MBA 687

2

Change Readiness/Needs Assessment Audit

Deyanira Diaz

MBA 687

Southern New Hampshire University

September 11, 2022

Areas in Need of Change at the U.S. Branch

Engaging employees in company goals

Embrace inclusion & diversity

Employee training and education

An increase in employee autonomy

Improved communication

Promotion of employees

Justification of Chosen Data Points

According to the employee engagement survey, there is lack of freedom and autonomy in the organization and only 36% of employees feel that they have the authority to make personal decisions at work. This implies that it is the management that makes most of the decisions. This also explains the low level of communication in the company. Only 36% of the company hear about decisions and important changes through the management. The rest dwell on rumors which they can’t verify whether it is true or not. Only 26% of the employees understand the mission, vision, values, and direction of the company. The environment in the company does not support the expression of different views and opinions. Changes in all these areas are essential to promote communication and collaboration within the organization. Kotter (1995) asserts that change cannot be effective without effective communication. The organization has also failed to promote employees for them to get motivation. In the past two years, only 2% of the workers have been promoted and this leads to low productivity.

Employees’ Confidence in Change Management

The survey indicates that employees in the company support each other and they work in teams. However, they lack support from their management and they don’t trust the leadership of the company. Very few employees feel that the management is doing well in creating a team environment. The management is not open and trustworthy and therefore employees lack confidence in their ability to uphold change management practices. There is need for urgent change in the relationship between managers and employees to create an environment of teamwork and trust.

The middle managers will perform an excellent role in creating an adoption mindset since the survey indicates that they are 70% open, honest, and trustworthy. Therefore, they can bridge the gap that exists between the company’s leadership and employees. Riwo et al., (2012) asserts that middle managers can be perfect agent of change because employees trust them more than they trust the senior managers.

The survey indicates low levels of communication, poor employee morale, and lack of employee engagement in decision making which signal a lack of preparedness for change. Over 60% of employees are lacking communication from the management and this will make it difficult for them to understand and implement the change. The workers also indicate that there is no effort for continuous improvement and this means implementing change is difficult.

Leadership styles and power distribution determine the relationship between the employees and the management. In this case, there is some kind of authoritative/dictatorship leadership which makes the management the sole decision-maker. This increases the chances of resistance to change. However, in a workplace where employees are engaged and there is a relationship of openness and understanding between them and senior managers, change is easily accepted and implemented.

Opportunities to Increase Change Readiness/Trust

From the survey, there is a high level of teamwork among employees and this is an opportunity for the U.S branch to increase the readiness for change. In addition, the employees trust the middle managers and the company can use them to increase the employees’ trust for the change.

Employees are different and their values are different which makes it easy for others to accept change and difficult for others. There are employees whose values are in alignment with the organization’s values and such employees will easily embrace change. Resistance mostly comes from those employees who do not believe in the vision of the company and whose values do not align with those of the company. According to the forms of resistance grid, there are also employees who fear change and it is difficult for them to get out of the comfort zone.

The common form is resistance is peer-focused dissent whereby those resisting change mobilize their colleagues to resist it too. Another commonly used form of resistance is sabotage. They sabotage the activities of the change by being absent at work and other strategies that affect the momentum of the change.

Cultural considerations for Employees to Adjust

Hofstede’s cultural dimension model focuses on the differences between cultures of different nations and how these differences affect business. In this case, the U.S culture is different from the Singaporean culture and how employees work in the U.S is different from the way employees work in Singapore. For instance, Singapore is a collectivist society while the U.S is an individualistic society. So employees from the U.S may find it difficult to work in teams in Singapore. Individualism focuses on personal goals and that is why employees from the U.S are finding it difficult to collaborate and implement the change. The power distance index is also high in the company which creates inequity and bureaucracy which have hindered the motivation to implement the change.

References

Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail.

Riwo-Abudho, M., Njanja, L., & Ochieng, I. (2012). The role of strategic leadership during change. KCA Journal of Business Management, 4(1), 48-61.