A631.6.4.RB – Transformational Strategies
According
to Brown (2011), organizational transformation can be defined as “drastic,
abrupt change to total structures, managerial processes, and corporate culture.
It requires a redesign of everything in the organization, including the norms,
and the culture, the very soul of the organization” (p. 399). Gallery
Furniture, a company in business for over thirty years, faced economic downturn
and a warehouse fire that forced them into an organizational transformation
that enabled the business to not only stay afloat but thrive. In order to
re-inspire his sales force, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale had his entire team
attend Influencer Training so they could change their behavior in order to
positively impact the company’s bottom line. After watching both videos
the “Influencer” and the “Listen, learn and the lead,” I believe that both Jim
McIngvale and Stanley McChrystal have something in common; both leaders have
had to deal with organizational changes beyond their control.
Brown
(2011) suggested that, “cultural change efforts include activities designed to
improve the skills, ability, structure, or motivation of organization members” (p.399).
McIngvale’s approach was to focus on strengthening the motivation of his
workforce to innovate the way they did business. He concentrated on several
areas including revamping the sales approach, reducing delivery reworks,
improving safety and employee wellness, and reducing inventory (Gallery
Furniture, n.d.). After the training was completed, he provided his sales force
iPad’s to keep in contact with the customers. As soon as a customer left the
building he’d have his salesmen send them an e-mail thanking them for coming in
the store. He estimates this customer follow up added several hundred thousand
dollars in sales each month that they would not have gotten otherwise. He
taught them to love what they hated and provided performance data to keep them
focused and engaged. When someone made a sale they would ring a bell and
celebrate with the whole team. By going through an organizational
transformation process the results were astounding. Sales increased,
expenses decreased, on-the-job accidents were reduced, but most importantly the
transformation yielded healthier and happier employees who were committed to
establishing happy customers for life (Gallery Furniture, n.d.).
On the
other hand, Gen. Stanley McChrystal faced just as drastic change as McIngvale,
but yet it was completely different. McChrystal’s workforce was highly
motivated. They had the best in technology available to them. However their
challenge was to change the organizations orientation from fighting a classic
land battle to small groups of insurgent forces. The environment had changed. McChrystal faced an environment where his
workforce was physically fragmented into smaller self-sufficient teams. Their
relative strength of corporate culture was a “Strong Culture” (fig, 15.4), but
the environment made for a need to change the command and control system
governing their actions. This placed the organization in Quadrant 1 of Browns
figure 15.5 “Manage the Change”. Each small team, rather than consisting of
pure active duty Army personnel of the basic same age and training, now
consisted of personnel from several of the uniformed services, civilian
organizations like the CIA, and civilian contractors. Each member of a team
came with their own value system, vision, and power system. This gave each team
its own unique sociotechnical system that McChrystal had to deal with.
Both
McIngvale and McChrystal faced organizational threats that would make or break
their respective organizations. Both responded with winning approaches and
strategies, but approached the task from a unique point of view. Both provide
us with an excellent example of how leaders can respond to the modern business
environment.
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to
organization development (8th edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Gallery Furniture: Case Study. (n.d.). Vital Smarts.
Retrieved from http://www.vitalsmarts.com/casestudies/gallery-furniture/
McChrysta, S. (2011, March 1). Listen, learn ... then
lead. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from
http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal
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