“I must admit, I’m completely baffled by these scoring results for Cam Leslie,” Carole Wheeling said as  she and  company  CEO  Ronald  Zeitland  scrolledthrough  the  latest  employee  surveys  for  middle management.For the second year, RTZ Corporation used Wheeling’s consulting firm to survey and score managers. An increasingly younger workforce, changing consumer tastes, and technology changesin the industry had caused Zeitland to look more closely at culture andemployee satisfaction. The goal of this process was  to  provide  feedback  in  order  to  assure  continuous  improvementacross  a  variety  of  criteria.  The surveys could be used to highlight areas for improvement by showing manager and company strengths and  weaknesses,  anticipating  potential  problem  areas,  providing  a  barometer  for  individual  job performance, and serving asa road map for transforming the culture as the company expanded.Fromthe outset, Zeitland insisted on employee honesty in scoring managers and providing additional comments for the surveys. “We can’t change what we don’t know,” Zeitland instructed employees in meetings two years ago. “This is your opportunity to speak up. We’re not lookingfor gripe sessions. We’re looking  for  constructive  analysis  and  grading  for  what  we  do  and  how  we  do  it.  This  method assures  that  everyone  is  heard.  Every  survey  carriesequal  weight.  Changes  are  coming  to  this organization. We want to make those changes as easy and equally beneficial as possible for everyone.”Now, two years into the process, the culture was showing signs of changing and improving. “The results from lastyear to this year show overall improvement,” Wheeling said. “But for the second year, Cam’s survey results are disappointing. In fact, there appears to be a little slippage in some areas.”Zeitland leaned back in his chair, paused, and lookedat the survey results on the screen. “I don’t really understand it,” Wheeling remarked. “I’ve  talked  to  Cam.  He  seems  like  anice  guy—a  hard  worker, intelligent, dedicated. He pushes his crew, but he’s not a control freak.”“He actually implemented several of thesuggestions from last year’s survey,” Zeitland said. “From all reports and  my  own  observations,  Cam  has  more  presencein  the  department  and  hasincreased  the 

number of meetings. He appears to have at least attempted to open up communications. I’m sure  he willbe as baffled as we are by these new results because he has put forth effort.”“Employees  mentioned  some  of  these improvements, but it’s not  altering  the  scores.  Could  it  merely be a reflection of his personality?” Wheeling asked.“Well, we have allkindsof personalities throughout management. He’s very knowledgeable and very task-oriented.  I  admit  he  has  a  way  ofrelating  to  people  that  can  be a little standoffish, but I don’t think it’s always necessary to be slapping everyone on the back and buying them beers at the local pub in order to be liked and respected and . . .”“. . . in  order to get high scores?”  Wheeling  finished  his  sentence. “Still,  the  low  percentage  of ‘favorable’ scores in relation to ‘unfavorable’ and even ‘neutral’. . .” her voice trailed off momentarily. “That’s the one that gets me. There are so many ‘neutral’ scores. That’s really strange.Don’t they have an opinion? I’d love to flesh that one out more. It seems that in a sea of vivid colors, he’s beige.”“It’s like he’s notthere,”Zeitland said. “The response doesn’t tell me that they dislike Cam; they just don’t see him as their manager.”Wheeling laughed. “Maybe we can wrap him in gauze like the ‘Invisible Man,’” she joked.The joke appeared lost on Zeitland. “That invisibility leaves him disengaged. Look at the comments.” He  scrolled  down. “Here’s a follow-up  comment:  Employee  Engagement:  Are  you  kidding?  And here’s another: Advocacy: I don’t think and I don’t believe anyone here thinks he would go to bat for us.”“I know,” Wheeling said. “On the other hand, many of their remarks indicate they consider him fair in areas  like  distribution  of  workload,  and  they  score  him  decently  in  the  area  of  follow-through  in achieving company goals. But overall satisfaction and morale levels arelow.”“That’s what I don’t understand,” Zeitland commented. “Morale  and  productivity  are  normally  so strongly linked. Morale in this case is blah, blah, blah, and yet these guys manage to perform right up there with every other division in the company. Sothey’re doing it. They just don’t like it or find any sense of fulfillment.”“Does Cam?”“Interesting question,” Zeitland agreed.

“So, how do we help Cam improve these scores in the coming year?” Wheeling asked. “What positive steps  can  he  take? I’d at least  like  to  see  an  up-or-down  vote—not  all  of  this  neutrality—on  his management skills and job performance.

QUESTIONS Answer ALL FOUR (4) questions. 

1)Explain theimpact associated with the “change”.

2)Do  you  think  Zeitland’sdesire for  changes  in  culture  are  related  to  changes  in  the  external environment? Explain.

3)What additional investigation might Wheelingand Zeitland undertake before settling ona plan of action?

4)Imagine  that  you  are  the  CEO  in  the  company  and  empowered  to make  certain  change  on  the company culture. How would you do it?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Change Impact Analysis together with Stakeholder Analysis guides the Change Management Strategy that then determines the budget and resource requirements the Change Management Plan for a successful ... View the full answer