Manage Organisational Change Assessment Answers

Part One

You are required to develop an organizational change management plan that:

1. Discusses the strategic changes that need to be made following a merger

To ensure the merger is successfully implemented. It is highly important to revise strategic changes that may benefit both companies. In most merging situations, both companies will have different organizational cultures and management methods which creates high incompatibility; even companies within the same industry or high similarity will face difficulties in unification (The Economist, 2014). This problem generally occurred due to ignorance when both parties withheld sensitive cooperate information during the discussion stage for merging. Furthermore, no common vision may cause merging to fail after both companies merge. Other problems such as poor governance, communications and management may also indirectly be a failure source after merging (Siegenthaler, 2010). Nevertheless, one key benefit of a merger is both companies will gain a rise in share price significantly; therefore a lot of companies try their best to set aside differences and go through the merging process.

Based on the above strategic analysis, the consulting company needs to revise a strategic change to cope with the merger. The primary change that the merging company should implement is to develop a new vision and mission statement that will align its company value with the merging company. To counter problems associated with governance, communications and management, merging companies need to re-design the management approach by analyzing merging companies and communicating with merging companies regarding their existing management approach so that both can reach a uniform agreement. Next, operational activities restructuring, and merging companies need to check any existing legislation relating to financial institute mergers to which they need to comply.

1. Monitor trends in the external environment to identify trends that may impact the success of the merger. You should research data from government websites, statistics affecting the industry, etc., for up-to-date current trends affecting the financial industry today

Merging with financial institutions gives both companies access to better monetary support on current business as well as venturing into new industries. However, one of the major trends in the financial institute merger case was loss of customers after the merger took place. Pilcher (2013) stated that almost all financial institutes lost 17% of their customers switching their service providers and 31% of customers remain at switching risk.

Source: Pilcher, J. (2013) How to Keep Customers From Jumping Ship After A Merger. The Financial Brand, retrieved on June 13, 2017, from: https://thefinancialbrand.com/27872/merger-communications-strategies-for-financial-institutions/

1. Look at potential/hypothetical operational change requirements following the merger

According to the Australian Treasury Department mergers and Acquisitions, chapter 6 indicates that the principal objective of merger regulation requires both parties to have no power to choose their level of profit deriving from the merger process. Meanwhile, according to anti-competition policy and regulations, mergers should not cause an imbalance in the market resulting in a monopoly or breaching consumers’ rights (Australian Treasury Department, n.d.).

Source: Australian Treasury Department (n.d.). Chapter 6: Mergers & Acquisitions. In Australian Treasury Department, Financial System Inquiry, pp.155. Retrieved June 13, 2017, from https://fsi.treasury.gov.au/content/downloads/DiscussionPaper/chapt06.pdf

Based on the findings, Bounce Fitness needs to review the business operation to ensure it complies with the Trade Practices Act 1974. The merging process allows the company to introduce new financial products to its customers, these new products, the company needs to make sure the products offered does not violate any Trade Practices Act 1974. Meanwhile, management needs to undergo training sessions regarding law and regulations related to financial institutions. Furthermore, all managers should also undergo training to understand basic financial products so that they can collaborate with newly merged company managers.

Additionally, the difference between the company management system and software needs to be rectified. Bounce Fitness need to discuss on possible changes such as updating to new management software if the merging company had better management software; which lead to re-training of staff members on new software handling knowledge.

List the change requirements in order of importance

Ulrich, Younger and Brockbank (2008) discussed that an efficient HR needs to be able to sync operations in a diversified organization for employees to cope with changes. Employees working in a huge corporation often seek to have a similar work standard when moving from site to site therefore it is highly important for HR professionals to understand that and make sure when merging, both companies are able to redesign their operations to a similar standard.

The following table lists the importance of each change requirement as following:

The above-mentioned change requirements’ importance is listed based on the changes required to be addressed first to last.

Part Two

1. Develop a communication/education plan to promote the benefits of the change to the organization. The plan should aim to minimize loss and focus on implementing the strategy to bring the two companies together.

 The communication plan developed below consists type of meeting with different key message schedules with different time requirements to be delivered to a specific audience through a specific media. The purpose of doing so was to share change information and discuss possible new change requirements to minimize loss while conducting a change management plan.

• An internal meeting is a meeting conducted to deliver key messages to the general staff in the organization by centre managers. The message in the meeting aims to acknowledge the possible changes to be implemented throughout the change process and provide feedback to the employees on their performance of the last change implementation
• A formal meeting is a meeting conducted by change committees and other responsible associates to present change requirements analysis, legal updates, progress of change implementation as well as outcome. Furthermore, the meeting will also include a discussion of the financial budget and updates allowing executive management of the organization to evaluate the change management result. The meeting will be carried out once per month divided into two sessions to discuss different agendas.
• Lunch activities is a causal meeting conducted by change committees to gather information regarding the differences between both companies in terms of operation and management. Meanwhile, this activity allows managers from both companies to build a better relation prior merger.
• Presentation is a meeting conducted monthly to external consultants and executive management to overview the change result, data and actual problems encountered will be explained.

1. You should also prepare a draft schedule of activities as a platform from which you can deliver the communication/education plan to all relevant groups and individuals in the financial institutions.

An education plan with a list of activities that required to be participated by different staff members of the organization was developed as follows to allow staff members of the organization to learn the basics and required skills associated to a merger.

• Training (1) was introduced to educate managers and general staff on the new management or operation software that may be implemented for higher efficiency upon merging.
• Training (2) was introduced specifically for both company managers to understand the products’ differences between both companies and the documentation, and legal framework required to oblige when introduced.
• Training (3) was provided to both companies to understand the code of practice and operation standards of each company. The training will perfect the flaws of current operations existing in both companies by adopting the best practices available.
• Training (4) was introduced to allow executive management and managers to understand the merging company culture; so both management can understand each other core values and initiate minor adjustments.
  

Part Three

Answer the following questions related to your change management project plan and the communication/education plan you developed in Parts One and Two.

1. How will you consult with relevant groups and individuals for input to the change process before and after the implementation commences?

Before the implementation commences, a meeting and survey will be conducted on both company to gather information on their value, belief, operational differences and product differences. With this information, a change management draft will be generated. The draft will be reviewed by both parties’ managers for critical discussion on the implementation’s feasibility. After finalizing the draft with both parties’ managers, the draft was updated and presented to the management of both companies for approval.

After approval is obtained, the change management plan will be presented and distributed to all managers, the change ideas proposed by the managers that were not adopted will be explained to avoid resistance from the managers. During the implementation, a questionnaire will be provided to all managers while they conducting internal meetings, the questionnaires will be distributed to all staff members in the meeting to acquire feedback on the change. Meanwhile, consultation will be conducted in the lunch activities as well to get valuable information on both companies' progress on the change management plan. The problems encountered by the manager and efficient solutions applied by the manager can be useful when presenting the findings to management during monthly presentations.

1. What barriers to the change do you see as possible? Develop a risk management and mitigation plan for each.

1. How would you action interventions and activities set out in project plan according to project timeline?

In order to make sure activities set out in project plan able to meet with the project timeline. A monitoring mechanism consisting consultation time table will be set up to measure the activities progression according to Gantt Chart. Evaluation will be conducted during the progression of each activities to make sure it meet the deadline. Meanwhile, consultation process with all members responsible for the change management plan will be conducted to investigate possible threats that may affect the project timeline.

1. How will you activate the strategy and start the process for change?

In order to ensure the change management plan being able to implement successfully, Lippit, Watson and Westley model will be used as a change strategy. This strategy originated from planned organizational change also known as Lewin’s model (Kim, Hornung, & Rousseau, 2011). The conventional model indicates change occurs through unfreezing the status quo, moving from the current level to a new equilibrium and refreezing the new value to achieve stability in new equilibrium (Southern Cross Education Institute;, 2017). Based on Kim, Hornung and Rousseau's (2011) research findings indicate that identifying the factors that motivate individuals is critical to managing changes. Therefore, using an improved model from Lippit, Watson and Westley is effective for implementation. Lippit, Watson and Westley's model consists 7 changing phases: 1.) Situational diagnostic, 2.) Motivation & capacity for changes, 3.) Assess involving parties, 4.) Setup change action plan, 5.) Set up a clear chain of command, 6.) Maintain change through coordination and 7.) Institutionalized change value.

• Situational diagnostic: Both company operating standards will be checked for compatibility and any differences will be included in the report to investigate for best practices available.
• Motivation & capacity for changes: For employees to change, a reward system will be set up to reward employees who show a positive mentality for change.
• Assess involving parties: A Merger is a change involving internal and external parties extensively; collaboration and commitment from both parties’ leaders is highly important to ensure the change's success. So it is imperative to include all members in the decision-making process and inform both parties on the change progress; making sure both companies reach an agreement on change requirements.
• Setup change action plan: Once the agreement is formed, both companies need to set up a change action plan accordingly. The change action plan will be designed based on the SMART model: a.) Specific, b.) Measurable, c.) Assignable, d.) Reliable and e.) Time-based.
• Setup a clear chain of command: Once the action plan is out, both companies need to set up a clear chain of command, such as personnel responsible for overseeing and evaluating the performances of the action plan, ensuring the action plan was properly carried out. This is the phase, where a communication plan is crucial.
• Maintain change through coordination: As the change management plan progresses, it is important to keep the change continue progress and meet all the change objectives. Therefore, management needs to coordinate personnel who are responsible for executing the change plan accordingly. For example, assigning the financial team to review and update the budget required for change, communicating the result to front line manager, acknowledging the problems faced by the manager through providing guidance and others.
• Institutionalized change value: This phase's main purpose was to ensure employees adapted to the new code of practice, embedding the value to employees’ norms and beliefs. To do so, reinforcement techniques can be used, such as reward and punishment to foster a desirable attitude and extinction of non-compliance behavior (Kimble, 1956).

1. How and when will you conduct evaluation and review? When would you modify the change management project plan to achieve change program objectives?

An effective review and evaluation mechanism is imperative to examine the change program objectives achieved and track the change performances (Hernan, 1986). Meanwhile, Hernan's (1986) report indicates that the monitoring mechanism is highly useful for generating valuable data and information for future planning and modification of change management projects Due to that reason, the monitoring mechanism needs to be setup from the change management plan beginning phase. During the beginning stage, the development team needs to review the draft before finalizing making sure it is practical. While in the executing stage, a weekly review needs to be set up to examine the progression of the plan, while a monthly evaluation will be conducted to examine whether the change implemented meets the requirements of change objectives.

References

Australian Treasury Department. (n.d.). Chapter 6: Mergers & Acquisitions. In Australian Treasury Department, Financial System Inquiry (pp. 151-186). Retrieved June 13, 2017, from https://fsi.treasury.gov.au/content/downloads/DiscussionPaper/chapt06.pdf

Hernan, C. G. (1986). Evaluation of agricultural research in Colombia. Singapore Workshop, (pp. 7-9).

Kim, T. G., Hornung, S., & Rousseau, D. M. (2011). Change-Supportive Employee Behavior: Antecedents and the Moderating Role of Time. Journal of Management, 37(6), 1664-1693. doi:10.1177/0149206310364243

Kimble, G. A. (1956). Reinforcement Theory. (G. C. Wrenn, Ed.) Journal of Counseling Psychology, 3(2), 112-115. doi:10.1037/h0045475

Pilcher, J. (2013, March 5). How To Keep Customers From Jumping Ship After A Merger. Retrieved June 13, 2017, from The Financial Brand: https://thefinancialbrand.com/27872/merger-communications-strategies-for-financial-institutions/

Siegenthaler, P. J. (2010, August 3). Ten reasons mergers and acquisitions fail. Retrieved June 13, 2017, from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/7924100/Ten-reasons-mergers-and-acquisitions-fail.html

Southern Cross Education Institute;. (2017). Leading and Managing Change. BSBINN601 Power Point. Adelaide, SA, Australia: Southern Cross Education Institute.

The Economist. (2014, November 17). The trouble with mergers. Retrieved June 13, 2017, from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21633272-our-advice-1994-companies-considering-merger-trouble-mergers

Ulrich, D., Younger, J., & Brockbank, W. (2008). The twenty‐first‐century HR organization. Human Resource Management, 47(4), 829-850. doi:10.1002/hrm.20247

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