Change Strategy for in-House Cafeteria - Essay Example

REPORT ON SUGGESTED CHANGES IN THE HOSTEL CAFETERIA SUBMITTED THE DIRECTOR SUBMITTED BY Executive Summary An in-house cafeteria owned by the State University has undergone expansion and is facing problems of dissention within the workforce. The management has decided to engage a consultant for advice on the change strategy. A comprehensive explanation on change requirement, the leadership role required and the academic references supporting such change efforts successfully has been described. The principles of Human Relation were also explained through appropriate theories. Recommendations have been made based on these principles. In conclusion it has been found that the leadership has a positive role to play keeping the workers satisfied with their efforts and suitable compensations. Table of Contents Page 1 Executive Summary 2 2 Introduction 4 3 Strategies 5 4 Organizational Culture 5 5 Changing Organizational Culture 7 6 Criteria for Change 8 7 Human Relation Management 10 8 The Human Relation Theories 10 9 Motivation 11 10 Leadership & Culture 12 11 Leaders & the Sources of Power 13 12 Recommendations 14 13 Conclusions 15 14 Bibliography 16 2 Introduction The Uris Hall dormitory was served by an in-house cafeteria for serving 30 persons three meals a day. It was staffed by ten women employees, who cooked, cleaned, served and ordered supplies, and a part time student who did the dishwashing. The women worked in two batches of five, one in the morning shift and the other in the afternoon shift. Each person had allocated duties but they helped each other out when required. The workers had great coordination between them and the cafeteria had a good reputation. The dormitory was subsequently purchased by the State University and enlarged to accommodate 300 persons. The cafeteria was also enlarged accordingly and new modern equipment was installed. Ten additional women were employed who were all placed in the afternoon shift; the older ones were retained and all placed in the morning shift. Besides now six students worked exclusively on the new dishwasher. However in the morning shift an addition was a new woman who was comparatively younger and amateur and tried to over intervene in matters not related to her. A supervisor was also installed to fix menu of the day. All supplies were ordered centrally by the Dormitory Director. The result was dissention among the morning shift first due to the additional person who was disliked for her ways; secondly because of alleged inferior supplies; and lastly because they now had to cook larger portions with new unfamiliar but modern equipment. The result was comparatively inferior, although still adequate food, but often falling short of requirements. It was decided by the Director that a change in strategy was required from the next semester. This report will attempt to inform the management on the requirement and methods of change to affect a smooth transition and lay down the guidelines for both the leadership and the workers with appropriate academic references for support. 3 Strategies Environments have a great impact on companies. In the face of increased pressure, competition, and a continually challenging working environment the decision for new strategies is not really a choice but an essential requirement. Service Organizations need to be cost effective to be able to be useful. This is a continuing exercise which calls for changes. In current thinking organizations are socially constructed systems that share values and meanings (Burrell & Morgan, 1979; Pfeffer, 1981; Weick, 1969), and the mission of the management is to promote and develop these shared meanings in order to achieve their objectives of fitting the organization in its environment. It is this fitting act that is strategy. However to remain fit is a constant challenge and change is imminent to keeping a good fit with the environment. The culture of an organization is its integral part and behaviours and attitudes of its people are responsible for the organization's success or failure. The ingredients of change are coordination, commitment and competencies. Coordination is the key to improving the organization. Commitment is the key to concerted effort to achieve the vision that magnifies the desired improvement. Competencies are the skills that are required to bring about the change. 4 Organizational Culture While there are many well defined and understood theories of strategic management there are few for cultural and management practices. The managers often fall back on these theories to emulate them in practice. Shared views, aims, ideals and practices are the basis of cognitive behaviour. These are the ingredients that form the culture of an organization that is reflected in the behavioural patterns. According to Nelson and Winter (1982) routine interactions within the working environment forms the basis of organizational culture and a predictive pattern emerges. Deal and Kennedy (1982) describe it as "the way we do things here". The importance of this routine is gaining importance as has been acknowledged by Cohen et al (1972) and Hedberg et al (1976).. Ritual activities form another view of practices as shown by Trice and Beyer (1984, 1985). Training, assessments and promotions resulting in awards and recognition are other practices. The culture of the organisation has been defined by Edgar Schein (1985) and acknowledged at three levels of cultural phenomenona: basic assumptions, values, and artifacts. Basic assumptions are the conditions taken for granted in an organization and considered to be the "correct" way of doing things. These are the foundations and are the deepest level of culture and are the most difficult to change. At the next level are values and these are perceived to be changeable and also that need to be changed. The artifacts are behavioural usages at the front like rules, procedures, communications and technology that are readily changed and indeed do not change values or traditions but are mere change of presentations or mannerisms. The most practical way to bring about any change is to work through the existing culture. This avoids vacuums that are created if one set of behaviours is to be replaced by another. This also provides smooth transition from one state to another in gradual and regulated fashion. After studies undertaken by Beer et al (1990) they concluded that if work is the focus of change then it will be successful. They suggest that instead of trying to change the culture, effort should be on changing the work. Hofstede (1990) clarifies this as change in work practices. They go on to state that organizational renewals should begin at the bottom for any change to be effective, and not with the top. Direction from top as diktat fails to change the basics. Instead they argue that their study reveals that outside consultants are more effective in bringing about the coordination, commitment and competencies in the staff and departments as compared to the organisation's own specialists. This has been corroborated by Bates (1990) who further states that actually focus on networking and relationships brings about successful change. For survival organizations need to retain or obtain competitive advantage. Strategies are made by leaders who have a vision and a mission to accomplish. For achieving this they need to change the organization's focus to the future that is more profitable, productive and provides a better quality of life to its stakeholders. All this points towards, and calls for, changes. But the forces of change are beyond management's control and cause a significant shock provoking the organization to adjust internal processes and systems. These changes are met with resistance through clash with the existing culture of the organization that is under threat from these changes. The current beliefs, values and customs form the ingredients of culture. The first two are difficult to break but easier to mould. Changes should be introduced in an adaptive mode to work through existing cultures. 5 Changing Organizational Culture This calls for major shifts in the organization's culture and change management is the prescribed for implementing this change effort. This is what Human Resource Management experts wish for but it is beset with the huge problems. Power groups or coalitions are to be identified by the influence the group exerts over certain areas and the decisive role their opinions play in the final outcomes. These groups or coalitions are formed over a period of time and exercise great influence over key areas or resources of the organization. They have to be brought on board for the change program. Often, a whole group of people or team needs to be removed from the scene in change management process or they will block the change. At the macro level management needs to find out the network that functions within the organization. These networks can be between individuals, between coalitions and between individuals and coalitions. The network cannot be eliminated but it is to be converted to become positive towards change. The forces of power have to be understood and harnessed for effective change management. Political manoeuvring, not unlike that at national level, is required and Kumar and Thibodeaux recommend (1990), that the extent of political manipulation and manoeuvring should vary with the level of change required. 6 Criteria for Change However a change can be meaningful only if it is planned according to the needs but is also based on the following sound principles. (Cummings T.G. & Worley, C.G. 1997). Motivation Topmost in handling change is to motivate the people to achieve the purpose of the change. This means highlighting the glorious future and contrasting it with the disgraceful past. However it has to be conveyed positively with rewards accompanying results. Effective communication will be required to generate support and participation at all levels. Teamwork and togetherness is the core issue here. Some amount of pressure is to be built up for this to show the benefits of change. To bring about active involvements in the procedure the employees have to be given a vision of the future. Creating a Vision The idea is to create synergies for higher productivity and more concentrated efforts by cutting inefficiencies in order to develop competencies. The vision requires standing up for fair practices with genuine efforts backed by world class products and to inform the customers that they could depend upon products that measured up to the best standards in the world. The objectives are the values the vision creates and the value features are the consistent commitment to quality and service to be provided to the customers. Developing Political Support For the change to be effective and for the realization of the organizational vision it is imperative that all the stakeholders support the various steps all along the way. The attempts have to be genuine and in common interest for benefits all round. The primary requirement is to have the knowledge of all sources of power in the company and to harness them and motivate them to work for a common goal. The ideal is to get them to agree on and obtain a consensus to avoid sudden conflicts of interest midway between any initiatives. The personalities involved are diverse which means that they have to be handled individually according to the status and mental make-up of individuals, but they have to be brought around to common and mutual understanding and respect. It is often possible by straight talk and sincerity is the best method; but often the goals are to be achieved through use of social networks or by adopting certain circumventions. Whatever the methods that may be employed, this aspect needs a constant and effective open communication channel to overcome any roadblock during the transition period. Managing Transition In continuation of the change policies the change manager needs to plan activities that will involve the stakeholders to see through the transition period. These activities have to be practical and oriented towards achieving the targets as set out in the vision statements and need to be understood with clarity by the stakeholders performing them. The must know and feel that this is their vital and positive contribution that will result in realizations of larger goals. The activities have to be planned carefully and there should be a commitment by both the planner and the stakeholder to plan and perform respectively. Planning also entails dividing the tasks to teams and individuals towards a common objective to give the exercise a momentum that increases as the change process evolves. Sustaining Momentum In order to finally achieve the targets momentum of change efforts need to be sustained and it is the management's job to provide the financial, human and technological supports to keep it going. These are vital inputs that enable the teams and individual to rise up to the occasion, perform and deliver. Often emotional and psychological supports are also required to maintain or increase the morale and timely appreciations or rewards go a long way to motivate people. On the way people develop new skills and reach higher competency levels and both should be recognized early and suitably compensated. This will bring a radical change in the behaviour of the people and when this happens, finally the change can be considered to have been achieved. 7 Human Relation Management However it must be realized that the most valuable assets of any business are its people. This is one fact that is singularly recognised as a winner. Through effective utilization of a person's talent the firm will achieve concrete results and build up a highly productive labour force (Harrington 2003). There are three assumptions to all HR theories. Organisations serve human needs, as they are associations formed to offer multi-faceted gains and benefits to a variety of stakeholders. People and organisation need each other for this service, to harness talent and develop on opportunities. It is critical that people and the organisation are in complete harmony to fulfil this purpose, otherwise there will be either exploitation or victimization. On the above basis various HR theories have attempted to explain why employees perform their duties the way they do. 8 The Human Relation Theories Abraham Maslow (1954) described this in a hierarchy, starting with human psychology, safety and security, belongingness, self esteem and finally self-actualization. According to Maslow, employees have a basic human need and a right to strive for self-actualisation, just as much as the corporate directors and owners do and, by this fulfilment, the organisation becomes stronger, more competitive and profitable. Frederick Herzberg (1959) propounds that there are indeed only two factors that motivate a person to work and they are hygiene and motivators like self actualization. Hygiene does not motivate but its absence will reduce motivation and a good hygienic environment enhances motivating factors like achievements, responsibility and advancement. Negative or positive attitudes of the management are explained by McGregor (1960) in his theory X and theory Y. According to McGregor a negative attitude of the management, theory X, presupposes that workers are lazy, passive, without ambition, willing to be led and resist change. Hence, management occurs through control, coercion, threats and punishment. This results in low productivity, antagonism, unionism and subtle sabotage. In contrast, positive management, theory Y, reflects the view that people are motivated, active and interested, ambitious, prefer to lead and are interested in change. Hence, management occurs through open systems, communications, self-managing teams and peer-controlled pay systems. The result is high productivity, bonhomie and care for the organization. 9 Motivation However the level of performance of employees is not just a result of their skills but also the result of motivation each person exhibits. There are two sources of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Since it is not always possible to have external rewards all the time for all activities the management has to promote intrinsic motivation that is the outcome of internal factors like self satisfaction or the pleasure of satisfactory performance (Hagedoorn and Van Yperen 2003). The intrinsic motivation is also preferable as in this environment the employee develops affinity with the organisation and considers the welfare of the organisation to be his wellbeing. This improves his productivity and performance since it will go along with his personal satisfaction. Such employees are also loyal to the company's cause. In contrast the employee who looks for extrinsic motivation becomes greedy in anticipation and looks for alternatives to promote his own wellbeing. When there is an external reward like money or bonus attached to performance the motivation is extrinsic. The importance of extrinsic incentives cannot be ruled out as apart from intrinsic incentive the emoluments are required to fulfil material needs. The question that needs answering is how much bonus, reward or incentive is required to produce a high level of performance. At the end of the day most people are not motivated by being pushed. The motivation comes out of the desire to meet their own needs, to achieve something that holds value for them, to be in control, to be recognized, to have self esteem and the satisfaction of having achieved their personal objectives. A successful leader connects with these human values and excites people with his vision that will help them achieve their personal objectives through his visionary strategies. This involvement must be real and for this the leader has to formulate a vision that takes these aspirations into account. The results of this vision come out in the shape of recognition and reward for the people. 10 Leadership & Culture The role of the Leader is critical in any change program. It is the Leader who decides the strategies for obtaining competitive advantage. It is the function of the Director to supervise the activities and initiate the programs to bring about the changes that are required in the actualization of the vision stated in the strategy. Indeed David Nadler and Michael Tushman (1990) suggest institutionalization of this leadership responsibility right through the management system. They suggest that entire senior management team should share the responsibility of creating and communicating the new vision to the whole organisation. There are some typical leadership behaviour patterns that are very critical to change programs. Jerry Porras and Susan Hoffer (1986) opine that open communication meaning sharing of intentions; listening and collaborating through making team decisions were most relevant for success in organizational development efforts. Similar conclusion was drawn by Teresa Covin and Ralph Kilmann (1990) when they surveyed several individuals. They noted two more traits of leaders. One, that they demonstrated discernible and unfailing support for the change programs, and secondly, they related the change to business needs. This calls for building of teams towards the effort and communicating the expected results in terms of profits, productivity, quality, performance, quality of work life etc. 11 Leaders & the Sources of Power Every organisation is beset with internal politics. It is common to find power groupings that aim at self development for individuals or groups of people. These are vested interests and can be detrimental to any change effort. But again these can be used for the cause of the change as well. With deft handling they can be convinced that it is in their best interest to support the change program. For this however the power groups have to be identified and their compulsions have to be understood. Only then they can be deconstructed and drafted for the cause of change. It is suggested by Anthony Cobb (1986) that, in an organisational change effort, the investigation of its political centres must be carried out at three levels: individual, coalition, and network. People who hold powerful positions and have developed reputations for power, possibly through their influence reflected in important decisions need to be identified. This is the individual level. Power groups or coalitions are to be identified by the influence the group exerts over certain areas and the decisive role their opinions play in the final outcomes. These groups or coalitions are formed over a period of time and exercise great influence over key areas or resources of the organisation. They have to be brought on board for the change program. Often, a whole group of people or team needs to be removed from the scene in change management process or they will block the change. At the macro level management needs to find out the network that functions within the organization. These networks can be between individuals, between coalitions and between individuals and coalitions. The network cannot be eliminated but it is to be converted to become positive towards change. The forces of power have to be understood and harnessed for effective change management. Political manoeuvring, not unlike that at national level, is required and Kumar and Thibodeaux recommend (1990), that the extent of political manipulation and manoeuvring should vary with the level of change required. It is here that the leader at the top plays a vital role. Some higher level of political bargaining or persuasion can be done by the leader to facilitate change through felicitation. Sometimes and interventionist approach is useful (Kumar and Thibodeaux 1990) where the management takes an activist attitude by encouraging dissent against present beliefs. 12 Recommendations It is therefore recommended that the Director should take the lead and instil a vision amongst the workers, motivating to lift their performance. It may be advisable to revise compensation as the workload has increased considerably. Some training on the new equipment is necessary to improve worker output and performance levels. Appreciation of work by supervisor is necessary for its intrinsic value to boost morale. Division of work and adherence to the same is important for the esteem of workers. The older workers have formed a network of their own. This is an advantage that should be exploited for further improvement. They should be taken into confidence about changes and told the benefits of working in a coalition. 13 Conclusions Organizational Behaviour is the driving force of the organisational attitudes towards work and the outcome is shown in performance. Performance is in turn a result of a combination of the vision of the leaders that provided the motivation through use of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. It is the leaders who transfer their convictions to the employees through networking, caring and developing teamwork. It is cobweb of these activities that finally makes an organisation competitive. 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