Management of Change Campaign - Assignment Example

PART - A CARBON FOOTPRINT CAMPAIGN INTRODUCTION We would have often heard that the only thing that is permanent in this world is CHANGE. Entities which refuse to change will be extinct. We can draw numerous examples from history about species, people who refused to change and thus now in history, duly respected. To survive and grow, businesses today should be ready to evolve and rediscover themselves according to changing environment. At Global Chemical Industries PLC, the time has come to realize a major change to accommodate the demands of the changing environment. The company has to implement the policy change with respect to "carbon foot print". The need for change in policy and the way in which the change can be implemented are the major challenges for the team of management consultants. David Whetton(2005)1 says that , the business environment today is totally different from the scenario a decade ago. It is far more challenging to prepare the members of the organization to accept the need for change, to help understand the new approach, to obtain their commitment to implement the proposal, to manage the transition period effectively and to institutionalize the new idea by "hard wiring" it into the organization's communication, evaluation and reward systems. " good ideas are not in scarce supply, what is rare is the ability to translate a good idea into accepted practice". When we analyze the words accepted practice, it is clear that the success of any change is dependent on the acceptance of the practice. The acceptance of the new idea by the members of the organization at all levels can be achieved through careful estimation of the changes required and intricate planning of the details about implementation. This report which is submitted to the management of Global Chemical Industries PLC outlines the activities and the method of implementation of the policies to reduce carbon foot printing. This report also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign and how the campaign will influence the operations and behavioral aspects of Global Chemical Industries PLC. BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION The founders of Global Chemical Industries PLC did not plan their organization to be global conglomerate. They started catering to the needs of the villagers and other surrounding neighborhoods by formulating chemicals and native medicines late in 1890s in Sunderland. Then slowly the operations began to expand which led to the standardization of the formulae and there by the small home based remedies and cures started to grow into a public listed company in 1900s. With strong hold in research and development the company introduced major products and by acquiring small chemical companies, Global Chemical Industries PLC started to develop into one of the major players in the chemical industry in UK. When the wave of globalization started, Global Chemical Industries PLC started riding in the wave and began exploring offshore markets and sought foreign partnerships and collaborations. This paved way for its acquisition of US based Keller chem., in 1995, which added to the strengths of Global Chemical Industries PLC and helped it to enter into the US markets. Likewise, it partnered with Timban Chemicals in France in 1997 which helped Global Chemical Industries PLC to gain a foothold in European Markets. The company's chronology states that, in the last decade of the last century, Global Chemical Industries PLC has evolved itself into a global giant. At present the company is listed in London Stock Exchange. The company has operations in 46 countries and has production facilities in 9 countries. The products of the company include chemicals for prescription drugs, OTC drugs and vaccinations and veterinary medicines. It is one of the largest chemical companies in the world. In 2006 28% of their sales were made in Europe, 30% in the Americas and 42% in Asia Pacific. The company is split into three regional divisions. The European region run from the UK, the America region run from the California, the Asia pacific region run from China. There is also a separate division responsible for research and development based in the UK. The vision of the company and its aspirations for the future are to develop into the world leader in research and development, marketing and manufacturing to protect health and well being of the people across the world. The company stresses about its commitment to the sustainable development. By sustainable development the company wishes to create value for the shareholders by not offending the capacity of future generation to satisfy their needs. In this scope of thought, the company's' commitment to reduce carbon foot printing is very essential. How is this concept going to be out forward to the employees and how is this idea going to gain their acceptance is the major task before the management consultants. CARBON FOOTPRINTING CAMPAIGN We all know that we are now living in the age of global climate change awareness and action. More and more people and organizations are becoming green. That means people are changing their method of operations and processes to become more environmentally friendly. Every business process emits carbon, which degrades the environment. This emission of carbon is called as Carbon Foot printing. As the name suggests, foot printing means leaving a lasting presence and the presence we mark in history should be of achievement and development and not in emitting GHG. The mission of the company is to have sustainable development. If we are talking about sustainable development, then we have to cut down our carbon emissions and become more green. Another important reason for reducing carbon foot printing is that, in future it is going to be increasingly difficult and costly to remain in the business if we do not check our carbon footprint. With the ongoing awareness about conservation of GHG and the increasing number of rules and regulations with respect to emission control, if we do not control our carbon emissions, Global Chemical Industries PLC is going to be under financial pressure. Hence, as management consultants, we are devising and suggesting to implement various change polices that have to be strictly followed by all the members of the company. SCOPE OF CHANGE The new policies with respect to carbon footprint should be made in the following areas2: 1. Recycling 2. Energy sourcing 3. Carbon emissions from processes 4. Emission from automobiles The first measure proposed is to conserve our raw materials through recycling of the available materials. GCI needs to aim to recover and recycle or re-use as much of its waste products as possible. GCI will have to set specific targets for the percentage of waste that has to be recycled, and then monitor the performance of the company. GCI has to ensure that it complies with any relevant national or international regulations, in the area of recycling. Increasing the amount of waste that it recycles, will lead to environmental benefits for society and cost-savings for the company. Also it is aimed to find out alternate sources of energy and to meet the power needs of the Operations across the world though cleaner sources. Next to calculate the carbon emissions from the manufacturing and other operations and then to concentrate more on high emission areas and to find out alternative methods for reducing emissions. Another major area of change is checking the extensive use of the automobiles used by the company across the world. "NO CARBON FOOTPRINT FROM SOURCE TO END" into not just a statement but corporate culture to have sustainable development. To ensure the success of this campaign first the scope of this change should be estimated. This policies suggested above will affect the top management with respect to future growth and development. And these policies will require the attention and action of all levels of management. In other words a sensitivity towards recycling, energy sourcing and emission control is going to change the way in which operations are done in the company over the next 5 years. IMPLEMENTATION To implement the policy to reduce carbon foot printing, first and internal audit has to be performed. The internal audit is essential to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the functional areas of business. After the conduct of the internal audit, long terms strategies are to be developed taking into account the strengths and weaknesses internal to the company3. The purpose of performing an internal audit is clearly explained by Robert Grant4, that the customer preferences are volatile ad technology for serving the customers are changing; hence an external focused orientation does not provide a secure foundation for formulating long term strategy. A definition of the business in terms of what it is capable of doing may offer a more durable basis for strategy than a definition based upon the needs which the business seeks to satisfy. The idea mentioned by Robert Grant stresses that company should first focus internally to make plans for the long run. Hence, at Global Chemical Industries PLC as management consultants, we have to first prepare an internal audit report listing the strengths and weaknesses of the company with respect to the contribution towards carbon footprint. According to William King5, it is important for the audit team to find out what are the 20 most important strengths and weaknesses that should influence of the future of the organization. After the identification of the strengths and weaknesses, the team should analyze the scope of integrating strategy and culture. The culture in an organization is very subtle and elusive and people are mostly unconscious about it. According to Lorsch6, managers frequently miss the significance of changing external environment because they are blinded by strongly held beliefs also when a culture is effective in the post, there is a natural tendency to stick to the past. The culture that prevails in the organization should be carefully studied because it affects the strategic decisions significantly. If the culture at Global Chemical Industries PLC can be utilized to make a major change in the operations then it is an opportunity to create synergy. INSTITUTIONALIZING THE CHANGE The implementation of the reduction in emission and cleaner sourcing of power can be done by short term objectives, devising polices, allocating resources, restructuring and reengineering, minimize resistance to change, adapting production/ operations processes(Fred. David). In our case, at Global Chemical Industries PLC, the objectives to be achieved by the end of the year 2013 are : 1. To eliminate the use of materials that cannot be recycled by 95% 2. To find alternate sources of power and to supply the energy needs 80% through cleaner sources of energy 3. To reduce the emissions from the production process by 35% of the volume of production 4. To bring down the emissions from the vehicles by 40% of the volume of operations in every country of Global Chemical Industries PLC's operations. After we develop these objectives, then we have allocate the resources and develop a team for implementing the team. The budget and resource allocation has to be done by the top management based on the priority it gives for less carbon foot printing. Then the team for implementation should be developed. For the team to function as change facilitators, 20 most influential people in the company at each operation centre have to be selected. These 20 most influential people can be from any cadre/ department in the company, but the criteria is how far they can influence the behavior of the other members in the company. This team can be called as the change leaders who are going to be the torch bearers of the change campaign. LEADING TO CHANGE Leadership and management were regarded as two areas of expertise, but recent researches make it clear that such distinctions between leadership and management which may have been appropriate in previous decades, are no longer useful7. To establish a positive climate for change, the essentials are, establishing a climate of positivity, creating readiness for change, articulating a vision for abundance, creating commitment and institutionalizing the positive change8. These steps denote that, a sudden change will create panic and aversion among the members of the organization. But when the change is created slowly in a planned structure, starting with creating the climate and vision, we can assure the acceptance and commitment of the employees and thereby the change can happen as smooth as possible to create the expected results. Hence, to create the change in operations of the plants at Global Chemical Industries PLC the change leaders should be provided proper orientation and information about the necessity of change and the advantages of change. When the change leaders are equipped with inputs, their job is to create awareness among the fellow employees in the respective departments. The change leaders will form their own action groups in the respective departments to conduct departmental audit and to suggest and implement changes in operations to reduce carbon emissions through operations and vehicles. This formation of action groups will help to increase the readiness of the members to change by overcoming the inherent desire to resist change. By including the members of the department into implementing the change, it becomes easy to ensure their commitment like the golden words, make students into teachers. Also when the employees plan the change that is happening among them, it will create a new sense of relevance and importance of their jobs towards a greater purpose, which increases the morale and job satisfaction of the employees. Finally, after the changes to made are listed according to the suggestions by the action group the changes have to institutionalized by creating polices, rules and targets. Incentives and rewards can be used to encourage adherence of the rules and achievement of emission targets. Positive reinforcement of the changes have to be established to create the necessary changes. EMPOWERMENT AND MOTIVATED EMPLOYEES According to Peter Drucker9 "The modern business environment can be described using the words such as hyper turbulence, complexity, speed, competition and revolutionary change. Under such conditions, prescriptions for organizational and management effectiveness call for a flexible, autonomous, entrepreneurial workforce." When we are in the process of implementing the change, it is very essential that we delegate and empower the team members. Empowerment of employees means that mobilizing the intrinsic motivation to accomplish a task. Empowered employees think and make decisions which are very helpful to follow a plan and to make changes when the preplanned course of action is to be altered. But when implementing this campaign at Global Chemical Industries PLC, one of the major huddles can be conflicts and politics. This may arise due to clash in the interests of the concerned people. When the carbon footprint team emphasizes on reduction of emissions from manufacture and vehicles, the marketing department and/ or the production department will be overwhelmed about meeting the targeted sales and profits. Hence conflicts are very likely to arise and this may waste a lot of time and financial resources. This can be avoided by confrontation, that means making the two conflicting parties understand the point of view of the other party, and thereby everybody begins to appreciate the relevance of the other person towards sustainable development. Another drawback of this campaign is that, it can create stress on the employees to change their operations and to show results at the same time. Hence, the implementation of the campaign has to be carefully planned and strategically implemented. CONCLUSION To implement the campaign of reducing carbon foot printing and to make the slogan "NO CARBON FOOTPRINT FROM SOURCE TO END" a success, certain changes are definitely required with respect to the operations, such as finding cleaner sources of energy and to bring down the carbon emissions from operations and vehicles. To make these changes, the steps to be followed are: 1. Conduct an internal audit 2. Scan the culture of the company 3. Provide orientation and motivation for the change leaders 4. Create action groups in the respective departments 5. Create polices, rules and budgets for each action group/ department 6. Review the actions and make necessary changes When the change is implemented in a structured manner, the change happens more smoothly and yields better results. PART - II GROUP ANALYSIS INTRODUCTION The ability to contribute effectively in a team is becoming more and more important as organizations are using teams for accomplishing goals. For example, 79% of the Fortune 1000 companies reported that used they self managing work teams and 91% reported that employee work teams were being utilized10. In this scenario, it is very essential that we develop skills to perform as a team and this assignment was very useful for acquiring interpersonal skills, conflict management skills and time management. The learning outcomes of our group is explained as follows: 1. Interpersonal skills: this assignment was highly useful to develop the interpersonal skills of the team members. Interpersonal skills are very essential to develop relationships in a team. Spectacular results and great organizations spring from one basic requirement that is good interpersonal relationships. The brilliant management concepts, the most meticulous plans and the best managerial skills and many other concepts and ideas require basic, workable, amiable and appreciative relationships. An overwhelming research evidence shows that high performance teams are cohesive, interdependent and have positive effect among the team members11. The development of good interpersonal relationships between the team members is very useful to feel good about oneself in a team and enjoy team work, it is particularly important when the team members disagree with each other. Conflicts and disagreements can be easily overcome and tensions can be eased when the team members are closely knit with interpersonal relationships. To create better interpersonal relationships, the team members should be supportive by appreciating each other's ideas and contributions. Also it is important to energize the team members to enthusiastically pursue the goals. When all the members of the team are empathetic to the feelings of each then the interpersonal relationships are strong in the team. When we were planning the assignment, it was very difficult in the beginning to accommodate to the ideas and plans of each member. But when we started to know each other by emphasizing more on harmony, the interpersonal relationships were stronger. These relationships were instrumental to create a tension free, positive thinking environment which made this assignment a learning experience. 2. Conflict management: when the team set out to research and idea generation, there were a number of situations when we were confronted with conflicts. The conflicts were time wasters and were not helping the group to move towards the achievement of the purpose. It takes some time and experience to understand the fact that everybody has their own unique style, personalities and inclinations. When individuals without this knowledge are out together as a team, it is quite obvious that conflicts will arise. To avoid conflicts and to overcome personal differences, the guidelines for solving problems include, not establishing super ordinate goals, separate the people from the problem, focus on interests and not on positions, invent options or mutual gains, use objective criteria for evaluating alternatives12. The most important learning in this conflict management is to separate people from issues. When the team members are able to see the problems as challenges not the faults of others, positive energy starts flowing. This positive energy gives rise to creative ideas and dialogues to overcome the issues. 3. Time management: another major development from this group exercise is the ability to manage available time. During the initial stages of the activity, it was very difficult to meet, discuss constructively and move on to the next activities because of inefficiency in time management. It was realized during the research and development of the assignment that, periodic meetings are very essential to keep track of the work done by the members and to discuss the outcomes. As mentioned by Cooper and Davidson13, approximately 70% of the time of managers is spent in meetings. Since, meetings were essential to coordinate, it was realized that time limit should be set for discussions. This setting of time limit helps to increase the expectations about the meeting and a positive stress to conform to the time boundary. It also helps to set aside time wasters. Another major stress that was given by the team leader is to start the meetings in time and to switch off the cell phones during the discussion. it is also important for every meeting to have an agenda. The agenda helps the team members to stick to the issues to be discussed and all meetings should be recorded to keep track of the decisions made. CONCLUSION Throughout the exercise, one major understanding we gained is that, leading a team towards success is not just the job of the one person. Leading the team cannot be done by a single person at all stages of the activity. Every member in the team has to contribute individually by taking up responsibility to lead the group. This initiative by all the members of the group helps to build confidence in the group, increase the motivation of the members and to increase the cohesion of the members. Also as pointed out by Campion, the more diverse the group is, better the ideas14. When the ideas are more heterogeneous and when the team is good with interpersonal relationships understanding o the perception of others is easy and learning is possible. The key to success of a team is to open to different experiences and perspectives, If you cannot tolerate different kinds of people, you are not likely to learn from different kinds of experiences15. Hence, we learnt that for synergy in a team, it is not essential that all the team members should think the same. But the team members should be able to appreciate the differences and learn from it. Individually this assignment was very useful to identify our sensitive line, our orientation of values and the principles of our behavior and to improve our learning styles. As a whole this exercise was instrumental to become aware of ourselves and our team members by analyzing the emotions, attitudes, temperament, personality and interests which strongly influenced our values, aspirations, learning style, attitude towards change and interpersonal orientation. REFERENCES 1. Whetten, D. A and Cameron, k.S (2005) Developing Management Skills, (6th ed), New Jersey, Prentice Hall 2. Pfizer website, http://www.pfizer.com/responsibility/ehs/climate_change_and_energy.jsp 3. David, F. R (2005) Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 10th ed, New Delhi, Prentice Hall 4. Grant, R ( 1991) "The Resource - Based Theory Of Competitive Advantage: Implications For Strategy Formulation", California Management Review, Spring, pp 116 5. King, W (1983)"Integrating Strengths- Weakness Analysis Into Strategic Planning" Journal of Business Research 2, no. 4: pp 481 6. Lorsch, J (1986) " Managing Culture: The Invisible Barrier To Strategic Change" California Management Review 28, no. 2(1986) pp 95 - 109 7. Quinn, R. E(2000) Change The World, San Francisco, Jossey- Bass 8. Cameron, K. S and Ulrich, D.O(1986) Transformational Leadership in colleges and Universities. Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, 2, 1-42 9. Drucker, P(1988), The Coming Of The New Organization, Harvard Business Review, (January-February), 95-104 10. Lawler, E. E , Mohrman, S. A and Ledford, G. E (1995) Creating High Performance Organizations: Practices And Results Of Employee Involvement And Total Quality In Fortune 1000 Companies, San Francisco, Jossey - Bass 11. Cohen, S. G, and Bailey, D. E (1997) "What Makes Teams Work: Group Effectiveness Research From Shop Floor To The Executive Suite", Journal of Management, 23, pp 239 - 90 12. Stroh, L. K, Northcraft, G. and Neale, M (2002) Organizational Behavior: A Management Challenge (3rd ed), Mahwah, New Jersey, Lawrence, Erlbaum Associates 13. Cooper, C. L and Davidson, M. J(1982) the High Cost Of Stress On Women Managers, Organizational Dynamics, 11, pp 44-53 14. Campion, M. A., Medsker, G. J., and Higgs, A.C (1993) Relations Between Workgroup Characteristics And Effectiveness: Implications For Designing Effective Work Groups, Personnel Psychology, 46, 823 - 50 15. Pagonis, W. G (1993) Moving Mountains, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School press. Read More