MMPBL 520 Leadership and Change Management

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Leadership and Change Management Research Paper

MMPBL/520


Leadership and Change Management Research Paper

Companies undergo transformations for many reasons, poor financial performance, competition or revolutions in their respective industries.  Change involves a considerate amount of planning, sensitive execution and furthermore, consulting with and involving the people most impacted by the changes.  These organizational changes will succeed only to the extent that the people involved in the organization change as well. During these times of transformation employees will identify management as compassionate, concerned and dedicated to their wellbeing, whilst simultaneously knowing that difficult decisions have to be made.  In this paper Team C will identify ten companies that have faced specific change management issues related to CrysTel, how the company responded, and the outcome of the company’s response.  In addition, we will compile an analysis comparing and contrasting the leadership and change management practices of each of the ten companies identified.

Team Analysis

The definition of leadership is “a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organizational goals” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003, p. 595).  A leader should lead by example and foster communication up and down the organizational structure.  The leader will need teamwork when introducing new technologies.  Many organizations may take risk to achieve the goals and objectives.  Leaders have the over arching responsibility of ensuring the organization reaches many milestones and advancement, but this will not happen without resolving conflicts along the way.  Organizational change is inevitable because of the ever-changing world, so leaders should mentor potential leaders so they can lead and keep the organization on track during the inevitable changes.

Ben and Jerry’s brought change to the ice cream market in 1978, but it came with some challenges.  Productivity would be instrumental in making this venture a success.  The next step toward success required entry into supermarkets, this required innovative distribution and packaging.  With the continued growth and expansion, new management was brought into a new facility in rural America that required innovative thinking to attract the best to this area.  Gillette had its own set of problems that its new CEO Jim Kilts’s had to tackle immediately.  He used the transactional form of leadership to immediately to get a handle on the lack of respect and blame shifting.  This would eventually motivate and transform this organization to profitability once again.  Communication was important in this transformation by requiring the teams to collaborate and share information.  The success of this organizational transformation led Jim Kilts’s to become a charismatic leader.

Pitney Bowes Management Services, Sears Holding Company and Delta Airlines were in the process of transforming its organizational structure because of financial losses, competition, and technology.  By using customer and employee surveys, and merger teams to assist in this transformation, these companies can realize their visions.  Pitney Bowes emphasized the customer experience.  Delta Airlines invested in a flight-delay system to create a better customer experience.  Sears Holding Company, through its merger was able to locate specific lines of products for specific demographics making them more accessible and desired by the customer.

W.W. Grainger is tackling the transformation of its organization not because of a weak financial position, competition, or industry changes but to assist in product diversification.  This will be a tough task especially because this company is successful and profitable.  This will require their CEO, Richard L. Keyser to lead by example and keep his employees informed and engaged during this process.  This is accomplished by constant communication through the different mediums and empowering local level managers assist in the planning and to make it happen.

British Petroleum had a difficult year and lost billions of dollars and the potential for more losses.  The oil spill from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon is the result of these loses.  Risk-taking led to this catastrophe.  The example of leadership on the ground for BP by its leaders was deplorable with their lack of straightforward communication.  This surely led to the CEO being let go because of his media blunders and inability to resolve the conflicts that resulted from the lack of communication or his communication missteps.  General Motors fell on hard economic times and was on the verge of bankruptcy.  GM received a bailout from the federal government that saved jobs and the company.  Immediate changes to the organization were required.  After the changes GM has paid back their loan to the United States.  These changes brought in new executives from outside GM that will assist in technology development.

The virtual organization of United Services Automobile Association is innovative in delivering services to its members through technology development and risk-taking.  The technology developed gave members the ability to deposit checks into their accounts using over-the-counter scanners.  The risk of doing so was the possibility of fraud by someone who stole the checks or the member inadvertently trying to cash the check again.  The leaders of USAA’s vision and risk-taking are leading the financial industry by example with technology development.  Boeing faced changes in its organization because of losses in revenue, union agreement ratification, a lost contract for production of a new aircraft, and staffing.  Chief of Human Resources, Richard Stephens led this restructuring by providing conflict resolution and leadership.  His face-to-face communication assisted in leader development.  His vision leads his department in many initiatives one of which is fostering a healthy lifestyle through his wellness initiative ensuring a healthy and productive workforce for Boeing.

Individual Synopses

British Petroleum (BP)

British petroleum, known as BP, is an international oil tycoon company based out of London, France.  On April 20, 2010, BP experienced one of its worst major crises in the United States of America’s Gulf Coast.  BP’s Deepwater Horizon oilrig exploded, leaking oil and polluting the Gulf of Mexico and the state of Louisiana’s coastline.  Not only did the oilrig explode, but the crisis also led to eleven tragedies and 17 injures; hundreds of animals died, unemployment rates skyrocketed because jobs were affected by the tainted waters and loss of tourism.  BP also lost support from some loyal customers, because of the slow response from management at BP.

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The leak lasted from April to August 2010. “The US government stepped in and estimated to be nearly five million barrels of oil leaking daily” (Arnald, 2010, para. 1 ), which makes this the largest accidental oil spill in history. By mid-July, BP's costs of responding to the “spill had reached nearly $4 billion; BP agreed it would pay all costs associated with the oil spill. United States President, President Obama made BP put $20 billion down payment into an escrow account to help pay for the cleanup and damages”(2010, para. 3).   Regardless of the out-of-pocket costs, the long-term damage to the company's reputation ...

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