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Consulting Proposal

Consulting Proposal

Executive Summary.

Old mutual was first established in 1845 in Cape Town, South Africa. After many years of operation, the company made an expansion decision to go international. In 2016, it was separated into independent, stand-alone businesses, including African business, British wealth manager, U.S. asset manager, and Netbank. The main aim of separation was to ensure easy management of the various companies, due to their geographical distribution. The African business consisted of banking services, life insurance, and asset management services. In 2016, Morule was appointed the personal finance managing director to manage the African business segment (Ivey, 2020). Given that the African market comprises of people of diverse culture, Morule discovered the need to initiate a cultural change. The need was to create an ideal and robust organizational culture, necessary for keeping the organization sustainable and competitive in the market. Regarding this, the new cultural change requires the incorporation of customer-centered values to the previously existing values to achieve increased competitiveness, improved customer service, and increased performance, among other benefits.

Introduction

Organizational culture plays an essential role in facilitating the success of any organization. An organization culture is build based on various shared values that determine how people operate and relate to the organization. For instance, the critical founding values of Old Mutual were accountability, integrity, and respect (Ivey, 2020). However, the idea of introducing cultural change in the organization necessitated the creation of new values, including diversity and inclusion, championing the customer and agile innovation. Today, it is critical for companies to create customer-centered values to meet the specific needs of their customers and ensure their satisfaction. Therefore, Old mutual needs to create a new culture that puts much focus on the interest of their customers. Old Mutual key vision is to become a premier financial service provider in Africa, while ensuring strong relations and better understanding of the customer need and the entire consumer market. Also, the company aspires to develop a long-term competitive advantage (Oldmutual.com, 2020).  As a result, introducing a new cultural change that focuses on customer-centered values will help Old mutual to achieve its mission and the various desired goals.

Client Problem and Goals.

Old mutual is faced with the core problem and dilemma of creating and implementing a new cultural change. Previously, the culture of the organization incorporated three significant values, including accountability, integrity, and respect. However, the company intends to incorporate a new culture that is heavily based on customer-centered values (Ivey, 2020). The new culture focuses on integrating the various company’s shared values to maximize customer experience and satisfaction. For instance, a new culture of diversity and inclusion will help to ensure that the interests of all customers from different cultures are put into consideration. Also, introducing a new culture of innovative technology will help in improving the quality of service to customers. Additionally, customer championing will help the company to understand its customers better, thus leading to the provision of better services and customer satisfaction.

The primary goals for the new cultural change include:

i. To achieve sustainability and increased competitiveness in the African market.

ii. Integrate a customer-led approach that mainly focuses on customer needs and interests, based on their diverse cultures.

iii. Acquiring and retaining top talented professionals to help in provision of better-quality services and enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

iv. Integrating innovation and modern technology to the company’s operations to ensure increased speed, simplicity of operations and cost effectiveness. Again, this will help to ensure improved performance and provision of better customer services.

Project Purpose and Scope

The core purpose of the project is to provide a comprehensive proposal that outlines how the new cultural change for Old Mutual can be achieved and implemented appropriately. The scope of the project mainly covers the various steps and the necessary actions that will help to ensure successful management and implementation of the desired new change to achieve the specific set goals. For instance, better communication, engagement, leadership, as well as employee training and motivations, are some of the essential aspects needed throughout the change management and implementation process. Regarding this, proper communication, engagement and leadership helps to ensure that the entire process is conducted perfectly well as required. Also, employee training and motivation is helpful, as it helps them to focus on achieving the desired goals.

Methodology and Process

The culture process will involve several steps and actions as discussed below:

1. Initiating Change

Initiating change is an essential aspect in achieving the organizations desired goals and objectives. However, it is crucial to understand why the change is needed and determine its urgency. Regarding this, Old Mutual wants to initiate a customer-oriented culture that focuses on understanding what the customer needs and delivering the best services to customers (Oldmutual.com, 2020).  In the business world, customer satisfaction is the key to winning the loyalty of your customers, hence resulting in success. Also, innovation and technology are an essential element to achieving improved performance, efficiency, and improved quality services. Again, Africa constitutes of people of different cultures; thus, Old Mutual must focus on diversity and inclusion of all customers from diverse cultures across the African continent. Therefore, this shows the need for Old mutual initiate a new culture that embraces the values of innovation, diversity, and inclusion as well as customer championing. Incorporating these values to the previous shared values of integrity, accountability, and respect will help the company to achieve its mission.

The initiation stage will involve defining clear values for the change, based on what the company desires to achieve. Again, the step will include creating awareness about the transition to all company leaders and employees. Regarding this, the change manager will develop an awareness creation program to communicate the need for change to all company employees. Creating and implementing any new change in an organization requires combined efforts of all employees. Therefore, it will be necessary to ensure that all employees are aware of the new change and support it.

2. Create an Organization Culture That Supports and Encourages the New Change.

In this stage, the change manager and the company top managers need to create a conducive environment, whereby all the company employees feel comfortable with the new change. Also, they must act as role models by supporting the changes to enable other employees to emulate. Again, the employees should be allowed to participate and generate their ideas concerning the new changes. Through this, employees will make employees feel honored as part of the change team, and also minimize any possible resistance from the employees.

Employee training and education should also be conducted during this stage. The employees are trained on their roles and how they can positively contribute towards ensuring effective implementation of the change plan. Also, they are educated on the new shared values and the various goals that the company indents to achieve. As a result, it helps employees to acquire a better knowledge of what the latest change entails, and the roles they can play to ensure that the change is implemented. Again, a change leadership team is selected to oversee the entire process of managing and implementing the desired change.

3. Implementing Change

Implementation of the culture change will involve a combined effort by both the company leadership and all the employees. First of all, to initiate a culture of diversity and inclusion, the company will engage in recruiting competent employees from diverse cultures. This will help the company to have an employee team of people from different cultures, resulting in employee diversity and inclusivity. Again, the company will focus on acknowledging and respecting the diverse culture of its customers from different regions. To achieve this, the company leaders and employees can organize visits to their customers from different areas, interact with them and understand their culture better.

Given the importance of innovation in the modern business world, agile innovation is a core value that Old Mutual must incorporate in the new change. The company should create a culture that focuses heavily on innovation and the application of modern technology in its operations. To achieve this, the company will attract and maintain highly talented, creative and innovative employees who will bring a wide range of essential innovations to the company. Again, the company will invest in research and technological advancement to enhance the development of new and better innovations, hence resulting in improved performance and better-quality services. Additionally, the company will develop employee training and development programs to enable employees to acquire better skills and knowledge necessary for enhanced innovative culture.

Furthermore, customer championing is essential for the company to achieve loyalty from its customers, hence improving its competitiveness. Old Mutual can accomplish this by developing a culture of direct engagement and better communication with the customers. Therefore, the company will organize roadshows to interact with its existing and prospective customers from different regions. Visiting the customers at the grassroots level will enable the company to understand the customer needs, interests, and concerns. As a result, this will help the company to develop better strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction, based on their variety of needs. Also, the company will create appropriate communication platforms to facilitate better communication and continued engagement with the customers.

List of Responsibilities

Implementation of the desired culture change requires combined responsibility by both the Old Mutual managers, the project team, and other employees.

Managers

The managers have several key responsibilities in ensuring the effective management and implementation process of the new change. For instance, they are responsible for defining clear values and goals of the new change. Also, they are responsible for educating and creating awareness to all employees regarding the new change. They are also supposed to advocate for the change and act as role models so that other employees can emulate them and support the idea. The managers also engage in training employees and educating them about their roles in implementing the change. Also, they help in managing resistance from employees or other leaders to ensure that all company employees and leaders support the change. They also select the project team, necessary for designing and pushing the implementation process. Again, they engage in monitoring and supervising the entire implementation process to ensure that everything goes smoothly as expected (Prosci.com, 2020). 

Project Team.

The project team engages in designing the actual change, including the steps that will be followed to ensure a successful implementation. Also, they ensure that the necessary resources required for the implementation of the change are available. They also engage and communicate with the entire change management team to ensure that they are all in unison. Again, they integrate change management plans into the project implementation plant to achieve the desired goals.

Other Employees

Employee involvement is the key to the success of any organizational change. For instance, employees are involved in direct communication and engagement with the customers, hence help to ensure the new transition is implemented. Also, the employees engage with the managers and the project team to ensure that the implementation process goes smoothly.

Anticipated Outcomes and Benefits

Successful implementation of the change will result in several important outcomes and benefits as follows. For instance, it will lead to sustainability and increased competitiveness of Old mutual in the market due to improved customer loyalty. Also, it will facilitate increased innovation and the use of better technology, thus leading to the provision of improved services and customer satisfaction. Innovation and technology will also help to reduce risks and enhance cost-effectiveness in the company’s operations. Again, it will help in the development of a diversified culture that acknowledges and respects the culture of others. Also, it will help in ensuring that customer needs and interests are given the priority, hence resulting in better relations and interaction with the customers. Additionally, it will help in attracting competent and innovative workforce from diverse cultures, thus leading to improved services, efficiency, and effectiveness in the company’s operations.

Project Deliverables.

The final project deliverables include:

i. Improved sustainability and market competitiveness.

ii. Improved diversity and inclusion of both the employees and customers.

iii. Increased innovation in the company operations.

iv. Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

v. Top talented and innovative employees.

vi. Improved speed, simplicity of operations, and cost-effectiveness.

Timelines and Milestones

The entire change project is anticipated to take a maximum duration of 6 years to become fully implemented and achieve the various desired goals. The first and second year will involve the initiation of the change and creation of a conducive environment that will allow successful implementation of the change. The other four years will include incorporation of the various values including, agile innovation, customer championing as well as diversity and inclusion into the change. That will be achieved following the various steps discussed in the methodologies and process section.

Figure 1.

Timeline	Event
Year 1	Initiating change
Year 2	Creation of a conducive environment that allows and supports implementation of the change
Year 3,4,5,6	Incorporation of the three key change values, including agile innovation, customer championing, and diversity and inclusion.

Pricing and Terms and Conditions.

The total price to be paid by the client will be agreed upon through a mutual negotiation with the consulting firm. The client will then pay the amount of money to the consultant based on the agreed terms of payment. Both the client and the consultant will ensure a high level of confidentiality regarding critical information. The client will be required to provide the necessary information at all times when needed. Again, the consultant shall, at all times, ensure that the project runs as expected to achieve the desired goals. Also, the consultant shall ensure that the project is fully implemented within the set timeline. Additionally, any possible termination of the contract must be agreed upon by the two parties, after giving a prior termination notice in writing.

Any Other Issues

Organizational change is good, but achieving its successful implementation may be quite challenging. For instance, the project may be faced by several challenges such as employee resistance, communication issues, and difficulties in implementing new innovative technologies, among other issues. However, appropriate strategies and actions must be put in place to prevent or even solve such problems when they arise.

Consultant’s profile.

We are a top-ranked consultancy firm in providing organizational change services. For over six years, we have worked with many clients and proven our outstanding expertise in delivering services that exceed our client’s expectations. Our expertise and experience revolve around all types of organizational changes, including structural change, cultural changes, and strategic management changes, among others. We usually focus on providing a collaborative working environment and step-by-step communication to ensure that everything runs smoothly and in the right way. Again, our working atmosphere is professional, and our approach focuses on achieving the best results to achieve maximum client satisfaction. After the project has been fully implemented, we also engage in assessing the change outcomes and impact to ensure that the set goals have been achieved.

References

Ivey. (2020). Old Mutual Limited: Leading Culture Change. Retrieved 10 May 2020.

Oldmutual.com. (2020). Our Strategy. Retrieved 10 May 2020, from https://www.oldmutual.com/about/our-strategy.

Oldmutual.com. (2020). Our Values. Retrieved 10 May 2020, from https://www.oldmutual.com/about/our-values.

Prosci.com. (2020). Manager/Supervisor's Role in Change Management. Retrieved 10 May 2020, from https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/manager-change-management-role.

Appendices

Figure 1

Timeline	Event
Year 1	Initiating change
Year 2	Creation of a conducive environment that allows and supports implementation of the change
Year 3,4,5,6	Incorporation of the three key change values, including agile innovation, customer championing, and diversity and inclusion.