Change Management in Bettington Trading and Sons
As a family company, Bettington trading and sons has experienced a commendable growth in business over some years. Transfer of management from one family member to the other with the help a professional board of directors has seen the company remain sustainable due to commitment and relationship building. However, a move to implement change in the organization by a family member tasked with managing the company has met frustrations from the board of directors who do not seem to agree with how this should be done so fast.
The management is not in agreement on whether the company should move from producing large batches to designer fabrics. It can be easily assumed that the management feared the possible restructuring that was to come with implementing the proposed changes. Modjo’s children do not have a command of respect from the board. The company is likely to experience management coordination problems as Palme, Dunford and Akin (2009) demonstrate. Implementing change in the company is likely to lead to loss of jobs by some of the board members. Adopting the proposed change will require the current board members to increase their skills, and this may call for further studies. Changing to a new production approach may disrupt the company operations since simplicity is critical as far as diversification may be necessary. It can also be assumed that the existing managerial information systems are obsolete. The information received in the company crisis is useful. However, the challenge could be temporary, and the change may be unnecessary. If the board had effective managerial communication systems, they would have essential information at their disposal to address the challenges the company is facing. The current technology possessed by the company is not effective to give it a competitive advantage according to Parmenter (2015). This could be the reason why the management haven’t thought of changing the business approach of the company due to ineffective information communication systems. Adoption of new technology may constrain the company financially and inhibit its operations. The competitors have learned about the strengths and weaknesses of the company and are developing strategies to outdo it in the industry. There is a high competition in the industry and every player is working on how best they can have a competitive advantage. The company may miss out on the target markets because of less research on competition. Fast changes in production approaches may lead to compromising of quality giving competitors a competitive edge. Gradual changes would be essential. There is a big customer base in the fashion industry who can easily be turned into loyal buyers. However, there is a change in customer preferences which could see loyal ones opt for other brands because of changes in tastes and new trends.
Current situation in BTS
BTS is facing a management crisis with the long-serving members of the board against implementing change. As Greiner (1972) indicate, managers who have served in an organization for a long period are likely to hold on to the old structures and practices because they derive their authority from such structure in an organization. However, individuals with the company history are better placed to understand company problems as compared to those who haven’t according to Northouse (2015). As the author demonstrates, the problems that are likely to face an organization in future can be well understood from an internal approach rather than using the external forces. In many cases, the problems that an organization faces are rooted in the previous actions that managers made wrongly. Such managers will frustrate efforts to ensure change in an organization because they understand implementing the change is likely to expose them. Managers who are blamed for wrong decisions will frustrate new ones when it comes to implementing changes. The new and young managers end up leaving the organization and in many cases, such organizations go bankrupt after some time.
The young management in BTS is trying to change the old structures in the company that have seen it start to lose grasp of the market to other new players. The old management is against the change because they fear being affected by the changes. They are frustrating the changes on grounds that the young managers are trying to be smart and ignoring the opportunities that the young managers are looking forward to grasping.
In comparison to Malhotra and Hinings (2015), there are two forms of implementing changes in an organization. A manager can use either a revolutionary approach or an evolutionary approach to implementing change in an organization. In an evolutionary approach, the manager or organizational leaders implement change gradually while influencing others to buy into the change process. When this approach is used in implementing change, it takes some time for the manager to ensure the organization is transformed. When an evolutionary approach is used in transforming an organization, there are few wrangles involved between the management team because individuals are given time to embrace the change. On the other hand, when the management embraces a revolutionary approach to change, there is a possibility of management wrangles. This approach faces a lot of frustrations during the initial stages because it calls for changes in an organization within a very short time. The approach does not give other players in the company enough time to adjust to the proposed changes, but they are supposed to buy in the new process. Managers who derive their authority and power from existing structures are likely to oppose the effort to transform the organization into new practices. However, in a revolutionary approach to change, the wrangles last for a particular period and later the organization comes to a point of convergence. At this point, the company returns to normal operations with new structures and processes that give it a competitive advantage. The company is likely to recover from the losses made when it was undergoing challenges during the transformational time. The new manager in BTS is using a revolutionary approach to ensure the transformation of the organization from the old practices to new practices to give it a competitive advantage. The manager is facing opposition from long-serving members of the board who have been involved in the company management and do not believe in change. BTS may experience challenges in the approach taken by the new management to transform it to a competitive company based on the existing market trends in the fashion industry for some time. However, the company is likely to come to a point of convergence where the management will be in agreement and get back to its competitive position as it was before because of the strong brand and customer loyalty. The company has to endure the crisis time as it is the case for many organizations undergoing transformational change, but later it will get back to normal, embrace change and continue with normal operations.
BTS and system deep structure
The organization history of BTS is a replication of what scholars refers to in their address to system deep theory.According to Gersick (1991), in the system deep theory, an organization is faced with a prolonged time of stability where there are stable structures that are trusted to run an organization effectively. At this time, the organization experiences no challenges and has a stable management. During this time, the management becomes comfortable with the performance and only allowing some small room for change so as the organization is adaptable to market conditions. At the deep structure stage of an organization, there are differentiated units too and the organization operates based on these units. There is an exchange of resources within an organization within the differentiated units in an organization. The differentiation in the units controls the level of activities and exchange of resources by the different parties involved in the organization and the environment.An organization further gets into an equilibrium stage where it experiences minimum challenges, and there is a smooth flow of activities and no management issues within the organization. However, during the equilibrium period of the organization, challenges are likely to emerge such as poor managerial decisions that might cost an organization in future. These challenges can only be addressed by a new leader who has the intention to transform an organization into a new entity that suits the current market trends for a competitive advantage. Such a leader who comes up with an initiative to transform an organization will in many cases face opposition and frustrations from existing management team who are beneficiaries of the old structures.There are some consistencies between the events in BTS and what is expressed in theory.The company has a history of deep structures built on family management and professional management. There is a differentiation between the styles of management embraced by the family especially the new management and that of the existing board members. Over a long time, BTS has been at a point of equilibrium where it has experienced no challenge. It is during this time that the company developed stable structures that have seen it through success for a long period. However, the changing business trends and advancement in technology have seen its revenues reduces due to the emergence of other players in the industry who can offer cheap cotton and fabric to the consumers. This has prompted a management upheaval between the new managers from the family who want to have the company change its business style and process and the old management who want to uphold the existing structures.
Importance of narrative and storytelling to the company
Narrative and storytelling are essential aspects of organizational change. According to Dailey and Browning (2014), through narratives organizations can communicate organizational culture to other members of the company to ensure a harmonious coexistence based on practices. Storytelling is essential to BTS because, through storytelling, the management team can share their account of experience with the company practices to the new management. This will help the new managers to adopt an approach that is likely to face little opposition from the board of directors. On the other hand, the new managers for the company might be having a different account of the organization’s story from their parents. This could be the reason they are trying to change the way of doing things in the organization.Sharing a story on the need for transformational change in the organization by the new management would help convince the board members to understand the need to change existing structures. The resistance from other board members in the company could be as a result of lack of reference cases that have embraced transformational change through revolution to achieve success. Sharing a story of successful cases to the board of directors of companies that have gained a competitive advantage through a revolutionary change would have made things easy for the new management.As Van de Ven and Sun (2011) state, lack of information and continued research limits the experiences of individuals on management styles and practices.
Storytelling by the new company management would also serve as the basis to convince the board members of the good intentions that the change will bring. Since the company has been under the family management and has a history of good remuneration and employee welfare, the new managers from the family could use such aspects in storytelling to assure the board members of good intentions and the continuity of organizational culture despite changes. According to Coghlan and Brannick (2014), proper research and facts about an organization need to be involved in storytelling for it to be effective.
Intervening models to be used in BTS
Collaborative modes of intervening are an essential approach to effect change in an organization. Different change agents use different modes depending on the existing situation in an organization according to Burke and Noumair (2015). In the case of BTS using the supportive approach in effecting change is the organization would be an effective approach. Since the board members are against the change suggested by Modjo’s children who are the new managers of the company, it would be essential if they engaged in a collaborative approach. Using the supportive approach will help every board member give their opinions, express their feelings and emotions a move that would define a better approach to the change process. Some board members could be against the decision just because they are insecure of losing their positions. The suggestion could be a viable one for the company but due to different perceptions and emotions that cannot be openly expressed some members opted to resist the plan.According to Hayes (2014), allowing for free emotional expression, feelings, and opinions without judgment or premature conclusions. Using the challenging approach in collaborative intervention is another approach that can help the change agents in BTS to implement change in the company. By embracing the challenging approach, the change agents can understand the values, beliefs and reservations among the board members and stakeholders that are inhibiting change. According to Cummings and Worley (2014), by understanding such beliefs and assumptions, the change agents can embrace a tailored strategy that can handle the assumptions and beliefs of those resisting change.Modjo’s children are in this case the change agents in the company. They want to have the company redefined to shift its operational style to a new one that is likely to earn it a competitive advantage.
Typology of Organizational change for BTS
There are different typologies of organizational change which include tuning, re-orientation, adaptation, and recreation. When tuning approach is used, it give time for the change of organizational processes and policies. It is not immediate and allows time for making adjustments. Adaptation involves a response to external situations such as a price reduction by competitors which calls for an organization to make changes so that it can keep up with the other players in the industry. Re-orientation involves changes that an organization makes while anticipating certain conditions in future. Such an approach helps an organization to be ready for any future opportunities that may arise. A re-creation approach involves making fast changes in an organization. In this case, the internal structures and systems are completely interfered with due to change. When this approach is embraced, there are high chances of an organization being disoriented and it may take time for such an organization to return to a position of convergence and stability.
Using the tuning approach for BTS will be a good approach for the company since it will allow for gradual adjustments that will not have negative impacts on the organization such as disorientation.According to Hayes et al.(2014), the approach allows for changing the existing policies, coming up with preferable designs and adopting advanced technology in the most effective way without affecting the normal operations of the company.
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