Case Study: Organizational Change Management At Super Star University

Challenges Faced by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Environmental Sciences

The report aims to deliver an analysis of case study related to organisational change at the Super Star University. The agenda is to analyse the implications of change management models in the case of proposing new organisational structure by the vice chancellor (Hornstein, 2015). As the former Vice-principle announced his retirement on 2015, in order to fill the designation, Professor Max Blocks was appointed as new vice chancellor and president of the university. Therefore, he has announced new set of visions including his ambition of escalating the university in the list of top 100 educational institutes across the world (Kuipers et al., 2014).

It provides an idea of probable challenges along with solutions against the adopted positive approaches by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. It has recommended to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Environmental Sciences which resistance model should be the best to adopt by the department as the department is in confusion how to implement changes within such a short period. Further discussion has been conducted on the strength, issues and rate of success against the adopted approach of changing the management. The present vice-chancellor of the university has new approach to operate the institute and new visions framed for the organisation (Lozano et al., 2013). Considering the organisational change the challenges has been mentioned along with recommendations, which have been included here to overcome the probable difficulties in upcoming five years.

The Dean of the faculty of Arts, Professor Sandy Lots, has decided to convey the new vision among her responsible administrative members. In order to make positive response against the new visions of SSU, they realised major changes should be done regarding the position and performance of faculties (Kindström, Kowalkowski & Sandberg, 2013). These changes have been planned to execute following the low performance of the Policy Administration discipline (1605) in the 2015 ERA report. In order to implement the changes she asked for active involvement from four working parties consist of eminent faculty professors on behalf of five schools and two institutes under the university, as a structured framework has to be developed considering the timeline of next five years.

The strength of this approach is; this will highlight several issues, which have been carrying an unresolved status for a prolonged period. As per the reports provided by four working parties there are several areas, which are demanding change for betterment. Changes have been recommended, maintaining the structure of change management model by Lewin as described in Cummings, Bridgman and Brown, (2016), to the training process of faculty research in order to increase annual output from the practicing researchers under SSU. New recruitment strategy has been suggested for postgraduate students so that the university can enjoy the benefits of having potential academic leaders among them, which will work directly towards the vision of achieving position within top 100 universities across the world.  

Strengths of the Organizational Change Management Approach

They have made a greater approach by involving philanthropist, industrialists and government to provide the university with opportunities of internships and placement assistance for the students to accomplish the ambition of new Vice chancellor (Reckhow & Snyder, 2014). Apart from that, the four parties have acknowledged a renewal of designations as most of the faculties are on the verge of retirement. According to the views shared by Beetham and Sharpe, (2013), the proposed new theories of class management via both the face-to-face and online mode will promote better understanding of the course. Their purpose is, to restructure the entire department of Arts by filling the gaps with effective strategies considering the newly set vision as top most priority.

After revising the rough framework of five-year plan, it can be stated that it has most of the qualities of a best change management approach. As per the studies of Al-Haddad and Kotnour,  (2015), at first, it has identified all the probable areas of improvement, according to which committees have included practicing faculties, students, researchers and government into the change programme to make it successful from all the social and educational perspectives. Communicating with the corporate groups and government for raising funds has been included in the proposal and undisturbed channel of interaction with them has been proposed.

The reports made by four working committees lack some basic aspects of change management approach. As those have already been approved as final recommendations by the Dean of Arts faculty, while implementing strategies certain challenges may occur in front of the newly set visions by VC. There is clear indication of the aspects, which need improvement but the report does not content a roadmap following which the improvements can be executed. Although, the matters of monetary grant from government and corporate sectors have been discussed yet the entire recommendations lacks the strategic approach rather these have been made keeping the underdeveloped areas of university as far as positive change is concerned (Verhulst & Lambrechts, 2015). The probable issues have not even introduced in the reports, which can be faced while implementing agendas of change management.

It is difficult to renew positions of the staffs within such a short duration as many researchers have already enrolled themselves under a particular faculty professor (Colucci?Gray et al., 2013). Research process will be slower or full of difficulties if sudden change takes place in hierarchy. Most of the times, monetary grant is something that cannot be achieved easily no matter how intelligent the student is or how helpful the research paper is going to be, it is a time-consuming process as well as matter of authorised permission. Without even revising every aspect of the recommendation, Dean approved the reports generated by four committees, which can be the biggest cause of future challenges.

Weaknesses of the Organizational Change Management Approach

Behind every successful transformation, there is a strong hierarchical structure of leaders, who promote effective strategies and function to support the newly set vision for changing the managerial practice. It has been observed that almost 70% of change management agendas experience failure due to misassumption of timeline and monetary resources (Colucci?Gray et al., 2013). Moreover, a weak approach towards the vision, lack of resources and assistance, communicational gap between the workers and training issues are some proven reason behind the failure of a change management approach. Although, the report acknowledges all the areas of improvement in order to bring the change as well as proposes probable sources of fund raising and assistance yet it lacks the practical strategic approach.

While implementing the agendas challenges of hierarchical changes and timeline have been recognised as the major drawback of the entire process. Considering every negative aspects it can be said, as underdeveloped areas of administration have been identified in a systematic way. A continuous process of revising, monitoring and improving should be practiced in order to address the concern and act accordingly to ensure moderate intensity of success.

Professor Anthony court, Dean of the Engineering, Architecture and Environment faculty, of the Super Star University, went for an urgent official discussion with the faculty members just after his return from that retreat conducted in March 2016. Based on the low performance report of 2015, it had been decided to frame strategies considering the new vision of the university. The recommendation has been done by three worker parties, which are consisted of professional professors and faculty staffs, established by the Dean himself. According to that, the number of students has to be increased along with the quality and quantity of academic performance will achieve excellence if supported by monetary grants for executing research. According to the perception of Lozano, Ceulemans and Seatter, (2015), introduction of new courses is essential if the motto is to create a place in the list of top 100 universities across the world.

Before digging into the strengths and weakness of suggested guideline of the committees, it is necessary to acknowledge that this department is not satisfied with the sudden announcement of change. The entire faculty is disappointed with the decision, as vice chancellor sir did not consider their opinion before launching his new vision just after qualifying for the new designation. Moreover, questions were raised regarding job security of the staffs as well, because alteration of designations or talent management is one of the parts of change management process (Thunnissen, Boselie & Fruytier, 2013).

Resistance to Change

Therefore, a sense of resistance can be felt out of poor communication as far as implementation of recommended strategies for change are concerned. According to the views of Lundy and Morin, (2013), strength is, they have addressed the appropriate areas from where the future challenges can occur. Identifying the resistance against change as a psychological trait, authority should take it positively. It helps to evaluate the areas of reconsideration before making drastic changes. Although, recommendations are firm and to the point yet the approach of resistance is strong enough to make the authority bent before the areas of reconsideration, rectifying which an institute can achieve more success than it was estimated before. Reconsidering and managing the resistance effectively can lead towards concrete implications of initiatives for change.

There is a proverb, which says, “With great change comes great resistance”. It can be stated that human beings are slaves of their habit and happy to be under a familiar zone. As far as the organisational change is concerned, when it was first proposed by the Vice chancellor; department of science and architecture showed their resistance against the transformation addressing several areas which are needed to reconsider before conducting or deciding the agendas of transformation (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).

It would be difficult for the Dean to execute agendas while handling group resistance and events of conflicts between the workforce and the management. As the resistance has occurred while altering the positions of the staffs in order to fulfil various academic purposes related to process of transformation, challenges of internal communication have been spotted within the university. Therefore, the Dean can recognise a training issue regarding the benefits of change among the faculty members distinctly (Elnaga & Imran, 2013). It is always better to face resistance than to face failure and act accordingly with patience.

The faculty professors are dissatisfied, as they were not being consulted while deciding the new visions for SSU. Therefore, as per the discussion in Men, (2014), establishing a process of effective communication would help to reduce the resistance mostly. Here, few recommendations are going to be drafted against the approaches of resistance.

Managing resistance should start from addressing the symptoms first. Although, resistance strengthens the effects of transformation, it has greater quality of hindrance too. Understanding root causes of resistance can help to mitigate the issues and promote change without any difficulty. In this case, fear of job security among the faculty members, lack of communication within university personnel and realising the less involvement of the supporters in terms of fund raising resistance had been established. Through smooth and adequate conversations, initial challenges can be solved even before occurrence.

Conclusion

Acknowledging the reasons behind resistance, the next step for the Dean would be to engage in leadership tasks in order to encourage the department towards the single vision (Dinh et al., 2014). Managers and leaders should possess patience and provide distinct as well as constructive guidelines to implement strategies in order to fulfil new visions within five years.

The cases of conflict must be acknowledged as soon as it arises. The Dean should have been prepared for the probable reaction of his department in the first place. As described in Santhidran, Chandran and Borromeo, (2013), the quality of a good leader is to address and not being late to provide solution in order to maintain the process of change management. As being a Dean, it is a responsibility to serve the university and department at the same time developing a relationship of peaceful interaction between the representatives of faculty of science department and Vice chancellor would be helpful to generate mutual benefit.

The entire department is in need of a training to understand why all of a sudden the change has been approached. However, if the department wants to contribute their part into transformation, the role of Dean is to encourage them so that with confidence and experience the entire department can take part in the process of bringing a change.

As directed by the vice chancellor, it is expected to receive same amount of response from both the departments to accomplish the newly announced objectives. However, new vision has faced extreme resistance to change the managerial aspects from the end of the faculty members of Engineering, Architecture and environment unlike the approach, which has been shown on behalf of the Art’s department. At this point driving the entire university towards same vision will be difficult for VC as one of the department is undergoing a conflict (Wang & Hsieh, 2013). In the addition, the duration of five years is being considered less in terms of making such drastic changes. On the other hand, this proposal of making sudden alteration in employee designation is a complete violation of Universities 2014 Enterprise Agreement. The questions have been raised that without even consultation how VC has taken such a huge step and what have made the faculty of Arts to develop a positive approach for the vision without even thinking the practical procedure of strategic implementation.

It should always be kept in mind; quality of a good leader is to communicate with associate workers, just to gain better perspective of contemporary situation, before taking important decisions for the organisation. Although, within a month of joining the new job role professor Max Blocks announced his new vision yet until the strategic retreat it was not clear in front of others that he wanted to restructure the entire process. Therefore, the agenda of change management confronted with resistance from Engineering and Architecture department.

Patience is important while dealing with these resistance issues within the organisation. Strategy is to apply a consistent process of identifying and managing the resistance accordingly. A continuous flow of interactive sessions with the workforce, providing guidelines may improve the situation in near future. As a leader, it should be inspected well that employees are sharing healthy interpersonal communication regarding workplace difficulties or not. It is easy for a leader to approach and get into the matter of conflict if he or she shares a friendly and interactive bond with others (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra, 2014).

VC must take personal initiative to talk with the faculty professors regarding the areas of their confusion. Bridging the gap is the best what VC can do further in order to promote mutual benefit.

Finally, an atmosphere of encouragement and motivation should be present within any organisation seeking for change in existing managerial practices for betterment. VC should review and reconsider the matters of conflict or disagreement and then he can propose the revised vision in front of the University personnel.

Conclusion

It can be concluded stating that leaders should take time for making themselves familiar before implementing or deciding anything huge. Moreover, without consultation and prior indication it was not appropriate to announce change management programme as it needs involvement of both the faculties and the students. The faculty of Arts have framed the areas of improvement yet they have not addressed the issues, which they are going to face while executing the change management programme. On the contrary, department of Engineering has clearly opposed the proposal addressing the issues first and has given less importance to the recommendation part regarding VC’s newly set vision. After evaluating both the scenario, it has been understood that VC has a greater role to play than it was estimated in the first place. The report works as a guideline to make the leadership process easier for the newly selected VC of SSU, where probable challenges and its solutions have been drafted to transform the vision into reality.

References

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), 234-262.

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Beetham, H., & Sharpe, R. (Eds.). (2013). Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Designing for 21st century learning. routledge.

Colucci?Gray, L., Das, S., Gray, D., Robson, D., & Spratt, J. (2013). Evidence?based practice and teacher action?research: a reflection on the nature and direction of ‘change’. British Educational Research Journal, 39(1), 126-147.

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., & Brown, K. G. (2016). Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. human relations, 69(1), 33-60.

Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36-62.

Elnaga, A., & Imran, A. (2013). The effect of training on employee performance. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(4), 137-147.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Kindström, D., Kowalkowski, C., & Sandberg, E. (2013). Enabling service innovation: A dynamic capabilities approach. Journal of business research, 66(8), 1063-1073.

Kuipers, B. S., Higgs, M., Kickert, W., Tummers, L., Grandia, J., & Van der Voet, J. (2014). The management of change in public organizations: A literature review. Public administration, 92(1), 1-20.

Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., & Seatter, C. S. (2015). Teaching organisational change management for sustainability: designing and delivering a course at the University of Leeds to better prepare future sustainability change agents. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 205-215.

Lozano, R., Lukman, R., Lozano, F. J., Huisingh, D., & Lambrechts, W. (2013). Declarations for sustainability in higher education: becoming better leaders, through addressing the university system. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 10-19.

Lundy, V., & Morin, P. P. (2013). Project leadership influences resistance to change: The case of the Canadian public service. Project Management Journal, 44(4), 45-64.

Men, L. R. (2014). Why leadership matters to internal communication: Linking transformational leadership, symmetrical communication, and employee outcomes. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(3), 256-279.

Mishra, K., Boynton, L., & Mishra, A. (2014). Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), 183-202.

Reckhow, S., & Snyder, J. W. (2014). The expanding role of philanthropy in education politics. Educational Researcher, 43(4), 186-195.

Santhidran, S., Chandran, V. G. R., & Borromeo, J. (2013). Enabling organizational change–leadership, commitment to change and the mediating role of change readiness. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 14(2), 348-363.

Thunnissen, M., Boselie, P., & Fruytier, B. (2013). Talent management and the relevance of context: Towards a pluralistic approach. Human Resource Management Review, 23(4), 326-336.

Verhulst, E., & Lambrechts, W. (2015). Fostering the incorporation of sustainable development in higher education. Lessons learned from a change management perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 189-204.

Wang, D. S., & Hsieh, C. C. (2013). The effect of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee engagement. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 41(4), 613-624.