For organizations to obtain control and efficiency, managers need to understand the importance of change. Many scholars agree that without the organizations changing, then the job of the manager would be quite easy. Change makes the environment within which the organization operates would not be uncertain. Planning for tomorrow would be as easy as planning for today. Decision making would also be made much simpler since the results of each alternative would be easy to predict. Managers often have to respond and balance the need for an organization to improve the way it currently operates and of course change in response to events that have not been anticipated. Change in an organization can be defined as the movement of an organization away from the state that its currently operating under to increase efficiency and effectiveness, the important thing to note is that organizational change is not just about one aspect of the organization, even small simple changes can affect the entire organization leaving no aspect, department, and system unaffected.
People Also Read
Organization change is any alteration that changes people, structure, and technology. These are considered the three categories of change. Structure speaks to departments, the definition of duties, and the actual structure redesign. Technology is the second category, which is defined through work processes, methods, and equipment used in the organization. The final category falls under people that our attitudes, perceptions, and even the culture of the people involved in the organization. Change in each of these categories often requires an individual or event to act as a catalyst. Decisions to make changes for adaptation or even efficiency requires complex planning because change often disrupts the status quo and poses a threat to the organization, (Mariotti 1997).
Communicating and promoting the project for organization restructuring
Advances in IT have completely changed how the managers have been communicating. It seems that for organizations such as Human Resource Dimensions, email has become the go-to in terms of communication. The idea of technological advances is to save time and energy that would be spent on passing a message. However, the proposers of this project understand that this is not always the case. The project is set to promote and implement organizational re-structure and emails may not be the best way to communicate the changes being implemented. The communication strategy for the project is twofold
In the first stage, the project team will be dispatched to the various departments where they will personally deliver and implement the changes expected. For example, I am expected to work closely with the sales team to implement the new marketing and client handling strategy. This strategy has been chosen to ensure that all team members understand what is expected of them. Also, the team member can really the reactions to the change and therefore ensure that the next stage is properly carried out. Further, they can also report how the team handles challenges and obstacles in implementing the change.
In the second stage, the messages will be delivered through the department and company meetings. This is especially necessary to ensure cohesion in the employees. Changes that are met with conflict and too many challenges will be addressed through the meetings to ensure that employees understand they are not the only ones dealing with that particular problem. when they come together to address the challenges, the company will experience togetherness and therefore make changes easier without killing employee morale.
Defining The Project
Management of change is not only about identifying the source of the problem, there is also the need to decide the ideal future state of the company and how to reach and achieve such a state. In this case, managers of the Human resource dimensions are making decisions on what kind of business-level strategy should be. The changes made in the organizational structure will affect how the business will continue to prosper in the future, (Clifford and Thorpe 2007). Based on the knowledge have acquired through studying management and control of management, I have devised a strategic plan on how to deal with the problems facing the company. To improve the company’s ability to monitor and control its recruitment and human capital acquisition processes, the first step is to shift all recruitment and acquisition processes to the main offices in Atlanta. Currently, the eight departments had done their own recruitment for projects and clients. The recruitment through one center ensures that the managers are now free to focus more on improving customer sales and service henceforth. This is a major company weakness that I have noted with the company. It is also important to consider halving the size of the departments to concentrate and consecrate the strategies and activities. The majority of the workers in the departments are doubling on duties. That is, one duty is being completed by sometimes more than two people which results in replicating the same thing at the cost of the company.
Defining the change also includes identifying obstacles that would cause resistance to the change. There are issues present in the organization from reaching the ideal future state. Obstacles are not just corporate or even divisional, they are also at departmental and individual levels. The project being proposed here is one that is at the company level; change in the organizational structure will completely affect the current balance of power. The structure in itself is a powerful and often formidable obstacle to change. The company in itself does not possess a flexible culture which makes it quite inert in itself. The rigid culture makes it a much more bureaucratic organization. The same obstacles are expected to be encountered at the divisional and departmental levels. It is expected that the departmental managers themselves will differ in their attitudes towards change.
Tools used to plan for the organizational restructuring
The change management strategy as with all aspects of the company, the project based on restructuring management and decision making in the Human Resource Dimension will be accompanied by a singular strategy. The project itself proposes to use a bottom-top strategy in implementing the necessary change to make the company more efficient. This means that the change will in fact be more gradual rather than immediate. The staff and employees will take the time to understand the new command and decision-making structure. The project includes a detailed plan for the required and implemented change. The project has chosen this strategy to combat resistance that is expected when the changes in the company structure come into play. The emphasis of this strategy lies in exemplary communication that is, the company employees need to be kept in the loop, during, and over the time of change. This means that the employees play a participatory role in implementing the change. As such, they can combat much of the conflict that could arise.
Based on Campbell (2014), The top-down approach could be easier and in fact faster to implement the necessary change. This strategy which involves the managers making the decisions for change, implementing the change, and dictating the goals for change is revolutionary. However, it falls short when it comes to long term resistance to change.
The managers need a system of organizational learning, that is the process through which the company can increase the ability of the members to understand, adapt, and respond to changing conditions. This process can help members including managers make proper and effective decisions about needed changes. For the managers of Human Resource Dimension, assessing the need for change calls for two activities to take place immediately recognizing that there is a problem and identifying the source of the problem. In the past, managers have had trouble identifying and determining that something is wrong in Human Resource Dimensions because the problem has been gradually developing. The organization’s performance has been slipping for years without any detection. With the company performance struggling and the future of the company looking dim, the need for change is obvious.
The main problem lies with the founders of the company. Though experienced in human resource and capital acquisition, they fell short when it came to managing change and control. They instructed managers to do what they thought was best to grow their departments. This meant that in many cases, the departments are working in conflict. Extreme competition among the different managers means that departments are not working cohesively. This strategy was ideal during the early years when the company needed to tap a large market share. The strategy, however, is no longer acceptable at a time when it’s experiencing intense and fast competition from other lower companies dealing with human capital. The problem for the managers is the need for change in the company, and not just change bust actually fast change. Assessment of the change is twofold
Changing structure the structure includes organizing responsibilities such as allocating authority to the different managers. The company managers need to recognize that once the changes have been made in the decision-making structure and formalization of the organization, they are not final. The company will be exposed to changing conditions and events that may bring about the need to make structural changes. The organization’s structure is defined in terms of work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, a span of control, centralization, and formalization. Each of these structures will be affected by the proposed change in the management structure. There may be a need to drop, merge, or expand the duties of each department manager. The traditional management structure needs to go completely.
Changing people which includes changing attitudes, expectations, perceptions, and behaviors. Although this may not be simplistic, changing people is far from easy. Organizational development though in some cases refers to changes in all categories, in this case essentially focuses on techniques to change people and the nature and quality of interpersonal work relationships. The executives of Human Resource Dimensions, need to understand that the success of future customer sales and service strategies require and depend heavily on changing employee attitudes and behaviors. There is a various strategy which the managers can use to ensure a change in people such as team building, survey feedback, and intergroup development.
Importance of the project to Human resource dimensions
Human Resource Dimensions is one of the fastest-growing human capital consultant companies based in Atlanta Georgia. The company has topped the list for Atlanta’s most respectable and profitable companies. with more than $1million being reported in terms of profits, this company is set to be in the Fortune 500 companies. However, when joined the company I found and identified a matter that required immediate attention by management. From the year 2000, the company’s sales and profits were reported to be declining sharply. Even though the company itself still maintained some profit, declining sales and profits are a matter of concern to the management. The company has for a while not experienced major changes that would allow it to stem out the competition, especially since it has been in existence for much longer than most.
After studying the company for a while, I have been appalled to discover that the top managers have paid little attention to monitoring and controlling Human Resource dimensions and developing a centralized control system that would provide detailed information on the performance of the different departments. The company operates with a decentralized culture in which each department manager treats his or her own department as a kind of personal fiefdom in which they have the right to control the activities as they see fit.
The project in itself will provide the following strengths to Human resource Dimensions as a company
Provide alterations to managers’ skills one of the issues that are evident from studying the company is that the management skills have been dormant or equivalently been misused for tasks that are too mundane. Managers in the company are engaged in destructive competition rather than employing their skills towards; critical planning, organizing, and controlling. The project will include the process of redefining the roles of the managers, taking away some duties in one area, and increasing responsibilities in another. This will ensure that the company makes good use of the skills of the managers in play.
Building a culture for change scholars have found that organizations with a culture that promotes change are more likely to experience growth and in return immense profits. Projects are changing the way they do things, companies and even large multi-nationals are changing their approach to various things, (Thompson 2012). Since the company is servicing such clients, it follows therefore that there is a need to promote a culture for positive change rather than a static culture, completely resistant to change. Employees from the most junior to the most senior need to develop a need for identifying and making the necessary changes for the good of the company. Through this project, each member of the company will acquire the necessary skills to plan for, identify, and respond to changing aspects of the organization and the market.
Human resources the company in itself deals with providing high-end employees to their clients, however, it has become apparent that the company has slacked on improving its employees. For the project to work, there is a need to identify talents and skills among the employees. Those who respond faster will of course be on the fast lane towards promotions and increased responsibilities. On the other hand, those who are laggards are most likely to be left behind, demoted, or even let go. The employees of the company and the future human respire pool play a major role in ensuring that the project is successful and is implemented with as few hitches as possible. This also includes the managers who will be most affected by the changes in the organizational structure.
Marketing Human Resource Dimensions
Despite being the fastest-growing human capital service provider in Atlanta, the company has been experiencing a decline in income. Such a decline can be attributed to slower decision making when it comes to marketing. In the past, the marketing manager has been delegated the responsibility of all decision making when it comes to promoting the business. Unfortunately, because he is working independently without the input of other managers most of the marketing strategies employed have been disastrous. With the changes being implemented, the marketing manager and all other managers will be required to work together to implement the marketing strategy. To the clients, the company has always seemed disorganized in decision making, slow, and bureaucratic. Thus, they have opted for other newer, smaller companies with excellent customer service.
The nature of the exchange processes between clients and the company has changed dramatically in the past few years. This singular change has contributed significantly to the decrease in income and profits. The majority of the main clients are slowly and gradually pulling away from the company following poor client relations. This is a company that requires excellent, strong, and long term relationships with the clients. Clients that are new, if satisfied with the service and handled carefully will continue generating income and business for many years. Poor handling of clients has led to many clients pulling out of the company. Many others only bring in business because they have no option. The marketing manager has often applied the traditional marketing tools that are market segmentation, target selection, and strategy development. However, with increased competition and various other changes in the needs of the client these traditional strategies are falling short.
Addressing the customers
The marketing manager has often failed in one major aspect, he and the accounts managers have not been working together. This means that he does not understand and cannot comprehend the needs of the customers and clients. Human Resource Dimension in the past has been renowned for providing excellent talent for short term projects in non-governmental organizations. However, recent studies show that the company has the untapped potential of providing the same services not only to large organizations, businesses, and multi-national corporations but also to small and upcoming businesses. The majority of the focus in the service provision industry focuses on the already saturated big companies market. This is where traditional marketing strategies have been focused on.
Relationship marketing, on the other hand, proposes to work closely with small business and organizational structures. Such businesses are an ideal ground to build loyal clients who can grow the business through various networks. All they require is excellent customer service, as they grow so will the company. Also, these small businesses provide a much better cushion. Should one of the small enterprises pull off from the company, the ripple effect into the organization will be much smaller as opposed to a large multi-national corporation?
The new marketing strategy requires proper planning, where all managers of the organization will play a major part. The plan requires input from all managers and employees, with the marketing manager only implementing the decisions agreed upon. Where in the past, the entire company has left the marketing strategy to be implemented by the marketing manager alone, this will be a joint responsibility plan for all members to apply. Relationship marketing will take place in all departments and divisions of the company. Each employee will be responsible for ensuring the client is not only satisfied but that his needs are also addressed uniquely. The unique experience is expected to create a large base of loyal clients over time.
Addressing the Competition
Marketing the company also means addressing the completion strategically. The company has in the past ignored the competition, imagining that because of past successes the competition is nothing to deal with. This has been fueled by the fact that the major competition comes from ideally small firms with less than 2employees and whose mandate requires dealing with specific clients. For example, the small Royston firm deals only with architectural clients, providing talent that is ideal for that industry. The increased completion has resulted from the fact that the company no longer plays at equal footing with such small firms. Studying the competition, it is obvious that the small firms have addressed relationship marketing and made this a priority. Some of the small firms have only two or three large clients but are more focused on building those relationships rather than acquire new clients. In this way, it becomes difficult for the company to draw off and expand its market share.
This is why the proposed marketing strategy includes the aggressive building of relationships with the small untapped market to ensure that the company becomes associated with excellent customer service and receives high reviews.
References
Campbell, H. (2014).-Managing organizational change.-Kogan Page
Clifford, J., Thorpe, S. (2007).-Workplace learning development delivering competitive advantage for your organization. London, Kogan Page Ltd.-
Mariotti, J. L. (1997).-The shape shifters continuous change for competitive advantage. New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Thompson, A. A. (2012).-Crafting and executing strategy the quest for competitive advantage concepts and cases. New York McGraw-Hill/Irwin
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