a Immediately after graduating from undergraduate school, I accepted a position as a Lean
Manager for a company that manufactures battery cans for Energizer. One of my
responsibilities was to improve the appearance and efficiency of several production areas by
incorporating a lean manufacturing method called 5S. This is an acronym for Sort, Set, Shine,
Standardize, and Sustain (Taneja, 2020). I divided the plant into 16 key areas, created
evaluation criteria for each location, and assigned a weekly auditor to assess a particular area.
I noticed that month after month, the employees performed fewer and fewer5S audits.
a a a a a a a a a a a I handled this situation by explaining to the employees how the data was making us
look bad when I reported it to senior management, which was effective because most of the
employees feared that their performance reviews or raise would be impacted. However, after
learning a multitude of change management approaches in this class, I know that I should
have explained the organizational benefits of 5S and how it improves employees’ ability to
focus on performing more value-added activities, instead of dealing with problems associated
with having an unorganized work environment.
a a a a a a a a a a a One change management skill that I found interesting was performing a stakeholder
analysis prior to implementing a change. The purpose of doing this is to help determine the
most effective level of communication for each stakeholder and anticipate any resistance, so
that you can counter it (Lucid Content Team, 2021). I believe I will apply this in the future
when I am marketing for trying to persuade a customer to replace their old equipment with
my company’s product(s). . A lot of changes in leadership have been going
on, with leaders being demoted, or even let go entirely. The
organization was clear about their new initiative about making sure
the right people were in the right seats but they didn't exactly
prepare us for all of the seat changes they would be making, if it was
communicated it wasn't communicated well. Communication is one
thing within my organization I feel they need to work on. There is a
lot of talk happening surrounding what's going on and what their end
game really is and there is a lot of unrest considering a lot of people
have been let go, people are nervous and some are even looking into
different companies. After this course I really understand the need
for communication and how it can help to appease some of the fears
in a situation like the one my organization is facing currently. They're
all very hush hush and that isn't doing anything for employee morale
which is wrong. Communication in general lacks within my
organization at times and I think a communication plan such as the
one we developed for our project could be helpful. I know that
communication is something I am definitely going to place an
emphasis on when it comes to my plan for professional development.
I strive to always be curious and I try to ask the questions that others
might be afraid to ask or questions that others may not think to ask.
My direct leaders pride me on the way I ask questions but I know
other leaders in the organization in different departments don't really
feel the same way and I think that's a problem in and of itself and I do
think that's kind of what the organization is trying to address but
they're not being as open-book about it as they could be.
An example of a situation where I have experience change in an
organization is actually my entire career with Toyota North America.
In 2017, Toyota moved their corporate headquarters from Torrance
California to Plano Texas. This new move was called “One-Toyota”
and was combining Engineering, Finance, Marketing, Sales, and many
more departments for both Toyota and Lexus under one roof. At the
same time, our global president Akio Toyoda announced that we
would be transitioning from a vehicle company to a mobility
company. These two MASSIVE changes left a lot of departments,
leaders, and employees wondering how these would take place and
how long it would take. Well, 5 years later and the changes are still
developing as the understanding gets more concrete and as we figure
out how to apply the new principles in our daily work.
What I learned from this experience along with what I have learned in
this course is that,
1. There is no “one-size fits all” approach. Organizations differ in size
and the reasons for change are different company to company.
2. A company does not have to be failing to introduce change
3. Companies that constantly encourage change, transformation, and
improvement will adapt more quickly to large changes. One of
Toyota’s philosophies is called “kaizen” or “continuous
improvement” and this is baked into every process at Toyota.
4. Change happens both at the large macro level, as well as the micro
level (small teams of 3-10 people) all of it is important.
After what I have learned I don’t think I could recommend a different
approach from what my company is doing, my biggest sign of this
massive change being successful is that I still love my work, I love
what the company stands for, and I love the teams and projects I
work on, on a daily basis. I would consider that a successful change on
Toyota’s end.
In general, organizational change is very important for the business
and company to alter a major component of the organization. It could
include technologies, infrastructure, internal processes, culture, and
many others (Arsith & Tanase, 2020). Here, I would like to share one
of my professional life experiences that were responsible for
managing change. When I was working in my previous organization, I
found that all the employees had a fear of the boss, and they were
hesitant to give their point of view in terms of achieving the
organizational goal. Here, it was essential to bring changes in the
work culture. Since I was appointed as a manager in the organization,
I have tried to reduce the gap between the employer and the
employees by providing enough training to the employees to
encourage and boost their confidence to talk in front of the boss.
Also, it is essential to maintain a work-friendly environment so that
better productivity can be derived from the organization. For this, I
have worked hard to communicate effectively with all the employees
and the employer.
In the organizational setting, it is essential for an individual to have
some important change management skills like active listening, better
communication, strategic thinking, research knowledge,
measurement and analysis, and leadership quality. While working in
the previous organization, I have already developed some of my skills
that am good at listening, good at communicating with others, doing
proper research before telling some changes in the organization, as
well as I also have a good quality of a leadership that has helped me a
lot to bring changes in the work culture (Arsith & Tanase, 2020). I
think I could have better managed the organizational change by using
a different approach. Here, I could have used measurement and
analysis to provide better reasoning for the organizational change. As
organizational culture is not static and it is dynamic, it was quite
helpful for me to bring changes to the work culture.
I have found some of the change management skills are already
present in me that are more relevant to my professional as well as
personal life. Usually, I used to be very good at engaging with people
in my personal as well as professional life, which has helped me a lot
to bring changes in the organizational culture. Another quality that I
have acquired is an excellent communication skill that makes people
listen to my points very carefully. Further, these change management
skills will be very helpful for me in the future to grow better in
managing the changes in the organizational settings.
References
Arsith, M., & Tanase Popa, D. A. (2020). Sign, Language, Significance
and Communication.
Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio
,
13
(2).
Taneja, H. (2020). “What Is 5S?” Quality info.
https://qcin.org/nbqp/knowledge_bank/uploads/2020/09/1600506696_205-Quality-
Info-Journal-15Jan20.pdf
Lucid Content Team. (2021). “How to Perform a Stakeholder Analysis.” How to Do a
a a a a a a a a a a Stakeholder Analysis | Lucidchart Blog.
https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/how-to-do-a-stakeholder-
analysis#:~:text=A%20stakeholder%20analysis%20allows%20you,for%20the%20op
position%20you%20anticipate.
