Can Middle Management Be Effective in Leading Organisational Change - Case Study Example

Introduction Organizational change is inevitable if an organization has to remain relevant in the changing world. It involves a transformation from the way an organization operate to how it ought to operate so as to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Middle managers act as the link between supervision and management and thus a major determinant of how effective desired change is accepted and implemented. Involving these managers in development, design and implementation of organizational change prevents blind reactions which may result to resistance to change. The success of suggested organizational change depends on the credibility of middle managers and their capability to influence change. Respecting middle managers and taking time to let them understand the importance of a particular change instills a sense of rationality and hence smoothening the path to change implementation success. One of the integral factors in achieving positive outcome is investing in training and support programs for middle management. A lot of research has been conducted on organizational change and the impact of management actions in change implementation at the global level. Despite the fact that middle managers to a greater extent determine the effectiveness of change implementation process, very little research has been done on the effectiveness of middle management in implementing organizational change in large Australian firms such as Fiberglass International (FGI). Lack of such information makes it difficult to understand the hindrances existing in change implementation. The neglect of middle management is clear both in theory and practice as there is very little information on this. This research is therefore aimed at determining the effectiveness of middle management in implementing organizational change. This is achieved through the investigation of Fibreglass International as a case study through focus groups and interviews. The case report will be beneficial to managers in large and small institutions, organizational structure developers, change implementation consultancy firms as well as researchers in the field of organizational change and management. The report is divided into seven sections including this introduction. To begin with, an orientation is given followed by data collection and analysis. Key activities, processes and events are then discussed followed by a description of key learning. Lastly, a conclusion is drawn from existing literature and the findings of the report. Assumption The study assumes that the respondents were faithful in giving true information in each question asked and that personal attitudes were not reflected in the data. It also assumes that the data collected was representative to allow space for generalization to a wider population. Accuracy and precision in data during collection and recording of the data is a very important factor of consideration. This research assumes that the researchers who collected and recorded the data were precise and accurate. It also assumes that there was uniformity in data recording which makes the data scientific. Orientation Middle management in a business organization is a level of management comprising of executives or senior supervisory staff responsible for the detailed running of an organization or business and reporting to top management. Middle managers head specific departments such as production, accounting and marketing. Their main duty is implementation of top management’s plans and policies. They also over-see day- to -day operations of an organization. Middle management is a very sensitive position as on one hand the middle managers are pulled by the centripetal force of the top management which requires at most times unquestionable execution of organizational policies and strategies even when some of these policies are deeply flawed or very unpopular, and while on the other hand, there are bottom employees who are always yearning for salary increments and better benefits, workers who are pre-opinionated on how work should be done and often resist change to new systems, processes and technologies. This makes it harder for the middle managers to obtain total compliance and smooth operations in the organization. Management quality is very instrumental on employee and customer satisfaction and plays a role in efficiency in productivity and development in an organization. Although management quality lies at the helm, policy programs are implemented in the line organization through middle managers who also address the crucial success factors concerning management quality. They interpret and disseminate the established management policy and make it alive to the rest of the staff. Middle managers are very instrumental in creating the agility that makes it possible for the organization to rapidly respond to its dynamic environment. Regardless of the number of times the business plan changes, middle managers are required to provide the necessary support, commitment and optimal execution of operational supervision and personnel requisite to propel and sustain a forward momentum. If middle management frustrates those at the top, the organization will have to unpleasantly deal with issues of distrust and discomfort; if it does not have effective communication strategy, employees will make assumptions and fill in the blanks; if there is misalignment with the corporate strategy, the bottom employees will be confused. An organization facing such as these problems cannot optimize its resources and potentials. Therefore it needs to realize it should not expect a very highly satisfied workforce but aim at an acceptable working ground. It is evident that middle management plays a very significant role in enabling the organization to benefit from change although the un-accommodative nature of most top management adversely inhibits its effectiveness. There are a few hindrances that middle managers need to overcome in order for them to remain at the top of their game. Some of these include feeling powerless, hipping blame at the helm or bottom and passiveness. Fibregrass International In current generation, change occurs more frequently and suddenly than it ever happened in the past. This has been as a result of the increasing uncertainty caused by downsizing, restructuring, emerging technology, acquisitions and mergers. Ineffectiveness in change implementation will not only jeopardize the organization but also the employees working for that organization. After an intention to make changes in an organization is announced, individuals are uncertain and seek to understand how the change will affect them. At this time, productivity goes down thus the need to reduce the time between annunciation and change implementation process. This will however depend on the ability of managers to lead people through the change process while taking into consideration their fears. The desire to maintain a competitive advantage in the global market has been a major catalyst in the change process. Fibreglass International has not been left behind in the competition for the global market share. Failing to react to external forces such as changing from local to international market, new technology and increased competition would mean failure for Fiberglass International since change is inevitable. Fiberglass International is Australia’s number one supplier of composite materials having a market share of 80.67%. it is owned by Nuplex industries a common player in the Australian (ASX) and New Zealand (NZX) stock exchanges. The company offers the widest range of products though her primary function is manufacturing and supplying gelcoats, polyester resins and reselling complimentary products used in manufacturing industrial tanks pipes, automobile parts, sanitary wear, swimming pools and boats among other parts. These parts end up as components in other products or as a finished product. She has a very elaborate network of distribution channels that cover the entirety of Australia. According to current statistics, composite material market in Australia is estimated to reach over one hundred and eighty million dollars$ 180.3 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of two per cent and the composite end product market anticipated to reach over five hundred and fifteen million dollars with a CAGR of almost four per cent by the year 2014. It is such external pressures that make the management determine and plan necessary changes to keep the organization running both now and in the future. The Australian composite industry is in the escalation trajectory and was found to be more mature than Asian economies such as India and China but less mature than the developed markets such United States of America and Western Europe. For full maturity to be achieved in order to enhance global competitiveness, change is inevitable. The presence of global players such as the Ashland, Owens, PPG and Cytec has greatly characterized the Australian composites markets. It is very evident that when it comes to applications, Australia is considered to have a very strong manufacturing base. FGI and Nuplex have significantly by both acquisition and organic sale growth over the years. This has seen her open new branches in each Australian capital city which appears to operate as silo operations with different needs requiring different management principles. Competition both from local producers and imported products means the FGI must adopt effective strategies to help her maintain the leading position. Organizational change has therefore become key in achieving this success. FGI is a very large and diverse company, a factor that makes it challenging to effect change at the branch and mid management level. In short, FGI has recognized the role of middle management in maximization of change effectiveness and reduction of cost and employee resistance in planning and implementing organizational change. Her response to external forces resulting from evolving technology and market globalization is aimed at ensuring her sustenance in the market. The middle management seems to be the point at which change effectiveness or failure is determined. FGI therefore concentrates on developing human relations and people management skills among middle managers to ensure that change resulting from economic, technological, competitive and legal environments is determined and implemented successfully. According to Bateman and Zeithaml people, structure, technology and strategy are the major sources of change. Methodology and analysis Research design Case study research design was used as this has been found to be an effective method in understand a complex issue in real life situations. Many researchers have applied the method and their findings used to build on existing theories, prove if a theory is true and develop new theories. A case study was applied also because it consumes less time which was a limitation in this research. The lack of accessibility to change oriented project made it had to go for other alternatives (GLG project guidelines, p.10). The single case is justified as it provided unusual access into publicly listed Australian company to investigate a current issue and compare it with academic literature (Yin 1994). Both primary and secondary data were collected. The primary data was collected via interviews, questionnaires and survey following GLG’s privacy guidelines from the above mentioned groups. Secondary data was collected from various case studies, MBA texts, articles sourced and from Proquest for the purpose of validation. Since this is a research that involves people and their perspectives, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to ensure comprehensiveness in the study. Sampling The sample was determined through random sampling of FGI state branches and purposive sampling of state sales managers and their employees at the branch level. These were determined by first determining the total number of branches in all states. Purposive sampling was applied as the research focused on state sales managers and their employees at the branch level. Information was also collected from books, journals and published reports for purpose of validation. Description of the study population The study population will include state sales managers and their employees at the branch level who had been in the FGI for the last one year though not necessarily in the same position. The inclusion of individuals was not based on race, nationality or social status. This means that the study population included people from different races and nationalities as these may be a contributing factor failure in change implementation. Data collection Instruments Questionnaires and interview schedules were applied to collect data. Questionnaires were mailed to branch employees and state sales managers who could not avail themselves for the interviews and those who were very far while interview schedules were used during group discussions and individual interviews. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to selected state sales managers and employees. 12 group discussions were held with each having 6 participants to enable each person to have a chance to effectively contribute in the discussion. The interview schedule was used to exercise control in group discussions as this would have gone out of hand if control was not exercised. Data Analysis After all necessary information is gathered, it was analyzed through the application of SPSS. This enhanced accuracy in reporting (Bohrnstedt and David, 1982). Qualitative data was coded and then analyzed using this software. The hypothesis was then tested from the results obtained after analyzing selected data. The data was professionally analyzed to improve accuracy and precision (Bohrnstedt and David 1982). Validation Qualitative studies are often characterized by validation issues because of the nature of the design. Use of secondary sources to collect data in particular has reliability issues as it is usually difficult for the researcher to identify errors that might have occurred especially during collection of information and data (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill 2007). To address this issue, the researcher intends to use multiple perspectives in validation. This will involve a comparison of findings by different researchers on the same subject. In this case, past researches on organizational change and middle management will be considered. This strategy has been recommended in qualitative studies where triangulation cannot be carried out so as to increase the validity and reliability of the findings (). Ethical consideration Permission was sought from FGI management to allow their organization to be used as the case study. Since a sensitive issue was being investigated, participants were assured that the findings would remain anonymous. In addition to this, participants were not forced to participate in the research. They were made to clearly understand the purpose of the study and those who agreed to participate had to sign the Gibaran Research Consent form so as give their informed consent. From the group discussions held with middle managers in FGI, it was evident that success in change implementation and adoption highly relied on the actions, skills and behaviors of people in the organization. It is for this reason that coming up with new processes and tools with the aim of improving productivity was found to be useless of people did not change adopt new behaviors to enable them utilize these tools and processes. The major sources of change were found to include strategic change initiatives such as organization restructuring, business process redesign among others. To ensure that the change process is successful, there must exist strong links between the team leaders, supervisors and middle managers as these clearly understand what is happening on the ground where change implementation takes place. The data collected from the interviews revealed that sustainability and proper management of change is as a result of accountability and ownership of the change by all stakeholders. The top managers should be the first to own and be committed to the change process. Since the operational teams which include team leaders, supervisors and their leaders (middle managers) are on the ground, changing their role is very important to attaining success. One of the managers stated that “we have a better understanding of the improvement and change tactics that should be applied since unlike the senior managers, we are on the ground.” This means that they hold the implementation power balance and if neglected, the entire change process might fail. Even the best plans will fail if their support and commitment is lacking. 10 middle and 5 top managers were interviewed online since they were bust and could not make to attend the group discussions. The data collected from this group was found to be similar to the data collected from the interviews. There was an emphasis from the top managers that their selection was mainly basic on their technical skills and capability rather than team leadership. Successful change implementation does not depend on these skills but on the ability to lead teams and manage people. This age is characterized with frequent changes resulting from improved technology and advancement in human relations. As a result, organizations need excellent change facilitators and personnel who have the capacity to interpret common top-down strategy to workable operational change. Middle managers are best suited for this. Their main role is to communicate the need for change, identify possible threads that would result to resistance to change and give guidance and coaching to their teams aimed at selling their vision to them. This creates a softer ground for their operation. Limitations of the study 1. The research is limited in that not all respondent were free to give adequate information especially where they felt threatened y the top management. Though privacy of information was assured, some participants were reluctant to give required information. 2. Mailing questionnaires to respondents limit one in determining some factors such as the attitude of the respondent (Cresswell 2003, p.45). 3. The research was limited to one Australian case study (FGI) which only represents developed countries hence limiting generalization of the findings. The research was based on trust and since sensitive issues were being investigated, there is a possibility that inaccurate or inadequate information was given thereby increasing probability of errors. A high probability of error lowers accuracy and precision of the results. Read More