Suffolk County Council Organization Change Management - Case Study Example

ORGANIZATION CHANGE MANAGEMENT By Location Organization change management Introduction Organization change management refers to a framework put in place to manage the influence brought about by changes in business process, organizational structure, and culture within a business organization. There are a number of factors that have resulted to the need for organizational change at Suffolk County Council. The main change that is desired in this case is reducing the organization’s expenditure by organization by £153 million annually. One of the factors that necessitate the need for this change is the anticipated financial crisis in the next one year. This will force the company to review its expenditures in order to make sure that the anticipated financial crisis does not affect their operations. It was proposed that he problem could be solved by simply reducing the number of employees in the organization. This is in the bid to reduce the amount of resources spent on compensating human services. However, the organization’s CEO asserts that reducing the number of employees will not be enough to settle their problems. The proposal made was that the organization should reduce the demand for their services by addressing the root cause of social problems and fixing them once and for all; and by building social capital to strengthen communities to help themselves. Background Problems As a result of the recently held elections, there are likely to be economic changes in the country. This calls for instant reaction. This is because now that the general elections were over, the newly elected government was expected to get down to serious business soon. This will definitely lead to some economic difficulties in the business sector which will affect the organization. The problem in this case is that there is an anticipated increase in operational cost that might see the council being in a situation in which they will have to do with a bigger budget. Through the word of the chief executive it is evidently clear that this is something that the organization could not afford to do, at least for the next 6 years. The problem at hand can be illustrated through a scenario in which the council would operate at a budget gap will be £153 million in a single year. This would mean that the organization would likely face more economical difficulties in the future if in any case they do not change the way in which they operate. This could only take place through the involvement of all the employees in the organizations (Sturdy & Grey 2003, p. 651). The employees should see that the proposed changes are of high necessity especially with reference to the anticipated economic difficulties. This could be made successful through the cooperation of the organization’s employees, district councils, health, police and the voluntary sector. By using the managers who were involved in the development of the proposal, the Council could make sure that all the members of the teams led by the managers see the essence and reality behind the proposed change. Given that there commitment had already been seen during the Council meeting that was called to deliver the proposal, it will be easier for the council to get the managers to emotionally commit to the proposed changes. For this to be done successfully the management would need to make sure that they encourage a team spirit among the involved managers(Sturdy & Grey 2003, p. 652). This will help the company in preventing any potential division in the team and any possible miscommunication to the rest of the council. Since the change that the council is aiming at undertaking involve maximization of effort from fewer employees it is important to let the change coalition to know that they will be needed to give acting examples to the various teams in the organization that they lead. Things like organization change are always successful if communicated to the rest of the organization through example. In the process the organization will be able to get the most creative, diligent, and innovative employees to be the ones to remain. There are a number of factors that can act as obstacles to change at SCC. For instance, for the council to operate with fewer employees they would have to change the organizational structure, employee job description, compensations systems, and performance evaluation. If in any case these areas are not reviewed the council will not be able to do with the changes that are desired by the business organization. The short tie goal in this case should be reducing the amount of money that is spent of on employee. As seen through the chief executive’s memo, the company intends to achieve this by reducing the number of employees working. This will be challenging because they will have to do better with fewer employees. This implies that the best way to do this would be launching a program aimed at changing the attitude of the remaining employees in order to get maximum productivity from them. The eventual plan should be limiting the extent that the public would need services from the council. This can be possible through making the public understand the situation and getting them to do some of the activities that were previously done by the council by themselves. This does not mean that all services will be affected but only those that the council will see to be less necessary. As the organization moves from point to point in carrying out the organizational change process, it will be important for them to make the changes effect by making them a part of the organization’s culture and structure. There is also need for the organization to acknowledge every change that is successfully effected in the organization. This will help in making the stakeholders have confidence in the proposed change. When hiring new employees in any case they loss any employees in the future, they should make sure that they instill the new standards in the new employees. This would definitely be easier than doing so with theemployees that were already used to the previous system. Focus There are a number of organizational development methods that can be applicable in this case. The methods that can be applicable in this case include strategic planning, action research, organization wide, and transformational change. The change that is desired in this case can be attained through strategic planning. This is a change technique that is always adopted in order to respond to a certain scenario in the organization environment. For instance, in this case the council will be reacting to a post general elections scenario which is always characterized by economic hardships. This implies that the council will have to look into complexity, size of organization, and organizational culture. In the complexity part the council will have to make sure that they revise their way of operations. When someone takes a closer look at the manner in which the council operates currently, it will be noticed that the system is too sluggish, too multifaceted, overelaborate, risk adverse, and designed to a bigger dimension inclined to the regulator than it is to the customer (Sturdy & Grey 2003,p. 655). However, with such a system of operation it will be hard for this organization’s to successfully effect the changes that they intend to make in their operations. This is because this mode of operation can act as an obstacle to their organizational change process. They will have to redesign their operations to reflect characters that will enable it to be leaner, lesser, of less value, more imaginative, and of great invention. With an operations system that has these characteristics the organization will be able to operate with less employee and at the same time be able to effectively change their services in manner that they will not be offering services that will be burdening to tax payers. In terms of the organization, the council will have to make sure that they do it in a manner that I would not affect the credibility of the services that they offer to the public. They can manage this by making sure that before they reduce their staff size they first make sure that they redesign their services. The organization aims at doing away with redundant programs that they have previously been involved in. the chief executive believes that there are some service provision activities that they have been that the public could involve in. a public sensitization program will be needed in this case in order to educate the public on the changes that are to take place in the councils and the ways in which they could undertake these responsibilities. They are also required to do the same with stakeholders such as district councils, health, police and the voluntary sector. The council will have to enforce a new organization culture that will enable them to work with fewer employees. The organization will have to develop an organization culture that will encourage diligence, accountability and team work. Under the new culture the employees that will remain will be led by a single principle of maximum productivity. Given the fact that by this time they will be fewer, the only ways to get them to do the same volume is by maximizing productivity (Sturdy & Grey 2003, p. 658). This is specifically through encouraging collective responsibility and personal contributions at the same time. At the end of the day only the performance by an individual will determine whether or not they deserve to stay at the organization longer. The best way for the organization to be successful in carrying out the organizational change process is by making sure that whatever actions they take are based on concrete information. The only way through which they will be able to get hold of the information is by carrying out researches and studies on the possible changes that can be made in their operations. They should also consider holding forums with their employees to make sure that they are aware of whatever the organization expects from them. Some of the employees can also be taken through capacity building programs. When relieving some of their employees of their duties, they should makes sure that the one that they retain are the most experienced and skills. Inclusive of skills and experience, employees who show more commitment to the organization should be given more priority. To further reduce the expenditure of employees they should advocate for self-discipline so that they will save the resources that they would have spent on supervision. Suffolk County Council could also consider changing the structure of the organization. Looking at the organization someone will easily notice that it operates on the hierarchical. This type of structure is well known for its complex nature which will not be suitable for this organization. Furthermore, this type of organization structure does not allow for reduction of employees one of the activities that is supposed to be carried out in this strategy. However, by using a team-oriented structure they might be able to easily carry out the proposed changes. Hierarchical structure is always suitable for big organizations with complexoperations. However, since Suffolk County Council wants to reduce the size of the organization and make their operations less complex, using team-oriented structure for their operations will be the best option in any case they want to be successful. Limitations There are a number of things in this proposed solution that can be said to be limitations. Having to get rid of some of the employees is a tricky exercise. It is always hard to determine which employees are to be laid off and which one are to be retained. In the process of getting rid of some of the employees, it might be viewed that the process is unfair and unprofessional. This might lead to unrest in the organization which might eventually lead to ineffectiveness of the whole process. Another thing is cutting off some services from their provision lists. This will definitely be negatively received by the general public. A majority of the members of the public will not be willing to understand the reason as to why the organization is opting for such action. A good number of the members of the public will see it as a scheme aimed at covering up corrupt spending at the organization. Another thing that might be challenging is convincing the stakeholders to back the change. Convincing district councils, health, police and the voluntary sector to adapt to the changes that have been proposed will be a hard task given the fact that they are different entities. In this case the challenge will be greater than just convincing them. Getting them to effectively operate under the changes in the council will definitely be something that will be challenging to the organization. Recommendations Coming up with a change strategy might not be of any importance to the business organization if the proposal is not eventually implemented. The first step of implementation should involve putting in place an employee evaluation program. Through such a program the organization will be able to know which of their employees deserves to be retained. This will help the in avoiding complains relating unfairness of the procedure. Then they would then proceed to the step of having the public ti support the intended changes. If the public does not support the changes that they intend to make then the changes might not effectively take place. This will definitely be the most challenging part of the implementation since the public will be the most affected if in any case these changes are effected. After that they will carry out the changes in their structure, operations, and culture in order to make sure that the eventual implementation of the proposal will be in accordance to these aspects of the organization. Bibliography Sturdy, A & Grey, C 2003“Beneath and beyond organizational change management: Exploring alternatives”,Organization, 10(4), 651-662. Read More