1. Introduction
In terms of business, leading a change refers to the development and management of any change on organizational level. It includes identifying the need for change, devising the ways to communicate with managers and workforce, and considerations relating to its implementation and monitoring (Elearn Limited (Great Britain), 2007; Smith et al., 2014; Pugh & Mayle, 2009).
This report is based on the analysis of change management practices utilized by the CEO of a coal mining company namely Patrick Dawson. The CEO has introduced a new appraisal system for its underground workforce based on the sample performance evaluation process of a steel company. The new appraisal system follows an inappropriate mechanism of rating and is faced with severe resistance by employees at all phases of its implementation. The underlying scenario will be analyzed from every critical angle in this paper.
2. Content Analysis and Suggestions for Improved Change Management Plan
While analyzed from the perspective of a change agent, it was a good Idea by CEO to introduce a performance appraisal plan. According to a general perception, performance assessment is in direct relationship with an employee motivation and increased level of motivation (as a result of appraisal) is always a booster to employee performance (DeNisi & Smith, 2014; Dusterhoff, Cunningham, & MacGregor, 2013; Shields, 2007; Lavigna, 2013). Hence, the decision was appreciable by nature.
However, there are several flaws when it comes to the implementation of the strategy. Current change initiated by the CEO of the mining company is centered on the change in policies towards human resources or people. As for nature of the change, it is a kind of revolutionary change due to certain characteristics. For example, the change is unwelcome by the workforce and the representatives of the workforce are not taken into confidence. Despite all the resistance, it is passing through the phases of implementation and is being imposed on the workforce irrespective of all their reservations. Not only this, but the middle managers are also unsure about the expected outcomes of this new strategy. Hence, the change has merely resulted of pressure from the senior management that makes it purely a revolutionary change (Senior & Fleming, 2006; Wit, B, & Meyer, 2010).
If the writer (of this paper) where the change agent, he would have based his actions and decisions on Kotter’s 8 Steps of change management (Sabri, Gupta, & Beitler, 2007; Rothwell, 2010) in a transformational style of leadership (Van Knippenberg & Sitkin, 2013). Transformational leadership and Kotter’s 8 steps of change are appropriate to the modern context of organizational dynamics (Van Knippenberg & Sitkin, 2013).
First of all, the CEO of the underlying Australian mining company should clearly announce the change with a sense of urgency. He should also show how urgent the change is and how it can be beneficial at all levels. Hence, the responsibility of a change agent at initial level extends into two considerations i.e. creating a sense of necessity and winning the trust and favor of stakeholders including employees. This would provide a solid base for further proceedings.
Then, there must be some vision associated to the change. All the “war stories” recounted by the victims show that current change has no solid vision at its bottom.
For this purpose, firstly, the manager should ‘create a vision’. There must be some clearly defined objectives attached to the underlying change. For example, the manager should contingent the ratings with performance and should consider it a source of employee recognition from the employee perspective besides treating it as a tool for improving organizational productivity (Van Knippenberg & Sitkin, 2013). Being deprived of a clear vision, the current change plan is causing the issue of poor performance.
After the creation of a vision, it comes to communicating the vision successfully. Conducting pre-implementation meetings sufficed for the CEO of the mining company and he took no serious initiative to make the change a name as suggested in Kotter’s model. He should try to embed it within the organizational culture. In other words, he is responsible to make the staff consider it an essential part of their organization.
In the next phase, the change agent is tasked with removing the doubts and reservations relating to the change. He should prepare and give a detailed presentation shedding light on benefits of change for organization and its people. For example, he should prove in argumentative manner how the performance appraisal would enhance the level of workforce motivation and would be a source of learning for employees. Some example from real world should also be included in these presentations to raise their effectiveness and maximize the chances of success. Like a transformational leader, the CEO should inspire his workforce and engage it in the change process to implement it successfully.
3. Miner’s Views about the Change
As discussed in the case, the change was critically resisted by the employees. The middle managers and HRM were assigned the responsibility to implement the new performance appraisal system. But, they were really concerned about their failure in doing so despite following a standard pattern of change management. As a manager holds, “we are fighting a battle in which performance was the loser”. And, the lapse of performance was due to demotivation spread within workforce due to their disagreement based on their concerns about the underlying change.
3.1. Threat to Their Occupational Community
One of the major categories of reasons for resistance to a change is ‘social causes’. With reference to this, employees consider a change unwelcome to them due to its being in tension with their social identity or for any other social reasons (Roussel, Swansburg, & Swansburg, 2006; Harvey & Broyles, 2010; Carr, 2006). Mining is not only a job for the miners in the underlying Australian company, but it has developed into a social identity.
These miners belong to a community of miners and mining has become an essential part of their culture. It will not be out of place to state, either, that mining is now their culture. They associate certain values, norms, traditions, and other factors to that community. Another thing worth mentioning in this regard is that the employees belonging to an occupational community draw their values from their work routine. They consider these values important part of their life and they become a way of their living (Rothwell, 2010).
While analyzed from this perspective, it is natural on the part of employees to put resistance against the change being implemented. As discussed, the change was not communicated clearly by the CEO and he was also failing to create any vision. This was an utmost need. There must have been a vision or motivating factor. And, it should have been higher than the vision of employees attached to occupational community. They consider a new mechanism for performance management a threat to their norms and routines. To them, it would cause a change in their occupational identity, and they do not want to lose their long-established identity.
In addition to this, their values are being distorted badly as the change covers the phases of implementation. For example, the new system of performance assessment is characterized by injustice. It is found that their rating is predetermined and reviews are useless. Therefore, they are not willing to embrace the change. In a nutshell, resistance to the change by the miners is a ‘war’ to save their occupational identity.
3.2. Implicative Forces for Change Resistance
Apart from one discussed above, the resistance of employees in the mining industry can also be based on many other general factors. In broad terms, the resistance is divided into two categories including conscious and unconscious. Conscious factors are those that are developed as a result of foresight towards the bad implication of change (Ellis, 2007). One of the conscious reasons of resistance associated with the change in hand is discussed above (i.e. Threat to occupational identity). Furthermore, the employees are not clear on the objectives of the change, as these are not clearly defined through communication. Therefore, they fear that the ultimate outcomes of the change will cause a reduction in their benefits.
Unconscious resistance is based on employees’ transition from ‘known to the unknown’. In other words, they have been accustomed to a set of human resource policies for years. Therefore, they consider the change a doorway into the realm of uncertainties and risks. It is unnatural for them to welcome it with open arms due to this reason. The CEO is failing to clear their doubts and reservations. And even, if he had succeeded in that regard, the unconscious resistance would have existed, though not in as an extreme form as it is now.
4. Communication Plan for Continuous Change Management
It is important for the management to communicate the change effectively to management team and workforce to make its smooth implementation possible (Ellis, 2007). Following a communication plan is devised that is the sum of all strategies, methods, and techniques directed towards maximizing the changes of successful implementation of the underlying change plan:
5. Conclusion
Based on the insight gathered from the key findings, it is established that the strong resistance to the change is the result of bad leadership. The change management plan needs to be reconsidered and revised at its base. The CEO of the mining company should clearly communicate the objectives of the change to managers and the workforce. He should build an atmosphere of trust instead of proceeding like a transitional leader. Furthermore, monitoring of change should also be based on optimized mechanism. Managers’ and employees’ feedbacks should be responded in the most appropriate manner. For example, the appraisal system needs to be made transparent and based on employee performance. All these considerations will not only mitigate the resistance, but will also make it a source of improving organizational performance.
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