Introduction
I am the current marketing and communication director at the workplace. I report to the executive director of the organization. My core responsibilities at the organization include the execution of public relations activities, communication, marketing, and implementing specific marketing strategies. I am also charged with the role of supervising the development and implementation of all the auxiliary materials required in the marketing and communication operations at the organization. I have to make sure that the effort of all staff members within the department are directed in the right direction. In addition, it is part of my responsibility to harmonize the departmental functions of the organization with the strategic objectives and tactical levels of employees under my care.
Managing teams
I recently managed a team comprising eight members who had been drawn from the marketing and communication department. The main purpose of formulating this group was to develop a marketing strategy for the new product that the company was planning to launch in the market. At the initial stages of the meetings, I requested each member of the team to come up with unique marketing ideas that we could put up together and end up with the best strategy.
While individual research on this subject matter was not the best approach to use, it was necessary owing to the fact that it was comprised of multicultural individuals. It is often difficult to realize cohesion in a multicultural team. From the outset, the team was made up of staff members from various cultures. If the marketing proposal views were put under debate at the initial stage, it would have been difficult to reach a conclusion as soon as possible.
After a few weeks, I requested team members to appear gain for deliberations. At this point, individual team members were in a position to present their diverse opinions. Individual differences surfaced at the second meeting especially in regards to the best marketing strategy to use. For example, some marketing strategies were considered by team members from specific cultures as socially immoral.
Other members thought that the organization could adopt online marketing owing to its affordability. A cheap marketing campaign was thought by some members to be more suitable because the company was going through a difficult financial time. On the other hand, a couple of team members held the opinion that the new product would boost sales and the eventual profit margin of the organization. Therefore, it was necessary to market it adequately regardless of the cost implications.
As already hinted out, it is more demanding to achieve cohesion in a multicultural team. I eventually managed to harmonize the views of different team members and settled on a level playing ground. Although the team eventually proved that it was efficient, a lot still needs to be done in order to improve its effectiveness. For instance, clear roles and responsibilities of each team member should be defined. Mixing up roles in multicultural teams often leads to conflicts and duplication of efforts. Second, the team can be improved by obtaining feedback from individual members. There might be a number of sources of strife impeding the performance of this marketing team.
Unless a two-way communication is created, it might be difficult to understand what ails the team and corrective measures to put in place. I also suppose that team members should be motivated at an individual level as part of recognizing their input at the workplace. For example, they can be verbally recognized or physically rewarded so that they can feel part and parcel of the organization.
Finally, the effectiveness of the team can also be improved by the regular formulation of activities that bring the group together (Rusly, Corner & Sun, 2012). In other words, the marketing department team should not only be meeting when there are serious organizational roles to be performed (Smith & Mounter, 2008). It is necessary to create activities that bring together team members. The latter can also enhance cohesiveness that is apparently missing within this team.
Managing change
Planning, Leading, Organizing, and Controlling (PLOC) team members are the four major management functions that I often encounter as a marketing and communication director. While performing the aforementioned roles, the aspect of change management also comes in handy. Needless to say, change is inevitable in any workplace environment. In particular, the marketing and communication department is a highly dynamic division of the organization I work for and as a result, I often suggest changes.
Nonetheless, change management has its own share of challenges in the department. First, the extent of planning is usually a major issue to deal with even before instituting any change (Smollan, 2011). There is still no consensus among professionals in regards to the quantity of change process that can be put into the planning. Consequently, managers often find themselves in a tight situation to take proactive steps that can create a healthy ground for change to take place. Hence, managers face a high-risk level whenever they institute any form of change.
I have also struggled with the degree of change that I might sometimes be compelled to implement. The main challenge occurs when I have to implement a significant change process that crucially affects the operations of other divisions of the organization. For example, marketing a new product like the one we did recently required the input of a number of company’s departments such as finance, supplies, transport, and human resource.
When attempting to control departmental teams to accept certain changes, I have sometimes found myself battling stiff resistance from staff members. Resistance to change is almost inevitable at my workplace organization. Some employees are largely reserved and conservative. Hence, they would rather maintain the status quo even if a particular change proposal is beneficial to both workers and the organization.
I can recall when I sometimes proposed a new departure time for employees, especially during the peak season. Some of the supervisors and junior managers at the department vehemently opposed the change proposals even though there were fringe benefits attached to extra working hours. In any case, this was to be treated as overtime for employees. Those opposed to change argued that not all employees were willing to work for extra hours and that the company was in a position to hire additional workers without necessarily ‘burdening the current workers’. Although all employees were previously consulted about the intended changes, about 30 percent of the departmental workforce resisted the proposal. The department was finally compelled to hire an additional workforce (on a part-time basis ) during the peak season in order to reduce workload.
There are myriads of approaches that can be adopted to manage such change management challenges and consequences. First, the rationale behind any change process should always be communicated as clearly as possible to employees (Nastase, Giuclea & Bold, 2012). I guess the negative reaction was triggered due to ambiguity in the suggested changes. Some employees could not get a vivid reason for additional working hours.
Besides, the change process should not attempt to interrupt established patterns in the workplace. Naturally, there are conservative employees who can hardly embrace change. Such workers should be taken care of whenever a change is being introduced in an organization. Better still, every change process should be associated with attractive rewards that can be appreciated by at least 80 percent of employees in an organization (Nelissen & Martine, 2008).
Managing transversal issues
Out of the three transversal issues discussed in the course materials, sustainability creates the most important challenge to my daily management practice. So far, the department has successfully dealt with the issues of globalization and ethics at the workplace. Moreover, several changes have been put in place. The organization has immensely benefited from the departmental progress so far. Nevertheless, it is a glaring challenge to sustain the pace of growth and development that the department has achieved so far. Sustainability in high-quality products, profitability, and an impressive customer base is a core management challenge.
In the absence of sustainability, the future of the organization cannot be guaranteed since we can easily lose out to competitors. Continuous research and development, capacity building, and training on leadership as well as a surplus capital investment are some of the measures being taken to address sustainability challenges at my workplace. I could propose innovation, differentiation, and end employee motivation measures to address the sustainability challenge.
Conclusion
Summary table.
References
Nastase, M., Giuclea, M. & Bold, O. (2012). The Impact of Change Management in Organizations – a Survey of Methods and Techniques for a Successful Change. Revista de Management Comparat International, 13 (1), 5-16.
Nelissen, P. & Martine, V.S. (2008). Surviving organizational change: how management communication helps balance mixed feelings. Corporate Communications, 13(3), 306-318.
Rusly, F. H., Corner, J. L., & Sun, P. (2012). Positioning change readiness in knowledge management research. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(2), 329-355.
Smith, L., & Mounter, P. (2008). Effective internal communication. London: Kogan Page.
Smollan, R. K. (2011). The multi-dimensional nature of resistance to change. Journal of Management and Organization, 17(6), 828-849.