Problem:
The two case scenario contain discussions of a change management project that went well and one that did not go well from two different learners. It also listed the factors that lead to the success or failure of the project.
Please provide comments for both of these discussions pertaining to the following:
When responding to others, seek clarification, share your personal experiences that relate to their experience, and provide feedback on their posts. In addition, consider providing suggestions for how others can improve their change management processes and call out themes that emerge throughout the discussion.
Case Scenario:
As an engineer, I support a specific product line within our company. We have historically achieved great success with this product and leadership would like to extend that into the future. Mid last year, the VP/GM for the product line established new goals for engineering that consists of two targets: Product Improvement and Cost Reduction. Essentially, improve the features of the product to make it more attractive while reducing the unit cost of the product. These are being worked through two separate areas within engineering and I’m responsible for the Cost Reduction.
These changes have provided both good and poor examples of managing change. First, what has gone well is that for the Product Improvement, a dedicated team exists within our R&D organization to focus on this effort. The targets were given to the R&D Chief Engineer who leveraged the existing organizational structure to communicate the targets and set goals for what needed to be done. With regard to the Cost Reduction, I am reporting directly to the Product Line chief (without a senior manager to provide day to day guidance or hold the management team accountable) and expected to utilize the engineering team that supports the product line. Establishing a sense of urgency throughout the organization is challenging because this same team is responsible for on-going support to the product line which will see an unprecedented increase to our production rates this year. Adding the task of reducing costs doesn’t get anyone excited because everyone has a full workload already.
Kotter (1996) cites “establishing a sense of urgency” and “creating the guiding coalition” as the first two steps to create major change. The R&D team established audacious goals, communicated them to their team and established a leadership team to execute. In reality, they have routine meetings and communication and are making progress on their plan. The Cost Reduction effort on the other hand, feels like we’re supposed to be at Step #5 “Empowering Broad-Based Action” (Kotter, 1996) even though we management hasn’t communicated any sense of urgency or created the guiding coalition to lead the change. The team is struggling because we don’t have necessary priority or leaders in place to make the change happen.
References
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
Case Scenario:
A change management project that did not go well was trying to implement Vista. Our Desktop Management Services technical team (DMS) was in charge of implementing Vista to around 40,000 employees. Their first steps were to build an image for testing in different stages depending on what errors were found or if something needed to be tweaked in the image. The images would be called Beta, Pilot 1, Pilot 2 and Production. Site leads were suppose to do the testing of their software to see if it was compatible with the image. The site leads were given 2 weeks to do their testing; if they failed to do it was pushed out any way with no testing. We made it through Pilot 1 and that was as far as it went; they did not finish implementing it.
Currently they are in the process of trying to implement Windows 7. They have asked me to work on part of the project getting the printers ready for 64 bit drivers. Currently I am at a stand still waiting on that team to make some decisions. They have setup meetings and continuously cancel them.
Kotter (1996) increasing urgency demands that you remove sources of complacency or minimize their impact: for instance, eliminating such signs of excess as a big corporate air force; setting higher standards both formally in the planning process and informally in day-to-day interaction. (p 42)
A change management project that went well was switching to Cisco IP phones. There were continuous meetings with all parties involved. Everyone that had a vested interest attended the meetings to make sure everything ran smoothly. Since we are a Support Center/Help Desk everything had to be coordinated with everyone’s schedule. Depending on a techs schedule some had to use both phone systems during the cutover. One of the key players in the implementation was actually a tech from our Support Center. Daily communication was sent out to the Support Center to keep everyone informed as to what steps were going to be taken.
Reference:
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.