Managing Change at Faslane - Essay Example

?Insert Insert Grade Insert Managing change at Faslane Fasline is the UK’s naval base that is used to host and prepare the country’s nuclear submarines. Though it is an establishment that is owned by the ministry of defense of the country, diversification has taken over the management and running of the plant and it is privately ran. The private sector management team is the Babcock marine, which is also a constituent branch of the Babcock International. The management structure was not initially designed to be run privately. However, with reasons, the decision to include private sector in the running of the plant was met in 2000 and actualized in the year 2002. Amongst the many reasons that led to the decision was the need to run the plant more efficiently. While the management role rested wholly on the ministry of defense, the plant hardly ran at the optimal level as evidenced by the case study excerpt and this necessitated change. Efficient and strategic leadership was all that was required in order to restore and actualize the optimal performance of the naval pant. Efficiency in managing human resource, time, information and finances was a critical requirement, which led to the decision to put on board private management team by the ministry of defense. This paper therefore intends to critically analyze the performance of the plant before 2002, when the ministry of defense and the royal navy managed the plant, the strategic theories and models that were used and contrast the findings with the management structure that was introduced after 2002. A comparison of the internal features of the organizations will also be done. Analysis on these findings will employ the Hope Hailey’s and Balogun Change Kaleidoscope. Moreover, the paper will equally conduct Lewin’s Force field Analysis to the case study of the Fasline. An interview with Howie, who was the Fasline managing director for the period running from 2002-2006, reveals that the naval base offices are well constructed to accommodate the ships as well as the sailors. He says that it was the need to reduce operational costs and improve on the effectiveness that led to the decision to have partnerships with industrial firms in the running of the naval base and the ministry of defense of UK. The initial contract to be signed in the year 2002 dictated that the incoming team was obligated to bring about an approximate savings of about $ 114 million of the operational costs within five years while at the same time delivering the services of the naval. Strategic change context in 2002, at the start of the change process at Faslane Change is a common phenomenon in management of today’s firms. Organizations have been seen to employ permanent change policies as regards future performance in every change adopted. Changing an organizations structure and administration enhances quality and service delivery. During the freezing stage, members that are directly involved are prepared about the change and the need to have it. It is therefore a preparation stage (Rezvani, Dehkordi and Shamsollahi, 2012, 113-114). Since the change entails a wide range of rearrangement of the organization structure, proper preparation is essential. In analyzing the Faslane 2002 change, we look at the critical reasons that necessitated the change among which the general management formed basic. A sound system that would ensure profitability by way of saving costs was necessary. Moreover, the naval base required proper management of the over 7500 people around the naval base. However, resistance to change as is a common feature in all organizational change procedures was evident. The customers were first hesitant in embracing the adoption of private firms to manage the base, as the structure that they were familiar with was the royal navy and the ministry of defense structure of management. Howie says that the civilians had adopted the supervisory role against the navy personnel who were busy looking after the ships and the submarines. The civilians were found to have built up empires and neglected delivering services to the navy. This explains the resistance encountered in adapting to the new strategic management system. Moreover, strategic change requires that the manager to be adopted had to exhibit the critical managerial qualities to manage the wide range of responsibilities that they were to face. By the analysis of the kaleidoscope change, the management was tasked to bring on board among other features change in strategy, system, structure, culture and processes (Balogun, 2001, 2). By finding the organization in such a position, Howie and the team were faced with an immediate task of implementing change. The required change largely depended on the ability of the team to create a capacity for change, vision creation and ultimate setting the way, proper means of communication, reinforcing through institutionalizing new behaviors and general commitment of the leadership team (Graetz, 2000, 551-552). Balogun and Hope-Hailey describes the strategic change of an organization and to rely broadly on a specific person, or the champion. Through this one person, all the visions and the strategies of the overall change are passed on to the entire executive team mandated with the process of change. In the case of Faslane and John Howie, as the first director from 2002 took the responsibility to champion the required change to the organization. According to Balogun and Hope-Hailey, the change process goes through transformational steps, which are often coercive and or collaborative. Compare and contrast the internal features of the organisation when it was run by the MOD and Royal Navy (up to 2001) with when it was run by Babcock Marine (2002-2010) The McKinsey's 7S Model is an analysis tool that was developed to focus on the organizational structures of firms. The name was derived from the seven features all starting with the letter s ‘s’ and which in sum totals to the functional structure of the firm. Structure represents the organizational chart, strategy is the resource allocation plan, systems are the procedures followed, staff represents the personnel and skills are the gifting or capabilities of the personnel, while style describes the way the management works to realized set objectives. On the other hand, the concepts that define organizations employees in terms of organization are refer to as the shared values (Anon, nd, para 1-4). The cultural web on the other hand is a tool that is designed and that is used to analyze the cultural organization of an organization as it stands currently, how it has been and what the culture is intended to be. There are six basic elements that make up the famous Johnson paradigm model and include stories, symbols, rituals and routines, power structure, control structures and organizational structure. Stories, involve well spoken about events that are past. Ritual and routines refer to the acceptable codes of conduct by the personnel and the people around the organization. Symbols refer to visible structures that help identify the organization such as company logos. Control systems imply the charts of organization that are in position within the firm, and which portray the line of power and authority structure. Control system refers to financial systems, rewards and quality systems adopted by an organization. Power structures show the influence by the executives who are responsible in decision making and strategic directions (Anon, nd, 6-7). Figure 1: McKinsey's 7S Model (Anon, nd, para 1-4). (Anon, nd, para 6-7) Analysis before 2002: On the structure, Faslane was wholly managed by the loyal navy as well as the ministry of defense. The structural arrangement saw the organization’s central management and the offices from which be enclosed by a perimeter wide fence. The style of management was relatively poor as the organization suffered so many losses through high operational costs. The staff on the other hand suffered fear as they were ran by the civil law. The finical control systems that were in use were poor. The employees and the general public were not satisfied by the services offered and had a super regard to the infrastructural endowment of the firm than the navy itself. The civilians that manned the site had stayed long at the point than the navy personnel. Poor strategies and structures were very poor and they believed that any budget surplus was to be wasted as it were to be cut off in the following allocation. Despite the visible feature outlined above, the firm lacked symbols and power sharing and control mechanisms. Analysis after 2002: Partnering structures with private firms characterized the firm’s structure, style, systems and strategies. This also changed the power systems, organizational structures and the general paradigm. Proper control systems for finances and the sound sharing methodologies were adopted and these enhanced efficiency. Additional of personnel altered positively the strategy in management. Customer service delivery posed a great challenge immediately after the revolution in 2002. Improved control system for financial management, rewards and quality systems were adopted for ease of delivering with least cost after successful mind change of the personnel. Therefore, the overall performance of the organization is seen to greatly improve between 2002 and 2010 unlike before the period. Strategic leadership is seen to be the main reason to the shift in this performance. Comment critically on the Strategic Leadership style that was evident at Faslane during 2002 to 2010. Leadership is the art of imparting influence to people and making them willingly cooperate enthusiastically towards realizing an organizations purpose. A leader therefore mobilizes the efforts of persons through “leadership” towards achieving a common goal. Strategic leadership entails the capability of a leader to shape an organization’s decisions, deliver high value over time through not only his/her own efforts but by inspiring and guiding other people in the organization too (Wong, 2003, v). The Lynch model of strategic leadership describes five basic elements of successful and strategic leadership. These are ‘defining and delivering to stakeholders’, ‘sustaining competitive advantage over time’, ‘developing and communicating the organization’s purpose’, ‘setting ethical standards’ and ‘managing human resource and organizational decisions’ (Hitt et al, n.d. 376). Fig 3: The Lynch model (Lynch, 2009, 619) As the director would say, the firm had only the humans to handle and thus the entire process of change entailed developing as well as communicating the purpose of the organization properly to the people. In order to sustain competitive advantage over time entailed proper incorporation of the personnel who were to bring about dynamics in ideas and skills. In defining and ensuring delivery to the stakeholders, the team ensured proper realignment of the workers and implemented the low-level changes systematically to ensure other transformations of big magnitude followed successfully. In managing the human resource, the team employed a common table of discussion through which every individual felt appreciated and through this, the dynamics of running the organization eased. The general public was also given periodic chances to have open analysis of the performance and through this; the ethical principle of strategic leadership was exploited. Moreover, it was the role of the management team to impose a mind change on the personnel that they were meant to deliver services to the navy and through this efficiency was to be realized. From the lynch model, proper definition of the stakeholders and ensuring prompt delivery is key. Therefore, in full realization of the same, the team adopted good mechanisms that ensured that the proper clients received proper attention. Conclusion Changing an organizations structure and administration enhances quality and service delivery. Since the change entails a wide range of rearrangement of the organization structure, proper preparation is essential. Moreover, strategic change requires that the manager to be adopted had to exhibit the critical managerial qualities to manage the wide range of responsibilities that they were to face (Franken, Edwards and Lambert, 2009, 49-51). By the analysis of the kaleidoscope change, the management was tasked to bring on board among other features change in strategy, system, structure, culture and processes. Balogun and Hope-Hailey describes the strategic change of an organization and to rely broadly on a specific person, or the champion. The change process goes through transformational steps, which are often coercive and or collaborative. The McKinsey's 7S Model is an analysis tool that was developed to focus on the organizational structures of firms. The cultural web on the other hand is a tool that is designed and that is used to analyze the cultural organization of an organization as it stands currently, how it has been and what the culture is intended to. There are six basic elements that make up the famous Johnson paradigm model and include stories, symbols, rituals and routines, power structure, control structures and organizational structure. From the overall analysis of the Faslane, it is evident that the performance of the post 2002 period outdoes by far the initial performance that was before the change. This would correctly be attributed to proper strategic management that came on board. Good decision-making and policy implementation would better describe the management of the firm. References Anonymous. nd. Aligning Your Organization's Culture with Strategy. The Cultural Web. Para 6-7. Accessed on 19/4/2013. Web: Anonymous. nd. What is McKinsey 7S Model? Para 6-7. Accessed on 19/4/2013. Web:  Balogun J. 2001.Strategic change. MANAGEMENT QUARTERLY PART 10 JANUARY 2001. 2 Franken A., Edwards C. and Lambert R. 2009. Executing Strategic Change: UNDERSTANDING THE CRITICAL MANAGEMENTELEMENTS THAT LEAD TO SUCCESS. CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW VOL. 51, NO. 3 SPRING 2009. 49-51. Graetz F. 2000. strategic change leadership. 550-552 Management decision 38/8 [2000] 550-562 Hitt et al. (n.d). Strategic Leadership: The Good, the Bad, and the Guilty. Strategic leadership. Part 3. Startegic actions. Strategic implimentations. Chapter 12. 374-404. Lynch, R., (2009) Strategic Management, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, chapter 16, pp619 Mackness John. Nd. EVALUATION OF TWO APPROACHES TOORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUMSIZED BUSINESSES. Para 1-4. Accessed on 19/4/2013. Web: Rezvan S, Dehkordi G. J. and Shamsollahi A. 2012. MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE FORORGANIZATIONS. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences. 113-114. June 2012, Vol. 1, No. 3. Wong L., et al. 2003. V. STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES. September 2003. 1-13. Read More