Change Management

Change Management Varsha Vasconcelos GMGT 530 January 20th, 2014 Brian Frank

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Introduction Changes and innovation within a company are not only imperative to its success, but they are inevitable, as well. Changes that are brought on as a result of strategic initiatives within a company affect work design and organizational culture. The simulation demonstration for Synergetic Solutions has provided the opportunity to experience the challenges of implementing structural changes within an organization with specific goals. In completing the simulation, one is forced to encounter resistance to change at both an individual and organizational level. In order to overcome this resistance, various tactics and negotiations should be embraced which will help the organization through various stages of transitions. Internal & External Drivers While Synergetic has several employees, very few of them are highly-skilled operational specialists. Thus in an attempt to increase dividends, the Chief Executive Officer, Harold Redd, focusses on enhancing the skill sets of four of his brightest engineers and had them trained and certified on networking technologies. Reds plan of action went as planned; SSI recently landed an order in the amount of $1.2 million for designing a network, not including the $5 million in orders waiting in the pipeline. Consequently, the networking solution business now accounts for 20% of the total revenues of the company, which stand at $6 million at present (Synergetic Simulation, 2012). Thus this would be considered a major internal change and due to this internal change, Redd and his team has to continue the companys focus on the networking solutions, as well as raise revenues to 80% in within the following 9 months. Revenue target for the networking division is $12 million (Synergetic Simulation, 2012). Redd also has to set goals in relation to increased revenue and monitor employee attendance based on industry standards.

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Internal driving forces are those kinds of things, situations, or events that occur inside the business, and are generally under the control of the company such as technological, organizational, management systems, financial and employee morale. Examples of eternal driving changes are industry, economy, demographics, and competition along with political interference. And though environmental factors occur outside of the company, it does end up causing changes inside the organizations, and which also might end up impacting operations, long term growth, and sustainability within the organization. As a result, it becomes very imperative of management to monitor and adapt to the external environment and ensure that the entire team works proactively to manage the changes. Change Strategy & Resistance The following strategic plans were identified per SSI executives: -Transition the company from a departmental structure to a team-based structure -Update HR policies for new transitions -Upgrade employee skill sets or hire new employees Following is table of some types of resistance SSI employees might encounter and what management could do in order to bring about some resolution Common Complaint I dont have time Root Cause Too many activities or projects in process Resolution-Measure to Take *select best employees to take the lead on projects *prioritize projects and determine the deadlines *cross training *involve employees from other departments to conduct training and presentation *ensure results or decisions are communicated across the team *provide details and communicated how workload

This does not apply to me

Misconception or Lack of participation

The results are not real

Lack of involvement

Will this add to my current workload

Limited amount of work-not proactiveness

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4 helps whats in it for me-a remit increase, bonus program etc.

In any form of change, immediate concerns must be addressed related to cost. The emphasis on team based structure and decentralized decision making would end up with an implementation of 16 weeks and costing $300k at SSI. But at the same time, involvement of the employees in the

change process creates motivation. An offering of incentives and introduction of raise and remit increase would also help with embracing change quickly and efficiently. Influence & Effectiveness The restructuring of the company into teams enables the competency and performance of the teams to be placed in immediate focus. Conducting team meetings that allow employees to voice their concerns and opinions will help the team grow and learn from their team members. Workload is shared and the results and decision making has a quick turnaround. And rather than having one option to handle problematic issues, the team would now end up having a backup plan to fall onto. Cross-cultural differences in Change Management Managing cultural differences is a key to a global success, and communicating changes within an organization among its stakeholders ends up ensuring goals and objectives are managed effectively and efficiently. And overall less emphasis should be placed on achieving goals but to build relationships. There would be various misunderstanding among team players, but how efficiently those issues are handled and clarifications are provided, will enable organizations to move forward to achieve its objectives and goals. In short, with a measure of sensitivity and forethought, cross-cultural communications can be effective within any corporate environment. (Brown, Susie, 2012).

Change Management

Leadership Styles and Effectiveness SSI has one of the old fashioned leadership styles known as Authoritarian Leadership, where I have the power to decide, and you have to follow my orders. And in this leadership style, executive end up controlling the employees, where his/her decision ends up being final which cannot be challenged. This leadership style does not give any values to the ideas and opinions of the team members. Though the goals, objectives and deadlines would be met and completed under this leadership style, there would end up being many unhappy employees. This could and will result in an employee turnover. Much more time would be wasted in new recruits and retraining the new staff. Simulation Conclusion & Lesson Learned VeriSign was infact in a very different scenario when compared to SSI. VeriSign went through a major change of being acquired by its competitor Symantec and the change process took 9-12 months. The change at SSI was mostly due to increase in revenue by lowering costs and ensuring their staff was well trained. The common grounds in both the organization were that bonus incentives were in place. But VeriSign had open communication throughout the changes, whereas SSI lacked to inform and share its employees regarding the necessary plans which were adopted by their CEO. If CEO plans were passed on to other management, and it trickled down to employees, they would be more comfortable in being part of the decision making process and would embrace the changes implemented by the organization.

Change Management

References

Relations and Organizational Structure. Organizational Structure Simulation. Retrieved on January 20th, 2014. Brown, Susan. Cross-Cultural Project Communications. 2012. Retrieved January 20th, 2013. http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/53680-cross-cultural-projectcommunications/