ASSIGNMENT HAND-IN FORM

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Programme Name: : Bachelor of Business Administration

Year No. : Four
Module Title : Change Management
Assignment No. and Title : One. Leading Change
Student Name. : Group One
Module Tutor : Mr. Isaac Chiphazi
Student Signature :
Date of Submission : 19th August 2022
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For office use only

Name of marker: : --------------------------------------- Mark: -----------------

Date Received : ----------------------------------------

Group Members

No. Name Student No Signature

1 Angella Mbewe BBA/LL/M/C7/52/20
2 Clement Paul BBA/LL/M/C8/39/21
3 Denise Lindeire BBA/LL/M/C8/18/21
4 Ella Chiumia BBA/LL/M/C8/21/21
5 Gabriel Sinoya BBA/LL/M.C8/29/21
6 Janet Chingwalu BBA/LL/M/C8/17/21
7 Mphatso Kambanizithé BBA/LL/M/C8/40/21
8 Tikhala Saenda BSM/LL/M/C7/92/20
9 Tiwonge Gondwe BBA/LL/M/C8/23/21
10 Victoria Matoga BBA2/LL/M/C6/03/19
11 Wongani Kaunda BSM/LL/M/C7/83/20
12 Naomi Kamba BBA/LL/M/C6/06/19
Introduction

Mano Insurance Corporations (MIC) introduced external change agent through the MIC’s board
of directors to lead change. This writing will look at SWOT analysis, driving and restraining
forces and also establish whether the Ron Kupe was successful in leading change.

SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis is acronym for Strength (S) Weakness (W) Opportunities (O) and Threats (T).
Strength is a resource or capacity the organization can use effectively to achieve its objectives.
These are internal and the organization have control over them.

In this case study first strength is growth mindset. The leader has the capacity to lead change as
he defines morale and supervisory leadership as his top priority at Mano insurance Corporations.
He also communicated the survey effectively both to employees and managers. Ron Kupe
thought it wise to immediately start meeting all the necessary people in the company which let
him to be aware what really causes inefficiency and under performance at Mano insurance
Corporations and he comes up with plans and solutions in order to enhance performance, morale
and efficiency

Employee Commitment is another strength for MIC. The employees being positive for change
evidenced by their inputs in survey and coming up with credo which is because Ron Kupe create
a plan which he communicate it to employees effectively by coming up with various
communication tools for example he initiated a divisional newsletter with a tear off feedback
form for employees to register their comments and also he announce an open door policy which
allows employees to speak to him directly and confidentially without going first to their
immediate supervisors all these factors led to employees to feel comfortable with the survey and
they support it.

Another strength is availability of resources. Mano Insurance Corporations (MIC) had ability to
hire Director of Claims, a position which was occupied by Ron Kupe. He was able to visit all
claim centers to implement strategic plan of improving MIC’s competitive position.
Furthermore, another strength is openness to feedback. Ron Kupe has skills as he initiates a flex-
time program which result in employees designing work schedules around their needs an element
which intrinsically motivates employees at Mano Insurance Corporations.

Finally, according to Miller (2020) Ron Kupe has strong interpersonal skills as he is aware of his
strength and weakness and his ability to communicate, resolve conflicts and make decisions and
also ability to engage employees at Mano Insurance Corporations to be collaborative and work as
a team. Ron Kupe was committed throughout the survey making sure that the process is
successful, and it changes the behavior and the way of doing things at Mano Insurance
Corporations.

Weaknesses

These are limitations, faults and defects in the organization that will keep it from achieving its
goals. These two are internal to the organization and they have control over them.

First weakness is high turnover. A high turnover rate meant that many of the employees at MIC
have quit the organization over a certain period of time. A high turnover rate can negatively
affect MIC’s image and these problems may be due to the company's culture, its benefits and
compensation structure, its career path and training, managers and much more. High voluntary
turnover impacts profitability and, often, customer satisfaction. On the tangible side, it's costly to
recruit new people.

Inability to accomplish set targets or goals by claims managers is another weakness for MIC.
According to the survey conducted, it showed that the organizational goals set by Ron Kupe,
were not met by the claims manager. Although the survey was a basis for progress, not meeting
set goals meant the managers were not working efficiently and effectively.

Another weakness is inability to maintain confidentiality by HR department. Results of the

survey were shared among employees and therefore juniors were able to see that some of their
managers were underperforming. Showing the results although could have encouraged managers
to work hard and achieve set goals, it also has a negative effect on the way employees look at
their managers as they were seen as failures. This also basically meant that the employees
controlled their manager’s future at the organization through the results of the survey and could
also ruin their careers.
Another weakness is low employee morale. Results of the survey also showed that there was low
morale from employees. This was mainly because of the high workload and isolated work
conditions from the organization. Organizations being a functional and social organism require
employee interaction for efficiency and effectiveness in meeting organizational goals. Studies
have shown that having a good work environment helps to improve the morale of the employees
in the organization and high productivity, and therefore this leads to achievement of
organizational goals.

Employee - Management relations being guarded. The extent at which a manager is guarded
towards their employees can depend on the attitude of the employees. Some employees can be
insubordinate and difficult to handle and this can lead to a hostile and tough working
environment for the manager. A manager should in this instance remove the hostility by
speaking to their team because employees are not just there to do their work and leave, they are
individuals and should be treated as such. They should have an open communication. One of the
characteristics of employee relations is open communication. There should also be honesty,
openness of the manager to feedback, encouragement of managers towards discipline and
dismissal if indiscipline persists.

Top-down Management is another weakness for MIC. In this hierarchical style of management,
the power and decision-making generally remain with those at the top (though there might be
some input from middle management). Information tends to flow slowly and only in one
direction. This means the decisions of the employees at Mano Insurance Company were
disregarded and they were only allowed to follow the orders from the top. This can create a
hostile environment as there is little or no employee feedback.

Lastly, high workloads and isolation is last weakness for MIC. This is evidenced by claims
adjusters working in tiny cubicles.

Opportunities

This is any favorable condition in the organization environment. It is usually a tend or change of
some kind or an overlooked need that increases demand for a product or service and permits the
firm to enhance its position by supplying it.
First opportunity is market growth. Recruitment of the CEO by MIC board of director was to
improve the competitive nature of an organization and customer service.

Second opportunity is expertise from new CEO and Directors expertise. Recruitment of new
CEO and Directors (expertise). Hiring expert increase the likelihood of bringing successful
change in an organization as evidenced by bringing in new director of claims who is Ron Kupe.

Lastly, the exploratory survey conducted to evaluate performance of various employees in MIC
gave an opportunity to know how organization performance as a whole can be improved.

Threats

These are any unfavorable situations in the organization environment, that are potentially
damaging to its strategies.

First threat is losing of key staff (High turnover). Employees are resigning in their position as a
result of high workloads and inflexible work structure. Employees might leave for another
competitor (another company)

Second threat is stiff competition. There was a sign of stiff competition in the industry as the
company embarks on the process of change in various department, for instance Claims
department. This is a result of coming of new competitors in the industry.

Lastly, potential loss of reputation is another threat to MIC. As employees continue to leave the
organization because of high workloads and isolation, the reputation of the organization might be
ruined.

Driving Forces

These are creators of change or factors that are driving change to happen or considered. First
driving force is team work, which is one of the pillars introduced during the change. This is
working as a group in the change effort. According to group dynamics school of thought, the
emphasis is that the change brought by working in teams or groups rather than individuals. Ron
demonstrated this by initiating flex-time so that employees could design work schedules around
their needs to combat the challenge of isolation.
Another driving force is developing a Claims Management Credo which outlined the philosophy
which every Claims Manager was supposed to follow. Claims Management Credo provide a
guide line which employees were supposed to adopt so that they know the directions which the
organization to taking.

Organization’s competitive pressure is another driving force. Company was not competitive
enough which made the board of directors to bring in new CEO into the company.

Another driving force to change is annual survey (Claims Manager performance evaluations).
Survey was meant to give pressure to claims manager to bring performance to the organization.
So, they were supposed to put strategies which will bring positive change.

Furthermore, Ron Kupe establishes an open-door policy at Mano Insurance Corporation whereby
he leaves his office open to “encourage openness and transparency with the employees at the
company in order to get employees suggestions, ideas and in return he gave them appropriate
feedback” (Heathfield, 2019).

Ron Kupe noted that there is low morale amongst employees and the communication is top down
which is resulting in high employee turnovers, so he decided to create an environment of
collaboration, high performance and mutual respect between upper management and employees
as the practice is viewed as the morale booster because it let employees to express their feelings
and issues face to face to the employer.

Lastly, to eliminate a problem of high workloads and turnover is another driving force for
change. Productivity was negatively affected by high workloads and turnover hence need to
change in order to improve productivity by removing barriers that were making environment not
conducive.

Restraining Forces

These are obstacles or barriers for change or opposition that is expected to prevent change from
happening. Claims managers were having fear of unknown. This is shown in the case study
where managers were uncomfortable on revealing the personal comments will ruin their careers.
Harsh feelings between claim managers and their employees is another restraining force to
change, whereby claims managers feel employee’s comments were targeting them. They did not
perceive it as something positive which could assist to improve for better.

Employees have an emotion of jaded negativity and distrust of the integrity of the change
process. Several people were skeptical about the changes that Ron had promised. Managers first
thought the exercise was as a result of Kupe's initial enthusiasm and that he would be too busy to
introduce and implement survey process after settling into the job.

Unwillingness of claims managers to follow pronounced philosophy (resistance to change). This

was evidenced by the poor results that the survey produced. This stipulates that the Claims
Manager were unwilling to follow the Claims Management Credo introduced.

By implementing the Claims Management Credo, Ron Kupe was trying to bring about
consistency, harmonized work environment. This was planned change that Ron Kupe was trying
to establish. It was noted that Ron Kupe was not successful in bringing about the change for the
following reasons:

First reason shows that the change did not go on well. Appraisal process was done poorly which
created harsh feeling between managers and their employees. We can see Managers dropping
their position, not feeling safe to be managers.

Second reason is Ron Kupe was not able to track progress of change process on time. Progress
monitoring period was too long which was removing emphasis on urgent need for change.

The change process was meant to bring change to issues raised by employees. At the end of the
year employees were still complaining of high workloads and working in isolation. This means
that the purpose was not for change was not met.

Roy Kupe was not successful in bringing change because he did not receive full support from
claims manager. Roy Kupe and claims managers were not in synch with each other. As a result
claims managers did not prioritise the credo and claims managers were also not aware of
consequences that will follow when they don't implement intended change.
Although the change was not successful, the following issues are important to be noted as they
are little positive outcomes from the change process.
Roy Kupe developed a model which was adopted in other functions of the organisation. This
shows that his efforts in bringing change did not go unrecognised.

Claims Division Survey had a high response rate which shows employees were ready to
participate in a planned change. They feel unfavourable conditions they have at their workplace
and they recognise the need for change in order to improve their working conditions.

Out of 50 Claims Manager, only 5 Managers were not ready to adapt to changes made by Kupe.
This means that they were aware on what roles they should play in change process, and they
indirectly accepted their failure to implement change process. Most meetings between Claims
Manager and employees went smoothly, except few that created harsh feelings between Claims
Manager and Employees.

Five things that Ron Kupe should do in order to have a successful change undertaking.

He must build trust in employees. Employees must be able to trust Ron Kupe and they must also
trust the change process. Employees should have confidence in Ron Kupe; hence they are likely
to change.

He must communicate about change to all employees and claims managers together. This
involves Ron Kupe discussing the upcoming changes with Claims Manager and Employees. Ron
Kupe should be able to communicate a compelling vision to employees. He should discuss how
things will be better with the impending change. Communication is very important as it helps
employees to see how they fit into the organization’s vision

There should also be employee involvement in the organisation. Ron Kupe must make sure that
employees are involved by taking a participatory approach in decision making process for
planned change bound to happen. This is very key as Ron Kupe will make sure that the changes
to be made will be reasonable to employees. It also very important to involve various key holders
of the organisation.

Ron Kupe needs to make sure that these changes must follow sensible time schedule. This
involves developing a comprehensive plan for the change. There is a need to get the organisation
ready for the change and it is very key to note that if this takes too long employees might lose
interest and motivation. Ron Kupe needs to plan for short term projects that will keep employees
engaged.

Roy Kupe should recruit Champions of Change. This involves identifying all the people who are
affected or who need to be involved in the change process. This is by creating a role map of the
formal organisation where sponsors, change agents and targets are identified. Then the next step
is to augment with identification of informal organisation key people that includes: opinion
shapers, gate keepers and idea champions. Last step is to develop an understanding of their level
of influence and commitment to changes.

Conclusion
In conclusion, an organisation to be competitive it must have leaders who have the capacity to
lead change and who can create vision that inspires followers. Change is necessary in an
organization reference; Mano Insurance Corporations whereby an organization is inefficient,
there is low morale and poor productivity but when change is to be initiated properly, Mano
insurance corporation employee’s performance can be raised and turnover can also be reduced.
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