How does power move a change initiative forward, and how is it used to block changes?
What can HR and senior leadership do to use power to move change levers?
How can conflict be a powerful tool for organization change and growth?
How can HR and senior leadership determine when and how to use conflict?
Coalitions move the organizational culture in many directions (and block movements as well).
How can the organization determine which coalitions are helping the change and which are blocking the change?
How can you use that information to help move the organization toward the desired future state of the change?
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Scenario:
Custom Food and Feed Corporation (CF&F) is a major manufacturer and marketer of food and animal feed ingredients. Over the past 10 years, there have been several major investigations and allegations of company mismanagement. In question is CF&F's compliance with federal and state regulations (safety, environment, and quality), federal and state labor laws, and equal employment opportunity guidelines.
In the light of recent negative publicity and to regain and maintain the company's market share, a new CEO was appointed by the board of directors. The CEO has insisted that the president of the company look into the recent allegations and make recommendations for changes in company management practices in resource management. The president has outlined the CEO's concerns for change and has tasked the vice president of human resources to analyze the current company culture and to give recommendations to him for change. The vice president of human resources has decided to use the tech division for this corporate analysis.
The tech division is the newest division and has only been around for 12 years. This division has grown from a single product to seven products. The tech division is a nonunion facility that has a staff of 92 managers and 300 hourly employees. This division uses fermentation technology to convert dextrose (sugar) into a variety of food and feed ingredients. This division operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. The following are major results of the study:
There is no real concern for safety or environmental or quality controls.
Managers use an authoritarian approach to managing human resources. Over the years, this approach has built many barriers between the hourly employees and management, and there has been some talk of unionizing.
The plant manager's responsibility is to make all the daily production decisions. His staff of production supervisors monitors the production cycle and reports to him for direction.
Frontline supervisors have been promoted from within the company. There does not appear to be a consistent process for selecting employees for promotion into management, and once promoted, no guidance and training is given to them.
There is a history of nepotism that runs throughout the culture of this division.
Until recently, the corporate human resource department has been responsible for all of the human resource activities for each of its divisions. The vice president of human resources has convinced the president of the company that the first change is to put a human resource manager (HRM) in the tech division. The president agreed.
You are the newly hired human resource manager for the tech division. Your responsibility is to diagnose the present culture, develop strategies for implementing a plan for change, and implement the plan. The vice president of human resources has pointed out that you will face many challenges and strong resistance from different levels of management. There is a strong desire among the management to maintain the established culture.