Case Study: Applications of the Frameworks for Managing Change

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From the course by University of London

Management Skills for International Business

149 ratings

University of London

Management Skills for International Business

149 ratings

Course 2 of 6 in the Specialization International Business Essentials

This course focuses on a range of management techniques. You’ll discover the main skills and competencies of effective leaders, and how to distinguish between management and leadership. The course will cover team dynamics, how to build effective relationships, key motivation theories, and how to use communication to best effect. This course forms part of a specialisation from the University of London designed to help you develop and build the essential business, academic, and cultural skills necessary to succeed in international business, or in further study. If completed successfully, your certificate from this specialisation can also be used as part of the application process for the University of London Global MBA programme, particularly for early career applicants. If you would like more information about the Global MBA, please visit www.londoninternational.ac.uk/mba This course is endorsed by CMI

From the lesson

Managing Change

This week we will be looking to explore the following key area:<BR><BR> *a range of techniques when communicating in the workplace<BR> *selecting the most appropriate delivery channel<BR> *the differences and similarities between verbal/non-verbal communication<BR> *the need to understand and manage the grapevine<BR><BR> At the end of this week the key learning objectives will be:<BR><BR> (1)to have an awareness of several approaches to effective communication in the workplace<BR> (2)to understand and apply the key criteria when selecting the best available delivery channel<BR> (3)to have have an understanding of the importance and key aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication<BR> (4)to have an awareness of the inevitable existence of the grapevine and how it’s impact can be managed<BR>

Key Concept: Frameworks for Managing Change | Introduction2:55

Key Concept | Kurt Lewin's 3 Step Change Management Model5:01

Key Concept: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model10:44

Key Concept | Kubler-Ross's 5-Stage Model4:07

Case Study: An Introduction to the Applications of the Frameworks for Managing Change5:41

Case Study: Applications of the Frameworks for Managing Change9:33

Case Study: Interview with Reetu Kansal | Key Skills in Managing Change12:27

Meet the Instructors

David James
Founder and Director, DJ Learning Ltd
University of London

[MUSIC]

So Ollie, with your workplace experience of change going through

as you've been in the workplace.

What examples have you got to share with us?

>> This example is actually the first time I ever came across

Kubler-Ross's Change Curve.

So, in a previous role, it was one of the biggest

system changes I'd ever been part of.

So, in a nutshell it was replacing an old archaic system.

With something that everyone was led to believe would completely

change the way we dealt with our customers.

I was a team leader at that time.

So everything seemed to be very much planned meticulously,

from balloons on day of launch and all of that sort of thing.

>> [LAUGH] >> But I'll just say,

the first time I came across this change curve and

its sort of pure theory was in one of the early Paul Hans courses.

because the system had gone live and it didn't work.

And it was causing all sorts of problems.

So rather than being the thing that was supposed to say.

It was very much a case of this has actually caused a lot more work and

a lot of problems for whatever reasons.

And we went through the change curve and about where our people were sitting.

And I guess the thing that came out for me is that while

the pure theory of it is sound and very interesting.

I think there was also the real world factor that, well, I don't know.

What am I going to achieve as a manager of people,

briefing people on this change curve when they're tired.

They're probably not very happy that they've been

given a system that doesn't work.

And the impact that's had on them, on sort of the customer base.

And, the fact that it made for unhappy customers which make for unhappy people.

>> Gosh. That is quite a scenario.

Because what we've seen from Ollie's situation.

Is a change that was set up as being what we call a transformational change.

So make a huge difference to the way things are done from state

one to state two.

So having the old system to the new system.

And what we can see is, from the situation that we've just heard about,

the unfreeze stage of Lewin's framework.

So getting everybody ready for

the change itself doesn't seem to have gone quite to plan.

If we look at Kotter's framework where you create a sense of urgency.

You give a compelling vision for what the future would look like.

Well, I guess you could say that there was a compelling vision given at the outset of

what the future would look like.

>> Yeah. >> It just didn't turn out like that.

>> Certainly not at the early stages, no.

>> [LAUGH] No, it didn't go quite to the compelling vision that

perhaps Kotter's framework would have hoped according to that framework.

And then of course we have got the application of Kubler-Ross's framework.

So the individuals within that particular organization.

Because they were sold a transformational change that was there to make

their workplace better, a better place to be.

From the old equipment that they were using and

the processes that they were using to underpin the work they did.

To a new world underpinned by much more modern, faster, more reliable technology.

But it didn't work on day one.

So you have the situation there if you look at Kubler-Ross.

Where you've already got the initial anger, denial, distrust.

That was almost reinforced by the fact that the unfreeze stage.

And the creating this sense of a compelling vision of what it would

look like.

It just didn't work.

So, the example that we've just heard is an example

of failure in organizational transformational change.

But we also know that there are very few

organizations that manage change effectively.

So, in the battle for longer term organizational survival,

failed change is quite frequent.

Perhaps if we pause to think about why that might be so,

there are some clear pitfalls right at the outset.

Because you're going to have this level of employee resistance and

perhaps denial and perhaps anger.

You've got an immediate stakeholder conflict because the organization is

introducing the change for a purpose.

And today's purpose is to get that change in place as quickly as possible.

So you're going to have an immediate stakeholder tension between organization

and employee that needs to be managed.

And it needs to be managed straight away.

We also, which was not the case in the example that Ollie shared with us,

need to be able to regularly manage expectations.

Particularly if what was planned turned out to be very different from what was

actually happening, particularly if the change is going wrong.

And we also need to think about the reality of how long all this will take.

Because again, organizations implementing change

yesterday in some sectors may not be fast enough.

Not literally, but it needs to be implemented as quickly as possible.

So if for example we look at the mobile phone sector,

or any area where there is technology involved.

You have a situation there where the speed of change is relentless.

It's getting faster and faster and faster.

Particularly as the global marketplace is getting bigger and

bigger in some of the emerging economies.

And there you've got a new phenomenon.

They call it disruptive innovation.

And disruptive innovation is relentless change that is underpinned by technology.

You've also got a situation, if you look at changes in organizational structure.

So for example, in a merger situation or

an acquisition situation or a joint venture situation.

An enormous amount of change and

aspirational synergy to economies of scale.

Will be looked to take place if you have a situation like that.

But how long, then, does the re-freeze, for

example, stage of Lewin's model take to come in place?

I was involved in the merger of two big banks.

And they came together.

I was actively involved at senior level with all of the different merger

processes.

So aligning of jobs, aligning of functions, aligning of locations,

alignment of managers, leaders, at all levels.

Alignment of IT platforms.

As a matter of fact, it was a minimum of eight,

nine years before those changes started to be reinforced.

And specific examples that would demonstrate that were

the alignment of the IT platforms.

Because across the two banks they were so complicated and

their IT platforms were so different.

And within each of the two banks there were several IT platforms.

And as one of the compelling visions, so

Kotter's ambitions of this change, was to get one aligned IT platform.

The complexities involved were huge.

The rework regularly was almost inevitable because of those complexities.

The cost was far greater than anticipated.

So that meant it all took a lot more time than was originally planned.

Secondly, when you're bringing two employee populations together from,

in this particular case, very different workplace cultures.

It takes a long time for people to get used to the new world.

I can remember attending meetings six,

seven, eight years after the merger came to place.

And we'd sit down and we'd get ready for this meeting.

And frequently the first topic of conversation wasn't about

what the meeting was about, it was are you one color or another color?

Because one color represented one of the organizations.

And the other color represented the other organization.

It's a really interesting scenario.

But it just demonstrates, again, when we're looking at frameworks.

Bringing these frameworks, Lewin, Kotter, Kubler-Ross's frameworks to life,

is a lot, lot more complex than reading the textbook.

[MUSIC]

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