Organisational Development and Change - Example

Organisational Development and Change Student’s Name: Institution Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 SECTION 1 3 Background of the Organisation and Mission 3 Role of Change Agent 4 Summary and Complexity 5 Brief History 5 SECTION 2 5 Problem Diagnosis and Change Task Approach 5 Approach to the Task as Change Agent 7 Change Interventions 8 Handling of Communication 9 Evaluation Change Effort and Learning from Anticipated Outcome 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Organisational Development and Change Introduction The organisation as mentioned has not experienced a lot of industrial disruptions. The reduction in tariffs and other protectionist policies by the government has exposed Dryburgh Footwear Company to foreign competition. In turn, this has had a dramatic effect on long term profit projections in the company because it can no longer sell enough stock to consumers in the market. High rates of turnover and absenteeism are not helping either and they continue to the output produced by the firm to serve its markets. Since the organisation’s main mission in the industry was to increase its profit revenues, this situation showed that the firm was not doing enough to achieve its goals in the industry (Deery, 1995). Managers have realised that change is inevitable for the firm to regain its past glory. There are attitudinal as well as structural problems which have to be dealt with urgently to make the firm improve the manner in which it carries out its functions. SECTION 1 Background of the Organisation and Mission Dryburgh Footwear Company began in the 1950’s as a family business that immensely benefited from high tariffs which were imposed by the Australian government to protect its local industries. Since that time, the firm has been able to withstand very many market changes which have affected the manner in which it conducts its operations. The high tariffs imposed by the Australian government helped the company to increase its profits because it enjoyed a favourable position in the local market. The firm was later purchased by Imperial Enterprises in 1971 and managed to register positive results upto the 1980’s because it was not affected by various external market factors. The main focus of the firm’s market strategy was the domestic market which was still under its control (Deery, 1995). Role of Change Agent The change agent will be a link between the top management in the firm with middle managers to ensure that he works independently from undue interference. Since this is not a long term position, it will not be necessary to include his position on the organisational structure so as not to create unnecessary confusion in the manner in which the firm is run. In effect, the change agent’s role will be merely to offer consultative expertise to the firm as it seeks to initiate the changes that are essential to bring about changes in the way it operates. Summary and Complexity The firm can be categorised as a medium enterprise that employs between 400 to 750 employees. There are different overlapping structures in the firm which create confusion among employees regarding the manner in which crucial processes are supposed to be run. Brief History The firm’s business model has mainly focused on reproducing European high fashion models, which are later sold at a cheaper price in the market. Even though this approach has helped it boost its returns in the industry, there has been no change to its long term strategies to help the firm stake a claim on local and international markets. After the international market opened up in the mid to late 1980’s, the firm failed to react to these changes. Its business practices have focused on bringing in cheap imports from mainland China which are used in the production process yet it does not have adequate capacity to produce merchandise on a large scale (Deery, 1995). Therefore, the firm’s mission needs to be addressed to make it responsive to new changes in the industry to improve the internal and external business operations of the firm. SECTION 2 Problem Diagnosis and Change Task Approach The firm needs to bring about important changes to various processes to help it compete effectively in the industry. Workers morale is at an all time low and this situation portends long term danger for the firm if these issues are not given the attention they deserve. Absenteeism and high employee turnover indicate that there is low job satisfaction across different departments in the organisation. If this situation remains unchecked, the firm may not be able to retain its long term and talented workers who have been crucial for its success in the industry. Other issues that need to be prioritised are the poor work system designs in different departments across the firms. Employees should be given an opportunity to orient themselves with the nature of tasks they are required to perform (Singh, 2005). All human resource policies should be aligned with internal skills needs in the firm to ensure all workers employed have the necessary skills required to perform specific tasks. Figure 1: Causal Chain of Problems Affecting the Firm Job design and division of labour in the firm are issues that need to be given a lot of attention. Workers are not allowed to settle in their specific areas of specialisation before they are moved on to other divisions. This haphazard approach to work has a negative consequence on employee commitment. As a result, employees feel that they are not being treated fairly by the firm because their labour rights are not given adequate attention by the management. Other inefficient systems in the firm cause machine breakdowns which result in time wastage and low output (Cheung-Judge & Holbeche, 2011). Therefore, lack technical focus by the firm has caused many of its production systems not to deliver the desired results. This continues to make it difficult for staff in the firm to perform their duties without disruptions. Bonus payments that are supposed to motivate employees to achieve positive output are not well structured and they make employees to have a lot of resentment towards managers of the firm. Approach to the Task as Change Agent As a change agent, I would use the results gathered from the survey conducted by Brown to call for a meeting between all managers. The Kotter 8 Step Change model would be vital in making all stakeholders understand why change needs to be effected urgently to enable the organisation to achieve its objectives (Todnem, 2005). The first step in this process is to make all stakeholders understand the need for change and why they need to work as a team to eliminate these problems. Afterwards, I would encourage the whole team to have a unitary objective to be communicated to all stakeholders to make them feel that they are part of the organisation. All systems that hinder organisational progress will have to be reformed to make way for positive thinking in the firm. In the meantime, it will be important for the firm to reward short term gains to make its employees have something positive to look forward to (Singh, 2005). Another significant aspect of the Kotter process is that it advocates for a comprehensive transformation of all important processes to ensure they conform to the firm’s new vision. I would encourage all stakeholders to have a dialogue regarding production processes, division of labour and payment schemes that need to be adopted to enable the firm achieve its goals in the industry. I would also encourage both parties to collaborate to ensure they come up with important human resource policies which can enable the firm to advance in the industry. If all these processes succeed, the firm’s organisational culture will be able to be more progressive to help it take advantage of opportunities in the industry it operates (Rieley & Clarkson, 2001). Employees will be able to change their attitude towards work and this will give the firm a higher comparative advantage over its competitors in the industry. Change Interventions McKinsey’s 7 step change model will be one of the main interventions which will be used in the firm after the Kotter 8 step model has been applied (Rieley & Clarkson, 2001). The model is more comprehensive and can be applied in different phases and operations of the firm to make its operations more meaningful. The model’s main aspects include: shared values, strategy, systems, style, staff, skills and structure (Taylor & Hirst, 2001). All employees in the firm need to have shared values to make them collaborate on different tasks. Internal and external performance in the firm can only be strengthened through a streamlined organisational structure. Communication and production systems in the firm need to be improved to help it attain positive performance in its operations. The firm needs to change its business strategy to help it take note of opportunities and threats in its operating environment to boost its long term performance in the industry. The JIT system should either be restructured or scrapped altogether because it does not add value to the firm’s production processes. Since it has been a source of conflict, I would advise managers to liaise with other employees to discuss ways in which production systems in the firm can be streamlined (Balogun & Hope -Hailey, 2004). I would also recommend the firm to review its policies to ensure all workers on the same pay grade are treated equally without any form of prejudice or favouritism. The preferential treatment which has been shown to JIT workers needs to stop because it violates principles of fairness and equality in the organisation. Since JIT has workers with superior training skills, they need to be redistributed to all departments to bring about uniformity in various production processes. This will make it possible for the firm to identify different technical and administrative faults that create problems for overall performance. Handling of Communication The firm needs a new organisational structure that stipulates different levels of authority and the distinctive roles performed by various departments. Lines of communication also need to be clearly spelt out to ensure workers understand their roles and those of their supervisors to eliminate unnecessary conflicts (Yaeger & Sorensen, 2009). The chain of command needs to be clear cut to ensure every manager is assigned a department related to his or her specific area of expertise. These changes will help to prevent unnecessary disruptions in production in the firm to boost its profile in the industry. Moreover, the firm needs to have effective monitoring tools to evaluate the performance of every unit to ensure all factors that are important for organisational efficiency are taken seriously by all stakeholders in the firm. Effective monitoring tools will help managers to make better decisions in their departments to reduce unnecessary wastage of time and resources. Evaluation Change Effort and Learning from Anticipated Outcome I will put in place monitoring systems to measure the impacts of the changes introduced. All managers will give periodic reports to the senior overall managers detailing various issues they are facing in their departments. Workers will also be required to register their levels of output every day to track individual performance of every worker. The firm needs to rely on external firms to carry out financial audits touching on all areas of its operations within six months after these changes have been introduced. The audits will be able to reveal different aspects of operations that either boost or hinder the competitiveness of the firm in the industry (Pettinger, 2004). Quality measurement will also be introduced to review any performance issues that are likely to affect the long term operations of the firm. Continuous learning and development of skills will be adopted in the firm to encourage employees to improve the manner in which they perform their duties. Conclusion Dryburgh Footwear Company has lost a lot of opportunities to foreign competition. The firm needs to overhaul its management processes to make its operations more competitive. Employees are not satisfied with their current jobs and the firm needs to do more to motivate them. Payment systems, division of labour and skills development are important factors that are likely to affect the manner in which the firm operates. The firm also needs to restructure its operations to create a clear cut organisational structure that outlines different functions that need to be performed its departments. This approach will help to improve the quality of its operations. References Balogun, J. & Hope Hailey, V. (2004). Exploring strategic change. London: Prentice Hall. Cheung-Judge, M.Y., & Holbeche, Linda (2011).Organizational development: A practitioner's guide for OD and HR. London: Kogan Page Limited. Deery, S.J. (1995). Absenteeism and employee turnover: Dryburgh Footware Company. In M. Patrickson & V. Bamber (Eds.), Organisational change strategies: Case studies of human resource and industrial relations issues (pp. 240-250). Melbourne: Longman. McLean, G. (2006). Organization development: Principles, processes, performance. San Francisco, CA: Berrett –Koehler Publishers. Pettinger, R. (2004). Contemporary strategic management. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Rieley, J. B. & Clarkson, I. (2001).The impact of change on performance. Journal of Change Management, 2(2),160 –172. Singh, K. (2005). Organisation change and development. New Delhi: Excel Books. Taylor, P. & Hirst, J. (2001). Facilitating effective change and continuous improvement: The mortgage expressway. Journal of Change Management, 2(1), 67–71. Todnem, R. (2005). Organisational change management: A critical review. Journal of Change Management, 5 (4) 369–380. Yaeger, T.F., & Sorensen, P.F. (2009). Strategic organization development: Managing change for success. London: Information Age Publishing. Read More