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The effects of organizational culture
The effects of organizational culture
The effects of organizational culture
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Introduction
The program for change at Acme Minerals has seen mixed success thus far. The Wichita plant changes have proven fairly successful in easing social tensions and increasing productivity. However, the Lubbock plant is not currently achieving the same level of success that was reached during the Wichita project. To fix this problem, it must be recognized that the solutions that were effective locally in Wichita do not necessarily comprise a perfect formula that can be applied to all plants throughout the company. Rather, more attention needs to be paid to the differences between the Wichita and Lubbock plants so that more appropriate measures can be used to solve problems. Furthermore, strategies for the future need to take into account differences between plants, promote unity and commitment among plant workers, and make better use of technology and knowledge available if more success is to be expected.
The Wichita Project
Before attempting to address Lubbock and other plants with different backgrounds and situations, it is important to review past success and understand the reasons behind it. The successful result achieved at the Wichita plant can be attributed too many factors, including the historical context of the plant and the local culture and social situation in place before implementation.
On the 11th of June, 1982 following the conviction of a criminal offense, Robert Johnson was sentenced to two years probation. The terms of his probation included his person, posessions, and residence being searched upon reasonable request. When a search warrant was executed for Johnson’s roommate, officers testified that with enough reasonable suspicion, they were able to search Johnson’s living area as well.
The case, Near v Minnesota, took place in Minneapolis in 1929. It was argued on January 30, 1931 and was decided on June 1, 1931. This case appeared in the supreme court after the constitutionality of Minnesota’s law was questioned by Jay Near, the defendant. Near was to be censored due to his "malicious, scandalous and defamatory" article about the Chicago chief of police and many other local officials with being affiliated with gangsters. This then led to a lawsuit that formed from an attempt by Floyd B. Olson, to shut down the local newspaper owned by Jay Near that used racial language in its criticism of local officials and political figures. Olson claimed the paper violated the state’s nuisance law, and both the county court and Minnesota Supreme Court upheld Olson’s right to shut down the paper under Minnesota’s nuisance law. This was questioned because it was unclear whether or not the law permitted by the state would be impeding upon the defendant 's freedom of speech and even freedom of press.
Elite Engineering has been unable to successfully implement change because they haven’t been able to get the employees to see the need for the change and to believe in the change. “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.” (Kotter & Schlesinger, 2008) Change is often met with resistance. When it comes down to it many people fear change. At Elite Engineering, the engineers were happy with the way things were being run. They enjoyed the billable work they were doing and did not want to take the time to collaborate with others, as it would take away time from their billable work. The engineers saw the billable work they were doing as a way to ensure they received their bonus at the end of the year. However, they were failing to see that the litigation business was going to begin to shrink and in order for them to remain competitive, changes needed to be made. Kotter and Schlesinger state that there are for common reasons that people resist change. The four reasons are the desire not to lose something of value, a misunderstanding of the change and its implications, a belief that the change does not make sense for the organization, and a low tolerance for change. (Kotter & Schlesinger, 2008) At Elite Engineering, I think upper management was unsuccessful at implementing change because the employees didn’t want to lose their bonuses (something of value to them), they misunderstood the change, and they didn’t feel that the change made sense for the organization.
The Lincoln Electric Company is the largest manufacturer of welding machines and electrodes in the world. Since its inception in 1895 the company has been on a stable path of progress. First under the management of founder John C. Lincoln and since 1914 under James F. Lincoln, John's younger brother. One of James's early actions as the head of the company was to create a committee consisted of elected representatives by the employees of the company, that were to advise Mr James in the affairs of the firm. They were called the Advisory Board and this was one of the smartest decisions that James F. Lincoln made regarding personnel. This was one of their prerequisites to progress and success and this is what makes them unique to this day. James F. Lincoln died in 1965 and it is obvious some people thought that the famous Lincoln standards would no longer be upheld, that profits would decrease and their employee bonus-plan might cease to exist. Contrarily to what people thought, the company remained strong decades after its founding father died. Moreover, the firm has seen higher profits and bonuses every year after that. Lincoln market share which was 40 percent before, remained stable for years and years. The company's philosophy still continues to be
Leading Change was named the top management book of the year by Management General. There are three major sections in this book. The first section is ¡§the change of problem and its solution¡¨ ; which discusses why firms fail. The second one is ¡§the eight-stage process¡¨ that deals with methods of performing changes. Lastly, ¡§implications for the twenty-first century¡¨ is discussed as the conclusion. The eight stages of process are as followed: (1) Establishing a sense of urgency. (2) Creating the guiding coalition. (3) Developing a vision and a strategy. (4) Communicating the change of vision. (5) Empowering employees for broad-based action. (6) Generating short-term wins. (7) Consolidating gains and producing more changes. (8) Anchoring new approaches in the culture.
In order for Scotts Bluff County to maintain these exceptional production rates, several different factors come into play for contributing to the successful outcome of the crop production in this area. One factor that plays an important role in the production is the amount of water resources that are available in Scotts Bluff County. If farmers are unable to get the quantity of water necessary to grow their crops, the crops will begin to suffer damage, resulting in a lower rate of crop production and profit. Therefore, in ...
Change initiatives are time intensive and exorbitant, which portentously influence an organization’s push toward success. And almost fifty percent of these initiatives are unsuccessful. Given that the certainty of change is inevitable, organizations will be required to determine how to effectively acclimate and endure change. Each tactical change in plans organizations are produced via programs and developments, and thriving organizations manage change by managing their developments and programs effectively.
FMC Corporation’s Green River facility is a large organization with many different product lines that cater to many different customers. The industry it serves is the chemical industry. With over 1,000 employees, they service over 100 customers with several different product lines. The Aberdeen facility on the other hand, has only 100 employees who service to only one customer with a single product. The Aberdeen facility, although small in numbers, has proven to be successful in growth and organizational effectiveness to the point that the Green River facility is interested in its organizational behaviors to incorporate them into their own facility. The Aberdeen facility was founded on the beliefs of participative management and empowerment (George & Jones, 2005) to its employees. The basic principle behind the success of this idea is trust. According to Bob Lancaster, the founder to Aberdeen’s management system, trust eliminates fear and allows employees to really focus on what is needed to be done as well as getting it done.
As we learn from the case study, the Lincoln Electric Company is the largest global manufacturer of machines for welding, which are used in all kinds of construction projects. This means that the company has a large global presence and many employees, so its culture affects thousands of its workers. Even though it is now 2014, the company still has a large market share and very satisfied employees, so clearly the culture leaves employees satisfied and motivates them to work hard for the company.
Landmark Communications Newspaper, The Virginian Pilot, publishes an article about a reporting on a pending inquiry by the commission and identifying the judge whose conduct was being investigated. However, in Virginia this is violating a law stating that information cannot be released from commission hearings. The newspaper was found guilty and fined $500 for violating this law. The question of clear and present danger and prior restraint are the main focuses of this case. The case addresses a matter of public importance which should be brought to the attention of the Pilot's readers. The Virginia statute was unconstitutional and criminalized the publication of truthful information about judicial review proceedings violated the First Amendment's freedom of speech guaranteed.
The New England Wire and Cable (NEWC) present a situation that was quite possibly very common amongst many towns and smaller cities in the United States during the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. As large corporations with new technology swept across the country, small town American and its legacy manufactures and companies struggled to keep pace. This case study references the New England Wire and Cable Company that in some ways was resistant to change. John P. Kotter’s article, Why Transformation Efforts Fail, outlines eight classic errors that are made in the transformation process. Likewise, Kotter’s article also outlines eight steps that could spearhead transformation within an organization. There was clearly a commonly hidden problem within the NEWC the so many times goes unseen. That problem was the leadership of NEWC.
The selected assessment tool reviewed influences affecting the facilities’ ability to change and identified important elements of change: urgency, leadership, trust, and communication (Clay & Norris-Tirrell, 2016). First, the assessment revealed the facility understands there is an urgency for change, thereby scoring high in this category. Next, the facility scored neutral in the leadership category as there was a knowledge deficit concerning this category. Thirdly, the facility yielded a high score in trust indicating the employees have a loyalty to the organization. Finally, the evaluation indicates a moderate score in
Jimenez was successful in Wichita not because of the monthly chats, weekly baseball games or Keller, but because she set up an environment conducive to attaining results she needed. This achieved two critical goals- it enabled the employees develop cross-functional solutions and fostered a sense of ownership and commitment. Jimenez misunderstood what made the Wichita project successful. Instead of trying to set up circumstances conducive to developing site-specific solutions in Lubbock, she simple imported the methods that the Wichita employees had created.
Prevention of resistance is most effective when implementing change. Preventing the weight of inertia in a workplace allows the change to happen in a timely manner with minimal problems. As Lee (2004) emphasizes, leaders have the ability to effect change and performance. If someone is accountable for outcomes and poor habits, outcomes will improve. The manager must show a caring attitude over the process of change and welcome any positive innovation. This caring attitude will become contagious to the employees working under him and become a priority to them as well. Approaching the change in an accepting, open-minded manner can decrease the vulnerability and frustration associated with change. How the change is presented can make the biggest difference in the outcome of the change. The manager must show that blaming will be avoided at all costs. One will only ask why, not who, to avoid the feeling of belittlement. This can allow employees to become comfortable with voicing their opinions and mistakes, which can allow an even greater range of improvement. The manager must also encourage...
Kotter’s 8-step model of transforming your organization is a linear top-down approach for managing change. The model is considered simple and intuitive by design (Venkatramani, V. et al, 2008), and is presented in a guide-like process. The model shares common features with other Change Models such as getting people attention, planning and implementing change, evaluation and institutionalization of change (Cepturenau, 2009). The case of the Glenrothes Colliery is considered to evaluate John Kotter’s model.