Leading Organization Change Week 1 DQR

Leading Organization Change Week 1 DQR

In your response to two peers, address the following:

Compare the scaling challenges that you have chosen to the choices of your peers. Explain the importance of communication style and work collaboration processes in overcoming these challenges. Do you agree with the characteristics of managers identified by your peers? Justify your view.

Ciara Tennis

Hello everyone,

My name is Ciara, and I live in eastern Connecticut. I completed my Bachelor’s degrees in English and Art History in May 2020, and I’m working on an MBA with a concentration in Sustainability and Environmental Compliance. I work as a university assistant on a college’s climate and sustainability initiatives, and I intend to work professionally in the sustainability field. At present, the sustainability office at the college is undergoing a change in leadership and structure, with decisions still ongoing and the final outcome uncertain. From this course, I hope to learn about how I can support and adapt to the current and upcoming changes in the office, specifically how to engage stakeholders across the university with these new changes.

Two key challenges that organizations may encounter when they are scaling are structure changes and communication issues. Gulati and DeSantola (2016) define scaling as a process and a mindset of the growth and expansion of a business’s offerings (p. 55). Growth requires significant change in order to be effective. Structural changes can be very challenging, as more employees, expanded operations, and a larger customer or client base will require new processes, procedures, and roles. As organizations scale, they will become more complex and thus require a change in structure that will redefine roles and responsibilities (Gulati & DeSantola, 2016, p. 59). Organizations will need a clear definition and delineation of this new structure and must be aware of its impacts on roles and operations, as a lack of clear roles and authority can lead to issues or failure (Lewis, 2021, p. 147). Communication is a key factor in scaling, as employees will need to know how their roles are impacted and how to change their responsibilities accordingly (Lewis, 2021, p. 147). Scaling also involves changing the organization’s culture and employee attitudes, which require frequent and effective communication to facilitate such change (Ivory & MacKay, 2020, p. 2066).

Middle managers and team leaders will face these and other challenges as an organization scales its operations. These individuals will be particularly important to create support and shift attitudes as an organization changes. Gulati and DeSantola (2016) state that “firms that complement formal structures with informal mentoring and feedback can keep motivation intact” (p. 59). Middle managers and team leaders are the intermediaries between management and employees and as such are crucial for delivering and interpreting the organization’s goals and changes as they relate to their employees or team members.

Thus, some characteristics middle managers and team leaders should have to support a growing organization include strong communication and feedback skills. These individuals must know how to communicate effectively with their employees and team members, particularly as it relates to their roles and responsibilities. Yang, Kuria, and Gu (2020) found that clarity in leader communication with team members increased their trust in the leader and thus improved work engagement (p. 161). Clear and consistent communication from middle managers and team leaders is crucial to the effective functioning of the team. Middle managers and team leaders must also be able to give and receive constructive feedback. It is necessary for middle managers and team leaders to be able to give constructive feedback to employees to help foster their growth. Middle managers and team leaders must be able to receive feedback, as they will also be learning and growing during this process, as their roles will change as the organization scales. Ultimately, scaling an organization depends on the effectiveness of all levels of the organization to adapt to change.

Reference

Gulati, R., & DeSantola, A. (2016). Start-Ups that last: how to scale your business. Harvard Business Review, 94(3).

Ivory, S. B., & MacKay, R. B. (2020). Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do.” Business Strategy & the Environment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc), 29(5), 2058–2077. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1002/bse.2487

Lewis, L., Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2021). Leading organizational change for Southern New Hampshire University. Wiley Global Education US. https://wileyplus.vitalsource.com/books/9781119832591 

Yang, Y., Kuria, G. N., & Gu, D.-X. (2020). Mediating role of trust between leader communication style and subordinate’s work outcomes in project teams. Engineering Management Journal, 32(3), 152–165. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/10429247.2020.1733380

Response –

Tara Peters

Good afternoon,

My name is Tara Peters and I am close to completion of the MBA program. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a minor in Accounting. I've been employed with a non-profit organization for over 20 years now and currently hold the position of Director of Quality and Training. While I've been a Director with the company for seven years, I am new to the department of Quality and Training. I oversee a team responsible for all auditing and training activities throughout the organization. I am also newly appointed to the role of Compliance and Privacy Officer. A role that is simultaneously exciting and nerve racking! Our agency has recently undergone several big changes. We have a new Executive Director and several newly appointed Executive Leaders, and we recently underwent a massive strategic planning process. We are now faced with rolling out the plan and are faced with the task of leading a change across the agency, so to say this course is timely is an understatement. I hope to learn how to effectively change the culture of our agency while implementing new and practices and structures.

Companies grow successfully when they identify and act on scaling needs proactively. As a company expands, the amount of work to be done grows as well. There becomes a need for not only more hands to do the work, but specialized employees that can offer expert knowledge to drive the company forward while gaining competitive advantage. New employees with education and experience in specialized areas such as marketing, human resource management, and sales should be hired to ensure success in growth. (Gulati & Desantola, 2016)

However, scaling an organization comes with challenges as well. The introduction of new team members means the potential to risk losing company culture due to lack of shared values. Second, hiring leaders for specialized roles can lead to departments becoming siloed, causing failures in teambuilding and collaboration. (Gulati & Desantola, 2016) To avoid this, leaders should aim to hire candidates who not only bring the expertise needed for the position, but also share the current values and beliefs of the company. This ensures culture is not lost. Leaders should also work to create open communication and collaboration between departments to prevent siloed activity and a breakdown in the department's ability to identify with the company. (Gulati & Desantola, 2016)

As scale occurs, middle managers face new roles and responsibilities to ensure success. This includes learning to delegate responsibilities, learning to shift from “jack of all trades” to specializing in certain areas, and having the ability to learn from new talent. (Gulati & Desantola, 2016) Middle managers become essential to bridging gaps between executive leadership and their supervisees, ensuring communication is timely and accurate, and diffusion of changes occur. Middle managers must communicate the changes and vision from top to bottom effectively and in a manner that creates buy-in and trust, while simultaneously ensuring leadership is made aware when employees are not engaged in changes or don’t buy into the strategies being implemented. This can be a difficult position if managers don’t have the right skillsets to do so.

Middle managers must posses the ability to effectively communicate. They must be able to engage in deep and caring relationships with those they supervise as well as those who supervise them. This will ensure communication is robust and empathetic. Middle managers must be courageous, able to “amplify the voices of their direct reports upwards.” (Jaser, 2021) They must possess the ability to motivate and inspire those they supervise, and they need to be able to effectively delegate responsibilities. Middle managers must also be good at recognizing the skills and abilities of those they supervise. This can help put the right people in the right places as scaling occurs and responsibilities and roles shift. These characteristics can help ensure middle managers play a valuable role in scaling an organization.

References:

Gulati, R. & Desantola, A. (2016) Start-Ups That Last. Harvard Business Review.

Austin, J. (2019) How Scale Changes a Manager’s Responsibilities. Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/itme/how-scale-changes-a-manager-s-responsibilities

Jaser, Z. (2021) The Real Value of Middle Managers. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2021/06/the-real-value-of-middle-managers

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