"New Kings Building Supplies"

New Kings Building Supplies sells a range of building products to trade and individual customers. It comprises seven Units each of which focusses on a specialized range of products such as roofing, plumbing, electrical, construction and units also have their own staff departments dealing with customer orders, HR issues, finance, and site maintenance. Each Unit is headed by a General Manager who has considerable freedom in how their Unit is managed. Each Unit is, in effect, an autonomous division of New Kings.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company has managed the organisation from a small headquarters building using a participative style. He has become increasingly concerned about the performance of one of the seven Units. The Unit employs seven hundred people and accounts for 20 per cent of New Kings' activities. He has identified the internal and external pressures listed below as affecting this Unit and believes that the general manager responsible for it cannot deal with the problems it now faces. However, the CEO has been unable to devote much time to this Unit during recent years because of other pressures on his time. Over the last four years, he has achieved significant changes and improvements in other Units within the organisation. This has taken up much of his time but has created an incredibly positive reputation for him throughout New Kings. He is seen as up-to-date and concerned for his employees.

External pressures

Increasing client/customer dissatisfaction Innovative technology Increasing competition in the provision of the products/services provided Rapidly increasing costs

Internal pressures

Fear of change Limited management skills in the introduction of change Lack of experience with innovative technology Low productivity and quality Poor staff morale

The Unit is managed by a general manager with functional managers responsible to the general manager for three product/service departments, an administration department, finance, and a small HR department.

The general manager has collaborated with New Kings for 18 years now. His approach to managing the unit has been always to control costs and activities tightly and to concentrate on developing an efficient and professional team working for him. He has paid little or no attention to the needs of clients. There has been a growing number of complaints from clients about the service provided by the Unit. Long waits are often involved, and staff are said not to manage clients too well.

New Kings are deploying new computer technology. However, progress in this Unit has been slow. The general manager seems dis-interested and the staff reluctant to adapt. However, the pressure to introduce the technology is strong. Staff costs are high, and many routine tasks seem likely to be capable of computerisation.

The CEO wishes to introduce marketing and quality audit ideas into the unit as a means of responding to some of the pressures identified above. Moreover, he believes that innovative technology must be introduced over the next few years, particularly in the product/service departments. To do so he has concluded that three major problems must be faced, as follows:

Attitudes to change in the organisation must be changed. Attitudes to, and knowledge of, innovative technology must be improved dramatically. The organisation structure must be reviewed to introduce marketing and quality audit ideas into the Unit.

Tasks

You have been asked to advise on how to proceed and to draft a report outlining a strategy for change designed to achieve the following objectives:

With reference and examples and to plan and monitor a programme of organisational change.