Introduction
With stiff competition in the global environment, companies and business organizations have been forced to redesign the organization structure to ensure that all the stakeholders are satisfied. Like customers, employees are valuable assets since they influence the success of an organization.
It is the role of the top management to enrich jobs so as to satisfy the needs of the members of the core team or junior employees. The success of prominent companies such as Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Apple is attributed to their appropriate management styles which create good working environment. Consequently, this encourages junior level managers and the rest of employees to be responsible for all aspects of organization.
The Objective of the Great Game of Life (GGOL) Program
As indicated in the introductory part, an organization can develop and grow only if it has effective workforce. In the recent times, most organizations and companies have adopted cultures which focus on promoting growth and development of all employees. In the paradigm case, the top management has been striving to create and maintain operational excellence among employees. Prior the coming of Eitel, the company had 18 managers working in different plants.
As a result, unhealthy internal competition occurred between them. Barely three months after he took over the post of CEO, Eitel redesigned the organizational structure which led to the birth of Great Game of Life (GGOL) program. The main objective of the program was to promote growth of every employee by inculcating the desire to make the right choices in life.
Basing on his long term experience, Eitel believed that leaders are responsible for professional and personal growth. The program was meant to encourage the plant managers and other leaders at Simmons to focus on enhancing productivity as well as pursuing professional growth (Casciaro & Edmondson 2007a).
Simmons should implement GGOL program
Basically, the program was introduced to instill significant individual change amongst organizational leaders so as to revolutionize organizational culture which would facilitate implementation of defined business strategy. Before rolling out the program to other leaders of the organization, the top management visited Callaway Gardens in California to experience it. According to Casciaro and Edmondson (2007), the program was praised by the leaders who attended it.
They believed that the program would create a trusting and productive culture for the entire company. Despite the advantages cited by the top management team, there are several issues and challenges that accompanied the implementation of the program. First and foremost, the managers of different plants did not favor the program on the premise that it would require total change in the organization structure and system. As such, it can be suggested that most of them opt to resign.
When Eitel introduced the concept of 18 in one, the company lost a number of managers. This condition has detrimental effects on the entire organization. The program is also expensive to implement hence would erode profitability in the long run. Therefore, the program should not be implemented (Casciaro & Edmondson 2007a).
Steps to achieved Positive Results upon Implementation of the program
In most cases, change in an organization is resisted by different stakeholders. Therefore, the top management must carefully plan and design how it can implement it effectively. In the paradigm case, the implementation of GGOL program is likely to be hampered by resistance from some members of executive team and plant managers.
The stakeholders would tend to resist the program for fear of unknown, loss of job security, habit, insufficient resources, fear of loss of power and bad timing. If in the event that the program is adopted and implemented, various steps should be taken in order to achieve desired objectives. It is advisable that the following steps are taken:
Step One: Establish appropriate processes and practices that would drive change management: After ascertaining the need and the importance of the change (GGOL), it is important to craft a plan that would facilitate smooth handling of the change. The procedures for handling the program should be defined.
These include procedures for requesting adoption and implementation of change, scheduled for implementing it, how it will be applied and how the organization will back out changes that give rise to problems. Responsibilities of various stakeholders and tools to be used should be defined.
Step Two: Communicate the change to key stakeholders so as to gain the necessary buy-in: Every vehicle available would be used to communicate the need and the importance of change to all stakeholders of the organization. Informing all the stakeholders of the program helps to instill positive attitude amongst them. This will guarantee optimum support from them.
Step Three: Empowering action: The employees or the members of management body should be empowered so as to get rid of obstacles during implementation of the program. Modify systems and structures that may influence the attainment of objectives.
Step Four: Implement and monitor the program: The GGOL program is applied and the results monitored. In the event that positive results are not achieved, backing out of changes is pursued.
Step Five: Evaluate and report on the program implemented: It is important to provide feedback on all the results of the new program.
Effect of GGOL program on managerial or employee culture of Simmons
Any change has impacts on managerial or employee culture in an organization. It affects the way the employees and the top management do things. In the Simmons case, adoption and subsequent implementation of Great Game of Life program would affect the culture. The program would incorporate various aspects of management in the organization.
Currently, the company has a dictatorial management and a centralized system. With the implementation of the program, employees would be incorporated into decision making processes as that would facilitate realization of the vision of achieving both personal and professional growth amongst employees. The management has to abandon the culture of dictatorial management and adopt inclusive management styles (Casciaro & Edmondson 2007b).
Management of Emotional Elements Associated with implementation of Great Game of Life Program
Emotions management is one of the greatest challenges in change implementation. It is easy to change policies and physical infrastructure but it is hard to convince organization’s stakeholders (employees) to abandon their accustomed habits, and push them to embrace change paradigms in their working environment.
In this case, emotions should be managed otherwise the intended results may not be achieved. One of the ways is of achieving this is by ending uncertainty. Some employees and members of executive team tend to react to change because they are not certain of its consequences. It is important that the vision of change is explicitly revealed.
Providing justification for implementation of the program is another important way of managing emotions. Employees should be convinced about the need of the program. The benefits that the change would bring should be made clear. The third way of managing emotions is allowing employees and members of the executive team to take up ownership of the program. They should be fully engaged in the processes of change (Casciaro & Edmondson 2007b).
Conclusion
Change is inevitable in any organization especially in the fast-changing environment. It can have either negative or positive effects on the organization. In order to achieve the desired results, change should be carefully planned and implemented. All the stakeholders should be involved in change implementation otherwise positive results will not be achieved.
References
Casciaro, T. & Edmondson, A. (2007a). Leading change at Simmons (A). Boston: Harvard Business School.
Casciaro, T. & Edmondson, A. (2007b). Leading change at Simmons (B). Boston: Harvard Business School.