Change Management Assignment Sample

Introduction Of Change Management 

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Company Background and Summary of Role

Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) is an Indian multinational technology corporation with its headquarters in Noida, Uttar Pradesh (Das, 2019.). It is entirely owned by HCL Enterprise. Initially a research and innovation subsidiary of HCL, it spun off as a separate entity in 1991 when HCL entered the software services market. HCL’s offerings include applications, infrastructure, engineering, research and development, and business process outsourcing. The corporation operates in 32 countries (Singh and Sharma, 2021). HCL Technologies Ltd is a globally leading information technology outsourcing provider that specializes in assisting global companies in reimagining and transforming their markets through the use of digital technology. The company’s primary business is in the provision of software development, business process outsourcing, and infrastructure services. In this particular project I was appointed as a project team leader.

Overview

HCL Technologies LTD is an Indian multinational corporation with over 150000 employees that operates on a global scale. Microsoft ended support for a few Windows versions in 2013. The initiative had a major influence on the technologies and their associated implementations. The distribution manager of HCL Technologies who was active at the point failed to respond promptly. As a result, the customers of HCL became dissatisfied, and also HCL missed a few new business prospects. When the problem hit HCL’s administration, it resulted in the dismissal of all project execution managers and the appointment of new delivery leaders. Within three years, the new management agreed to update all servers and software. Both team members worked diligently to update the infrastructure under the current distribution head. In November 2017, the project was finished.

Area(s) of trade

The area of business is HCL’s Insurance Business Services division that is a market leader in helping insurers to promote technological change and make creativity and agility a core value (Masrani, Morelli, and Bagchi, 2021). The breadth of their experience is across various areas, including data and analytics, artificial intelligence, and smart vehicles, which enables insurers to better serve their end customers. They assist insurers in being future-ready, enabling them to track risk evolution, enhance value-added services, and enter new markets for their products and services in a trustworthy and appropriate manner. Also as a technology partner, their goal is to assist insurers in operating as a “future-ready” company.

The various types of change

As Heraclitus, the Greekphilosopher said long ago that“Change is the only constant”, it came true about HCL also.The change that took place in the company of HCL regarding this research is the change related to thesystems that were no longer in use and insurance policies that were not up to date.

Motivation for change

HCL is a renowned company as it carves a niche of customer satisfaction for a leading e-commerce solutions provider with enhanced “time-to-market” (Burnett et al.,2017). The client is a leading provider of their business, providing a variety of consumer engagement, payment processing, marketing, customer care, and other technology integration services. It sought to achieve customer satisfaction by making a series of quality assurance enhancements. These included the development of an e-commerce solution to increase web traffic and improve time to market, the reduction of regression testing effort and cost, and the optimization of resource utilization with on-demand resource availability. So as the customers of HCL became dissatisfied, and also HCL missed a few new business prospects, the new management was motivated enough to update all servers and software to regain the lost fame.

Force field analysis

As per the force field framework, the forces which made it important for the introduction of the change are as follows-

• Lack of managerial competence.
• Lack of problem-solving capabilities of the project delivery managers
• Obsolete digital infrastructure

The forces resisting the change include:

• Challenges of orienting the team members
• Expenditure in terms of finances and time for undertaking the whole process
• Doubts regarding the capabilities f the newly appointed managerial body
• Uncertainty about unanimous cooperation

A brief introduction to the following sections

In the subsequent segment of the essay models and concepts, analysis of change, reflection of the change will be meticulously discussed.

2. Models and Concepts

Key Concepts

Just like any other area of study, “change management” also has a certain set of key terms and concepts, understanding which is most vital for any professional operating in that area. This section will talk about some of these key concepts.

A strategy for communication

Communication can be seen as the means by which individuals and businesses may be reached. Effective communication is needed for the successful implementation of any strategy of work (Hansen and Clausen, 2017).

Organizational culture

A business is similar to a living organism created by the number of its constituents. Thus , it has an identity and internal culture of its own, which is shaped by the workers' beliefs, ideals, behavioural patterns, and the collective illusions and desires for the future.

Mitigation of Risk

The very nature of change management implies that there is always a challenge, as it has an effect on the organisation and its operations, even though the impact is supposed to be beneficial (Bejinariu et al., 2017).

Nevertheless, potential risks must be continuously managed in order to maximise the positive effects of a process of transition while avoiding or mitigating its negative consequences.

Attitude of resistance towards change

All reforms elicit a level of anxiety from employees who are used to the current operating methods (Bejinariu et al., 2017).

Chosen Models (with justification)

For the case of HCL Company, two models that have been chosen are-

Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model:

The eight-step transition model developed by John Kotter consists of eight alternating steps (Orr, 2021). The first three are mostly about fostering an environment conducive to improvement. The following section will discuss supporting and empowering employees. Finally, there is the issue of initiating and maintaining transition.

STEP 1:Create a Sense of Immediacy: Leaders can underestimate the difficulty of rousing people from their comfort zones, overestimate their effectiveness in doing so, or generally lack the patience required to cultivate adequate urgency. Competent leaders would “shoot for the heart.” They tap into their employees’ most fundamental ideals to bring the business case to life through human experience; they stimulate the senses; and they craft clear, creative messaging that motivate people to excellence.

STEP 2: Form a Guiding Alliance: It is important to form the correct coalition to lead progress. The partnership must have the appropriate composition, a high degree of confidence, and a common goal. When assembling the alliance, the team itself should consider the following:

• Placinga sufficient number of key players must be on board to ensure that some of those left out cannot obstruct development.
• It is important to represent all possible points of view to make responsible, intelligent decisions.
• The organization is seen and valued for its pronouncements to be taken seriously.
• The group must have a sufficient number of established leaders to facilitate the transition process.

STEP 3: Create a Vision for Change: The transformation dreams demonstrate how the future can vary from the past. It performs three critical functions:

• It eliminates the need for hundreds or even thousands of additional comprehensive decisions.
• It encourages people to take positive action, even though the initial steps are difficult.
• It enables the rapid and effective coordination of the activities of many individuals.

STEP 4: Obtain Buy-In by Communicating the Vision: Getting people to understand and contribute to a new path is never easy, even more so in complex organizations (Bekmukhambetova, 2021). The majority of businesses under-communicate their dreams by a margin of at least ten. A single memo or even a sequence of speeches announcing the transition is never sufficient. For the vision to be successful, it must be conveyed by hour-by-hour operations. The idea will be discussed in emails, meetings, and conferences it will be shared in all forms of communication.

STEP 5: Encourage Wide Action: This step entails eliminating impediments to reform, modifying systems or processes that are fundamentally incompatible with the vision, and promoting risk-taking and unconventional thoughts, behaviors, and behavior. This will include altering the corporate framework or management information structures to ensure that monitoring relationships and data support necessary behavior. Another impediment to positive transition can be difficult managers with anti-change management styles. There are no simple solutions to this dilemma. Typically, the only approach is open communication.

STEP 6: Achieve Short-Term Success: This stage entails rapidly establishing visible, unambiguous progress. The Guiding Coalition plays a key role in determining major changes that will occur within six to eighteen months. Obtaining these victories contributes to the general performance of the reform effort. Important short-term wins between 14 and 26 months after the transition program starts significantly increase the likelihood of completing the transformation. Victories demonstrate that the efforts people make are worthwhile. This heightens the urgency and hope of those enacting reform.

STEP 7: To never abandon The Struggle: Resistance is perpetually poised to reassert itself. And if successful in the initial stages, individuals risk driving resistors underground, where they await a chance to surface when is least expect it. The effects of relinquishing control can be very hazardous. While taking a break before completing a task, vital momentum may be lost, and regression is likely to result. Rather than claiming success and passing on, these transformative leaders will initiate an increasing number of programmers to further embed the transition in the enterprise.

STEP 8: Incorporate Improvements Into the Tradition: New practices must have strong roots to become ingrained in the culture. Culture is made up of behavioral standards and common beliefs. These social forces are extremely strong. Each person who enters an association is inculcated into its culture, often without their knowledge. By establishing a modern, supportive, and adequately strong corporate culture, people will sustain transition. No matter how powerful the Guiding Coalition is, it cannot secure progress on its own. For long-term sustainability, it is necessary for the bulk of the company to fully embrace the new culture.

The Benefits of Kotter’sModel:

It is a simple step-by-step model that offers a concise overview and instructions for the whole transition process and is relatively simple to incorporate.

The focus is on the employees’ presence and acceptability to ensure the process’s effectiveness (Harrison et al.,2021).

The focus is mostly on planning for and increasing acceptance of reform, rather than on the specific change process.

McKinsey 7S Change Management Model.

The McKinsey 7s change model is an ideal method for evaluating and interpreting changes in an organization’s internal situation (Rohmahand Subriadi, 2020). It is founded on seven critical elements that decide an organization’s effectiveness that should be interrelated and aligned to achieve synergistic results. The model is applicable in a wide variety of circumstances where alignment is required:

To increase operational efficiency.

Analyzing and assessing the organization’s impact on futuristic improvements can be a valuable framework in mergers and acquisitions situations requiring the synchronization of an organization’s critical processes (Mamunet al.,2020).

Providing a basis for the implementation of a growth strategy of operation.

McKinsey 7S change model applies to the organization’s seven critical interconnected or combined components, which are further divided up into soft and hard elements:

Hard components are directly controllable by management since they are specified and established. The following components constitute the organization’s rough elements.

Strategy:

It is the strategic plan, the road map, or the blueprint from which a company achieves a strategic or leadership advantage.

Structure:

This term refers to the hierarchical framework or reporting process.

Systems:

This category encompasses the day-to-day operations in which team members engage to ensure the fulfillment of their delegated duties.

Soft elements are much less concrete and more difficult to classify and identify because they are more culturally determined. However, advocates of this paradigm argue that these soft components are just as critical as the hard ones in deciding an organization’s viability and development in the market.

The following components constitute an organization’s soft elements:

Shared Values:

The overarching objectives or fundamental values that pervade the corporate culture and affect the ethical code.

Style:

It emphasizes the importance of the style of leadership and how it affects strategic decisions, employee engagement, and organizational success.

Staff:

This element consists of the total number of workers or the employees’ skills.

Skills:

Employees’ fundamental competencies or main qualities are critical in determining the organization’s sustainability.

3. Analysis of Change

Context

The change that was brought about by the management of HCL Technologies Ltd. was meant to mitigate certain issues which led to the failure of the UK Insurance Project to be launched of the year 2013, of which I was appointed the team leader. To be precise, the macro-environmental factors which led to this failure include the organization that plays an integral role in the overall activity of the project, namely, Microsoft. It is a fact that the “Windows” platform is involved in virtually every activity of any given project of the same kind. Therefore, when it so happened, that the version of Windows that was being used was actually outdated, the entire project got jeopardized. As far as the microenvironment is concerned, the outdated digital infrastructure and the inefficiency of the delivery manager are the most important factors which had necessitated the change.

Therefore, these were the challenges, for dealing with which, HCL Technologies Ltd. had to bring about the changes in its digital infrastructure and the managerial structure of the project. Together, these simple factors affected the overall performance of the project team, which in turn had a negative impact upon the company at large. A number of the company’s clients were lost and it also missed many business opportunities. It was only after the introduction of the mentioned changes that the company could actually complete the project successfully and recover from the losses.

Application of Models to Change

As mentioned earlier, the models of change that were implemented by HCL in order to overcome the issues are- the McKinsey 7S Change Model and Kotter's 8-Step Change Model. This section will analyze the company’s application of these two models that gave direction to their initiative of bringing about the essential changes.

The McKinsey 7S ChangeModel

This model consists of 7 important elements which are subdivided as hard and soft elements which have a combined impact on the whole process. HCL applied the model in the following way:

Hard Elements

1. Strategy: HCL decided to take charge of the troublesome situation by implementing stark and quick changes in its digital infrastructure and also in its project management team. The plan was to appoint new, more efficient and proactive project management team which would be able to detect any issue and bring about the necessary changes. It was observed that the fundamental problem lay on the fact that the project delivery managers were not competent enough to even detect the software related issues on time.
2. Structure: The structure of the project delivery management was to be completely changed, replacing every member of the unit with new, more potent ones.
3. Systems: The activities of the managerial team and the staff members was planned be optimized in such a manner which would enable the company to rebound from the financial and reputational losses which it had suffered due to the challenges faced in the initial phases of the project. An increased level of commitment and focus was demanded of each one.

Soft Elements

1. Shared Values: The shared values of the company were not to be altered much, as it was always about ensuring- efficiency, commitment and congenial work environment. It was decided that steps would be taken to instill the values in the team members even further.
2. Style: The leadership style of the company was not to be altered. The collaborative leadership style which is generally practiced by the leaders of HCL was to be maintained, as it is considered by the organizational heads that this leadership style encourages open interaction, the exchanging of knowledge, and experiences, thereby enhancing the performance of the entire organization at large.
3. Staff: It was expected from the staff members that they would accept the changes being brought about and it would not have any negative impact on the levels of their engagement and motivation.
4. Skills: The skills of the employees and the newly appointed managerial team in charge of the project were to be optimized for taking on the pressure that was awaiting the team.

Kotter's 8-Step Change Model

The management unit of HCL made use of this model in the process of bringing forth the major changes in the following manner:

1. Creating a Sense of Urgency: The leaders and managers of HCL put much effort to make the team members realize the seriousness of the issue and harm that it could cause if left unchecked. The reasons behind their decision of introducing these stark changes were justified and the feedback of the employees regarding the situation was also sought.
2. Forming a Potent Association: The cooperation and committed participation of every individual who had an important role to play in the process was earned by the leaders. The stakeholder groups were also engaged and their support was also obtained. Attempts were made so that the whole group could function as a single unit to avoid any ill effects which could spring from the organizational change.
3. Creating a larger vision: The leaders put in much effort to comprehend the potential impact of the changes being considered. They took a significant amount of time to evaluate the actual necessity of this decision, the factors which were responsible for the rise of the various challenges which hampered the project to such an extent, the chances of success and failure and the risks that could further damage the organization. After considering all these points, the leaders developed a clear insight and created a specific vision to be achieved through this change.
4. Communication of the Vision: After developing a clear insight about the outcomes, the leaders of HCL convinced the team members that the change would be immensely beneficial in the long run and also made sure that they could have a glimpse of their vision, for working towards achieving the same. It was to be made sure that the vision was a practical one and also that the employees could find it plausible to work towards.
5. Getting Rid of Obstacles: The risks which could badly impact the company were identified and strong steps were taken to mitigate them and finally come up with a virtually foolproof plan which could be executed with a certain level of confidence, being aware that some unprecedented risk factors could still arise and affect the whole process.
6. Creating Short Term Goals: Since the whole process involved in the introducing the change was not at all simple and demanded a steady focus and committed approach to ensure its success, the leaders created certain short term goals which had two basic purposes. The first one was to assess the success of the plan at various stages and rectify any mistakes in the initial phase itself. The second one was to motivate the employees and offer them the satisfaction of covering some important landmarks, thus motivating them to move forwards with a renewed exuberance.
7. Building on the Change: It was decided by the management unit that although the team members will be motivated to enjoy the success of achieving short term goals, the whole effort will be directed towards proceeding further and building on the changes being introduced at each step so that the whole project. The chief intent was to not become complacent and remembering the long term goals as well.
8. Anchoring the changes in corporate culture: The leaders paid substantial level of attention to work with every team member and instill a positive spirit in them, so that they could embrace the changes and be devoted to the process from its inception to its conclusion. Many discussions were planned to be held and every query was intended to be resolved. The plan was to integrate the change into the crux of the whole organization and accept it as an integral element of the same.

Critical Review of Change

The changes that were brought about by the leading heads of HCL were immensely successful. It is evident from the results that the UK Insurance Project produced by the end of 2017. Albeit the decisions regarding the change were presented in quite an abrupt manner, the team members displayed a truly appreciable spirit in embracing all the policies and performing at their best. From the above discussion regarding the application of the two models by HCL, it is evident that the company had crafted a truly effective plan which enabled it not only to solve each and every issue, but also to manage the entire team during the process of transition.

Importance and Impact of the Change on the Organisation

The results which were obtained by the company after the introduction of the discussed changes, that is, in its project management unit and its IT infrastructure in the domain of Insurance imply that the leading heads of HCL were correct in their assessment of the issues. It is only after making the radical decisions that the company could mitigate the challenges associated with its insurance project. Had the necessary changes not been made in time, the company might have suffered even greater damage in terms of finances and reputation. Therefore, the importance of the changes is simply undeniable.

4. Reflections on Change

Reflection on Models

As I have worked for HCL Technologies LTD for over 13 years, I have had enough experience with the company and its rules and regulation. I also played the role of the project team leader in the company therefore I was quite aware of the issues that were shaking the company off its ground. Any company needs a proper guideline by following which it would be able to mitigate the issues hindering its growth and functional potentiality. In this regard, from my experiences with the company, I can say that the two models discussed in the upper segments, namely: McKinsey’s 7s change model and Kotter’s 8 step change model truly fit into the category of solving the issues of HCL and gave it an overall structure to follow, by utilizing which HCL could be able to mitigate the problems and reachieve its lost place in the market.

To effectively incorporate reform within the organization, it was necessary to have a strong base upon which to build. Using Kotter’seight-step transition model helped in determining the best course of action for implementing meaningful improvements in the workplace. As I was the project manager, I shared my viewpoints with the manager, business administrator, and several executives of my workplace, this model assistedus in creating a more successful enterprise. Because it helped in addressing many issues harming the workforce and demonstrated ways to clarify the flaws. It covered a broad part of the faults of the organization.

The model, for the most part, includes clear instructions to implement during the transition process of HCL. Additionally, the checklist format allowed us to remain concentrated and on track. It emphasized employee engagement and acknowledgment: Rather than just outlining the steps toward improvement, Kotter’s model stresses the critical nature of assistance at all levels of jobs (Buzan and Whitehead, 2021). Additionally, it assisted all the workers of HCL in preparing for transition rather than shocking them with it. In general, soliciting their suggestions made them feel included in the process. The transition model took much time planning for the change, which increased the likelihood of implementation. For instance, because it encourages us to identify future challenges, this enabled us to address those sooner rather than later in the process.

On the other hand, “The McKinsey 7S change Model” stands for a technique (Wais, 2021).In HCL it was used in analyzing the business’s “organizational nature. The utilization of the model came positive as the model’s objective is to illustrate how an organization’s success can be accomplished by the interaction of seven essential aspects – “structure, strategy, skill, system, shared values, style, and staff”. “The McKinsey 7s change Model” is based on the interconnectivity of the elements classified as “Soft Ss” and “Hard Ss” – meaning that when one element is changed to sustain an appropriate equilibrium, a domino effect occurs (Limor, 2021). The “core”designation for “Shared Values” represents the critical importance of the effect of shifts in creator values on all the other aspects.

Due to the subjectivity underlying the principle of conformity concerning the seven critical components, this model seemed to have had a difficult implementation. However, a top-down approach was recommended – encompassing everything from diverse vision and common principles to style and personnel of the company.

Personal Reflection on Change

The changes that occurred in the company, were of utmost importance as the company was getting involved in so many serious problems due to its obsolete digital infrastructure and poor management. The inauguration of changes was thus proved to be positive in this regard. Kotter’s 8 step process and McKinsey’s 7s change model were utilized to get the best result that helped the company to solve out all the problems it was going through, fix its loopholes, and thus accelerated the company to reach its goals.

5. Conclusion

The preceding sections of this particular essay talks about the UK Insurance Poroject which launched by HCL Technologies Ltd. in the year 2013, together with the issues faced in the course of its execution and the steps, in terms of change, taken by the leaders and managers of the company to address the same. The initial section provides some basic information regarding the background of the company, and a brief note as to why the company had to opt for the changes. The next section identifies the models that were used by the company in the process of developing the strategy of change in the management unit of the project and the Information Technology infrastructure of the company concerning the area of insurance. Following this, the key concepts of the subject matter of “Change Management” have been discussed and the two models applied by the company, namely the McKinsey 7S Change Model and the Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model have been explained in detail; each step of these two models, as applied by the company in its effort to bring forth the mentioned changes have been analyzed in elaborate detail.

The context of the change has been analyzed by taking into consideration the macroenvironmental and microenvironmental factors which have instigated the leaders of HCL to bring about the strong organizational changes. Each step of the two mentioned models has been assessed. It has been understood that the 7 steps involved in the McKinsey 7S Change Model are- Strategy, structure, system (hard elements), shared values, style, staff and skills (soft elements). The essay has also delved deep into the Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model and determined its each step, which include- creating a sense of urgency, forming a potent association, creating a larger vision, communication of the vision, getting rid of obstacles, creating short term goals, building on the change and anchoring the changes in corporate culture. It has been observed that the company has paid enormous attention and devoted much of its time, resources and energy just to make sure that each step of the applied models has been taken care of in the best possible manner. The impact of the changes has been assessed objectively and the rationale behind the whole tedious effort has been explored. Finally a detailed reflective account about the efficacy and application of the two models of introducing change, along with a personal reflection on the scope of this entire process of organizational change have been included in the scope of the preceding sections of the current essay.

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