Implementing_Change

Implementing Leadership Change Tamara Hannah, Diana Thomas, Kimberly Lomax, Sheree Perkins, Quincy Williams LDR/531 October 29, 2012 Greta Zeimetz Implementing Leadership Change Gene One Change can be accidental, or it can be “intentional, goal-oriented activity” . The goals of intentional, or planned, change are to: improve the ability of the organization to adapt to changes in its environment” and to “change employee behavior” . The purpose of this assignment is to identify two strategies which would enable the leadership team of Gene One to implement its desired change. Two strategies have been identified, Kotter’s Eight Step Plan and the Action Research Process, both of which are processes for implementing change. While both strategies are different, they can be used by the leadership team to lead the company to their desired outcomes while enabling the company to remain an innovative organization. Gene One is a biotech company that whose CEO and Board believe that in order to keep pace with demand and realize conservative annual growth targets of 40%, Gene One is going to have to go public within three years. Working toward a 36-month maximum deadline, the CEO and his Board have devised a clear strategy with the help of key members in the investment community. It is their hope that implementing it will help Gene One realize its growth targets, establish the company as a strong competitor and show Wall Street that Gene One has the leadership and organizational capabilities to succeed as a public entity. Gene One faces various challenges to becoming a publicly traded entity, those of which include: 1) lack of IPO experience; 2) negative publicity; 3) lack of support from the senior leadership team; 4) lack of IPO capital for new development, advertisement and marketing that is essential to maintain its success; and 5) added demands associated with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Desired Outcomes for Gene One Strong leadership is paramount to positive organizational behavior. Don Ruiz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gene One, exhibits expert power of which is evident because of the outcome of the conflicts stemming from the company’s plans to go public (Apollo, 2008). When the company’s VP of technology research labs resigned, Ruiz was awakened to the seriousness of his employee’s concerns. Taking his position seriously, Ruiz worked to finding a solution that would please both the board members and the company’s department personnel. However, despite Ruiz’s desire to retain employees, he met with much opposition from his team that believed the company should terminate many employees. Ruiz came to realize the company’s internal culture was declining and that changes had to be made. Discussions with various department personnel led Ruiz to understand that employees’ concerns lay primarily with the goal of making an excellent product, thereby giving Ruiz reason to question Gene One’s plans to go public. Given the nature of the internal conflicts, Ruiz took a stand in working toward maintaining Gene One’s commitment to be a contributor to the greater good of society, which resulted in a positive media output praising Ruiz’s leadership skills and all the contributions of the company’s executive team. The outcome of the changes resulted in the company’s ability to operate near its rated capacity, which is essential to increasing a minimum of 40% revenue growth per year and to enable the company for the development of new products. By applying elements of coercive and reward power (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005), the company laid off some employees and gave those who showed greatest potential the opportunity for improvement with incentives based on a merit system. As a direct result, the company could expand and operate at full capacity and subsequently realizes the major goals of maintaining minimum revenue growth and the development of new products. Kotter’s Eight Steps for Implementing Change John Kotter came up with a plan for implementing change in an organization. His plan was called Kotter's Eight Step Plan it was built off of Lewin's three step model (Robbins & Judge, 2011). Kotters plan is a more detailed plan on the change process. Step 1 of the plan is to esteblish a sence of urgency by creating a compelling reason for why change is needed. step 2 is to form a coalition with enough power to lead the change. step 3 is to create a new vision to direct the change and strategies for achieving the vision. step 4 is to communicate the vision throughout the organization. Step 5 is to empower others to act on the vision by removing barriers to change and encouraging risk taking and creative problem solving. step 6 is plan for, create and reward short- term "wins" that move the organization toward the new vision. Step 7 consolidate improvements, reassess changes, and make necessary adjustments in the new programs. The final step 8 is to reinforce the changes by demonstrating the relationship between new behaviors and organizational success (Robbins & Judge, 2011). If Gene One follows these steps the organization will be successful in its change. Appreciative Inquiry Strategy for Implementing Change Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a second strategy Gene One needs to develop new products and achieve its 40% annual growth. According to Robbins and Judge (2011), AI is a four-step process that encourages leaders and managers to focus on the organizational qualities, strengths, and successes to grow. The four steps of AI process include (1) discovery, (2) dreaming, (3) design, and (4) destiny discovery. The discovery step gives the opportunity to employees to discuss only the aspects of their positive perception and feelings about of their organization (Robbins & Judge, 2011). In this discovery step, Gene One’s employees will discuss individual and organizational success stories. Some examples of Gene One successes include the $400 million grow in eight years, the ability to preserve farmers of using pesticides to grow plants, and the health benefits for consumers. Employees can also discuss individual successes such as the nomination of Teri Robertson as “CTO Of The Year Award” by the CTO International Review. Teri’s individual success is an important contribution to Gene One’s current and future success. The dreaming step allows employees and leaders to visualize better situation of their organization in the future (Robbins & Judge, 2011). This dreaming step is critical to persuade each employee of Gene One about the potential opportunities the proposed change will bring. For example, Gene One’s employees can understand that an annual growth of 40% will result in financial increase of $160 million in the first year, $224 million in the second year, and $313.6 million in the third year, with $400 million as the base. Therefore, the 40% growth each year will move Gene One to $560 million in the first year, to $784 million in the second year, and to $1,097.6 million in the third year. Leaders of Gene One can even add incentives such as percentages of annual bonus that employees can receive from the organizational growth. The design step helps leaders and employees to have a shared understanding and perception of the organizational vision and potentials (Robbins & Judge, 2011). In this step, Gene One’s leaders will help employees and managers to incorporate the goals, objectives, approaches, and the strengths. The CEO has the opportunity at this stage to clarify his new vision and to make sure employees understand. For example, the CEO’s statement in Gene One’s scenario was appropriate for this step. He stated: “We want to grow this business 40 percent per year for the next three years, and we want to find additional funding so we can introduce new products. Going public is our only ticket. It will give us the credibility and capital that come with being a publicly traded company.” The fourth step in the AI process consists of discovering the destiny of the organization and developing plans and implementation strategies. The “Executive Summary” is good way of developing plans and strategies to implement the change Gene One’s leaders want to see. Leaders can work with managers to review the “Executive Summary,” receive inputs from all employees, and release a final version that takes into account all contributions. Leaders will also ask each manager to provide plans and strategies specific to her or his areas. For example, Ron, the CEO of Gene One does it well when he asked Teri to give some outlines of the new technologies and the timeline to complete the new products. Charles, the marketing officer would also provide his marketing plans. Greg would develop plans to communicate the change to employees. The appreciative inquiry strategy is helpful to obtain useful information from employees. The appreciative inquiry is a way to engage leaders and managers in the change process. According to Holland and Skarke (2003), “A powerful tool for success is getting the influence leaders on the line involved as subject matter experts early in the technical side of the project and keeping them involved. Line managers are usually pragmatic.” (p. 4, para. 4). The positive focus allows all employees to make an assessment of the qualities, the strengths, and the successes they have as individuals and as an organization. The four steps of the appreciative inquiry process will Gene One’s employees to make constructive feedback that will help the company to achieve the 40% annual growth and the development of new products. This process of positive focus is a good way to establish a culture of change in every organization. Conclusion References About AR/AL: Action Research. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2012, from ALARA: www.alara.net.au/ aral/actionresearch Stephen P. Robbins, T. A. (2011). Organizational Behavior. Pearson Education. Yukl, G. A. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational behavior (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. McShane & Von Glinow (2005). Organizational Behavior 6th/e. New York: McGraw-Hill.