The Importance of Managing Change in the Air Transport Industry - Essay Example

Change Management Change is an inherent aspect in the air transport industry as employees are forced to change their job roles and places of work regularly (Kotter, 2010: 15). This paper concentrates of Su who has been hired on an Accelerated Graduate Management Development Programme. This programme requires recruits to change their job roles annually but in most instances they work at the Heathrow Airport during the five years programme. Su is presently working in the Heathrow Airport but was needed to work in Edinburgh for eight months. Later, she will be posted back to the Heathrow Airport. It can be observed that dealing with such change can be challenging for Su and the organisation. The paper suggests the steps that should be taken by Su and the company to ensure success for both entities. The first step involves the creation of the ‘big message’. This step is important for Su as it will help her understand what is in for her. This step will make out the main message the individuals are involved in the change need to hear. In this case Su was the only individual that was affected by this change. This message contains the major reasons for the change that include cost reduction, increased demand for work force in Edinburg as well as to facilitate her skills and experience (Todnem, 2005:370). Additionally, it should state the benefits that the organisation will get from this change. This message should be done in a concise and clear language and communicated through the appropriate channels. This means that there should be official communication of the message by the human resource management team. Su should demonstrate acceptance of the terms and conditions of the change by signing an official agreement statement. It is important to get the support of the management while making this decision and find individuals that are influential within the organisation to support this move. It is important to acknowledge that this influence could either be positive or negative and it is imperative to align oneself with the parties that support the decision. At this stage it is significant to communicate to Su on the benefits that linked with the change. This is couple with the communication of the benefits that accrue to both entities. There are various examples that should be communicated to her at this stage. First, the individual benefits such as improved flexibility with regards to the job location as well as a more challenging work environment that results to career growth and development (Todnem, 2005:371). Second, the company benefits should be efficiently communicated to Su including increased benefits from her skills and expertise as well as the benefits associated with having a diverse work force. It can be concluded that the ‘big message’ defines priorities and establishes the tone for the subsequent steps. The second step involves conducting how Heathrow Airport and Su feel about the change. This is by using various approaches to evaluate the readiness of both parties for the move. Round table meetings and conversation lunches should be conducted to get the employees attitudes about the move (Burnes, 2004:15). At this stage it is important to establish what the employee feels about the move. This is by a conducting a readiness evaluation survey on Su to establish her level of preparedness that will be needed in her new assignment. These steps are mandatory since they give insight on how the company will establish the specific method that addresses various concerns with respect to the change (Ouye, 2011:54). This use of this information facilitates the formulation of the ‘big message’ and the communication plan. The survey that is done at this stage evaluates the ‘change readiness’ and should be done using a response assessment where 1 stands for strongly disagree and 5 stands for strongly agree. The first question focuses on finding out if Su was comfortable with the change. The second question evaluates if the colleagues are at ease with the change (Carnall, 2007:27). The third question aims at finding out the knowledge and skills that are required for working in the Edinburgh Airport. The fourth question aims at finding out whether Su will be comfortable with the business motives for this change. The fifth question seeks to establish whether Su has understood the basic changes that will take place in the environment. The final question aims at establishing whether Su has adequate information concerning the upcoming move. The third step entails drafting a strategy for the change. Once the decision about change has been made, there will be various ideas on Su’s side. The management in Edinburgh should strive linking the ideas she has with those of the company that are simple to remember (Egan and Fjermestad, 2010:19). A clearly defined vision will help Su understand her new duties and roles in the new work environment. This will help Su get a better understanding of the goals and objectives that have been set up by the entity. The directives that will be given will make sense. This will results to better performance which is of benefit to Su and Edinburgh. This is done through defining the values that are key to the change process, coming up with a short and precise vision, ascertain that the change arrangement can express its vision in a short time. The fourth step entails delivering of the message as well as communicating the vision. At this stage, the business reasons for the change will be clearly outlines. Furthermore, a general communication strategy should be defined based on timeline that Su will get used to the new work environment at Edinburgh (Rummler and Brache, 2012:67). The measures that the company will take after coming up with the vision determine the success of the change. Communication to Su on issues relating to change should be done more frequently than other messages. This is not by merely calling her for meetings and informing her of the company’s expectations. It should be done daily to ensure that her actions are in line with the entity’s goals and objectives. It can be noted that for this step to be effective, the management should address any concerns and anxieties that Su could be having. The vision should be employed in the various aspects of operations ranging from the training. The fifth step in this process entails doing away with any obstacles that may be present in the change process (O’Neill, 2012:57). Su could be facing challenges of fitting in with the team members in the Edinburgh work environment. Su could be resisting to move to Edinburgh owing to the fact that most of the individuals that take part in the Accelerated Graduate Management Development Programme are required to change job roles annually. It is important for the entity to assign Su a mentor who will guide Su in dealing with some of the obstacles that she will come across in her newly assigned duties (Fayard and Weeks, 2010:105). The entity should come up with a reward system as well that will encourage her to work hard toward learning the policies and business operations in Edinburgh. The company has been charged with the responsibility of ensuring that Su faces minimal setbacks in the new work environment. The sixth step involves establishing short-term goals for the Su and the company. This will motivate success and ensure that she shares in the entity’s success. Within the first few weeks of working in the new entity Su should be able to overcome the setbacks that are present in the new work environment (Anderson and Anderson, 2010:67). She should have been in a position to communicate effectively with other employees within the firm and work in cohesion with them. These short term goals result to the attainment of a greater goal for the benefit of the entity. The seventh important step is to facilitate on the change. Effective change management might take place if victory is declared prematurely. Actual change is a comprehensive process that should be deep-rooted in the company’s operations as well Su’s daily operations. Once Su attains a given level of success, she can identify on other areas to adapt to. Finally, at this stage, both Su and the entity should focus on coming up with new ideas on how to improve performance. The final process entails assessment of the change process. This is three months after Su has been introduced to the new work environment. This step also entails assessment of her level of satisfaction in the new work environment (Anderson and Anderson, 2010:78). Furthermore, this assesses the quality of the decision to move Su to Edinburgh itself. This period is sufficient to evaluate the change progress as analysing the change process sooner than later may result to a biased opinion as Su will be adjusting to the change in the new environment. Other individuals within the firm should be interviewed as well to get a better understanding of how Su is adapting to the new environment. This information is used to come up with ways on how to improve her performance and that of the entity. References Anderson, D. & Anderson, L.A. (2010) Beyond change management: how to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership, John Wiley & Sons. Burnes, B. (2004) Managing change: a strategic approach to organisational dynamics, Pearson Education. Egan, R.W. & Fjermestad, J. (2005, January) Change and Resistance Help for the Practitioner of Change. In System Sciences, 2005. HICSS'05. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 219c-219c). IEEE. Fayard, A.L. & Weeks, J. (July-Aug 2011) ‘Who Moved My Cube?’ Harvard Business Review, pp. 103-110. Kotter, M.S. (2010) Kotter’s 8-step change model. Mind Tools, viewed 24 Aug 2014 from . Carnall, C.A. (2007) Managing change in organisations, Pearson Education. O’Neill, M. (2012) ‘Choice by Design’ White Paper, Knoll, Inc., New York, NY. Ouye, J. (2011) ‘Five Trends that Are Dramatically Changing Work and the Workplace’ White Paper, Knoll, Inc., New York, NY. Rummler, G.A. & Brache, A.P. (2012) Improving performance: how to manage the white space on the organisation chart, John Wiley & Sons. Todnem, R. (2005) Organisational change management: a critical review, Journal of Change Management, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 369-380. Read More