Running header: CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 1
Consulting Proposal #2
Terry Helms
Liberty University
BMAL 504 – Leading Organizational Change
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 2
Definition of Project:
This consulting proposal is taking a look at the Housing Development Board of
Singapore. The focus will be on a young woman Chew Ling Tan. She has worked for the
Housing Development Board as the Deputy Director in the past but was offered the opportunity
to go to Columbia University to work through their MBA program. Upon returning to the
Housing Development Board, Chew Ling Tan was given a new position as the Change Leader
within the organization. The focus is to look at Chew Ling Tan's approach and ideals on a change
implementation plan for the Housing Development Board.
Diagnosis of current situation:
The Housing Development Board went through a rapid transition from when it was
established in the 1960's to the mid 2000's. Jick and Peiperl (2011) brings to light that, “The
authority had grown rapidly in size and responsibilities; from initially meeting the basic shelter
needs of 6% of the population to, in 2007, providing quality homes for 81% of a 3.7 million
population” (p.430). The focus of the Housing Development Board is to meet the demanding
needs of their customers. Essentially the customers of the Housing Development Board wants
more for less with more variety but with the construction prices going up and a shortage of
building materials the issue becomes how to service their customers better (Jick and Peiperl,
2011). The other problem that has plagued the Housing Development Board is a steady change in
their CEO's. The final CEO has formed stability with a focus on moving Housing Development
Board forward (Jick and Peiperl, 2011). The organization is moving in multiple directions in
trying to resolve the material problems to improving the service to their customers. The Housing
Development Board has been working to move forward, looking to restructure and look at
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 3
avenues they may have overlooked. Chew Ling Tan has been given the opportunity to head up
this part of the organization by being given the position of Change Leader within the
organization. Her sole role is to head up the change needed to help the organization achieve the
goals they are looking to achieve.
Recommendations:
Chew Ling Tan has already been thinking and planning her actions to help the Housing
Development Board to achieve their goals. She has put together an course of action to see the
direction of the organization change in a manner to better support their customers while full-
filling the requirements the organization seeks to fill. Chew Ling Tan can benefit with a few
other courses of action to ensure that the organizational goals are met. First Chew Ling Tang can
look to improve her possibilities by giving a look to alternatives to the measures she already
plans to put into place. Paul Nutt (2000) notes, “Decision makers evaluate alternatives to find a
preferred course of action before attempts are made to implement” (p. 160). With the changes
that need to be made and the ability to find different solutions to the multitude of problems Chew
Ling Tan can allow her position to have more success by covering other avenues that can give
the same or similar solution to a particular issue. “In a changing environment rules get written on
the fly” (Tager, 2004, p. 7). Kathleen Allen (2012) mentions, “Integrating flexibility into an
organization's structure” to deal with uncertainties (p. 17). Chew Ling Tang has a good course of
action but needs to be prepared for the hiccups that come with being in a leadership position and
have the flexibility to change things as they come along. “Plans are worthless; planning is
everything” (Tager, 2004. p. 8). Anyone in leadership can have the best picture perfect plan laid
out but the determining factor of a leader that is successful is having other alternatives in place to
carry an action through if something disrupts the first avenue taken.
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 4
Chew Ling Tan has plans to build the internal structure of the Housing Development
Board with a detailed list and timeframe for her plans to take place. The second recommendation
Chew Ling Tan needs to give consideration to is that, “The world may change in the time it takes
to go through a major strategic planning process” (Allen, 2012, p. 16). The current internal
structure of the organization does not operate at the level she wants to help it succeed to and this
could set up potential delays to her schedule. She has in her plans to implement strategist, which
is a good move but “Resilience keeps the organization moving forward while strategists attempt
to figure out where it should go” (Allen, 2012, p. 16). In the beginning she has to set the
structure to build resiliency before strategist can help it move forward. Allen (2012) follows up
by adding, “Strategic decision making under uncertainty cannot be effective without a resilient
organization structure” (p. 16). The core of the organizations structure has to be stabilized and
strengthened before action implementation to better serve their customer base can take place.
One of the issues the organization is facing is dealing with their customers and wanting to
change the image that people have of them. Mark Tager (2004) writes, “Empathy is an
observable, measurable leadership behavior” (p. 9). This behavior can be used by the leadership
of the Housing Development Board to build a connection to their clients. The key component to
this is simple communication. The leadership of the organization needs to recognize their clients
needs by meeting them with a decisive plan of action that helps both parties.
Another recommendation that can be put into place is for Chew Ling Tan to build a plan
to structure others to move into leadership roles. Frances Hesselbein (2013) mentions that, “We
must develop, today, leaders of change, leaders of the future” (p. 5). If no one is being trained to
take the place of prominent positions within an organization the internal structure could face a
fracture or collapse. This creates the ability to have options in the case of situations that can
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 5
bring about uncertainties. Allen (2012)mentions that, “If an organization has put in place policies
and a structure that enable faster opportunity decisions and equally quick abandonment
decisions, it will do a more effective job f managing and allocating its resources in uncertain
times” (p. 17). Considering the amount of their clientele and the turnover they have had on
CEO's, having contingencies can help make these transitions smoother.
Implementation Plan:
Paul Nutt (2007) gives a reminder that, “Implementation leads a planning effort to give
social and political forces priority” (p. 1258). Chew Ling Tan has built a plan with a time table to
cover all the major components of restructuring the internal part of the Housing Development
Board and addressing the organizations clientele concerns later down the road. Following the
course she has laid out should bring stability to the organization but needs to go further in their
endeavors by looking at the stars within the organization to build leaders that can full fill new or
existing roles. After the internal structure has been organized the focus needs to be placed on the
organizations clientele. “Dealing with people that have interests increases the prospects of
success” (Nutt, 2007, p. 1255). After the plan has been implemented to strengthen the
organizations foundation, the internal structure can begin on focusing on improving the clientele
relations and experience will ultimately grant the Housing Development Board
Summary:
In summary Chew Ling Tan has developed a strong plan to restructure the internal
workings of the Housing Development Board so that the needs of the organizations clientele can
be met. The focus on the internal structure has to happen before the external components can be
dealt with. Chew Ling Tan needs to consider other options to allow the flexibility to cover
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 6
contingencies that may affect her master plan. With other contingencies in place to cover any
multitude of changes that could affect the organization Chew Ling Tan's course of action can
offer the organization a stability that it has not seen since the 60's. Building a strong internal
structure with contingencies gives the stability to focus on the organizations clientele and their
needs.
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #2 7
References:
Allen, K. (2012). Change leaders: Creating resilience in uncertain times. Leader to Leader.
2012(63), 13–18. doi: 10.1002/ltl.20004
Hesselbein, F. (2013). Leaders of Change, Leaders of the Future. Leader to Leader. 2013(68), 4–
6. doi: 10.1002/ltl.20067
Jick, T., Peiperl, M. (2011). Managing Change. Cases and Concepts (3rd ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw Hill/Irwin.
Nutt, Paul C., (2000). Context, tactics, and the examination of alternatives during strategic
decision-making. European Journal Operational Research. 124(1)159–186.
doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(99)00165-4
Nutt, Paul C., (2007). Technological forecasting and social change. ScienceDirect. 74(8), 1252-
1271. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2006.10.007
Tager, M. J. (2004). What people really need from a change leader. Leader to Leader. 2004(31),
6–9. doi: 10.1002/ltl.56
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