Leadership In Change Management For Influencing Skills

Negotiation and Influencing skills in resistance in change management

Discuss about the Leadership in Change Management for Influencing Skills.

Change Management is a systematic way to deal with the transformation of processes, objectives and technologies. Each and every company makes these changes for some specific reason or objective. To become more effective, the change management process needs to take into consideration that how the change or replacement will affect the systems, processes and members within the organization (Cameron & Green, 2015). This report is focused on solving the case study of United Products Organization that is undergoing the change management. It indicates how the transformation in business is very appropriate to link and align with the mission and goals of organization. The given case study covers the issues which are faced by United Products’ management and how the leaders have taken actions to manage the issues. The below report includes the various aspects of leadership in change management. It examines the abilities of leader to assist the company so that it can meet the expectations of stakeholders.

When any company plans to implement change in its systems and processes, some of its employees resist the change due to some reasons. Same as other organizations, United Products Company is also facing the situations of change resistance. The major three forms of change resistance at United Products are stated below:

• Leaders at United Products have confronted a higher extent of employee change resistance. One of the major forms of change resistance in this company is dysfunctional type of resistance under which United’s employees ignored to deal with the key issues and pressure of urgent work. Due to changes in the system, the employees affected their performance and they did not do enough work that was required to enhance company’s productivity (Forbes Coaches Council, 2017). The employees showed their dissatisfaction and resistance by leaving the firm that has increased organization’s employee turnover rate. It has affected the overall performance and productivity of United Products.
• Another type of employee change resistance at United Products is emotional resistance that includes the psychological issues of anxiety, fear and insecurity. The senior management of United Products Company changed its CEO who threatened the employees. He closed its human relations training program for supervisors. It led them to resist the decisions made by New CEO Jack Nickolson. At initial stage, this form was showed by the opposition to work hard at United’s workplace. It had also increased the employee turnover at the company (DuBrin, 2015).
• In addition to above forms, internal and external stakeholders had expressed the sociological form of change resistance. Under this form, shareholders, community and employees opposed the change because of trust and loyalty issues. It had an adverse impact on the overall position of the case study firm.

To deal with the above employee change resistance issues and to pacify the staff, the leaders at United Products had taken various remedial actions which are discussed below:

• Firstly, the top management of United used the competitive intelligence approach through which they spied on its rivalry brands and union. It assisted the organization to get the information about the processes which other competing brands are using to pacify and satisfy their employees (Chen & Rybak, 2017). The leaders of company thought to adopt competitors’ employee engagement and satisfaction techniques.
• Secondly, United Products made decision to reduce the work pressure and stress among the employees. Ultimately, it helped them to retain the employees in the company’s workplace and work with full dedication.
• Additionally, the managers also focused on increasing the trust and loyalty level of its staff. In order to do this, company has provided different benefits and perks as per their job. It aided the company to increase employee morale and satisfaction among employees. They made efforts to develop trust among its stakeholders so that they can operate the business successfully (Carnall, 2018).

The given case study shows that CEO Jack Nickolson demonstrated different skills which assisted him to retain the employees and to regain the trust of stakeholders. The major skills of Jack are:

• Delegation skills
• Intelligence skills
• Responsive leadership skills
• Analytical skills

As a new leader at United Products, Jack Nickolson demonstrated the above skills which can be analyzed from his actions towards employees. He showed responsive leadership skills by looking at the results of his strictness and taken immediate actions. Furthermore, he made efforts to develop trust and support among stakeholders by demonstrating his delegation skills (Hayes, 2018).

The top management of United Products had focused on various areas to handle the situations with external stakeholders. The major areas are explained below:

1. United Products is a large manufacturing organization that is engaged to produce the cleaning products using chemical that has an adverse impact on environment. Analysing its impact on environment and natural resources, the firm started to make investment in corporate social responsibility activities. These activities helped the organization to gain the trust of community and other stakeholders. It enabled United to sustain the environment and resources. It eliminated the utilization of chemicals in the products and initiated to dispose the wastage into landfills. Moreover, the company aimed to make better relationships with community and external stakeholders. It started to comply with the societal and institutional standards. By doing this, United Products was able to regain the trust of community (Doppelt, 2017).
2. Secondly, company’s management made efforts to understand the importance of stakeholders. By understanding this, it handled all the situations very professionally so that they can increase their interest level towards company. Management adopted several methods to analyse the performance of its staff members and lead them to perform better. The company issues a statement that the shareholders will be able to generate more profits with the future development of company. In order to enhance the quality and behaviour of employees, United Products conducted a training and development program for them. They were trained to develop effective communication with the external people of company and resolving their issues.
3. Third area of focus is social expectations on which management of United Products worked (Van der Voet, 2014). Social expectations are the key aspects which enhance the commitment and satisfaction level of community people and enhance environment as well. For this organization, it is significant to follow all the social regulations and norms so that they can effectively run their business among targeted audiences. The handle the situations with stakeholders, the organization targeted to meet the social expectations of the people. The company started to invest in corporate social responsibility and community programs.
4. As mentioned in the given case study, United Products is operating its business in Asian culture but it has connected with the people coming from different cultural backgrounds all over the world. Company has complied with the both domestic and international norms and managed diversity in the workplace. Additionally, it started cross cultural communication activities which assisted all the stakeholders to make conversation with each other.

United Products had used various aspects to negotiate with the external stakeholders so that it can generate an amiable result competitor’s eyes. Under this, the major emphasis of the company was on the culture and diversity. The diversity process affects the working and operations of team as well as the individual candidates. United Products Company focused on these two aspects which allow the organization to understand the significance of different cultures and diversity. The organization provided training to its employees regarding different cultures and language so that they can communicate with the external stakeholders from diverse cultural backgrounds. The firm can grow in targeted market segment by expanding their operational scope. By using these aspects, the company can spread its business operations in different countries. Additionally, business expansion strategies are the most appropriate ways for the development of stakeholders because it assists them to earn more in strong economic environment (Holten & Brenner, 2015).

Three Forms of Change Resistance

In addition to above negotiation techniques, The United Products Organization has adopted some persuasion methodologies, which are given below:

• Appeal to Trust

The company used this type of persuasion methodology to retain its external and internal stakeholders. The management of company understood that if the people trust or believe in you, you can persuade them more (Lussier & Achua, 2015). Under its moral appeal method, United Products made an appeal to the people with an objective to overcome the adverse impacts due to their business operations.

• Focusing on possible loss

As discussed in the given case, United Products confronted the issue of increasing employee turnover. It was one of the major losses to the company as most of its employees and supervisors left the company due to work pressure and stress. As a result of this, the company made efforts to win the trust of public. Now, they are trying to correct their actions and adopting new business activities.

• Gifts and Rewards

Furthermore, this organization has used gifts and rewards to persuade its employees and stakeholders. It assisted the company to develop better relationships with the external stakeholders and society people. Thus, these three persuasion methodologies had supported the United Products to communicate and develop good relationship with the society.

As mentioned in the task 1 (c), CEO of United Products, Jack Nickolson has various change management skills. In addition to this, Jack has some communication skills which are stated below:

• Motivating skills

Motivation is one of the significant skills which a leader must have while communicating with his/her followers and employees. It is very important to implement a change program. This is the reason that Jack inspired the employees to adapt the changes. On the contrast, John has conducted human relations training program to motivate and engage the employees in their work.

• Leadership skills

Leadership is a fundamental skill which Jack used effectively. By improving his leading skills, Jack forced the employees to work hard so that it can enhance company’s productivity. Also, he trained the employees towards attaining organizational objectives. Along with the employees, supervisors has also provided with the training and development program so they can increase the performance of organization among the competitors (Goswami, Nair, Beehr & Grossenbacher, 2016).

• Attentiveness and ready to listen

In order to communicate with thee employees and other stakeholders, it is very important for leaders to become very attentive and responsive. In the workplace of United Products, Jack demonstrated effective attentive skills that assisted him to understand the changes in the working environment. He put very much pressure on his employees and supervisors but then he found that his strictness has increased the employee turnover. As compared to Jack, John was more attentive towards employees and their benefits. His attentiveness supported him to analyze the issues and he had taken the immediate actions by using his responsive skills.

• Good understanding

Three Remedial Actions

It can be stated that understanding is one of the most important ingredients in establishing effective communication with the people. Like John, Jack was able to understand the needs and demands of employees in the organization. This is the reason that he provided different benefits to the employees. It assisted the management team to increase the future productivity of United Products.

Thus, it can be stated that both leaders at United Products have different skills and abilities. For example, John did not possess the competitive knowledge while Jack lacked integrity (Renko, El Tarabishy, Carsrud & Brännback, 2015). Both the leaders made efforts to manage the organizational processes by using their different skills.

Name of the Leader	Organization Name	Justification
Tim Cook	Apple	· Apple is the organization that is operating business in information technology and smart phone industry. This field needs continuous use of creativity and innovation. · The leader at Apple makes changes in its processes and products considering the needs and demands of customers. · It is one of the most innovative firms and Tim Cook does not fear to implement changes in workplace (Heracleous & Papachroni, 2016).
Sundar Pichai	Google	· Google is the biggest search engine worldwide so company needs to make various changes in its technologies and processes. · Despite several pressures on Google, it is dominating other search engines. · Still, it is highly profitable and competitive. · CEO of Google is able to manage its all the activities and gaining competitive edge.

Tim Cook	Sundar Pichai	Similarity/ Differences
The CEO of Apple is creative and innovative thinker who is very much involved in the business activities of Apple. One of the best examples of his innovation is iPhone 5 model that is headed by this leader of Apple. It was the most successful product of this company. This CEO believes that innovation is the most appropriate way to gain competitive edge over competing brands.	Same as Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai is also an innovative leader who believes to make creative changes as per the needs and demands of targeted audiences. For instance, Pichai assisted the company to develop Chrome operating system for laptops that stores information in cloud. He is very much concerned towards society and environment.	Similarity in implementing creativity and innovation
This leader of Apple has practiced its operations and business processes in an effective way so it is able to gain more competitive advantage and market share in the smart phone industry. Despite of higher prices of products, company is able to manage its brand image among others (Lashinsky, 2012).	The leader of Google aims to generate more profits and revenues. The business function of Google is different from Apple as it earns money from display advertisement of other firms. Individuals can use the services of Google free of cost.	Difference in business operation approach
The leader of Apple, Tim Cook is using democratic leadership style in its operations. He is very transparent to its employees and followers. He has adopted some famous entrepreneur’s practices and provided a unique leadership style (Kane & Patapan, 2014).	This leader is empathetic, self-deprecating and graceful. Sundar Pichai believes in team building and work together in implementation of innovation. Generally, he ignores the conflict, instead focusing in cooperation.	Differences in leadership styles
Tim Cook has started the changes by including innovation in its products. Considering the products of competitors and market trends, the leader has made changes in its processes and products.	Sundar Pichai always makes the changes at workplace considering the employee welfare. While making changes, it always engages the employees so that they can accept the changes easily (Yarow, 2014).	Difference in change management styles

Tim Cook	Sundar Pichai	Success/ Failure
This leader provided various opportunities and innovative products to customers.	Primarily, he aimed to develop an effective workplace environment for the employees. He provided a comfortable working environment to them (Strom, Sears & Kelly, 2014).	Cook and Pichai both succeeded in their objectives but in diverse way. Cook focused on customers and Pichai emphasized on its employees.
In last five years, Time Cook made a significant contribution to company’s success. Being an innovative leader, he encouraged the manufacturing team to make more technological innovative products. It has improved company’s position.	Pichai is working with Google for last 11 years. He had played an important role in developing Google drive, Gmail, Google Chrome, Google Maps etc. Android is one of the most revenue generator inventions of Google.	Both of the leaders are very much successful in their business activities and operations. They are able to implement innovations successfully (Jones & Van de Ven, 2016).
In his duration as Apple’s CEO, the company is not able to implement effective marketing and advertising strategies.	While Google has adopted the most effective promotion and marketing strategies (Mishra, 2018).	In this area, Tim Cook is successful while Sundar Pichain has faced failure.
The leader is using a creative management approach so that it can improve its business practices.	The leader is planning to introduce smart phones also.	Tim Cook is successful but Google smart phones have not more brand presence.

Conclusion 

From the above analysis, it can be stated that leadership plays an important role in the process of change management. It is very significant to maintain the interest of both internal and external stakeholders so that it can attain its objectives. The above report concludes that case study organization i.e. United Products is using various techniques and systems to improve the conditions. The employees have resisted the change and left the organization. The company is focusing on the issues related to change management and adopted new skills to manage the employees.

References 

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

Carnall, C. (2018). Managing change. Routledge.

Chen, M. W., & Rybak, C. (2017). Group leadership skills: Interpersonal process in group counseling and therapy. SAGE Publications.

Doppelt, B. (2017). Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. UK: Routledge.

DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.

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Fotohabadi, M., & Kelly, L. (2018). Making conflict work: Authentic leadership and reactive and reflective management styles. Journal of General Management, 43(2), 70-78.

Goswami, A., Nair, P., Beehr, T., & Grossenbacher, M. (2016). The relationship of leaders’ humor and employees’ work engagement mediated by positive emotions: Moderating effect of leaders’ transformational leadership style. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(8), 1083-1099.

Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. US: Palgrave Publications.

Heracleous, L. T., & Papachroni, A. (2016). Strategic leadership and innovation at Apple Inc. SAGE Publications Limited.

Holten, A. L., & Brenner, S. O. (2015). Leadership style and the process of organizational change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(1), 2-16.

Jones, S. L., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2016). The changing nature of change resistance: An examination of the moderating impact of time. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 52(4), 482-506.

Kane, J., & Patapan, H. (Eds.). (2014). Good democratic leadership: on prudence and judgment in modern democracies. OUP Oxford.

Lashinsky, A. (2012). How Tim Cook Is Changing Apple. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2012/05/24/how-tim-cook-is-changing-apple/

Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development. Nelson Education.

Mishra, T. (2018). Google’s captain Sundar Pichai bats for wearing failure as a badge of honour. Retrieved from https://yourstory.com/2018/01/googles-captain-sundar-pichai-bats-for-wearing-failure-as-a-badge-of-honour/

Renko, M., El Tarabishy, A., Carsrud, A. L., & Brännback, M. (2015). Understanding and measuring entrepreneurial leadership style. Journal of Small Business Management, 53(1), 54-74.

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Van der Voet, J. (2014). The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure. European Management Journal, 32(3), 373-382.

Yarow, J. (2013). The 10 Smartest Things Tim Cook Has Done Since Becoming Apple’s CEO. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-Smartest-Things-Tim-Cook-Has-Done-Since-Becoming-Apples-CEO/articleshow/21223671.cms