The Balogun and Hope Haileys Change Kaleidoscope Model - Cranberry and Green Health - Case Study Example

Strategy: Choices and Impact ID: Contents Contents Introduction 3 Application of Balogun and Hope Hailey’s Change Kaleidoscope model on the case study 3 Analysis of culture of both the companies using Johnson’s Cultural Web model 6 Critical evaluation of the change process that took place during time period 2012-13 9 Conclusion 11 References 11 Introduction The report highlights the pros and cons of a merger that took place between two renowned companies who had been able to excel in their respective fields known as Cranberry and Green Health. Green Health was a manufacturer located in UK which mainly dealt with herbal, vitamin and mineral supplements. They majorly sold their products through a wide base of high street retailers such as Barrett and Holland, and UK based Boots. On the other hand Cranberry is an organization that is located in North of England in a place known as Cumbria. This company majorly deals with ethical and natural beauty products manufacturing and even encompasses herbal supplements which it sells through a wide range of retailers. This report is a thorough analysis about the conditions that was observed within both the companies before the merger and the changed conditions that was witnessed after the merger. Application of Balogun and Hope Hailey’s Change Kaleidoscope model on the case study The Balogun and Hope Hailey’s Change Kaleidoscope model states that for a change in an organization to be successful it is important that the efforts for implementation should appropriately fit within the organization. There is no simple approach such as “off the shelf” that would be beneficial for an organization like in the case of the merger that took place between Green Health and Cranberry where the strategic change process had to be implemented throughout the system even involved restructuring of the entire organizational system. The change kaleidoscope was designed by Veronica Hope Hailey and Julia Balogun in order to set a framework for the managers in relation to an approach that is context sensitive to the change. The below diagram further illustrates the model- (Source: Balogun and Hope Hailey, 2009) The above figure states that kaleidoscope comprises of three major rings, the outer ring indicates the wider context of strategic change, the middle ring outlines the essential contextual factors that needs to be focused on during formulation of the plan for change and the inner circle indicates the design choices that are available to all the individuals who are an integral part of the change implementation process. The major change agents for Green Health and Cranberry were the top management who took the initiative to bring forth a strategic change that would be equally beneficial for both the companies. The contextual features as per the model majorly comprises of time, scope, preservation, diversity, capability, capacity, readiness and power. At the beginning of the strategic change process both the companies were faced by a lot of challenges (Johnson, 2000). These challenges can be closely related to such contextual factors as the first major challenge was the time. Green Health and Cranberry majorly focused towards new product development and combined the expertise and technology for both the companies. Cranberry had a strong market presence throughout the globe and this was supposed to be beneficial for the other company to expand at a rapid pace globally. However the time to adopt the change process was less as the companies needed to focus more on their diverse operations. The second major challenge as per the model for the companies was the factor of readiness as the workforce of both the companies were not very clear in terms of understanding the necessity for change in the system and so they were less committed towards such change. Though there were sufficient resources that can be invested effectively in the change process but the challenges were prevalent in terms of diversity amongst the departments. Both the companies comprise of diverse culture such as Green Health had a culture in which the higher authority exercised a dictatorship leadership and employees had to follow instructions but Cranberry had a very open system in which all the employees were given equal opportunity to put across their opinions and ideas. The challenge that was faced by the change agents was to combine these two diverse cultures. The merger was not a very easy process as the difficulties even aroused in the form of which cultures and employees to be retained which falls under preservation contextual factor of the model. There were many employees who were talented but they were leaving jobs due to excessive pressure that was bound to take place after the merger and the relocation of the firm with the merger. The change agents were bound to manage these challenges effectively in the strategic change process. The factor of readiness can be considered to be negative but apart from this factor all the other factors were positive in context of the case that facilitates change (Balogun and Hope Hailey, 2009). The change agents in the merged organization were able to implement on the design choices as per the model as they stated the change path in the form of change that was going to take place, the management style that was adopted was participative in nature, change interventions were incorporated through setting up a forum by which staff of both the companies can directly communicate with the top management, roles and responsibilities of the staffs were changed so that they can focus on combined vision, and finally the change was initiated from the top through structural change of the organization which trickled down to all levels. Analysis of culture of both the companies using Johnson’s Cultural Web model The cultural web model that was designed by Johnson reflects upon the culture that prevails within an organization. This model comprises of a wide set of factors that are utilized to either influence or describe the culture of an organization. The model has been further illustrated below- (Source: Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2011) The Paradigm of the model states the values and mission of an organization. The other elements of the web are control systems reflects upon the place that would monitor what is going throughout the system, organizational structures indicate the hierarchies and the procedure of work flow throughout the system, power structure indicates who possess the authority to make strategic decisions, symbols indicate the designs and logos of an organization, rituals and routines reflect upon the board reports and management meetings, and stories and myths reflect the stories that are framed by employees which indicate the factors that are valued by an organization. Elements of Cultural Web Green Health Cranberry Green Health-Cranberry Paradigm It deals with herbal, verbal and mineral supplements and is focused on geographical expansion It manufacturers ethical and natural beauty products and is aimed towards new product development It manufacturers wide range of herbal supplements and beauty products, and has the mission of new product development and market expansion Control Systems Tight control exercised by higher authority Centralized control systems Control systems are spread across different region of operations Organizational Structures Hierarchical structure Divisional structure Geographically based divisional structures Power Structures Decisions made by top management Collaborative decision making approach Higher authority makes decisions on basis of employee feedback Symbols Favouritism affected symbol of the organization Facilities as per the ranks of the employees Equal services and facilities for the employee base Rituals and Routines Frequent board meetings conducted Frequent board meetings conducted Time interval designed where board meetings comprising of all divisional heads would be conducted Stories and Myths Traditional culture that appreciated the approach of order following then to implement own ideas Hard work valued in the company Mix of both the values where hard value was value along with following orders of management at crisis situation From the above table based on the cultural web model it can be stated that the major differences in the cultural aspect of both the companies are the control systems and organizational structures. Green Health followed the traditional culture where the dictatorship leadership was more prominent but on the other end in Cranberry’s focus was more on participative leadership style. The hierarchical and rigid organizational structure of Green Health bounded the employees to explore on their ideas and even in this company the employees were favoured on the basis of who followed the orders efficiently that is given by the higher authority. However this was not so in the case of Cranberry which affected positively in the strategic change process related to the merger. After the merger took place the culture of Cranberry was more prominent in the system which demoralized many employees of Green Health but it was effective for long run. There was restructure of the organization system which in turn made many employees leave the job as the structure was formulated on the basis of geographical locations this was another difference between the merged company and the individual companies. However the major similarity between the three was their mission to expand its market share and develop new products for their customers (Johnson, Whittington and Scholes, 2011). The routine and ritual factors of the two companies were also similar as frequent board meetings were conducted but the condition was reformed after the merger process when proper board meetings were supposed to be conducted only when all the geographical heads together in a specific time and discussion would comprise of both the company’s products. Critical evaluation of the change process that took place during time period 2012-13 The change process that took place in this particular case scenario was more aligned towards the proper establishment of geographical departments so that the major rationale behind the merger that is of new product development and market expansion can be successfully achieved. The change process that took place during the time frame of 2012-13 was structured in certain context but was not fully proved as the employees were not convinced with the change process. The change agents for this initiative were mainly the top authority who was convinced with the factor that change was essential for the system but was not able to deliver the same message to the workforce. The major consequence of this was some of the talented employees of Green Health and Cranberry were leaving the company as they felt that this merger would cause an impact on their career path. The change process was successful in the part that it was able to establish separate division’s location wise which would enable the heads of these divisions to take proper control on the sales of both the product lines and make effective decisions (Nguyen and Kleiner, 2003). On the other hand the change process was efficient as none of individuals were hired from external sources and more focus was on internal recruitment for new positions as they were the ones who possessed clear understanding about the functioning of individual organizations. According to the Kotter’s change steps, all of the steps were not adopted by Green Health and Cranberry for the merger process. (Source: Kotter, 2012) As per the model, there was an urgency created for the change process at the time of merger as the management of both organizations was able to understand that the growing competition would pose a serious threat on their sustainability and merger of technical capabilities of Green Health and market presence of Cranberry would be beneficial in the long run for both the organizations. There was a concrete vision for change that was market growth and new product development. However the change agents were not capable enough to communicate the change throughout the system which in turn made majority of the employees restrict such change (Kotter, 2012). On the other hand the change process was not able to establish quick wins which further demoralized many employees as the major aim of the merger was not being achieved and divisional heads were more aligned towards managing the daily operations of the firm. The process would have been more effective if the change agents worked together with the employees of both companies and formulated strategies to implement the change. Conclusion The process of strategic change in an organization can be only effective if all the members of an organization work together as a team. The change that took place in Green Health and Cranberry in the form of merger was not effective in certain parts as the management was not able to communicate the need for change throughout the system. This created a negative impact on the organization as the employees were not in favour of change and there even existed certain cultural differences between the organizations which need to be handled more efficiently for long term sustainability of the merger. References Balogun, J., and Hope Hailey, V. 2009. Exploring Strategic Change. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Johnson, G. 2000. Strategy through a Cultural Lens, Management Learning, Vol. 31(4). Johnson, G., Whittington, R., and Scholes. K. 2011. Exploring Strategy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Kotter, J. 2012. Leading Change. USA: Harvard Business Review Press. Nguyen, H., and Kleiner, B. H. 2003. The effective management of mergers, Leadership & Organization Development Journal. Volume: 24 (8). Read More