Bunisness management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bunisness management - Essay Example This change should come in different forms such as strategic, structural, cultural, process oriented and people oriented. The use of soft and hard approaches to change can be useful in this regard. As the power of the regional heads is one of the major obstacles in bringing change, Gerstner needs to define the company’s objectives and the relative course of action to meet the desired goals. On the other hand, he needs to empower the junior staff with decision making capabilities and innovation in order to create more value and discover more efficient ways of implementing the change process. A participative style of leadership would be appropriate to handle the current situation at IBM. This will allow the employees to analyze a given situation and come up with solutions regarding what to do and how to do it. Gerstner should critically understand and assess the culture and behaviours at each level of IBM. This will help in identifying the core values, attitudes, assumptions and perception of the employees that are essential for the successful change to occur. It will serve as a common baseline for developing the elements of change such as the new corporate strategy, infrastructure and programs to drive change. The implementation of the change process should be followed with the direction of business plans and tactics to meet the customer needs and competition. A continuous reassessment of the organization’s ability to move towards a new wave of transformation is necessary. Soft Approach with the employees: Coetsee (1999) states "any management's ability to achieve maximum benefits from change depends in part of how effectively they create and maintain a climate that minimizes resistant behavior and encourages acceptance and support" (p. 205). This means that Gerstner along with the management of IBM should choose the democratic leadership style as it offers a great deal of flexibility to handle a range of situations. In this way, ideas will move fr eely amongst the group and discussion will be relatively free-flowing. This will facilitate the conversation with the employees and will encourage them to share their ideas and synthesize the available information in the best possible way. It will capitalize their skills and talents by increasing their involvement in decision making activities coupled with new concepts and opinions. At present, the authoritarian atmosphere of the regional heads and other senior management uses the downward or vertical flow of communication to direct the managers and their subordinates. This is suitable in order to tackle such situations where the employees have less knowledge or have no sense of direction and close supervision is required. According to the present condition, Gerstner should restructure it as a flat organization. This will promote team spirit and better flow of communication among the employees. Change in the organizational culture: The culture of IBM is characterized with low tolera nce for change by the involvement of the higher authorities. The degree of formality is high and there are boundaries to separate the top from the ground. Thus, new activities and processes will be very difficult to implement if these characteristics don’t mesh with the culture. Gerstner must use a collective approach to define the ‘shared meaning or purpose’