Organisational Behaviour AEGON - Assignment Example

Organisational Behaviour-AEGON Affiliation: Introduction AEGON is an international organization whose success was being experienced in other nations apart from in the UK branch. The leadership was changed and the new CEO led the employees in a series of changes for the organization. The changes led to changes in both external and internal forces. The role of a transformational leader as well as that of the management will be discussed in detail below and so will management change process by Kotter all of which contributed to the success of AEGON in UK. External forces for change The new CEO proposed changes in the organization as a way to improve the company and especially promoting it locally in the UK which seemed to have trouble embracing the company compared to other locations globally. The first external force of change was in making its presence in the marketplace much more renowned. This was brought about by people lacking faith in the company without realizing that it had many different companies but under different names. The name AEGON was therefore included with the names of its other companies as a way to create presence and trust in the market place and eliminate competition as well. One of the most important changes AEGON realized and made was changing its customer focus. They realized the importance of focusing more on the customers and making them feel they belong. This meant increasing more products for the customers tailored to their different needs, taking the needs of the customer into consideration before making decisions, seeking ways to motivate the customers as well as keeping the promises made to customers. It was through satisfying the needs and wants of the customers that the company could be able to retain them and hence establish their market in the UK as it did with other places. The other most important external force of change AEGON engaged in was brand promotion. This was carried out through a launch of new products in the UK that were innovative and they captured the different financial status of the customers. Every customer therefore had a product they could associate with and which they could afford. The brand promotion was also carried out through changing the name of their other companies to include the name AEGON in them such as was the case for AEGN Scottish Equitable. The brand promotion also involved endorsing a British female athlete as a way to create closer association with the same people it was trying to promote their products to. Internal forces for change The most important internal forces of change that AEGON undertook were to develop its workforce. They developed the skills of its workers to match the needs of the customers. This way, the employees were well equipped to handle the customers’ needs as well as the new products that were developed. The organization in the other successful nations such as in the US is renowned for its employees that are experts, innovative and have good communication skills. This was what the organization wanted its UK-based employees to be renowned for as another way to attract more customers hence increasing their skills. AEGON could not expect to make any changes externally without having to change their culture which was making them fail to get established in the UK in the first place. Culture change involved the employees and managers changing their attitude, behavior, values as well as belief. This was especially in relation to how they made decisions and solved the problems. A change of culture was bound to lead to new insight being developed about the organization, creating clarity of the problem at hand and hence create new ways to deal with them and maintain the customers as well as attract more (Griffin, 2010). The other way changes were made internally by the organizing was by coming up with management development programs. This program was meant for the management teams who were the leaders and supposed to overlook the new changes and ensure they are successfully implemented. A boost in the managerial skills was also important as part of the change and a refresher course to ensure the leadership also contributed successfully to the changes in AEGON UK. Leadership change is an important part of the internal forces of change and by having the leaders undergo a management development program, it would ensure the changes were successful. The role of leadership (e.g., transformational leadership) in bringing about cultural change A transformational leader creates trust amongst the employees and those he is leading. Trust is important to performance as it relates the confidence the people need to perform without worry about their leaders (Cameron & Green, 2012). The employees are also encouraged by the leader’s actions to be more creative and innovative in their work. This way, they are better able to outdo their competitors ensuring that the organization emerges with a competitive market advantage in the long run. With a transformational leader, the work relationship with the employees is friendly. Employees thrive in a work friendly environment that does not lead to unnecessary pressure for them, allows for open communication with each other and with their leader as well as is conducive enough to work in. A transformational leader will therefore ensure that there is minimal or no employee turnover. This means that the training conducted on the employees will continue benefitting the organization and there are minimal chances of the competitors discovering the secrets of success of the organization from the departed employees (Bankert & Amdur, 2006). The other role of a transformational leader in an organization is to motivate the employees. Employees need constant motivation as a way to ensure they always maintain high spirits of working and are always satisfied. The transformational leader has to therefore come up with different motivational techniques that suit all the employees (Uddin, 2013). The role of management functions The main role of a manager is planning for the next move for the organization as well as on which employee is to get promoted or hired or even fired. The planning extends to even the objectives and goals for the organization as well as on its future and how to outdo its competitors. The other management role is organization. This involves determining where the best locations for new businesses to be put up are or which resources are needed to be allocated to a specific department. The organization is also towards the employees and their jobs and especially if a new business is opened (Bankert & Amdur, 2006). The third role of management is motivating of the employees. The manager is in charge of the employees and their affairs and hence needs to find ways to always motivate them to work harder and be much more productive. The motivation will also go a long way into ensuring the employees do not leave the organization but rather even take up more seminars and classes to enhance their skills and get promoted. Lastly is the role of supervising. This role demands more control and seriousness in a bid to ensure that the organization runs as it is supposed to and each employee performs their roles effectively. The supervisory role leads to major improvements in the organization (Ferreira & Groenewald, 2010). Kotter’s eight step change process The first step in Kotter’s model is creating urgency for change to happen. The urgency acts as the motivation for the change. The second step is to seek coalition from people that are powerful and who can be able to provide advice as well as guidance on management of change. These people can be sought based on their job status, political importance or even expertise in different fields. After the coalition is formed, it is important to have a clear vision of the change, how it is to happen, what is the ultimate goal of the change and hence start planning based on this vision. The vision needs to be communicated to the team and other employees for action to be taken and for it to be considered as a step towards success. Obstacles are bound to happen during the implementation and hence it is important to eliminate them through creation of barriers and taking action quickly. Step by step wins are important to be recognized as a way to seek more success for the completion of the change process. Creation of short term goals is therefore necessary at this point. It is important to keep on building on the change through constant monitoring as well as launching on more products to keep the victory up. Lastly is turning these changes to be part of the organizational culture (Kotter, 2013). Conclusions One of the most important thing learn from AEGON is that change is a gradual step that needs to be handled slowly and after much deliberations. The change process may be slow as a result of taking it step by step but it will eventually lead to success as was the case in AEGON for their UK which finally turned out to be okay and successful. The other conclusion that can be drawn is that change is not possible without good and quality leadership. An effective leader has to be present to guide the people, organize and even motivate the people if they are to attain success in the changes. The support of the leader leads to the employees and other team members having trust that everything will be fine with the changes eventually. Lastly, change is a tough process and people may feel like giving up before the change is complete. It is therefore necessary to keep the team motivated at all times. The motivation will increase their productivity as well as skills to complete the work. When the change is complete and successful, it is very important to make this change part of the culture of the organization for continual success. References Bankert, E. & Amdur, R. (2006). Institutional Review Board: Management and Function. New Jersey: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Cameron, E. & Green, M. (2012). Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models Tools and Techniques of Organizational Change. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Ferreira, E. & Groenewald, E. (2010). Administrative Management. California: Juta & Company Lt. Griffin, R. (2010). Management. New York: Cengage Learning. Kotter, J. (2013). A Sense of Urgency. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press. Nelson, D. & Quick, J. (2012). Organizational Behaviour: Science, the Real World, and You. New York: Cengage Learning. Uddin, M. (2013). Role of Transformational Leadership in Organizational Change: Mediating Role of Trust. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 7(2): 72-76. Read More