Applying Leadership Theories
Improving Organizational Culture
David Leonard
University of Phoenix
LDR/535
14 November 2021
Introduction
FedEx is a brand providing progressive and dynamic courier services.
The brand leverages technology and flexibility to ensure value for money.
The current organizational culture requires changes vital in the achievement of goals and objectives.
The FedEx brand, a courier services provider, has for years provided satisfactory services to its consumers. It prides itself in been dynamic and progressive in its operational areas. In addition, flexibility and technology application observed in the organization has enabled its growth and expansion. However, the brand requires change strategies in order to improve its organizational culture. This is as obtained from an assessment of the current culture. Incorporating the change will enable employee and consumer value while still increasing investors returns. Further, the change will enhance achievement of set goals and objectives due to its alignment with organizational strategies.
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Current Culture
The culture focuses on returns to investors as opposed to employee and consumer focus.
Process and procedures are hard to change due to rigid management.
Short term goals implemented result in the achievement of larger goals.
The current culture is highly focused on making favorable returns to investors. This is as opposed to other brands which are employee and consumer centric. The investors focus reduces employee engagement and inclusion in issues concerning change. Further, consumers are unable to impact change due to the rigid and slow decisions on change. This can be seen as an impact enabled by the management. Rigid processes and procedures limit expression of change and how change can be enhanced. However, the brand has strong short-term goals which eventually increase returns on yearly basis besides reflecting the achievement of large goals set.
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Change Management Plan
Change action is required in urgency to facilitate culture improvements.
Powerful coalitions are in existence making the brand strong.
However, coalition with technological firms would enable growth and sustainability.
The change management plan is based on the assessment and Kotter’s 8 steps to change. First, the brand needs to activate change action. This is to be done with urgency to impact dynamic changes which will enable both growth and sustainability. By urgency, the plan will initiate changes which will be essential and will trickle down to all employees. The urgency will reflect in change acceptance, enactment, and implementation with an ease of adoption. Secondly, the brand will focus on powerful coalitions with technological firms. The existing coalitions make the brand strong, but the new coalitions will ensure technological changes are easily adopted and incorporated in processes.
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Continuation
Create change vision which incorporates brand consumers and employees.
Communicating the vision could be enhanced through social media platforms.
This would create a strong presence of the brand with less reliance on emails and seminars.
Besides having the organizational vision statement, a new change vision statement needs to be formulated. The change vision will give direction to employees regarding expected changes and how the changes will add value to the workplace. Also, the change vision statement will encompass consumers to ensure they relate with the brand’s need for change and action plan. Even though the current communication of brand’s vision is clear, the brand will be required to increase its presence on social media platforms due to current trends. This will increase the ability to reach its consumers besides the current use of emails and seminars.
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Continuation
Removing obstacles will mostly encompass changes in the managerial level.
This will reduce challenges in reviewing processes, expression of change, and procedures.
Create short-term wins step would impact short-term targets.
The rigid managerial and leadership on change decisions are depicted to be obstacles in enabling change in organizational culture. The leadership in place will be mandated with formulating, implementing, and accepting change as part of culture improvements. This will involve suggestions on strategies which can be used to enact the change actions. Further, changes on the leaders will be initiated to reduce challenges in reviewing change processes, expression of change, and change procedures. The short-term goals could be used to set short-term targets among departments and field offices. This will influence overall performance and productivity of employees.
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Continuation
Building on the change will entail change acceptance from the managerial level to field offices.
Investors also ought to be part of the change to make the plan a success.
Anchoring changes in corporate culture will consider training and review of change.
Building on change will require quick acceptance of change action from the managerial to entry level employees. The step regards initiation of change, implementation of change, and evaluation of change to make additions or shifts where needed. In addition, investors need to be part of the change to ensure approval of change actions besides making the organization adopt change as a whole. Anchoring changes considers inclusion of changes to the corporate strategies reflecting on improved culture to the public. It will also incorporate constant review of the change actions to ensure effectiveness. Training of employees on changes will reduce resistance and increase culture embedding as employees depict corporate culture.
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Desired Outcome
Sustainable expansion to new markets from short-term targets and objectives.
Ability to adopt and incorporate new technologies for growth.
A change vision which will include employees and consumers.
From the implementation of the change plan, outcomes are to reflect in management strategies to short-term goals and objectives. For instance, sustainable expansion to new markets and attraction of new segments will consider short-term targets set. This is as derived from short-term goals and objectives currently in place. The ability to adapt and incorporate new technologies as per market trends will be highly reliant on the improvement plan. The incorporation will be influenced by managerial and employee acceptance. A change vision is expected to include employees and consumers increasing brand value and reputation.
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Continuation
Effective and timely changes on management to include current dynamics.
Change to be initiated from the organizational to corporate level.
Training and development opportunities enabling employees to be part of the change.
Effectiveness in decision-making processes is expected as impacted by changes in the managerial system and leadership strategies. Also, the outcome will influence timely decisions which align with dynamics in the market and the workplace culture. Another desired outcome is change initiated to corporate level. This entails communication to all stakeholders and their willingness to be part of the change. Training and development opportunities to employees as part of the change will give guidance resulting in change plan acceptance. This will be effective in the continuous change process and reviews.
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Plan alignment with Mission, Values, Vision statements and Strategies
The plan will incorporate changes which consider communication and leadership aspects.
Existing policies and strategies will remain with the change strategies been additional.
Flexibility is a core principle hence change should be supported by the culture.
The plan aligns with the organizational vision, mission, values, and strategies as it revolves around how the culture can be changed to impact growth. Of essence is that the changes will only be supplemental to the existing policies and strategies. This translates to the changes been additional but very important in attaining organizational performance. Communication and leadership changes are essential in the process to guide and enable implementation of changes, respectively. Flexibility as a core principle of the brand influences the needed change for desired outcomes as it supports change. This will ensure process alignment with the statements and strategies.
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Conclusion
Assessment of the current brand culture led to the development of a culture plan.
The changes to be initiated by the plan will enable the brand to continue achieving its goals and objectives.
Further, the plan aligns with brand statements and strategies.
In conclusion, FedEx implementation of the change plan will initiate changes which accommodate dynamics and trends in the market. Employees and consumers will feel valued and appreciated besides increasing investor returns. This has been deduced from the assessment of the current organizational culture and implementation of change plan. The plan aligns with brand vision, mission, and values statements, as well as, brand strategies reflecting in the achievement of set goals and objectives. The change will be essential in enabling improvements in the current culture and constant change review as per urgency and need.
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References
Pollack, J. & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organizational change program: presentation and practice. Systematic practice and action research 28(1).
FedEx. (2021). Company overview. www.fedex.com