Kingston Builders’ Leading Organizational Change

Definition of Project

Kingston Builders is an organization that deals in the construction of rental houses. The organization was established in 2015 and had great success due to its exceptional work, especially in the construction of apartments. In the first two years, the organization had successful operations as the management was strict with its objectives, ensured that employees met deadlines, and attained quality assurance. There was a strong and healthy relationship between the administration and the employees as they freely interacted and shared ideas. The administration reassured most employees to work for the company until they retired, believing in the founders’ dream and wanting to be part of its success. They had occasional meetings where they discussed what they considered challenging working so that the management could ensure a conducive working environment.

The company’s management experienced some changes in 2019 as the existing HR retired and hired a new one to take his place. The year also had numerous challenges, including the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic. Such aspects significantly impacted the company’s operations, especially from the end of the year until 2020, when the development of the vaccines brought relief and made people resume full or near complete operations. In the past two years, the company’s returns have significantly declined, and the number of resignations among the employees increased, which raised questions even though HR has managed to obtain new staff to maintain the workflow.

Diagnosis of Current Situation

Mark has worked as a supervisor since the company’s establishment and has maintained a close relationship with the staff. In direct contact with the employees, he has interacted with them freely, and they have become close friends as they share almost everything. He has, in most cases, been the staff representative in the organization’s board meetings. With such experience in the organization and close contact with the employees, mark experienced a change of attitude from the employee ever since the HR management changed and drafted new rules.

Based on the project information, change in management is the main problem in the organization. The change in leadership style is the leading cause of low employee retention and increased resignation rates. The new supervisor did not create an effective relationship with the staff making it hard to develop a productive relationship in the organization. In addition, the unique leadership style he introduced was utterly different from the one the employees were used to, leading to the development of a disconnect between the management and the employees, making it challenging to identify the various issues they experienced. Due to the strict and dictatorial leadership style, the employees developed a negative attitude towards the new supervisor.

In some instances, mark observed how the HR interacted with the employees whenever he visited the site to check the working conditions. During the HR visits, the employees were not interacting freely, and they did not talk as they worked, which was a routine with the previous HR management. He learned that HR threatened new employees with being laid off if they did not complete the assigned work. The manager maintained an authoritative leadership style different from the previous HR maintained. The CEO was unaware of what happened in the sites as he believed the decline in the organization’s returns was due to the pandemic’s impacts.

Recommendations

1. Change in the HR leadership style- the leadership style maintained within an organization plays a significant role in the business’s success. According to Kamela and Trianita (2021), different types of leadership have other impacts on organizational performance. Due to this reason, the management should ensure that the leaders have a strong sense of vision, purpose, inspiration, and mentorship (Villajos, Tordera & Peiró, 2019). In this case, the leadership style maintained by the new HR needs to be changed to enhance the performance of the staff.
2. Change in the decision-making process- the new HR did not involve the staff, which has made them develop a negative attitude towards the management. Participation in the decision-making process allows employees to give their opinions and share their thoughts on various aspects of the management and the working condition (Arregi et al., 2022). Therefore, the employees should be involved in the decision-making process to enhance the working conditions of the organization.
3. Performance appraisal- the company needs to develop a regular performance appraisal mechanism to examine the overall contribution of the employees to the organization. According to Khalid and Alwi (2021), performance appraisal plays a critical role in the determination of employee performance and in enhancing the relationship maintained between the staff and management. The lack of such a mechanism made it challenging for the organization to identify the issues that ailed its management.

Implementation Plan

1. Create an urgency– identify the potential threats to the organization and the impacts that are likely to happen if the implementation of change is not executed (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). Also, examine the available opportunities to implement an effective intervention in the case.
2. Develop powerful guiding coalitions– identify the various change agents and collaborate with them to push for the development of the desired changes (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). Such individuals should work as a team to enhance the unity and power to attain the perceived differences.
3. Develop a vision and strategy– this process outlines the aspects to attain after the change implementation and the various mechanisms used for achieving them.
4. Vision communication– after outlining the desired changes, they need to be communicated to the relevant authority responsible for implementing the change (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). All the employees’ issues should be addressed, and the concerns should involve them directly.
5. Removing obstacles involves aligning the vision with the mechanisms used to implement the change. Other aspects that would form impediments to implementing the plan should be checked and cleared.
6. Development of short-term wins- identify the benefits that will be reaped in all the stages of the change implementation plan. The short-term targets should be achievable, have low chances of failure, and should not be expensive (Jick & Peiperl, 2011).
7. Consolidating gains– ensure that the process links to continuous achievements in both individual levels involving measurable experiences.
8. Implementing change in the organizational culture– the plan should ensure that change becomes a primary aspect of the corporate culture (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). The plan should attain support from existing and new leaders who will join the organization in the future.

Summary

The main issue identified in Kingston Builders was the development of a bureaucratic leadership that mainly focused on performance and did not consider the welfare of the employees. Change management is a critical aspect of organizations, and it needs special attention to ensure that adjustments made positively impact its performance. Due to this, the new HR in Kingston Builders failed to develop and implement an effective change plan leading to the development of adverse leadership problems. The leadership did not involve the employees in the decision-making process and enacted policies that only focused on organizational gains. The new HR manager was the main issue as he did not maintain a good relationship with the staff as he utilized dictatorial leadership, which made the employees have a negative attitude towards him. Therefore, the plan ought to push for a change in leadership style and develop a conducive working environment for the employees where their efforts are identified and acknowledged.

References

Arregi, A., Gago, M., & Legarra, M. (2022). Employee perceptions about participation in decision-making in the COVID era and its impact on the psychological outcomes: A case study of a cooperative in Mondragon (Basque Country, Spain). Frontiers In Psychology, 13. Web.

Jick, T., & Peiperl, M. (2011). Managing change. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Kamela, I., & Trianita, M. (2021). Leadership style, competence and job satisfaction: determinants of performance. Journal of Resources Development and Management. Web.

Khalid, A., & Alwi, S. K. K. (2018). Performance appraisal system: Its effectiveness and impact on performance and job satisfaction. Pakistan Journal of Educational Research, 1(2). Web.

Villajos, E., Tordera, N., & Peiró, J. (2019). Human resource practices, eudaimonic well-being, and creative performance: The Mediating role of idiosyncratic deals for sustainable human resource management. Sustainability, 11(24), 6933. Web.