Change Readiness or Needs Assessment Audit
3-1 Milestone One: Change Readiness or Needs Assessment Audit
Matthew Barnes
Southern New Hampshire University
MBA 687: Leading Organizational Change
Professor David Bohmiller
December 24, 2023
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Change Readiness or Needs Assessment Audit
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Create Visuals
During the change readiness and needs assessment audit for the U.S. branch, we noticed
many issues that need to be addressed to enact some change. Throughout this report, I will list
my findings and will assist in the adoption of the change plans. Below are some charts drawn up
based off the Employee Engagement Surveys conducted. The first bar graph shows the number
of employees who received a merit increase or a promotion in the past two years. This chart
shows that the only employees who received any merit increase are those that were promoted,
and only 7.5% of the employees received a promotion. The second column graph shows the
employees’ views on how the company feels or talks about diversity. 41% of the employees feel
that the company tries to promote a work environment free from discrimination and harassment.
Only 18% feel the environment at the company is supportive of the expression of different
opinions, styles, and perceptions. And lastly, 34% are satisfied with the company’s efforts to
support and encourage difference. (MBA 687 Employee Engagement Surveys, n.d.)
EMPLOYEES WHO RECEIEVE MERIT OR
PROMOTION IN 2 YEARS
No Answer
No
Yes
0,00%
10,00%
20,00%
30,00%
40,00%
50,00%
60,00%
70,00%
80,00%
90,00%
100,00%
Company on Diversity
41%
34%
18%
FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION AND
HARRASSMENT
SUPPORTIVE OF OTHER OPINIONS,
STYLES, AND PERCEOPTION
SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE
DIFFERENCES
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Next, we can see pie charts based off the company vision, values, and mission. 41% have
a clear understanding of the organization’s direction, whereas only 26% are familiar with the
company’s vision and values and feel like the organization is changing for the better. Now we
can look at the difference between middle managers and senior management. The last pie chart
shows how the employees view each, 36% feel senior managers are open, honest, and
transparent, while 70% of the middle managers are viewed this way. This shows that middle
managers are closer to the employees and that they are trusted. (MBA 687 Employee Engagement
Surveys, n.d.)
Compnay Vision,
Values, & Mission
Management Who is
Open, Honest, and
Transparent
Familiar
26
26
Clear
Understanding
36
For the Better
36
70
Senior Leaders
Middle Managers
Employees’ Confidence
Based off the above pie chart and the explanation behind it, this shows that the
employees do not have high confidence in their senior management to be open, honest, and
transparent. There is an urgency for the change initiative within the U.S sectors based off the
employee engagement survey and the leaders’ self-evaluations. We already discussed the
employee engagement survey, but the leaders’ self-evaluations show that all departments are not
familiar with change management skills or cross-cultural awareness. Middle managers need to be
able to buy-in to the adoption mindset, “Adoption is the process of planning for, and then taking
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on, a change.” (Gilbert, 2009) Many organizations can get the planning down, but taking out is a
different story. In the example by Gilbert 2009, the organization planned with “a cross-functional
team instead visualized both the implementation and the adoption of the new system, as separate
and distinct sets of activities.” (Gilbert, 2009) This way, the middle managers can act as a bridge
between the senior leaders within the organization.
Next, the middle managers must create ownership of the proposed change initiative. This
can be done by letting the middle managers take the initiative and letting them think about what
the change means to them personally. “mid-level leaders work within their networks, reiterating
the change articulated by the executives and asking the people within their influence the
questions that will help them arrive at their insights and draw their own conclusions about what's
needed for them to adopt the change.” (Gilbert, 2009) Ensuring that there is a cross-functional
team will allow for proper power distribution, allowing all to feel included and have input.
Having a leadership style that is not a traditional hierarchical structure will ensure the process is
seamless.
Opportunities to Increase Change Readiness/Trust
There are many reasons why some employees may be more accepting to change while
others might be more reluctant. One reason being that when the employees were hired, they were
provided a job description of their duties, these changes may change their agreed upon duties and
cause more work, while others may view the change as what benefits may come of it. With
increased production and turnouts, there could be merit increases or other benefits. After reviewing
the exit interview statistics and comments, many of the reasons for leaving the organization were
the relationship with management and lack of career opportunities accounting for 60%. Many of the
comments point to upward dissent which is “People who attempt to use influence on
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decisionmakers during the change management process. Some may seek to influence a leader
through a third party hoping the leader hears the concerns, but not directly from the source.” (Forms
of Resistance Grid, n.d.) Many of the exit interview comments stated that they brough ideas to
their middle managers (3rd party) but the senior leadership took no action or a long delay in the
process. The second form of resistance that can be deemed a cause for concern on the exit
interviews is Ambivalence “People who vocalize a move toward change and also vocalize a
struggle against change. They may experiencing both positive and negative feelings about
different aspects of the change at the same time.” (Forms of Resistance Grid, n.d.) Many of the
comments stated they liked working in an international workplace and had positive views of the
organization and what it could be, but also had negative views between the balance between both
sides of the organization and the hierarchical/top-down management styles of leadership.
Cultural Considerations
Looking at Hofstede’s model below, we can determine that 6 cultural dimension model,
we can gain further insight on what factors should be considered when working in an
intercultural workplace. After creating a profile for the country, we can gather useful information
about if they are individualistic or collectivistic, masculine, or feminine, etc. Using this
information, we can better interpret what senior leadership acts the way they do. For example, if
the power distance is high, it is expected and accepted to happen. The information and chart
below are a great example to see the differences between countries and how they may work
differently than other countries. Individualistic or collectivistic are another reason that could
explain one employee’s negative comment on their exit interview. “When I suggested ideas for
improvement, it took the task force forever to get new ideas implemented, and it was difficult to
speed up this process. I don’t see why we have to go through the Singapore team's management
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when we can collaborate at a team level?” (Exit Interviews, n.d.) If the Singapore cultural
dimensions show the country is more individualistic, then they may not want to collaborate at a
team level and use their power distance to let the senior management handle their suggestions for
improvement.
Source: Lewis, L., Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2019). Leading Organization Change (2nd
ed.). (p. 145) Wiley Solutions. December 8, 2023, https://eds-s-ebscohostcom.ezproxy.snhu.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=cc5ddbcf-80e2-4b07-a8a68f7115066a5f%40redis&ppid=pp_39&vid=0&format=EB
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References
Gilbert, J. (2009). The sandwich generation: the emerging role of middle managers in
organizational change. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2009—North America,
Orlando, FL. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Lewis, L., Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2019). Leading Organization Change (2nd ed.).
Wiley Solutions. December 8, 2023,
https://read.wiley.com/books/9781119832591/page/145/section/top-of-page
MBA 687 Employee Engagement Surveys. SNHU. (n.d.)
MBA 687 Exit Interviews. SNHU. (n.d.)
MBA 687 Forms of Resistance Grid. SNHU. (n.d.)
MBA 687 Leaders Self Evaluations. SNHU. (n.d.)
MBA 687 US Branch Overview. SNHU. (n.d.)