Change Management at BAE Systems Saudi Arabia - Case Study Example

Conversation and reflection [Institution] [Name] [Course] [Instructor’s name] Date of Submission Introduction BAE Systems Saudi Arabia is a subsidiary of the BAE Systems Inc which is a high technology multinational firm based in the UK dealing in defence, security and aerospace services and products. Growth in this industry is predominantly driven by technological innovation and the need for enhanced global security. Developed and emerging economies especially in Asia are the major clients for what this industry has to offer. Such high technology firms are faced with a changing global environment which implies that they have to embrace and manage change effectively if they are to remain competitive in the 21st century. This paper presents a conversation report from an interview session held on 3rd April 2012 with Naif M Al Moammer, a Senior Project Coordinator - Change Management at BAE Systems Saudi Arabia and a personal reflection on the assignment. Conversation What is your role in as a senior project coordinator in change management at BAE Systems and how long have you been at it? As my title suggests, I coordinate a number of projects carried out by a number of teams intended to bring change at BAE Systems Saudi Arabia. I have four teams that report to me and whose projects I manage. These teams fall under four different departments. As such, some of my specified tasks are: 1) creating and executing project work plans and revising them to meet any arising requirements, 2) Managing resources in conjunction with functional managers, production and sub-contractors, 3) Managing day-to-day operational aspects of projects and scope, 4) Effectively managing project risks through mitigation planning, 5) Monitoring and reporting on schedule and cost, margins and profitability, 6) Effectively applying Project Management methodologies on the teams assigned, 7) Preparing for engagement reviews and quality assurance procedures among other roles. Besides these formal roles, I must ensure that the teams’ efforts are in congruence with the organizational goals and objectives. I have been acting in this capacity for over four years now. I joined BAE Systems, Saudi Arabia in February 2008. Before that, I was a systems administrator at Emirates Airways, Saudi Arabia. The move to BAE systems was career uplift as I would have more managerial responsibilities in this position. It has also been my personal desire to manage change and the benefits that accrue from it. For firms to benefit from teamwork models there must be a linking actor that manages the outputs of the teams and the organization as a whole. Most importantly, a team supervisor must ensure that the competitiveness of the teams working on the various projects is handled well. In some cases, competitiveness of teams is detrimental in the attainment of organizational goals and objectives (Kaufman, 2008). A team coordinator therefore, has to ensure that the competitiveness of teams is kept within acceptable parameters and that it is beneficial to the firm. Mischief and sabotage are some of the risks arising out of working in teams. Furthermore, managing teams that oversee change requires one to harness the outcomes of the teams’ efforts and harmonise them in order to make them relevant and useful for the whole organisation. This will ensure that the change desired by the firm is attained in the whole organisation and that the loyalty of the teams and team members is to the organisation and not the teams per se. As a project coordinator, n change management, what is your view in managing change in your organisation and any other given organisation? There is a common saying that “the only constant thing in this world is change.” This means change is not a stage or phase in a company’s lifecycle but rather a continuous process throughout the life cycle of the firm. The rate at which technology is changing means that, BAE being at the frontline in technology and security matters, with have to keep up to date with new technologies and new security threats emerging. This is one of the reasons why BAE as a whole has diversified into cyber security matters. The new president of the parent company says that the firm is venturing into a new market that competitors have not fully ventured into. This is where my team and I come in. we facilitate the smooth transition from the status quo to the new platform and new business processes. However, at this stage, our subsidiary is yet to obtain any cyber security related contracts from the government. Industry developments indicate that it is just a matter of time before the Saudi government seeks to fully venture into cyber security. This means that this option is in our strategic plan of five years. One of the successful changes that I have overseen is the addition of computer-aided technology to the production process by documenting all parts and essential manufacturing information used in the design and production of the final submarine. This has now been integrated as a standard business process and continues to be incorporated further. Mr. Moammer’s views on technology adoption and innovation resonate with views from a number of experts and scholars in the field of change management. Oshri, Kotlarsky & Willcocks says that innovation is the introduction of something new that creates value for the organization that adopts it. Burnes (2004) adds that innovations are incremental in that organisations have to constantly find better ways of doing things to gain competitive advantage. This explains why the change management in BAE Systems is not a seasonal department but a permanent one. Change managers therefore should highlight the type of additional training that employees should receive in order to handle the new business processes well. What is the core business of BAE Saudi Arabia and how does it relate to its parent company, BAE Systems. BAE Systems Saudi Arabia solely deals with the government of Saudi Arabia in providing defence, aerospace and security requirements. This is also the case in other subsidiaries where the firm deals with governments only and specifically defence departments. BAE Systems Saudi Arabia has been designing, integrating and maintaining systems for the Saudi government for over 40 years. The operations of this subsidiary are partially autonomous from the operations of the parent company. The company thus has a relatively flat structure that allows the multinational firm to respond to country specific problems and even create products that suit specific markets. However, some operations such as acquisitions are centralised. Previously, the firm relied on disjointed acquisition methods for similar products from their suppliers. This has changed as the firm now has adopted a centralised acquisition system for ordering supplies to gain more bargaining power. What is the role of change management in respect to how BAE Saudi Arabia relates to its parent company? Another issue that brings out how the Saudi Arabian subsidiary relates with the headquarters is through exchange programs. These exchange programs are intended to create harmony in all the subsidiaries and help maintain the company’s vision which is to be “the premier global defence, aerospace and security company.” This is very critical for the firm given that the firm’s growth strategy, which is both horizontal and vertical integration, brings in new elements into the company which must be integrated into the parent company and all the subsidiaries. A good example is the numerous Enterprise Resource Planning systems that the company has inherited over time as a by-product of numerous mergers and acquisitions over the years. With time, these ERP’s had to be consolidated into one. Therefore, the company is on a constant change process which entails accommodating new business processes and new innovations. This as you can see places me and my team in a central position when it comes into integrating the new elements and new business processes into the main system. In other cases, new employees from integrated firms have to be welcomed, inducted and fitted into the firm’s organisational structure. The views that Mr. Maimmer puts forward resonate with a number of management literature in a number of ways. First and foremost is the way he labels the firm’s organisational structure as relatively flat. Massh notes that multinational organisations are faced with two major options in how they handle their multinational operations. He says that firms can choose between a global strategy (ethnocentric) and differentiated strategy (geocentric). A global strategy implies that all subsidiaries follow one major strategy and the various markets are treated one homogenous market. The differentiated option on the other hand allows the various subsidiaries in the various markets some level of independence whereby they develop their own management strategies in response to the national culture and the market needs of the particular country. Each of these options has their advantages and disadvantages. A unitary global strategy saves costs for the firm and there are very few levels of management making it easier for the implementation of management decisions. However, this strategy is not responsive to specific market needs. Contrarily, the differentiated option allows the different subsidiaries to respond to specific market needs and even develop new products. Management is easier to implement as the subsidiary develops a unique organizational culture that is based on the national culture of the specific country of region. However, this type of strategy is tedious to implement for the management team. The decision making process takes too much and some subsidiaries may misuse their independence by choosing a path that is different from the parent company’s vision. This is what Thompson and Martin call “to think globally but manage/act locally” (p. 566). This indicates the need to put the home market at the forefront in all stages of decision making and implementation. Furthermore, multinational organizations need to differently plan to acknowledge the differences in the various regions which may make a universal performance management practice difficult to realize (Arup 2008, pp.145-158). Mcdonald, Burton and Dowling (2002 p. 242) argue that “the mission of a company guides its strategic plan.” For instance, firms such as BAE Systems, which target to maximise shareholder value, trade most of their shares in the home market (UK) and face strong pressure to generate sufficient surplus to pay level of return to shareholders to prevent a hostile takeover by other managements that promise higher returns. This implies that BAE Systems Saudi Arabia’s strategic plan is tied to the key role of maximising returns for shareholders as the majority stakeholders What are some of the challenges that the organisation faces in respect to the fact that BAE Systems Saudi Arabia is a subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. First on the list is the cultural distance between the UK and Saudi Arabia. Majority of business decisions are made by the parent company. This means that the cultural matters are rarely observed in the decision making process or when they do, they play a secondary role. For instance, Saudi people handle change very differently from the UK people. Therefore, the change process in the UK takes a longer time to implement than in the UK. This means that the Saudi subsidiary is slower in implementing change processes through the various levels of the firm. For instance, our subsidiary has to prepare financial reports in two different ways to meet the Saudi government regulation and those of the parent organization as required by the UK government. In such a case, any changes in government regulations in terms of financial reporting have a heavy toll on our operations. Internal and external changes Whereas credit crunch has been identified to affect performance management, there is more into what affects performance management in an organization. External and external changes influence the operation and performance of an organization (Carsen, Benard & Axel, 2009). Major internal aspects that affect performance management system include enhanced content and increased request from the management or the chief executive officer, organizational dynamics such as new products and restructuring which have increased over the last few years affects global performance management practices put in place by a company. External factors on the other hand include policies such as industry specific regulations, local laws on performance management systems have also increased significantly. This has increased the complexity of jobs for most employees as established in a study by Carsen, Benard, and Axel, (2009). The internal and external factors have raised demands on performance management. Increased content, business restructuring and more request for information influence internal change, whereas external factors such as auditing processes and compliance have caused an increased convolution in management practices and strategic planning. Disparity between business and IT departments This is a largely experienced challenge in organizations. The existing gap between the IT department and the business in understanding and implementation of performance management is a major challenge in the realization of effective performance management. Most often, the business and IT sectors within an organization differ significantly in vision of organizational performance management. This lack of a universal vision on performance management creates an inherent risk that IT and business push their initiatives in opposite directions. This results to inefficiencies, inconsistent solutions and higher complexities in organizations (Carsen, Benard, and Axel, 2009 p.12). There is therefore the need for a common approach to performance management. Forming a ‘business intelligence and performance management competency center’ with both IT and business management knowledge which compels all performance management practices within the organization may help overcome this challenge. Reflection Mr. Naif al Moammer has been in the management field for quite a while. I happened to meet him through a social function held at my uncle’s place. By then, he had not joined BAE Systems Saudi Arabia. Back then, I looked up to him as my inspiration given his proven track record in management. I opted to interview not because of my acquaintance to him but because I was interested in learning how he has managed to remain one of the best mid-level managers by my standards and how he carries out his role in an industry I look forward to joining soon. By interviewing him, I knew I could borrow some tips on how to become a successful manager and also understand how the theoretical aspect of management and planning integrate in the real life workplace. Again, his availability and –proximity encouraged me to choose him as my interviewee. I assumed that choosing to interview a relatively senior manager might prove problematic on their side due to time issues. Furthermore, after consulting with several classmates, I noted that no one was interested in interviewing hence reducing the risk of producing work almost similar with another student’s. Choosing a different There are a lot of things that I gained from the conversation. For once, I had to acquaint myself better with writing a conversation even before I planned for the conversation with Mr. Naif al Moammer. This assignment therefore expanded my academic writing skills and also allowed me to practice it. In terms of conversing with my chosen interviewee, I had a glimpse of the issues and challenges that face modern day managers. These challenges gave me motivation to work harder and be keen. For once, the ideas of managing teams as opposed to heading class study groups was brought to reality in how Mr. Moammer addressed the issue of team loyalty and team competitiveness in the workplace more so in technology oriented firm where innovation is a key driver. In my own world, I always imagined IT specialists inside big laboratories in uniforms working isolation from the rest of the world expected to develop new IT solutions and ideas. This is a common aspect portrayed by western movies and TV programs. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn from Mr. Maommer that IT specialists work alongside other workers and their role is to simplify business processes and digitize them where possible. As such, the need to simplify and increase efficiency in day to day tasks inspires technological innovation. As I plan to be a manager under IT, I aspire to be motivational and create an enabling environment for my fellow employees and subjects. Additionally, it is important to keep innovating as technology is changing rapidly. This will imply thinking outside the box and challenging the status quo within acceptable organisational limits. Additionally, I will always remember to be friendly and humane in relating with my subjects provide leadership. One area that I realized I have to change is my communication skills. I usually do so with a commanding tone which can at times be over bearing. This I must work on in order to be successful in communication, which is one of the vital characteristics of all successful managers. References Burnes, J. (2008). Managing change: a strategic approach to organisational dynamics. London: Cornell University Press Carsen, B., Benard, M. and Axel, B. 2009. Performance management: Current challenges and future directions. Business Application Research Center. Pp. 1-23. Jazayeri, M. & Scapens, R. (2008). “The Business Values Scorecard within BAE Systems: The evolution of a performance measurement system” The British Accounting Review, 40(4) 48–70, Smedley, T. (2007). “The powers that BAE.” People Management, 13 (22), 40-43. Kaufman, B. (2008). Managing the human factor: the early years of human resource management in American industry. London: Cornell University Press Mcdonald, Burton and Dowling (2002). International business. London: Cenagage Learning Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J. & Willcocks (2011). The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Thompson, M. & Martin F. (2010). Strategic Management 6th ed. London: Cenagage Read More