Marconi Jicks-Managing change in a company in severe crisis - Essay Example

Marconi Jick – Managing Change in a Company in Severe Crisis Following several acquisitions in its bid to be one of the leading players in the telecommunication industry Marconi found itself in an industry where most of the telecoms provider in Marconi’s targeted market has already chosen a standard where they will grow in. Entering the telecommunication industry very late in the game proved to be the waterloo that broke Marconi’s back. To reverse the situation, Mike Parton implemented steps that drastically altered the landscape of Marconi as a company and in so doing, faced numerous challenges.

In the order of complexity and difficulty, these issues are: First, Managing Individual Emotions and Reactions to Change is the most complex and difficult due to the fact that nobody can please everybody and most especially nobody can satisfy the desire and need of everybody. Each person has needs that define their motivation which ultimately dictate their emotions and reactions. The Marconi stakeholders are no different. The mismanagement of the individual’s emotion and the resulting reaction to change is likened to a virus that can infect everybody making the company collectively resistant to any needed change.

Second, Implementing the Change Agenda, Incorporating Hard and Soft Elements, after being threatened July 2001 to be put out of the job, each of Marconi’s remaining employees have their backs against the wall already. False application of the diplomatic or persuasive approach also known as the soft approach may not hold true to everybody the same is true to the opposite or hard approach.Third, Crisis Management and Fourth, Management Team Building are considered relatively easy tasks for any qualified and competent manager.

And Fifth, Leadership of Change is the least complex and difficult of all the issues since Mike Parton already has the imprimatur to effect change from the leadership of Marconi and is recognized by all stakeholders. Men are nonetheless resilient to change. Adversities or crisis in a culture normally makes the entire society more cohesive in achieving a common goal. However, a crisis that threatens the very livelihood of the employees tends to make each individual to prioritize providing for their family first instead of dwelling in abstract concepts such as the impetus to change.

The measure of the conference’s impact can be effectively determined by the amount of change that happened thence and the actual support it garnered amongst the different stakeholders. The conference was able to show the presence of Mike Parton and the commitment of the leadership of Marconi which settled the percolating restiveness in the company amongst the stakeholders. The conference most importantly managed the expectations of all the stakeholders present therein.However, Mike Parton could have presented more plans to increase the market share of its core products so that the company will be able to generate/realize more revenues.

He also should have indicated technology road maps for each of its core products so that all stakeholders will be guided to the direction change is going. By merely presenting the fiscal reforms to arrest the slipping bottom line, the conference failed to leverage on the conference information value to other stakeholders who have no participation in the company’s operation. ReferencesJick, Todd and Maury Peiperl. Managing Change: Cases and Concepts (2nd edition). McGraw-Hill/Irwin. 2002. Print