Diagnosing the Change Agendas with the Framework Chosen - Coursework Example

Short Case Report Table of Contents Overview 3 Discussion 4 High Level Change Drivers 4 The Congruence Model 6 Six Box Organizational Model 11 Essential Areas of Change 14 Recommendation Action for Reinforcing Change Process 15 References 16 Bibliography 18 Overview Organizational change is an unwanted but yet essential aspect. The process of organizational change can be described as a state in which an organization brings about optimization in its work process and performance levels for attaining set goals and objectives. The functionality of an organisation depends on multiple inter-dependent factors or dimensions (Chen & et. al., n.d.). Thus, even a slight rate of distortion within these inter-dependent dimensions might affect the operations of the entire organization. It is often observed that the changes within the surrounding environment are mainly responsible for contributing in terms of the organizational change. These environmental change factors can be often seen in the form of current crisis scenarios or may be an initiative taken up by managers or leaders within the organisation (Chen & et. al., n.d.). As already stated above, the entire process of bringing about organizational change is a complex process and requires higher level of time as well as efforts. Changes within an organisation largely depends on the managers and leaders in terms of determining the integrated factors associated with bringing about effective and optimal organizational change (Chen & et. al., n.d.). The organizational change is not just a matter of bringing about slight adjustments within the work process but it also requires effective management capabilities. This topic will be taking into consideration multiple criterions which lay significant impact on the change readiness. This report will be mainly focussing towards elaborating the concepts of high level change drivers through effective analysis of the given case discussion. It will also provide significant amount of light in terms of discussing the two major diagnostic models which might find its relation with the provided case. Discussion The discussion part will mainly focus towards elaborating every specific aspect of the provided case. The elaborations have been done in terms of subheadings and are provided as under. High Level Change Drivers In the provided case discussion of Boeing, the primary drivers which triggered the entire change process can be described in terms of inappropriate behaviour and carelessness. The Boeing officials were termed as being incapable in terms of projecting inappropriate behavioural traits. They were also stated incapable towards effective maintenance of crucial organizational documents. This led to the spreading out of endless negative reports against this avionic company. The fall of the company’s share rate by 6.5% can also be considered as an essential aspect triggering to the change process. The marketing and service competition posed by Airbus also came up as a second driver contributing to the change process. Boeing which was reckoned as the most prominent company in aircraft manufacturing industry saw dramatic decline in its legacy during 1994. During 1994 Airbus the main rival of Boeing was able to attain higher level of market share in terms of acquiring higher amount of customer bookings. This raised the tension level for Boeing and forced it in terms of bringing about change within its organizational work structure. Besides, little changes in bureaucratic structure of Boeing, use of out-dated technological system followed by unnecessary process within the organisations were the major driving factors behind the initiation of change within the organisation. The third diver which significantly contributed to the change process is the rising demand of flight services within the market during the period of 1997. In order to cope up with the increasing service demand, Boeing gradually increased its aircraft manufacturing process and finally ended up with a manufacturing crisis which halted the process for about 20 days. These resulted in terms of bringing about severe distortion to its market reputation. In this context, the company’s marketing approach of ‘win at all cost’ and the continuation of inappropriate communication within the organization were considered as the major factors which contributed to the company’s loss making. Adding to these, failure to build effective relationships with its supplier contributed towards increasing the manufacturing cost for the company and thereby reducing its profit earning capacity. The instability in terms of maintaining an effective check on the product demand cycle also resulted in massive fluctuations within Boeing’s annual revenue earning figures. Moreover, the company also faced issues in terms of maintaining appropriate cultural alignment when its came to carrying out business with the government. The company also faced multiple financial fraudulency obligations from the investors and shareholders. At the same time, the diversification plan projected by this company also attained high level of moral obligations from the employee side. This aggravated the change process further. The lack of a strong super visionary board and competitiveness oriented corporate culture can also be considered as change drivers for the company. The relocation of the company’s headquarters from Seattle to Chicago also contributed in terms of bringing about change within the organization. All these above discussed factors can be considered to have laid significant impact in terms of bringing about change within the structure and work culture of Boeing. Diagnosing the Change Agendas with the Framework Chosen Multiple models exists which can be used in terms of managing multiple situations within an organization. Some of these models have been taken into consideration and has been related with the provided case. The first framework model includes the congruence model which has been described below. The Congruence Model Source: (ProProfs.com, n.d.) The detailed pictorial representation of the congruence model has been provided above. The model was stated by David Nadler and Michael Tushman. This model is a systematic model which mainly aims towards measuring the effectiveness of an organization based on its consistency and balance between every single aspect and element which forms a specific organization. The primitive step in terms of framing and flourishing up with a change process is to completely understand the subtleties and routine of a specific organization. Without it, the process of diagnosing the nature and the effect of an organization’s problems will take the shape of a complex process (Stanford University, 2013; Dignum & Dignum, n.d.). Adding to that, this model can be related with the case of organizational problems faced by Boeing. The various elements pertaining to this model in relation to the case study has been elaborated hereunder. Input Environment: The environment part mostly comprises of factors such as ‘institutions’, ‘individuals’, ‘groups’, and ‘events’ among others. It also includes factors in context to analysis of external organizational boundaries that poses potential impact on a specific organization. This part also includes aspects such as the environmental demand from the organization and its impact on the organization’s functionality (Stanford University, 2013; Schein, 2006). In context to the provided case of Boeing, the environmental factors which mostly affected this organization can be described in terms of being socio-cultural, competition, labour and employee related problems, financial problems, technological problems and multiple more. All these problems laid three major impacts on this organization (Nadler & Tushman, 1980). Demand imposement- Boeing faced high rate of service demand from customers and even after undertaking multiple attempts to cover up with that demand level, the company failed to attain success due to the manufacturing crisis. However as a learning part, the company came up with the strategy of introducing smaller aircraft and setting up partnership with defence industries the intention of ensuring its sustenance within the market (Stanford University, 2013). Functionality constraints: The company witnessed high rate of functionality constraints in terms of lower technological advancement, inter-departmental politics and ineffective communication. So as a result, Boeing came up with the idea of attaining diversification which was aimed at improvising organizational effectiveness. The company also focussed towards lean aircraft manufacturing and automating the assembly line system (Stanford University, 2013). New opportunities: Despite of the presence of multiple opportunities and limited competition, the company failed to grab good market share due to the conflicts and instability within the organization itself. As a corrective measure to this context, the organization started looking forwards towards establishing effective relationship with the suppliers and investors. It also made efforts in term of developing their technology and innovation levels (Stanford University, 2013). Resources: The resources possessed by an organization are mostly considered as second sources of input. This includes utilizable assets such as workforce, technological advancement, financial backups and customer’s preference. It might also include various types of non-tangible assists such as brand reputation (Stanford University, 2013; Lewin, 2007). In context to Boeing, the resources were inadequate and inappropriate. Major portion of the resources owned by the company lacked its precision which further showed up as an organizational decline. Adding to that the poor preference attained from the public and government along with the company’s in-capability in terms of fulfilment of market demand level further deteriorated the scenario. Thus for now as a strategic measure, the company has attained work diversification despite of the negative morality revealed by the employees. It has also established Web-based procurement systems to provide easy to the shareholders and investors in terms of allowing them to continuously monitor the company’s stock figures and invest accordingly. History: Since history projects an appropriate reflection of the past, over that the entire historical background of Boeing has been of tremendous struggling type. This might significantly help Boeing in coming up with new organizational changing strategies in terms of both work force efficiency and production line with the sole intention of attaining stability (Stanford University, 2013; Lewin, 2007). Considering, the above discussed aspects the strategic planning needs to be executed in an effective manner. The strategic planning process comprises of multiple subparts out of which some are related to the case description of Boeing. Customer selection: Since the in the past time the company faced issues in terms of aircraft manufacturing and so it stated focussing towards manufacturing small aircrafts specifically for domestic flights. Adding to that the company also considers defence organizations and space equipment manufacturing industries as its major customers (Stanford University, 2013). Scope: In terms of scope, the company has been making tremendous efforts towards developing its value chain for attaining a higher market share. The company has been trying to develop its supplier and investor relationships so as to realise benefits in terms of reduced production cost (Stanford University, 2013). The Organizational Transformation Process In terms of organizational changing process, the leaders and the managers have to keep in mind of the following factors which has been listed as under The people: In case of Boeing, the leaders and managers of the organization must identify the characteristics of each and every employee working within the organization. As provided in the case, the employees and higher management authorities of Boeing were found incapable of accomplishing their set job roles. They also faced problems in terms of aligning with the culture when it came to working with the government organizations. They also projected immorality in terms of the diversification attempt undertaken by the company. Regarding this issue, the company appointed personnel in order to observe the needs of the employees and develop their performance levels (Lewin, 2007). The formal organization: In terms of formal organization, Boeing strategized to relocate the company’s headquarter from Seattle to Chicago with the prime intention of developing its international growth perspective. Even though this attempt brought about distortion in the primitive culture of this company but it has facilitated towards establishing business relationships with multiple new industries which have been beneficial for Boeing (Lewin, 2007; Dignum & Dignum, n.d.). The work: As far as the work part is concerned, Boeing has diversified its organizational work process to a much broader extent. In comparison to the past, the company has made varied improvements in its production line, product type and workforce functionality. It has established multiple mergers with varied organizations and overseas market and also brought about cultural diversification in its workforce (Lewin, 2007). Informal organization: In terms of coming out of the sinking situation, Boeing has laid significant focus on formal organizational factors and has completely neglected the informal organizational factor. This can be seen as an example of the diversification process. The company intentionally distorted the existing work culture in order to enhance its international reach (Lewin, 2007). Output The output in this regards has been attained through the implementation of every above described process. All these efforts carried out by Boeing had not been able provide desirable outcome during the inception stage however, these initiatives were eventually proved to be effective in the later years of its operations. The entire process is a cyclical in nature. Six Box Organizational Model The second frame work model which can be related to the provided case of Boeing is the ‘Six Box Organizational Model’. Source: - (Hamid, 2011) This framework model has been in use in multiple organizations and is mostly based on techniques and conventions related to the development of an organization. This framework model is quite simple but yet effective. It comprises of six crucial aspects which includes ‘purposes’, ‘structure’, ‘relationships’, ‘rewards’, ‘leadership’ and ‘helpful mechanisms’. The explanation of the model in relation to the case study has been discussed below (Mink & et. al., 1995). Purpose: In terms of understanding the purpose, Boeing was quite clear about the type of functionality and operation they were performing. The company has been in the field of avionics since past decades. However with time, it has faced certain ups and downs in terms of maintaining its expected purpose (Mink & et. al., 1995). Structure: In the past decade, an intense level of competition was prevalent amid Boeing and Airbus. In the backdrop, the management team of Boeing were largely concentrating on devising strategies for attaining greater competitive tractions but they lacked in placing adequate attention towards their internal work structure. The ineffective structure of the company has forced it towards attaining multiple setbacks until the time this company understood its mistakes and took up the concept of diversification and merger establishment with other organizations (Mink & et. al., 1995). Relationship: The company has made significant efforts in terms of establishing long term relationships with the shareholders and investors for gaining advantages related to reduced cost. It has also developed its technology for re-attainment of its lost brand image and market recognition (Mink & et. al., 1995). Rewards: Throughout the provided case, not much has been provided about rewarding systems. However in terms of developing the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s workforce, the company must lay significant emphasis towards formulating employee rewarding strategies (Mink & et. al., 1995). Leadership: The company understood the need of effective leadership during its hard times. As mentioned in the provided case study, the lack of an effective company boards and non-innovative nature has been a severe setback for the company in the past until it came up with modifications within its organizational work structure (Mink & et. al., 1995). Helpful mechanism: The negative past experiences have significantly helped the company in modifying its existing and strategizing new work coordination techniques. This has also helped in terms of improvising the output efficiency of the company along with reduction in the adversity associated within its departments (Mink & et. al., 1995). Essential Areas of Change Through the specific evaluation of the provided case, it has been observed that there occurred multiple loopholes within the operational structure of Boeing. These loopholes has laid significant amount of negative impact on this company over the past few decades. One crucial loophole which needs to be taken into consideration is the ineffectiveness in terms of employee management. The company needs to lay utmost preference towards understanding its employees and man aging them in an effective manner. The second loophole which the company should take into consideration is regarding the effective utilization of its available resources. Retrospectively, the competitive nature of the company has resulted into giving rise to multiple crisis stages which has hampered the company’s manufacturing capabilities along with its market reputation as well. The third area which needs to be improved is in terms of bringing down the production cost. The company needs to get into the areas of outsourcing and assembly business in order to achieve cost effectiveness in its manufacturing process. It should also focus towards bringing about cross cultural diversification within its workforce with the intention of branding the intractability and understanding of its employee forces. The final area which needs to be brought under consideration is to keep a periodic check on the illegal and unethical work practises within the organization. Recommendation Action for Reinforcing Change Process An effective leader mostly form strategies based on the theories of change. These theories comprises of the following factors such as ‘target population’, ‘results’, ‘time period’, ‘circumstances’, ‘assumptions’, ‘resources’ and multiple more (Bushe, n.d.). In context to this company, the recommendation should be in terms of understanding the current marketing trend and competitive stance. Taking into consideration of the current avionic market, it can be said that the market seems to be unstable since multiple number of new entrants have come up and are competing in terms of service price levels. Adding to that the prices of the resources seems to be rising up at a gradual rate. The leaders should keep these factors in mind for reinforcing the necessity to bring about change within the company and act accordingly. Thus, further recommendation for the company should be in terms of making efforts towards establishing effective and lasting relationship with investors and shareholders in order to maintain sustenance. For these the leaders should understand the existing relationship state between the company and the stakeholders. Factors regarding maintenance of effective organizational communication should also be kept in mind by the leaders. The leaders should also understand the brand value of the company in the current market and should accordingly promote the company. The promotion should be in terms of its uniqueness from the competitors with the sole intention of attaining customer preference and market share along with higher level of brand recognition (Bushe, n.d.). References Bushe, G. R., No Date. Bushe – Five Theories of Change. Five Theories of Change Embedded in Appreciative Inquiry, pp. 1-7 Chen, J. M. & et. al., No Date. Abstract. Organizational Change and Development, pp. 1-2. Dignum, V. & Dignum, F., No Date. Introduction. Understanding Organizational Congruence: Formal model and simulation framework, pp. 1-6. Hamid, R. & et. al., 2011. The Analysis of Organizational Diagnosis on Based Six Box Model in Universities. Higher Education Studies, pp. 84-89. Lewin, K., 2007. The External Environment, History, and Resources of the Organization. Change Frameworks for Organizational Diagnosis, pp. 64-72. Mink, B. & et. al., 1995. The Six-Box Model. Principle and Tools to Facilitate and Monitor Organizational Change, pp. 169-176. Nadler, D. A. & Tushman, M. L., 1980. A Congruence Model of Organizational Behaviour. A Model of Diagnosing Organizational Behaviour, pp. 39-47. ProProfs.com, No Date. Total Flash Cards » 5. MGMT 101-Fall 2012 Set. [Online] Available at: http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/cardshowall.php?title=mgmt-101fall-2012-set [Accessed April 25, 2014]. Stanford University, 2013. A Roadmap for Understanding Organizational Performance. The Congruence Model, pp. 1-11. Schein, E. H., 2006. The Congruence Model of Change. Organization Development, pp. 252-257. Bibliography Casey, A. E., 2004. Introduction. Theory of Change: A Practical Tool For Action, Results and Learning, pp. 1-10. Peacock, E. J. & Wong, P. T. P., No Date. Abstract. Relations between Appraisals and Coping Schemas: Support for the Congruence Model, pp. 64-72. Stein, D. & Valters, C., 2012. Summary. Understanding ‘Theory of Change’ In International Development: A Review of Existing Knowledge, pp. 2-7. Vogel, I., No Date. What is theory of change? ESPA Guide to Working with Theory of Change for Research Projects, pp.1-10. Yoke, K. & et. al., 2009. Branding an Airline: A Case Study of Air Asia. Journal Pengajian Media Malaysia Jilid, pp. 35-42. Read More