Deck 14: Making Change

Question 1

How and why could service be so poor at such a visible government agency?

Answer 1

The company IB of Motor Vehicle had been awarded as one of the best agencies for customer service across North America. But this was not the case five years ago. This company was considered as the worst agency for customer service. Presence of fraudulent, low morale of employees, low resource and high politics in work environment are few factors that hampered the success of the company. Therefore, all efforts that were taken to initiate necessary changes had been stopped by state legislators of those districts.
Resistance is an inevitable factor of change management. No matter how much attempts have been taken by change initiators in an organization, people are always there to resist the efforts. Therefore, it is significant to overcome and handle the resistors rather than just eliminate them. Resistance is not always negative, sometimes; proposals for change may not be positioned in a correct way which therefore increases the confusion among the associates of the organization. Politics in work environment plays a great deal as resistor of change.
A group of individuals those are associated with this politics in work environment influence other employees negatively. Employees feel that change has been initiated in order to change them rather than making the change by them or with them. Changes being recommended can result in individuals losing their status in the work environment and they are scared that they might lose their identity. Employees do not want to face any work related competency change where they are doubtful about delivering better. The employees of this company are resisting change because they are not sure that how change would affect them in future and it might add more responsibility to them. Change in one sector has unintentional consequences on other sectors as well.
Hence, the service was so poor in this visible government agency.

Question 2

What are some transferable lessons of change that can be drawn from the remarkable transformation of the Indiana BMV?

Answer 2

The company IB of Motor Vehicle had been awarded as one of the best agencies for customer service across North America. However, this was not the case five years ago. This company was considered as the worst agency for customer service. Presence of fraudulent, low morale of employees, low resource and high politics in work environment are few factors that hampered the success of the company. Therefore, all efforts that were taken to initiate necessary changes had been stopped by state legislators of those districts.
The transformation of the IB agency from the worst company for customer service to get awarded as the best agency is an example of best process of change.
The governor persuaded a successful business leader famous for developing good customer-service cultures in private organizations for the post of commissioner of the agency. The commissioner rapidly understood the challenges and got a clear view of that and developed a sense of urgency for change in the agency.
The following are the transferrable lesson of change that can be pointed out from the remarkable transformation:
• He formed a set of critical results and metrics associated particularly with satisfaction of customers and efficiency in transactions and consistently communicated with that in order to monitor the progress of the change. He introduced a new software program that permitted more competent and assimilated transaction processing.
• Since making a change is not an easy job and cannot be implemented single-handedly. Therefore, the commissioner encouraged employees of all levels for their involvement in the process and he arranged a meeting on a monthly basis with all the employees and tried to take suggestions from their and implement those.
• The commissioner planned and executed a bonus system for most competent service associate and be transferred few employees from one branch to another in order to reduce office politics.
With these initiatives, the agency has revamped their customer service within a span of five years and established itself as one of best customer-service provider agencies.

Question 3

The New York Yankees are one of the most valuable sports franchises on the planet. Why do they need to worry about change?

Answer 3

The NYY Company decided to implement most advanced wireless technology including video, internet and voice and killer app, supplied by C System, in order to deliver a best experience to the fans. The CEO of C system suggested them to apply a cinematic analysis of the installations which would change the overall experience of watching sports in the stadium.
The company formed collaboration with C system and decided to install advanced wireless technology in its new stadium for delivering an overall new and upgraded experience to the fans.
Since resistance is an inevitable factor of change management, therefore the company is worried about the upcoming changes. No matter how much attempts have been taken by change initiators in an organization, people are always there to resist the efforts. Fans may resist changing because they are not sure that how change would affect them in future and it might change their existing experience of watching a game or movie. Therefore, a sense of uncertainty prevails among fans. The company is worried about that fact that fans may feel that change has been initiated in order to change them rather than making the change by them or with them and they do not want to face any competency change where they are doubtful about delivering better.

Question 4

Converting an Organizational Problem in an Achievable Change Initiative
It's your senior year of college and, in an attempt to build your resumé, you agreed to run for president of the campus professional business fraternity. No one else ran, so you won in a landslide. But now you are faced with a big challenge as your returning vice president tells you the organization is a mess. She further notes that nobody is motivated and the members just want something to put on their resumés. She observes it is really hard to get people to take initiative on fraternity events and that new membership and attendance at events dropped to an all-time low last term.
Clearly, this seems like a situation ripe for change management, but how would you proceed in ways that might really yield improvement? Where do you begin? What common traps should you avoid? Who, if anyone, would you want to involve in the process? What resistance might you predict? At the end of the year, how would you judge whether you were successful as a change agent?

Question 5

Many prior governors had publically recognized the problem and promised a focus on improvement in the BMV, but almost nothing had changed in 30 years. Why is it so hard to make changes in organizations-even in situations like the Indiana BMV where the problems are so visible and public? What are typical sources of resistance to change?

Question 6

Your text includes an illustration of how using the levers of "schools, media, and police" can be a powerful metaphor for making change. Explain in the context of the Indiana BMV.

Question 7

When dealing with a traditionbased game like baseball, do you think there are changes that the fans would not accept? What would be some examples? What would be some examples of changes that you think could be made, but would be pretty risky to make?

Question 8

Creating Urgency for a Change
You are in sales with a pharmaceutical firm and the major drug in your portfolio is one of three patented products that are widely prescribed by physicians (the other two are manufactured by two competitor firms). You are starting to see that the other firms are gaining an advantage with their aggressive and innovative promotion campaigns and marketing efforts. Sales of your product have not fallen off much yet, but you can see that the doctors you call on are starting to be more and more impressed with the competitor products, while interest in your drug is waning. Unfortunately, your superiors are complacent and do not recognize what is happening. Other salespeople have tried to make similar cases in the past but have often been dismissed as whiners (because their own sales were dropping) or as "Chicken Littles" who acted as if the sky was falling when it was only a passing phase that happens with all product cycles.
From your relatively low level in the firm, how might you build urgency for a change here? What might you do knowing you have little authority to get anyone to comply? What common traps should you avoid? Are there tactics that might seem intuitive or obvious but that might only raise resistance and create obstacles rather than urgency?

Question 9

If you were appointed as commissioner of the Indiana BMV in 2005, where would you start? That is, what would be your primary change strategy and what would you try to address first? What would you communicate to the public about what you were trying to do?

Question 10

How did the BMV commissioner try to create "urgency without fear" in this case?

Question 11

Overcoming resistance to change plays a big role in the success of most change initiatives. Identify reasons why resistance could be an issue among fans and then make recommendations as to how these different forms of resistance may be overcome.

Question 12

Dealing with Change Resistors
You are working as assistant manager in a restaurant where a new manager has just been hired away from a very popular and successful competing restaurant chain. The new guy is bright and energetic and eager to bring some of what he learned in his prior job to his new role. More specifically, he wants to overhaul the way your hosts and servers interact with diners. He is particularly interested in a team approach (whoever is available brings ready food to a table regardless of who took the order) and is encouraging more proactive exchanges with diners.
For example, he wants servers to make recommendations and encourage diners to try various specialty items on the menu. The recommended approach is not forceful or aggressive, but is a reasonable way of ensuring that guests are given every opportunity to sample some of the best food and drink and to help create a more memorable dining experience. You really like the new approach and think it can lead to higher store performance and ultimately translate into better bonuses and merit increases for the staff. But you know there will be resistance.
What different forms might the resistance take? What recommendations would you make for how to present the change in a way that might unfreeze that resistance? What common traps should you avoid?

Question 13

Now that the BMV is running so well, what issues do you see in sustaining the change?

Question 14

Evaluating a Change Initiative
Your company has just spent a significant amount of money on a new enterprise software solution. Since you were an important part of the team that worked with the external consultants, your regional manager calls you in and gives you the following "opportunity." He asks you to complete an evaluation of how the implementation went. Basically, the company just spent a lot of time and money going through this process and they wanted to fi nd out what worked and what didn't.
He explains to you that this could be particularly important because a number of other districts are considering implementing similar software solutions and they will be looking for guidance in this process. He tells you to "be honest" and to be "comprehensive." Other than that, he doesn't give you much guidance, but just sends you out with a note of encouragement saying, "This could be a good opportunity for you to gain some visibility, so let's see what you've got."
Where would you start? How would you structure such a task and what are some things to be sure that you include? How would you collect the information and be aware of various stakeholders' perspectives during the process?

Question 15

What common traps often befall organizations that are trying to maintain significant changes in process and culture?