Organisational Development and Change at Dryburgh Footwear Company - Case Study Example

Name Class Unit Section 1 Contextual summary This report provides a plan for organisational development and change at Dryburgh Footwear Company. The plan is based on a change agent perspective. The company was started in 1950s and thrived under the protectionist tariffs in the 1950s and 60s. The report show the main issues that are to be addressed by the change agent are; high turnover, absenteeism, poor workforce morale and authoritarian management. The steps proposed by the plan are; creating a realistic job preview, attendance policy, creating a comfortable working place, enhancing communication, encouraging employee feedback, reducing hierarchies and increasing wages. The planned change process will be carried out in distinctive steps. Readiness for change will be attained through changing employees’ perceptions toward change, vision for change and management support. Carrying out surveys, addressing resistance will be used to evaluate the change effort and learn from unanticipated outcomes. This will help in implementing the change plan successfully at Dryburgh Footwear. Introduction Dryburgh Footwear was established in the early 1950s. The industry was family owned and was able to benefit and prosper based on the high tariffs which were established by the Australian government in the 1950s to 60s. The main aim of the tariffs was to protect the industries from foreign competition. The company was purchased in 1971 and was profitable up to mid-1980s. After 1986, the company started facing erosion of their profits and sales. Increase on imports and shrinking domestic market led to shrinking market share (Deery, 1995). Complexity The company started to venture into international market. With international expansion, Dryburgh increased in its complexity. The industry started relying more heavily on the mainland China. The business became more venerable to international competition (Deery, 1995). Section 2 1. Identification (diagnosis) of the problem to be addressed The main problem with the Dryburgh footwear company is the high employee turnover rate. The turnover rate was more than 100%. The average annual level of absenteeism was slightly less than 5% annually among the production workers. The financial burdens by these behaviours were more than $1.5 million annually. There was low level of pride among the employees on both product and company. The management was seen as authoritarian. Use of Taylor principles in manufacturing did not enhance job satisfaction or use of skills (Deery, 1995). The company general manager associated the high turnover rates and absenteeism to the type of people who were hired by the company. The introduction of Just in Time (JIT) lines were aimed at improving the situation in a gradual manner. Despite this, absenteeism and turnover required immediate attention as pointed out by the personnel manager. This is due to the substantial costs and burdens that the company faced (Deery, 1995). 2. Approach to this change task as a change agent As evidenced, the main issues in the organisation lie on employee turnover and absenteeism. There is also low rate of work enthusiasm where employees had low level of satisfaction in their jobs (Deery, 1995). As a change agent, I would approach this change task through distinctive steps. The steps are; creating a realistic job preview, attendance policy, creating a comfortable working place, enhancing communication, encouraging employee feedback, reducing hierarchies and increasing wages. As a change agent, the change process is about attaining a set goal. This is a change process that is people focused. There is need for coordination between change agents and human resource management (Caldwell, 2006). There is need to face change through organisational development oriented change manager. This approach will include a thorough culture change approach targeted at cultural change (Dawson, 2010). This will include training, team building and survey feedbacks. 3. Planned change process/ interventions Through organisation development type of approach, the interventions will start by creating a realistic job preview. This is a formal interview where the organisation will give accurate details on the job offer and expectations from the selected candidates (Tschirky, 2011). This is a process that is required for new employees joining the firm. The organisation will have to work in creating a strong brand which is employer of choice. The source through which employees were recruited has a great impact on their subsequent job performance, attitude and absenteeism. The most valid way to reduce absenteeism and job turnover is through use of appropriate employee selection method. This is a system that ensures the right employee is chosen for the right job (Burke, 2011). The second intervention involves emphasizing on an attendance policy. This involves having a detailed record on absenteeism and tardiness (Mansfield, 2011). All employees are supposed to be made aware of the new firm attendance policy. It involves calling all employees and explaining to them the high rates of absenteeism and how they affect the firm (Anderson, 2011). Employees who are comfortable in their work places are less likely to miss their jobs. This requires creating an atmosphere where employee s is confortable (Mansfield, 2011). A good atmosphere will lead to an improvement in the number of employees’ attendance. This will involve creating the right physical atmosphere where employees are valued and appreciated. This requires that Dryburgh designs an employee recognition program which will boost the workers morale (Deery, 1995). It is important to note that employees at Dryburgh want their voices to be heard. There is need for periodic feedback from the employees. This can be achieved through surveys and individual meetings. The employees will be given a chance to address their concerns and their feedback taken seriously and remedies taken (Mansfield, 2011). There is need for Dryburgh to consider use of flexible schedules. Use of flexible work schedules has been proven to reduce absenteeism and job turnover. This also boosts the employees’ morale. This will include job rotation, sharing and use of flexible time (Deery, 1995). Lastly, there is need to address the organisation authoritarian approach. This will include use of open communication between different departments and reducing the hierarchies. This would have ensured that there was flow of information between the management and staff. This is a step that will take longer time. There is need to carry out the process of reducing hierarchies in a gradual manner. This will ensure a smooth transition process from a hierarchical to smooth structural at Dryburgh Footwear. The industry wage was at minimum which may have affected the employees’ morale (Deery, 1995). The employees pay is low which may also contribute to their low work morale. The pay should reflect the employees’ efforts in their workplace. There is need for an increment in employees’ payment as well as use of bonus. 4. Creating readiness When implementing change, creating readiness is vital. Readiness for change is reflected through the firm members’ beliefs, attitudes and intentions towards change (Stephen, 2010). To achieve readiness for change at Dryburgh, there is need to change employees’ perception towards change. There is a need to start by establishing a vision for change. Research shows that helping the employees understand and comprehend the vision and change is very important (Anderson, 2011). A vision is created to tell people why there is need for change. The vision will help the Dryburgh employee to have a direction. The readiness for change will have to be based on a foundation on mutual trust and respect. Mutual respect and trust helps a lot in creative an effective team (Mansfield, 2011). Lastly, there is need to have management support. The support from the management plays a major part in creating change readiness. The management will help in creating flexible policies and procedures that are required for change. Having an effective change leadership is required to support change. Having an effective leadership at Dryburgh will be required to monitor and manage change while at the same time carrying out corrections. Lastly, there is need to create acceptance. This is due to fact that change can lead to unease and confusion (Burke, 2011). Employees are only willing to accept change if it is beneficial to them. Employees have to be made to understand the benefit for change. The employees at Dryburgh will be made to understand the need for change at the initial stages (Poole, Van de Ven, Dooley & Holmes, 2000). 5. Evaluating the change effort and learning from unanticipated outcomes. While implementing change in Dryburgh, there will be unanticipated outcomes. There are chances that changes can be hindered by conflicting programs in the organisation. There is need to carry out frequent surveys that will help in establishing the success of the change program. This will include looking at the change evidence in the organisation. There is a need to keep monitoring the level of absenteeism and turnover. The level of resistance has to be monitored and addressed on the right time. Resistance can be reduced through addressing concerns for those opposed to changes. This is through addressing the cause for resistance. This will help in eliminating a situation such as resistance evidenced during implementation of JIT. Change must be evaluated in a continuous manner to avoid failure (DeBruijn, 2011). Conclusion To sum up, there is need for carry out change at Dryburgh. There is need to carry out a change process based on the context. There is need for a change process that addresses the main cause of absenteeism and high turnover. The method proposed involves use of a development type approach to change. The change process involves; creating a realistic job preview, attendance policy, making workplace comfortable, encouraging feedback and eliminating the authoritarian approach. There is need to create readiness for change through creating a vision, mutual trust and respect, effective leadership and creating acceptance. Frequent interviews and monitoring will determine the level of success of change. Resistance to change will be dealt through addressing the cause of concern. References Anderson, L. A. (2011). The change leader’s roadmap: How to navigate your organization’s transformation. New York, NY: Routledge. Burke, W. W. (2011). Organizational change: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Caldwell, R. (2006). Agency and Change. Raymond Caldwell. Dawson, P. M. B. (2010). Managing change, creativity and innovation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. DeBruijn, H. (2011). Managing professionals. New York, NY: Routledge. Deery, S.J. (1995), Absenteeism and employee turnover: Dryburgh Footware Company, in Organisational change strategies: Case studies of human resource and industrial relations issues, ed.M. Patrickson, V. Bamber, G.J. Bamber, Longman, Melbourne, Chapter 21, pp. 240-250. Mansfield, J. (2011). The nature of change: An introductory text to designing complex systems and managing change. London, UK: Imperial College Press. Poole, S. M., Van de Ven, A, Dooley, K., & Holmes, M. (2000). Organizational Change And Innovation Processes. Oxford. UK. Stephen, T. (2010). Successfully managing change in organizations. New York, NY: Industrial Press. Tschirky, H. (2011). Managing innovation-driven companies: Approaches in practice. NewYork , NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More