Case Analysis: Leading Change At Simmons Problem Identification
In the case ‘Leading Change at Simmons’, the fundamental issue for Simmons Company is whether or not it should go ahead with Eitel’s proposed idea of a culture change program which would cost $7.2 million at a time where the company is encompassed in a myriad of problems and severe economic crises’. The program has had initial success but its future profitability still remains largely uncertain due to high levels of stress and resistance to change found amongst the company’s employees.
Analysis and Evaluation
Simmons is a well-established, trademark producer of bed mattresses but the company’s organizational structure is not in line with its promulgated
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To overcome this resistance to change, it is essential that Eitel form positive relationships with his workers along with good support and commitment. He could do this by encouraging better communication in the company and educating the management about his plan by communicating the logic of his proposed changes. If the employees see the full facts and solve the misunderstandings, resistance should subside. This can be done by allowing the employees to develop and form the plans to introduce changes with him which would allow for enhanced participation and acceptance of the change as the employees would have a sense of ownership in the change made which will make it much easier for them to conform once everyone is on board for the decision. Eitel should also make sure that all changes are fair to everyone and do not come of as being biased which could create discrepancies among the workers.
Other than that, he should focus on activities such as intergroup development, which seeks to change the groups’ attitudes, stereotypes and perceptions about each other through training sessions, which focus on differences among occupations, departments, or divisions within an organization. Interpersonal relations, goal setting and team building
As a result, Zwick (2002, p. 542) has noted that implementing change programmes in organisations that realise positive outcomes remain problematic for many organisations in the 21st century. Ayodeji & Oyesola (2011, p. 235) have postulated that organisational change is a dynamic process, which when taken poorly contribute to employee resistance to it, and eventually leads to failure of the whole process. 3|Page Organisation Behaviour; MGTS 1601; Individual Essay; Employee resistance to change Yuanli Zhang 43401163 Employees resist changes when they occur in the organisations for several reasons. Many organisations when they introduce changes are likely to stick to the ‘top-down organisational change’ process (Awasthy, Chandrasekaran & Gupta, 2011, pp.
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When employees are unwilling to accept change there is a strong possibility that they don’t understand the change or do not understand why it is being suggested or implemented. At this time is when communication is essential in letting the employees know what the changes are trying to accomplish and what their roles are during the change. As a manager it is crucial to have an understanding of the employees you oversee and to know what to expect when they are confused and concerned about procedural changes. The overall morale of the organization will be good if the employees are kept involved in both the planning and the implementation of any changes.
Resistance to change is an expected reaction of human nature. We are not accustomed to change, as it is possible to lead to failure; however, there are also ways to manage the resistance within the company.
The more active the participants are in the planning, the less resistance there will be later (Sullivan & Decker). If staff does not trust leadership, does not share the organization's vision, does not buy into the reason for change, and aren't included in the planning, there will be no successful change, regardless of how brilliant the strategy (Goman, 2000). How people react to change is important to understand. Change takes an emotional toll on people, some more than others. It is important not to underestimate that toll and understand who will have a harder time adapting to change. Fear of change has many roots. Those roots can be a lack of trust, fear of failure, fear of loss of income or a belief that the change is unnecessary (Sullivan & Decker). By understanding the reason for the resistance a manager can help the employee overcome his or her fear and become a supporter of the change. The last two steps are to provide feedback mechanisms to keep everyone informed of the progress of change and evaluate the effectiveness of change (Sullivan & Decker). People need to be kept informed of the change process to minimize anxiety. Sometimes there are unexpected consequences to the change, and it is important to have a system in place for those consequences to be discussed and if needed more changes made in order to accommodate those consequences.
“If we understand change better, we will be able to influence (but not control) it for the better” (Fullan, 2014). When change in a culture is in effect, the organizational culture tends to be unsettled. This may seem like an inopportune time for our staff to be unsettled, but this is the best opportunity to identify and create breakthroughs (Fullan, 2014). When analyzing the structure for a change initiative, strategic planning must first take place. What problems are foreseen or obvious? Are there
I will be talking about my current job as a Child Protective Investigator (CPI) also known as Child Protective Services (or CPS). This is the governmental agency that is tasked with investigating child abuse or neglect. The primary concern of a CPI is the safety of the child; they do this by assessing the risk involved. By weighing that risk the CPI has to make the decision rather to remove the children or child from the home or place services within the home that will allow
In time of economic crisis, companies are looking for innovative methods to improve production and to meet the needs of a diverse workforce in order to improve or maintain the organization’s profit margin in a stress global economy. Indeed, companies are extremely concerned about their future, as well as, preventing closure of their establishment. SimmonsCompany is no exception. However, how does a major company make those changes when tradition is the foundation of their organization and the economic status of their company is in jeopardize of
In today’s society companies are finding that it is more demanding that they make changes in certain departments or in the entire company. May managers are faced with the question, “How do I make successful changes?” Another issue company’s face is the resistance to changes by employees. How can a company reduce the resistance from employees? What role do human
Study and organizational skills take on many forms within the classroom. They are an integral part of the curriculum, learned by active participation, taught in natural progression from simple to complex, and essential for any student with varying abilities. Students with emotional and behavioral disorders are often disorganized learners, or just learn in a different way. Students who struggle with organization benefit from direct instruction, modeling, routines, and structure throughout their day. The author of Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities. Programming for Students with Special Needs, Book 6, provided a number of strategies that have been used and benefited students with vary abilities have success with their organizational
Personal impact and fear of change are not the only causes of resistance by individuals during a change to business practices. The lack of respect and negative attitudes can also lead to employees resisting business change. If an employee lacks respect or has a negative attitude towards a person or department leading the change, then there are more likely to oppose the new ideas being implemented. Poor communication greatly impacts individuals’ accepted to new practices in a company. Typically if an employee is given new behaviors to adopt, but is given no reason, then that employee may reject the change. Upper management must effectively relate the value, need and benefit of the change to help get employees on board with new changes. The lack of individual input can also lead to resistance. Some individuals feel the need to be included in new ideas. When employees are not asked to be involved in changes, they may lack the vision of importance or will to change. A heavier workload can also cause opposition among employees. Employees may not embrace more systems and requirements needed
Rollinson.2008.p7. Management and Organisational behavior analysis is a wider subject concerning with understanding human behavior in organisation and the behavior of the organisation itself. The concern with subject examines organisation at the micro level and deal with emotional difference between individual and how individual interact with each other in the organisation. The subject lies on facts drawn from individual psychology and social psychology. According to Mullins (2007, p40) Management and management theory is the development of application theory that brings the changes in actual behavior, therefore management theory support to view interrelationship and behavior in organisation and management practice. Development in
Individuals need to commit to change to make it happen. Unrecognizing that is a big common mistake of leaders. For top managers change is often seen as opportunity to strengthen the business while for middle managers and employees it is disruptive and means upsetting the balance. That is why it is important to have good judgment about the gap between leaders and follower and act accordingly by having alignment between the organization statement and the implementations& behaviors of its management, to insure credibility. Otherwise a lack of credibility would lead to conflicts and commitment problems that sabotage the implementation process to successful change. Methods and approaches to prevent change blocking/ resistance will result to make change happens and that is to be considered as ways to overcome or manage resistance. It is important that employee´s understand changing drivers for the success of preventing blocking otherwise only one option will be left to make the change through; it is to block or get these employee´s out of the process by firing them or changing their position.
To identify the key elements of the resistanceto change described in this situation, one may make use of the six Change Approaches of Kotter and Schlesinger.[1]The model prevents, minimizes or descreases resistance to change in organizations. According to Kotter and Schlesinger (1979), there are four reasons that why people resist change, three of which are applicable to this case:
Helgar Inc is a will known American fashion retailer, founded by John W.Helgar and Carl Wallin in 1901. The company began as a shoe store and has since grown into a fashion specialty chain with global reach. It offers an unparalleled selection of shoes, clothing and accessories, and an extensive range of provide exceptional service, selection, quality and value to customers. The company is going public in 1971 and entered several strategic alliances, such as Topshop and Topman. In 2011, the company achieved an all-time record for total net sales at $10.5 billion. Helgar