developing a collaborative workplace culture

Custom Food an Feed CorporationPower of Change

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Running Head: Power of Change

La Juana Wilson

Colorado Technical University Online

Phase 2: Individual Project

HRM450-1003B-04: Organizational Change

September 3, 2010


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Abstract

Custom Food and Feed Corporation is looking for ways to make a good decision about

organization change. The company had a lot of questions that need to be research in order to

make the change a success. The managers don’t know where to begin or how to begin. The

information that has been provided should help shape the company into a well organized

organization. The information would provide details on what is needed in order to implement the

change. If the manager or upper management still doesn’t understand how to make change, we

can always hire a professional to get the company headed towards the right direction.


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Custom Food and Feed Corporation is considering developing a collaborative workplace

culture. Developing a collaborative workplace takes corporation from the whole company and

organization. The company needs to work together in an intersection of common goals. This can

consist of educating one another, sharing knowledge and building consensus among

organization. Working as a team can make a big different in the accepting the necessary changes.

Custom Food and Feed Corporation would need to put a plan in place in order to be very

successful in getting everybody involved in the organization change. It would be in the best

interest if the company complies with the S.M.A.R.T theory when planning is involved in

organization change. S.M.A.R.T means specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely

(SMART Goal Setting: A Surefire Way to Achieve Your Goals). If done correctly employees

would accept the change. Besides the S.M.A.R.T theory there are other areas that should be

address for a successful outcome. The difficulties many organizations have had with change

management depend in large part on an inadequate recognition of interdependencies among

technology, practice, and strategy.

Authorities are the ones that have the power to initiate change. Power can influence

employees to accept the change if done correctly. If higher authority hasn’t figure out a way to

explain how important the change could be for the company and assure the employees that they

have nothing to fear, then the employees would resist the change. Having power comes with


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great responsibilities as a leader to the employees. Leaders suppose to have the power to

motivate the employees, boost morale and help with increase productivity. Power can also block

change because of the way the information is presented to the employees. If higher authority try

to make people do something that they not comfortable with, they would resist change and so the

leader would have to figure out another strategy.

There are five levels of organizational change management that should be researched in

order to look into the company change. These levels consist of communication plan, sponsorship

roadmap, coaching plan, training plan and resistance management plan (Five levers of

organizational change management). The communication plan is not just about telling someone

something; it is more of a strategy about communicating to the employees. Communication is a

tool used to build awareness of the need for change and desire to participate and support the

change. Effective communication can target all groups that are associated with the change.

Rather it is a team that can’t accept change or those that appreciate change. Proper

communication is one of the components that can make change very successful.

Sponsorship roadmap has three high levels which are participate, build a coalition and

communicate. A roadmap is a way to show the direction the manager would like to the company

to go. Participation from the employees is highly appreciated because they are the ones that need

to embrace the change and give feedback about the change. Building a coalition of support with

other senior leaders and managers would put the plan into effect. Communicate directly with

employees about the business reasons and nature of the change would help employees relax

(Five levers of organizational change management). The sponsorship roadmap provides structure

and removing the mystery around sponsoring a change and making it a sure thing. The roadmap

lay out the activities that need to be done by the team or managers. It is an outline on what is


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important and what steps are needed to achieve that goal. It also a lay-out on what task belongs

to whom and an estimated completion date.

Coalitions are groups that are working together to reach a common goal. Sometimes a

coalition could have a difficult time agreeing on the same things. Conflict can arise very often

when working into a group. If the group cannot come to any kind of agreement, this can put a

hold on completing the project. Coalitions can also influence individual that the change would be

good for the company. Coalitions should have the power to influence employees to accept the

change.

Coaching takes place between an employee and their direct supervisor. Supervisor and

managers plays a critical role in the organization change. They are the ones that communicate the

change and how it would affect the employees. Supervisors and managers keep employees

inform on what is going on with the company. They are the ones that keep the employees out of

the dark, when things are shifting around. When employees resist change, the supervisors or

managers should provide recognition and reinforcement during an implementation.

Coaching plan outlines the steps for involving managers in change management

activities. It’s a plan that lay out details on what is needed to make the change. If the managers

don’t know how to begin, they need to research resource that will help build commitment, train

and skill up managers and supervisors related to their role in a change (Five levers of

organizational change management). Once they get a handle on things, then they would train the

organization and individual. The training would help the employees to adapt to change.

Training can play a crucial part in the adopting of change. Training can take the place of

communication and sponsorship plan. Training is to help the organization gain knowledge and

awareness to the organization change. The change manager’s role in training is to identify the


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skills and capabilities that are needed any gaps that exist and the training requirements. Training

is for the change manager to see what areas need improvement and where to apply training.

What steps can you take to prevent or mitigate resistance before it emerges and impacts

the project and the organization? Have employee get involved in the change process. By letting

the employees get involved, they would appreciate the change because they had input. This will

also minimize conflict among employees. The employees will learn to work affectively in

putting together a plan that would shape the company’s organization.

Conflict can be a powerful tool for the company’s organizational change and growth.

Conflict can have a big impact on covering underlying issues. When conflict covers issues that a

company wasn’t aware of because it was hidden, the company can make the appropriate changes

or provide conflict training. Conflict resolution will train the company to work together as a

team and find some kind of common grounds, so the company can move on. Conflict resolution

can also provide feedback on why they feel that the change is right or wrong. Maybe they have

some issues on the way the company has change. This will give the company some insights on

what we did wrong or right that cause such conflicts. As a supervisor or manager, it is up to them

to address the issues and resolve them.

When conflicts arise, the HR or the senior leader should be aware of the problems.

Conflict should be use when a problem arise and it should be use to make the necessary changes.

This can be use to the company’s advantage to resolve any issues that the company been having.

This can boost morale if the conflict has been resolved. This can be use for employees to

understand each other by going through training courses that can help shape the company into

better organization.


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The organization can determine which coalitions are helping the change and which are

blocking the change by communication, feedbacks and the overall company reactions to change.

Building a supportive team is an essential part of the early stages of any effort to restructure, re-

design, retool or improve (Building the Foundation for Successful Change). Coalition guides the

organization with implementing change, moving barriers and creating an environment where

responsibility is spread throughout the business (Building the Foundation for Successful

Change). Coalition can also feel threatening about the change, so it takes them a minute to

implement change. Organization can see which coalition what the company to change, by

implementing the change and read employees face expression. Employees’ expression says a

thousand words about what went wrong or right. For those coalitions that are blocking the

change can have a big effect on productivity. If productivity decreases, then the change wasn’t

affective or the coalition didn’t implement the change. If the opposite happened to the

organization, then the coalition implemented the change and the employees where happy that the

changes were made. Coalition that felt that change is in order would go out of their way to make

change a success.

When it is time to move the organization towards the desire change, it would take time

and patience to move forward. Change will not happen overnight because the organization would

need a desire to do so. The upper manager or coalition should provide timely communication to

the employees to explain what the company has been working on and how would this affect the

employees. Custom Food and Feed Corporation should create a detail presentation or plan that

will outline what the change is all about. Sometimes people understand better if there is some

kind of visual presentation that outlines the plan. Make sure that you explain all detail in

different angles, do the employees won’t get lost in the information. Coalitions that accept


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change can motivate the workers to adopt the change and help move it further. CF&F should

also reward those that have a positive behavior about the change by changing their titles with pay

raise.

Changing an organization takes a lot of preparation and research. Research a strategy that

works for one company may not work for CF&F. It is important to research on why the company

needs an organization change. The company would need to look at the management style first to

determine if that is one of the areas that need change. Managements make a big impact on the

way the organization operates. They are the ones that empower those workers to do an awesome

job keeping the business running. Management is the ones that would utilizes that workers skills

and find what areas they fit in to. Finding the right fit in a company is very important and can be

part of the organization change. Organization change is what CF& F need to make the

employees happy to work.


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Reference

SMART Goal Setting: A Surefire Way to Achieve Your Goals retrieved from http://www.goalsetting-guide.com/goal-setting-tutorials/smart-goal-setting

The Matrix of Change: A Tool for Business Process Reengineering retrieved from http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/CCSWP189/CCSWP189.html

Five levers of organizational change management retrieved from http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-5-levers.htm

Building the Foundation for Successful Change retrieved from http://www.isixsigma.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=18:&Itemid=185

http://www.isixsigma.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=18:&Itemid=185

http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-5-levers.htm

http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/CCSWP189/CCSWP189.html

http://www.goalsetting-guide.com/goal-setting-tutorials/smart-goal-setting

developing a collaborative workplace culture

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