Reference no: EM133974507

You serve as the change leader for Delta Pacific Company (DPC). Up until this point, the organizational culture has been one of a traditional culture as the company had a manufacturing environment.

DPC has undergone an extensive change from manufacturing to consulting, including new employee roles and responsibilities, training, and resources. However, there have been organizational barriers and employee resistances to the changes, resulting in a declining profitability.

You have decided to design a Change Leadership Strategy plan to present to the leaders of DPC to meet their goal of changing the culture from the more traditional manufacturing environment to one of a contemporary consulting environment. To complete your Leading Change Plan, please include the following:

Identify the problems facing Delta Pacific.

Analysis the different roles leaders and managers use for successful implementation of change.

Discuss the roles and responsibilities of leading team members for change.

Compare and contrast advantages and disadvantages of two (2) popular change models. Discuss at least three (3) similarities and three(3) differences of change models. Select one (1) model that you feel best compliments your strategy.

Explain how the change model you selected to use will ensure the most effective and efficient process of changing an organizational culture.

Discuss at least two strategies for overcoming barriers to change.

Discuss the behaviors that Delta Pacific leaders need to exhibit to ensure a positive and successful cultural shift for the long-term.

Case study

In a global business environment where organizations can no longer rely on traditional factors thathistorically lead to a competitive advantage such as access to proprietary technology, exclusive rights toraw materials, or proximity to customers and markets, many organizations have re-structured tocapitalize on new success factors. In the United States that has resulted in a shift in many cases fromproduct or service-based businesses to knowledge-based businesses (OECD, 1996; Powell & Snellman,2004). Powell & Snellman (2004) define the key components of a knowledge economy as. .a greaterreliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources." (p. 201). This casepresents the challenges facing an organization as it transitions from its traditional business model to onethat incorporates greater reliance on the knowledge of its workforce. The focus of this case is on the roleof the organizational behavioral system in facilitating a successful transition to the new corporatestrategy.The Case ScenarioThe Delta Pacific Company (DPC) has a long history of success. The company has been at the fore frontin the development of information technology since the 1970s and led the market in technologydevelopment, manufacturing and sales throughout the 1980s to the mid-1990s. DPC was a success story.They consistently met or exceeded their profit targets, successfully integrated new technology into theirproducts, and they were considered one of the best employers in the country. With generous benefitpackages, a high quality of work life, industry leading salaries, and a corporate culture that considered itsemployees to be part of a family, potential employees were lined up for opportunities to join DPC.However, with the advent of globalization, freer trade, and low cost overseas labor, DPC found itselfslowly losing market share for its primary product: computer hardware. DPC had prided itself onproducing and selling the best products and training its sales force to develop long term relationshipswith clients that brought them back year in and year out for DPC's technology. Along with hardware, DPCalso sold service contracts and training classes for the end users of their products. By the late 1990s itbecame clear to the leadership at DPC that they could no longer compete with less expensive productsbeing produced overseas. At one time they could sell their higher priced goods on the premise that theywere of higher quality, but that was no longer the case. Foreign-made products were now beingproduced to match or even surpass the quality standards set by DPC. However, conversations betweensales representatives and their clients did indicate one thing: the clients valued the personal interactionthey had with the sales reps and the personalized advice that they could provide to their clients to helpthem to reach their goals. DPC recognized that they needed to make a change and they believed theyhad a new vision for their company.As they entered the 21st century DPC moved away from hardware solutions to business challenges andshifted instead towards knowledge-based solutions. Rather than selling equipment, DPC began to marketthe extensive knowledge of their workforce. DPC would no longer sell the equipment; they would insteadprovide integrated knowledge-based solutions to information management problems. Essentially theywould become a consulting firm that would assist their clients to set up systems that would facilitateinformation management. But now their solutions would go beyond hardware and encompass software,organizational design, data collection management, work flow and overall information management re-engineering. Sales reps underwent significant training to prepare them for their new roles. However, theredesigned jobs were not a good fit for all of the sales reps. some moved on to other types of positionswithin the company, but others left to pursue opportunities elsewhere.As expected, profitability declined during the initial introduction of this new organization mission asemployees became accustomed to their new roles. Due to the time taken to train employees, they werespending less time in the field with their clients generating revenue and more time in the classroom beingoriented to their new roles. However, the decline persisted much longer than anticipated and thecompany's leadership team, board of directors and the shareholders were growing impatient with the slow returns. It became increasingly apparent that while the training, resources, and equipment were inplace, significant changes in the organizational behavior system at DPC were necessary to ensure longterm success.