Case Study: Change Management

Fortune Indonesia Ltd. is a manufacturing company located in Jakarta. The company was doing well from the past thirty years and the people involved in the operations were confident in their respective areas of operations as they were doing it from quite some time. There was a feeling among some of the employees that it is becoming monotonous kind of an affair although the efficiency has gone very high due to the fact that the same person is doing the job from quite some time.

A recent change in the policy and procedures of the company, it was made possible for the employees to engage in job rotation. Anton is In-charge of a manufacturing operation from the past five years and he has three subordinates directly reporting to him – Billy, Amir, Roel. Billy has been working in the same job position from the past twenty years, whereas Amir from the past five years and Roel from the past two years in the same job position.

Anton being quite young and dynamic welcomed the change in the policy and procedures as it amounts to giving more options to the people those who are dynamic and look for more challenges. Moreover it provides more holistic perspective about the organisation. Anton perceived that it is a win/win situation for both the employees and the organisation. Anton called a meeting to discuss the possibility of the adoption of job rotation. As the meeting progressed, Anton became aware that out of three subordinates, two wanted to change to a job rotation schedule, whereas one is not at all interested for the same. Anton was in a fix and adjourned the meeting. After giving a considerable thought to the problem, he was able to crystallize on four alternative approaches that may be followed to manage this conflict situation:

Forget about Job rotation in this unit.

Issue the orders that job rotation is mandatory for all the three subordinates with immediate effect.

Respect the feelings of each one and workout an arrangement where job rotation occurs for a while, is stopped for a while, and so on, thus allowing each person to have his or her way for some time.

Call the meeting again and discuss the pros and cons of the proposed change and that their interpersonal relationship are very important than any job rotation. Try to develop a consensus for job rotation.

Questions:

1. What conflict management styles are represented by each of the four alternatives suggested above by Anton?

2. Which of the four approaches should Anton choose to follow in this situation? Why? Or Should an alternative approach be taken?

3. What special interpersonal skills should Anton need to succeed in this problem situation? Defend your answer.

4. Assume that you are the CEO of the organisation and you have to implement this change. Prepare a model of change which you think would avoid such conflict when this change would be implemented.