Team in Transition

Al-tech Manufacturing has seen a downturn in the market which resulted in a reduction of sales and net income.  In a move to improve profitability and reduce overall administrative expenses, senior management has decided to merge with a former rival company (Border Manufacturing). The offices of the two companies were merged which necessitated some layoffs.

You are a manager with Al-tech.  Before the merger you had a team of twelve who were responsible for the administration of payroll.  During the merger, your boss was let go along with four of your team members.  You have two new team members (John and Kerry) from the Border Company. 

John and Kerry come from a different part of the country, have a different work ethic and exhibit a different culture. They actively try to engage the existing payroll administration team members in finding ways to be more productive.

Your original team members' response to these two new members suggestions range from hostility to curiosity as they were used to simply being told what to do.

Several members of your team have been adversely affected by the change.  For example, Bob has told you that he is actively looking for a new job and Jill's productivity has slowed. When asked why, she tells you she wants to know, in writing, what she needs to be doing different to meet the new reduced cost goal.  Anne, who was the energetic one on the team, is now concerned that she will be the next one to go and has become very quiet.

It was your job to pull these team members together, to determine how to do payroll for the merged company with less staff, and therefore to reduce costs.  And you succeeded!

You've been asked to write an article for your company newsletter, explaining what the situation was and how you succeeded in managing the change to your team.

Directions:

1. Write a 3 to 4 page newsletter article as the manager of this fictitious company with a team as described above.  Include the following points in this article:
   1. The classification and explanation of the change as either first-order or second-order. 
   2. The challenges that team members felt due to the downsizing and the merger. Give two examples of each.  
   3. The risks you anticipated and the mitigation steps you planned in dealing with the risks.  Give an example of two risks, each with a mitigation plan. 
   4. The types of resistance your team exhibited and what techniques you used in dealing with each type.  Give three examples. 
   5. The eight steps you took, using Kotter's change management model, to engage your team in making the transition successful. 
2. Make sure to include at least 3 outside resources, one of which may be your text, to justify your suggestions.  Your report should be professional and directed toward middle management.