Nature and Need for Change in Telstra Company - Case Study Example

Running Headers: Managing organizational change report- Telstra Company Name: Instructor’s Name: Institution: Course: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Nature and need for change in Telstra Company 4 Change strategies 5 Creating a sense of urgency 6 Create a guiding coalition and mobilize commitment 6 Develop and communicate a shared vision 6 Empower employees to make the change 7 Generate short-term wins 7 Consolidate and produce more change 7 Anchor the new ways of doing things in the organizational culture 8 Monitor progress and adjust the vision as required 8 Challenges managers face when effecting change 8 How to overcome the challenges 9 Models of organizational change management 10 Quinn’s theory of change management 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Change often seems new and moving faster all the time, yet history is full of stories of non-stop change. The precise definition of change remains controversial among different authors. Leana, C. and Barry, B. (2000) define change as a never-ending process of readjustment and re-adaptation, as man responds to the ever-changing circumstances behaviourally. On the other hand, Conger, Spreitzer and Lawler, (1999), argue out that change is a continuous process of transformation though it is not necessary that man re-adjusts to adapt to this change. Just like animals and plants, organizations and people working in them certainly come across changing conditions that they are unable to control. Adapting to change may require establishing a strategic method for responding to changes in the business environment such as a threat from a competitor or fluctuation in the economy, or establishing coping mechanisms to respond to changes in the workplace such as new technologies or policies. No single methodology fits every organization, but there is a set of tools, techniques and practices that can be adapted to deal with a range of situations. The rate of change organizations are undergoing has continued to accelerate over the last years and there is no evidence to suppose that this trend will cease. Most companies are finding out that in order to achieve change, effective leadership is required. As the mounting customer demands, competitive pressures and regulatory pressures impact utilities globally, change is becoming the custom rather than the exception. It is becoming significant for utility managers to work not only on their traditional managerial roles but also as transitional leaders. This poses great challenges for managers throughout organizations and especially to those with responsibility for staff, since they have an extra role that centers on guiding people throughout the changes inherent in our contemporary society. This study seeks to illustrate a change management report that draws upon the change theories and models that can be implemented to attain change in the organization, and in this case, Telstra Company. The report will identify the nature and the need for change in the organization. The report will also discuss challenges managers face when effecting change and the strategies to overcome the identified challenges. Nature and need for change in Telstra Company The general objective of introducing change to an organization is to enable it cope with the changing environment (Leana and Barry, 2000), or improve its present state to a better state (Boeker, 1997). Telstra is Australia’s leading company in telecommunication and information services. It deals in the production of mobile phones, broadband internet, home phones and pay television among other products. It is basically an engineering and technology company and focuses on the production of new technologies (Dessler, 2002). In the recent past, the company has experienced a decline in its sales revenue, a concern that has forced the company’s CEO to restructure the senior management. The changes are meant to regain the lost ground in customer service and restructure its capacity to cope with issues arising from the national broadband network. The increasing pressure on several fronts such as loss in the market share has also motivated the CEO to introduce the management changes. Another factor that facilitated the need for change in this company is the fact that many of its customers who had been using the fixed copper network have now shifted to using the wireless broadband and are increasingly relying on mobile phones instead of landlines. Therefore, there is need to introduce changes that can ensure the company does not only focus on generating new technologies but also focuses on the production of products that satisfy their customers. The company’s intention is to make customer service, a part of its corporate culture. To prove this fact, Telstra recently announced a one billion US dollar transformation project that is aimed at fighting for customers in mobile phones, fixed broadband and wireless broadband markets. Change strategies Telstra Company has for long been perceived as a technology company that mainly dealt with building networks. However, with the changing environment where production has to recognize adding value to the customer base, it becomes paramount that this concept has to incorporate in each manufacturing company to continue expanding markets through customer satisfaction. Therefore, some of the strategies the company can employ to achieve this objective are described below. According to the weekend business, the strategies Telstra can employ to achieve change is introduce internal training programs that will help stress the significance of customers to all employees, reminding them that customers have an alternative in the contemporary telecommunications market, and help them get rid of confusing products or plans. The CEO of Telstra Company has also initiated a strategy of operating the Telstra customer service lines 24 hours daily, and reducing broadband and mobile prices to competitive levels (Boeker, 1997). Other strategies include introducing IT trouble shooting service, increased subsidies for mobile handsets and provision of credits to new customers. Dessler (2000) came up with a process of effecting change to an organization. He uses eight steps to describe this process and notes that after an organization goes through these steps successfully, it is certain that change will be experienced. These steps are explained below. Creating a sense of urgency This involves the application of unfreezing, a concept that implies, encouraging the staff to think about their present state and help them realize the reason as to why the intended change is needed (Dessler, 2002). In this way the staff becomes motivated to embrace change. The application of urgency in this step enables the staff to overcome their traditional reasons for refusing to give in to change and bump them out from their contentment zone (Dessler, 2002, p.302). However, change should not happen too fast because the staff and the entire organization may not respond efficiently and in turn affect other functions of the organization. Create a guiding coalition and mobilize commitment One of the important elements in the change process is the change agent. These are the people who are expected to embrace the change and in our case, the change agents are the staff of Telstra Company; they are the ones who are expected to bring about the intended change. The change agent has to look for support and agreement for change from the other employees. The role of developing a shared understanding is often played by the task forces (Leana and Barry, 2000). The role of the task force therefore is to drive the entire staff towards change. It is important to note that discussion is an important factor because from the many suggestions and ideas, an effective solution can be achieved (Boeker, W. 1997) Coalition also helps to ensure commitment to achieving the intended changes. Develop and communicate a shared vision Development of a shared vision gives the direction to the intended change. The management and staff should then concur on what the outcome of their vision should be, with regard to the future of their work environment. They then have to identify specific objectives that can be used to attain the agreed change. In Telstra, one of the intended outcomes is to incorporate customer service as part of its corporate culture. Some of the specific objectives that can be employed to obtain this outcome may include creating a direct link between the company and its customers so that the products the company manufactures concur with the customers demands. The staff thus, has to keep this objective simple and real (Leana and Barry, 2000). Empower employees to make the change It is impractical to attain change in an organization without the empowerment of the employees. Empowering the staff ensures they actively take part in all steps of the change process. According to Boeker, W. (1997) empowerment means that an individual is able to act as well as being encouraged and expected to act. Empowerment encourages the staff to be more committed to attaining change. During this step, barriers to achieving change such as resistances can be eliminated in order to push forward the change process (Dessler, 2002). Generate short-term wins A change process should not only focus on the long term outcomes, as this may make the staff to lose morale along the way, but should generate short term goals that can be achieved within a short time span. The staff has to feel they are achieving something as the process is going on. Discovering short term goals and assessing them after they are achieved helps both the leaders and the staff feel motivated that they can actually achieve and manage the process to the end point. It actually helps build a sense of success and boost the staff’s morale. They simply act as benchmarks to maintain the process of change on target (Leana and Barry, 2000). Consolidate and produce more change Contentment returns at this stage as the staff tends to think that things are all right and that there is no need to proceed with the change process. This is because the short term goals have been realized and the staff finds no reason to go on with the process of change. At this point therefore, it is important to remind the staff that the process has to go on until the long term goals are attained. One major problem the change process encounters is maintaining it. In most organizations, the leaders accept the need to change, come up with plans on how change can be achieved, the plans are then implemented, but they fail to attain the intended change due lack of maintenance (Dessler, 2002). Anchor the new ways of doing things in the organizational culture It is important that the organization maintains shared values. However, as changes take place, there may be need to have these values changed too, in order to have a match between the organizational culture and the change (Dessler, 2002). Some examples of the organizational values may be respect of employees, involvement in decision making or respect of diversity. Therefore when changes are implemented, it is important to consider these values so that they are incorporated in the new process. Challenging these values may make the staff to feel insecure. Some employees may even disregard the whole process of change due to paying no attention to their shared values (Quinn, 1996). Monitor progress and adjust the vision as required Appraisal has to be done at each stage of the change process. Organizations should not only focus on achieving the long-term goals of the change process, but also have to monitor each step of the change process (Leana and Barry, 2000). The change process may require some adjustments, which have to be taken into consideration the soonest time possible, therefore monitoring the process will help ensure such adjustments take place as per the stipulated time. The inability to adjust often has significant negative effects to the staff as this may demoralize and in turn lead to low productivity in terms of service delivery. It can also affect future changes in the organization because the staff will be unwilling to undertake another change process (Dessler, 2002, p. 302-306). Challenges managers face when effecting change Research studies articulate that change is often difficult to embrace as it is bound to face some resistance as some people may find their old systems more effective than the intended change (Dessler, 2002). For instance, in history, the Roman Centurions complained about it, the Ludites also rebelled over mechanization and rioted in the streets of Paris over the first calculating machine invented by Pascal. Numerous wars have also been hotbeds of change. Whenever an organization introduces new things to people it is expected that difficulties will arise regarding people’s perspectives towards the change. Some people are still locked to traditions and therefore it becomes difficult for them to accept the changes imposed to them (Quinn, 1996). However, people respond to change in different ways. Some will seize change, others will accept it while others may reject. In Telstra Company, change led to the resignation of major officials in the management team. Failure of many change initiatives come as a result of many reasons (Lawrence, 1954; Maurer, 1996). Resistance, the main reason behind the failure of change initiatives, brings in delays and costs into the change processes, which are hard to anticipate but have to be considered Lawrence, P. (1954) However, resistance to change considered an important element in the change process because it helps generate information that can be used to develop more successful future change processes (Quinn, 1996). How to overcome the challenges People are at the core of any successful organizational change. They are the ones to determine whether the company will realize the perceived changes or not. In fact, people are both the anchors and sails for change. Thus, Successful change has a face, which is that of a productive, motivated, engaged and a happy employee. This therefore means that an organizational leader has this extra role of ensuring that the employee is motivated towards change (Dessler, 2002). The leader has to explain the reasons why the change is required and go an extra mile of influencing the employees to accept change. He must be at the forefront in embracing this change so as to influence others to accept it. The best way to tackle this resistance is encourage stakeholder participation at all levels of decision making to ensure that whatever rule is made, is compatible with all the stakeholders (Leana and Barry, 2000). Workshops and seminars are essential processes to build up collective policies, approaches and understanding. Models of organizational change management Prosci (1996) came up with a model known as the ADKAR, a model that has placed an influence in change management. In this model, five stages have to be realized for an organization to successfully change (Quinn, 1996). The first stage is the awareness stage, which involves making sure the organization is aware of the reasons why change is needed. The second stage, desire, involves motivating the organization’s members to have the desire to participate in changing the organization. The third stage, which is knowledge, rules out that awareness about the necessity to change is not enough but the organization has to know how to change. The fourth stage, refereed to as ability, requires the organization to implement new behaviours and skills in order to realize change. The final stage is known as reinforcement and calls for organizational reinforcement to sustain the changes. Quinn’s theory of change management Quinn (1996, 2000) highlights that when change is introduced to an organization, the organization experiences a period of slow death, which is also referred to as deep change. This experience often occurs when the organization considers its present state as competent and more satisfying, and therefore sees no need of adopting the intended change. The organization is more contented acknowledging its status quo and thus not ready to change. Boeker, W. (1997) notes that slow death in an organization takes place when self interests prevail over collective responsibilities. In order to cope with slow death, Quinn suggests that the first alternative is for the leaders to walk out of the situation (Dessler, 2002). They can also consider finding a way out of the problem or a way around the problem, in the hope that slow death may not result to major tribulations. However, the two suggested ways of coping with slow death in the organization are both negative responses and often tend to make the situation worse since the organization will adapt the needed change. Therefore, the best coping approach Quinn suggests is engaging in the process of slow death or deep change. This is the method a transitional leader can take to effect change into his organization. However, this approach requires that the need for change is accepted and well understood by all people in the organization and that adjustments are made to respond to this change (Quinn, 1996). Conclusion Organizational change management proves to be a difficult task since it involves changing the behavior and attitude of the employees, in order to gain their cooperation, in a complicated environment. The change process is often bound to face some resistance, which if not carefully considered, may lead to rejection of the whole process. However, different scholars have come up with various processes that can be implemented to effect change in an organization. This study illustrates the process that was devised by Quinn. The eight steps, if implemented correctly can actually help the organization achieve a change strategy (Leana and Barry, 2000). This is because this process incorporates both the management and the staff in achieving its targets unlike other processes that only include the staff at the implementation stage. It is true that leaders are expected to take the leading role when it comes to effecting change. However, the perspectives of the employees have also to be taken into consideration. Change has to be accepted in the organization, as it determines the success of the organization and the people within it (Dessler, 2002). References Boeker, W. 1997. Strategic change: The influence of managerial characteristics and organizational growth, Academy of Management Journal, 40 (1), pp. 152-170. Conger, J.A., Spreitzer, G.M. & Lawler, III, E.E. (eds.). 1999. The leader's change handbook: An essential guide to setting direction and taking action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Dessler, G. 2002. Management, pp. 302-306. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Journal of change management. Taylor and Francis Group. ISSN (printed): 1469-7017. ISSN (electronic): 1479-1811. Source> http://journalseek.net/cgi-bin/journalseek/journalsearch.cgi?field=issn&query=1469-7017 Journal of organizational change management. Baird Brightman, Worklife Strategies, MA, USA. Source> http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/interviews/jocm.htm Lawrence, P.R. 1954. How to Deal with Resistance to Change, Harvard Business Review, (May/June), pp. 49-57 Leadership and Organizational Strategy, by Matthew R. Fairholm, USA (25/02/2009) source> http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/fairholm3.pdf “Perspectives on Organizational Change: Systems and Complexity Theories” Francis Amagoh (20/12/2008) source> http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/amagoh3dec2008jag2rev1.pdf Quinn, R.E. 1996. Deep Change: Discovering the leader within. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Organizational growth, Academy of Management Journal, 40 (1), pp. 152-170. Read More