Home
>
Strategic Planning
>
The Chasm of Change---- Restructuring ----- The Goliath

town car ride to ohare Marengo Park Ridge taxi to Midway Naperville south of 95 limo Midway Lincoln Stretch limo rentals Deerfield travel from O'Hare Carpentersville .. Drug testing

The Chasm of Change---- Restructuring ----- The Goliath

Richard L. Daft one of the country's recognized academic leadership experts raises the question, "What kind of people can lead an organization through major change?" A Turn-A-Round restructuring qualifies as major change and requires transformational leadership. Daft points out that this type of leader is characterized by the ability to bring about change through innovation and creativity. This type of leader motivates people to not only follow their lead but to believe in the vision of corporate transformation, the need for revitalization, to sign on for the new vision and to help institutionalize a new organizational process." Daft points to four principles in discussions about leading an organization through major change. These four principles are the foundation of the restructuring Turn-A-Round process.

1. Create a compelling vision

2. Create a new organization

3. Mobilize commitment, Empowerment

4. Institutionalize a culture change

Caution------Beware of the Dip

A "Transitional Performance Dip" is common when introducing major change accompanied by a culture shift. Performance most commonly gets worse before it gets better. There are four phases of the transitional dip with associated cause. They include:

Denial--- Confusion exists, feelings of being overwhelmed, acting like nothing is different & checking out are common employee reactions in this phase. Communication and sharing of information is critical to overcoming this type of employee reaction

Resistance--- Complaining, blaming others, spreading rumors, frustration, anger and erratic performance are common employee reactions. Again, communication, understanding and listening skills are critical during this phase of the transition.

Acceptance--- Renewed energy starts to become evident, optimism appears and doubt begins to dissipate. Excitement and risk taking become evident. This is when the vision must be restated and shared with every employee taking the time for full explanation and answering all questions.

Commitment--- Discretionary energy is released. Employees become action oriented toward new goals. Ownership of the vision is now company wide. Rewards and reinforcement are essential during this stage.

The length of time or "depth & width of the dip" depicting this phenomenon cannot be accurately predicted due to the complexities that determine it. Factors contributing to the length of time before the change efforts begin to show improvement can be impacted by the following factors:

? Magnitude of the structural changes

? Success of the communication to all employees

? External environment factors

? Critical mass of the company itself

? Competency of the middle management group and their experience with structural and cultural change

? Competency of the executive staff and their people skills

? Effectiveness of leadership at all levels

? Severity of the financial crisis or level of financial success

? Timing

Change Process

The restructuring change process begins with the strategic restructuring of the organization, which is required to "Stop the Bleeding." This process starts with the immobilization of the old culture. This is mandatory, as introduction of change into any existing culture is difficult at best. Introducing change into a losing or stagnant culture is almost impossible. This change must deal with organization theory, social psychology and business history. It must be dynamic and include the introduction of fresh new leadership. This is a behavioral process. People can create change but people also resist change. The change process introduced must answer the question, "How do we get from here to there?" The answer to that question is your new vehicle for success.

This vehicle includes the restructuring plan, individual one-year departmental plans and every strategic initiative developed by the new management team. Most importantly, this new vehicle is submerged in the empowerment theory releasing individual employee initiative. The plans must be unified, simple, consistent and universally understood by everyone. Most of the change that has been introduced must be induced change versus autonomous change. Autonomous change has a life of its own. It proceeds due to internal dynamics and follows its own course. It is not easily controlled as it forms its own dynamics. Induced change is calculated and planned. It can be controlled if buy in is generated through sincere communication and employee involvement. Each step along this path will be accompanied by distinct challenges. As questions arise, management must be prepared to answer openly and honestly. While the old culture is suspended, change can thrive under the right circumstances. It is the responsibility of the executive team to insure that these circumstances exist. The primary ingredients that create the right circumstances include open honest communication, empowerment, risk taking, acknowledgment and reward.

Organizational Behavioral Process (OBP)

This is basic to creating change, and it becomes an important part of the new vehicle for success. OBP may be described as the wheels of the new vehicle. This process will carry the organization on to new heights, new accomplishments. Organizational behavior has its roots in organizational theory and group dynamics. People are the most important ingredient to every organization and the organizations behavior. People and how they are treated will reflect the organizational characteristics, the way it acts and interacts with its own people.

Empowerment, the decision making process and the communication channels are examples of how the organization interacts with its people. Organizational behavior is not easy to change. That is why it is so important as mentioned earlier to immobilize the old culture to introduce change. (E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com for a list of immobilizers) The behavioral process of the organization can withstand personnel changes. In other words, changing out management does not guarantee change in organizational behavior. You must take proactive steps designed to create new organizational behavior. The new vehicle is part of that. It includes, focused specific objectives, open channels of communication, empowerment and a sincere respect for the individual employee and his contribution to the organization.

Organizational behaviors become generalizations. They are discovered from observations of everyday work habits and they have no independent existence apart from the work processes in which they appear. They are difficult to identify but they are extremely important. They affect the form, the substance and the character of the work processes themselves. They actually affect the way the work process is carried out. They are different from culture because they represent more than just values and beliefs. They actually are involved in the sequences producing work. The decision making process is a major characteristic of the behavioral process. The decision making process is a much studied process beginning with the studies of Chester Barnard and Herbert Simon who argued that organizational decision making was a distributed activity, extending over time and involving a number of people. In other words, decision-making is not the personal responsibility of a single manager but a shared, dispersed activity that they only need to orchestrate and lead. This is still a surprising and often unaccepted theory of managers today.

The Eight Road Blocks to the Change Process

1. The lack of a sense of urgency

2. The lack of buy-in, a coalition of support

3. An unclear vision

4. Failure to communicate the vision

5. Failure to provide resources and remove obstacles

6. Not systematically planning and creating short term wins

7. Declaring victory too soon

8. Failure to anchor change in the culture as it is occurring

Sense of Urgency

Success at anything requires a sense of urgency, a commitment to accomplishing something. If employees don't have this sense of urgency, complacency can become an issue. To meet difficult challenges, to excel at anything, to create competitive advantage it is absolutely essential that employees release their discretionary energy toward achieving company objectives. Discretionary energy is that extra that you can't ask an employee to give but is automatically given by those employees that have a sense of urgency. Of course, no employee will release that discretionary energy for a leader that has not earned their trust and their respect. A leader will not be respected by the employee until he shows respect for the employee. A leader will not be trusted by the employee until he shows trust in the employee.

Forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition:

Success is not an individual accomplishment. Initiating change requires buy in and agreement. A group of believers, achievers and team players must be assembled to not only support the change process but to drive the process. The group must function as a unit showing unilateral support of the change process. Examination of market and competitive reality is part of the challenge as well as identifying and discussing potential crisis, critical constraints and major opportunities.

Creating a Vision:

Success at initiating change starts with the creation of a compelling vision that provides a roadmap for the change. This roadmap clearly answers the question "What's in it for me". WIIFM. The vision is supported by the development of strategy and action planning to achieve the vision.

Communicating the Vision:

Success requires leadership and leadership without communication is like a gun without a bullet. It looks impressive but it can't do anything. A specific communication strategy must be outlined and acted upon to insure that all employees are aware of what the vision is and how it is expected to be accomplished including defining individual roles and contributions. It's about buy in.

Empowering Others to Act on the Vision:

When critical constraints or roadblocks are identified, they must be removed or overcome quickly. This means allocating resources accordingly. Systems or structure that can undermine the change must be eliminated. Empowerment involves trust and allowing people to use their initiative and creativity.

Planning for and Creating Short-Term Wins:

Milestones need to be set up to mark progress and allow victory celebration along the change path. Success breeds success and excitement breeds' excitement. Create that success and excitement by setting interim goals that can be achieved and celebrated. Recognize and reward employees accordingly that are part of the accomplishments.

Declaring Victory too Soon:

Interim success and short term victories are important but don't spike your own Kool Aid. Be realistic and keep your long term goals in sight. Consolidate those short term improvements to produce continuing change. Use increased credibility to change systems, structures, & policies that don't fit the vision. Hiring, promoting, & developing employees who can implement the vision is essential to continued success during a major change effort. Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes, and change agents.

Institutionalizing New Approaches:

Success must be anchored as it occurs and then built upon by articulating the connections between the new behaviors and corporate success. Leverage this success to ensure leadership development and succession.

Make no mistake, effective leadership is about creating change. This is true in every circumstance, whether a company is facing restructuring or dealing with the challenge of accelerated growth. Change is the defining moment that identifies true leaders from imposters. To become an effective leader, understanding change, creating change and most importantly managing change is the first prerequisite.

Dr. Eric "Rick" Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in Distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information.

Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. He's also a published book author with four titles to his credit: "The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance in Wholesale Distribution," the NWFA & NAFCD "Roadmap", Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf-The Evolution of Sales" and a fiction novel about teenagers called "Shattered Innocence."

limousine chicago service

In The News:

Preparing for the eventual widespread conversion to IPv6, the Nmap Project has updated its namesake security scanning tool so it can scan IPv6 networks using a variety of novel techniques.

Alcatel-Lucent is set to give Cisco and Juniper another run for the money in core routing 10 years after its initial attempt failed.

A new variant of SpyEye malware allows cybercriminals to monitor potential bank fraud victims by hijacking their webcams and microphones, according to security researchers from antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab.

Sony on Tuesday showed a digital media hub that uses Wi-Fi to connect its PCs, tablets, smartphones and PlayStation game consoles, a product that it hopes will be part of its comeback.

Advanced technologies such as HAMR could mean disk drive capacities from 30TB to 60TB by 2016, according to a new report by IHS iSuppli.

Google said Tuesday morning that it has closed the deal to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

YouTube and German music royalty collecting society GEMA have appealed the outcome of a lawsuit filed by GEMA against YouTube, in which a German court ordered YouTube to inspect the titles of uploaded videos to filter out potentially copyright-infringing content.

Google has finally closed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, and will now start working on new devices while keeping Android open, it said on Tuesday.

Trusteer expects malware used to attack several German bank sites to be reconfigured for banks in other countries

Former OMB intelligence chief Michael Daniel will take over as the debate over CISPA, for example, heats up

Sidecar, a born-again startup whose founders hail from Internet media services company RealNetworks, Tuesday is launching an eponymous app for iPhones and Android smartphones that's designed to make it easier for people to share videos, photos and more while talking on those devices.

A pair of Microsoft-backed industry groups applauded the ultimatum European Union antitrust regulators issued to rival Google over alleged anti-competitive practices.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said Monday that its application system for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) has reopened, more than a month after it was brought down because of a software glitch.

EMC has acquired Syncplicity, an enterprise file-management service provider, for an undisclosed sum.

A judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that a Kodak patent asserted in a complaint against Apple and Research In Motion is invalid, Kodak said on Monday.

The security vendor Trusteer is warning banks to look out for a sophisticated Trojan capable of emptying the account of an online customer.

Named late last week to replace Howard Schmidt as the top White House cybersecurity adviser, Michael Daniel is a 17-year veteran of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and has been its intelligence branch chief for the past 11 years. But he has stayed largely under the radar, even in the cybersecurity community.

Traditional mobile phone plans are now on the wane in the U.S., but the country's biggest carriers are still bringing in more money and leading the world in revenue, according to a report based on first-quarter results.

Schools in the U.S. will need broadband speeds of 100 Mbps per 1,000 students and staff members by the 2014-15 school year in order to meet a growing demand for Web-based instruction and a skyrocketing number of student-owned Web devices, according to a new report by a trade group representing state education agencies.

Voyager Mobile, the startup that had planned to launch last Tuesday but said it was delayed by an attack on its website, went live on Sunday with an unlimited voice, text and data plan for US$39 per month.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider the petition of Joel Tenenbaum, a former doctoral student at Boston University who faces a fine of US$675,000 for illegally downloading 30 songs.

As Avaya continues its transition from a hardware company into a communications and collaboration software provider, it is going through some growing pains, including a shakeup of executives and uncertainty around a potential initial public offering that's been rumored for months.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has hired Paul Ohm, a privacy advocate and critic of current online privacy practices, as a senior privacy adviser for consumer protection and competition issues affecting the Internet and mobile services.

Salesforce.com, which has placed ample emphasis on its Chatter social networking application, will actually begin providing real-time chat functionality as part of an imminent upgrade to its family of cloud-based software, according to a company document.

The Nasdaq computer system that delayed trade notices of the Facebook IPO on Friday was plagued by race conditions, the stock exchange announced Monday. As a result of this technical glitch in its Nasdaq OMX system, the market expects to pay out US$13 million or even more to traders.

There are many ways you can use Twitter to help build your business. For example, you can track trending topics, leverage Web analytics, and tap some 50 million daily users.

International medical vendor Mediq was expanding in a big way by acquisition and needed a standard email platform across its business, but the project's cost and the complexity of doing it alone was so daunting that the company called on outside help that costs it less in the long run.

Samsung is blocking a hack of its S Voice digital assistant software that allowed any Android phone running Ice Cream Sandwich to use the app.

Advanced Micro Devices aims to improve the quality of high-definition video and 3D graphics on equipment in casinos and hospitals with its new R-series processors, which the company announced on Monday.

Mobile operators that want help keeping their subscribers happy can get it through a new managed service from Alcatel-Lucent, the company said on Monday.

Malware writers have used Crossrider, a cross-browser extension development framework, to build a click-fraud worm that spreads on Facebook, security researchers from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab said on Monday.

Now that Google has gotten permission from China's Anti-Monopoly Bureau to acquire Motorola Mobility, the companies are expected to complete their merger by the middle of this week.

IT management executives from large corporations worry most about how to manage employee-owned devices safely and securely, according to clients of the Directions on Microsoft analyst firm.

Silver Peak today upgraded the software for its WAN appliance to handle automated optimization for TCP and non-TCP traffic, 512,000 simultaneous connections for 10 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) infrastructures and support for a bunch of common hypervisors.

IT managers grappling with bring-your-own-device policies can expect to see an explosion in the number of smartphones and tablets used by employees.

The big cable companies know that if they want to stay relevant in the wireless market, they can't do it on their own.

Version 3.4 of the Linux kernel was officially rolled out Sunday, in what maintainer Linus Torvalds called a "calm" release cycle.

Google has "a matter of weeks" to address four antitrust issues identified by European Union antitrust regulators. If Google addresses these issues the case can be solved by a so-called "commitment decision" instead of formal antitrust proceedings resulting in a fine, said JoaquAn Almunia, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy.

Yahoo has agreed to sell off about half of its stake in Alibaba Group back to the Chinese e-commerce giant as part of a US$7.1 billion deal, the two companies jointly announced on Monday.

If the numbers at StatCounter are accurate then the world has a new Web browser champion: Google Chrome.

The chief of AT&T Mobility can't wait for Windows 8 tablets to hit the market because they'll fuel demand for Windows phones.

IBM is offering employees who are nearing retirement a one-time opportunity to take advantage of a program that would guarantee their employment through Dec. 31, 2013.

Europe's top court has ruled that the functionality of a computer program and the programming language it is written in cannot be protected by copyright.

Your boss wants it yesterday, but it better be good when judged by the standards of tomorrow. Your customers want every feature they can imagine, but don't you dare confuse them by giving them all the buttons they want. Your fellow programmers want your code documented, but they just respond "tl;dr" to anything you write.

After all the attention, clamor, and expectations Facebook is now a publicly traded company worth $104 billion. With shares trading at a hundred times earnings, Facebook is under a lot of pressure to increase the profit that it brings in. In other words, now the fun begins.

Microsoft is abandoning the 'Aero' user interface with Windows 8, calling the UI that debuted in Vista and continued in Windows 7, 'cheesy' and 'dated.'

Company claims system requirements will be the same as those of Visual Studio 2010 despite performance increases

The NFL has big stadiums, big players and big games, but when it comes to computer systems, the league's vice president of IT doesn't use the word big.

Despite interoperability trials and demonstrations involving alternative data center fabric standards, a non-standard fabric technology is said by proponents to be at the front of the pack.

Taiwanese smartphone vendor High Tech Computer said on Sunday certain models of its newest smartphones have passed U.S. Customs and are being released to its carrier customers, after the company previously warned of a delay in product shipments because of an International Trade Commission (ITC) order.

So.cl, an experimental research project from Microsoft, that combines social networking and search to promote learning, is now accepting all users interested in joining the site.

Email managers have a lot at stake. After all, the volume of global electronic messages sent via email dwarfs all other forms of electronic communication, including social networking. Since the inception of electronic mail, which, according to some Internet historians, can be traced to a small mainframe app called 'MAILBOX' from the mid-1960s, human-to-human messages have been created, transmitted and stored in electronic format. But early email administrators could hardly have envisioned the complexity of current email infrastructure and the concomitant maze of technical, security, business and regulatory challenges.

Pakistan late Sunday reversed a block on Twitter in the country over material it considered anti-Islam, the country's interior minister said.

Technical problems at the Nasdaq exchange affected the trading of Facebook shares on Friday, the much-anticipated day of its IPO (initial public offering), Robert Greifeld, chief executive of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., told reporters on Sunday, according to published reports.

Chinese regulatory authorities have approved Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, paving the way for the deal to close within the week, company officials confirmed Saturday.

In the latest move in a complex series of patent-related cases, Apple filed a motion in a U.S. district court late Friday to ban Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the U.S.

Apple's plans for a Bluetooth 4.0-based iWallet could be the beginning of the end for the venerable cash register.

An Italian court has upheld a a!900,000 (US$1.2 million) fine imposed on Apple by Italy's competition authority for allegedly violating consumer protection laws, Italian media reported late Friday.

The mobile gift-giving app Karma announced Friday it has been acquired by Facebook. The announcement came shortly after the markets closed on Facebook's first day as a publicly traded company.

The U.S. International Trade Commission issued an import ban Friday on any Android devices from Motorola that infringe one of Microsoft's patents.

The prospect of cyberwar means the U.S. needs to 'rethink every aspect of defense,' says one summit presenter

At any given moment today, on-the-clock employees are updating their social media status, reading feeds and networking on business media sites. Moments can stretch to minutes: A recent study by the Ponemon Institute found that 60 percent of social media users spend at least 30 minutes a day on these sites while at work.

HP is expected to announce a large layoff at its quarterly investors briefing on Wednesday, losing as many as 30,000 employees. But for now, the company isn't talking about its plans.

How well do you know the $100 billion social network? From private planes to petabytes, here are some of the most surprising Facebook tidbits.

Given the complexity of today's applications, it's folly to suggest that the future role of the CIO is less technical and more businesslike, columnist Bernard Golden writes. If anything, it's the opposite -- the business side of the enterprise should embrace technology.

Twitter has announced support for "Do Not Track," immediately implementing it to halt online tracking of users who trigger a setting in their browsers.

The first hours of Facebook's IPO got off to a shaky start today with the share price wavering around the $40 mark, never gaining the astronomical momentum many had anticipated.

Fully 95% of 600 businesses surveyed by Cisco permit the use of employee-owned smartphones and tablets at the office and found productivity gains for workers who use their own hardware.

Perhaps the Next iPhone won't be called iPhone 5 but the Zombie iPhone, in honor of the new spate of rumors that the late Steve Jobs is still with us in a sense, as the chief designer of the upcoming handset.

The company has now set things straight again and all content on the iTunes Store a including music and apps a now displays the word "jailbreak".

Symantec originally thought that at its peek the Flashback Trojan was generating around $10,000 a day by hijacking ad clicks. Now, new research suggests the developers may only have earned $14,000 during the time that the malware was active.

A hacker who claims to hate both Anonymous and notorious file-sharing website The Pirate Bay has claimed responsibility for the DDoS attack that the bittorent website has been suffering for the last 24 hours.

When Windows 8 comes out later this year, the new Start screen and Metro-style apps will likely be the first changes you'll notice, but those aren't the only things that are new. Microsoft is also making some serious security enhancements to help keep your system safer and to improve Windows' ability to combat viruses and malware. It just may be the biggest improvement to Windows security yet.

Three winners of an academic competition at the University of Rochester to create the most innovative and useful applications for IBM's Watson cognitive computing systems were announced yesterday by Big Blue.

Facebook's initial public offering, or IPO, hits Wall Street Friday, and is one of the most highly anticipated tech stock offerings of the past decade. Everyone, it seems, wants to be in on the action. And it's possible to do so--after the big boys get their hands on it first.

'If the product is free, you are the product.'

Conmen in Manchester have been selling bottles of water, cans of Coke, and even potatoes under the pretence that they are iPhones.

HP is looking to cut at least 25,000 jobs in a bid to reduce costs and return to growth, according to media reports.

Adoption of Android tablets and smartphones in large businesses has been "severely limited" because of the complexities of managing the various Android models and versions, market research firm Gartner said in an evaluation of 20 mobile device management software vendors.

Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit doesn't actually talk so much about wireless networking these days. Increasingly, its message aimed at IT groups is about the broader concept of "mobility."

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday announced the OfficeJet 150 Mobile All-in-One portable printer, which the company called the world's first mobile multifunction device that can "print, copy and scan on the go."

Despite the rumors, developers are focused on making apps -- and money -- from today's Android

Apple is in talks with China Mobile, according to the carrier's chairman Xi Guohua, although an agreement is yet to be reached.

The question of whether CISPA is really necessary might arise in the wake of a Department of Defense announcement last week that as many as 1,000 defense contractors -- and possibly thousands more -- may voluntarily join an expanded program of sharing classified information on cyber threats with the federal government.

If you're a Verizon customer upset that your next smartphone contract won't include unlimited data, Sprint would like to remind you that you have an alternative.

In retaliation against Internet Service Providers (ISPs) blocking some video-sharing and torrent websites like The Pirate Bay under Indian court orders, Anonymous, the "hacktivist" organization, today took down the websites of the ruling Congress Party and the Supreme Court of India. Anonymous, which in the past has been credited with taking down the websites of the MPAA, RIAA, the FBI, the US Department of Justice and child pornographers, took down these sites in what is understood to be DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

The University of Kentucky says it has reshaped its business intelligence capability by adopting SAP's in-memory system, HANA.

The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tells a congressional panel that the landmark reform bill signed last September is already yielding significant results, but defends litigation in tech sector as a sign of vigorous innovation.

If you haven't developed a corporate Bring Your Own Device policy, or if the one you have is out of date, these tips will help you address device security, IT service, application use and other key components of an effective BYOD policy.

With Facebook's long-anticipated IPO expected to hit on Friday morning, the company set its initial share price at $38 today.

The Chasm of Change---- Restructuring ----- The Goliath

Strategic Planning Strategic Planning