Leading in Emergent and Changed Environment - Case Study Example

Case study: Leading in emergent and changed environment Introduction Bega is an Australian cheese brand which started in the 1850’s when different farmers started selling their dairy products. With the aim of improving their production and the activities of the market, the farmers joined to form a cooperative society whose name was Bega cooperative creamery. They began operation in 1900 and the demand for the produced creamy products kept increasing. The demand has continued to increase over the years to the current situation whereby the sales are still high. In the 1990’s, Bega cheese started exporting their cheese products. This was facilitated by high demand levels that existed in other counties that were not producers of the dairy products. The amount of exports made by Bega cheese is as much as the sales made in the domestic market. Bega cheese has been able to keep their customers and suppliers updated using national and international media. It has also been able to make a contribution to career development opportunities to a large number of people and has been able to employ more than 1700 people from different regions. The model that is applicable in Bega Cheese Company is Kotter’s eight-step change model. This model is efficient in planning and sustaining any change implementation (Bridgeland and Zahavi, 2009). The eight steps involved in the model are establishment if a sense of urgency, creation of a guiding coalition, development of a change strategy, communication of the change strategy, empowerment of employees for action and generation of short term wins. The next step is consolidation of the gains and production of more change, and anchoring the new changes into the culture of the company (Kaplan, 2012).The first step is identifying the sense of urgency. This is usually a situation in the company that will need to be attended to urgently. In the case of Bega cheese, the urgency might be seen as the situation whereby the suppliers of the dairy products discovered that the marketing for their products was not so successful and they discovered the urgency for chance, which enabled them to focus on forming a cooperative society. Another urgency for change in the company may be observed in the situation whereby Bega cheese discovered the demand for cheese in the other countries and made changes from basically selling to the domestic market to extending to the export market (Sabri et al, 2007). Development of a change strategy is another step in the model that will involve coming up with a strategy for the change that is designed for the company. Designing the strategies will require the involvement and participation of all coalition members to ensure that it is successful. development of the strategy in Bega cheese will involve participation of all the leaders from different levels of the company that are already involved in the coalition building and this will ensure that that the strategy that is developed works for the benefit of all the company stakeholders (Burke, 2010). The next step in the model is the creation of a guiding coalition. This requires the change leader to build a strong coalition with other leaders in the organisation in order to guide the change effort. In the case of Bega cheese, any change that has taken place and that is to take place in the future requires the coalition of all the leaders at different levels of the company in order to see that the designed change is achieved and that every leader gives the right guidance to the designed personnel to facilitate the change. An effective strategy is one that will be communicable, feasible, desirable and flexible (Kotter, 2012). The next step will involve communicating the change and the strategy developed to effect the change. the communication should be made at all levels of the organisation to ensure that all the stakeholders get to understand why the change is needed and what benefits it will bring to the organisation. In the case of Bega cheese, the communication concerning the desired change and the strategies developed to implement the chance should be made to all the stakeholders of the company including the suppliers of the dairy products. This communication should be made in a simple way to ensure that all the stakeholders get the true information concerning what the change involves and requires of them. It will also enable them to understand how the change is designed to benefit the company. This will enable them to work towards supporting the change strategy developed (Northcote, 2008). The next step will involve empowering the employees for change. This step will involve dealing with the employees who resist the change by ensuring that they recognize the need of undertaking the change, and clearing the doubts that they might have concerning the change. In Bega cheese, this will involve ensuring that all the employees are in support of the change and answering the queries that they might have about it. The next step is generation of the short-term wins. This will involve showing the benefits of the change to the stakeholders before the completion of the change process. Bega Cheese Company in this case, will need to show the benefits of the change process to the stakeholders that occur as the change progresses (Rasheed, 2012). Consolidation of the gains and production of more change is the next step and in this step, Bega Cheese Company will need to see the short term wins as a motivation to keep them working towards attaining more change in order to attain more benefits and not just getting satisfied with the short term benefits attained (Chesbrough, 2006). This will ensure that all stakeholders in the company recognize the need for working towards the attainment of more change. The final step in the model is anchoring the new changes into the company’s culture. In the case of Bega cheese, this will involve incorporating the changes in the existing culture of the company. It will also involve ensuring that the changes are experienced by all and are present in all the aspects of the company (Tanachart and Islam, 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, Kotter’s eight-step model is an important model in any business organisation that encourages change as part of its operation. Bega cheese is a company that can apply the model to undertake its changes effectively. This model will therefore ensure that change brings the intended results in the company and will ensure that the change is effectively incorporated in the culture of the company. Reference list Bridgeland, D. M., & Zahavi, R. (2009). Business modeling: A practical guide to realizing business value. Amsterdam: Morgan Kaufmann/Elsevier. Kaplan, S. (2012). The business model innovation factory: How to stay relevant when the world is changing. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. Chesbrough, H. W. (2006). Open business models: How to thrive in the new innovation landscape. Sabri, E. H., Gupta, A. P., & Beitler, M. A. (2007). Purchase order management best practices: Process, technology, and change management. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: J. Ross Pub. Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press. Gilley, A. M. (2005). The manager as change leader. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers. Tanachart, R., & Islam, S. M. N. (2010). Designing an efficient management system: Modelling of convergence factors exemplified by the case of Japanese businesses in Thailand. Heidelberg: Physica. Burke, W. W. (2010). Organization change: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Northcote, J. (2008). Making change happen: Implementing business change : a practical guide. London: Jane Northcote. Rasheed, H. P. D. (2012). Innovation strategy: Seven keys to creative leadership and a sustainable business model. S.l.: Iuniverse Inc. Read More