Organisational Change Management, Appreciative Inquiry - Essay Example

? Organizational Change Management Introduction The study is about a French manufacturing (D2) that manufactures car components. It has its main plant is in France with other three plants in UK, Spain and France. Like any other company, D2 is focused on growing its market by employing the latest technology, having the best workforce through its workers and ensuring that they employ innovative ways of production. This is a strategy employed by the company in order to have many shareholders and investments, hence, higher returns. As Dimma, 2002 says, for a success in an organization, there has to be a focused board and tough managers to offer an organization the best leadership in such times of financial crises and tough competition from other organizations regionally and internationally (Dimma, 2002). As it is evident in any organization, the vision and mission always enable a company achieve its objectives when adhered to. For instance, the success that was attained by Enron Company before its collapse was attributed to the investments and the commitment they made on the objectives and vision of the company (Dimma, 2002). It is evident that D2, like any other company such as Enron was able to achieve the same success. The fact that one of the plants of D2 was in a strategic place in the UK shows that the company was well placed in the European market. The company has been able to manage the competitive market in the manufacturing industry despite the stiff competition from manufactures from other countries with lower cost of services. However, in the recent past, D2 has gone through economic difficulties and is struggling to survive in the market due to economic downfall and the world’s financial crisis in the recent past. This therefore called for the management of the company to make some changes to enable the company continue with its activities and fulfill its vision. As it is argued by Dimma, a good board of management in an organization is one which can be able to foresee a problem coming and be able to lay down a solution to the problem. The management board of D2 has had to take an urgent decision aimed at cutting down costs. The decision was to stop production of some components and focus on others in fewer sites than the one they operate with. This strategy was basically aimed at minimizing the costs and ensuring that the number, and not the variety, of goods produced will increase and hence get more benefits. This decision was taken by the management board as a quick remedy for the current problems faced by the company. The decision has already been made and is yet to be announced to the rest of the employees (Seel, 2006). In ensuring the benefits from economies of scale, the company decided that the production at Blois which is the main factory in France is expanded. The main reason is because Blois has the most advanced technology than the other plants and there is still room for expansion in the company. This move is believed by the management that it’s the best in cutting down the costs of the company. The management has also suggested a closure of the manufacturing plant in the UK as another second step since it is the most outdated manufacturing technology (Seel, 2006). The workers at the UK plant which is to be closed are so much hopeful of the company investing more in their region as they expect. However, it is obvious that the company will not be able to offer employment opportunities to her workers in the other plants in France and Spain and there will be so much loss of manpower due to this closure (Seel, 2006). D2 wants product development engineers (B2) team to be relocated to Blois from Didcot since there will be no more work at Didcot. This is the group that has been behind the success of the company before the current recession. Didcot is an international centre and has been a place where production of auto products is done by many other companies apart from D2. This has therefore led to the place being a world class production area with plenty of engineering talents. Due to this fact, it is evident that most of the B2 engineers may not be willing to relocate to Blois (Seel, 2006). The D2 case therefore requires a critical analysis in order find a better solution to the problem being faced by this company. The company needs a process change in order to reconsider the mapping and commitments of the company. The commitments and objectives of the company were laid down when the company started that is the focus of the organization and its culture which must be there before the organization starts. A system change is also essential in the company to enable it adopt new ways of managing the human resource, safety of workers, use of technology and many other changes that will enable the organization function more effectively and efficiently in order to achieve its objective of getting higher returns(Dimma, 2002). The structural change as proposed by the management of D2 is also essential since it will change the functioning of the company and also the geographical location with the advantages of investing it in these places is important in the structural change of the company. Organizational change is also essential since it will re-define the goals, values and aspirations of the company. This will ensure that functional operations are carried out in a better way and that in the end; the company will attain its set goals (Seel, 2006). Appreciative inquiry Appreciative Inquiry (AI) searches for the best in the people, the organizations they work in, and the world surrounding them. It entails the life of a system when effective in the economic, human and ecological terms. It strengthens the positivity by practice. In other words AI is a method of organization’s development that tries to involve all the parties of an organization in order to bring about change and improve performance of the organization (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). The aim of appreciative inquiry Appreciative inquiry aims at: 1) Emphasizing the positive: it is so inspiring to the people to focus on what works. Focusing on the positives enhances the attainment of positive results. 2) Using methods that are focusing on possibilities and challenges instead of problems. 3) It applies in all businesses: whether it is a profit or a non-profit, private or public. It builds on the positives of the organizations life. It ignores failure as it focuses on success stories only which may not sound real to some in a real world where failures are normal. It is evident from different fields that focusing in positives can have long lasting effects (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001) Appreciative inquiry aims at boosting good working ways in an organization by use of AI. AI also will be able to reveal the organizations’ strengths hence ways of utilizing them; it also encourages the involvement of employees in the business process and enables the organization to identify the areas that need further improvement. This method applies a cycle of 5D, namely Definition, Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). Definition D2 has had several problems that lead to it making hard decisions that may not sound well to the workers although, from the management’s point of view, it is for the betterment of the company. Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) supports the point that the management of a company’s aim should be able to offer governance and leadership that will enable the company to have confidence and to be free of crisis. They want to bring back the focus of the company after it was severely affected by the recession and other financial crises with competition from other companies in the same production field (Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, 2010). However, some problems associated with such decisions are inevitable. Such effects are such like; Shock to workers - One of the problems that will arise from the announcement by D2 management of its plan to close the Didcot (UK) plant is a shock to the workers. In the recent past the company has made the workers belief that the company is planning huge investments in this plant, but to the contrary, the site awaits closure. This will be a very big shock to the workers working in this plant. Redundancy - Another problem arising from this closure is that there will be a big waste of human resource. There are currently several workers at the Didcot plant and the closure of this plant will render the services of these workers useless. The company, even though it wants to relocate to France and Spain, it will not be possible to relocate all of the workers in Didcot and therefore many workers will be jobless leading to a huge redundancy. Reluctance of B2 product development team to relocate from Didcot - There is a group of B2 product development team of engineers who the company wants them to go to Blois. The problem is that these workers may not be ready to relocate since Didcot is an international center and these workers may be reluctant, hence the company may have to come up with other ways to retain or provide alternatives if they wish not to lack their services which are very crucial to the company. It is evident that the company’s success before recession was attributed to this B2 team. These talents were developed in the Didcot center because of the presence of other world class motor companies among them are the Formula One racing motor racing teams. Job Security - Another problem concerns the other employees of D2 working in France and Spain. After the announcement by the company to close down the UK plant, these workers will not be certain of the security of their job. They will lose morale in their work; and due to this, the functioning of the company may be compromised (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). Discovery The company’s priority on its development is to ensure that they have a growth in the number of stakeholders. For this to be a success, they have invested in product innovation, investment in new technological ventures and developing the capability of the staff. The last point on building of staff is very important in the development and success of the company. The company has some good assets and strengths that when utilized very well, will enable the company to come back to its feet. The current state of the company is bad, that is the reason why the management has decided to make changes. The human resource of the company is one of the strengths the company has; the other strength includes the facility in the plants which is quite a huge investment. There is also technology that the company has invested in although the UK plant has the oldest technology compared to the others, it is still a big investment to the company and should be valued (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). The reluctance of B2 product development team to relocate from Didcot is an important point to consider because this is the team that holds the success of the company. From the evidence given on the success of the company before recession, this B2 team of production engineers is attributed to the success of the company. D2 Didcot plant being a production place and the company generally being an auto parts production company, the importance of this plant is evident through this. It can be seen as the core of the company. The management however has decided to concentrate its work on the main plant in Blois Spain. Didcot is an international center with so many other world class motor companies. It is evident that the kind of life and environment is more conducive to these workers and they will not be willing to relocate easily (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). Job Security is another major concern of the D2 as the company prepares to make the necessary changes. The first group of workers under threat of job insecurity is the ones currently working at the Didcot plant. Total closure of the plant will lead to most of these workers losing their jobs. The management wants only the B2 product development engineers to be relocated to Spain. The others have no guarantee to their jobs only that some of them will be taken to other plants in Spain and France. Another group of workers to lose their jobs are the workers that deal with the products which the company will stop producing. Although the proposal of the management of the company is to expand the production of certain products, it does not mean that all the workers will be absorbed to the new production since their skill will not be useful. Redundancy is another loss that the company will face. The company will lose the human resource that they have built for a long time. Since the company deals with production of specific motor products, the services of many workers in this company will not apply in any other place and therefore when these workers no longer work at D2, their services will be rendered useless unless they find other companies that do similar products as D2 (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). Dream The dream of the company has always been to grow the number of its stakeholders through investments leading to good returns. The strategies that the company uses to attain these dreams is through prioritizing on new innovations, investing in the new and current technologies and developing their staff by making them capable (Seel, 2006). The company’s huge human resource is very important in the current and future development of the company and to be able to attain its goals and objectives. A wide range in skill and training that the company has invested in her workers is very important since it was intended to bring success to the company by all means. The skills of the production team are so important to the company. Therefore, expanding the usefulness of these workers will make the company more productive. Although the need at the moment is to concentrate in production of specific products, it is necessary that in the next few months the company should consider going back and producing the former products since the human resources is already there and the assets and plant still exists. Therefore, the workers should be given other jobs at the moment until that time comes when the plant will be re-opened and the production resumes (Cooperrider, & Whitney, 2001). Further, these workers need to be given surety of being able to retain their jobs. This should be done by ensuring that all the workers are given alternative jobs. This should be done from the time Didcot plant closes and even before that. Those workers who will not be able to relocate to France and Spain should have alternative jobs. The other group of workers in Spain and France should also be given an assurance by the company that nothing is going to happen to them and that the plants will not close as the UK plant. The most important thing for the management team of the company is to involve the workers in making some of the decisions involving their terms of service and security of their jobs since this will ensure that these works do their work enthusiastically. The human resource office should also ensure that the workers are appreciated and appraised in their work to earn their loyalty to the company and they will be able to make the company grow and attain its dreams (Cooperrider, & Whitney, 2001). The B2 team should also be appraised in order to win their trust. Since this is the group that the company relies on so much in the production of the intended products, it is important to make sure they are satisfied and that they do not leave the company. The best initiative for the company to do with them is to increase their pay and other allowances due to the disturbance it will cause them personally when relocated. Those who might not be willing to relocate immediately should be given more training maybe in other companies offering the same products or the company organizes for a training at the present plant (Didcot) where these workers are trained on the production of the new product and once in a while visit the France or Spain plants to learn more from there as they await for the UK plant to be re-opened (Cooperrider, & Whitney, 2001). Such a plan in the part of the company’s’ management will lead to the company attaining its goals and objectives as were laid down in the vision and mission of the company. Although the current situation of the company may not be able to fulfill these dreams, re-drawing the use of these resources the company has will enable this dream come true. The company is very rich in resources and although they may not be fully utilized for some time, having a plan to revive them in even a much higher productivity with newer technology will enable the company attain higher goals and achievements in the future (Cooperrider, & Whitney, 2001). Design The company should aim at expanding the usefulness of its workers so as to make the company produce more. Although the management of the company has now decided to focus on producing some specific products and leaving out others, they should also think of coming back to the initial state and produce all the products as they did before. The company has an advantage if they resume to producing these products since they already have the human resource that is fully equipped with the necessary know how. The company therefore should find alternative jobs for the workers at the moment and take them back to their initial positions when full production resumes (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). Apart from the workers at Didcot, the other workers in Spain and France should be assured of their job security by involving them in formulating the laws that govern security of workers. They should also initiate appraisal to the workers which will enable them to win the loyalty of these works and therefore no worry of them leaving the company (Lloyd, 2009) D2 should make sure that the important human resource in the B2 team is utilized well. This group of workers should be treated well by giving them incentives and appraising them. Those of the team members who are not willing to currently relocate to France should be taken care of and even being taken for further studies either within the company or outside (Cooperider & Whitney, 2001). Destiny As much as it might look complicated to implement the solutions to the current problems faced by B2, it is very important to implement them in order for the company to succeed and attains its goals in the future. Although Blois plant has room for expansion, the company should think of expansion in a greater perspective. The implementation of the expansion should be done in all the plants but not closure of one of them. However, due to the recession the company faces at the moment, the best thing to do is to ensure a deeper insight on how to expand more is considered by the management (Seel, 2006, Lloyd, 2009). The proposal offered here is that as much as possible, the workers should be retained since their service and knowhow is a very important resource to the company. Implementing this however is a very big challenge since most of them, if not all may not be willing to adapt to the new changes as proposed. It is therefore the obligation of the company to have enough money to be able to pay the workers in order for them to stay loyal to the company (Lloyd, 2009). Another way that will make things hard to implement the proposal is that there may be no work for the workers of the closed facility as they wait the re-opening of the Didcot plant. It may also become complicated to offer training to these workers during their wait as their confidence levels will be directly affected. Therefore, the company should try as much as possible to collaborate with other companies in the same field so as to be able to send their workers there for some time. This can be achieved by paying for the salaries of these workers as they work for the other company since the advantage is that they will be able to learn more as they will be in a new working environment with new technologies used by the other company (Seel, 2006, Lloyd, 2009). The proposal of the company to go back to its initial Didcot production plant in the UK after a few months may not work. The company may think of disposing off the assets in this plant altogether. But my proposal is that it is very important to expand the market as any company aims at attaining a bigger market size. This can be achieved through seeking for loans from financial organizations. Another option is to offer the plant to another company to manage it for a given period of time, this will ensure that activities age going on and the workers will still be able to work until such a time that D2 will be able to come back to its initial financial status to be able to manage itself well (Seel, 2006, Lloyd, 2009). The management as much as possible should be able to involve the workers and other stakeholders in making such decisions as to what should happen to the company in the future. The workers especially in the Didcot plant should be allowed to talk openly with the management as they make a decision that will determine their fate (Seel, 2006, Lloyd, 2009). References Seel, R, 2006, “Story and Conversation in Organizations: A Survey”, Accessed on 29, March, 2013 from: http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/story_&_conversation.htm Cooperrider, D, L, Whitney, D, 2001, Collaborating for Change: Appreciative Inquiry. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, 2010, Building High Performance Boards. Toronto, ON: Canada. Dimma, W, A, 2006, Tougher Boards for Tougher Times: Corporate Governance in the Post- Enron Era. John Wiley & Sons Canada. Lloyd, K, 2009, Performance Appraisals and Phrases for Dummies. New York, NY: Springer Read More