BUS 119 week 2 assignment (DO NOT CHANGE THE BID)

Running head: MOTIVATION DURING CHANGE 1

Motivation during Change

Jason Pfohl

MGT 425 Leadership & Motivation

Dr. Andree Swanson

April 18, 2017

Used with the permission of the author.

MOTIVATION DURING CHANGE 2

Motivation during Change

A difficult time for any leader is when they have to disrupt the work environment of their

employees. Introducing change will have an effect on an employee’s performance at work, as

well as their personal life. As a leader it is important provide a team with motivation and

understanding of the reason for change. Providing guidance and direction will allow the group to

understand that their leader is there to support them while dealing with change. As change

comes about, it is important for a leader to develop a plan and seek the input of their team.

Promoting the need for change can be a critical, but challenging task. While understanding the

concerns of the group can provide a structured implementation of the change, staying focused on

motivating the group to be effective during the change will be the key to its success.

The Changes Taking Place at Von Hoffmann Printing

Von Hoffmann is a printing company for educational and testing materials. The

organization has grown because of their quality products and effectiveness of delivering on time.

The use of educational books and testing materials has been an important part of how everyone

from a small child to an adult is able to learn and expand their knowledge and skill sets. With

the advancements in technology, a lot of educational material is available in a digital form. The

changes in how an individual is able to view material has presented a reduction in the need of

actual printed material. Publishing companies are ordering less printed material because the

educational system is moving to a digital platform of providing material to their students.

Testing and text books for multiple classes can be viewed from a laptop or IPad, reduce waste

when books are no longer needed, and allow students to carry one device compared to multiple

books.

The change from printed materials to digital materials has presented a need for change at

Von Hoffmann. With the reduction in sales of printed materials the organization is faced with

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some decisions in order to stay profitable. Von Hoffmann has developed a task force to

implement a change, motivate the workforce through the change, and promote the need for buy

in. The workers’ will need to adjust to the changes, their commitment is critical to the success of

the changes implemented (Straatmann, Kohnke, Hattrup, & Mueller, 2016). If the employees’

are pushing back for every change, the organization will fail at implementing a change and

struggle to succeed as a business. It is important to remember that the leaders and team cannot

function on their own, they need each other to provide successful results. Motivating a team can

be diagnosed and improved in more than one way, to organize a larger scale effort and achieve

goals, it is recommended to define the project in four steps (Pritchard & Ashwood, 2008). A

leader with the ability to motivate and guide a team, to understand the direction and purpose of

change, allows an organization to transition quicker with limited struggles and push back along

the way.

Step 1 - Planning the Proposed Change

The task force assigned to implementing a change has agreed that by reducing the work

week by one day for the entire organization, they can still provide the needed materials to their

customers on time. Working with the employees of the organization and understanding the

possible impacts for each department has allowed the group to agree on reducing one day of

work, compared to laying off several employees. The task force and group discussed the ability

to work the extra day off if business needs require it. The task force challenged the sales group

to reach out to other areas in need of printing services. To help support the organization and its

workforce, the sales group would reach out to past customers that provided long term contracts

in the past, in hopes of gaining more business.

According to Muscalu and Ciocan (2016) “the term motivation is an internal state of

emergency and it means conducting environmentally conscious behavior and direction to satisfy

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needs” (p. 153). Promoting a behavior that does not present a threat to achieving business goals

will be critical to the success of the change. The task force will review current manufacturing

processes to ensure that there is not room for improvement. Understanding how change will

affect the employees, any process that can be improved for efficiency will be reviewed and

implemented to ensure that the demands of the organizations customers will be met within the

shortened work week. Allowing the group to understand where there may be road blocks the

task force can help find solutions to eliminate those road blocks and allow the change to succeed.

Step 2 - Investigating Strengths and Weaknesses of Connections

The task force wanted to offer the employees a clear understanding of the purpose for

reducing the work week and hours. There had been praise to the group for working very hard to

ensure that the quality of the product maintained an acceptable level and that it was not the

reason for the coming changes. The employees of the organization had been a devoted group of

individuals with the least senior employee having eight years of service. The dedication to

perform was appreciated by the key stakeholders of the organization, they encouraged the

employees to stick with them through the trough of sales so that if business turns around, they

would have the same dedicated group available to perform the necessary jobs.

The involvement of the employees will help define other opportunities for improving the

change of working hours. The employees input is valuable to understanding where there may be

constraints that they have noticed during regular production. The employees always performed

when the business was performing at peak, they accomplished this by having a clear

understanding of their jobs and the processes involved with each position. The task force clearly

detailed the reason for change and the efforts that are being used to provide the business to grow

so that everyone will be able to return to a full work schedule. The input and concerns of the

employees allows the group to work through each situation and provide understanding to why

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the motivation and engagement of everyone is needed for the organization to continue their

success with their current customer base.

Searching for involvement and understanding is focused on improving performance

linked to a goal that in most cases could reasonably be linked with a wide range of specific

practices (Nigam, Huising, & Golden, 2016). The reduction in the work week will be

implemented by department to ensure that the change follows through to each department of the

organizations process, and that the current orders are processed and delivered as promised to the

customer. Gathering all of the employees to discuss the change allows the task force to show the

value in shortening the work week. Presenting the plan to allow the employees to understand the

purpose for change allows the task force to emphasize the need for continued motivation

amongst the group. By working with the employees, the task force is able to understand the

connections of why specific practices are performed a specific way. Looking for improvement

allows the group as a whole to understand and develop plans that will ensure the change is going

to provide the intended results needed.

Step 3 - Identifying Solutions to Generate Employees Buy In

According to Dotlich (2017), “Teams that take the time to understand the new priorities,

vision, and purpose and their own reactions to a new situation have greater chances of long-term

success” (p. 26). Understanding the capabilities of the shortened work week has to go beyond

just understanding how the company will save by reducing the work hours. The task force in

conjunction with the employees need to unite to ensure that everyone has the ability to perform

the tasks at the levels being requested of them. By interacting and communicating with the

employees, the leadership will be able to clearly understand the limitations and issues that need

to be planned for. Taking the input of the employees and showing them that the leadership wants

to make a transition with their input, will help with motivation and buy in from the employees.

MOTIVATION DURING CHANGE 6

The task force is responsible for working with the employees so that the group can decide

if there will be any resources that will have to be added for the changes in the operation

schedule. Working as a group to identify needed resources allows the employees to understand

the commitment that the organization has for making the chance succeed. This also allows for

the leadership group to understand and see the efforts that are being provided from the

employees that are most affected by the change. Developing relationships can take place in

many ways, it is important that the relationships foster into a bond that is motivated from team

work and success.

The need for authority for the change is driven by the task force assigned to planning and

implementing the change from a five day work week to a four day work week. With the

reduction in hours, the ones with authority will also be reduced down to a four day work week.

Identifying if there is necessity for additional resources or to reduce resources with authority will

be analyzed and communicated to the stakeholders of the organization. The task force feels that

by reassigning any resources and having justifiable cause for their need, will be better for when

the business turns around and sales pick up.

The work strategies that were used prior to the reduction in hours will allow for a starting

point for the group to transition and improve at what they currently do. It is important to

recognize, discuss, and support the changes associated with each employee (Dotlich, 2017). The

managers and supervisors will be an important part of providing the employees with the

guidance and resources that are needed to function with the use of any new resources. For the

processes that do involve change, a leader will need to understand any concerns that an employee

has with the new process that has been implemented. When the leadership shows their

understanding for concerns, the employees will provide the needed feedback and understanding

for the leaders to see that there is motivation for the group to succeed.

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Step 4 - Measuring Results with Employee Feedback

Understanding what to look for allows a group to know when they are moving in the right

direction when implementing a change. The change introduced to Von Hoffmann employees is

because of the lack of sales and the need to reduce work hours so that the organization can show

a profit for their hard work and services. The change in hours is also coupled with a review of

processes to better understand if there is a way to improve and become more efficient. The

indicators used to assess effectiveness and efficiency of performance and the potentials of

performing at a higher level is provided over various dimensions (Zamecnik & Rajnoha, 2015).

Aligning focus of quality of the products and the capacity allows for the team to ensure they are

providing a product that satisfies the customer.

As the changes take place, the team assigned to the task force will be responsible for

understanding how the change is affecting the business and its customers. The feedback that is

received from employees allows the organization to know if they are having any issues with the

reduction in work hours. The changes can affect an individual on personal level because of their

financial situation from the feedback received that the employees are enjoying the extra time

with their families. There have been minimal remarks about the cut in pay that employees have

been required to deal with. The majority of everyone impacted by the change enjoys their

schedule changes and has embraced the involvement by the management group.

Over the long term of reducing the hours, some employees have been able to find work

outside of the organization to compensate them for the loss wages associated with the reduced

work schedule. The group continues to show interest in the sales forecast and provides input to

possible ways the organization can improve their processes. The group has been supportive and

motivated to find solutions to not being consumed by the digital world and allow the business to

stay competitive in the printing industry.

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Conclusion

Promoting the need for change was a critical and challenging task because of the impact

that it would have on the employees of the organization. There was a clear understanding of the

concerns that the group provided to allow a structured implementation. Having direct focus on

the motivation of the employees during the reduction helped ensure that the proper steps were

used to continue operating Von Hoffmann Printing successfully. The reduction in working hours

was managed with motivation in mind, to provide confidence in the employees to improve so

that the organization could grow bigger than they were prior to the reduction in sales and

working hours. By providing guidance and direction the employees were able to understand they

were receiving valuable support from their company. The change helped the organization and

employees develop a new respect for each other and show that during slow times the entire group

has what it takes to be successful.

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References

Dotlich, D. (2017). Leadership in times of transition. People & Strategy, 40(1), 24-27.

Muscalu, E., & Ciocan, F. (2016). Attracting and motivating employees during changes in

organization. The role of the human resources department. Journal of Defense Resources

Management, 7(2), 153.

Nigam, A., Huising, R., & Golden, B. (2016). Explaining the selection of routines for change

during organizational search. Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(4), 551-583.

doi:10.1177/0001839216653712

Pritchard, R. D., & Ashwood, E. L. (2008). Managing motivation: A manager's guide to

diagnosing and improving motivation. New York, NY Routledge/Taylor & Francis

Group.

Straatmann, T., Kohnke, O., Hattrup, K., & Mueller, K. (2016). Assessing employees’ reactions

to organizational change: An integrative framework of change-specific and psychological

factors. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 52(3), 265-295.

doi:10.1177/0021886316655871

Zamecnik, R., & Rajnoha, R. (2015). Business process performance measurement under

conditions of business practice. Procedia Economics And Finance, 26(4th World

Conference on Business, Economics and Management (WCBEM-2015), 742-749.

doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00833-3