Free Management Dissertations - In Order To Build Up A Highly Skilled Change Management Team, Rick Rowe And
In order to build up a highly skilled change management team, Rick Rowe and Deb Massof as directors of the Materials and Marketing divisions were important fulcrums for the proactive engagements and their commitment to effective and successful change policies in the company. Micro Switch which was founded in 1937 built a solid reputation as an industry leader in switches, sensors and manual control devices however because of the technological shifts and emergence of new international competitors due to increased globalisation of the market Micro Switch’s performance began to suffer, (Jick and Peiperl, 2003). The program APEX (Achieve Performance Excellence) was introduced into the company and was concerned with giving employees specific ways in making successful efforts towards increasing performance on-the-job and included also an employee suggestion system and reward mechanism. Based on the APEX and the associated strategic plan accompanying it a change agent team was formed in order to revitalise Micro Switch’s performance which saw Rowe and Massof as vital members of the team in leading strategic change implementation in the company.
Rowe started with running a one-day meeting for about 30 staff in order to push and highlight the need for the transformation process envisaged at strategic level to the lower ranks within the organisation and his initial charter was to define the best way to motivate and reward employees during the process, (Jick and Peiperl, 2003). The beliefs and behaviours emphasised and focused on quality and customer satisfaction as principals to be embedded within the corporate culture of the company. Rowe as a self-proclaimed ‘local boy’ with ‘real, simple values’ seemed to have a strong influence on Micro Switch’s employees as well as the management style in the division, (Jick and Peiperl, 2003, p391). Rowe put his main efforts into pushing the workforce at all levels of the company into implementing and handling change effectively and thus often went out to talk to people and encouraging self actualising amongst employees at work were important approaches in expressing the leadership style. In contrast to Rowe, when Deb Msaaof first joined the management team he was considered an outsider and was also a considerably younger manager. Traditionally also manufacturing companies tend to be unaccustomed to seeing women in management positions especially positions of senior management, ((Jick and Peiperl, 2003).
Massof’s move from the parent company Honeywell to Micro Switch was done with leaving behind the rapidly changing environment of Honeywell for a division which seemed to be resistant to change, (Jick and Peiperl, 2003, p396). As marketing director she used management tools such as market research and strategic planning tools in order to gain a clear understanding of the market and customers in aiming to illuminate a new way of doing business which was then introduced to her staff.
Dissertations - Free Management Dissertations
