Managing Change and Leadership

Changes at Antiquity Ltd.

• SWOT Analyses Showing the Current Position of the Antiquity Ltd. Company

a. Strength
• Company is the major manufacturer of ceramic products, building suppliers and electrical
contractors and insulation components and other furniture associated with these products in
the United Kingdom or throughout the world. It means the company acquires the status of
international manufacturing company.
• The Antiquity Ltd. Company has a long history as it was founded in 1755 y. It means it is
well established and with a great reputation.
• The company has a massive labour force of 2,500 people across three sites, Stoke on Trent,
Dudley and Coventry (Coventry site was closed down after 2001)
• A succession plan – The Company didn’t experience difficulties in recruiting young people
as a part of their succession plan strategy. It was so easy to recruit locally, what it was very
difficult for those outside the Stoke on Trent area to secure a job with them.
• Policy of talent management – The introduction of employees’ development culture that
included a performance management system that encouraged and rewarded those who
achieved better performance figures.
• The introduction of new ordering system and quality standards improved led to customer
satisfaction statistics to the building of stronger customer relationships.
• New Human Recourse Manager (HRM) experience and qualification. She had qualified with
the Institute of Personnel Management in 1985, the Institute of Training and Development
in 1986. In 2002 she became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development. Therefore, she had worked in a large multinational company that
manufactured earthmoving equipment.
• Open minded management, ready for change, looking for opportunities - HR Manager had
considerable experience in Organisational Development and she came with the reputation
for being someone who likes a challenge and not afraid of difficult situations. Moreover,
someone who had been instrumental in the change process and successful turnaround of her
last company’s fortunes. It was the first time in the Antiquity Ltd. Company’s history that a
woman was appointed on an executive position into the role of Human Recourse Manager
(HRM).

b. Weakness
• In-experienced previous Director of Human Resource (HR) – His experience had previously
been a Factory Manager in the original company and a ceramic artist by profession who
unfolded a new down-sizing strategy.
• Immediate introduction of a new payment scheme – An immediate price-cutting strategy
was introduced, which required a cost-cutting target for all departments of 25%. This
strategy was to be achieved by 2005. As a result, many people left the company, taking
advantages of the redundancy incentives.
• Decision making culture is always done in haste – Closure of the Coventry site, an
immediate price-cutting strategy, new payment structure, etc.
• Demotivated work force, bad employee relations – Many workers felt betrayed and
resentful. They believed that the company had reneged on its obligations to its employees,
especially after so much good will had been demonstrated by the work force and many of
their earlier objectives were achieved. Morale fell and there were signs of disenchantment as

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 performance levels slipped and absence level rose. As result of this lot of people left the
company taking advantages of the redundancy incentives.
• Aging workforce – Employees on all sites came from generations of the same family and
lives locally. Many employees were very long serving members. They enjoyed working for
the company. The expert skills required to produce the fine porcelain takes a long time to
perfect. That’s why it was difficult for new people to get the job on the company.
• Lack of sales initiative.

c. Opportunities
• New Technologies – The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Operations Directors of
the three distinct areas have begun to explore the manufacturing processes of the other
factories in Europe. The intention of introducing new manufacturing process is an
opportunity for the company to improve the quality of products.
• Diversity of product of products, innovation - The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the
Operations Directors also entered into discussions with other competitors. They are
considering diversifying into new products. It is felt these markets may provide real
opportunities for growth. Moreover, there are interesting developments in internet and
catalogue sales, worth considering.
• Implementing a change and Organisational Development strategy – The Chief Executive is
confident that the company has a future and, with the new HR director’s experience in HRM
and OD will turn the company’s fortunes around.
• Government business regeneration programme

d. Threats
• Recession – There has been a rapid world recession
• Overseas competition – Competition form overseas companies had become more aggressive
and there are signs that, unless the company could turn itself round quickly, its survival is in
serious doubt.
• Currency rate – Banks have been slow to support struggling businesses, furthermore, the
value of the UK currency has been fallen against others.
• High raw material costs – Increased pressure for sales and concerns for cash flow has forced
organizations to review their operations. Rising prices of fuel and distribution has resulted in
an increase in the cost of raw materials, and thus the obvious impact on the total cost of
finished exported products.
• Government business regeneration programme

.
Based on the SWOT AND PEST Analysis it could be evidently clear that there is a problem
which could hamper production and prevent a future market share. Antiquity is faced with a deep
canker that needs to be diagnosed and healed. It will therefore be very expedient to initiate a move
toward change to lead it to a better future.

Even though the competition in the Talent market is very strong the consumer market is also
getting tougher due to the arrival of other firms, with the experience and resources that Antiquity
has could help to plunge into the market.

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 POLITICAL

Antiquity Ltd. can take an advantage to a new government

1 Government Scheme
scheme to increase the productivity.
Timely Regeneration scheme from the government

ECONOMICAL

Catalogue Sales and Antiquity Ltd. has developed new system of supplying
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Internet products that are Internet and Catalogue Sales.
Because of UK currency Antiquity Ltd. can develop a
2 UK Currency strategy where can be outsourced their production in order to
minimize cost.
Low Banking finance and support available

SOCIAL

They need to put training and reward system in order to

1 Workforce
have a good employee relationship.
High unemployment rate which could help in the hunt for
talent

TECHNOLOGICAL

Antiquity Ltd. needs to introduce a new system in order to

1 New System
increase their production. Automated system introduced.

Question 2
Performance Management Model

Who is involved?
Business managers are responsible for setting targets and managing performance against those
targets; contract managers monitor service performance from the customer viewpoint; service
providers supply performance information. In addition we will involve the HR at the initial stage of
the project team. The process of diagnosing the problem will begin from here.

The HR and the Change Agent will have to embark on gathering information needed to form a
reportage which will lead to establishing what went wrong, how that went wrong and who made it
go wrong and developing how they could get the company out of the quagmire of depression. This
could be effective when there is a proper assessment of the various emotions at work, taking into
account employee self worth.

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 The current economic position of Antiquity shows that the company is headed for more
serious problem if nothing is done to re-shape it, the performance management tool will essential.

Structures

Structure is very important because it forms the skeleton of the organisation of which all other
aspects will rest on.If the structure is weak the organisation will be haphazard and there will not be
properly laid down roles and conflict of responsibilities..

Antiquity Ltd is made of wounded and resentful employees who need to be energised to put in all
their effort into achieving the company’s goals. The HR and the Change Agent will ensure that the
proper structure laid down will deal with the anxiety of employees and increases self worth taking
into consideration the role on emotional intelligence to boost superior performance.

and to provide an effective way tool help in the dealing with anxiety in organisational life
(Hirschhorn & Barnett 1993).Before any other Model of change is used it will be very expedient to
communicate the whole process properly to all employees via supervisors and other leaders who
could be used to disseminate the vision.

Effective communication and especially the passing on of a clear and unambiguous plan ant the
process needed to bring and manage the change will contribute to a high extent the easy transition.

Goal Setting
Another effective piece will be to create a structure of roles for all employees. All roles will be
clearly defined and explained with time specified target required to achieve them. This will help
management to measure the performances of employees and compare them to laid down plans so
that any discrepancy could rectified. Goals will have to be monitored and explained at various
levels of production to enhance optimum production. Teams will be carefully chosen to ensure that
the appropriate team is set in place placing individuals in the right team to be developed.

 Crafting their vision- proper explanation of the vision is made available to all
 Consultancy- Effective linkage will be made to make the right decisions and get the right
information for decision making
 Communication- All necessary information will be communicated and to prevent any lack
of resource
 Coping with the change- It will be established for employees at training to cope with the
change process, adapting to all irregularities.

Appraisal
Performance appraisals are vital for the useful management and control of staff. Appraisals help
develop individuals, improve organizational performance, and supply into business planning.
Formal performance appraisals are generally used annually for all staff in the organization. We will
put an appraisal system with prior information from customers, teams, peers as well as clients. This
will give a clear direction and serve as inducing staff to monitor their own appraisal and work
toward achieving it. We will perform a talent search in order to identify potential; candidates, and to
organize training and development projects tailored to meet individuals development goals..

Competencies

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 Antiquity employees have lost their self image and self control, This does not help them to
contribute superior performance over the last few years. The lost of self control and self worth de-
moralises employees so much so that they do not believe in themselves and the company any
longer. This was as a result of the change introduces in 2001.

Motivation/Reward System
We will put in place a system that will motivate and induce workers to work with maximum
zeal and effort. A well motivated staff will work with the view of receiving a reward. Reward does
not only motivate but also assures staff of their contribution toward making the cake and having a
slice of it thereof pays .

The only way employees will fulfil your dream is to share in the dream. Reward systems are
the mechanisms that make this happen. "However, reward systems are much more than just bonus
plans and stock options. While they often include both of these incentives, they can also include
awards and other recognition, promotions, reassignment, non-monetary bonuses or a simple thank-
you. The journey is the reward,"

Question 3

The implementation of the change process will always experience pitfalls and bottlenecks. Some of
which may have come to light during the research and undergoing the collection of information for
the purposes of diagnosing the problem. Effective gathering of information about the position of the
organization will have to be done by the HR and the change agent who will have to study them
carefully as well as interviewing staff to ratify such information.

Ulrich asserted that there has to be a couple of role that needs to be considered to get things right
and that includes, The Business Partner role, Administrative expert, Employee Champion and the
change Agent. Below will be some of the problems that the new member of the company and the
first female HR will Face to ensure and lead change.
With Ulrich’s Assertion, the Business Partner being the Agent for change should make a lot enquiry
and gather information before and during the change process, the Administrative expert will be
required to communicating and making information properly disseminated to ensure that everything
employee receives the necessary tool for implementation. The harmony among them will enhance
effective change process.

 Lacking ability to see all sides of the problem..

Antiquity Ltd due to its size and nature it will be difficult to see all sides of the problem to the level
of information that is possibly going to be withheld

 : Difficulties to distinguish between relevant data and available data.

 Misjudgments: People think they take into consideration all data they can get hold on; however,
they actually do not really exploit all information that is available.

Emotional Barriers

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 Fear to make mistakes or to fail.

The new HR being a woman and in spite of her vast experience in the professional world would still
have elements of fear that could prevent effective diagnosis

. Not taking time for thinking: Most often than not people are not willing to take time and
think about a problem because they feel under pressure to deliver results quickly.

Cultural Barriers

 Taboos: In large organizations like Antiquity there is always a culture that needs to be
followed with its rules and the breaking of them becomes a taboo and hinders change.

 Tradition and change: It is a challenging task to overcome traditions. This is especially true
when employees do not see the relation between their traditions and an existing problem.

Environmental Barriers

 Lack of support: Many people perceive changes as a threat for their personal status.
Changes move the whole organization as well as every single employee out of their ‘comfort
zone’.

 Lack of ability to accept criticism: Those who create new ideas may set up new barriers
when they ignore justifiable criticism.

Cognitive Barriers

· Use of wrong terminology: The use of language and terminology that is appropriate for the
receivers of the message can support creativity and motivation.

· Sticking to strategies: There are many strategies for problem solving and for managing
change. However, they are often applied wrongly – to rigid or not rigid enough.