How might top management have done a better job changing Electra products into a new kind of organization? What might they do now to get the empowerment process back on track?
According to Daft (2010), the role of top management in empowering employees or implementing any change is to demonstrate commitment to change, provide good leadership, which involves influencing employees, creating and changing values and culture, and communicate the goals to all employees. The process also requires an honest, sincere, and open communication with all employees.
As stated in the case, the company has experienced problems including diminishing market share, low morale, communication problems, and high turnover. The commitment of the top management to change program should have been credible and visible had he allocated time for the meeting and attended until the end. As a new manager, he needs to earn the trust of the employees before embarking on the change process. Things got worse when the main facilitator, Griffin excused himself from the meeting at the point when Barbara and her team were presenting their innovative ideas to departmental heads. The success of any empowerment program depends on the organizational structure and its enabling environment. Trust building and effective communication can help the top management get the empowerment process back on track. Additionally, Griffin should make an effort to change the attitudes of employees like Simon and others who have a negative attitude towards empowerment.
Of course, Barbara could have avoided the problem her team faced by employing her communication skills because the nature of the problem requires this skill. At this point, she has to show her ability to convince as well as appeal to the participants of the meeting. Similarly, she should advice Martin to use communication skills, which could help him persuade the team and the departmental heads.
Furthermore, there were other options that could enable her avoid the problem her team faced in the meeting. According to the case, Martin had excused himself from the meeting at the time when Barbara and her team were enthusiastically presenting their new ideas to the department heads. This could have also contributed to the disagreement among the team and department heads. For that reason, Barbara should have cancelled the meeting and arranged for another meeting with the presence of Martin. Meanwhile, the agenda of the meeting was not as basic as selecting a boss, but was an issue that required deep analysis and consideration, which made arranging another meeting a crucial technique.
If you were Barbara, what would you do now? Why?
The options that Barbara could consider include:
- Keep her mouth shut
- Take her time and discuss with Martin if he really wanted the change.
- Slow down the reform process and work for gradual support from other teams.
- Quit her current job and look for another.
If I were Barbara, I would advise her to two options from the listed alternative:
- Slow down the reform process and work for gradual support from other teams.
Justification
This option is taken into consideration by assuming that, among the given options, it has better merits for both Barbara and the organization even if it will consume more time. Furthermore, as depicted from the case, the organization has experienced serious problems and given their nature, they need thorough investigation and analysis in order to come up with a fruitful solution.
- Take her time and discuss with Martin if he really wanted the change.
Justification
Using human/communication skills is appropriate and compulsory, for the reason of gauging the sincerity of Martin in making empowerment work.
Reference:
Daft, L. D. (2010). Management. Connecticut: Cengage Learning.
