Managing Change at Faslane Case Study Essay

Type of paper: Essays Subject: BusinessWords:  825
Introduction

In 2002, the HM Naval Base Clyde (Faslane) submarine base transitioned from being under

the direct control of the MOD (Ministry of Defence) to a private company called Babcock

International. With these substantial transitions, it was necessary for Babcock to perform

change management in order to smooth over the transition, as well as improve

performance, which was lackluster enough to demand the change in leadership. Both

supervisors employed different change styles and levers of change in their revamping of the

operations of Faslane, to rousing success.

1 In relation to sections 14.2.1 and 14.5, what is the type of change being pursued at Faslane?

As Faslane, the change was to transfer much of the responsibility and accountability –

in fact supervision of the naval base – from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to Babcock

Marine, a part of Babcock International. This was an instance of a military branch

permitting a private sector company to oversee the operations of a naval base. The

change was effectively from a functional structure (where individuals had a specialized

set of tasks) to a bureaucratic structure (moving towards a more corporate entity, with

supervisors and standardization).

2 Describe the change styles of John Howie and Craig Lockhart.

The use of a consultative, coercive change style was typical of the way John Howie ran Faslane.

John Howie’s management change style involve the use of consultation from people within their

company who had experienced changes just like what was happening at Faslane. Howie focused

greatly on changing management structure to use money more effectively, tracking any and every

change through strict documentation. This allowed for a two-week review period of each change to
see if it was effective overall. The goal was to change the people and their behaviors on a daily

basis, in order to determine exactly how to provide the biggest changes. Management changes were

implemented early, which was later followed by changes in personnel.

As opposed to Howie, his successor seemed much more collaborative in his change

management style. In the case of Craig Lockhart, he implemented a performance scorecard in order

to measure outputs – this left the specifics of job performance and business change management

effectiveness open to everyone in the company. This provided additional accountability, thus

creating incentive for these changes to be implemented more readily. “Event in the tent” sessions

were held, with discussions being held throughout the day in order to get the opinions from the

workforce as to how the changes to Faslane were going over. Honesty was another tactic; by

allowing further transparency and admitting when things were going badly, the workers trusted the

executives more. Allowing customers to create teams and departmental business plans created

further integration within the workforce, and increased customer satisfaction.

3 What levers of change are being used [see section 14.4J? What others could be used and why?

Several levers of change were implemented in the corporate takeover of Faslane by Babcock

Marine. Accountability and relationships were the primary means of change that the heads of this

company used. First, a communication plan was put in place by both Howie and Lockhart; these

involve the use of structured methods of communicating between supervisors and employees. The

event in the tent sessions, as well as the consultation that Howie had with other Babcock employees

to get their feedback on the changes, are evidence of a communication plan, as are the performance

scorecards. Coaching was also used to facilitate the relationship lever of change; this involves the

cooperation and participation of the direct supervisors in the work lives and communication of

employees. Lockhart’s “event in the tent” sessions most definitely qualify under this type of

intervention, as employees felt free to come up to him with questions or suggestions, which he would

take seriously.
One lever of change that could have helped immensely is using resistance management. While

there were many changes taking place throughout the base, one particular aspect of the change that

seemed to not be addressed was to curb people’s fears about potential negative change. This can

often result in resistance to the change, thus hampering productivity and progress. While this

problem seemed to be minimal, there was talk by Howie of a lack of incentive to come up with a

change that might mean someone loses their own job. With effective resistance management, these

potential issues could have been curbed more readily.

4 Assess the effectiveness of the change programme.

The change programme started by Howie and continued by Lockhart seems to have been incredibly
effective; the integration of customer and businessman in the creation of business plans seems to
have taken off, as 2010 saw Faslane becoming the home base for the entire submarine fleet of the
United Kingdom. With that unique change, thousands of jobs are expected to be created. Given the
potential for job expansion and job creation, it is safe to say that the methods used to work together
and bring about effective change within Faslane worked brilliantly.

The change styles of John Howie and Craig Lockhart

The management styles adopted by John Howie and Craig Lockhart have differences in structure and
management –workers relationship. While, John was able to succeed with the aid and support of the
Naval Commodore who is inclined to change, he adopted downsizing of workforce as a strategy to
reduce operational cost. He was able to downsize and reduced the operational layers from seven to
four. John’s management strategy was focused on cost reduction. In this scenario, John was able to
reduce cost and saved £14million against a target of £3 million. However, such strategy is not workers
friendly; motivation for workers in such organization will be very low.

The management style Craig introduced is more workers friendly and very transparent. In other words,
Craig adopted the strategic human resource management (SHRM) style. In this case, all levels of workers
in the Babcock Marine are effectively involved in the strategic planning for the organisation. “They were
tasked to generate their own team, their own departmental business plans,” (Pg. 497). SHRM is defined
by Chaturvedi (2005) as existing connection between human resources with the organisation’s strategic
objectives and goals. This is targeted towards attaining improved business performance and build up
culture in the organisation. The developed culture is aimed at fostering innovation and flexibility.
Similarly, Poole & Warner (1998), argue that the SHRM concept pertains to management strategies and
decisions that shape the nature of employment relationships.
Also, Craig’s SHRM style has established a transparent organisation where all workers have a sense of
belonging and there is effective communication from top –to bottom. With this type of management
style subordinates would be motivated and strive to accomplish targets and goals when they are
involved in the formulation process. This management style has help Craig to transform Faslane into the
biggest submarines fleet base in UK.

Assessing the effectiveness of the change programme

The strength of John’s management style is that it effectively met the short term objective of the MOD

to reduce the running cost of Faslane. In this case, using a downsizing strategy John was able to save

billions of Pounds for the Ministry of Defence, and cut down annual running costs by over 20 percent

within five years, his achievement was effective in meeting short term operational objectives of the

Naval Base Clyde.

The observable weakness in the above strategy is that it was not workers’ friendly and would not

motivate workers to be productive. Where job security is not guaranteed for workers, lackadaisical and

redundant workforce would emanate.

Craig’s management strategy strength lies in the ability to operate a transparent organization; where

motivation for workers is very high. Involving workers to partake in strategic planning and

implementation, gives them the extra push to attain set targets. This is seen in Faslane transforming into

UK’s hub center for nuclear submarine and submarine fleet, within four years that Craig took over from

John (i.e. from 2006 to 2010).

Another observable strength in the change program from John to Craig management style is that, under

Craig leadership communication in the organization was very effective. It was carried out from top-to-

bottom. Subordinates were adequately aware of every stage the organization was operating in and

would be able to contribute in delivering higher productivity. An organization with well-informed staff

will have unity of purpose where all energies are directed to attaining set goals. This has aided Craig’s

management team in revamping and moving Faslane to the thriving state it attained in 2010.
One weakness with Craig’s changed management is that it may end up bloating the workforce that

John’s downsizing strategy had reduced. Craig’s management is looking towards increasing workforce by

2,000 in 2014. This practice would lead to increase in running cost, if not properly managed; and may

return Faslane back to the state where John had salvaged it.

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