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Article Review

Change Management Issues in a Large Multinational Corporation: A Study of People and

Systems

Adeel Ali & Sergey Ivanov

International Journal of Organizational Innovation, July 2015

 Summary

The article is a case study of a leading telecommunications company operating in the

North America. There are several recommendations provided by the authors after a thorough

determination of the problems which the company faces. Employee satisfaction and overall

image are the problems assessed from the organization. These problems may be rooted from the

numerous changes to leadership that have occurred in the organizations as well as the increasing

and changing business demands. To address these issues, the report analysed the overall

communication between cross functional teams, improving business processes, low employee

morale, change resistance among employees, and lack of strategic direction.

This study utilized the Demings fourteen principles of management to provide

recommendations for the organization to improve its effectiveness and address the issues which

arise from the change management. In addition, the stratified system theory and the requisite

organization concepts by Elliot Jacques are used. From the aforementioned theories, several

recommendations were made including the (1) creation of constant purpose towards

improvement; (2) adopting a new management philosophy; (3) cease dependence on inspection

to achieve quality; (4) improve consistently the system of production and service; (5) institution

of training on the job; (6) implementation of leadership; (7) eliminate fear in organization; (8)

break down the barriers between departments; (9) elimination of numerical objectives and put a

greater emphasis on the quality of the work; and (10) encourage the employees to expand on

their education and learn new skills. All of the aforementioned recommendations were based on

the theoretical assumptions proposed by Demings and are related significantly on the manner in

which the management handle their employees. After all, resolving the issues caused by the

changes in the leadership and management of the organization require the cooperation and

coordination of the employees since they are the ones typically resisting such changes.
 Opinion

The article provided a theory-based approach to the problems that the company is

currently facing. It has identified the issues which haunt the company well that hinders the latter

from continuously expanding into a successful company. Although the company is relatively

successful in the industry where it belongs, it does not necessarily mean that it faces problems

internally. It is a good thing that the article focused much on the human resources of the

company and not on any other aspects. After all, it is the human resources which comprise the

organization and which handles its affairs. The different changes, brought upon by the expansion

of the company to new businesses within the telecommunications industry and the change in

leadership, have caused issues which may be resolved using the Demings fourteen principles of

management. I agree with all the recommendations that the author has provided but what stood

out to me the most are the recommendation to create a constant purpose towards improvement,

eliminate numerical objectives, and continuously improve the skills of the employees through

training and education.

I agree with the recommendation that the company should create a constant purpose

towards their improvement. This keeps the company liquid and flexible to changes that the

members of the organization would realize that change is permanent. In addition, I like the

approach on eliminating the numerical objectives and putting greater emphasis on the quality of

the work. While this solution does not seem to offer a direct solution on the problems of the

company, the effects of removing such numerical objectives would enable the human resources

to work more freely and dedicated because in the above described scenario, they would be living

in a box and their individuality within an organization would be highlighted. Finally, I agree with

the recommendation made for the company to continuously improve the skills of the employees

because of the numerous benefits that it yield to the organization.