Strategic change management: a case study on CIDesign and DDesign

Introduction

The change management principles and model are effective for the international firms to understand the strategic planning to lead the changed initiatives in the organisational workplace and also make the change initiatives successful through staff members and implementing right tactics (Rosenbaum, More and Steane, 2018). The study provides a scope to manage change in the organisation so that the existing issues during the chance can be mitigated. The study is on the change management practice of the organisations CIDesign and DDesign which are operating in the UK clothing and accessories industry where the firms are well established to operate in the UK retain market and gain high competitive advantage. CIDesign is a well-established creative business in the UK midlands and the company has been founded in the year of 2005 by a local entrepreneur. It is successful to design the clothes creatively and there is strong team including creative designers and specialist who design innovative clothing outfits for the customers.

Explaining ‘resistance to change’ and discussing the reasons for the resistance to change at CIDesign

Resistance to change is the condition where the employees are not satisfied with the changed initiatives taken by the organisational leader and the management team, and it is harmful for them as well in long run (Cameron and Green, 2019). Resistance to change refers perceived threat for the employees for whom the employees are not willing to collaborate and accept change in the workplace. There are various reasons of resistance to change in CIDesign which leads the employees towards high turnover and take the decision of resigning the organisation. It also hampers the performance of the firm in long run where the employees are not satisfied to contribute in the workplace with their full capabilities (Doppelt, 2017). The threat of job loss and lack of job security in the workplace of CIDesign is the major reason of resistance to change. In addition to this, there are other reasons for which the issue of resistance to change is increasing in the organisational workplace which are lack of cooperation, poor communication among the leader and the employees, lack of trust and loyalty, unknown strategic move of the organisation, poor timing, lack of engagement and lack of empowerment of the employees in the organisational decision making behaviour (Hayes, 2018). These are the major reasons at CIDesign for which the employees suffered during the change initiatives and it leads to the issue of high employee turnover, poor management and loss of organisational excellence and capabilities in long run due to poor performance of the staff members during the change.

Resistance to change is the major issue in the CIDesign where the staff members are not informed properly with the initiative and strategy of takeover of the firm by DDesign. The leader was not communicative and participative and there were minimum changes before such decision in the workplace. The staff members felt loss of job and it further raise the issue of social fear and personal capabilities to continue working efficiently in the organisation (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown, 2016). The staff members in CIDesign were proud and satisfied with the organisational culture and flexible working activities at CIDesign and this new strategy of acquisition by different firm is shocking for the employees to accept the new culture and working practice. Moreover, the employees are also feeling proud that CIDesign is one of the most creative and innovative designer in the UK retail clothing industry where the designers and specialists feel proud to make the brand unique in the market. Such change strategy hereby de-motivates the employees and decrease employee morale at the workplace (Rosenbaum, More and Steane, 2018). Additionally, since DDesign took over it has attempted to introduce a number of cost saving measures in order to return CIDesign to profitability. DDesign has outsourced some of its design work to India and China and has been working on strategies to move its IT hub to Berlin where they have an existing operation. The staff that left the company following the takeover has made it clear that they were resisting these changes before they resigned. The staff also felt that the pace of change was very fast and they were not feeling engaged during the change as well as they also felt that the good brand image, reputation and value of the firm will be lost. Another major issue of resistance to change is that DDesign is highly profitable and it has efficient operations, low cost strategy and managing economies of scale to reorganise CIDesign to bring the group in the line and it intends to rebrand the company under the name of DDesign. The creativity of the CIDesign will be lost under such change strategy for which the specialists and designers resigned from the organisation.

Evaluating the change management process which has been undertaken at CIDesign over the last year

In the year of 2015, the organisation faced difficulties to manage their financial position and market share and this further influenced the leader of CIDesign to focus on acquisition strategy by the German based firm named DDesign, which is also operating in the clothing industry. DDesign is also established firm and it is successful to expand their business in last 5 years and acquire CIDesign efficiently as well as gain 10% market share in the UK retail clothing market. Hence, change management model is effective to be followed in such situation of acquisition of the firm CIDesign by DDesign. There is serious issue of staff turnover after such decision made by the leader of CIDesign, where the employees are not happy with such decision of acquisition and there are 10 employees out of 30 who resigned the organisation after the takeover. The majority of the employees are the creative designers and experienced specialists in the retail clothing fashionable industry. During the change process, there is strong technical change and documentation process which are fruitful for CIDesign to provide the power of undertaking the company.

The change management process undertaken by the CIDesign are arranging meeting with the leader and board members of DDesign and accept the strategy of acquisition which is good to lead the changed process. However, there is no such effective change management process incorporated in the organisation CIDesign for which employee morale and commitment of the organisation is violated. It was a fast pace strategy where the employees were not informed and even not empowered in the change management strategies (Pugh, 2016). The leader took the decision at a fast pace and did not inform the staff in the workplace before the decision of acquisition taken place by DDesign. During the change management process, the employees are not empowered to share their feedback and requirements. The leader tries to recover the financial loss during the year of 2015 and took the decision acquisition by DDesign. The shares, production plant, designers and specialists and other staff, all the resources of CIDesign are acquired by DDesign. However, CIDesign is good at transferring the business through acquisition and there is no such job loss in the company which is good for the leader to manage commitment.

Advising DDesign on alternative strategies for CIDesign, which may avoid further loss of staff

For managing the employees of CIDesign as well as mitigate the issue of loss of staff, the strategic recommendations are such as,

• DDesign needs to arrange meeting with the employees of CIDesign in order to discuss the change initiatives efficiently.
• The vision and mission of the organisation to take the change strategy is also shared with the employees.
• DDesign must focus on empowering all the employees including staff members, specialists and creative designers in the meeting to understand their need and perception about the change process.
• Irrespective of focusing on the strategy of cost leadership, maintaining economies of scale and maximising profitability, it should focus on creativity of CIDesign and maintain it efficiently in long run to create values for the designers.
• It is important for DDesign to create values for the employees of CIDesign and restructure salary and performance related pay for motivating them.
• It is mandatory to have effective organisational structure to manage the workforce and influence their performance and hence structural development is necessary for DDesign to achieve future success.

Discussing Lewin's three-stage model would help DDesign successfully manage the change process at CIDesign

Lewin's change management model includes three stages which are effective for managing change in the organisational workplace. The three stages are unfreezing, change and refreeze (Al-Ali et al., 2017).

Figure 1: Lewin's three-stage model of change management

The stages of change management would be helpful for DDesign to manage the staff members of CIDesign and mitigate the issue of high employee turnover. In this regard, the leader of DDesign must create urgency of change and determine the necessity of change in the workplace. For managing change, the leader of DDesign must engage the employees of CIDesign and empower them during the change process. Involve all the staff members, specialists and creative designers of CIDesign in the change process through high communication and collaboration, support from the leader and direction by sharing all the information would be helpful to manage the change.

Conclusion

Change management process is efficient for the DDesign to handle the initiatives and manage the staff members of CIDesign through encouraging their creativity, empowering them during the change, identify their perception, motivating them and engaging them, in the change management process so that they feel valued and would be cooperative to contribute efficiently for leading the change towards achieving future success.

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Reference List

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• Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. London: Routledge.
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