A630.7.4RB Mastering the Art of Corporate Reinvention_Reyes,Cassandra

With over 30 years of experience at Honeywell, Michael Bonsignore seemed to clearly understand the organizations values and its change of times of where the company was, where it is now and where it is currently going. Bonsignore’s challenge with the merge of Honeywell and Allied Signal was to take two organizations that had different company cultures and ensure that they were able to effectively merge into one successful cohesive business. Bonsignore needed to concentrate on the organizations reinvention ensuring that all members of the organization were able to fully understand the organizational change that would be taking place and the change strategies that would be implemented over time to maintain the company’s profitability, and growth in the years to come.

            When Bonsignore states that he will reward people that look for best practices from both companies in creating a new corporate culture and punish those who do not, I believe he is referring to the difficulties he may experience with some employee’s resistance to change. When there is change in any organization it can be difficult for upper level management to receive approval from workers who are uncomfortable with the change, or who are not in agreement with it. “On a personal level, change represents the alteration of a set of patterns of behavior, defines relationships with others, work procedures and job skills. On an organizational level change means that policies, procedures, sunk costs, organization structures, manufacturing processes and workflows will no longer be the same” (Brown, Pg 144, 2011).

The barriers to Honeywell’s success proved to be issues with the length of time the organization has been around which seemed to have led to some complacency and fear of the unknown. The organizations past success had been taken for granted and therefore needed a revamping of its new organizational structure. In order to continue to be successful Honeywell concentrated on three main factors; the delighted customer, profitable growth and leadership and control. However, it was imperative that they were also aware of those who were resistant to the changes that were being implemented and took care on the steps they would need to take of this would somehow affect their growth and productivity.

With the merge of Allied Signal and Honeywell, I believe that Bonsignore did his best to create a culture where his employees could be accepting of the change and understanding of the new goals of the organization. I believe that he created an expectation of his organization where those who showed they were flexible and adaptable would be awarded for their good faith in the organization and would show those who were resistant to change, that behaviors as such would be unacceptable to the new culture of the organization. Therefore, in order to ensure their success, Honeywell made their workers aware of their cultural expectations and compensated those who were able to meet those goals of cultural productivity.

            Honeywell is currently a Fortune 100 company and has proven to be extremely successful over the years. I believe that as long as the organization continues to strive for product and consumer excellence they should remain a competitor in their respective market. I do feel as though the company culture of any organization is something that will always need to be worked on as times change however, as long as Honeywell continues to make its employees just as important as their consumers, much like Southwest has, I believe they will experience minimum difficulties in resistance to change that may occur in the future.

            In order for any organization to be successful, a number of factors should be taken into consideration which include a global strategic mission and vision that members of the organization can respect. In the past Honeywell had been overly ambitious with their goals and underestimated the task of combining the two merging organizations leading to a demise in organizational productivity, profitability and growth. With this in mind, Honeywell should keep in mind that an organizational culture starts from the top.

Communication is the key to any organizations success as it allows for an open door to collaboration. Bonsignore states that employees want the unvarnished truth about their organizations situation, so they are better prepared for the issues they may face. He goes on to state that employees are “happy to deal with hardship as long as there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that management is being real with them” (Bonsignore, Films on Demand), therefore in order to build a successful company, leadership should continue to take into consideration the driving forces toward acceptance of a change program by employees and work on impacting the organizational culture in positive ways. In order for Honeywell to be successful, he must ensure that the leadership team of Honeywell, for the present and future, are aware of the lifecycle of resistance to change and can identify when they have encountered a certain degree of resistance that may affect the organizations success in a negative manner. They must promote advocacy of change and motivate employees by promoting positive momentums toward change programs.

This exercise has taught me that change programs are taking place in all organizations, all of the time, including my own and that no matter the size of the organization, resistance to change is inevitable. I have learned that while there are basic strategies to change, the frameworks of change all coexist with one another creating intervention techniques that are dependent upon the interdependencies of an organizations sub elements as well as its cohesiveness with one another. Lastly, I learned that selection of the correct OD intervention strategy is imperative to an organizations success as it calls for specific behavioral, structural and technological system integration.

                References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development(8th ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Films On Demand (2011, June 1). Mastering the Art of Corporate Reinvention [Video file].

Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/play/GWEU7L

A630.6.4.RB_50 Reasons Not to Change/The Tribes We Lead_ReyesCassandra

After viewing the above presentations, reflect on the following questions in a well-written post on your Reflection Blog.

·         How do you react when you hear colleagues using some of the excuses listed in the 50 Reasons Not to Change graphic?

·         Do you ever use any of these excuses yourself?

·         How can you overcome the thinking that creates those responses to change efforts?

·         Do you agree with Seth Godin’s concept that change is driven by tribes?

·         What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

Once you have reflected upon these questions, list any other questions or insights that have come to you as a result of this exercise.

Due to economic and political pressures, organizations continuously face competition in their respective fields causing them to radically change and reinvent their image, culture and processes. While the process of change may seem simplistic at first sight, the elements and implementation of an effective change strategy proves to be a difficult task. Organizations today are faced with the challenge of effectively managing change within their business in order to maintain their success. When an organization fails to adapt quickly enough in order to survive within their market, they risk becoming obsolete. Therefore, in order to prevent failure, organizations must act quickly and make choices that are favorable and consistent with the pressures of their economic and political constraints while also meeting the needs of their consumer.

            One of the biggest challenges of change is the resistance we experience to it. In order for change to emerge, corrective action must take place. But in order for corrective action to take place, we must first be able to recognize the need for change and understand the benefits of implementing an effective change strategy which will increase the value and life span of the organization. In order to implement change we must first accept it. In the textbook, An Experiential Approach to Organizational Development, Donald Brown states the following of implementing organizational change:

The single biggest reason organizational changes fail is that no one thought about endings or planned to manage their impact on people. Naturally concerned about the future, planners and implementers usually forget that people have to let go of their present first. They forget that while the first task of change management is to understand the destination and how to get there, the first task of transition management is to convince people to leave home. (Brown 2011).

My organization is currently experiencing an organizational restructure to which there

has been resistance by some members who have been uncomfortable with the recent changes which have been implemented. Once the restructure was introduced to our organization, members almost immediately began to list the reasons the change would not work. Most of the reasons discussed included management and departmental acceptance, having the personnel and the equipment for the change, the new changes making current policies or procedures obsolete, and workers believing that the new changes affected their jobs duties negatively, by adding unwanted responsibilities or taking away from them.

During this restructure my department experienced a change in management four separate times in less than three months. I was frustrated and worried about how the change would affect my family and I admit that at first I was reluctant to accepting the changes that continued to occur. I was not in favor of the new changes and resisted them as best as I could. Even when the changes appeared to work in my favor, I was unwilling to accept them as there was a constant fear of where the change would permanently lead me. I was dissatisfied with the change efforts being implemented and the impact it was having on my job, my family, and my overall being. While I wanted to be accepting of the change, the restraints to it seemed to overcome my abilities to recognize the benefits of its execution.

In order to overcome the thinking that created these negative responses to my organizations change efforts, I needed to first step out of my comfort zone. I realized that one of the reasons I was so against this change at first was because I had become complacent in my job. There was uncertainty in change and I was forced to be a part of it without having been asked. In order to become comfortable with this new change, I needed to allow myself to be uncomfortable and to be okay with moving into the direction of the unknown and allow myself to feel the discomfort of everything that was going on around me. The organization was moving in a new direction and I could either be a part of it, or choose to go against it. While I feared the unknown, I made the conscious decision to take things as they would come and move forward with a positive and open mind to new organizational norms and culture that was being created.

Many employees of the organization feared what the changes would bring and it became apparent to upper level management that in order for this change to work, they would need to take the necessary steps to quell the fears of their workers. To do this, managers and supervisors at all levels of the organization addressed the concerns of their workers and allowed for open communication and dialogue about what the changes would bring. They also linked the change to reflect the issues that workers already cared about such as job security and advancement, which made acceptance of the change less complicated and demanding. The organization also made employees aware of the pros and cons of the change proving their knowledge of the possible effects it could have on its workers.

In Seth Godin’s speech The Tribes we Lead, Godin discusses how ordinary people have the power to create change by leading those around them to stand up for what they believe in. Godin states that most movements are created by finding those individuals who are disconnected but already have a yearning to create change, not those who want something they don’t have. He argues that change is created by those who stand up for what they believe in and go against the status quo. Godin teaches us that when culture and curiosity are challenged, commitment to change is provoked and implemented and an effective culture of change is created. Godin’s speech was unique and inspiring and my inspiration lies with my agreement of his vision.

In this week’s readings, I gained tremendous knowledge about the barriers to change and the “restraining forces blocking the implementation of change programs” (Brown 2011). I discovered that conformity to organizational culture and norms threatened organizational success and disrupted the mission and vision of the changes that were desperately trying to be implemented. In educating myself about the importance of change for an organization, I learned that my own fears and concerns were actually prohibiting my organization from moving forward in way that would prove to be effective, efficient and beneficial for my own well being, if I just allowed it. And lastly, I learned that the biggest reward of accepting change would be my own personal growth in having the ability to overcome the resistance to change in the future.

   References

Godin, S. (2009, February). Seth Godin: The tribes we lead | Video on TED.com [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead.html

Marker, A. (n.d.). 10 StrategiesYou CanUse toOvercomeResistance to Change. Retrieved from http://opwl.boisestate.edu/wp-content/uploads/news-A_Marker_Handling_Resistance_to_Change_v4b.pdf

Watkins, D. (2011, August 24). 50 Reasons Not to Change by Daryl Watkins on Prezi [Video file]. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/z2v2cvo4t9tc/50-reasons-not-to-change/

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development(8th ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A630.5.4.RB_NASA Culture Change_Reyes,Cassandra

·         Why did NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe address NASA employees to describe the plan to bring about proposed changes to NASA's culture?

·         Was he believable? Is it important whether he appeared to be believable?

·         Why did he talk about NASA values?

·         What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

Once you have reflected upon these questions, list any other questions or insights that have come to you as a result of this exercise.

            In the video NASA Cultural Change, NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe speaks to employees on the proposed changes that the organization will be experiencing in the next few months to come. The discussion stems from the Columbia Shuttle accident and concentrates on the safety culture of NASA and the necessary managerial changes that the space agency will be required to make if they would like to continue to see their organization be successful. The topics discussed reflect upon the ineffective strategies, policies or procedures that were the organizations cultural norm and the new steps that have been taken to become a more effective and efficient agency with enhanced and stabilized processes.

In his speech, Sean O’Keefe is direct and honest about the issues that the organization is currently experiencing. He places himself in a vulnerable position accepting responsibility of the negative effects that leadership has had on the cultural environment of NASA. O’Keefe does well in touching upon the pros and cons of the organization and describes the plan to bring about change to NASA’s workforce. In his efforts to bring awareness to the issues at hand, O’Keefe allows himself to be just as much of a student in the scenario, than a teacher. In order to get NASA workers on board he allows himself to take accountability for being just as much the problem as anyone else.

O’Keefe touches upon a number of factors which have contributed to the Columbia Shuttle failure and offers suggestions as to how to better the organization for the sake of creating a safer more effective environment for the space agency. One of the issues discussed in the speech include the ability for all employees to have a respect for one another and the capability for them to carry out the tasks that they were asked to do. O’Keefe states that a survey that was provided to the NASA workforce proved that this was something the agency desperately needed to work on. It was said that there needed to be an increase in the professional respect members of the organization had for one another and that that there was a lack of communication across all  levels of the organization and its counterparts.

Leadership also holds a major role in the successes of the organization as effective leadership practices start from the top and find their way into every inch of organizational practices. It was said that leadership should be stronger and that safety practices needed to prove to be fundamentally imperative as they offer a thin margin of either “great triumph or great tragedy” (O’Keefe, 2004). O’Keefe mentions that in order to build upon success, they must do so as they materialize and employees should remain positive and not be so defeated by their failures. It was suggested by NASA employees that leadership needed to become more involved with what their teams were doing and that upward communication and management employee interaction should be increased in order to maintain more enhanced organizational support.

In his speech as well as his question and answer session, O’Keefe seemed to me to be sincere and believable in his efforts to address both the obvious and obscure issues that the agency was experiencing. He mentioned his own faults and actions that were creating ill feelings and environments among NASA workers and mentioned the consideration of team building exercises as well as team trainings and the redevelopment of NASA’s core organizational values. I believe that it was imperative of O’Keefe to remain genuine and candid in his speech as it allowed for the employees of NASA to feel as though they were free to speak openly about their concerns of where the organization was headed without the fear of consequences. If members are afraid of simply mentioning the possibility of change, then their ability to create change will be impossible. It seems to me that O’Keefe did a great job at creating a safe haven for those who may have feared consequence and allowed for open dialogue on the changes that needed to take place in order for NASA to continue to be successful.

A large topic of discussion for O’Keefe, were the values of NASA and the ability of reevaluation of organizational values that would assist with adding credibility to the agency. I believe that O’Keefe discusses the values of NASA as they create a distinct organizational culture and norm within the agency that is passed down from generation to generation. I believe that the values of NASA help to craft the mission and vision of the organization creating goals for all members to work toward achieving. With this I also believe that values were discussed intently due to the importance of accountability and responsibility all members must take when making imperative decisions within the workplace that can have consequential effects for the members and organizational counterparts.

In listening to O’Keefe discuss these issues, I learned that climate within an organization can be everything. Climate should be encouraged as it allows for those who have a voice to speak up and ensure that their thoughts, feelings and concerns are heard in a constructive environment. All members within any organization have a responsibility to facilitate change and should not live in fear of consequence. In order to create a cohesive organizational structure, all suggestions of the possibilities of the future of the company should be looked upon as opportunities to generate, implement and instill effective, efficient and proactive actions which can help contribute to the overall success and accomplishment of future organizational ties.

Cassandra R.

References

C SPAN Video Library (2004, April 13). NASA Cultural Changes - C-SPAN Video Library [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SACu