1.
Introduction
Faslane, which was formerly controlled by the
Royal Navy and MOD (Ministry of Defense), is a HM Naval Base Clyde. It is the
U.K’s nuclear submarines that carry the Trident weapon system. In 2002, they signed
an agreement contract with Babcock marine which is a part of Babcock
international. The agreement contract was targeted to deliver 76 million pounds
of cost saving within 5 years and also to improve operational effectiveness.
From 2002 to 2006, John Howie was the managing director of Babcock marine.
The report that I have prepared below is
entirely based on the analysis I did on the changes that took place in Faslane.
It is an effort I made to understand Faslane’s strategic change processes. The
analytical tools I used in this report are:
1)
Force field analysis
2)
Change kaleidoscope
3)
Johnson’s cultural web
4)
Mc Kinsey’s seven S model
5)
Kotter’s 8 step process for leading change
6)
Lynch leadership style model.
1.1Strategic
Change Process
This case study is basically about Faslane’s
success with the implementation of strategic changes. The strategic change
process of faslane is both emergent and intended.
Intended strategy change process is more of a
formal type of strategy change process. This kind of strategy is pre planned
and were intended to implement from the initial stage. The intended strategy is
basically a periodic process of setting goals and objectives for the
organization on the basis of long term security. The Faslane had an intended
strategic change process implemented, in a sense that, it made an agreement
contract with Babcock in 2002 and set a target of achieving 76 million pounds
of cost saving and improvising operational effectiveness within 5 years.
Whereas, Emergent strategy is the kind of strategy
that comes up by chance or that are unplanned from before. This kind of
strategy is generally a diversified development of strategy. I believe, The
strategic change in Faslane is an emergent strategy as well in a sense that
Faslane analyzed the market scenario and then set the objective of cost saving
and operational effectiveness. Likewise, they also re-engineered the management
structure to 4 layers from 7 layers and also reduced the management review
process to 6 days from 56 days. In addition, eliminating the bureaucratic
system at Faslane was also decided later.
2.
Analysis
2.1 Change
kaleidoscope:
Time:
When the agreement was designed, there was a
plan of the collaboration where the Babcock Marine should preserve up to £76
thousand within 5 year. This was the primary focus on at the starting of the
agreement.
Scope:
There was new kind of control operating
framework presented by Babcock Marine which was completely different from what
the workers were used to.
Preservation:
Even though the control was changed, the
service offered by Faslane was never modified. It is always managed and
provides top quality services in concern of its people and clients.
Diversity:
As there were many various management groups,
each had their own handling style and techniques to finish their task.
Capability:
The staffs were already used to with the old
management style by the Ministry of defense. The new management that was
introduced by the Babcock Marine was difficult for the staffs to adjust with.
It was all due to the lack of awareness and experience of the new style of
management that had been introduced.
Capacity:
Even after saving some amount there was
enough capital remaining for any kind of changes. Since there were many staffs
working in Faslane, with the new change introduced many of the staffs had to
leave. But it was all due to lack of time to adapt and adjust to it.
Readiness:
The modification in the system had also
bought change in the managing style of the managers.so, eventually they had to
adapt to the changes. And also make the staffs aware of the changes and help
them to adopt and accordingly commit towards it.
Power:
Due to the sudden change the power of
autonomy was limited. However, the managers possessed the complete power of
control over their workers.
2.2 Force
Field analysis of Faslane
Force Field analysis provides a view of
change problems that need to be tackled, by identifying forces for and against
change.
The Driving forces and Restraining forces are
explained more briefly below:
Driving forces (positives):
The main driving forces of Faslane are the
target objective of cost saving, improvising of operational effectiveness, new
skilled manpower taken from the Babcock marine, implementing change from the
low-level at first.
Restraining Forces (negatives):
The restraining forces or the forces that
hampered while implementing the change process for Faslane are employees’
unsupportive nature towards the change at initial stage or their fear from the
change. Likewise, the cultural challenges and the prevalent bureaucracy system
are also the negative forces faced by Faslane during the change process.
2.3 Johnson’s cultural web:
Cultural Elements
|
MOD and Royal Navy
(up to 2001)
|
Babcock Marine
(2002-2010)
|
Symbols
|
Ø Home base for entire
submarine base
Ø Building and infrastructure
more important than supporting navy
|
Ø Change in mindset of people
Ø Encouraging the staff to
be more creative.
|
Power Structure
|
Ø Based on rank
Ø Functional structure with
supervisors and standardization
Ø High power distance
|
Ø MOD as a master
Ø Motivating staff to
participate in management process
|
Organizational
Structure
|
Ø Chain of command
Ø 7 management layers.
Ø Hierarchical and
centralized
|
Ø Reduction of management
team
Ø 4 layers of hierarchical
structure
|
Control Systems
|
Ø Formal command and
control system
Ø Full control of MOD and
royal navy
|
Ø There was more
privatization in the system.
Ø Everyone was motivated to
give their ideas.
|
Rituals and
Routines
|
Ø Focus on process rather
than out comes.
Ø Unwanted expenses
Ø Too much time consuming
review process.
|
Ø The measurement of output
was done with the performance scorecard
Ø 6 days review process
|
Paradigm
|
Ø Slow, tired and
conservative.
Ø Limited people with
limited autonomy
|
Ø Service oriented with
less cost
Ø Acceptance of change
process and skilled manpower.
|
Stories
|
Ø Fear of negative impact
of change
Ø Change due to cost of
reduction was not accepted.
|
Ø More effectiveness in the
management system.
Ø Adaptation of cost saving
changes to the employee was encouraged.
|
2.4.1Mckinsey’s
Seven S Model of 2001
McKinsey’s Seven S Model
|
||
Strength
|
weakness
|
|
Strategy
|
Customer
focus and infrastructure focus
|
Requirement
of more time and budget
|
Structure
|
Centralized
bureaucratic system with high difficulty
|
Unclear
regulations and roles
|
System
|
Unsuccessful
to reduce the cost and maximize the efficiency of service due to poor
management system
|
Required
more time for decision making and processing
|
Skill
|
All
the officers and staffs with training and specific skills
|
Unknown
with the modern management and changes.
|
Style
|
Leaders
are well experienced
|
Though
leaders are bureaucratic, only some of the people are at benefit.
|
Staff
|
Faslane
had around 7500 working people
|
More
focus on facilities and infrastructures
|
Shared values
|
Being
committed to provide quality service to the Navy.
|
Resistance
to change along with ethnocentric beliefs.
|
2.4.2Mckinsey’s
Seven S Model of 2002 to 2010
McKinsey’s
Seven S Model
|
||
Strength
|
weakness
|
|
Strategy
|
Cost saving along with good quality services.
|
Poor quality of services due to cost saving.
|
Structure
|
Hierarchical structure reduced from seven layers to four
layers.
Clear roles and regulations.
|
The organization managerial capability may be affected,
since the management team is being halved.
|
System
|
Skilled management teams.
People’s mindset being changed.
|
Difficult to handle complaints of customer’s.
Process changed immediately.
|
Skill
|
Staffs with experience in change.
|
Inexperienced with the work of Naval base.
|
Style
|
Leaders experience of change.
|
Change process is risk associated in such industry.
|
Staff
|
Staffs high involvement.
Staffs more emphasis on people than facilities and
infrastructures.
|
Management reduction may lead to unemployment and it
may demotivate staffs to work promptly.
|
Shared
values
|
Dedication in reducing of cost without hampering the
quality of service.
|
Being a private company Babcock Marine may look for
more profit which might eventually affect its strategy.
|
2.5Kotter’s 8 step Process
for Leading Change
Establishing
a sense of urgency
Identifying and
realizing the change for the organizational structure helps to examine the market
and competitive realities. This helped to create sense of urgency in the
organization.
Creating
the guiding coalition
It is necessary to
maintain guidance coalition since alliances is required the employees were
motivated and encouraged to participate in structural change process. The
change process which affected the perception of the employee helped to make
cost saving strategy possible.
Developing
a change vision
Clear vision of cost saving
existed in the organization and increased the operational effectiveness by
deducting the management structure to 4 layers from 7 layers.in order to
achieve the vision both intended and emergent strategy was developed.
Communicating
the Vision
Every possible means is
used to communicate the new strategy and vision towards change in behavior of
the employees and management structure. Communication plays vital role in the
change process.
Remove
obstacles
The management
structure was deducted to 4 layers from 7 layers. Moreover the review process
system to 6 days from 56 days. Adding up Babcock motivated in taking risk and
non-traditional ideas.
Creating
Short- term wins
In order to achieve the
Faslane goals the workforce is motivated and encouraged with a plan for visible
performance. The re-engineering of the process was done and reduction of
management structure levels to short term wins.
Build
on the change
In 2002 john Howie was
hired by Babcock, for the implementation of credibility to change systems to
the structures that don’t fit the visions of Naval Base. Then new theme was
introduced with a project to achieve target £76million cost saving with
5 years. The employees who could implement visions were promoted.
Incorporating Changes into the
Culture
They cooperated with the new behaviour and corporate goals. Moreover, they
developed way to make sure leadership development and success of cost reduction
strategy was done even though employees had no plan to cope with the change in
the first place.
2.6 Strategic Leadership Style of Faslane
The difference between the
leadership style of the Babcock and the MOD, has been compared by the lynch
Model. Before the change was made, up to 2001 Faslane was a transactional style
because the main focus of the management was on the completion of the task and
their role. But for the Babcock, they implemented the transformational
approach.
Lynch’s Leadership Model of Faslane from
2002 to 2010
|
|
Developing and communicating the
organizations’ purpose
|
Visibility and exposure
of business performance
Outputs were actions and
employees were arranged around common goals.
|
Sustaining competitive advantage overtime
|
Cost saving and setting
financial targets helped to secure the financial stability
Improvement on the
services provided.
|
Managing human resources and organizational
decisions
|
Management being
re-structured and re-engineered
Assigning autonomy
Own change ideas being
developed
|
Setting ethical standards
|
To understand customers
attitude
Changing employees
mind-set
Public sectors having
improved services at cost saving price
Discussion done by the
trade union of the organization
|
Defining and delivering to stakeholders.
|
Satisfaction gained by
the stakeholder by the cost saving
Partnership with clients
and believe in workforce.
|
In order to, encourage
autonomy, the Babcock choose this style of leadership by eliminating the
shackles. In order to, re-align the workforce so that the objectives and goals
are achieved. Due to the creative nature of transformational leadership it is
more effective. With this opportunity, Babcock created an event” even in the
tent” in order to motivate the staffs to express themselves and challenge their
thoughts relating to the changing process. By doing this event, the Babcock was
able to evaluate their workers and handle the HR division and was able to
demonstrate the objective and direction of the company to its stakeholders.
Transcendent Leadership Model
The transcendent leaders
believe motivation empowers them so they are more concerned about their
followers. The leadership consists of these forms: the organization, self and
others. Centralization of nonhuman elements such as structure, strategy, rules
and procedures is there.
Same as the Lynch Model, it
understands the changing external environments, portraying the exact picture to
organizational members. Transcendent leadership model contains of
·
Leadership of self: John
Howie, the former managing director at Babcock marine being a leader had a
clear set vision and objective of cost saving, improvising operational
effectiveness and providing quality service to the Navy.
·
Leadership of others: All
the employees at Faslane were given the opportunity to share their views and
opinions. They were well aware of the targeted goals and had a chance to
participate on the decision making process.
·
Leadership of organization:
The organization clearly communicated the requirement of changes in the
management to all the employees. They did a whole re-engineering of the
management review process and the management structure. Likewise, Faslane
continually maintained good relationship with their stakeholders.
Transcendent Leadership
Model of Faslane 2002 – 2010
|
|
Leadership of Self
|
·
Howie must work according
to the changing environment and continue implementing the complexity of the
change.
·
He must he must be aware
and conscious about his employees and the difficulty faced by these
employees.
·
Voluntary works were good
example of moral thinking
·
He must measure the
performance and improve the operational efficiency.
|
Leadership of Organization
|
·
Leaders must adapt to the
management structure to support change by reducing the number of management
by half, and removing the layers to encourage organizational flow.
·
Establishment of
direction and sense of transparency and incorporating series of financial
cost.
·
Explain the changing
process to the stakeholders in relation with the transformational change.
|
Leadership of Others
|
·
Encouraging and
motivating staff to challenge and share their views in the event held, ‘event
in the tent’.
·
Creating connection with
those companies who have experience the similar changes.
·
Adapting to the change,
the employees may fear or opposed to the changing process.
·
The organizational symbol
shows the Faslane base and moving the commander to the base.
|
3. Conclusion
The report has been
concluded. Finally Faslane has adapted to the change process accordingly with
success. Though changing the mind-set of the people was a hard work but finally
it was done. This change leads to achievement of objectives and goals.
Introducing the new flexible management style the employee has been motivated
and the change in the process has been accepted in a positive way which
eventually led to booming success for the Faslane organization.
Faslane operated the Royal
Navy and Ministry of Defense before Babcock Marine. The management structure
was poor with no new innovative created and due to which the employees were not
motivated in doing their work. But somehow in Faslane a change was bought in
2002 with a new operating private company, Babcock Marine. The change that was
brought in 2002 made a huge difference and a good impact in the managers
managing style and employees working style. Though this change was difficult
for the people to adopt to, this change was a positive change.
From the analysis done
above, the report concludes to be very knowledgeable, providing information on
different types of analytical tools which helped to understand the case study
in depth.
Faslane by 2010 became the
entire UK submarines fleet including the nuclear submarine.
People are usually used to
what is being done at the moment, so a little bit of change can make a lot of
difference in an individual’s life. The same thing happened in Faslane’s
situation. The people were used to the same process and with the change the
people took time to adopt. But as time passed, the people adapted the change.
Resulting, Faslane to a booming organization.
References:
Kotter, J. (1995) ‘Leading Change: Why
Transformation efforts Fail’ Harvard Business Review, March-April pp.59-67.
Lynch, R (2008) ‘Strategic Management’, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, pp. 619.
Johnson, G. Whittington & Scholes K.
(2011) ‘Exploring Strategy’, 9th Edition,
Prentice Hall.
J. Balogun and
V. Hope Hailey (2009) ‘Exploring Strategic Change’, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall
Jordan, R.M.G.a.J., 2012. Foundations of Strategy. John Wiley &
Sons.
mind tools. (n.d.). Retrieved December 28, 2013,
from www.mindtools.com: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm
Pro work Project. (n.d.). Retrieved December 30, 2013,
from www.proworkproject.com:
http://www.proworkproject.com/prowork/change-kaleidoscope.html
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