OB ASSIGNMENT SOLUTION

Case Study (Change Management)

Modern India Ltd. is a manufacturing company located in Mumbai. The company was
performing well from the past twenty five years and the people involved in the operations were
confident in their respective areas of operations as they were doing it from quite some time. There was
a feeling among some of the employees that it is becoming monotonous kind of an affair although the
efficiency has gone very high due to the fact that the same person is doing the job from quite some
time.

Recently company has introduced a policy on Job Rotation; it was made possible for the
employees to engage in job rotation. Manoj is In-charge of a manufacturing operation from the past
five years and he has three subordinates directly reporting to him - Vikas, Sumer, Rohit. Vikas has been
working in the same job position from the past twenty years, whereas Sumer from the past five years
and Rohit from the past two years in the same job position. Manoj being quite young and dynamic
welcomed the change in the policy as it amounts to giving more options to the people those who are
dynamic and look for more challenges. Moreover it provides more holistic perspective about the
organisation.

Manoj perceived that it is a win/win situation for both the employees and the organisation.
Manoj called a meeting to discuss the possibility of the adoption of job rotation. As the meeting
progressed, Manoj became aware that out of three subordinates, two wanted to adopt a job rotation
schedule, whereas one is not at all interested in job rotation. Manoj was in a fix and adjourned the
meeting. After giving a considerable thought to the problem, he was able to crystallize on four
alternative approaches that may be followed to manage this conflict situation:

1. Forget about Job rotation in this unit.

2. Issue the orders that job rotation is mandatory for all the three subordinates with immediate
effect.
3. Respect the feelings of each one and work out an arrangement where job rotation process to be
postponed for a while, and so on, thus allowing each person to have his or her way for some
time.
4. Call the meeting again and discuss the pros and cons of the proposed change and negotiate with
them. Try to develop a consensus for job rotation.
Questions:

(a) What conflict management styles are represented by each of the four alternatives suggested
above by Manoj?

Ans:

The case analysis indicates that Manoj was in a problematic situation with respect to the
changes in the form of job rotation as considered by the management, and the problem was
mainly in terms of his subordinate employees not readily available to accept the change process.
As a result, there were four alternative approaches that have been recommended by manoj in
order to deal with the situation. This section of analysis is now focused towards assessing the
pros and cons associated with the four different approaches as considered by Manoj and it also
assesses the level of conflict associated with each of them.

 1st Suggestion :
o Forget about job rotation: This alternative in the form of forgetting about the job
rotation in the unit is likely to have certain major pros and cons associated with it.
o As for instance, the pros associated with this decision is mainly that it will not create any
kinds of changes and the ways in which the employees were currently working, will
continue to work in the same way.
o However, the cons associated with it are that it will not account for any major
development in the performance of employees within this subunit.
o This particular alternative does not result into any conflict within the one member in the
subunit that is not willing to change, whereas there might be certain level of conflict
within other two members that are ready to accept to job rotation as desired by
management
 nd
2  Suggestion:
o Issuing Orders that Job Rotation is Mandatory: This alternative will result into the
benefit in the form of better learning opportunities to the members that are readily
acceptable to change in the form of job rotation as desired by the management.
o But the cons as associated with it are that there might be issues in respect to the
employee that is resisting to changes in terms of job rotation of his/her position.
o The implementation of this particular alternative will result into conflicts within existing
members in the subunit, as the member that is not readily acceptable to job rotation is
likely to pose threats to the successful performance of other members.
o Thus, the chances of conflict would increase significantly from considering this
alternative of making the job rotation mandatory.
 rd
3  Suggestion:
o Respecting the Feelings of other and implementing job rotation by stopping it for a
while and again starting it for sometime: In performing change management, it is highly
 essential that the employees should be adequately supported and in this respect of
implementing job rotation, it is essential that the employees should be adequately
supported.
o As a result, this particular alternative in the form of respecting the feelings of other will
result into positive development of acceptance within the employees for such change in
the form of job rotation as considered by management.
o However, the cons associated with it are that it will be a time consuming process in
implementing job rotation, as stopping it for a while and again starting it would cause
the consumption of time to a greater level.
o The chances of conflict would be lesser because a cooperative and coordinating style of
management by employees would result into better acceptability within them
 th
4 Suggestion:
o Conducting meeting again and discussing pros and cons: This is an important way of
carrying out the proposed change in the form of job rotation within organisation
because this particular alternative would result into positive level of feedback from each
and every employee within organisation, and the resulting impact would therefore be
better overall development of employees.
o However, the cons associated with it may be in terms of negative feedbacks from
employees during meeting and there would be difficulties to management in
successfully implementing the change process.
o The chances of conflict occurrence in the process would be higher because one
employee has not at all accepted such job rotation process.

(b) Assume that you are the CEO of the organization and you have to implement this change.
Prepare an action plan to minimize the resistance to change and the Job Rotation Policy can be
implemented in the organization.

Ans:

 Change Management Phases

o The decision to implement the job rotation within the organisation is mainly a change
management process that needs to be implemented in a highly efficient manner.
Change management require efficient process to be carried out, and there should be the
adaptation of important phases to performing change in a successful manner.
o In this respect to implementing job rotation, the change management can be carried out
through applying the Kurt Lewin model to performing change.
o This model states that the change should be carried out in phases which involve the
steps such as unfreezing, transitioning and refreezing.
o These stages are crucial from the point of view of positively accepting change
management within organisation. The order of phases as applicable to this change
management process is analysed below:
  Unfreezing: This phase is the actual identification of change management need
and once the need is identified, appropriate measures could be considered for
bringing change within organisation. As for instance, the need for job rotation is
essential as identified in the given case of Modern India Ltd and as a result,
during this unfreeze stage, it is essential that there should be efficient strategies
that should be developed in introducing change within organisation           
 Transitioning: This is the actual phase of implementing the change process, and
in respect to the given process of implementing job rotation, the focus has been
towards the actual implementation of job rotation within organisation. The
employees should be transferred to different job titles in this phase and their
actual performance should be monitored so that it can be assessed as to
whether there is suitability of the personnel across different job locations within
organisation.
 Refreezing: This is the final stage to performing the actual implementation of
change within organisation and it requires the making the changes permanent
within the organisation. This suggests that the changes to the processes in the
form of rotating the employees to different job titles as performed above,
should be refreeze if they are proved to be excellent to the organisation in
achieving higher efficiency in its performance         

   In these ways, different phases to change management can be carried out with a view
to implement the job rotation as envisaged by the management in a positive manner. This order
of phases would be carried out in actually implementing change within organisation.

o Communication Plan in Implementing the Proposed Changes

o The changes as envisaged in the form of implementing job rotation within organisation
can be efficiently addressed by way of having an appropriate communication plan.
Communication plan is essential because it will likely to make it sure that each and every
employee in the organisation is clear about the changes and the likely impact they have
to face in their job role within organisation. In ensuring the attainment of awareness in
respect to each and every employee in organisation, it is essential to have a definite
communication plan which is indicated as follows:
 Identifying Parties in Communicating Change- 
o The first stage in the communication process is the identification of parties to whom the
change process needs to be communicated.
o In respect to the given case of Modern India Ltd, the change process in the form of job
rotation of employees need to be communicated to the employees whose position will
change in the organisation and also to the senior level management for their efficient
approval.
 Communication of Change:
o Once the parties to the communication process are identified, the next step in the
process is the actual communication of change. As in the given case of Modern India Ltd,
 it has been analysed that there are hierarchical structures whereby team leaders have
subordinates working under them.
o As in the given case example, it has been noted that Manoj as three subordinates
working under him, and as a result, the communication of change can be possible in the
form supervisor directly communicating with their subordinates in the form of one to
one meeting or it can be in the form of group communication with them.
o In this way, there can be the direct level of communication being established with the
employees and they can be encouraged to positively support the growth of the firm.
o In addition to this, the communication with the senior level management can be
established in the form of reporting them directly about the performance of
subordinates over the change process, and this can be ensured through documenting
the performance of each and every employee by the supervisor after the change
process has been given due effect
 Feedbacks from Employees:
o Feedback from employee is essential because it allows for better judgment of the
employee performance over the new positions as a result of job rotation being
performed.
o The feedback from employee is crucial in evaluating the overall effectiveness level with
regard to overall organisational performance over the change as initiated by the
organisation.
o In these ways, the efficient implementation of change through appropriate
communication with employees can be ensured, and the positive feedback mechanism
could also ensure the identification of employee acceptance to the change process as
initiated by the management
 Importance of Communication Plan: 
o This communication plan is likely to ensure the enhancement of the engagement and
success of experience in the sense that it will allow each and every member in
identifying the change process as needed to be carried out, the likelihood of acceptance
of such change within them, and also the overall effectiveness of the employee
acceptance to such change.
o This indicates that the communication plan is highly crucial from the point of view of
creating awareness within the target audience and also from the point of view of
achieving success with regard to the performance of change process in a highly efficient
manner.
o Thus, this communication process needs to be implemented in a highly efficient manner
with a view to accomplish higher level of success and effectiveness throughout the
entire change management process.