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Running head: MOTIVATION DURING CHANGE
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Motivation during Change
Jason Pfohl
MGT 425 Leadership & Motivation
Dr. Andree Swanson
April 18, 2017
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Motivation during Change
A difficult time for any leader is when they have to disrupt the work environment of their
employees. Introducing change will have an effect on an employee’s performance at work, as
well as their personal life. As a leader it is important provide a team with motivation and
understanding of the reason for change. Providing guidance and direction will allow the group to
understand that their leader is there to support them while dealing with change. As change
comes about, it is important for a leader to develop a plan and seek the input of their team.
Promoting the need for change can be a critical, but challenging task. While understanding the
concerns of the group can provide a structured implementation of the change, staying focused on
motivating the group to be effective during the change will be the key to its success.
The Changes Taking Place at Von Hoffmann Printing
Von Hoffmann is a printing company for educational and testing materials. The
organization has grown because of their quality products and effectiveness of delivering on time.
The use of educational books and testing materials has been an important part of how everyone
from a small child to an adult is able to learn and expand their knowledge and skill sets. With
the advancements in technology, a lot of educational material is available in a digital form. The
changes in how an individual is able to view material has presented a reduction in the need of
actual printed material. Publishing companies are ordering less printed material because the
educational system is moving to a digital platform of providing material to their students.
Testing and text books for multiple classes can be viewed from a laptop or IPad, reduce waste
when books are no longer needed, and allow students to carry one device compared to multiple
books.
The change from printed materials to digital materials has presented a need for change at
Von Hoffmann. With the reduction in sales of printed materials the organization is faced with
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some decisions in order to stay profitable. Von Hoffmann has developed a task force to
implement a change, motivate the workforce through the change, and promote the need for buy
in. The workers’ will need to adjust to the changes, their commitment is critical to the success of
the changes implemented (Straatmann, Kohnke, Hattrup, & Mueller, 2016). If the employees’
are pushing back for every change, the organization will fail at implementing a change and
struggle to succeed as a business. It is important to remember that the leaders and team cannot
function on their own, they need each other to provide successful results. Motivating a team can
be diagnosed and improved in more than one way, to organize a larger scale effort and achieve
goals, it is recommended to define the project in four steps (Pritchard & Ashwood, 2008). A
leader with the ability to motivate and guide a team, to understand the direction and purpose of
change, allows an organization to transition quicker with limited struggles and push back along
the way.
Step 1 - Planning the Proposed Change
The task force assigned to implementing a change has agreed that by reducing the work
week by one day for the entire organization, they can still provide the needed materials to their
customers on time. Working with the employees of the organization and understanding the
possible impacts for each department has allowed the group to agree on reducing one day of
work, compared to laying off several employees. The task force and group discussed the ability
to work the extra day off if business needs require it. The task force challenged the sales group
to reach out to other areas in need of printing services. To help support the organization and its
workforce, the sales group would reach out to past customers that provided long term contracts
in the past, in hopes of gaining more business.
According to Muscalu and Ciocan (2016) “the term motivation is an internal state of
emergency and it means conducting environmentally conscious behavior and direction to satisfy
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needs” (p. 153). Promoting a behavior that does not present a threat to achieving business goals
will be critical to the success of the change. The task force will review current manufacturing
processes to ensure that there is not room for improvement. Understanding how change will
affect the employees, any process that can be improved for efficiency will be reviewed and
implemented to ensure that the demands of the organizations customers will be met within the
shortened work week. Allowing the group to understand where there may be road blocks the
task force can help find solutions to eliminate those road blocks and allow the change to succeed.
Step 2 - Investigating Strengths and Weaknesses of Connections
The task force wanted to offer the employees a clear understanding of the purpose for
reducing the work week and hours. There had been praise to the group for working very hard to
ensure that the quality of the product maintained an acceptable level and that it was not the
reason for the coming changes. The employees of the organization had been a devoted group of
individuals with the least senior employee having eight years of service. The dedication to
perform was appreciated by the key stakeholders of the organization, they encouraged the
employees to stick with them through the trough of sales so that if business turns around, they
would have the same dedicated group available to perform the necessary jobs.
The involvement of the employees will help define other opportunities for improving the
change of working hours. The employees input is valuable to understanding where there may be
constraints that they have noticed during regular production. The employees always performed
when the business was performing at peak, they accomplished this by having a clear
understanding of their jobs and the processes involved with each position. The task force clearly
detailed the reason for change and the efforts that are being used to provide the business to grow
so that everyone will be able to return to a full work schedule. The input and concerns of the
employees allows the group to work through each situation and provide understanding to why
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the motivation and engagement of everyone is needed for the organization to continue their
success with their current customer base.
Searching for involvement and understanding is focused on improving performance
linked to a goal that in most cases could reasonably be linked with a wide range of specific
practices (Nigam, Huising, & Golden, 2016). The reduction in the work week will be
implemented by department to ensure that the change follows through to each department of the
organizations process, and that the current orders are processed and delivered as promised to the
customer. Gathering all of the employees to discuss the change allows the task force to show the
value in shortening the work week. Presenting the plan to allow the employees to understand the
purpose for change allows the task force to emphasize the need for continued motivation
amongst the group. By working with the employees, the task force is able to understand the
connections of why specific practices are performed a specific way. Looking for improvement
allows the group as a whole to understand and develop plans that will ensure the change is going
to provide the intended results needed.
Step 3 - Identifying Solutions to Generate Employees Buy In
According to Dotlich (2017), “Teams that take the time to understand the new priorities,
vision, and purpose and their own reactions to a new situation have greater chances of long-term
success” (p. 26). Understanding the capabilities of the shortened work week has to go beyond
just understanding how the company will save by reducing the work hours. The task force in
conjunction with the employees need to unite to ensure that everyone has the ability to perform
the tasks at the levels being requested of them. By interacting and communicating with the
employees, the leadership will be able to clearly understand the limitations and issues that need
to be planned for. Taking the input of the employees and showing them that the leadership wants
to make a transition with their input, will help with motivation and buy in from the employees.
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The task force is responsible for working with the employees so that the group can decide
if there will be any resources that will have to be added for the changes in the operation
schedule. Working as a group to identify needed resources allows the employees to understand
the commitment that the organization has for making the chance succeed. This also allows for
the leadership group to understand and see the efforts that are being provided from the
employees that are most affected by the change. Developing relationships can take place in
many ways, it is important that the relationships foster into a bond that is motivated from team
work and success.
The need for authority for the change is driven by the task force assigned to planning and
implementing the change from a five day work week to a four day work week. With the
reduction in hours, the ones with authority will also be reduced down to a four day work week.
Identifying if there is necessity for additional resources or to reduce resources with authority will
be analyzed and communicated to the stakeholders of the organization. The task force feels that
by reassigning any resources and having justifiable cause for their need, will be better for when
the business turns around and sales pick up.
The work strategies that were used prior to the reduction in hours will allow for a starting
point for the group to transition and improve at what they currently do. It is important to
recognize, discuss, and support the changes associated with each employee (Dotlich, 2017). The
managers and supervisors will be an important part of providing the employees with the
guidance and resources that are needed to function with the use of any new resources. For the
processes that do involve change, a leader will need to understand any concerns that an employee
has with the new process that has been implemented. When the leadership shows their
understanding for concerns, the employees will provide the needed feedback and understanding
for the leaders to see that there is motivation for the group to succeed.
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Step 4 - Measuring Results with Employee Feedback
Understanding what to look for allows a group to know when they are moving in the right
direction when implementing a change. The change introduced to Von Hoffmann employees is
because of the lack of sales and the need to reduce work hours so that the organization can show
a profit for their hard work and services. The change in hours is also coupled with a review of
processes to better understand if there is a way to improve and become more efficient. The
indicators used to assess effectiveness and efficiency of performance and the potentials of
performing at a higher level is provided over various dimensions (Zamecnik & Rajnoha, 2015).
Aligning focus of quality of the products and the capacity allows for the team to ensure they are
providing a product that satisfies the customer.
As the changes take place, the team assigned to the task force will be responsible for
understanding how the change is affecting the business and its customers. The feedback that is
received from employees allows the organization to know if they are having any issues with the
reduction in work hours. The changes can affect an individual on personal level because of their
financial situation from the feedback received that the employees are enjoying the extra time
with their families. There have been minimal remarks about the cut in pay that employees have
been required to deal with. The majority of everyone impacted by the change enjoys their
schedule changes and has embraced the involvement by the management group.
Over the long term of reducing the hours, some employees have been able to find work
outside of the organization to compensate them for the loss wages associated with the reduced
work schedule. The group continues to show interest in the sales forecast and provides input to
possible ways the organization can improve their processes. The group has been supportive and
motivated to find solutions to not being consumed by the digital world and allow the business to
stay competitive in the printing industry.
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Conclusion
Promoting the need for change was a critical and challenging task because of the impact
that it would have on the employees of the organization. There was a clear understanding of the
concerns that the group provided to allow a structured implementation. Having direct focus on
the motivation of the employees during the reduction helped ensure that the proper steps were
used to continue operating Von Hoffmann Printing successfully. The reduction in working hours
was managed with motivation in mind, to provide confidence in the employees to improve so
that the organization could grow bigger than they were prior to the reduction in sales and
working hours. By providing guidance and direction the employees were able to understand they
were receiving valuable support from their company. The change helped the organization and
employees develop a new respect for each other and show that during slow times the entire group
has what it takes to be successful.
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References
Dotlich, D. (2017). Leadership in times of transition. People & Strategy, 40(1), 24-27.
Muscalu, E., & Ciocan, F. (2016). Attracting and motivating employees during changes in
organization. The role of the human resources department. Journal of Defense Resources
Management, 7(2), 153.
Nigam, A., Huising, R., & Golden, B. (2016). Explaining the selection of routines for change
during organizational search. Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(4), 551-583.
doi:10.1177/0001839216653712
Pritchard, R. D., & Ashwood, E. L. (2008). Managing motivation: A manager's guide to
diagnosing and improving motivation. New York, NY Routledge/Taylor & Francis
Group.
Straatmann, T., Kohnke, O., Hattrup, K., & Mueller, K. (2016). Assessing employees’ reactions
to organizational change: An integrative framework of change-specific and psychological
factors. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 52(3), 265-295.
doi:10.1177/0021886316655871
Zamecnik, R., & Rajnoha, R. (2015). Business process performance measurement under
conditions of business practice. Procedia Economics And Finance, 26(4th World
Conference on Business, Economics and Management (WCBEM-2015), 742-749.
doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00833-3