Leadership and Change Management Theories
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ASSIGNMENT TASK SCENARIO:
You are managers working in a medium sized SME providing a bespoke and very personalised service. To date your organisation has had a very ‘loose’ structure, with many of the team fulfilling several roles. As it is becoming more successful and as part of the future growth strategy there is planned expansion involving employment of specialist teams in the Marketing, IT and Operations departments. Your CEO is concerned, as she understands that approximately 70% of change initiatives of this kind do not fulfil their original objectives. Your team have been asked by the CEO to provide her with a BRIEFING NOTE to advise her on the challenges and the best course of action to achieve a successful outcome for the expansion.
You need to complete the following tasks and present your responses to them in written form using a Briefing Note format of 1000 words:
1: Using an appropriate academic model ( e.g John Kotter and Mckensey Models on Change Management) identify the various stakeholders and influence within the organisations, and their potential reactions to the planned change.
2: Critically analyse how organisational leadership approaches may need to change and evolve through the ‘lifecycle’ of the organisation.
3: Critically evaluate how the culture of the organisation may be influenced by the leadership approach
4: Critically analyse how the management might use a range of communication strategies to effectively support delivery of the proposed expansion
You should include images / tables in your document, or you may integrate your PowerPoint slides
LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT THEORIES
Student ID
Institutional Affiliation
Course Title
Instructor’s Name
Date
LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT THEORIES
BRIEFING NOTE ON THE CHALLENGES AND THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION FOR SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATION EXPANSION
Purpose
To brief the CEO on the various challenges that the company may encounter in the process of change and to provide recommendations on the best course of action to achieve a successful outcome for purposes of organizational expansion.
Background
Organizational expansion is one of the key goals for any form of organization. To achieve this goal, an organization needs to adequately prepare for expansion by ensuring that all its aspects are aligned towards the goal. Organizational structure and culture are key aspects that influence an organization’s ability to achieve expansion and growth. Leadership style or approach is another key aspect that influences the performance of an organization and its preparedness for expansion. There is a need for the company to improve its leadership, change its culture, and improve its structure to adequately prepare for the planned expansion. These changes have to be managed effectively to ensure that they fulfill their purpose, which is to prepare the organization for expansion. Understanding the various challenges that could be faced in the process of change will assist in the selection of the best course of action to achieve the desired outcome for organizational expansion.
Current Situation
Over the years, the company has maintained its medium size, focusing mostly on building clientele and improving customer service. The company has been able to meet these goals, as it currently provides a bespoke and very personalized service to its clients and customers. However, it has become increasingly important that the company shifts its focus towards expansion, as the local market has become saturated and the organization has accumulated enough resources for expansion. Achieving organizational expansion is part of the company’s future growth strategy. However, the company has a very ‘loose’ organizational structure where different teams fulfill several roles. To achieve expansion, the management realizes that there is a need to employ specialist teams and improve the structure of the company. The various stakeholders that will be involved in the change need to be adequately addressed and prepared for the change process. There is also a need to make changes in the approach to leadership and organizational culture to prepare the company for expansion.
Discussion
Question 1: Stakeholders and their roles in the proposed change
The various stakeholders that are important for the achievement of change success can be identified using the McKinsey 7S Model, a change model that refers to seven key integrated and interrelated elements of an organization that are important for change success (Ravanfar, 2015). These elements include strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff, and skills. For purposes of identifying and understanding stakeholders, the elements of staff and skills have to be understood. Staff refers to the members of an organization, their roles, and their capabilities. Skills refer to the core competencies or skills of members who play a vital role in the achievement of success. Employees are the key stakeholders in the implementation of organizational change. Other stakeholders include the management and shareholders. The shareholders and management are important during the planning stage of change management. After planning is complete, the employees are expected to implement change.
The most common reaction to organizational change is resistance. This is because humans often get used to routinely doing things and strive to maintain congruence between their actions and their beliefs. When employees do not understand the need and importance of a change, they experience dissonance and a lot of resistance will be experienced during planning and implementation. The management and the shareholders already understand the need for expansion, since it has always been part of the company’s future growth strategy. Their reaction will be favorable as a result. The task is to ensure that the employees understand and believe in the “why” behind the changes that will be made within the company. This way, they will be inspired to change their behavior and attitude in the workplace. With departmental changes on the way, the employees need to understand why the company must be reorganized and the benefits that will accrue from the reorganization, and this can only be achieved through training and proper leadership.
Question 2: Leadership Approaches
The behavior of management largely influences the well-being and attitudes of employees. During organizational change, managers play a vital role as role models and as drivers of change. Here, the Style element in the McKinsey 7S model comes to play (Ravanfar, 2015). Throughout the process of planning and implementing change, the managers within the company will need to change their approach to leadership to ensure that they act as role models and drivers of change. Positive reactions and attitudes towards change are produced when the managers adopt a participative, informative approach to leadership (Oreg et al., 2011). Transformational leadership is the most appropriate style of leadership during organizational change since it facilitates how employees cope with change and promote employee commitment, empowerment, and self-efficacy.
After the implementation of change has kicked off, managers will need to adopt both transformational and transactional styles of leadership. This is because while transformational leadership offers employees a role model demonstrating the desired actions, transactional leadership ensures consistency and compliance with the commitment that is generated by the transformational leadership (Oreg et al., 2011). By integrating these two approaches to leadership, managers will be able to produce positive attitudes and reactions to change, ensuring that the organization moves smoothly throughout its lifecycle.
Question 3: Culture
With the adoption of these styles of leadership, the culture of the organization is bound to change. Each approach to leadership develops a certain type of culture. Transformational leadership is about exploring the culture and making changes to improve it. It involves managers bringing employees together to collect honest feedback and voice their concerns and goals. These are then aligned with the change goals to improve morale and productivity.
Transformational leadership aims to inspire employees. As a result, a culture of inspiration is developed within the organization (Sahin, 2004). Transactional leadership, on the other hand, involves the flow of power from the top down. It creates class distinctions that are based on the position of each individual in the organizational hierarchy. It also involves controlling employees using methods such as punishment and rewards. Transactional leadership aims to ensure consistency. As a result, a culture of consistency is developed within the organization (Sahin, 2004). Managers develop specific behavioral patterns and values that employees are expected to follow. The organization should, therefore, expect these changes in culture during the change process.
Question 4: Recommendations
To ensure effective change and that changes made prepare the organization for expansion, the company must provide training to its managers and employees. The managers should be trained on the importance of explaining the purpose and need for change to employees, the expected change in their approach to leadership, and the cultural changes to expect in the process. The employees need to be trained to ensure that they understand why a change in their behavior and organization is necessary and how they will benefit from the change. This way, positive reactions to change will be produced, minimizing resistance and increasing the chances of change success. Effective communication strategies have to be adopted when communicating with employees and their managers since they are the key stakeholders involved in the change. Detailed communication that encourages feedback and voicing of concerns in the initial stages of change will ensure effective communication and support. A stakeholder support committee should also be set up to engage the employees and managers in all the stages of change.
References
Oreg, S., Vakola, M. and Armenakis, A., 2011. Change recipients’ reactions to organizational change: A 60-year review of quantitative studies. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 47(4), pp.461-524.
Ravanfar, M.M., 2015. Analyzing Organizational Structure based on 7s model of McKinsey. Global Journal of Management and Business Research.
Sahin, S., 2004. The relationship between transformational and transactional leadership styles of school principals and school culture (The case of İzmir, Turkey). Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 4(2).
