LEADERSHIP AND MANAGING CHANGE

Leadership and Managing Change

Leadership and Managing Change

1.

There are some very important characteristic such as Tactfulness, Empathy, Intelligence and Hard work are necessary for effective change leadership. In the given case study Mr. Nayar has all of these. Since 2007, he is the Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman at HCL. He has been a Director of the company since 2008. Before this job, Mr. Nayar was the President at HCL from 2005. Change management is an orderly process whereby an organization deals with and adjusts to the forces in its micro- and macro-environment in order to increase its effectiveness and ensure its survival. In short, managing change is all about affecting an organization from its present condition to some prospective required condition. At HCL, communication is always important but especially so during change. The opening vignette provides a powerful illustration of the central role communication plays in an organization when dealing with change. Whether organization change results from a restructuring, process improvement, or crisis, effective change communication can make the distinction between failure and success. Regardless of what kind of change initiative an organization's leadership may desire, the change won't be victorious without the commitment and support of a majority of its managers and employees. Getting people “unstuck”, that is, getting them to not only embrace the vision but to change their beliefs and thinking to move in the new direction, is a huge communication challenge. (Senge, 2009)

For HCL, to excel in this era of rapid business and technological change, effective management of change represents a critical core competence all organizations and leaders must master.

2.

In HCL case, it is understood that change is almost never liked by employees. The factors that frequently influenced the attitude of employees to change are Ease and comfort with current situation and fear of future. Nayar pointed employees to some impressive improvements. Under his leadership, HCL has achieved the highest level of organic growth, defined as growth achieved through internal development rather than by acquisitions and mergers, among India's IT sector. Employee retention had been a particular problem for HCL. In 2005, the company's attrition rate, the percentage of total employees who leave a company in a year, was 20.4 percent, among the highest in the industry. In 2007 that figure dropped to 17.2 percent (still higher than many competitors). At the same time, competition remained unrelenting and was becoming more global. IBM announced plans to invest $6 billion in India in the upcoming three years, up from $2 billion in the previous three years. (Champy, 2006)

The Resistance to Change at HCL was sudden and unplanned. For example, an unexpected issue may force the public to doubt the well-established order of things. Same is the case in the HCL that an unexpected loss forced the company to make the changes in the organisation. It can occur at the individual level. "Thawing" can be carried out at the group level and can be the result of informal conversations, in comparisons ...