The Rubber Company : analysis of change process

Résumé du document

"This document will study the difficulties in applying change processes and systems in the traditional life cycle of any given company and the creation of a successful change management roadmap, to be integrated into the diagnostic of any given company". Change process often needs to be initiated by a person who is external to the company, and independent and objective about the company's situation. In this case, an audit is useful to enable the company to realize its weaknesses. This audit allows the company to have an impartial vision on its global operation, to have data on main issues and to start implementing the improvements necessary through more communication in order to increase the company's global profitability. This means that communication is not developed enough at the present time, and this blocks company effectiveness by increasing delays and costs. To Improve cooperation and synchronism between business units the CEO wanted to implement a systemic change based on the Model of Cooperative Conceptual Change (M3C) which consists in:
-managers training to new managerial tools and techniques
-the intervention of an external trainer (Virginie) to change team and individual behavior
-inciting managers to have a daily pro-active attitude,
-and enabling them to realize the impact of their actions thanks to models.

Extraits

[...] Employees must be part of the change and actively participate. How was the change in the company structure carried out? To successfully implement the M3C, it is necessary to set up strong principles established from a common agreement of each party involved; indeed the change can not be imposed but has to come from a general desire of improvement. That is why communication is so important, during the all change process as well as for the implementation of its main principles. [...]

[...] What is today the climate? - A defeatist initial situation: Rubber employees were not trusting in their future. They were sure that the change process was just a delude and that the activity would be delocalized, happen what happen. This state of mind increased the difficulty to motivate people and to convince them that a last chance was possible. In such context of demoralization, we can easily notice that it was very difficult to be successful in motivating people and giving a new impulsion to the company. [...]

[...] The stakes of the change and the areas she had to act on are very important. Moreover, this training allows to understand that collaboration and competition can be mixed in order to stimulate initiative and motivation, as well as operation results. Leader role can be perceived as a responsibility for: - people motivation and implication - explaining the reasons for the change - implementing clear objectives - creating a work environment favourable for business performance - creating communication and collaboration between business units - favouring the empowering and the progressive increase of autonomy - restoring the individual trust and self-esteem - A modification of work relationships: The training to M3C allows to understand the stakes of relationships in a successful change process. [...]

[...] Results for the Industrial Activities Development: Results for overall Rubber Company French operations: The results obtained show that the use of the Cooperative Contextual Change Model helped to successfully combine Theory E (economic and operational output) and Theory O (organizational structure and climate) (Beer & Nohria, 2000) and create the basis for stable dynamic change in the future. How did the training on the M3C help to drive the change process? Implementing the Cooperative Contextual - a better understanding of the role of a leader The training to M3C allowed to have a better understanding of the way to manage people to the change because it allows to understand their fears and pre-conceived ideas. [...]

[...] How is the change process going to progress in the next future? New objective: stimulate innovation To reach this goal, CEO will implement two main changes in processes and production. Strategy the CEO is going to use to reach it: it would be an opportunity to benefit from this experience. The role of the CEO in the future change process will be a role of implementation, then articulation and to finish, simple arbitrage. - Elaboration of a statement of the present situation in order to know the better way to act. [...]