Change Management in Dryburgh Footwear Company - Case Study Example

Change management in Dryburgh Footwear Company Name: Institution: For constructive recommendations a change agent is required to learn operations of the organizations thoroughly, through working as a proxy employee or manager in the organization. From the case study the change agent is able to get information on Dryburgh Footwear Company use of technology, company structure, financial strength and employee base. The best location for the change agent is a proxy employee so that he is able to understand both the needs of the employees and the management. The agent should come up with recommendations that are unbiased so as to help the company make significant changes. The role of a change agent requires that one understands how the company is operated before giving recommendations (Rhodes and Steers 1981). Dryburgh Footware Company started as a family business in the early 1950’s but was later purchased in 1971 by the Australian Imperial Enterprises. The government in 1986, decided to raise taxes which caused a reduction in profits and it was therefore difficult to incorporate the use of new technologies and that was the beginning of the company’s downfall. The company therefore resulted into paying the minimum wages ranging from 40-60 dollars per week. Absenteeism and high turnover became the order of the day and it resulted into workers being shifted from one section to another to replace the absent employees, moreover, the cost of replacing one employee was 1,945 dollars. The workers were also given bonuses if they superseded the daily target and anything less than the daily target would warrant for a reduction in wages. Basically, the employees were unhappy with the system. Currently, Bill Brown is the new personnel officer; he has established that employee turnover has risen to over 100 % in one year, per month this translates to 4.5 %. However, according to Bill, absenteeism would not affect organizational output performance. Brown found out that direct costs were associated with sick pays while indirect costs were associated with lost production, low employee productivity due to lack of proper training and experience and lastly, reduced quality of work due to lack of morale. Bill believed that one cannot place a cost figure on individuals. Bill had to trend carefully because the management of the company does not accommodate being challenged as was the case of Allan Stone his predecessor. Allan tried to change the system from authoritarian to open communication but he lost his job on claims that he did not understand how the industry worked. Basically, the footware industry was experiencing low profits in Australia and wages were relatively low for the workers. More so, the general manager Gregg Jackson believed that employees were lazy and would skip work at any excuse they got. The other problem that the company faced was that the employees had no forum to express their views because they feared losing their jobs if they gave negative views. Secondly, the employees could not work with the employee unions because the union was weak and the management took advantage of that. The supervisors concentrated on production problems instead of employee relationships. The company has 500 employees mostly female between 30-33 years with young children. The women would not give high and quality production because they had young children who also required attention. Finally, the company employed the JIT system that was implemented using about 120 employees. All attention was directed to the new system at the expense of the conventional workers who the majority were, causing a lot of dissatisfaction from the surveys conducted by Bill Brown. All these happenings at the company were the ones derailing the progress and competitive advantage of the company. As such, the change agent had a lot of recommendations to give. Firstly, the management should change from being authoritative to open communication with the employees so as to establish their needs. That way, it would be easier for Dryburgh Footware Company to motivate and train the employees by making them part of the company. The management should find ways of making the workers comfortable in expressing their grievances so that they will have a healthy environment for work. The management should come up with suggestion boxes at the company so that employees are able to raise their voices without feeling intimidated. Also, the union for the workers should be strengthened so that it is able to articulate the needs of the employees as well as give them a collective bargaining power. The managers should stop sacking the employees who try to implement changes like they did with Allan Stone instead they should support them for the betterment of the company. Secondly, the company should realize that absenteeism and high turnover is a result of lack of morale for the work. The employees do not feel enough motivation to keep working at the company. The management therefore should device ways to keep the employees interested for example by raising their salaries and also ensuring that those employees who perform well are promoted to senior positions over time. Promotion based on merit will show employees that the company has potential for growth of employees in their careers. By doing that, the employees would keep working at the company enabling the management to reduce replacement costs. The management should also be receptive to correction by other senior employees like Bill. Management should be willing to adopt team work for smooth running of the company. By accepting recommendations from other employees it would be possible to come up with solutions of improving the company’s production and profits. Another issue that ought to be addressed is the employment of women with young children. The company should employ both genders but incorporate more men who have the muscle power. Women with young children are often distracted while at work and are more emotional to handle pressure. The company should therefore restructure their employee composition to ensure effective production throughout the year. Just as the company employed the JIT system and advocated for team work instead of individualism, even the conventional workers should be taught the importance of team work. That way, they will be able to work together instead of competing with each other. When competition is eliminated among the employees, conflicts will be reduced and harmony will be enhanced therefore leading to better and more production. Dryburgh Footwear Company should also invest in massive training of their employees so as to enhance quality of production; this will therefore enable workers to come up with unique designs so that the company will stop copying the European designs. Unique designs would fetch the company more prices in the market. Time Frame According to (Kotter and Cohen 2002), change cannot be drastic; it should be continuous and observable. Kotter in that effect gave principles to guide businesses on how to effect changes over time. Firstly, the Dryburgh Company should show the urgency to make changes within the operating system then find a guiding team composed of the right people to motivate and encourage the others to embrace the change. Time is the most crucial factor when effecting changes in any organization. Even the changes that require the longest time span requires review at least every 3 months. The change agent should ensure that the management creates short term goals that can be reviewed to establish whether the change is taking place. For example, after training the employees, the company can decide to review the progress in terms of performance after every three months. On the adoption of open communication with the employees, the management may also review the changes noticeable after three months. The best changes are those that can be observed within the shortest time possible. Programs that can take a long time to effect ought to be observed regularly so as to determine the progress. Dryburgh Company should also work together in ensuring the leading team is visionary to effect the changes within the shortest time possible. However, change should be permanent and therefore, the company should work towards ensuring that the changes effected last forever. Change should be incorporated into the company’s culture through promotion of employees and other forms of motivation. The main stages involved in implementing the changes at the footwear company involve firstly effective introduction and communication of the change to the relevant recipients and stakeholders of the company. Communication should be done in recognition of the fact that people often resist change due to fear of the unknown. Awareness can be done through newspapers and other social media platforms. Communication can be done for the first few weeks so as to ensure transparency. At Dryburgh, there were some resistance and complains when the JIT system was implemented. Secondly, execution and implementation of the organizational change should be carried out through consultation with employees. The change should start from within and therefore the company should consult with the initiators because change is learnt through doing. Thirdly, the company should aim at managing the environment of change because according to (Fulan 2011) change should be monitored. The management should work towards ensuring effective communication so as to even get feedback on how employees perceive the change. The management should also work towards ensuring that there is flow of information and support for the workers so that they are able to cope with change. Lastly, the company should aim at sustaining the changes effected. In most cases change is expensive in terms of employee trainings and financial input of technology. Sustenance of change largely depends on the leadership because they are the ones that lead the other employees towards motivation and morale to work under new conditions. Readiness Readiness for change refers to collective willingness to implement and accept change which is multi- leveled and complex. At all stages the initiators of the change and the employees should show readiness for effective implementation of the changes at the company. Readiness entails the willingness and ability to make change. The changes should come from within starting from the management to all the employees. For example the management should be willing to communicate with the workers so as to create a healthy environment for work (Weiner 2009). In conclusion therefore, Dryburgh Company is failing. The company should therefore establish a proxy employee who will act as a change agent so as to effect change within the organization. The company is experiencing low profits, lacks open communication and employees are paid poorly. The company has been experiencing employee absenteeism and high turnover. The changes needed have to be monitored and reviewed regularly to ensure that they are effective in order to give the company a competitive edge in the industry. References Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Harvard Business Press. Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4(1), 1. Rhodes, S., & Steers, R. (1981). A systematic approach to diagnosing employee absenteeism. Employee Relations, 3(2), 17–22. doi:10.1108/eb054966 Fullan, M. (2011). The six secrets of change: What the best leaders do to help their organizations survive and thrive. John Wiley & Sons. Read More