Management Progression for Dryburgh Footwear Company - Case Study Example

Change Project College: Name: Students ID: Date: Course Name: Unit Code: Instructor's Name Introduction Change, for some is welcome, some perceive change as a waste of time, some look at it as disturbance while others feel threatened by change. Managing all this perceptions to change can be the distinction stuck between surviving as well as blossoming in work or business. Change management is a concept that takes on a premeditated and tactical move towards aligning an organization with the change. Basically, change management entails engaging an organization’s stakeholders to facilitate their understanding of what change means for them, assisting them to put together and carry on the change and working to trounce any confrontations that may occur. For management, change means adjusting the organization as well as behavior in order to have room for and maintain change (Andrews et al 2008). This paper documents a change management progression for Dryburgh Footwear Company. First the problem necessitating the change is brought to perspective then the approach to the problem is identified. A change progress is formulated followed by the change communication and lastly, the change evaluation. Change agent Change consultancy helps organizations to build a flexible, alert and novel staff; devoted to settle in swift change. As the lead change agent, I will work collaboratively to realize company objectives even more promptly than earlier thought-off. The consultancy team will mix business know-how with strong familiarity in facilitating change along with guidance development. Organizational description Dryburgh Footwear Company which started as a family business in the early 1950s thrived under the shade of high tariffs imposed in the 1950s to 1960s to shield Australian industries from international competition. Owing to the high tariff protection, Imperial Enterprises, a large multinational British company, opted to put big money in the Australian footwear industry in the 1960s and early 1970s. Imperial Enterprises acquired Dryburgh in 1971. The Change Plan and Process Problem diagnosis Dryburgh Footwear Company faced numerous problems. The most severe problem was a high employee turnover and absenteeism. A research carried out by Bill Brown, the personnel officer, revealed that the company had an employee turnover rate of over 100 percent in one year and the average monthly absenteeism rate exceeded 4.5 percent. In addition initial approximation showed that the turnover cost the company close to $1945 for one position. The second problem was the authoritarian approach used by the management. Bill Brown was concerned about the management's somewhat relaxed approach to the problem of a high employee turnover and absenteeism. Stone too tried all but in vain to establish a more open form of communication with the employees. Generally, the footwear industry in Australia was not performing well, however, Dryburgh for several years failed to report any profits also its return on capital was low down. Hence, the management could not invest in latest process technologies, even though the gains would have been evident in form of better product quality and high output. A lot of the employees avoided expressing their opinion in public regarding the management's style of operation. They were too angered by closed-shop agreement involving the management and the union. Besides, supervisors apparently spent a lot of their time resolving production issues rather than handling employees’ problems. The company had a problem with their workforce policy. The total number of employees was 500. Around 40 were engaged in managerial, sales, administrative as well as clerical positions. The company runs a two-shift production program with 400 on a morning shift and sixty on the afternoon shift. Worse still, close to three-quarters of the production personnel were women and rather unskillful. The employee average age was stuck between 30 and 33 years. Given that this is a reproductive age, a lot of the women had young children. Although the management had come up with a bonus system intended to motivate the workforce so as to turn out high daily outputs, the employees were not pleased with the system. The reason being a rather regular shifting from one job to another hence they could not establish themselves in one job. The company did not have a steady order base, recurrent factors and the varying types of orders resulted to workers being moved frequently between jobs to meet anecdotal production requirements. Soaring levels of absenteeism and turnover too obliged employees to move from one area to another basically to 'plug holes' in the everyday running of the company. Once employees were transferred to new areas they consistently jumped down from positive daily bonus compensation to negative bonus compensation, hence affecting the total weekly bonus. The employees also complained about the function of the bonus system as allied to the pitiable level of machine maintenance. Many contended that excessive time was lost (and bonus forfeited) through machine failures and breakdowns. Problem approach There are many ways of approach to change management; nonetheless, every approach has its goods and evils. No one framework is paramount in every one situation. In reality, the most important thing is to choose an approach that fits to the situation. Kotter is much-admired for an 8-step process that he shaped. The process has been widely researched and acknowledged. In this plan we will employ this technique in dealing with the problem seeing as this process has shown results for a lot of Fortune 500 companies. Eight-Step Change Management Process Step 1: Create Urgency For change to be successful, it must be needed by the entire company. Since we are planning to make change at Dryburgh Footwear Company, in this case we have to make others crave for it. This will be facilitated through creating a sense of urgency around the desired change and build excitement around it. This will create the initial motivation that is required. We will employ various tools, particularly, the statistics to express the reason for change and the manner in which the company plus the employees will benefit. Step 2: Build a Strong Change Squad We will strongly convince people to support the change. Kotter & Cohen, (2002) proposes that a team be created to conduct the change from supportive people. As the lead agent, I will direct the team. I will put in order a team and dole out tasks to team members and make them feel a sense of importance in the team. Step 3: Envision the Change Creating change comes with numerous ideas and suggestions. This necessitates envisioning the change so as to link all these ideas and suggestions. We will create a vision so that everything regarding the change will be clear to everybody and the team members will identify their role. Step 4: Communicate the Vision Having a vision is not simply enough; it must be communicated time and again across the company. We will use every opportunity to influence people to support our endeavor. We will ‘walk the talk’ and ensure everyone remembers and responds to our duty. Step 5: Eliminate Barriers Achieving change with no barriers is next to impossible. As change progresses we will stumble upon various difficulties especially from people opposing the change. Also there could be resistance from systems and procedures. We will at all times keep an eye on any hindrances and counter them in time. This will propel the change and boost the teams’ along with the rest of the staffs’ confidence. Step 6: Prefer Immediate Wins Winning immediately is the most excellent way to sustain the momentum. People will feel motivated once they are given a taste of success early enough and the company will without delay witness benefits from the change. We will produce ‘quick wins’ regularly for all stakeholders as we keep an eye on the long-term objective. In this way critics will have no room to criticize the change initiative. Step 7: Allow the Change to Mature According to Kotter & Cohen, (2002), early declaration of victory kills a lot of change initiatives. We will complete all the processes to their entirety since ‘actual change runs deep’. Have baked results will disappoint people. The change should be allowed to run deep into the employees and organizational systems before being declared successful. Step 8: Integrate the Change Finally, for the change to survive the test of time is has to be integrated into the organizational culture. The change ought to be monitored continuously to ensure it becomes part of every division of the organization. We will too ensure that the change continues to be supported. Change progress Step Description Generate change request Dryburgh Footwear Company has to start by submitting a duly filled change request form to the change manager for recording. Log change request status As the change manager, I will enter the change request into the change request Log. The log will be where the change status is updated during the change process. The update will contain all information produced throughout the process to facilitate comprehensive tracking of the change once it is approved right away to its closing evaluation and finality. This will include: Date Unique identifier of the update Description of the proposed change Estimated resources required Estimated time Evaluate change request Change staff will evaluate the change request and give a rough level of effort to process, and build up a wished-for solution for the recommended change. As soon as the proposed change is recorded an initial evaluation will be made. After proposed change is accepted, it will be given a priority and categorized depending on its urgency as well as impact. The priority will establish the qualified weight of the change alongside other outstanding propositions and it will guide scheduling of imminent changes. The category establishes the complexity and impact of the change and will guide resource allocation, predicted deadlines and authorization level required ahead of executing the change. The arrangement plus the effort necessary to realize the change determine its category. Authorization Endorsement to proceed with integrating the recommended change. Here planning is will be done for good change management. Execution After authorization, essential adjustments will be made to conduct the intended change and communicate change request status to the submitter along with other stakeholders. The users' opinion will be considered, and the change will be adjusted if reasonable opposition to the change rises, however, common resistance to change will be envisaged. Communication is essential; users will be clued-up regarding upcoming changes. They users will too be involved to the desired extent in these changes by: Listening to their submissions Letting them know the benefits of the change Responding to their queries and supporting them when necessary Change communication As in any other business discipline, the significance of communication cannot be overemphasized in managing change. Change involves, individuals, teams, stakeholders, along with other groups. Each participant has its own communication needs. Change communications management includes timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of information (Wyman Oliver, 2001). The key aspects to be considered in change communications management include; Careful communication planning that specifies the method and frequency of communication which vary depending on the needs. The communications plan will also include information regarding communication standards that will be observed, such as email protocol, use of agendas and minutes for meetings, as well as formats for reports. Setting the correct expectations with each and every one stakeholder also particularly key. The change agent (manager) will set the pitch for the entire communication. This will allow the change agent to keep control of the change and make sure all stakeholders obtain essential information. Face-to-face primary communication within the change team to set up the team operations as well as learning the customer’s expectations will be encouraged. Cultural considerations in communications are important due to the globalization of the work environment. There are some points to keep in mind in order to smooth the progress of healthier cross-cultural communication. Careful usage of certain terms and phrases as well as cultural nuances will be considered. Change evaluation Evaluating the actual force of the change on Dryburgh Footwear Company’s quality of service as well as productivity is necessary prior to closing the change. The evaluation will rivet around checking whether; The envisioned objectives were met Process degree of deviation from the set plans Any resultant unforeseen disturbances to Dryburgh Footwear Company The users' view to the change Any call off plans executed at some stage in the process and the reason for that If, from the final evaluation, it is seen that the process and outcomes are suitable, the change will be closed. Conclusion Organization change management is essential. For Dryburgh Footwear Company, there is a severe problem necessitating the change. Kotter’s eight-step approach to change management will be used and the detailed change process followed to implement the approved changes. Communication is vital in change management; this will ensure all stakeholders are well-versed with the change progress. The change will too be evaluated to establish its actual impact on Dryburgh Footwear Company. References Andrews, J., Cameron, H., Harris, M., 2008, All change? Managers’ experience of organizational change in theory and practice, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 21(3) Kotter, J., and Cohen, D., 2002, The Heart of Change, Boston, Harvard Business School Press Wyman Oliver, 2001, Strategic Communication - Creating Understanding and Support for Change, retrieved 27 December 2013, Read More