A Work-Life Balance Intervention
Introduction
Historically the concept of reinsurance has been around for thousands of years and the more modern concept of insuring the insurance company has evolved over last couple hundred years. My company, Reinsurance Group of America, RGA was established exclusively on this concept and recently celebrated its 40th year anniversary. In my department almost one-third of the underwriting staff will be retirement eligible in the next five to ten years. Staffing challenges to serve the life underwriting market are stronger than ever. To combat the alarming loss of industry expertise, we have made a concerted effort to focus on increasing our staff through both traditional and more contemporary means. We are bring on additional staff from the industry as well as internal training programs to grow new underwriters. The fresh workforce is striving for a work-life balance that is unknown to our department. Although reinsurance underwriting is a reputable profession providing adequate opportunity for career advancement and pay, the new workforce is demanding additional benefits including job flexibility. This evolution of the workforce has confronted a mechanistic, hierarchical department. Resistance and slow change is compounded by the original, well-established management team which has only begun to retire over the last ten years, high expenses associated with extensive time allocation and resource investment needed to train all
If the workplace of today could be characterized by a single theme, it would most likely focus on the continual presence of change. Dramatic changes in technology, the marketplace and the workforce have compelled organizations to re-evaluate not only the competitiveness of their products, but also the core ways in which work is performed. It is out of this pursuit for continued survival that organizations have been faced with the notion of varying work-schedules beyond the traditional hours of nine to five. This paper will explore the societal and business changes that have led to a proliferation in flexible work patterns. This paper will also address the benefits and disadvantages of flexible work patterns for
Step 2 is forming a powerful guiding coalition. Leadership will have to be on board and on the same page in regards to the change. Kotter and Cohen reveal the core problems people face when leading change. Their main findings are that the central issue concerns not structure or systems but behavior and how to alter it (Farris, 2008). The success of the changes will depend on the ability of the managers to show their commitment to change and motivate the employees to do the same. Without any process to track the implementation, the change can also fail.
HRM 587 Discussions 1 Week 5 Organizational Development Theory and Practices-All Students Posts 20 Pages Managing Organization Change
As a consequence, I have decided to incorporate new changes within your departments, expected to start functioning with immediate effect. This will not only help address the management problem but also put the company back on the right track in as far as achieving the goals is concerned.
I was one of the few employees that were willing to ride the waves and give the new changes time to develop and work themselves out. The leadership could have avoided falling into the same trap of employee turn over, if they had put the effort to provide the necessary support during the stages of change and refreezing. (Nahavandi, p. 284)
There are many reasons that change can or must occur within and organization. The key will be in understanding the organization and the prospective change. According to Mangundjaya (2015) "there are many variables that can influence the success of organizational change, such as the content of the change, the process of the change, individual characteristics, leadership, external environment and organizational context" (p. 67). Organizational change has the potential to successfully align an organization with its goals or completely derail any future success and progress. It is important that the organization takes the proper steps to prepare for, implement, and evaluate change.
Fairest, J. (2014). Leading employees through major organizational change. Ivey Business Journal Online, , 1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1556018438?accountid=12085
Large scale change is not a simple matter, the complexity and many moving parts can be distilled down into a couple models, however pulling off a successful transformation is extremely challenging. Unfortunately, the odds are not good for change. Research by John Kotter revealed that only thirty percent of change programs succeed. The main reasons for the failures are not related to resources or budgets, but behavior and more specifically, employee resistance and management behaviors that do not support the intended changes. These are the two leading causes that result in seventy percent of failures. Kotter first reported on this dismal success rate back in 1995, and quite honestly, there has been little progress at advancing the success of
As Monica Amicone points out, the history of Kelly Services proves their employee ability to change is high, especially at the leadership level. They have endured substantial changes frequently since 1946, staying ahead of external changes by changing strategies from the inside out. The ability for an organization to change is essential to its survival, as Charles Darwin said, “It’s not the
Raymond, I appreciate your perspective on our week one reading assignment. I agree with your opening point, no one is exempt from change. Tom Peters stated, we either “change or die” (Jick, T. & Peiperl, M., 2011, p. xix). This point is further exacerbated by the concept that in order to change, each person likely needs to reassess their view of the world and be open to a new perspective. As you noted, one challenge that exists is that an organization has to overcome each employee’s mindset of the situation at hand. “The mindset represents a shared way of thinking and behaving within an organization” (Jick, T. & Peiperl, M., 2011, p. 39). This then begs the question, if you can implement the changes, why do some changes stick and others
Acknowledging the need to obtain input from the team leaders is necessary to gain insight on which employees have continued to show success and gain complete expert knowledge on their daily duties and whom will carry and support the department through a merger or a downsizing. Once thorough knowledge and insight is gained from the direct reports the author then switched to the unilateral or directive decision making style (Bazerman, 2013). Many leaders typically utilize the seniority method to determine whom to let go and whom to keep. However, this author believes seniority is never the best method. For example, some employees with seniority may not have shown thorough knowledge of their jobs or there could be other factors that may hinder keeping them employed with the company, such as, behavioral concerns, or their error ratings may not be in alignment with the guidelines of the
The key problem that is described for this case “Improvements at ServeNow" involves the management practices of Mr. Bushley, who has been too busy to standardize a training program for his management team, and has no potential successors for the 4 mangers he is losing to entrepreneurship and retirement. Faced with this challenge, he has hired a consultant to assist with this transitional period and plan for better training and effective communication in the future. Mr. Bushley says that he does not have time or experience to help alleviate the situation. The use of technology for training and communication
Complacency, acceptance of new ideas, poor communication and implementation of change within the department were captured as areas of opportunity. PEC focus groups shared concerns that management does not promote innovative thinking and many times individuals feel the adage of “this is the way we have always done it” only promotes the feeling of comfort and inhibits the opportunity for growth. This feeling of comfort sometimes impedes the department from finding more efficient means and promotes complacency with a status quo mentality. Subsequently, a cycle of complacent mentality is being passed to new employees within the department. Finally, employees mentioned when change is implemented, training is not sufficient and individuals are left to figure out on their own and resultant in not obtaining the full benefit intended. Personnel are left to rely on what is comfortable or simply not changing current practices.
To succeed at becoming a great business, a formula for success must be developed and tested until it is perfected. Giving back to those who have made us so successful is the formula for our future success. As the future district manager, I understand that I have a role in this formula design; this can’t be done by one person, but as a collective and efficient team. A combination of comparison and experimental job analysis will ensure that our employees are better prepared for their positon. Investing in them through coaching and mentoring begins from their introduction into the organization. To recruit
The belief that work is morally good is the definition of work ethic provided by The American Heritage Dictionary. Work can mean different things to different people. Usually, when we first think of a word and its meaning, we look at its definition. When defining what is morally good, one must remain open to past societal meanings of what was considered moral. Work ethic has developed and changed through different cultures over centuries. Historians and philosophers have developed great insights and theories pertaining specifically to the meaning of work ethic and its meaningfulness in today's modern employment, while some have praised it and some have cursed it. Which leads us to the question, do workers today have a calling or