As the Director of Product Innovation I am tasked with the responsibility of coming up with decisions that are meant to stimulate a business` growth and ensure that success is attained. Based on the current simulation, as a middle manager at Spectrum Sunglass Company; a business which offers exceptional sunglasses to clients, it was challenging to establish an effective strategy and implement it. Such difficulty resulted from the idea that I had to rely on influence to gain the necessary support required to implement the change. The notion was based on a demand by BigMart to initiate environmentally friendly products to avoid the company`s contract with Spectrum from being cancelled. An additional challenge that emerged was the opposition from Paul D` Arcy, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who upon hearing the proposed development argued that BigMart was in no position to make such demands. The Vice President of Operations also held the same opinion as the CFO, arguing that plant managers would not support the proposed changes. Through timely diagnosis and an effective strategy, I was successful in convincing all company employees to adopt the idea of change.
In the course of diagnosing the situation, consideration of employees within the top hierarchy of the organization who would either support or oppose the required change was necessary. Resisters and adopters are bound to emerge once proposed modifications to a company`s products are imminent. It was anticipated that the CFO would be one of the resisters since they are mainly concerned with the financial viability of the recommended change. Also, the Vice President of operations was expected to oppose the development knowing too well that the plant managers would not consent to the alterations.
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Considering the impending loss that the firm was bound to experience upon failing to consent to alterations, it was apparent that the CEO would readily consent to the recommended change. BigMart required Spectrum Sunglass Company to minimize its dependence on petrochemical raw materials, for instance, polycarbonate plastics. Also, noteworthy is that BigMart contributes up to 30% of Spectrum`s annual revenue and, therefore, the CEO could not just ignore the business` demands and feigning ignorance is something that the Vice President of human resources warned against since they were bound to lose business. Spectrum was offered 3 months to respond, failure to which their business would be diverted to competitors. The formal organizational hierarchy and social network were, therefore, essential in the change process since they make it possible for employees within all levels of the organization to interact freely for a common purpose.
I managed to succeed in influencing change by mobilizing employees within the organization through the adoption and actualization of credible and effective strategies. First, I conducted private interviews with managers belonging to the uppermost hierarchy of the company in a bid to raise their level of awareness. This move was essential since they hold significant influence over other employees within the organization and also those who belong to their team. I then issued e-mail notices, sought consultant`s support, and by the end of the fourth week, I had succeeded in mobilizing 7 senior personnel and attaining a credibility score of 6. The consultant had to be someone who does not belong to the organization and one that would exercise impartiality. The next strategy involved seeking the CEO`s public support. If the CEO was rooting for my idea, it meant that other employees would also end up offering me the necessary support. Afterwards, I adopted walking the talk technique which contributed greatly to the elevation of my credibility. At this stage, I demonstrated to other employees how the change would occur and more individuals became open to the idea. As a result, my credibility score increased from 6 to 9.
Restructuring the organization constituted the next step which was closely affiliated to announcing goals and deadlines of the organization, further earning me an extra credibility point. In the following weeks I further revised the reward mechanism so that I could compensate employees who supported the change initiative. The step that followed involved building a coalition of support. Individuals who were positive about the change by this point were supposed to influence others to believe in its practicality. Other essential strategies involved, post progress reports, telling a success story, privately confronting resisters, recognizing an adopter, providing internal skill-building, conducting additional private interviews, and confronting any remaining resisters. Due to the strategies adopted, I managed to attain 20 out of 20 adopters by the end of week 71 which ascertained that the change could be effected without any resistance.
Prior to the simulation, I had unsuccessfully tried to inform employees within the organization via email regarding the impending change. It is highly likely that they ignored the emails I sent to them. Those who read them might have deemed them unnecessary since I did not clearly highlight why the change being effected was necessary. Also, building coalition support turned out not to be as effective as I had anticipated. I realized later on that I ought to have enlightened them prior regarding the idea since no one appeared to support the change even after the effort I had put. Afterwards, I opted to come up with post progress reports pertaining to the business` operations which also did not bear any fruit. It did not occur to me that by posting the wellness of the company, most employees would view its performance as sufficient, hence, deem it unnecessary for change to occur.
It was only until when I sought to utilize the organizational hierarchy that all employees became aware of the forthcoming modification. Personnel tend to reciprocate their ideas better when they get information from their superiors. Part of the reason is due to the fact that they view the information as orders which they are required to fulfil ( Bridges, 2004 ). I also chose to rely on the formal systems such as budgeting which make it possible to collect data for change. According to Cawsey, Deszca & Ingols (2015 ), a change leader is expected to comprehend how formal systems impact the behaviors of individuals. Concurrently, by propagating social network information, I took advantage of the informal organization which involves culture, norms and values ( Cawsey, Deszca & Ingols, 2015 ). Through informal associations with employees it ended up being possible to change resisters to become adopters.
One of the most valuable insights gained regarding being a change leader is that it is fundamental to take time to assess the situation of a business at every stage of change. Communication can, for instance, be fostered so that the leader can understand how they can reach out to individuals with ease. The leader is also expected to thoroughly explain the need for change and connect this to the values of an organization ( Lewis & Sahay, 2019 ). Also, through the utilization of diagrams and graphs such as the ones depicting the hierarchy of leadership within the organization, one is capable of putting across their agenda of change. The action makes it possible for someone to understand how they can reach employees and also comprehend the measures necessary for them to take. Besides, the hierarchy makes it easy for the change leader to know who they have to approach first, so that they can come up with an effective plan ( Lewis & Sahay, 2019 ). The plan is, thus, likely to be successful after careful consideration of the parties involved.
In order to enhance future effectiveness in leading change, another lesson learnt is focusing on the bigger picture. The change leader in the current simulation should set their focus on convincing employees about the sustainability of their proposed idea regarding implementing different raw materials that are environmentally friendly. The simulation demonstrates my success in convincing high ranking individuals within the organization with the perception that they possess the capability of convincing junior employees which was not essentially the case. In future, it would be necessary to involve employees at all levels of the organization by ensuring that I meet them personally and convince them regarding any imminent change in the organization. The third insight gained from the simulation is that commitment is necessary for change to be effected. As a change leader, one has to demonstrate what they would like to be adopted through their own actions. Patience and persistence is a necessary virtue that has to be exercised in order to ensure that one does not tire of realizing the worthy cause.
To sum it up, it is apparent that through timely diagnosis and an effective strategy, I managed to convince all company employees to adopt the idea of change. Initially, this appeared to be difficult since there were many resisters in the organization. The CFO, for instance, deemed the change unnecessary since it was set to cost the business more. His sentiments were also echoed by The Vice President of operations who argued that it would be impossible for plant managers to support the proposed changes. The recommendations were, nevertheless, inevitable since BigMart is Spectrum`s largest client. In order to convince employees to support the forthcoming changes, I sent emails to them which turned out not to be effective. Posting a progress report also did not convince them since it only made them think that the company was performing well. Some of the strategies such as conducting private interviews, seeking the CEO`s public support, getting consultant`s support and walking the talk technique, however, worked effectively, and I was finally able to convince workers within the organization. What I learnt is that collaboration and individual interviews are necessary when one is seeking to influence employees to adopt their concept.
References
Bridges, W. (2004). Managing transitions: Making the most of change . Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.
Cawsey, T. F., Deszca, G., & Ingols, C. (2015). Organizational change: An action-oriented toolkit . Sage Publications.
Lewis, L., & Sahay, S. (2019). Organizational change . John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
