Max Lionel Realty - Creation of Leading Change Team - Case Study Example

Name: Professor: Course: Date of Submission: Influence Groups and Individuals The process of implementing change in an organization entails several crucial steps and activities that must be undertaken to ensure successful adoption of the proposed change initiative. The important steps include the development of a change implementation plan or action plan, strategic budget, and establishment of an appropriate communication portfolio effective throughout the implementation process. Max Lionel Realty (MLR) intents to initiate a change initiative aimed at improving the organizational culture to ensure ethical and legal compliance of agents. The proposed change initiative revolves around the development of an ethics charter for the business, revision of existing policies and procedures to enforce the application of the ethics charter by agents, and training of the agents and managers about the charter. This report outlines the proposed implementation plan for the change strategy and the inherent change-drivers: budget, communication plan, and a discussion of the plan with the Chief Executive Office (CEO). IMPLEMENTATION/ ACTION PLAN Identification of the Need for the Change Max Lionel Realty (MLR) needs to implement an ethics charter as one of the strategies in improving its organizational culture and promote ethics and legal compliance among its agents. The rationale behind this inevitable need is that the company is increasingly confronted with serious problems associated with ethical issues and legal non-compliance. Its clients have expressed several concerns about the poor services delivered by the agents, poor time management, and non-committal reservations. The agents on the other hand show ignorance about ethical and legal requirements in their operations, are unaware of the company’s strategy and lack cultural commonality. Other stakeholders such as the tenants and the general community express fears of discrimination propagated through the company based on various social parameters and failures of residential agents to observe legal provisions appropriately. Creation of Leading Change Team A change lead team will comprise of representatives from all the department, agents, clients, experts, tenants. The team will be expected to coordinate and oversee implementation of the proposed change initiatives (Brown 98). Among the team members, a team leader will be selected from within the group to steer its activities towards achievement of the specified goals and report to the operational manager of the company. Inventory on the Possible Effects of the Change The change lead team will be expected to conduct a conclusive investigation to determine the possible effects of the ethics charter on the company’s operations, agents, clients and the wider community or tenants. The team will also determine whether the impetus precipitated by the change initiative encourages transformational practices for better performance. Development of a Preliminary Vision for the Change and Definition of the Ideal State The establishment of the vision is based on the definition of what the outcomes of the change will be and the expected impacts, what is actually being changed, and the ways of measuring the success or failure of the change initiative to elicit desired results. Identification of Change Benefits The anticipated change benefits will be outlined based on the operational units affected by the change including the organization, agents, clients and the tenants. Any losers following the change initiative will be identified per se if any as well as any disadvantages of implementing the change initiative (Russell and Russell 137). Assessment of Organizational Readiness and Training The organization’s resources available to support the change strategy will be determined ad hoc and other sources of support identified. The perception of change by all people at all levels will be ascertained and cultural support for the change (Brown 97). Training will be undertaken by different trainers to fill in knowledge gaps and enable effective application of the charter. Development of the Ethics Charter External experts from identified established firms will work together with the selected lead change team in developing the charter. The principle contents of the company’s guide on ethical behaviour will churn from vigorous and critical deliberations about the extant and new practices and procedures. To contend the personal nature of change initiatives, the charter development will revolve around open discussions with all stakeholders. Unanimously agreed ethical principles will form the basis of the charter. Communication Strategy The change lead team leader will communicate to the operations manager who in turn will brief the CEO on the change implementation progress. In addition, the lead team through the selected representative will constantly communicate with all other stakeholders. Monitoring and Evaluation After implementation of the charter, the team leader in collaboration with other team members will gather views on the prevailing state in terms of services, existence of past complaints and feedbacks from stakeholders to ascertain its success or failure. Budget Plan There is need for deployment of experts in the different areas of the proposed changed initiative including the development of the ethics charter, training experts in different areas such legal, and ethics areas. Expert trainers are expected to be paid about $1000 while the charter developing service will cost $1500. The company also requires funds for hiring professional management consultants to assist in the realization of benefits associated with the proposed change initiative, which will cost the company approximately $500. Advertisers and promotional experts are also essential in the initiative to ensure proper communication of the change strategy, and the cost for hiring them is about $800. The company also requires a tune of $600 to engage quality assurance persons as indicated in the proposed budget to ensure that implementation process is above board in standards associated with ethics charters for service organization. The company will be required allocate about$ 3000 to cater for off-site training to facilitate capacity building for the management and people charged with the direct management of the proposed organizational change. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY The communication strategy adopted to support the change plan can make or break the initiative hence the need to adopt an efficient and effective change strategy. Communication during implementation of the change initiative will entail open debates between the management and the stakeholders, and a two-way information flow characterized by continual feedbacks from the bottom to the top and the reverse. The open dialogue forum between the leading change team and the stakeholders will be focused on persuading relevant players in the change imperative, and the management’s commitment to the transformation (Dickson 11). The change lead team will create and utilize current social media networks such as Facebook and Tweeter to inform all stakeholders about the need to support the change initiative and the progress in implementing the change. The team will be keen to create a group on the media networks to ensure that all stakeholders are continuously updated about the change initiative, the ideals being targeted, benefits and the need to work as a team towards successful implementation. The team leader will be expected to keep a good record of the all deliberations that shall be delivered to the operations manager for discussion with the CEO. However, the communication strategy will also provide an avenue through which the CEO will meet the lead team for direct feedback and briefing about the progress. The open dialogic communication will be the most appropriate strategy in this study to ensure that every stakeholder’s concerns are addressed throughout the change implementation process (Russell and Russell 137). The operation operational manager will adopt the open-door policy throughout the change implementation to listen to suggestions and concerns from the clients, agents and the tenants. This strategy will provide an opportunity for people who may have issues with selected change lead team to express their views that will be further communicated to the team through their leader. Bottom to top communication will be particularly encouraged in order to ensure that the views of the people directly affected by the proposed change initiative are exhaustively taken into account during the implementation process. Suggestion boxes will be put up at various corners of the organization’s premises to facilitate exchange of information, and strategic notice boards will be used by the management as the main communication route. ARRANGEMENT TO MEET THE CEO TO DISCUSS THE PLANNING A meeting with the CEO will be arranged through the personal assistance or the company’s secretary two weeks in advance. This will allow the leading team to prepare their final deliberations and present them to the operations managers in time for review before the CEO’s briefing. There will be adequate time to make any adjustments deemed necessary in the plan in order to present a well-thought and convincing plan. Ability of the Change to Meet Organizational Legal, and Ethics Requirements Development and implementation of the ethics charter will play a critical role in minimizing both ethical and legal issues previously arising in the company’s operations. The charter will outline the ethical expectations among the agents in the process of executing their mandate. In addition to the charter, all stakeholders will be educated by qualified experts on the ways of maintaining high ethical standards as required by the charter thereby enhancing the quality of service and the company’s reputation. The implementation process further provides an opportunity for a legal expert to educate stakeholders on their legal obligations and rights during delivery of the services. Legal cases associated with ignorance among the agents will be significantly reduced through proper training and education about laws governing the organization’s operations. The dialogic communication strategy and the two-way communication strategy proposed to support the change plan is ideal in this context because it provides both internal and external with an opportunity to express their views. The open-door policy applied by the operations manager will go a long way in addressing pertinent issues that may not be addressed by the leading change team (Boonstra 112). The various communication routes will enable easy sharing of information and provision of feedback to all stakeholders affected by the change initiative. The various social media networks and posters on notice boards will be effective in the dissemination of important information related to the proposed changes. Budget Support The estimated budget of $12000 is required to support the various activities need to yield successful implementation of the change initiative and delivery of the anticipated benefits. The $ 4000 allocated for awareness creation and communication of the change is crucial in the success of the ethics charter. Training and deployment of experts is important in ensuring that change is successfully adopted and sustained. In addition, there is need to compensate the people involved in the change initiative in order to maintain high levels of motivation. Organizational Risk Management Plans The change strategy addresses issues of resistance expected during implementation of the change initiative through the open dialogic communication strategy. The open door policy further provides a great avenue for addressing pertinent issues raised by all stakeholders to create a smooth run during the change implementation. The company’s awareness strategies and involvement of all stakeholders will help mitigate issues that may derail the change implementation process. The company will involve consultation firms with profound reputation to reduce the risk of information leakage to competitor firms. The company will capitalize on the promise associated with proposed change to reduce client exodus, which may arise due to expected changes in the organization. Consultation with Managers The proposed communication strategy will provide a good opportunity for consultation with other managers within the organization. The feedback mechanism will be particularly important in ensuring continued consultations with managers about the change implementation. However, it will be important for every manager to feel free and walk into the operations managers for any consultations about the company’s initiative. Work Cited Boonstra, Jaap. Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print. Brown, Kerry. Managing Change and Innovation in Public Service Organizations. London: Routledge, 2005. Print. Dickson, Donna. Fostering Employee Engagement: Practical Tools and Best Practice Techniques. New York, NY: Human Resource Development, 2010. Print. Russell, Jeffrey and Linda, Russell. Change Basics. American Society for Training and Development, 2006. Print. Read More