Free Management Dissertations - As A Result Of Strong Internal And External Consultation And Communication,
As a result of strong internal and external consultation and communication, partners and the public understand and support what the Authority is trying to achieve.
There are symptoms after the attempted change that point to the lack of success of the plan. The management style and structure is still authoritarian, junior members of the authority are excluded from the decision making process. Middle Management distrusts the motives behind the change, and has voiced strong opinions of distrust of the new leader and his style.
The number of complaints from employees against management increased after the change, they was a marked an increase in the disagreements that were not settled at local level. Part of the change program was to reduce staffing levels as a method of reducing costs. The implications of this were not included in the Risk Management Plan, both officers and Management objected to the new working practices. Most stations were understaffed, with employees required to do excessive overtime to meet the minimum staffing levels require for the unit to function properly.
Organisational Structure and leadership
The failure rate of organisational change is alarming. Authors have tried to identify the causes of failure, whether these are errors, barriers or obstacles. In a recent study by Burnes (2003) it was identified that the majority of causes of failure represented a failure in the skills of management, including poor and ineffectual leadership. These failures were attributed to managers lacking the skills, competencies, or aptitudes necessary to manage change successfully (Burnes, B. 2003).
The organisation prior to the change had a strong hierarchical structure leading to a bureaucratic management system. This structure is apparent with an authoritarian leadership style, this is central to McGregor’s X theory of management style. This uses the traditional approach to reward and punishment from the manager who is in the position of authority and therefore holds all the power (McGregor cited in Mullins, L. 2005). For the organisation to adopt a new culture, it would require a power reconfiguration. Individual employees would need to gain both power and interest in the organisation (Johnson, G. and Scholes, J. 2004).
McHugh et al (1999) pointed out that in the public sector change programmes initiated by senior management without the involvement of members were unlikely to succeed. Further adding that organisations were likely to achieve the desired metamorphosis when led by junior front line staff (McHugh et al (1999) cited in Mullins, L. 2005:917). With the management structure and style remaining authoritarian, junior members were excluded form the decision making process, leaving the command and management control still in place.
Merseyside Fire Service was on the edge of a major overhaul; Chief Fire Officer Tony McGuirk discussed a significant evolution of the service.
