The Four Forms of Organizational Change - Case Study Example

Managing organizational change Name Institution Introduction In every organization or business setup, the concept of organizational change plays a very large and very crucial role in the attainment of the goals and the objectives of the organization. The management of these corporations take great measures to ensure that the change needed in an organization is effected immediately. This organizational change takes its effectiveness through different forms and models. Various companies have different modes of managing their organizational changes. This results from the dynamic demographics that each company finds itself in. For instance, a company which deals mainly in the manufacturing of products has a different composition from a company that deals with services. As such, the management of the two companies are distinctively varied but in essence, a nexus is found where the two companies strive to ensure that the organizational change brings about the accomplishment of the goals and objectives of each of these companies (Pieterse, Caniels & Homan 2012, p. 800). Corporate managers are thus highly tasked with the prerogative of making sure that their companies achieve their targets (Chew, Joseph & Sonja 2006, p. 12). As such, they have to make sure that any organizational change is within the precincts and definitions of the company’s objectives. This paper examines the concept of organizational change and takes a look into various issues that oscillate around this concept. The issues under discussion in this case include the theories that constitute, in one way or the other, the organizational change management. The paper takes an approach of examination and analysis of a case study to determine how organizational change in companies is managed, the forms, styles as well as scales and scope of organizational change in a case study format. The four forms of organizational change In a nutshell, this section introduces the various facets that constitute organizational change in any organization. It shows the four areas and avenues that managers look into when they try to manage change in their organizations. These include coercive, Directive, collaborative and consultative styles of management. These four forms of organizational management styles go a long way in ensuring that organizational change that occurs in an organization is well managed. To be able to offer a comprehensive analysis into these four styles of management, this paper engages in a discussion into a case study of how the management of the company utilized and engaged them in the management of the organizational change in this company. The company under study here is BHP Billiton. Case introduction- BHP Billiton BHP Billiton had always positioned itself as a company which has vast interests in mining. Indeed for almost a while decade, in a bid to become renowned and establish its identity as a major player in the industry, the company has continuously suffered changes and efforts to take over its major rival, Rio Tinto. The push and pull strategy that has take the management of the company almost a whole decade paid off. However, this pay off was not to be possible without the input of the company’s boss, Kloppers who wholeheartedly dedicated his efforts towards ensuring that the company attained its objectives. Later on he exited the company to head Goodyear. His short stint at BHP saw him introduce changes in the management and organizational structure. Kloppers operated in such a manner that some people considered to be ruthless and even authoritarian. Others perceive him as being modest, professional and hard working. When he was at BHP, he brought in some organizational changes. One of the changes that is tied to him is that he took off the bureaucracy that was present at the company. With the idea of bureaucracy and red taping now null and void, the company employees now had the necessary channels to ensure that communication, both vertical and horizontal was effective. He introduced the concept of engaging employees in decision-making process too and this went a long way in establishing the necessary rapport and trust that he needed from them. Basically, these employees felt that the attainment of the goals and the objectives of the company was within their duties and each one of them performed their individual roles with enough zeal to allow for the attainment of the overall objectives of the company. Case analysis : Application of the four styles of management in BHP The above segment shows how Kloppers managed the organizational change that he introduced at BHP. This section takes a deeper analysis into the same and shows how he used the four forms of organizational change to effect and manage organizational change in his company. Klappers has been described in varying forms by various employees who worked under him and who had the chance to witness his management of the organizational changes. Some of them have described him as being ‘ruthless’ and ‘authoritarian’. Others have spoken of his ‘softness’ as well as of ‘strong analytical skills’ that he possesses. These two different groups of people speak of their own perception pertaining Kloppers, their team leader. It is evidenced from these observations that Kloppers indeed poised in different characters to different types and forms of employees who worked under him. This portrays a great sense of perfection of roles to be played in a bid to makes sure that everything in the company works harmoniously towards the attainment of the goals and objectives of the organization. The different structural applications of the four styles of organizational change management as portrayed by Kloppers have been analyzed in the ensuing discourse. The systems theory and its application here: the coercive and collaborative styles Under the systems theory of organizational change, the leaders of this change often go a long way in ensuring that they have set forth the necessary podium for the collaboration between various employees. Akgun et al (2012, p. 795) state that under this model, the bureaucratic hurdles are gotten rid of and the channels and lines of communication opened up. Technically, bureaucracy reduces the value of the input, making the output become lowered in quality or consuming more resources (Ford 1999, p.7; Schwarz & Shulman 2007, p. 830). It therefore should be the focus of every result-oriented manager to ensure that levels of bureaucracy in their corporations have been minimized or eliminated altogether. Klopper seemed to have had an insight in this one. When he took the helm of BHP, he got rid of all the bureaucracy in this company. through the process of incorporation employees in decision making processes in the company and opening up channels of communication, he was exercising the systems approach theory to management. On the same level, Klopper exercise the collaborative and coercive styles of organizational change management in this company. He successfully liaised with various employees and using the power of his position managed to get them to agree and support various changes that he brought in the organization. Firstly, he ensured that all the unnecccessary hurdles that occur in a workplace pertaining to hierarchy had been rid of. He then proceeded to ensure that all the rules and regulations that were necessary so that they can ensure that effectiveness and efficiency of the system have been maintained. Any other rules and regulations that seemed to slow down in one way or the other the effectiveness and efficiency of the employees in this company were abolished. The channels of communication were opened up. Each employee was encouraged to voice their opinions pertaining different matters and issues. These opinions were highly regarded irrespective of the position the employee occupied in the company. In so doing, Kloppers paved the way for the flow of innovative ideas from a myriad of employees in the company. When an employee is given the freedom to share his opinions, he or she feels appreciated and they would be more motivated to work even harder and act as part and parcel of the organization (Pieterse, Caniëls & Homan 2012, p. 18). They take it upon themselves to act in their own capacity but for the greater good of the whole company. Through this concept, these employees feel that the decisions they make directly influences whether they would achieve the goals of the company. The employees no longer feel as if the management is imposing upon them various policies and issues and they take it upon them to ensure that these policies are applied effectively (Jacob 2005, p.515). Kloppers had already recognized this and using both coercive and collaborative acts as observed in this portion, he managed to bring the employees together to have them share in the decision making process. This allowed for openness and a creation of an avenue for the innovation in this company. The motivational theory and its application here: the directive and consultative styles Besides coercing and collaborating with the employees to ensure that work is done efficiently collectively, there are other styles of managing organizational change. These include directive and consultative styles. These two styles are in line with the motivational theory of management. However, just like the other two forms of management styles, the directive and consultative styles of managing organizational change require good application if they would work. Kloppers seems to have understood this concept clearly. During his tenure at the BHP, he was responsible to a very large extent in the mobilization of the employees towards the attainment of the goals of the company. Basically, when a certain policy is arrived at by the management of a company, it then becomes the mandate of the managers of this company to ensure that these policies have been implemented to the letter (Soparnot 2011, p. 641; Woerkum & Grip 2007, p. 850). This is mainly carried out through the offer of derivatives which are inclined and aligned towards ensuring that all these policies have been implemented. Kloppers has employed this concept to the letter. He was the person who was entrusted with the capacity of relaying various information to the employees concerned so that the goals and objectives of the company would be fulfilled. After a decision and a policy was made in the company, following even the contribution of the various employees working in the company, Kloppers was left with the prerogative of ensuring that each employee in this company followed the policy to the letter. Careful implementation of policies to create organizational change requires the use of personnel who have this capacity and are well versed in its application (Chowdhury 2010, p. 164). The consultative style is brought out clearly here where Kloppers decided to listen and incorporate the views of the employees in his decision-making module and process. This form of management style shows the capacity that Kloppers had in the accommodation of the views of these employees. The motivation theory shows how various employees as well as management of organizations get motivated through some incentives such as good remuneration and good working condition. Scale and scope of change at BHP under leadership of Kloppers The above discourse of the integration of management theories and styles of managing organizational change have hinted about the change that Kloppers brought to BHP when he was at the helm of the company. This portion goes forth to discuss intricately the various changes that occurred in this company during the tenure of Kloppers. The case study shows the continued efforts that BHP had initiated in a bid to acquire, though in vain, Rio Tinto, their major rival. With the arrival of Kloppers at the company, the efforts to reacquire Rio Tinto were renewed. Matter of fact, they even tried to adopt a hostile takeover approach that saw Kloppers being branded as a bull. His capacity to mobilize and influence other people earned him the trust and even admiration of some of the employees in the company. Kloppers is refuted to have contributed largely to BHP finally having to broker a deal with Rio a decade later that saw them come up with a 50:50 form of agreement. Though by this time Kloppers is no longer working at BHP, after moving on to head Goodyear, he is still given the credit for clearing the way for the brokerage of the deal. The scale and scope of change in this case can be described as being modular transformation. This implies that after the application of the four styles of managing organizational change, the organization experienced a series of changes that transformed it hugely. In the new company, various forms of transformations occurred. For instance, the channels of communication were opened up, employees were more actively involved in the process of decision-making since Kloppers encouraged this involvement and bureaucracy and red taping in the company was minimized very much. The BHP organization transformed hugely and interaction between various employees was increased. Kloppers was said to be actively involved in the management of the employees in this company. For instance, he would take his time to try and have conversations with his workers. They, in return, trusted him and his leadership capacities. He took this advantage to apply the four styles of organizational change management and transform the organizational into what it became later. To be able to deliver so exceedingly well and steer a large company such as BHP through organizational changes such as the ones Kloppers brought to the company, the leader has to have certain characteristics which assist him in the endeavor. These characteristics of efficient organizational change managers have been discussed in the following paragraphs. Kloppers characteristics, leadership style and application at BHP Kloppers style of leadership at BHP can be stated to be the main focus that brought BHP company into the transformation that resulted into the magnitude of change as observed. To be able to do so, he had to have some forms of characteristics intrinsically that would enable him to perform his duties to perfection. One of the characteristics that good organizational change leaders have is the capacity to be critical thinkers. Through critical thinking, these leaders have the capacity to understand what the organizational change is all about and they relate them to their underlying objectives (Marja Flory and Iglesias 2010, p. 115). It is the task of these organizational change managers to ensure that the company can be able to implement changes and at the same time fulfill the objectives of these companies (Smith 2011, p. 120). Kloppers was recognized as one of the most active change managers in this company. He was a critical thinker. Through the usage of this characteristic, he was capable of analyzing various decision modules and come up with the decision that was best suited for the growth and development of the company. By thinking critically, managers in an organization have the capacity to align various activities towards the accomplishment of the objectives of the company. Sometimes, during an organizational change process, come companies realign their objectives and with this realignment, the activities that lead to the fulfillment of the same are realigned too. To be able to know which activities to conduct when and who is supposed to do it requires one to be able to think critically. That is how Kloppers is. As a critical thinker, he applied this concept to enact change in the organization to a magnitude of modular transformation. Another characteristic that organizational change managers should have is ruthless and professionalism. When those two characteristics are intertwined, they create a ripple effect that enables many activities to occur (Edmondson & Munchus 2007, p. 750; Harris & Cole 2007, p. 780). Kloppers has both of these characteristics too. Other players in the field view him as being ruthless. Though he still exercises within the boundaries of professionalism, he is a person who always pushes harder for more results. He worked harder than any other employees did in the company. Even after efforts to acquire Rio Tinto Company had been thwarted repeatedly, Kloppers and other senior managers still engaged themselves towards using other ways of acquiring the company including hostile takeover. At BHP Company, every employee took up Kloppers as their role model. This means that he has a gentle heart. To be a good change manager and be able to motivate other employees to effect change in the company, one has to be able to be soft enough to have the employees trust him (Kalyani & Sahoo 2011, p. 280). They went to him for assistance when they had issues. He engaged them freely and they felt that they could trust him enough to allow him lead them. Conclusion The above discourse has offered an analysis of organizational change through an outlook of four forms of change management. These are directive, coercion, collaborative and consultative. Using a case study of BHP, the scale and scope of change at the organization has been established. Kloppers has been presented as a very capable organizational change manager. The massive change and transformation that has occurred in this company has been attributed to the characteristics that Kloppers has as a leader. The various characteristics of change management leaders have been brought out through Kloppers and through how he steers the company into modular transformation. These characteristics include critical thinking, professionalism and ruthlessness. In conclusion, if organizational change is well managed, it can change the shape and destiny of various companies by enabling them to perform even better and attain their goals. References Akgun, AE, Byrne,JC, Lynn,GS and Keskin, H 2007, "Organizational unlearning as changes in beliefs and routines in organizations", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 20, no. 6, pp.794 – 812. 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