Strategic Change - Ascension Plc - Case Study Example

Strategic Change Case Study Analysis & Section # of 17th April TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 INTRODUCTION3 2.0 ANALYSIS 3 2.1 3 2.2: 5 2.3: 7 3.0 CONCLUSION 9 4.0 REFERENCES 11 1.0 INTRODUCTION Strategy choice and change management are very important topics for organizations that are going through change. Change management process is a difficult process to manage. This analysis is about an organizational change management case study on Ascension Plc. This case explores the changes that took place in the transport engineering division (TED) of Ascension plc, a construction and maintenance company, between 2012 and 2014. In this analysis of Ascension Plc., we have made use of many strategic and change management analysis techniques and models of the corporate world. There three main parts of this analysis of case study. Each of three parts is focused on an important aspect of strategic analysis. Firstly, we have shed light on this case study with the help of and Hope Haileys Change Kaleidoscope Model and Lewins Force Field Analysis. Secondly, Johnsons Cultural Web Model has been applied to the case and used this to compare and contrast the culture of TED before the change and after the change. Lastly, we have critically evaluated the change process that took place at TED during 2013 - 2014 by applying Kotter’s 8 Change Steps Model. 2.0 ANALYSIS 2.1 Firstly, we are going to apply Balogun and Hope Haileys Change Kaleidoscope model and Lewins Force Field Analysis to the case. We will use this to discuss the strategic change context in December 2012, at the start of the change process. First we are going to start with first model: Kaleidoscope Model. (Hailey & Balogun, 2002) Balogun and Hope Haileys Change Kaleidoscope Model This is an important technique to identify the implementation options for an organization. It comprises on 8 important elements of the organization. Following is the detail of these elements: Time: In this element we try to identify how quickly we require to change. In our case the change was needed at the earliest because the previous CEO was not handling the matter in a proper way. Scope: In this element we try to identify what amount of change is required. In our case the scope of change is broad. The management needed to change the culture, customer dealing, and quality of services. Preservation: In this element we try to identify what characteristics, practices and assets are required to be protected as well as retained during the period change. In this case the management pointed out that the quality of service, communication between employees and customers dealing are top concerns. Diversity: In this element we try to identify how different and how similar employees and departments of the organization are. Before the arrival of new CEO, the departments and employees were not working in harmony. That is why it was a diverse organization. Capability: In this element we try to identify the standard of organizational competences to implement change. In terms of cash, people and time, the organization was only affluent in people. They were short on account of cash and time. Capacity: In this element we try to identify how much resource cash, people and time can an organization invest. The capacity of the organization was low due to deficiency of cash and time. Readiness for Change: In this element we try to identify the people are willing for change within the organization. Under the leadership of new CEO, all staff was willing to adopt any kind of changes needed by the organization. Power: In this element we try to identify where lays the power within the organization. As the new CEO was a friendly and nice person with a passion to make TED profitable, all staff of TED supported all initiatives of CEO. That is why CEO enjoyed absolute power in the organization. Lewins Force Field Analysis This model is used to identify which forces are in favor of change and which forces are not in favor of change. In this mechanism, we prepare a diagram of forces for and force against and then reach to a decision. Following is the diagram for most challenging aspects of the change context and the most enabling or helpful aspects of change process (Johnson, 1992). Forces FOR the Change: Employees are willing to secure jobs – Score: 1 Ascension’s management is willing to wait for some time – Score: 1 New CEO is committed to take TED out of this problem – Score: 1 New projects – Score: 1 Total Score = 04 Forces AGAINST the Change: Change of environment – Score: 1 Shortage of funds or investment – Score: 1 No major ongoing projects – Score: 1 Time constraints as change is a long process – Score: 1 Total Score = 04 Result of Analysis: Forces for and forces against were almost equal. So it was not a bad idea to go for a change process in organization. That is why the CEO once again put TED on to track. (Hailey & Balogun, 2002) 2.2: Johnsons Cultural Web Model is a very important model to analyze the culture of such kind of case studies. In this part, we are going to apply this model to before change and after change of the case study. Following is the detail of six elements of Johnsons Cultural Web Model: Environment before Change and Environment after Change Stories: Before the start of change process, there were a lot of stories in the environment of TED. People thought that Ascension plc is going to sale the TED. Due to this reason many people left the job and many were going to leave when the change process started under the command of new CEO. Then all environment changed and all were motivated to again make TED a profitable division of Ascension plc. Rituals and Routines: Due to the wrong behavior of the previous CEO, all employees have also started to develop some bad habits that harmed TED greatly. Previous CEO was not actively participating in daily matters of the organization. Due to this behavior of CEO, senior management and remaining staff also started to develop laziness and they failed to complete projects on time and to satisfy customers. After the change, the environment totally changed and all units and employees worked in a harmony. Symbols: This case study does not provide information about the symbols of the organization like, uniforms, badges and logo of organization. Organizational Structure: Short information about organizational structure has been provided in this case study. As per my observation after reading this case study, the organizational structure was in chaos and that is why the management of Ascension plc took action and terminated the contract of CEO. We can observe that the organizational structure after the change process started, came in to order and then organization worked well and succeeded in its objectives. Control Systems: Although, no information about financial systems, quality systems, and rewards provided in this case study but we can understand that before change, the control systems were not working in a proper way. On the other hand after the installation of change process all control systems worked well and timely. Power Structures: Before the change, there was no main person who was controlling the organization due to the lack of interest of the previous CEO towards organizational matters but after the change, the new CEO became the main source of power due to his charismatic leadership. After applying Johnsons Cultural Web Model on this case study of TED division of Ascension plc we can say that the environment of before change was completely different than that of environment of after change TED. It was the collective effort of the CEO and all workers to change the environment of the organization. This change of culture of organization was among the important aspects that contributed towards the success of change process. So we can conclude that the decision to start change process was at right time and it had been performed in a right and perfect manner (Kotter, 2012). 2.3: : After going through the case study we can say that the new CEO of the company accomplished the change process in a very nice way. Under his supervision and patronage, a division of Ascension plc that was near shut down one again got on to the track of success. It is evident that the process of change run by the new CEO is flawless and on the other hand, there are some more points that must have also been followed to avoid more problems (Julia Balogun, 2001). These points will be discussed in the Kotter’s 8 Change Steps Model. If we try to relate the change management process of Ascension plc and Kotter’s 8 Change Steps Model, we can observe many similarities in both processes of change management. It seems that the management of Ascension plc followed all 8 steps of Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model. Now we are going to step by step analyze it in detail whether the management of Ascension plc followed it or not. (Johnson, 2000) Kotter’s 8 Steps Change Model Step # Step Description Followed by Ascension? Details Step 1 Create Urgency Yes They have followed this step Step 2 Form a Powerful Coalition Yes They have followed this step Step 3 Create a Vision for Change Yes They have followed this step Step 4 Communicate the Vision Yes They have followed this step Step 5 Remove Obstacles Yes They have followed this step Step 6 Create Short-Term Wins Yes They have followed this step Step 7 Build on the Change Yes They have followed this step Step 8 Build on the Change Yes They have followed this step Step 1: Create Urgency: This step states that in order to make the entire workforce realize that the change is much needed; urgency must be created in the organization. This step was followed by the management of transport engineering division of Ascension plc followed this step of creating urgency. Step 2: Form a Powerful Coalition: After creating urgency in the organization, there is a need to convince people to make sure all are on the same page. They time they started the change process; all members of senior management were ready to work actively under the leadership of new CEO. Step 3: Create a Vision for Change: Third step highlights the need to create a clear and comprehensive vision for change. TED management created a clear vision for achieving goal of making TED a profitable concern. Step 4: Communicate the Vision: After creating a clear, easy to remember, brief and comprehensive vision, it is important to communicate the vision in such a way that is understandable and in a way that they can remember. The way they communicated the vision throughout the organization was perfect. Everyone knew that currently TED is making loss and they were already expecting strategic changes in the organization. Step 5: Remove Obstacles: It is common in the life of change process that there arise so much obstacles that resist the process of change. These obstacles can be behavior of employees, existing processes of organization or money and it is important to remove these obstacles to achieve the goals of change process. Step 6: Create Short-Term Wins: In order to ensure the success in the long run, we must have to divide our goals in to small milestones so that we can be able to check that we are heading in right direction. The management of TED followed this step and conducted fortnightly meetings with staff to check the progress of the change process. Step 7: Build on the Change: It is important to complete the process of change and do not announce the success to early thereby enabling the change process to take roots in the organization. Soon after starting the change process, they observed some short term successes but they kept moving and following the actual plan. Step 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture: The management of TED adhered to the new processes even after successfully completing change process. They made it sure that the things changed remain the same even after the goals are achieved. 3.0 CONCLUSION At the end of the analysis of the case study, it is important to summarize important concepts of the analysis. There are three main parts of the case study analysis step. Each of which is centered at an important aspect of strategic analysis. In the first part, we have shed light on this case study with the help of and Hope Haileys Change Kaleidoscope Model and Lewins Force Field Analysis. After analysis we have reached to the conclusion that there were a lot of forces against the change process and a lot of forces in favor of change process. Moreover, the Hope Haileys Change Kaleidoscope Model also indicated to start a change process. So it was a good decision of the management of TED to start a change process to once again put TED on track. In second part, Johnsons Cultural Web Model has been applied to the case and used this to compare and contrast the culture of TED before the change (2012) and after the change (2014). After analysis we have reached to the conclusion that the culture of TED completely changed after the new CEO stared change process in the organization. Lastly, we have critically evaluated the change process that took place at TED during 2013 - 2014 by applying Kotter’s 8 Change Steps Model. After analysis we have reached to the conclusion that the management of TED used all steps of Kotter’s 8 Steps Change Model. No other steps had been followed. Conclusively, although they had been many forces against the change, the way and manner in which the change process took place, the change took place and was one of which was of success. It is believed that this was due to going and doing as per the authorities of change management suggest to do. 4.0 REFERENCES Balogun, J. and Hope Hailey, V. (2009) Exploring Strategic Change, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall Hailey, V. H., & Balogun, J. (2002). Devising Context Sensitive Approaches to Change: The Example of Glaxo Wellcome. Long Range Planning, 35(2), 153-178. Johnson, G. (1992). Managing strategic change strategy, culture and action. Long Range Planning, 25(1), 28-36. Johnson, G. (2000). Strategy through a Cultural Lens. Management Learning, 31(4), 403-426. Johnson, G. Whittington, R. and Scholes, K. Angwin, D. and Regner, P. (2013) Exploring Strategy, Edition 10, Pearson. Julia Balogun. (2001). Strategic change. Management Quarterly, Part 10 January 2001, Faculty of Finance and Management, Cranfield School of Management Kotter, J. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, March-April 96 Vol. 73(2) pp.59-67 Kotter, J. (2012) Leading Change. Harvard Business Review Press. Read More