Introducing. Managing  development in an organisation training staff to encourage  succession. 

Culture is very important to bring about a change.The values, prevalent, alignment of the same with the individual and then contributing to organizational goals.Most important to this leading from the front.When we don't follow what we preach,there will be no effect.Keep lines of communication open to take feedback so that you can work on them.

You need to evaluate the current status before change. Employees empowerment and training are critical tools to increase effectiveness 

Abel, Adama & Ghazi,

Thank you for your replies. Very relevant feed-back.

I totally agree that an in depth culture analyse is the basis starting point. Trust and commitment are highly valued in the firm. I would like to keep those values when building on the growth and feed-back and open communication become an important tool doing this phase.

The Managing Director was formerly the Sales Director, but in 2007 he was appointed MD and the Sales Director position was never reappointed. There is huge trust and respect for the MD, he has high technical  knowledge and is excellent in leadership,  he also cover the Sales Director position. But we need to free up some of his time, to work on growth strategies and hire a Sales Director to take care of sales. My concerns are the reaction of the sales employees and it will be a challenge to find his replacement in form of a Sales Director.

The idea with empowering the employees would be a good way to gain their commitment and keep their trust. Training would probably be more for the new Sales Director.

How to change in order to increase organizational effectiveness and prepare for future growth?

I think positive change can increase organizational effectiveness.  Positive change can be in various forms.  Based on one of my previous studies, by changing a project manager's leadership roles underpinning on Behavioral Complexity Leadership Theory, s/he can influence his / her project team effectiveness.  You can refer to the following RG links for the 3 articles I'd published.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289976829_The_Impact_of_Leadership_Roles_on_Team_Satisfaction_Team_Effectiveness_and_Project_Performance_-_A_Study_of_Project_Managers_in_Malaysia

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260427723_RELATIONSHIPS_BETWEEN_LEADERSHIP_ROLES_AND_PROJECT_TEAM_EFFECTIVENESS_AS_PERCEIVED_BY_PROJECT_MANAGERS_IN_MALAYSIA

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275893468_Moderating_Effects_of_Project_Management_Experience_Project_Team_Size_Project_Duration_and_Project_Value_Size_on_the_Relationship_between_Project_Manager%27s_Leadership_Roles_and_Project_Team_Effectiven

Conference Paper The Impact of Leadership Roles on Team Satisfaction, Team Ef...

Article RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LEADERSHIP ROLES AND PROJECT TEAM EFFE...

Article Moderating Effects of Project Management Experience, Project...

Hi Han,

Thanks for your reply, really appreciated.

Interesting readings. I have already included the Quinn Competing Values Framework in my assignment. After reading your articles, I see good sense in also including the Quinn Managerial Leadership roles in my assignment to describe the current situation and the future desired situation in a very effective way. The eight roles will help me organise our expectations to the new Sales Manager and combined with skills/competencies it gives a really good description. 

BR Jette

 Totally agree with the positive change approach.  On most organizations, there remains too heat an emphasis on the deficit paradigm and mindset. Look instead to strengths-based approaches within that context of positive change.  Building on strengths will take you much further than merely fixing what's wrong.

I suggest you focus on strengths-based design and build what should be.  Pay attention to behaviours.  A cultural audit that identifies behavioural strengths and development area would likely give you a much stronger basis for change and help select a new sales leader who can further develop the desired culture.

Well, the question is complex. There are at least several factors needed in preparation for growth. I would firstly emphasise the role of organisational structure, climate and culture, transformational leadership and a prevailing role of strategy. Further, in case of people, I would concentrate on issues of preparing a clear roles in a future (possibly - job description), identify competences and invested in trainings in case some are missing. It should all be backed up by a sound information on the changes you are planning to introduce. Next, motivation should be put to work (possibly some bonuses or benefits). Don't forget about evaluation of the job people are involved in - job performance measurement systems should be introduced.

And leave yourself a bit of time. Do not introduce all the changes at once, while it is a social system you are playing with, and it needs time to adapt. In other case you might face disagreement, absenteeism, and problems with employee retention...

All the best,

Tomasz

Change its been hard to be carried out by many organisations  because it involve many factors that can be of positive impact as well as negative, yet it should be done on daily bases  so as to increase organisational effectiveness .

But looking at it as a need for future growth of the organisation then it depends on the role of the employers and employees input so as to enhanced it at the end of the time yet it could be risky and time costly as well as it  can be as a result  of loosing  resources of the organisation.

Therefore, it involves the organisational culture, because the culture itself plays a vital role which can be of a good contribution or vice versa which can be hard for the group concern to adopt easily.

Change do contribute to the organisation effectively but it should be adopt as a policy within an organisation so as to meet its objectives and mission through the process of change.

Best of luck

Chol James

I think it is important to conduct a SWOT analysis on the clan culture of the organisation first. Then analyse and make recommendations on positive change within the organisation. Personally, I believe that the best way to change clan culture is through inclusiveness, and changing paradigms, resulting in a adopted policy in order to meet organisational goals and objectives, and still be in accord to the organisational mission, vision, and values. Organisational learning is important. Have you studied Peter Senge? Chris Arygirs? They have written excellent books on organisational learning in general and I think that woulmd be helpful. 

Dr Reagan Lavorata

Interesting to link SWOT to positive change, and suggest consider using SOAR instead,  which strengths-based tool that goes beyond the mere analysis of SWOT, which is primarily deficit based.  Strengths,  Opportunities,  Aspirations,  Results. 

Dear Sylvia, Tomasz, Chol & Réagan,

Thank you so much for your very useful feedback to my question, really appreciated.

Sylvia; you are totally right that the human brain always focus on the deficit paradigm and mind-set instead of focusing on the strengths to do a positive change approach. The firm in question has some very valuable culture strengths and it would actually be a shame not to use them to do this change. Also you comment on the SWOT to use SOAR analyse makes very good sense in connection with growth strategy development.

Tomasz; It is defiantly the organisational structure that jeopardize the growth opportunities. Job descriptions are a good idea, to set the roles/frame for the firm. I would prefer to use other motivation tools than “money”, I was thinking more something like;

• Training
• Involve employees more in strategy, goals and direction of the Company
• Make more visible/reachable part goals for the single department

The firm already has a high degree of commitment trust and faith in the company from the employees’ point of view; I believe this can be used in building up the encouragement via involvement.

Do you have any suggestions to motivating/encourage tools?

Chol; It is exactly the result of loosing resources of the organisation that I want to avoid, as they are very valuable and the competing advantage of the firm due to their high technical knowledge and their flair being service minded towards the customers. I believe that the strong culture traits within the firm can be a help doing the transition but it could also be vice versa as a strong culture can be a massive barrier when implementing changes. Even though the management of the firm have big concerns in regard to this upcoming change then I am also of that belief that change can do well to the effectivity of firm.

Réagan; A SWOT analyse is always a good and efficient tool to get the full picture of the company. I have kind of chosen the positive change approach and totally agree that inclusiveness and optimal information is very important parameters doing the change phase. Furthermore then it is the changing of the paradigms that is the turning point, if the change will be implemented efficient and I believe that I need to look into have to change the psychological contract as this is a big change in the PC with the organisational restructuring that is needed if the firm should be able to meet future growth strategies more efficient.

Any ideas how to approach the change of the psychological contract? All the employees in the sales department have been with the company for more than 10 years.

The recommended reading Peter Senge was very interesting, his point with “in the long run the only sustainable competitive advantage is your organisation’s ability to learn faster than the competition” is spot on.

The other recommended reading Chris Arygirs was also very helpful and the Double-loop learning which occurs when error is detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization’s underlying norms, policies and objectives was especially interesting reading and so truth.

To all of you, thanks a lot for all your helpful replies. It made me think, direct and move on with my assignment.

BR Jette

There are many factors that can affect organizational effectiveness. Leadership style has a significant effect on organizational effectiveness. At the same time, leaders can help in building a shared vision, which depends on persistence as well as inspiration.

Mahfuz Judeh is right, leadership is too often the crucial element. However, vision, inspiration and persistence are not enough without mutual trust built through the leader's high-moral vulnerable involvement. See my attached articles and forthcoming book (Mismanagement, "Jumpers" and Morality, New York: Routledge)

Shapira, R. (2015) – “Dysfunctional Outsider Executives’ Rule and the Terra Incognita of Concealed Managerial Ignorance.” Open Journal of Leadership, 4(1): 12-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojl.2015.41002

------------. (2013) – “Leaders’ Vulnerable Involvement: Essential for Trust, Learning, Effectiveness and Innovation in Inter-Co-Operatives.” Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management, 1(1): 15-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcom.2013.06.003