Human Resources : Case STudy - Essay Example

Human Resources: Case Study Table of Contents Introduction Any organization that does not accept change moves towards its own peril. Change is the approach of transiting from the present condition to a desired condition. The goal of change is to maximize the benefits of the organization and eliminate the barriers. Management is controlling and monitoring the activities undertaken during change. So change management signifies transforming systematically (Paton, and McCalman, 2000, p. 10-13). The key drivers of change that was assumed for Blue Marina can be segregated into internal and external change drivers.

The internal drivers for bringing on the change in Blue marina is the diminishing quality of food in the restaurant which was once very delicious, decreasing level of profit. The condition has reached at such stage that the restaurant has registered a loss in their balance sheet. Due to lack of co-ordination among the staffs, the waiting time of the customers was increasing as the orders were delivered late. The external drivers were probably the financial crunch, cut throat competition, etc.

The SWOT analysis of Blue Marina as mentioned in Appendix 1 would further explain the change drivers. The external drivers explained here have been further discussed in Appendix 2. Analysis of the Nature of Change in Blue Marina In this section we would be discussing about the nature of change that would be brought about in case of Blue Marina. In this case, the nature of change can be considered to be transformational because the restaurant would be revamping its total menu, interior décor, and introduce a new bar space for its customers.

Moreover, plans of introducing two new restaurants in two different malls support the nature of change. New information system would set for linking the suppliers of the restaurants. Lastly, Blue Marina would also be taking initiatives for community services. This shows that the change is being brought about in the whole organization and would be enacted over a period of time. However, the planned approach is more appropriate if we consider the change management plans suggested by the new manager Marcello.

In transformational change the next step is only planned when success is achieved in the previous step. However, in case of planned change a step wise framework is designed beforehand for implementation. Transformational change involves bringing about the change in the whole organization, and planned change involves implementing a series of changes which would be costly for Blue Marina to bear when it is already running in loss. So, the best way that Blue Marina could associate itself is the logical incrementalism.

According to this philosophy, the broad goals which Marcello has suggested can be broken up into smaller strategic objectives and small steps can be taken to implement these steps. The logical incremental approach would not only safeguard the capital investments of Blue Marina that would be utilized for change, but it can also help the management to effectively implement the changes without any mistake. However, logical incrementalism change can be time consuming and may lead to inefficiency (Quinn, 1986, p. 7). Based on the logical incrementalism change, Blue Marina should take the formal systems planning approach.

According to this approach, the restaurant should have to identify its own strengths and weaknesses, problem areas or drivers for change, analyze the external environment, assess the investment requirements, set goals for achievement like 15 percent profit hike in 5 years, identify the difference or gap, and break down the big goal into small strategic objectives (Goldsmith, Salvador, Knipe, and Kendall, 2002, p. 101-103). Employee Reaction to Change It is very important to assess the reaction of the employees towards change because all the other resources in the organization are futile without human resource.

Generally, it has been seen that employees resist changes in organization because they have to come out of their comfort zone if new protocols are introduced, but if logical incrementalism approach is followed, then the resistance might be low because the change implementation would be subtle and slow, yet effective. So the employees will get time to adapt the changes in the organization. In case of logical incrementalism, the strategic goals can be modified based on the prevailing environment, so employees’ issues can also be solved based on the existing situation.

Generally the employees might deliver the sense of fear, which is a common human reaction of losing the job. So questions like job security, put cut, or demotions arise in the minds of the employees. Secondly, the employees may find it difficult to adjust to the new atmosphere or ambience, so they might get de-motivated because of this. Some employees are enthusiastic because they welcome change enthusiastically. These are generally the lower level young employees, which are energetic and adaptable to changing situations.

In cases like this the management of the company or the top level authority has to play significant role. In this case, Blue Marina’s new manager Marcello and his team would bear the responsibility to motivate the employees and create such an internal environment in the organization that the employee rather than suffering from insecurity would love to work in the new environment. Recommendations The recommendations would be based on Kirkpatrick’s four level change models. The four levels of the model are reaction, learning, behavior, and results.

The approach of logical incrementalism is very much applicable in case of this model. Blue Marina should first observe the reaction that is the response, which they have already done by identifying the drives for change. The next step is to learn about the changes that can be brought about through step wise strategic planning. The third step is watching the behavior that is monitoring the reactions after step wise implementation of change process, and lastly the financial results at the end of the year would depict if Blue Marina would be able to achieve the goal of 15 percent profit hike at the end of 5 years or not.

This process represents a proactive and structured approach towards change (Quinn, 1980, p. 34-36). References Goldsmith, P., Salvador, A., Knipe, D., and Kendall, E., 2002. Structural change or logical incrementalism? Turbulence in the global meat system. Chain and network science, pp. 101-115. Paton, R.A. and McCalman, J., 2000. Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation. 2nd ed., London: SAGE publications ltd. Quinn, J. B., 1980. An Incremental Approach to strategic change. The McKinsey Quarterly, pp.34-52. Quinn, J. B., 1986.

Strategic Change: Logical Incrementalism. Sloan Management Review, 20(1), pp. 7-21. Appendices Appendix 1: SWOT Analysis Strength Weakness • Good menu • Delicious Dishes • Sitting arrangements of about 100 customers • Fast delivery of orders • consistent customer services Diminishing quality of services Decreasing profit Registering loses in Balance Sheet Lack of proper co-ordination among staffs Waiting time of the customers increased to half an hour Opportunity Threat Expertise of the new manager in business administration Projection of 15 percent profit hike within 5 years Expansion of growth of Blue Marina restaurant chain Probability of acquiring new customers through change implementation Expertise of the new manager in business administration Projection of 15 percent profit hike within 5 years Expansion of growth of Blue Marina restaurant chain Probability of acquiring new customers through change implementation Appendix 2: PEST Analysis Factors Analysis Political Open Market Economical Financial crisis Social Sponsoring in the projects for the welfare of the society for establishing strong brand image Technological CRM software can be used and also information system to link the suppliers is maintained.