There are three members posts pertaining to this discussion question asked below...could you come up with a thoughtful, well supported response for each member discussion. They only need to be about half of a page to one page in length for each one. And cite references in support agreements of or arguments. Expand upon the original point or provide an outside source that illustrates it. You can always disagree as well [as long as it is done in a respectful manner]. Provide a counterpoint or outside source to refute the original comment. Discussion question asked: Why is Great Customer Service Like a Team Sport? Please read the Chapter 11 Opening Case on pages 299-300 titled Why is Great Customer Service Like a Team Sport. After you have completed reading the rest of the chapter (Chapter 11), please join in on the discussion of the following questions. 1. What type of team, according to Table 11-2, delivered the excellent customer service at the Paris Four Seasons? Explain your choice. What are management's greatest challenges with this sort of team? 2. What role does trust play in customer service teams and how can management build that trust? 3. If you worked at one of Steve Wynn's hotels or resorts, what sort of team building activities would you use for your employees to make sure each of your guests experienced great customer service? Please make sure to offer your own response to each of the three questions posed in this discussion and respond to at least three other people (a minimum of one reply to each question.) To gain further insight and knowledge about Four Seasons, visit its website: www.fourseasons.com and explore the \"About Four Seasons\" section. YOUR POST TO DISCUSSION question: 1. What type of team, according to Table 11-2, delivered the excellent customer service at the Paris Four Seasons? Explain your choice. What are management's greatest challenges with this sort of team? According to the table 11-2 the team that delivered excellent customer service at Paris Four Seasons hotel was a production team. Such teams generally have low technical specialization. However, they have high degree of coordination with the other work units. A high level of coordination was seen in this case between multiple teams. the front desk, the housekeeping and the kitchen staff coordinated to delivery high quality customer service. When the customers returned to their room, they were informed by the housekeeping that the half croissant had been removed from the room assuming that they would prefer a fresh pastry upon their return. The front desk had contacted the kitchen to set aside a croissant and the room service was asked to deliver it upon request (case). This was an excellent level of coordination between teams that made excellent customer service possible. 2. What role does trust play in customer service teams and how can management build that trust? Trust is an important factor and in this regard the role of management and leadership is also important. Customer service teams have to act in a cohesive manner and a lack of trust in such cases may lead to gaps in service. It is why trust plays a key role in the delivery of excellent customer service. Management can do much to inspire trust among team members. They can help them through training programs so team members can trust, rely and depend upon each other and deliver excellent service. the management should monitor the strengths and weaknesses of teams and formulate policies and training programs to address the weaknesses. Moreover, assigning people randomly to different roles and letting them work with different people also brings them closer. Learning from each other and collaborating is also key to achieving trust. The team members can assist each other as well as learn from each other. 3. If you worked at one of Steve Wynn's hotels or resorts, what sort of team building activities would you use for your employees to make sure each of your guests experienced great customer service? If I was working at one of the Wynn's hotels I would bring teams together where multiple teams could be the part of a one larger team. teams should be ready to flow with each other and coordinate as much required. So, sometimes depending upon the need, team members from different teams may have to come together to deliver their services. In this regard I would rather work to establish different channels of coordination through which teams can come together to work upon different projects. Dividing groups into pairs and letting them work on projects together as well as do problem solving exercises jointly also helps at bringing coordination. To get the best of any time, it is essential to see that no conflict exist and if there are any I would address immediately. Apart from everything, I would focus upon building trust and interdependence among the team members. MEMBER #1's POST TO SAME DISCUSION: js 1) I believe the type of team that delivered the excellent customer service at the Paris Four Seasons was Housekeeping. I believe the Housekeeping team is more like a Production Team. Production Teams are responsible for performing day-to day operations. Minimal training for routine tasks accounts for the low degree of technical specialization. But coordination typically is high because work flows from one team to another. (Kreitner, 2014 Pg.303) I choose this choice because Housekeeping initiated the request to have a fresh croissant delivered to Steve Wynn's room. They set the stage in motion and got the ball rolling to deliver exceptional customer service. While they were cleaning Steve Wynn's room, they noticed the half-eaten croissant, and they could have just left it there, but, instead they made arrangements with the front desk to contact the kitchen to set aside a fresh croissant. The kitchen then alerted room service to deliver the fresh croissant. This all began when Housekeeping lit the fire so the events leading to greatness occurred. All of the teams worked together to deliver an unforgettable experience for the Four Season's guest. They left a mark, a lasting impression. This would be something that this family would tell their family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances about. Not only did they take care of their hotel's guest, but they were also creating word of mouth for the hotel... building an excellent reputation for the Four Seasons. One of the greatest challenges with the Production team is many of their work performances go unnoticed. Production teams set the stage, they are the man power behind tasks being completed successfully. I believe we do not give them the credit that they deserve and their efforts go unnoticed. I also believe if they are not rewarded, they will start to feel unappreciated and look for new employment. The challenge here is to make sure they are awarded for a job well done. 2) Trust plays an imperative role in customer service. Trust is defined as reciprocal faith in others' intentions and behaviors. The word reciprocal emphasizes the give-and-take aspect of trust. In short, we tend to give what we get: trust begets trust; distrust begets distrust.\"(Kreitner, 2014 Pg. 312) I believe in order for Housekeeping to accomplish their mission to delivering amazing customer service, they in turn placed trust in the other departments to do their part. They were confident when they placed the call with the front desk to make the necessary arrangements to deliver the fresh croissant. You need trust in your work place to exceed your expectations. You need to know that you can trust your coworkers and departments to carry out your requests. Management can build trust by strategically implementing the 6 main guidelines with your team. They are 1) Communication: \"Keeping team members and employees informed, providing accurate feedback.\" Communication is essential in keeping the lines of communication open and clear within all departments. 2) Support: Be available and approachable. It's important to always be helpful, cooperative and ready to assist other team members. 3) Respect: Delegation, in the form of real decision-making authority. It's imperative to show respect to your peers and superiors. It creates a positive work culture. 4) Fairness: Be quick to give credit and recognition to those who deserve it. It's always great to give positive feedback when warranted. It boosts your confidence in the workplace up. 5) Predictability: Be consistent and predictable in your daily affairs. Consistency is key. It creates reliability between you, your team members and co-workers from other departments. 6) Competence: Enhance your creditability by demonstrating good business sense, technical ability, and professionalism. It always important to be professional and skillful in your position. Having this, you become an asset for your company. (Kreitner, 2014 Pg. 313-314) 3) What I would propose in regards to team building for my employees would be weekly learning forums. I would call them \"Learning with Wynn\". Each week I would hold a lunchn-learn meeting where all of the employees would come together, have lunch, and brainstorm ideas. Other than meeting at the hotel boardroom and have your typical Monday morning boring routine meetings, I would pick an alternative, but exciting location where the employees have the opportunity to meet outside the hotel work environment. I believe holding meetings outside of your normal day to day routine sparks creativity in your team members. I would also ask one employee each week to bring one new idea to the table in how to create and deliver exceptional customer service to our guests. We would then discuss how to implement this at the hotel. References: Kreitner 2014. (n.d.). The World of Organizational Behavior. In Organizational Behavior (10E ed.). Saratoga Springs, New York. MEMBER #2's POST TO SAME DISCUSION: mb Why is great service like a team sport? What type of team, according to Table 11-2, delivered the excellent customer service at the Paris Four Seasons? Explain your choice. What are management's greatest challenges with this sort of team? Paris Four Seasons delivered excellent customer service by having production teams in place. The staff did not have a formal requirement to have comprehensive training to get hired or to do their job. The staff most definitely had to have consistent coordination with the other departments in the hotel. Each department had to relay the message originally from housekeeping to other departments. Manager's need to have their team members come together to optimize the outcome. If one member failed to perform their duties the entire team fails, similar to one broken link in a chain. If this was to happen it would in turn, bring down the moral of the other employees. Kreitner (2014) discusses the mangers greatest challenges and describes it to include that every member does their job so that they have team viability. What role does trust play in customer service teams and how can management build that trust? Trust is defined as having faith in others. When working together as a production team each employee needs to have trust in their coworkers and be confident that each individual will do their part to obtain the end result. Employees need to be able to have trust in their managers, this trust must be earned which takes time. Management should never lie about their intentions for as this breaks down the system and does not foster a trusting professional relationship. I'm sure everyone in this class at some point has had a boss that has danced around the truth to get the job done. This only breeds contempt, resentment, and distrust. I have had the unfortunate experience of working with a boss that has done this to me many times. It then becomes hard to accept anything they have to say without getting confirmation from their supervisors. Kreitner (2014) mentions that trust is extremely fragile, once it is broken it is nearly impossible to repair. Managers should keep an open line of communication with their employees, treat everyone equally and always have respect for them. If you worked at one of Steve Wynn's hotels or resorts, what sort of team building activities would you use for your employees to make sure each of your guest experiences great customer service? If I was employed by Steve Wynn I would be sure to cross train everyone on the team. This allows all team members to understand exactly what their fellow workers role are on the team, a clear definition of what responsibilities belong to who. This gives greater understanding to coworkers that all jobs are equally important. When working within a team no one job is more important than another. Cross training is also important in situation where one member is out, another team member can pick up the slack so that the customer will still have a great experience. References: Kreitner, R. (2014). [Custom ed.]. Organizational behavior. (10th ed.). USA: McGraw- Hill Education MEMBER #3's POST TO SAME DISCUSION: jhens 1. What type of team, according to Table 11-2, delivered the excellent customer service at the Paris Four Seasons? Explain your choice. What are management's greatest challenges with this sort of team? According to Table 11-2, there are four types of work teams, they include; Advice, Production, Project, and Action. However, in the scenario of Four Seasons customer service and going above and beyond efforts, the Action team would be the best fit to describe their exceptional service. Action teams, include characteristics of goal setting, awareness, cooperation, and keeping in touch. This list of action team characteristics satisfies the overall customer service provided by the Four Seasons. Although, this type of a team brings effectiveness and success to an organization, there are some challenges with building this kind of team or any team. As managers they are leaders and to ensure effectiveness and making sure that everything is running smoothly, everyone is prepared to do what they need to do to meet their goals things can go wrong. For example, if someone from the housekeeping did not follow through with the action plan and did not relate the information to the kitchen then the result would have failed and the customer would have been upset. If the housekeeper was by herself and new on the job and happened to accidently throw away that croissant, again the plan would have failed and management would have to find an alternative way to accommodate their customers' satisfaction due to their error. 2. What role does trust play in customer service teams and how can management build that trust? Trust is defined as reciprocal faith in others' intentions and behaviors. (p.312) Trust is to know you can rely on another person when it's needed and its building relationships whether it may be personal or professionally. Trust allows a team to reach the necessary goals more effectively and be more fore coming when challenges are faced. The main benefit for trust is customer loyalty which in turn builds stronger and longer customer relationships/ relationships as well. Trust is created through rational and emotional bonding. A rational process allows for the customer to assess an organizations intention and ability to keep promises. An emotional process is where the customer evaluates the organization based on levels of care and concern in certain situations. The way management can build trust is through levels of improved communication, support, respect, and fairness. (p.313) 3. If you worked at one of Steve Wynn's hotels or resorts, what sort of team building activities would you use for your employees to make sure each of your guests experienced great customer service? Creating or building a team that is effective and success comes first with leadership. You must form the team, develop, and prepare the team, building the team with teamwork and trust and then motivating and leading them to achieve their goals. Since the team is new I would begin with a game that carries out the building of trust, this exercise would be called the mine field. They would be broken up into teams of two and one of the team members would be blind folded. In order for the person who is blind folded to reach their destination, they must listen to their teammate's verbal instructions on how to reach it. Another activity for my team would include a scavenger hunt. This activity would allow for my team to work together and be creative. There are endless activities that I can list for my team, however, they all would include games that brings cooperation, communication, creativity, and working together. Once my team effectively learns to develop all of these characteristics, I would continue to play activities that keep my employees engaged which would then include rewards at the end of the games for my employees as well. ProQuest is launching a redesigned interface on August 20, 2015. Learn more at our informational page. All databases Preferences ABI/INFORM Complete English Help Empire State College Online Library Full text Effective Change Management: The Simple Truth Merrell, Phil. Management Services 56.2 (Summer 2012): 20-23. Abstract (summary) A recent change management study by Towers Watson surveyed over 600 organisations that have recently gone through significant change and unearthed the practices that are at the heart of effective change management. They are simple truths and can make the difference between success and failure in many cases, but evidence suggests that they are often forgotten when in the midst of a challenging change project. Effective change management is a little bit art and a little bit science. The best change practitioners balance rational, data driven approaches with a deep understanding of emotional drivers. There are six activities that really count the 'Big Six' that really influence overall change success: 1. leading, 2. communicating, 3. learning, 4. measuring, 5. involving, and 6. sustaining. The good news for organisations who want to manage change well is that, regardless of the type of change, if they do the important change activities well -- the Big Six -- they are likely to be successful. Full text In a previous life I walking into my new boss's office for my induction talk - it was my first day of my first people management job and I was full of excitement and anticipation. Then he sat me down and said: "Your job is to get the unwilling to do the impossible for the ungrateful." I nearly turned around and walked back out the door! If we put our hands on our hearts how many of us would admit that change management sometimes feels like this? A recent change management study by Towers Watson surveyed over 600 organisations that have recently gone through significant change and unearthed the practices that are at the heart of effective change management. They simple truths and can make the difference between and failure in many cases, but evidence suggests that they are often forgotten when in the midst of a challenging change project. It is a fact that change is a constant reality for any organisation looking to survive and thrive in these turbulent and uncertain times. When you boil it up, change is about doing things differently or doing different things. Whether you have to change, help others change or define what the change is, we all have a vested interest in getting it right. Our recently published research shines a light on what those organisations that are effective at change management have in common when it comes to managing change. So bearing this in mind, the first issue to put to bed is what do we mean here when we say 'effective change management'? In a nutshell, if change programmes achieve their stated goals on time and within budget and deliver sustainable benefit then that would fit most people's definition. We used this definition to classify organisations that are really good at change management and then looked at what they did well in comparison with their peers. Significantly and perhaps not surprisingly, we also found that those businesses that plan and execute change well are also the ones that are outperforming their peers when it comes to bottom line performance. Companies highly effective at both communication and other change management activities are 2.5 times as likely to outperform their peers that are not highly effective in either area. So considering the prevalence of change - and the effect of change management on bottom-line performance - there are plenty of reasons to take a hard look at how those organisations are approaching change management and to learn the lessons. From our research we found that the following are self-evidently true Effective change management is a little bit art and a little bit science. The best change practitioners balance rational, data driven approaches with a deep understanding of emotional drivers. It's about understanding the unique needs of the business and its people and then applying insight and the right tools to deliver the change. It is most definitely about robust leadership, and aligning and sustaining activities to support the change. Effective change management also requires thoughtful, strategic measurement so an organisation can course-correct along the way. There are six activities that really count. These are the 'Big Six that really influence overall change success: 1. Leading 2. Communicating 3. Learning 4. Measuring 5. Involving 6. Sustaining It doesn't matter what type of change a company is going through or where that company's operations are located. From highly complex mergers and acquisitions to more straightforward types of change, focusing on the right activities - the Big Six can help companies outperform their peers in any industry or geography worldwide. But what does this mean in practice? Leading The overwhelming majority of companies that were most effective at change management had clear vision on the intents and purposes of change with sponsorship from the top. The best organisations also said their leaders inspired confidence in the change, creating clarity among employees and fostering a sense of community. And leadership isn't just confined to the C-Suite, with communication and change management professionals being fully involved from the start. Communicating Good communication during change fosters understanding, aligns the organisation from top to bottom and guides and motivates employees. So we should pay particular attention to getting it right in change management. We found that the organisations that are good at change management are the ones who do a good job in communicating the rationale for change. Interestingly, even these businesses had room for improvement when it comes to helping individuals make sense of the change from their position and encouraging their input. That being said it was also clear from our research that the organisations that don't do change well are lagging way behind on all the critical indices. We should pause at this point and ask how the leading organisations achieve better results when it comes to communication and change. There are two significant factors here: * They involve communication and change expertise right up front which means these aspects are properly considered in the overall approach to the change and wired into the plan. * Their managers are better at making change real for their people. The best invest in their managers and give them effective training and support in managing through change, making the changes real and engaging for their teams. We found that the majority (82%) do actually provide training for their managers to help them manage through change. Whilst those organisations who were effective at change management felt they got the best return from their training investment (64%), there appears to be considerable room for improvement in this area, with the majority feeling the training had no great value in helping managers manage change Learning Learning activities can help push a change initiative along, and they're worth attention. Why? Because employees need to have the knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to change. Not rocket science but we found that, whilst there is clear water between organisations that are good at change and those that are not, even the best in class have significant room for improvement when it comes to nailing down new accountabilities and encouraging feedback on the new skills, processes and behaviours required. Measuring Using a balanced set of metrics to define success and support continuous improvement was typical of highly effective organisations in our study. Setting clear, measurable goals up front will help an organisation head in the right direction, use resources efficiently, make corrections along the way and assess whether the change programme achieved what it set out to do. In short, it's essential to keeping the change on target, on time and within budget. The thing about measurement in change programmes is that it is no good starting it halfway through. A full suite of change measures relies on the identification of clear measurable goals and, of course, the measurement of those goals. There is a standout difference when it comes to measuring change between change effective organisations and their not so successful counterparts. Involving "The best decisions I ever made were those where I asked the people who were going to be affected by them, be they customers or staff, what they thought before I made them. Not only were they better informed decisions, they were also easier to implement!" These words are from the (now retired) CEO of a large public sector organisation and our research backs him up. When organisations involve their employees in the design and implementation of change they are more likely to be effective at change management and less likely to face employee resistance to change. Companies that are effective at change management are nearly seven times as likely as low-change effectiveness organisations to create a sense of co-ownership about organisational change initiatives - a corporate sense among employees and leaders that they are all "in it together." Sustaining When it comes to change management, in some ways, organisations are never done. One of the biggest mistakes any change manager can make is assuming the finish line is at the end of the project. It is vital that organisations put in place all the capabilities needed to ensure change sticks - this often means taking a 'whole system' view and taking into account the processes, policies, technology and structures necessary to support and sustain the post-change world. This is particularly important where that change requires new skills, behaviours and ways of working. Leaders are also fundamentally important once the change project is done, their continued role modelling and advocacy of the new world nourishes and sustains it. Our research shows there is room for improvement across the board although it is clear that, when it comes to change management, best in class organisations place a good deal of emphasis on ensuring change sticks. Our latest research shows that the link between effective change management practices and financial performance is strong and regardless of the type of change organisations experience, the important change activities - the Big Six - remain constant. Doing the right things at the right times is crucial. How and when an organisation integrates the six activities during each change phase will impact outcomes and at Towers Watson we have recognised this and built it into our core change methodology which addresses the 3 strategic phases of a change programme: * Understand and Segment: Understand the environment, including what's changing, the underlying business needs, impacts by audience and how key stakeholders define success * Design and Build: Develop tailored plans and recommendations - including tools, tactics, timing and owners to build awareness and drive behaviour change * Implement and Improve: Execute the change management plan, measure its effectiveness (both perceived and real), celebrate successes and make improvements along the way Each of these phases requires its own set of change activities to ensure a successful overall outcome. At the start of this article I said that change management is part science and part art and I would not want to lose sight of the art aspect. Organisations are complex things and that always makes change management challenging. If you wind up a clock the moving parts within it respond and the hands move. Whilst organisations are complicated (full of interrelated moving parts) they are also complex and to understand the complexity of an organisation is to understand that there are no simple cause and effect mechanisms we can rely on when we plan for change. The good news for organisations who want to manage change well is that, regardless of the type of change, if they do the important change activities well - the Big Six - they are likely to be successful. Sidebar Those businesses that plan and execute change well are also the ones that are outperforming their peers when it comes to bottom line performance AuthorAffiliation About the Author Phil Merrell is head of Towers Watson's UK change management practice, focusing on M&A, business transformation and performance improvement. Phil has over 25 years industry experience at organisations including the NHS, BBC and Penna and firmly believes in the power of effective change management to improve business performance. Towers Watson is a leading global professional services company that helps organisations improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management. The company offers solutions in the areas of employee benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management. Towers Watson has 14,000 associates around the world and is located on the web at towerswatson.com. Copyright Institute of Management Services Summer 2012 Indexing (details) Cite Subject Management of change; Success factors Location United Kingdom--UK Classification 9175: Western Europe 2310: Planning Title Effective Change Management: The Simple Truth Author Merrell, Phil Publication title Management Services Volume 56 Issue 2 Pages 20-23 Number of pages 4 Publication year 2012 Publication date Summer 2012 Section Change Management Publisher Institute of Management Services Place of publication Enfield Country of publication United Kingdom Publication subject Business And Economics--Labor And Industrial Relations ISSN 03076768 CODEN MASEDZ Source type Trade Journals Language of publication English Document type Feature Document feature Graphs;Illustrations ProQuest document ID 1027234230 Document URL http://library.esc.edu/login? url=http://search.proquest.com.library.esc.edu/docview/1027234230? accountid=8067 Copyright Copyright Institute of Management Services Summer 2012 Last updated 2014-09-13 Database ABI/INFORM Complete Back to top Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Accessibility Sitemap Librarian Chat Copyright 2015 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions Empire State College Online Library Ask a Librarian Empire State College Online Library (www.esc.edu/library) Cornell University ILR School DigitalCommons@ILR Cornell HR Review 10-14-2013 Change Management and Organizational Effectiveness for the HR Professional Steve Hanson University of Minnesota Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr Part of the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, and the Performance Management Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell HR Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact hlmdigital@cornell.edu. Change Management and Organizational Effectiveness for the HR Professional Abstract [Excerpt] Hostess Brands, an American company established in the 1930s, specialized in baked goods including the long established Twinkies, Ho Ho's, and Wonder Bread. In November of 2012, Hostess management filed for bankruptcy, blaming the unions and workforce for the financial fiasco. While the organized workforce's unwillingness to bend to management's demands may have been a tipping point in the Hostess failure, it was clearly not the main issue. Hostess's unwillingness or inability to change over time was what really led to the company's downfall. According to Forbes contributor Adam Hartung, the \"obvious problem was that leadership kept trying to sell the same products, using roughly the same business model, long, long, long after the products had become irrelevant.\"[1] . Points which should have invoked change for Hostess include: changing consumer tastes, nutritional considerations, and the reality that Hostess's product costs were higher than the prices that Hostess was able to sell the product for[2]. Because change didn't happen, 18,000 jobs were lost and an iconic American business failed. Keywords HR Review, Human Resources, change management, organizational effectiveness Disciplines Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Performance Management Comments Suggested Citation: Hanson, S. (2013, October 14). Change management and organizational effectiveness for the HR professional. Cornell HR Review. Retrieved [insert date] from Cornell University, ILR School site: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr/64/ This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr/64 Your task is to read the chosen publications (attached PDFS) to summarize the key points in the article, relate the key points to Organizational Behavior theory, and apply as many issues to what you have learned here in this course. Please feel free to share ideas and make suggestions about what could have been done to improve the situation in your case. ProQuest is launching a redesigned interface on August 20, 2015. Learn more at our informational page. All databases Preferences ABI/INFORM Complete English Help Empire State College Online Library Full text Effective Change Management: The Simple Truth Merrell, Phil. Management Services 56.2 (Summer 2012): 20-23. Abstract (summary) A recent change management study by Towers Watson surveyed over 600 organisations that have recently gone through significant change and unearthed the practices that are at the heart of effective change management. They are simple truths and can make the difference between success and failure in many cases, but evidence suggests that they are often forgotten when in the midst of a challenging change project. Effective change management is a little bit art and a little bit science. The best change practitioners balance rational, data driven approaches with a deep understanding of emotional drivers. There are six activities that really count the 'Big Six' that really influence overall change success: 1. leading, 2. communicating, 3. learning, 4. measuring, 5. involving, and 6. sustaining. The good news for organisations who want to manage change well is that, regardless of the type of change, if they do the important change activities well -- the Big Six -- they are likely to be successful. Full text In a previous life I walking into my new boss's office for my induction talk - it was my first day of my first people management job and I was full of excitement and anticipation. Then he sat me down and said: "Your job is to get the unwilling to do the impossible for the ungrateful." I nearly turned around and walked back out the door! If we put our hands on our hearts how many of us would admit that change management sometimes feels like this? A recent change management study by Towers Watson surveyed over 600 organisations that have recently gone through significant change and unearthed the practices that are at the heart of effective change management. They simple truths and can make the difference between and failure in many cases, but evidence suggests that they are often forgotten when in the midst of a challenging change project. It is a fact that change is a constant reality for any organisation looking to survive and thrive in these turbulent and uncertain times. When you boil it up, change is about doing things differently or doing different things. Whether you have to change, help others change or define what the change is, we all have a vested interest in getting it right. Our recently published research shines a light on what those organisations that are effective at change management have in common when it comes to managing change. So bearing this in mind, the first issue to put to bed is what do we mean here when we say 'effective change management'? In a nutshell, if change programmes achieve their stated goals on time and within budget and deliver sustainable benefit then that would fit most people's definition. We used this definition to classify organisations that are really good at change management and then looked at what they did well in comparison with their peers. Significantly and perhaps not surprisingly, we also found that those businesses that plan and execute change well are also the ones that are outperforming their peers when it comes to bottom line performance. Companies highly effective at both communication and other change management activities are 2.5 times as likely to outperform their peers that are not highly effective in either area. So considering the prevalence of change - and the effect of change management on bottom-line performance - there are plenty of reasons to take a hard look at how those organisations are approaching change management and to learn the lessons. From our research we found that the following are self-evidently true Effective change management is a little bit art and a little bit science. The best change practitioners balance rational, data driven approaches with a deep understanding of emotional drivers. It's about understanding the unique needs of the business and its people and then applying insight and the right tools to deliver the change. It is most definitely about robust leadership, and aligning and sustaining activities to support the change. Effective change management also requires thoughtful, strategic measurement so an organisation can course-correct along the way. There are six activities that really count. These are the 'Big Six that really influence overall change success: 1. Leading 2. Communicating 3. Learning 4. Measuring 5. Involving 6. Sustaining It doesn't matter what type of change a company is going through or where that company's operations are located. From highly complex mergers and acquisitions to more straightforward types of change, focusing on the right activities - the Big Six can help companies outperform their peers in any industry or geography worldwide. But what does this mean in practice? Leading The overwhelming majority of companies that were most effective at change management had clear vision on the intents and purposes of change with sponsorship from the top. The best organisations also said their leaders inspired confidence in the change, creating clarity among employees and fostering a sense of community. And leadership isn't just confined to the C-Suite, with communication and change management professionals being fully involved from the start. Communicating Good communication during change fosters understanding, aligns the organisation from top to bottom and guides and motivates employees. So we should pay particular attention to getting it right in change management. We found that the organisations that are good at change management are the ones who do a good job in communicating the rationale for change. Interestingly, even these businesses had room for improvement when it comes to helping individuals make sense of the change from their position and encouraging their input. That being said it was also clear from our research that the organisations that don't do change well are lagging way behind on all the critical indices. We should pause at this point and ask how the leading organisations achieve better results when it comes to communication and change. There are two significant factors here: * They involve communication and change expertise right up front which means these aspects are properly considered in the overall approach to the change and wired into the plan. * Their managers are better at making change real for their people. The best invest in their managers and give them effective training and support in managing through change, making the changes real and engaging for their teams. We found that the majority (82%) do actually provide training for their managers to help them manage through change. Whilst those organisations who were effective at change management felt they got the best return from their training investment (64%), there appears to be considerable room for improvement in this area, with the majority feeling the training had no great value in helping managers manage change Learning Learning activities can help push a change initiative along, and they're worth attention. Why? Because employees need to have the knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to change. Not rocket science but we found that, whilst there is clear water between organisations that are good at change and those that are not, even the best in class have significant room for improvement when it comes to nailing down new accountabilities and encouraging feedback on the new skills, processes and behaviours required. Measuring Using a balanced set of metrics to define success and support continuous improvement was typical of highly effective organisations in our study. Setting clear, measurable goals up front will help an organisation head in the right direction, use resources efficiently, make corrections along the way and assess whether the change programme achieved what it set out to do. In short, it's essential to keeping the change on target, on time and within budget. The thing about measurement in change programmes is that it is no good starting it halfway through. A full suite of change measures relies on the identification of clear measurable goals and, of course, the measurement of those goals. There is a standout difference when it comes to measuring change between change effective organisations and their not so successful counterparts. Involving "The best decisions I ever made were those where I asked the people who were going to be affected by them, be they customers or staff, what they thought before I made them. Not only were they better informed decisions, they were also easier to implement!" These words are from the (now retired) CEO of a large public sector organisation and our research backs him up. When organisations involve their employees in the design and implementation of change they are more likely to be effective at change management and less likely to face employee resistance to change. Companies that are effective at change management are nearly seven times as likely as low-change effectiveness organisations to create a sense of co-ownership about organisational change initiatives - a corporate sense among employees and leaders that they are all "in it together." Sustaining When it comes to change management, in some ways, organisations are never done. One of the biggest mistakes any change manager can make is assuming the finish line is at the end of the project. It is vital that organisations put in place all the capabilities needed to ensure change sticks - this often means taking a 'whole system' view and taking into account the processes, policies, technology and structures necessary to support and sustain the post-change world. This is particularly important where that change requires new skills, behaviours and ways of working. Leaders are also fundamentally important once the change project is done, their continued role modelling and advocacy of the new world nourishes and sustains it. Our research shows there is room for improvement across the board although it is clear that, when it comes to change management, best in class organisations place a good deal of emphasis on ensuring change sticks. Our latest research shows that the link between effective change management practices and financial performance is strong and regardless of the type of change organisations experience, the important change activities - the Big Six - remain constant. Doing the right things at the right times is crucial. How and when an organisation integrates the six activities during each change phase will impact outcomes and at Towers Watson we have recognised this and built it into our core change methodology which addresses the 3 strategic phases of a change programme: * Understand and Segment: Understand the environment, including what's changing, the underlying business needs, impacts by audience and how key stakeholders define success * Design and Build: Develop tailored plans and recommendations - including tools, tactics, timing and owners to build awareness and drive behaviour change * Implement and Improve: Execute the change management plan, measure its effectiveness (both perceived and real), celebrate successes and make improvements along the way Each of these phases requires its own set of change activities to ensure a successful overall outcome. At the start of this article I said that change management is part science and part art and I would not want to lose sight of the art aspect. Organisations are complex things and that always makes change management challenging. If you wind up a clock the moving parts within it respond and the hands move. Whilst organisations are complicated (full of interrelated moving parts) they are also complex and to understand the complexity of an organisation is to understand that there are no simple cause and effect mechanisms we can rely on when we plan for change. The good news for organisations who want to manage change well is that, regardless of the type of change, if they do the important change activities well - the Big Six - they are likely to be successful. Sidebar Those businesses that plan and execute change well are also the ones that are outperforming their peers when it comes to bottom line performance AuthorAffiliation About the Author Phil Merrell is head of Towers Watson's UK change management practice, focusing on M&A, business transformation and performance improvement. Phil has over 25 years industry experience at organisations including the NHS, BBC and Penna and firmly believes in the power of effective change management to improve business performance. Towers Watson is a leading global professional services company that helps organisations improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management. The company offers solutions in the areas of employee benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management. Towers Watson has 14,000 associates around the world and is located on the web at towerswatson.com. Copyright Institute of Management Services Summer 2012 Indexing (details) Cite Subject Management of change; Success factors Location United Kingdom--UK Classification 9175: Western Europe 2310: Planning Title Effective Change Management: The Simple Truth Author Merrell, Phil Publication title Management Services Volume 56 Issue 2 Pages 20-23 Number of pages 4 Publication year 2012 Publication date Summer 2012 Section Change Management Publisher Institute of Management Services Place of publication Enfield Country of publication United Kingdom Publication subject Business And Economics--Labor And Industrial Relations ISSN 03076768 CODEN MASEDZ Source type Trade Journals Language of publication English Document type Feature Document feature Graphs;Illustrations ProQuest document ID 1027234230 Document URL http://library.esc.edu/login? url=http://search.proquest.com.library.esc.edu/docview/1027234230? accountid=8067 Copyright Copyright Institute of Management Services Summer 2012 Last updated 2014-09-13 Database ABI/INFORM Complete Back to top Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Accessibility Sitemap Librarian Chat Copyright 2015 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions Empire State College Online Library Ask a Librarian Empire State College Online Library (www.esc.edu/library) Cornell University ILR School DigitalCommons@ILR Cornell HR Review 10-14-2013 Change Management and Organizational Effectiveness for the HR Professional Steve Hanson University of Minnesota Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr Part of the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, and the Performance Management Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell HR Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact hlmdigital@cornell.edu. Change Management and Organizational Effectiveness for the HR Professional Abstract [Excerpt] Hostess Brands, an American company established in the 1930s, specialized in baked goods including the long established Twinkies, Ho Ho's, and Wonder Bread. In November of 2012, Hostess management filed for bankruptcy, blaming the unions and workforce for the financial fiasco. While the organized workforce's unwillingness to bend to management's demands may have been a tipping point in the Hostess failure, it was clearly not the main issue. Hostess's unwillingness or inability to change over time was what really led to the company's downfall. According to Forbes contributor Adam Hartung, the \"obvious problem was that leadership kept trying to sell the same products, using roughly the same business model, long, long, long after the products had become irrelevant.\"[1] . Points which should have invoked change for Hostess include: changing consumer tastes, nutritional considerations, and the reality that Hostess's product costs were higher than the prices that Hostess was able to sell the product for[2]. Because change didn't happen, 18,000 jobs were lost and an iconic American business failed. Keywords HR Review, Human Resources, change management, organizational effectiveness Disciplines Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Performance Management Comments Suggested Citation: Hanson, S. (2013, October 14). Change management and organizational effectiveness for the HR professional. Cornell HR Review. Retrieved [insert date] from Cornell University, ILR School site: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr/64/ This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/chrr/64 Your task is to read the chosen publications (attached PDFS) to summarize the key points in the article, relate the key points to Organizational Behavior theory, and apply as many issues to what you have learned here in this course. Please feel free to share ideas and make suggestions about what could have been done to improve the situation in your case