Essay on "Change Management Using Various Organizational Examples (Different"

Essay 13 pages (4441 words) Sources: 15 Style: Chicago

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Change Management

Using various organizational examples (different companies), please evaluate the major concepts underlying effective major business transformation and dynamic change management which we discussed in class, including: the new rules for organization design & business-wide integration; the strategic direction for organizations, focusing on high performance, processes and knowledge; the alignment and integration of six key factors in an organization for dynamic change; and finally the basic principles of change management. Do you agree or disagree with these major concepts; why or why not? Please explain you position using various organizational examples to reinforce your arguments.

Applying the many concepts learned in class to the high technology industry illustrates their effectiveness and potential to increase organizations' performance and effectiveness in the midst of rapid, unpredictable change. Dell's continual fine-tuning of their supply chain practices, including the definition of Vendor managed Inventory (YMI) in the context of rapid inventory turn environments is in the process of transforming the company's value chain (Walters, Rainbird, 2007). The Dell organizational structure correspondingly is being modified to support organizational design and business process integration so that the key performance indicators (KPIs) the company relies on including inventory turns can be maximized. Dell's culture is one heavily dependent on measuring performance to evaluate how processes can be improved over time to better serve their educational, enterprise business, small business and consumer marketplaces. Relying on the six key factors in an organization for dynamic change, the processes, systems and people involved with the company's supply chain are continually focused on how to gain greater levels of accuracy, efficiency and cost reduction from their efforts over time. This is specifically the case with the build-to-order sourcing and production process. Dell's value chain has grown to support the many sourcing, supply chain coordination, quality management, production scheduling and fulfillment processes that will ensure the company a competitive price and performance advantage in building customized laptops, PCs and servers. The core values of change management are engrained into the build-to-order process at Dell, and as a result the company has been responsible for more innovations in high tech manufacturing, specifically supply chain integration and forecasting, than any other who relies on build-to-order as a core process in their value chains (Gunasekaran, Ngai, 2009). It is critically important for Dell to have change management engrained in the continual improvement of their build-to-order process in order to survive. They have accomplished this by concentrating on giving employees a strong sense of ownership of their jobs, underscoring how critical this process is to keep the company moving forward profitably, and decentralizing supply chain and manufacturing management so they have the autonomy necessary to master their jobs. Change management must permeate an organization for it to become a competitive advantage over time (Judge, Naoumova, Douglas, 2009). Dell has been able to accomplish this on its most critical business process.

A second example from the high technology industry is the merger and acquisition activities of Oracle Corporation, whose CEO Larry Ellison has often said his business plan is to be the leading consolidator globally of enterprise software so companies need only come to his company to buy software (Arnesen, Thompson, 2003). Change management strategies inside Oracle therefore are centered on interprocess and intersystem integration both at the process and role levels. As a result, the Oracle culture can at times be quite stressful, as there is much uncertainly during any given acquisition what a person's role will be. The more common areas within Oracle, including Marketing, Sales and Operations are often reduced in headcount when an acquisition is completed. Given the rapid pace of Oracle acquisitions over the last ten years, the need for exceptionally strong change management programs is evident in their approach to process, product and role-based integration across the software company (Arnesen, Thompson, 2003). Oracle has taken a unique approach to change management which align with and accelerate the concepts presented in this course. First, Larry Ellison, Founder and Chairman, has appointed Chuck Phillips, CEO and highly respected former venture capitalist, to define the system-level integration requirements of the merger. Mr. Phillips is also responsible for defining the transition strategy and most important, defining how the current acquisition contributes to corporate business strategy. Oracle has shown success with managing change around mergers when the companies acquired are relatively small, critical to the strategic vision of the company and also have cost reduction potential. In this respect the change management strategies at oracle are consistent with research findings from McKinsey & Company's research on merger performance as well (Early, 2004). From the evaluated effectiveness of mergers that meet these guidelines, post-merger contribution to revenue is often at or above average when change management strategies are combined with a clear definition of the strategic vision that the acquisition is intended to fulfill (Epstein, 2004).

As the CEO/president of Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA) and given the tremendous competitive pressure in today's global market place, please describe how you would focus on your people, communications and organizational culture in order to implement major business transformation and manage dynamic change to, not only gain competitive advantage, but also to sustain competitive advantage in the global marketplace over the long-term. Use various organizational concepts to reinforce your arguments

Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA) is a global leader in the research, development, design, sourcing, manufacturing and integration of advanced technology-based defense-related systems and services. Organized into four divisions including Aeronautics, Electronic Systems, Information Systems & Global Services and Integrated Systems & Solutions, the company generated $42,731 million in revenue at the close of FY 2008. As CEO of LMA the challenge of attaining and then continually strengthening competitive advantage over the long-term in a very turbulent global economic environment must center first on creating a culture that embraces as change as a challenge. Change needs to be seen as a means to become more intensely focused on the collective goals of the organization. This requires the CEO to concentrate first on how to become a transformational leader (Gilley, McMillan, Gilley, 2009). For a CEO to be a transformational leader, one must strive for accuracy, authenticity, accountability, honesty and transparency -- in short all the attributes that make one trusted and consistent in ones' actions. These many attributes would assume one would have to literally walk on water to have them. Yet over time the best CEOs, and if I was the CEO of LMA I would passionately pursue that goal -- have focused entirely on how to build trust with their companies' managers and employees. Trust has been shown consistently to be one of the most powerful attributes of leaders who can effectively manage change and guide their organizations to goals, and in times of uncertainty, the most valued trait in leaders (Appelbaum, Berke, Taylor, Vazquez, 2008). That would be my personal mission and goal as CEO of LMA, to be a transformational leader and strive for that level of consistency and trustworthiness. Second, I'd create programs that would give employees the opportunity to better understand their core strengths and apply them creatively to their jobs. Finding the intersection of what they excel at relative to what their jobs require would give them a stronger sense of task and job ownership. Programs would also be created to give employees an opportunity for job enrichment, as mastery of tasks leads to greater motivation over time (Gil, 2009). In short, I would work very hard to make the internal culture one that sought to give employees the opportunity to master their skills while also giving them the autonomy to excel.

CEOs often spend the majority of their time defining short- and long-term strategies in response to opportunities and threats in the market. For the CEO of LMA the greatest cost factor is compliance of federally-funded weapons and aircraft programs. Compliance presents the greatest risk to aerospace manufacturers yet the greatest opportunity for differentiation as well (Prybutok, Ramasesh, 2005). Concentrating on compliance to the U.S. And foreign nations' defense departments and ministries of defense is critically important for keeping the company from having to pay costly fines and potentially damaging morale. Making collaboration across teams possible also can assist in more effective long-term approaches to overcoming resistance to change, and also nurture trust (Johansen, Comstock, Winroth, 2005). As the majority of LMA's products and services are heavily dependent on software, the defining of specific strategies and programs for ensuring high levels of change management are in place for the rapid prototyping and product development processes are one of the most critical areas of long-term strategic advantage. The development of change management strategies to the software development team level is critically important for any organization to stay current in highly turbulent, change-driven industries (Mohan, Xu, Cao, Ramesh, 2008). Coupled with this is the fact that compliance and auditability even of software, if done so that government auditors can quickly finish their work, can turn into a major time advantage. Looking to how to bring traceability and ownership of software quality into these complex processes… READ MORE

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