Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
Pam McEwen
Managing Organizational Change and Conflict
Gail Cullen
September 24, 2011
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
Introduction
The book Managing change, cases, and concepts by Todd Jick and Maury Peiperl provide
Ten Commandments for implementing change. They are as follows:
1.
Analyze the organization and its need for change.
2.
Create a shared vision and common direction.
3.
Separate from the past.
4.
Create a sense of urgency.
5.
Support a strong leader role.
6.
Line up political sponsorship.
7.
Craft an implementation plan.
8.
Develop enabling structures.
9.
Communicate, involve people, and be honest.
10. Reinforce and institutionalize change.
This paper will focus on some of these commandments and how they have been applied
in organizational settings. Dorian Scales, General Manager of Burger King, has been
interviewed and will provide personal examples as to how he has applied some of these
commandments.
Commitment to Change
Mr. Scales was recently and unexpectedly promoted to a management position within his
organization. His first reaction to this change was shock. He initially thought that he would be
promoted to an assistant manager position. Instead, he was promoted to a general manager
position. Although Mr. Scales was very excited and happy about his promotion, he also stated
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
that he was scared as well. He acknowledged that this feeling of fear was associated with the
possibility of his being a failure which he confirmed by making the following statement: “I had
been wanting to show my skills off for so long and now that I had the opportunity to do so, I did
not want to disappoint my supervisors or myself by not measuring up. I was and still is afraid of
being a failure. When you are promoted, you are automatically thrown under a bright light. You
now have to prove that you deserve to stay in the spotlight.”
As Mr. Scales entered into his new position as general manager, there were several
changes that he wanted to implement. One of the biggest changes that he wanted to make
involved the improvement of productivity. Mr. Scales stated that several shift managers and
employees regularly abused the time clock. In addition to this, service time at the store was a lot
slower than what it was supposed to be. For instance, company policies state that customers are
to receive their order within 2 minutes. After 2 ½ minutes, the timer goes red and the order is
considered old. In some cases, employees were taking up to 8 minutes to deliver a customer
order.
After Mr. Scales identified the problem, he started an investigation. He did this by
regularly viewing the surveillance video so that he could identify how to fix the problem. This
also allowed him to examine how each employee worked. He would use these discoveries to
help his employees to develop the skills needed to complete their job related tasks. Through
video surveillance he soon realized that the problem was employee related. Instead of carrying
out their job related duties, several employees would regularly sit or stand around. In one case,
the shift manager was asleep for several hours while on duty. This was very disturbing and
disappointing to Mr. Scales. Therefore, he immediately made changes. This resulted in the
termination of several employees.
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
Mr. Scales made the following statement concerning this change: “After reviewing the
tapes, it was not hard for me to make these changes. Once the employees saw that I was
committed to customer service and that I would terminate employees who failed to measure up
to company standards, they began to improve. If I saw that an employee was slipping in this
area, I would cut their hours, sometimes, drastically. This was my way of reminding employees
of company standards. This helped the employees to be more conscious of our customers and
the service they deserve. This also helped employees to become committed to the change that I
was implementing.” When asked if his actions created a sense of urgency, Mr. Scales said yes.
His methods quickly pushed employees in a different direction. This direction was better for the
customers, employees, and the organization. Mr. Scales made the following statement, “If the
situation at hand does not seem urgent, employees will most likely stay the same. Urgency
shakes things up and pushes employees out of their comfort zones. Most of the time, the results
are an effective change.”
Development of Vision
It has been stated that “one of the first steps in engineering change is to unite an
organization behind a central vision. This vision should reflect the philosophy and values of the
organization, and should help it to articulate what it hopes to become. A successful vision serves
to guide behavior, and to aid an organization in achieving its goals” (Jick and Peiperl, 2011).
Mr. Scales agreed with this statement. He stated that a good vision works as a gauge for
employees. It is a clear indicator of what is and is not acceptable. He believes that employees
have become confused as to what is acceptable. He elaborated on his theory by stating that as a
society we have relaxed our employee standards. Fifty years ago, employees wore dress suits
and ties. Today, employees wear jeans and flip flops to work. This change of dress has affected
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
employee attitudes and behaviors. Hence, the vision helps to redevelop those attitudes and
behaviors to fit the needs and standards of the organization.
Mr. Scales is currently in the process of developing a shared vision. He has recently been
assigned to another store and has started the investigation process all over again. It is imperative
that he go through the investigation process as he stated that “what worked for one store may not
work for this one.” After the investigation process, Mr. Scales will create a shared vision and
will review it with employees. The vision will assist him in implementing the changes necessary
to guarantee the success of his store as well as the organization. The vision is then posted so that
employees will have a visual reminder of the store’s objectives.
Communication of Change
There are seven common pitfalls associated with change implementation. One of these
pitfalls involves training and instruction given to lower level employees. 62% of the time it is
inadequate. When asked if he seen this as being a problem within his organization, Mr. Scales
said yes. He stated that not all instruction is given by the general manager. This is sometimes
given by assistant managers and shift managers. If these managers are not well trained
themselves then it is impossible for them to train employees at the lower levels. Therefore, it is
essential to the success of the store and the organization, that managers receive adequate training
as well as instruction. For this reason, managers are required to attend separate meetings. By
doing so, they keep up with organizational change implementations and are given ways to
improve in their skills.
When asked how he communicates implemented changes to employees, Mr. Scales stated
that this normally occurs in employee meetings. All meetings are mandatory. If an employee
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
does not attend a meeting and does not provide a good reason for doing so, he or she can be
written up. This policy reinforces the importance of attending all meetings and keeping updated
with organizational changes. Mr. Scales stated that it was necessary for him to implement this
change as several employees had a habit of not attending meetings. When asked if open
communication with employees is necessary, Mr. Scales made the following statement,
“Management should always be open and honest with all employees. If they do not know an
answer they should disclose this fact to employees. In an organization where things are
constantly changing and we a struggling to take McDonald’s number 1 spot, communication is a
survival tactic.”
Employee Motivation
The Burger King Corporation is the second largest fast food chain in the world. This
corporation serves 11 million customers each day. When asked how the organization motivates
employees, Ms. Scales admitted that this is an area that the company needs to improve in. This
improvement is sometimes hard to make due to a high employee turnover rate. This rate has
been contributed to lower wages and a lack of employee benefits. Currently, the company
motivates employees through promotions and pay raises. However, if an employee cannot pass a
background check, he is not eligible for a promotion. This often causes divisions within the
company, as crew members, known as the lower level employees, make more money than their
managers. Mr. Scales commented that he will soon work on developing a variety of ways to
motivate employees. He hopes that some of these methods will be implemented at Burger
King’s across the country and around the world.
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
Conclusion
Successfully implementing change within an organization can be challenging if managers
are not prepared. It has been proven that “when it comes to the daily, nitty-gritty, tactical, and
operational decision making of change, the implementor is the one who makes or breaks the
program’s success…the implementors’ task is to help shape, enable, orchestrate, and facilitate
successful progress” (Jick and Peiperl, 2011). Hence, the role of managers is essential to the
survival of an organization. By adjusting to the needs of customers and implementing changes
when needed, a good manager can help ensure the future of an organization.
Leadership Interview on Change Strategies
References
Jick, T. D. & Peiperl, M. A. (2011). Managing change, cases, and concepts (3rd ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill.