Introduction
Organizational change is an inseparable part of the continuous development of a company. Therefore, it is important to promote change within the corporate context and ensure that all participants are accepting of the alterations within an organization. For this purpose, tools for a careful transfer to a new leadership model, objectives, values, and organizational behavior standards have to be introduced. By focusing on talent management and creating a setting in which company staff members will feel comfortable, one will institutionalize change successfully. By supporting staff members and proving to them that they are valued in the organization, the consolidation of ADMA and ZADCO will be performed successfully.
Organization
In order to implement change within a company organically, one needs to study the corporate environment and the overall organizational context in which alterations will take place. For this purpose, considering the setting of the ADMA and ZADCO and the effects that their consolidation will have on staff members will be necessary. The oil and gas industry of the UAE is a very competitive field that is dominated by several large corporations (The U.S.-UAE Business Council, 2019).
Therefore, integrating into the designated area will require a substantial effort and imply massive challenges, the primary one being the creation of a strong competitive advantage. ADMA-OPCO and ZADCO currently represent two offshore operating organizations of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) (“Adnoc to merge Adma-Opco and Zadco,” 2018). While the companies under analysis used to function separately, the recent need for a better cohesion in the actions taken by ADNOC and its offshore firms has defined the need for ADMA and ZADCO to be joined (“Adnoc to merge Adma-Opco and Zadco,” 2018). However, because of the differences in the leadership styles, approaches toward decision-making, and the organizational context, the merging process may imply certain frictions.
Problem
Due to the lack of preparedness toward change in the organizational environment of ADMA and ZADCO, there has been substantial resistance toward the implemented alterations. As a result, the overall quality of performance has begun to drop, which may lead to drastic consequences for the revenue streak of the organization and the subsequent loss of its competitive advantage. Since the latter is described by high product quality and outstanding employee efficacy, a drop in performance and, therefore, quality rates will entail catastrophic outcomes for ADNOC (Harhara, Singh, & Hussain, 2015). Therefore, the present framework for promoting change in the corporate context will have to be revisited.
Purpose, Issues, and Constraints
The goal of the report is to shed light on the current issues within ADMA and ZADCO, providing a logical solution to the current situation. The problem of resistance to change will be viewed specifically as one of the central concerns that may become a severe obstacle. The key constraints of the study include the lack of evidence from employees and the necessity to obtain practical results prior to assessing the efficacy of the proposed model.
Identification of the Change
The internal problems within the organizational settings, specifically, the reluctance and fear among staff members, need to be handled with due diligence and care to ensure that all participants feel safe and comfortable during changes. Thus, the lack of preparedness toward change and the absence of understanding of the emotional response produced by staff members toward the change are the critical problems that need to be discussed and handled in the context of the ADMA and ZADCO’s consolidation. Therefore, the significance of the problem is rather high. The effects of inaction, thus, are highly likely to cause a drastic negative change in the organization, halting its performance and reducing its efficacy. Thus, inaction will cost ADMA and ZADCO its competitive advantage in the UAE oil market.
Applying Theories and Theoretical Concepts
Theory and Model for Organizational Change
To manage the change at ADMA and ZADCO, one will need the tools that will help to mark the key milestones in the development of new attitudes among staff members and increasing their resilience and emotional well-being. For this purpose, the company will have to consider Greiner’s Model as the gateway to effective organizational change. By definition, the framework implies a gradual transfer to a new mode of decision-making, leading, and acting in the organizational context (Awasthy, 2015). Specifically, the model will help to display the specifics of ADNOC’s life cycle and point to the problems in its development.
As soon as the sources of lagging in the completion of the company’s natural life cycle are identified, an approach toward managing these issues and mitigating negative consequences will be developed. Applying Greiner’s Model to the setting of ADMA and ZADCO and the process of their consolidation, one will realize that the incongruences in the leadership strategies used in each organization and seemingly slight differences in their organizational environment create the greatest concerns.
The process will be implemented by viewing it from the tents of the Theory of Rational Choice (RCT). The described framework will inform managers about the reasoning behind employees’ choices (Clegg, Kornberger, & Pitsis, 2015). The understanding of the rationale for employees to select a particular mode of responding to changes will help to create the setting in which the target audience will not feel vulnerable to change.
PESTLE
The application of the PESTLE framework is critical to the assessment of the external factors that will inform the choices of ADMA and ZADCO in the context of the UAE oil market and the global economy, in general. Consequently, the organization’s strengths and weaknesses in light of the organizational change will have to be analyzed.
Table 1. PESTLE (ADMA and ZADCO).
As Table 1 above shows, the legal constraints and especially the necessity to comply with environmental regulations are the primary concerns that the firm will have to meet. However, given the fact that both ADMA and ZADCO have an already developed approach toward managing the problem of waste as developed by ADNOC, the issue of environmental pollution and water contamination can be deemed as mostly resolved currently (Cordes et al., 2016).
That being said, the pressure of economic competition will put ADMA and ZADCO under a significant strain as a merger, which implies that a comprehensive leadership approach should be designed. The problem of cultural dialogue between the organization and the community, in turn, may be hampered due to the cultural misconceptions caused by a collision of two teams within the environment of a merger. Thus, the use of the Transformational leadership approach should be seen as the main framework for supporting change and encouraging a positive attitude in the organizational setting.
The presence of the political threats to the functioning of the consolidation in question may also be regarded as the force with which one has to reckon in order to create a sustainable approach for ADMA and ZADCO. As the report issued by ADNOC lately indicates, “The potential threat of emergencies does not only exist within ADNOC’s operations, but also exists as a result of the industrial, commercial and political activities surrounding ADNOC’s areas of operation” (“ADNOC Group sustainability report 2015,” 2015, p. 23). Subsequently, it is desirable to consider the pressure of political constraints as one of the possible impediments to creating a comfortable and emotionally positive environment in the workplace.
Kotter’s Model of Change
The integration of Kotler’s Model of Change will help to introduce the notion of planned change into the context of ADMA and ZADCO. As a result, employees will have the time to prepare for the alterations in the range of their responsibilities, and managers will not receive as intense a pushback from staff members as they would otherwise. The introduction of Kotler’s Model of Change will allow reconciling the two leadership approaches used at ADMA and ZADCO correspondingly. The process of marrying the two frameworks will become possible through the gradual adjustment to the alterations in the number of responsibilities, corporate hierarchy, and corporate values.
The introduction of Kotter’s Model of Change will help to build the sense of urgency in ADMA and ZADCO Consolidation, allowing staff members in both companies to prepare to the alterations that they are going to experience. The sense of urgency can be built by communicating directly to employees and establishing an information management system in which the feedback received from and provided to employees will be direct. In addition, a guiding team, will be created by providing staff members with consultations and encouraging them to show initiative. In the process, the corporate vision based on integrating the latest innovative technologies and approaches into the production of oil and the process of marketing the end product will be developed.
The fourth and fifth steps of Kotter’s Model will be implemented by enhancing the communication channels within the firm and listening to the feedback from staff members carefully. Supporting employees while they are dealing with change-related challenges and adjust to the new environment will be critical, which is why the support of professional counselors will be offered. To empower action, incentives, including monetary rewards and public acknowledgement of each staff member’s progress, will be utilized. Marking every step toward the creation of a unified environment and a homogenous working process, where interdisciplinary collaboration between the members of ADMA and ZADCO will be encouraged, the organization will create a series of short-term wins.
Finally, at the eighth step of the model’s implementation, the institutionalization of change will take place. For this purpose, monitoring compliance with the proposed alterations and especially the use of collaboration during decision-making will have to be utilized to firmly integrate the new values and principles into the corporate environment. In addition, to maintain consistency in fostering the sense of connectivity within a team and the importance of the focus on stakeholder-oriented values, weekly meetings will be held.
Moreover, tools for diagnosing the reward system that will be established in the organizational setting of ADMA and ZADCO will point to emergent issues in the levels of employees’ satisfaction (Idris, See, & Coughlan, 2018). Thus, ADMA and ZADCO Consolidation will be able to track down the levels of employee engagement and focus on the factors that lead to its reduction.
Recommendations
Due to the levels of uncertainty and reluctance among staff members coupled with the inconsistency between the leadership models at ADMA and ZADCO, it is advised to focus on creating the leadership framework that will support staff emotionally. Thus, the target demographic will start preparing for changes and develop the resilience and flexibility needed to face alterations in the organizational environment.
Integrating an HRM tool for talent management by providing employees with opportunities to build new competencies and expand their area of expertise will also assist in setting the foundation for change. The described step will convince the employees in both organizations that they are valued and that ADMA and ZADCO will be ready to invest in their professional growth even after the merger. The focus should be placed especially on the introduction of new time management techniques and the promotion of interdisciplinary communication and cooperation.
Finally, establishing clear criteria for quality performance and ensuring that staff members are provided with opportunities to update their skills and competencies in order to meet them should be regarded as a crucial stage of change implementation. The transition to the new setting will imply significant challenges for staff members regarding both the range of new responsibilities and the emotional pressure caused by the fear of failure. Thus, enhancing the communication process and introducing a support system, at the same time monitoring changes and providing staff members with additional opportunities for personal development, will be paramount for the further success.
Discussion
Problem
The consolidation of ADMA and ZADCO seems to be a logical step to take in the context of the UAE oil market, yet the levels of reluctance and fear of change among staff members may impede the process. The high levels of reluctance coupled with other challenges that the process of consolidation will entail may hamper the company’s progress in the UAE market and its further foray into the global economy.
As a result, the threat for the organization to lose its power and relevance in the market will emerge, posing a significant problem to its further functioning. To avoid the shrinkage of ADMA and ZADCO’s profit margins, one will have to deploy the change management approach grounded in the notion of encouraging employees to accept change and prepare for new responsibilities and task management techniques.
Solution
For the enhancement of corporate unity and multidisciplinary collaboration between ADMA and ZADCO’s members, a new change management technique will be needed. This technique will prove staff members that they are highly valued and that they will be provided with further opportunities for professional development should be incorporated into the company’s change management.
The proposed solution will help to institutionalize change and introduce employees to a wider range of tasks, at the same time shaping the organizational behavior slightly. The suggested framework for addressing change will help to keep the levels of loyalty in staff members at a decently high level and reduce the resistance to change that employees are likely to show. Moreover, an increase in the extent of corporate social responsibility and the overall loyalty levels in staff members is expected with the introduction of the described change management approach.
Thus, the first step toward improving the performance levels within the company is to locate the perceived values of the companies and ensure that every asset of the organization is recognized and incorporated into the process. The analysis of shared beliefs and values within ADMA and ZADCO should become the next stage, which will help to reconcile differences between the two firms and create the platform for interdisciplinary collaboration within the new organizational setting.
While there are likely to be significant differences in the values and beliefs of staff members of ADMA and ZADCO, the promotion of collaboration between the target groups will help to manage the issue. The creation of shared values such as putting the needs of the company and customers first, as well as focusing on professional development and interdisciplinary collaboration, will allow ADMA and ZADCO to consolidate in a highly competitive setting of the global market. Moreover, the company will be able to encourage staff members to explore the option of continuous self-directed learning as the platform for their professional development.
The reconsideration of the corporate hierarchy will also be required for ADMA and ZADCO to create the setting where employees will develop a rapport quickly and will be enthusiastic about cooperating to produce innovative solutions. Due to the differences in the approaches toward corporate hierarchy at ADMA and ZADCO respectively, a leadership framework that will introduce staff members to a new model of interactions within the corporate setting will be needed. Addressing resistance to change, which the described alterations are bound to evoke in the target demographic is the next crucial step in rebuilding the corporate culture and creating a sustainable environment for institutionalizing change.
The described innovations may need to be supported with artifacts, including both physical and verbal ones, such as the introduction of new logos and symbols. The shared values will need to be reflected in the described artifacts for staff members to accept change as a natural progression toward an improved corporate setting. Specifically, it will be critical to develop a symbol of unity within ADMA and ZADCO Consolidation as a metaphor for collaboration, which will remain the cornerstone value of the company.
The image may incorporate the visual elements that are universally received as the representations of unity to avoid any possible miscommunication due to cultural differences. For instance, to ensure that cross-cultural communication of new values is performed effectively, one may consider utilizing the symbol of two chain links connected into a single entity.
Finally, the channels for communication between employees and managers have to be constructed and arranged in the way that will ensure complete understanding of the shared goals and acceptance of new corporate values. For employees that are having difficulties adjusting to the new workplace, consultations and both emotional and professional support from experts will have to be provided. Therefore, hiring business psychologists, who will help staff members to overcome difficulties of a merged environment with the help of personal consultations will be needed.
By monitoring the effects that changes in the organizational philosophy, corporate values, and roles in the workplace have on the staff members, one will be able to address the problem of resistance toward changes and even boost the staff members’ enthusiasm and motivation. Using talent management techniques that will provide opportunities for professional growth and establishing the framework for communication between the staff and the managers, ADMA and ZADCO Consolidation will attain high levels of success in the target market. The proposed change will produce an immediate effect of reinforcing the company’s place in the UAE oil market and serve as the grounds for establishing relationships based on mutual trust and collaboration with staff members.
At the same time, the promotion of interdisciplinary cooperation between teams will seal the rift between the two organizations and contribute to the enhancement of a merger, reducing the threat of conflicts. The focus on cross-cultural communication and the promotion of negotiations will alleviate the effects of confrontations between staff members of ADMA and ZADCO, causing the consolidation of the two organizations to flourish in the global economy.
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