Managing Innovation and Change of Hartridge Grange School - Case Study Example

Introduction: Hartridge Grange , almost a century old independent school system is known for providing quality education and is known for providing pastoral care to its students. Along with this the school is also famous for catering the student with high-quality and premium sports activities. A school with such rich portfolio was being run and headed by Stuart Bower who was passionate about the development of the school and its pupils , a distinct sign of which can be seen by him teaching regularly at the school apart from managing it. The school also provided boarding accommodation which indicates it orientation for developing personalities and inculcating disciplinary habits in its pupils. The school provided employment at the following levels Administrative Staff Academic Staff. Non-Academic Staff. To maintain administrative work 10 employees including Stuart Bower’s deputy were employed. The school had employed over 50 people under the academic staff. The academic staff included all the teachers, mentors and the counselors who helped the students and their pupils in one way or another to excel in their academic capabilities. They had certain more facilities then the non-academic staff. The non academic staff occupied quite a majority of the population of the staff majorly because of the boarding facility that the school provided. They looked after the tidiness, hygiene, cleanliness and catering of both the school and the boarding. Key Qualities of Hartridge Grange: The school has been there for about 100 years now , which in itself can indicate the fact that it been a center of providing education to many generations many of which excelled in their respective fields based on the foundations and learning that they extracted during their school years. The school has become a symbol for providing quality education and as an expert institution. The Other keypoint where it excelled was the school interest in accepting and rehabilitating children with behavioral problems and regularly accepted application of children who were a victim of these. The pastoral care it provided to the students would play a key role in restoring normal attitude for such pupils and allowing them to excel in areas where their key strengths laid helped such students move ahead. On several occasions parents of students notified that they themselves including many other were impressed and attracted by the pastoral care the school provides. The school also ensured an “OPEN DOOR” facility which allowed the parents to walk into school and even classes to have a look at the standard of education and the environment of education the schools provide to its students. Other key qualities included provision of high quality sporting and recreational facilities which were properly maintained and functioning. Along with this the system at the school managed to develop a good bond between the day students and boarders which was a key noticeable factor displaying the development of characteristics which helps an individual adjust in diverse or new environments. Current Situation Of the School: The School although seemed sprinting in its league but was only façade of excellence. Internally it was crumbling due to disputes and aggravation between different types of staff the school had employed. Stuart was quietly observing the situation and observed that the academic staff were mistreating the non-academic staff. The organizational structure of the school promoted democratic culture which means that every member of the organization has significant importance and say in the organization but the situation of the school portrayed something else. The members of the school staffing were all invited and allowed to participate into the decision making process and each individual say would be considered if of relevance. The teachers had started to believe that the school would succeed if only the quality of education was maintained disregarding any other facilities and factors. As a result of this prevailing attitude of teachers towards non-academic staff , their students and pupils had also started to disregard them and often sights of disrespectful actions were observed. The academic staff believed in the ‘I KNOW BEST’ approach which created an illusion of superiority and overlooked their students creative potential making them follow to their instructions. The school also was looking ahead to an inspection a few months from now by OFSTED. Although with all of these troubles the school had managed to maintain a reputation in the market and still parents were willing to get their children recruited in Hartridge Grange and the recruitment rate was stable. Outcomes of the Troubles faced & Challenges: Stuart Bower not only has to cope up with the effect of internal challenges but there were factors from external sources which would have to be observed keenly aswell. The mistreatment of non-academic staff lead to many of employees quitting their jobs in quick succession in preceding months becoming a cause of concern indicating that if this situation remains unhandled then it could lead to union formation or even to the extent of going to strike defaming the institution’s historical reputation. Teacher’s uncompromising attitude towards what they taught and making students strickly adhere only to bookish knowledge might kill the student’s imagination and creativity. The externally affecting factors included the trend that were prevailing in the institutions offering education i.e. rising fees meant higher standard of education but would that be perceived in a similar way for Hartridge Grange ? The school had to maintain a student base and along with providing quality education it had to look at itself as a business aswell & consider its profitability. The school was operating on border line in term of recruitment and with boarding as it major attraction for recruitment , competition has increased as more schooling systems offering boarding facilities had come up. Stuart Bower will need to adopt various strategies ,management perspectives and reforms with change in the organizational culture and environment. The later part of the report focuses on issues resolution along with analysis of the business w.r.t to the market. MARKET ANALYSIS AND ISSUES RESOLUTION Swot Analysis a. Strengths: Stuart himself has a strong passion for teaching. He sets a good example for his subordinates to follow The school has a set of excellent pastoral care activities The overall spirits of students faculty and non-academic staffs are high High integration between day pupils and boarding pupils Democratic approach- Stuart allows people in his organization to share their ideas and viewpoints thus enabling a friendly an open environment. ‘open-door’, ‘transparent teaching’ policy allows interaction of academic staff with the parents b. Weaknesses: negative and off-putting mind-set of the staff (and students) towards the non-academic staff Democratic approach- may effect and slow down the decision making process as a result of too many ideas coming in from too many people in the school. ‘open-door’, ‘transparent teaching’ policy may hurt the class environment as the teacher would get overly precautious of the fact that he/she is being observed by the parents Increasing fees Sustaining its current enrolment numbers by being economical in most areas c. Opportunities Small and friendly reputation may bring in a pool of students from well established contacts as a result School’s reputation is its ex-pupils would again be beneficial in maintain the reputation and winning as many students Reporting a good progress to Heywood Association may boost the credentials Successful OFSTED inspection would certainly create opportunities for the school to prosper in the future and to expand d. Threats Because the school is answerable to its Board of Governors, a bad report may hamper the inroads made by Stuarts Demographic trends in the target audience Increased competition within the area, town or city. The catchment area of boarding schools is becoming more and more local Unfavorable economic environment Reporting a bad progress to Heywood Association may cause a failure Unsuccessful OFSTED inspection would make the future bleak and indecisive Designing a Change Program a. ADKAR Model (Pre-implementation Phase): ADKAR is a model proposed by Prosci. There are five specific steps that, being a change manager , I would follow for an effective change management : i. Awareness –I would have to make specific arrangements in trying to make the employees recognize why the change is necessary. I would have to build awareness amongst the academic and nonacademic staff plus the students that the current situation in the school regarding the negative attitude and ill-treatment of academic staff and students against the nonacademic staff is proving to be disastrous for the organization. Plus I need to set an awareness and importance of the upcoming OFSTED inspection. A bad report may prove to be disastrous for the school. So, by enforcing this awareness, I need to gear up the employees quickly and efficiently. ii. Desire – Besides building awareness, I have the task to indoctrinate the desire amongst the employees for a change. He needs to show them that a change is being made for the well being of individuals and for the organization as a whole. It would, as a result bring-in cerebral and monetary satisfaction for everyone. iii. Knowledge – After insinuating the employees about the change, I have the uphill task to make the employees understand the efficient ways and techniques of bringing about the change: that is, how to bring the change. For that I need to hire a proper consultant who would advice me and help the employees bring about the change. iv. Ability –Every employee and I myself need to have skills and the necessary hard work to implement the change. The consultant would outline all the techniques and methods of change management, but the goal lies in having the in-built motivation and drive of accepting the change and hence implementing in a skillful and arduous manner v. Reinforcement – This is a phase where the organization has a whole would need to have a new start and need to adopt new behavior to accommodate the change. Reverting to the old behavior may destroy the purpose of change. b. John P Kotters eight steps to successful change (Pre-implementation Phase) John P Kotter is a Harvard Business School professor and leading thinker who developed a helpful model for comprehending and managing change. Each stage identifies peoples reaction and strategy to change, in which people see, feel and then change: i. Increase urgency – This phase is a pre-implementation phase of the change and is somewhat related to ADKAR model of change. The primary motive is to build in the impetus amongst the employees for a change; to stimulate them and drive them in favor of a change. ii. Build the guiding team – This step comprises of effective team building. Later on, it is discussed about how to make a team structure. In short, this steps requires to pool in the human resource; that human resource or individual who can commit their efforts and who have the passion and zeal and zest towards their work. Some of the most popular and accredited individual may also be recruited so that they could share their wisdom and help in change management. iii. Get the vision right – Define a clear vision to the employees. It is important to explain the vision and the mission of change that the organization needs to implement. For this purpose, the leader would need to delegate and assign the relevant tasks to relevant people with a realistic deadline. However it would be necessary for the leader to check the status of the task frequently and observe the motivation level of the individual being assigned the task. iv. Communicate for buy-in – This is a very daunting yet a fruitful task if accomplished. This involves communicating and interacting with employees continuously for the change. It should be kept in mind that they are the only ones who could bring about the change. The leader of the pack needs to instill the courage in his team about the change and that how the change would bring about the benefits for each and every one of them. For this purpose, you need to involve a lot of people to pool in their ideas. v. Empowering action – This step requires removing obstacles and impediments that hampers the change. An obstacle might be the negative or apathetic attitude of employees for the change. As a school head of Hartridge Grange, I would be very proactive in nullifying such attitudes and would be working for converting such attitudes into positive ones. I would also reward and recognize progress and achievements of individuals. By doing so, other employees would get motivated and work for the change vi. Create short-term wins - As a school head of Hartridge Grange, I would first analyze the main problem. Of course the main problem is negative attitudes which the staff (and students) holds towards the non-academic staff. This problem can be resolved in chunks and pieces. By looking into different areas that is by discussing this issue separately with the each of the staff first and then the students, and then may with other stakeholders, I may be able to come up with an effective solution. vii. Dont let up – Another task that I would try to accomplish would be encouraging the academic and non academic staff to work diligently towards their tasks. The key would be to stay indifferent and unconcerned to each others practices; that is, avoid as much as possible not to interfere in the workings of other party. I would give credit to individuals, in the form of monetary compensation, who would follow the instructions and achieve their milestones viii. Make change stick – I would also strengthen the importance of flourishing change via proper staffing, promotion, new change managers. 1. Team/Organization structure (Implementation Phase) Now that we have discussed the approaches of bring the change, it is now time to implement the change. As a school head of Hartridge Grange , firstly I would instruct both the parties (academic and non-academic staff) plus the students not to interfere in the work of the other part. I would mention in the job contract of each party regarding this issue and would clearly outline the repercussions of meddling into the issues of the other party. Next I would form a proper team structure or the organizational structure that would guide us to view at the duties and tasks being assigned to groups and individuals. An ideal team structure that I would follow would be Controlled Decentralized (CD) structure. Here a team has a definite leader who has the responsibility of dividing the assignment into tasks and allocating groups to complete them. A task coordinator is chosen for each group/department. The communication in group is horizontal. The only contradicting aspect that I would follow as opposed to the CD structure would be that communication between groups would not be allowed. Since the prevailing tension between the academic and non-academic staff, adopting such an approach would be fruitful. For decision making and problem solving every individual would be involved within the group. I would make myself the leader and would make the following departments; each department having a leader and each department would work independently and be responsible for their work: a. Academic Department(full-time and part-time staff b. Non-academic Department (cleaning, bed-making, catering, grounds and maintenance staff ) c. Pastoral care department d. Hartridge Grange society 2. Managerial skills required to manage the change (Implementation Phase): As a manager and the leader I would need to have specific managerial skills which would help me run the school. These are as follows: a. Set an example: As the top person in the business, I would need to lead from the front because others would look to be inclined in my direction, not only related to business needs, but also to deeds, moral principles, and values. I would have to first filter myself and focus on my strength if I want to set myself as example for other to follow. b. Talk to people: I would have to realize the need of communicating and mingling with the employees, specifically the non-academic employees who would be feeling a bit distressed. The value of effective communication is an important aspect here. c. Be real: It is of sheer importance to be real and honest in my interactions and communication with others. I would let other to get to know me more and. I would try not to hide my emotions and would try to interact with employees on regular basis and thus build trust amongst them. 3. Implications and after effects of change on people in organization(Post-Implementation factors): a. Effects of poor change management i. Lack of dedication and follow through by the leader and the departments of the school as a result of apathetic or opposing attitude towards the change; ii. Defective change management skills among change manager and the consultancy team; iii. Lack of training of and confusion among frontline staff. b. Effects of successful change management i. Seniors and all the staff including all the departments were all involved and worked as a unit; ii. Everyone’s responsibilities and tasks were clearly outline; iii. Purpose for the change was clearly understood and accepted throughout the organization. REFERENCES: The Managerial Savvy. 2010. Team Structure. [ONLINE] Available at: http://themanagerialsavvy.blogspot.com/2010/06/software-team-structure.html. [Accessed -] Business balls. 2009. Change Management. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.html. [Accessed -] Change Management. 2003. 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