a company which had barely made a single profit in the past years is also another issue. Another issue that needs to be addressed is the problem of making minuscule profits. The management has to plan ways of increasing the Company’s profit. Most of the Company’s employees are women who have babies, and they are mostly unskilled. This is also a major problem since for a better and high-quality production; the workers must be skilled. Other issues include; shifting of employees from one workplace to another, lack of machine maintenance, employee mistreatment by the managers, lack of good supervision, and the provision of JIT system in only one part of the production process. All these issues lead to a dissatisfaction of the workforce, and therefore an action should be taken to address them. How to proceed and work as a change agent In the words of Alan (2003), working as a change agent is not in any way a simple endeavor. It is a task that requires dedication and expertise as most people are mostly resistant to change. For instance, in this case, Stone, the predecessor of Bill Brown, worked for just six weeks and then sacked because of his attempt to change the Company’s management style which was authoritarian and becoming more open with the workers. Some managers resented the change since they wanted to remain authoritative. The most appropriate thing to do as a change agent is to communicate and convince all the concerned parties the need for change. The agent should raise issues that are convincing, and that make sense (Alan, 2003). One of the best ways of convincing people is by following a four-step strategy as outlined by Muayadd (2012) referred to as the 4 D cycle. Steps in the 4 D cycle are; discovering a positive core, dreaming, designing, and destiny. In the first face of the 4 D cycle, the discovery of a positive core, a change agent should undertake the task of enlightening all the members of the Company. In this case, since the management team seems to be the most resistant to change, the agent should start by enlightening the management. Starting with the manager who is rather authoritative, the change agent should gather enough courage to talk the manager and showing him some real prospects of the Company if at all he accepts the change. After convincing the manager and his team, the agent should then move on and talk to the workers and explain to them the positive core that the Company would attain by accepting change. In the second face of the cycle which is dreaming, the change agent needs to show all members the significant benefits that would come with their acceptance of change. The third face requires the officer to explain to the stakeholders how the dream could be achieved and the possibility of making the goal. In the last face, the agent should explain to the stakeholders where they will be after implementing the change and how they would sustain their achievement. For, instance, in this case, after change the Company can start making huge profits and increase the employee’s salary. Planned timing of all the stages In the planning and implementation of any change, time is critical (Silva, 2007). A single mistake in the planning stage can lead to massive losses in the Company and worst of it all; the collapsing of the Company. For instance, in this case, if Bill Brown attempts the changes and in the course of changes some things delay, say the training of employees, the Company can suffer some loss. Silva (2007), mentions a research conducted in eight companies which involved serious interviews of the employees on how they handled change. The results of the meeting showed that individuals consumed a lot of time in their attempts of making sense out of any changes that happened in their organization. Silva also established that changes brought around the dominance of the Company’s time over the interaction time. These are adverse changes, and therefore a change agent should be very keen and allocate reasonable time for the various activities that needed to be accomplished so as to implement the planned change. The first step of the organizational change which involves enlightening the Company’s stakeholders on the need for change should take approximately one bearing in mind that Dryburgh Company has over 500 speakers. During this period, the change agent must be very keen to ensure that every single minute is well utilized and that no time is wasted. The agency should make sure that all the stakeholders are all enlightened by the end of the set period. The second stage which involves explaining the stakeholders on the importance of the change and its benefits should also take around one month. Within the time limit, the change agent should always remember that time is essential and therefore he should work in collaboration with the management so as to deliver his set objectives. The real implementation of the change which has already been agreed upon by all the stakeholders of the Company can take time depending on the task at hand. The first task which is the maintenance of the Company’s machine can take at most one week. Changing the system of management can take around one month. The work of equipping the workers with the relevant skills can take around three months. After these changes, the realization of the Company’s dream which is primarily increasing quality, productivity and in overall the profit, can take an extended period of time; at least a year. Discussion of how readiness can be created in different levels Looking at the first level of change implementation which is enlightening all the stakeholders of the Company, a lot of care and readiness must be taken. As William (2011) noted in his work, the first step of any change is vital. A simple mistake in this first stage can easily lead to the frustration of the entire plans of implementing change. This means that the change agent must be very keen to ensure that they have the right measures in place to handle any eventualities that might arise. One of the best ways to create readiness is through having a proper plan first. Having an appropriate method means that the change agent has already set a strategy of convincing the people and if, in any way they happen to disagree with his proposal, he has another manner of convincing the same individuals. This way, the change can’t backfire on this stage. In the phase of the real implementation of change, the readiness of handling any eventualities that might hamper the implementation of change is vital (William, 2000). The stage is crucial and a single mistake can lead to massive losses of the Company’s resources. The change agent has no choice but to ensure that the right measures are put in place in readiness for any eventualities. This requires the change agent to have a risk assessment plan where he evaluates all the possible risks that might occur in the implementation of the modification. With this risk, the agency should formulate some mechanisms of mitigating those risks. For instance, in this case, the Company might lack enough capital to train the entire worker's something which can lead to the frustration of the whole process of change implementation. Having this in mind, the change agent need to set in advance an alternative means of getting the finance; say obtain a financier like a commercial bank. Works cited Alan. W. Organizational Consulting: how to be an effective internal change agent. John Willey & Sons Publishers. 2003. Print. Labour N. The Role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Development and Growth in OIC Member Countries. Journal of economic cooperation 21: 27–55. 2000. Print. Deery, S.J.' Absenteeism and Employee Turnover: Dryburgh Footwear Company', in Organisational change strategies: Case studies of human resource and industrial relations issues, eds M. Patrickson, V. Bamber, & G.J. Bamber, Longman, Melbourne, Chapter 21, pp. 240-250. 1995. Print. John. S. Managing employee’s performance and reward: concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press. 2007. Print. Kenneth. A. Foreign Direct Investment. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2008. Print. May add. J. Managing Organizational Change: process, social construction, and Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan Publishers. 2012. Print. Silva. J. Organizational change and the meaning of time. BAR, Braz Publishers. Adm. Rev. Vol. 4 no. 3 Curitiba. 2007 Print. Vivette. P. Planning and managing change.USA: American Management Association International Press. 2005 Print. Warner. B. Organization Change: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications. 2011. Print. William. B. Managing transitions: making the most of the change. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. 2011. Print. Read More