Advanced Organizational Behavior - Research Paper Example

Advanced Organizational Behavior, Project of "Managing Change" Organizations are physical structures with a ‘collage’ of workers doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader, for the benefit of the organization as well as them. After the recruitment and apportionment is over, it is the duty of the organization and its leader to provide the employees an optimal working environment. In that environment only, employees will optimize productivity and profit for the organization. This favorable state of recruiting apt employees, providing optimal working environment, leadership role, increasing productivity and profits can be actualized and continued, till the achievement of the set goals. But, when the organization does not perform up to expected levels and in other cases wanted to expand or diversify its operations, the management method has to be changed. This is where the concept of change management or organizational change comes into the picture. That is, change management constitutes the structured changing or transitioning of employees, departments and the organizations as a whole from a current state to a favorable or desired future state. So, the main need or necessity for an organization to change is to maximize the collective advantages or benefits for all the employees, managers and leaders working for the organization, and thereby maximize the profit and standing of the organization. When this change shows positive results, organizations can extricate from any tough situations and travel on the path of success, achieving long term goals. So, this paper will describe and analyze the organizational change that took place in Nike, then will discuss the problems encountered in the process of managing change and suggest possible solutions to these problems. Background and necessity of change Recruitment of employees from diverse backgrounds will only give the desired results because they will work effectively in their interior environment as well as handle the issues that happen in the external environment of the specific organization. But, some organisations will not have this diversity aspect totally or not up to recognizable levels. So, whatever be the case, certain organizations as part of change management will introduce programs or strategies to recruit and assemble ‘collage’ of workers, so that the diversity element is incorporated into their organizational structure and culture. This is what Nike is trying to do through its Diversity program. Nike Corporation is the world’s leading supplier and or manufacturer of sports equipments, athletic shoes and apparels. Currently Nike has over five hundred factory or office locations in around 45 countries all over the world, the majority of these are in Asia. With such extensive locations, Nike, an American corporation has a sizeable percentage of employees from diverse groups. So, Nike is a very diverse company and focuses a great deal on improving diversity throughout the organization. “This company operates on six continents, and employs around 23,000 people. Their suppliers, shippers, retailers and service providers employ close to 1 million people. The diversity inherent in such size is helping Nike evolve its role as a global company.” (Clark et. al 2005). However, as part of a positive image building exercise, Nike under the leadership of Phil Knight planned to increase the percentage of employees from diverse backgrounds to recognizable levels and for that as part of change management, adopted the Diversity program. “Nike set out on a five-year journey to make the company an Employer of Choice. We said diversity could be a competitive advantage. … Our commitment to diversity is an integral part of Nike’s identity as a company” (nike.com). This change management step could fully optimize Nike’s image in the minds of the prospective customers as well as common people, fulfilling Corporate Social Responsibility as well. “It is in each company’s best interest to develop and incorporate elements of both Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility into its agenda because the challenges of the new millennium will, no doubt, requires an integrated approach to the issue of corporate ethics.” (Altham). Nike’s mission and vision as part of the change management program Initially, Phil Knight as part of organizational change or change management introduced diversity programs into Nike’s functioning in co-operation with six employee networks, which were established by Nike themselves in 1990’s. These networks consisting of the main minority segments of the population, by liaising with the recruiting officers of Nike, introduced as much people from their segments into the organization. The six Nike networks each containing a minority group are Networks of African-American, Asia Pacific, Disabled Employees & Friends, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Latino & Friends and finally Native American (nike.com). So, by these measures, Phil Knight tries to include qualified or equipped persons from groups or networks into their organization, and thereby bring in the diverse element. In operations outside U.S., Nike tries to recruit individuals from different nationalities or provinces. “For example, in our European headquarters we currently employ over 70 different nationalities.” (nikebiz.com). In worldwide operations also, Nike gives opportunities to other minority or marginalized groups. “Nike works closely with Stonewall, Britain’s leading gay equality organization, and other members of the program, to improve the working environment for our lesbian, gay and bisexual employees” (nikebiz.com). Phil Knight as part of its diversity program and also as part of change management also set up an office of Global Diversity and a senior corporate-level leadership position. Through this recruitment process as part of the diversity program, Nike was able to actualize and address certain opportunities. That is, with this program, Nike intended or intends to recruit some of the brightest and talented individuals from the groups or sections of population, who are not given adequate opportunities due to their allegiance to particular group and its way of living. Nike is also hoping that these diversity programs will bring in many dynamic people from different backgrounds, who can enrich the creativity and innovation part of their business. This recruitment part is one of the important roles of the HR Manager, which is encapsulated in the Collins’ Leadership theory. “They got the right people on the bus, moved the wrong people off, ushered the right people to the right seats - and then they figured out where to drive it” (Collins 2007). Apart from these employee centric outcomes, Nike mainly intends to build a positive image about the company in the minds of the customers, all over the world. This positive image HR exercise will bring in many benefits to Nike like elevating its brand image, easier identification of Nike’s products particularly among the ‘minority’ groups. “Diversity heightens the stature and belief in the brand and within our culturally diverse consumer base. “ (nike.com). So, Nike introduced this diversity program to actualize the issue of recruiting talented group of workers from diverse population and thereby improving its image. This recruitment process, which takes care of the organization’s interior as well as the exterior environment, will only help the organization achieve greater success. Nike Chairman Phil Knight stated, “As a citizen of the world , Nike must Do the Right Thing - try to be transparent about what we are doing right, and about what we are doing wrong; embrace diversity; drive sustainability.” (qtd by Etang and Pieczka 2006). Nike through its diversity based recruitment process hopes to achieve or achieved both these aspects. That is, employees recruited through this diversity program will perform optimally in the interior environment increasing Nike’s productivity and profits. At the same time, their recruitment will surely improve the organization’s image externally from the perspective of customers and market forces. Problems encountered during organizational change Selection process is a critical one for the organization as a whole and for all managers especially HRMs. Recognizing the importance of these decisions, today’s successful organizations invest substantial amounts of time, effort, and money in selecting their human resources. Time is the key because the organizations tend to continuously test the employees before making the eventual and effective selection. The wrong selection can result in months of frustration, repetitive training, documentation, and low morale prior to the eventual termination of the recently hired individual, after which the selection process begins all over again. Selecting the right people is also critical to successful strategy implementation. Selection and placement of applicants for employment (and candidates for upgrading) are done by means of various tests and personnel interviews, and importantly followed by thorough indoctrination and instruction to the selected employees. While implementing this Diversity program as part of the change management and selecting employees, Nike face certain challenges. The main challenge or criticism which is faced by the diversity program is, workers are wrongly selected by Nike based mainly on theirs’ background or religion or allegiance, and by giving only second preference to their educational qualification, skill level, knowledge, experience, etc. That is, the qualifications and requirements needed by the prospective employees and which is necessary to do the job are given secondary importance. By fully focusing on the diversity aspect, sometimes Nike’s management and HR team could select ill-equipped individuals, thereby affecting the Nike’s functioning and performance. So, the main doubt regarding this program is whether these employees are recruited based on skill, knowledge, etc. The other important problem, Nike face and could face is in the outsourcing operations or foreign territory operations regarding the treatment of the indigenous employees. In the outsourcing or foreign operation as well, Diversity program has been given foremost importance in all stages of functioning from the recruitment stage to the retirement stage. However, the foreign managers who mainly come from the home countries will not be able to understand the cultural uniqueness and other customs, thereby discriminating the local employees. This discrimination based race, religion, caste, etc could be a major problem for this Diversity program Solutions The objectives of a optimal recruitment and selection policy is to first locate and attract as many well-qualified recruits as one needs for an organization; and importantly to maintain or raise the total value of the organization’s human assets and thereby minimize the cost incurred when unsuitable persons are selected. The second portion of the objective is crucial to actualize an optimal selection process. HRD team during the selection process should try to minimize (a) false positive errors, whereby the selection process predicts success for an applicant in the job, and who is therefore hired, but who fails in the working environment and (b) false negative errors, whereby an applicant who would have succeeded in the job is rejected because the process predicted failure (Boddy, 2002). The challenge or problem of recruiting ill-equipped or under skilled employees can be managed by Nike if they continuously test the potential of the employees, recruited through the Diversity program. That is, even though Nike is sure that they only recruit diverse employees who are qualified, they have to be continuously tested whether they are fulfilling their job requirements. That is, employees are mainly recruited based on their skill and capabilities with individuals from certain groups, given little more importance than his/her competitors. Organisations can positively begin its strategic intent of change or change management by strengthening its recruiting process, with the leader playing a prominent role. This importance of leader has been put forward by Burke (2002), who has said that “The selection process was managed by the top team with the assistance of an organization development consultant”. So, here Phil Knight should not create quotas for the minority groups, only the opportunities for them should be increased when compared to the others. Nike has to recruit employees who they think would be productive to their company and at the same time fulfill the ethical responsibility. By this strategy, as mentioned above, Nike can bring in the brightest and talented lot from the sections of population, who were sidelined while getting opportunities because of their allegiance to particular group and its way of living. So, Nike and Phil Knight by continuously testing the potential of the employees recruited through the Diversity program can form a talented group of workers from diverse population, at the same time improve its ethical image and importantly make the change management a success. An important recommendation or solution which can be employed in Nike is the requirement on the part of the company executives, to coach and mentor two people from diverse background. After recruiting the new staffs, organisations should train or coach or mentor the recruited staffs and even the existing employees, for it to manage the changes optimally. That is, when the existing or old employees of the organization fall short in their performance, mainly due to any lack of skill and knowledge about the new process, the leaders should formulate and implement good training methods particularly coaching and mentoring. On the other hand, Jones and Munro (2005) brings out a different perspective of these training programs by stating that, if the employees are not trained well, it will paralyze the whole organization. So, it is necessary to coach or mentor the employees aptly for them to exhibit optimal performance, particularly in the aftermath of organizational change. In the case of Nike, each experienced official based on HR policies have to mentor at least two employees from diverse background. This strategy will improve the employees from the diverse group, as those employees will become more productive with constant mentoring. That is, in competitive environments, every organization including Nike keep on upgrading its product and services, and for that, the employees have to be upgraded first. Upgraded in the sense, they need to be given the needed coaching or mentoring, so that they fulfill the job requirements. So, most times the ‘greenhorns’ recruited as part of the Diversity program, before being placed in highly responsible positions, need to be given necessary training, coaching or mentoring and that would of utmost necessity during change management. This coaching or mentoring may not only be carried out in the aftermath of the change management, but should also be incorporated as a regular or annual feature, and this constitutes the best practice for Nike. An wholesome coaching and mentoring program will do a world of good for the employees, as they will become equipped skill wise and knowledge wise, and will be able to undertake theirs allocated work with renewed confidence. Mentors at Nike could have extensive and in-depth knowledge about a particular field, and so in the initial stages itself, they can find out the wrongs the individuals are doing. This will aid in the correction or optimization of those employees. Once the mistakes are fleshed out, the employees can improve with continuous mentoring. Mentors at Nike can mentor the individuals at different stages in opportune moments, to achieve positive benefits. It will provide the individuals recruited through the diversity program, an opportunity to improve their knowledge and also experience. Long term professional development path is the key, because mentoring process at Nike can be continued for a long time involving the Managers or leaders and the employees, thereby providing long term benefits to the employees as well as Nike. Nike should also train the local middle level management team or managers in the subsidiaries in the foreign countries and promote them to the top management. This way, the problem of mistreating the employees in the outsourced units can be cut down maximally. Harzing & Ruysseveldt (2004) state that MNCs while carrying out the recruitment function, will follow certain management approaches, based on the place from where the employees are recruited. Firstly, they may follow the polycentric approach and recruit the locals to the top management team, so that the host country’s management techniques, concepts, etc, are imbued in the functioning of the MNCs. While, MNCs with an ethnocentric approach fill all top management positions with home or parent country nationals, as they think that their own management style, knowledge, evaluation criteria, and managers are superior (Harzing & Ruysseveldt 2004). Nike should follow the firstly mentioned polycentric approach because it promotes or rewards the apt managers from the local work force. Through this approach, Nike can explicitly recognize differences between countries and believes in local managers and employees. Following this approach, Nike can fill the important management post particularly country head or managers of the subsidiary unit with local nationals. This will ensure easy assimilation and integration on the part of the managers as well as workers. That is, as local managers could easily understand and grasp the thought processes of the local employees as well as appreciate the local cultures and customs, it will give the diverse employees more assurance and satisfactions. Nike should also carry out cultural sensitivity training for local managers in the outside operations, so that they can become more culturally aware. Importantly, this promotion of local managers to top position will also entice and inspire more local employees to work harder to attain that position, thereby incorporating the Diversity program in more optimal manner. Conclusion Although Nike has an extensive recruitment and selection process as part of its overall functioning, it has separate and distinct processes as part of its Diversity program. During the recruitment process, Nike mainly liaises with the employees’ network to bring in apt and diverse employees, thereby avoiding the common recruitment steps and the associated costs. As Nike faces problems or criticisms regarding the capability of employees, it has to optimize its selection process by continuously testing the prospective employees. Finally, in its external environment, Nike should implement diversity program by bringing in employees from various country groups and also by selecting local managers to play a major role. So, in future, if Nike incorporates the above mentioned HR strategies, it will be able to give a clean management, attaining both its ethical and economical goals, thereby being judged a success. References Altham, J, Business Ethics versus Corporate Social Responsibility: Competing or Complimentary Approaches? International Business Ethics Institute, Washington, DC Burke, WW, 2002, Organization change: theory and practice, New York: SAGE. Boddy, D., 2004, Management: An Introduction, Second Edition, Prentice Hall. Clark, D, Taylor, R, Gioulos, P and Spanke, R, 2005, The Transition of Nike, accessed on December 6, 2009 http://homepages.wmich.edu/~r3taylor/Project-6.htm Collins, J., 2001, Level 5 Leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve, Harvard Business Review, Jan, 66-76 Etang, J and Pieczka, M, 2006, Public relations: critical debates and contemporary practice, Routledge, New York. Harzing, AW & Ruysseveldt, JV, 2004, International Human Resource Management. SAGE, London. Jones, C and Munro, R, 2005, Contemporary organization theory, Wiley-Blackwell, New York. nike.com, Employees and Diversity, accessed on December 5, 2009 http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/gc/r/fy04/docs/employees_diversity.pdf nikebiz.com, Diversity and Inclusion, accessed on December 5, 2009 ttp://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/documents/7_Nike_CRR_Diversity_C.pdf nikebiz.com, Diversity & Inclusion: Diversity Helps Drive Success, accessed on December 5, 2009 http://www.nikebiz.com/careers/diversity.html nikebiz.com, Awards & Recognition, accessed on December 5, 2009 http://nikebiz.com/company_overview/awards_recognition.html Read More