Scenario 3 Communicating Through Change (extracted from Case study:Communicating through change. Managing and leading people through organizational change. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Ltd. 197-199.)

A company has made a decision to restructure in preparation for new product launches. As a result of the restructure, a number of staff roles were to be made redundant. Jay, the manager of a team, had to inform 90% of the team that they would be displaced. This manager was just one of 200 team managers that had to make this kind of announcement. The managers were asked to delay delivering the unfortunate news until December (after the managers were told about it in September) because the senior leadership team wanted the staff to remain focused on their work for the remainder of the year and continue to improve business performance. However, not all of the managers remained silent and staff anticipated that the change was coming.

During the three months from September to December, the senior leadership did not communicate with the managers. At the middle-management and non-leadership level, people were asking if they were going to lose their jobs. Rumors spread about some having secure jobs while others didnt know. Manager Jay continued to keep in communication with his team, but not giving specifics until December, when he let the team know that there would be a 90% cut. Jay worked hard and helped to find jobs inside and outside of the company for all of those who were laid off. However, he was bothered that the senior leadership remained silent and it caused a lack of support and commitment for the change the company was trying to make.

Directions You learned about John Kotters 8-Process/Accelerator cyclical model of change. It involves creating a sense of urgency, building and maintaining a guiding coalition, formulating a strategic vision, communicating to get buy-in, removing barriers, celebrating short-term wins, never letting up, and making strategic changes part of the culture.

Using your knowledge about the model from your learning, read Scenario 3 above, and apply the steps to creating change. Be creative and provide information that you feel should be added to make the model work in this situation.

To help you evaluate the situation at the company above and how you might want to approach your recommendations, consider if transparency from leadership would be valuable; what type and frequency of communication would help; what would help staff feel committed ownership of the change; and what should have been done to solicit/collect feedback.