UGB371 Managing and Leading Change Assignment Sample

UGB371 Managing and Leading Change Assignment Sample

Introduction

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Change is an important part of every business organization that ensures the end of bad situations. The business organization can lead forward by the way of change and its implementation requires proper leading and effective management (Olafsen, et al., 2020). This report will critically analyze and evaluate the application of a contemporary change management practice within the selected business organization of "Captify" which is a medium-sized organization and is a data-driven company in the UK. The Company helps the clients to enhance the specialization in search intelligence and media decisions. It was established in 2011 and is leading towards changing its business structure for improving its business operations and reducing complexities for the business employees.

Strengths and weaknesses

Before the final implementation and management of the strategic management change, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the business organization. Captify has the following strengths:

• Satisfied employees: After reviewing the employees' views of Captify, it has been founded that employees find a good balance between their personal and professional lives as they are allowed to work from their homes, as and when they need (Shahanipour, et al., 2020).
• Strong capabilities: Captify uses the latest or updated technologies for delivering fresh and high-quality technical services to the target audiences. Captify is also highly capable of understanding the needs and desires of 2.2 billion consumers across the entire globe. Captify is been identified as a global leader in the field of search intelligence.
• Trusted and innovative partner: At every strategic step, Captify operates with the leading brands and delivers the real publisher growth for eventually increasing the amount of business revenue. It also runs various intelligence programs at both the national and international levels (Jiang, Wang, and Feng, 2020).

Apart from these strengths, Captify has certain unfavorable weaknesses that might create big hurdles in implementing the new change within the organization. Its weaknesses have been discussed as follows:

• Lack of internal understanding: Most of the employees have reviewed that they are not guided properly towards their roles and responsibilities because of which they are not able to manage their assigned tasks and get failed to manage various complexities. There has been found a lack of understanding among the staff members of different business departments of Captify (Shahanipour, et al., 2020).
• Ineffective decision-making: The business managers of Captify lack reliable experiences and knowledge to take or implement some important decisions for their business. The senior-managers are not been found supportive and good decision-makers which negatively influences the strategic management of the entire business organization (Jiang, Wang, and Feng, 2020).
• Less number of employees: As Captify operates nationally and globally, it is important to have more human resources so that they can manage multiple numbers of tasks and responsibilities and the burden of work can get reduced to over 220 employees (Shahanipour, et al., 2020).

Need for change

The need for implementing the change of developing new business structure is high because the current structure of Captify does not support the employees due to which their level of productivity gets negatively influenced, the HR managers face multiple problems during the hiring process, ineffective decision-making is being found, employee turnover gets increased, misalignment between the business departments is found and the entire business becomes incapable to grow, lead and succeed. Due to all these negative or unfavorable factors, it is very important to change the current business structure of Captify so that all these factors can be monitored, controlled, and eliminated as soon as possible (Olafsen, et al., 2020).

Further, it has been diagnosed that the number of conflicts among different departments of Captify has been increasing at a rapid pace and these conflicts have been causing the inability among team members to perform in a better way (Jiang, Wang, and Feng, 2020). The employees of Captify have also been struggling for the clear vision of the business as they were not being supported by their senior-level managers. Along with all these problems, the staff members were unaware of the recent guidelines, policies, and goals being followed or pursued by the business organization due to the lack of communication within the organization of Captify (Men, Yue, and Liu, 2020).

The implementation of this change is highly prioritized because Captify is expanding its business operations at the global level and eventually it will require more numbers of experienced and trustworthy employees to perform all the operations of Captify with greater effectiveness and efficiency. It would be difficult for Captify to manage its global operations with the high rate of employee turnover; hence this change must be implemented as a high priority (Olafsen, et al., 2020).

Also, this change is justified because it will help Captify to not only attain its defined goals and objectives but also enhance the brand image, identity, and recognition of the business at the international level. This new change will focus on improving the employee turnover rate and improve the employees' productivity (Shahanipour, et al., 2020). The new change of developing an effective business structure will reduce the conflicts and will enhance the greater integrity of the business organization. Effective communication can be enhanced within the departments of Captify and all the external risks can be mitigated (Men, Yue, and Liu, 2020). The overall productivity of employees and that of the whole business can be improved through the clear distribution of tasks, roles, and responsibilities among business employees. Greatly flexibility can be ensured and all the employees of Captify can be guided towards the accountable as well as the authorized behaviors within the Company.

Discussion of approach/ model

The changing approach that has been discerned in the above case is emergent change due to the lack of efficient decision-making process and mismanagement of human resources. The change model that is the most suitable to combat the ill effects of existing organizational culture and structure is Senge Systemic Model. The approach has many factors that align with the weaknesses of the organization. The model has been elaborated below:

The process is discussed as constituting four stages, the first stage is to make the organization ready for the introduction of the change. The second stage includes awareness and information about the current situation of the organization regarding the change (Jenal, and Cunningham, 2020). The workforce needs to understand the need for the change in the organization at this level and how this is likely to add to their personal development. The next stage is to make an explicit choice by the workforce that they are committed to make the change implementation successful and work towards the goal according to the new structure. The last stage is when the gap between the two stages starts to fill up by focus, controlling, and correct momentum. Stage two and stage three have a gap that determines the level of effort to be put into the introduction of the change (Zhao, 2020). Explicitly defining these stages to the workforce is necessary for the process of introducing and implementing change.

The five disciplines that are propounded by Senge are discussed below:

A Shared Vision: The change must aim at all employees of the organization to have one common vision that directs the whole workforce towards the organizational goal. When the vision is shared by the employees of the organization, it automatically drives their energy and activities towards the improvement of processes and enhances the quality of work (Jenal, and Cunningham, 2020).

Mental Models: The presumptions and perceptions of people drive their actions at the workplace. Changing their mental models is the first step towards the introduction of organizational change. To reflect upon one's personality and beliefs is required for personal development and make the employee more flexible and receptive to the change (Zhao, 2020).

Personalmastery: to achieve desired goals the workforce must be proactive and receptive to learn from surroundings and the dynamism of the market. Personal Mastery aims at making the workforce open to learning new stuff and add to their skills by being open to opportunities (Zhang, and Ahmed, 2020). The two factors that constitute Personal mastery are-

1. Assess 'what is important to us?'
2. To be able to evaluate current reality.

Team Learning: team cohesiveness leads to synergistic effect and the ability of the organization to achieve goals that could not have been possible otherwise. The learning pace of an individual is faster in a team rather than working alone in an organization. To introduce change, the formation of teams is a good way to smoothen the process (Zhao, 2020).

System Thinking: a holistic view is necessary to analyze and interpret the current patterns in an organization to plan for the change introduction. The segmented point of view makes the unrelated parts of the management look important while the management overlooks the need of the whole organization. According to Senge, the organization must be viewed as one entity rather than segmented departments to manage it sincerely and efficiently (Jenal, and Cunningham, 2020).

Achieving change readiness

The concept of change readiness refers to the ability to continue initiating and responding to the determined change so that favorable ways can be adopted that can create competitive advantage, minimize risks and sustain the business performance of Captify (Husmann, 2020). To achieve change readiness, a change readiness assessment can be conducted in the following ways:

Collection of data

It is important to collect reliable information and knowledge regarding the change to b executed within the business organization. The managers of Captify may choose any of the data collection methods including the qualitative and quantitative methods so that a clear picture of the organization's change readiness can be depicted (Ortiz, 2020). Depending upon the identified change, qualitative data will be collected by organizing group meetings and discussions with the employees working for Captify. All the departmental managers, senior managers, and hiring managers of Captify will get engaged in those meetings along with the employees so that the causes of implementing the new change can be determined. The employees' sentiments and emotions are to be understood clearly so that their problems can be recognized as being faced by them regarding the business structure.

Analysis of data

After collecting the important data and information regarding changing the business structure, the collected information is to be then communicated to each business unit of Captify. The responses received from the employees are to be critically reviewed, analyzed, and evaluated so that the main causes behind the change execution can be identified (Ortiz, 2020). For instance, it can be observed how many employees in Captify struggle with lower productivity and lack of guidelines from their respective managers. Some key risks can be traced which might be faced during the implementation process of the new change (Husmann, 2020). The analysis of data can provide a roadmap to the managers of Captify for executing the change in a better and effective way. Based on the analyzed data, some effective tactics of communications can be adopted for sharing the final decisions and guidelines of new change to all the employees and other important stakeholders of Captify (Men, Yue, and Liu, 2020).

Action and recommendations

The analyzed data is to be then compared with the defined goals and objectives and then some favorable recommendations are to be discussed for improving the level of understanding for the new change to be implemented by the staff members of Captify. Some unique tactics of change management are to be recommended such as the stakeholders' alignment, training and development, team building, and e-learning approaches. A change strategy and effective communication plan is also to be prepared and followed for the audience and all these tactics are to be used based on priorities (Husmann, 2020). The change can be managed properly through reliable tactics and focusing upon prioritizing the actions to be undertaken for executing the new change. It has been observed that prioritizing can be used as an effective tool of planning for focusing on the actions to be performed in the future (Ortiz, 2020).

Therefore, in all the above ways, the change readiness can be achieved, competitive advantage can be created, risks can be minimized and performance can be sustained, suitably, and appropriately. These ways can also help in providing a roadmap of reliable recommendations to the managers and staff members of Captify. Change can seem to be hard but its planning can be made easily through this approach or concept of change readiness (Ortiz, 2020).

Evaluation of approach/ model to change

Senge's model of Systemic Thinking has been critically evaluated by many authors. The lack of address to the processes of power and organizational settings and ignorance towards the link of the two factors with wider society was determined. The inconsideration of the transformation of bounties to the marginalized segment of the organization was also realized in the system (Passmore, and Sinclair, 2020). But at the same time, this model enables us to appreciate the integration of factors to a wider whole by developing our understanding of different aspects of change. The systemic change aims to disfigure the constraints or structure to make the connectivity lose and more receptive to the change (Jenal, and Cunningham, 2020). The basic guidelines that Senge propounded to facilitate change in the organization were based on balancing the different aspects rather than introducing a new theory. The long-term approach of the model can be viewed as beneficial for the continuous effect of the model. The change is an inevitable part of the organization (Zhao, 2020). The three zones are well defined in the book and behavior at work is explicitly evaluated. The comfort zone of the workforce is realized by satisfied and happy employees who are not willing to change from their comfortable position in the organization. On the other hand, the panic zone that is described by Senge is viewed as a negative aspect where the workforce is frustrated, angry, and stressed by the idea of change (Zhang, and Ahmed, 2020). It certainly implies that the workforce is resistant to the change and hinder the implementation of the change. The zone between the two described zones is the discomfort zone that is aimed by the model as it is where the workforce is positive and receptive of the change and are willing to learn new things and make necessary adjustments to accommodate the change implications (Passmore, and Sinclair, 2020). The organization must aim at pushing the workforce slightly towards the discomfort zone so that the workforce feels the need for the change and is motivated towards the implementation of the respective change. The whole model of change is not very clear and has a lot of potentials to be explored by creating a more innovative structure of the model. But the model emphasizes balancing the pre-existing factors rather than developing new means to introduce change. This can be viewed as a cost-effective approach and benefactor for the long-run (Guiette, and Vandenbempt, 2020). The above case has many shortcomings in the internal environment that needs to be addressed on a personal level. this model helps the management to determine and choose the best alternative to be implemented on the premises. Human behavior is elaboratively discussed in the model to take effective steps to smoothen the introduction of the change (Zhang, and Ahmed, 2020).

Recommendations and action plan

The managers of Captify should follow an appropriate action which has been given as below for implementing the change of developing new business structure within the organization:

1. The organization needs to assess the present structure of communication and teams to take corrective measures and introduce change.
2. The delegation must be reduced and decentralization of work must be increased with better incentive plans (Kim, and Choi, 2020).
3. The change must be planned by the way of a full-fledged blueprint. To change the mindset of reluctant employees, the organization needs to recruit an effective leader or encompass a training program (Guiette, and Vandenbempt, 2020).
4. Communication can be enhanced by implementing an informal structure within the organization (Men, Yue, and Liu, 2020).
5. Team leaders will be chosen by the team members and these teams will be supervised by senior managers.
6. Compensation will include qualitative as well as quantitative incentives like promotion, recognition, bonus, and other financial and non-financial perks.
7. The change will be smoothly introduced by a democratic approach and addressing the doubts and grievances of the employees. To make decision-making effective, the simulation will be used in the training program.

Recommendation

The weaknesses of the company need to be addressed so that we can make the organization more efficient. The problem of lack of internal understanding in the organization can be dealt with if every employee of the organization has a common vision that can direct them to put their efforts into achieving the organization's goals. This can also help in mutual understanding and aid in reducing conflicts. The other weakness of the company that we came across is ineffective decision making. Decision making is a process on which the survival, growth, and its position is dependent and ineffectiveness in decision making can bring loss to the company. so, the company has to consider many principles to improve the decision-making process (Kim, and Choi, 2020). The first principle that will be recommended in dealing with the weakness is system learning wherein the pattern of the organization is closely observed and then necessary changes are to be made. The decision will be effective if every factor and pattern of the organization are taken into consideration. Another principle that we recommend is team learning which can help the team to decide on important matters as we know more brains brings more ideas and can help in taking better decision (Guiette, and Vandenbempt, 2020).

Conclusion

Captify is a technology-driven company that has worked competitively good in this cut throat competition. The strengths of the company have helped in ensuring good prospects for the company and it can achieve good growth if its weaknesses are dealt with properly. The Senge Systematic Model of change can help in improving the business operations as that will help in changing the vision and sharing the vision with the employees. Working in a team principle will help in inculcating changes easily and achieve the company's objective. In a dynamic environment, change is the need and can bring wonderful results if properly implemented.

References

Guiette, A. and Vandenbempt, K., 2020. Reframing organizational change from a processual perspective. European Journal of Training and Development.

Husmann, J.E., 2020. Organizational Change Readiness: A Quantitative Study of Multilevel Employee Perceptions in For-profit Organizations (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).

Jenal, M. and Cunningham, S., 2020. Systemic change: Evolving conditions that hold a situation in place.

Jiang, Z., Wang, Z. and Feng, C., 2020. Balancing the strength of external and internal tie for tacit knowledge management. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, pp.1-16.

Kim, J. and Choi, S.O., 2020. The Intensity of Organizational Change and the Perception of Organizational Innovativeness; with Discussion on Open Innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 6(3), p.66.

Men, L.R., Yue, C.A. and Liu, Y., 2020. "Vision, passion, and care:" The impact of charismatic executive leadership communication on employee trust and support for organizational change. Public Relations Review, p.101927.

Olafsen, A.H., Nilsen, E.R., Smedsrud, S. and Kamaric, D., 2020. Sustainable development through commitment to organizational change: the implications of organizational culture and individual readiness for change. Journal of Workplace Learning.

Ortiz, K., 2020. A Comparative Study of Managerial and Nonmanagerial Perceptions about Readiness for Organizational Change.

Passmore, J. and Sinclair, T., 2020. Systemic Approach and Force Field Model. In Becoming a Coach (pp. 145-153). Springer, Cham.

Shahanipour, S., Amindoust, A., Sahraian, K. and Beiranvand, S., 2020. Identification and prioritization of human resource strategies with employees' creativity approach in administrative organizations using SWOT-ANP. OPSEARCH, 57(1), pp.119-143.

Zhang, B.H. and Ahmed, S.A., 2020. Systems Thinking—Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, Peter Senge, and Donella Meadows. In Science Education in Theory and Practice (pp. 419-436). Springer, Cham.

Zhao, M., 2020. Social entrepreneurship for systemic change: the case of Southeast and South Asian countries. Journal of Asian Public Policy, pp.1-26.