Guaranteed Higher Grade!
Free Quote
Site Security and Secure Escorts (SSSE) is a company wholly owned by what will be referred to here as CP Security Services. The parent company is registered in the UK but provides a wide range of security services across Europe, including risk assessment and management, site security and secure escort services, cash transit (armoured vehicles) and high-â€Âvalue courier services, detention centres and prison escorts, and technical security systems. SSSE is based in the Netherlands and provides manned guard and secure escort services across a range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, financial services, telecommunications, defence and utilities, to provide protection from theft, vandalism, industrial espionage, terrorism and attacks from radical activists motivated by issues such as animal rights.A new CEO was appointed to SSSE and tasked to grow the business and improve profitability. His first task was to familiarize himself with the currentstate of affairs and identify what could be done to improve the situation. He spent a lot of time out of his office meeting people. He had almost daily conversations with most managers at head office and, with his director of operations, visited clients and met SSSE staff working on clients’ premises. His aim, using conversations, observations and management reports, was to identify key issues and begin to formulate an agenda for change. He did not embark on this process with a ‘clean sheet’. When he joined SSSE, he brought with him, based on his previous experience of managing similar businesses, his own subjective model of how organizations work and the key cause-â€Âand-â€Âeffect relationships that determine effectiveness, and used this to direct his attention and interpret what he saw, heard and read about the organization.He quickly realized that a number of clients were unhappy with the quality of service provided by SSSE. This not only threatened to undermine his plan to grow the business and increase margins but also raised the possibility that SSSE would lose existing business as and when contracts came up for renewal. His initial diagnosis pointed to several factors that appeared to be contributing to this state of affairs:•Staff shortages: Following 9/11 and the aggressive tactics employed by some animal rights activists, there had been a sharp increase in the demand for site security. This was accompanied by a related demand for new recruits to be more thoroughly vetted, a time-â€Âconsuming process that reduced supply just when the demand for new staff was growing.•Management style: The Company’s management style was top-â€Âdown command and control. While this had been effective in the past when management could easily impose sanctions for poor performance, it was proving less effective in the tight labour market. There was evidence that it was having a negative impact on motivation, and some employees were paying less attention to performance standards and were ignoring operating procedures because they wereconfident, given the rising demand for staff, they would not be dismissed.•Management structure: The number of supervisors had not increased in line with the number of new contracts, and so supervisors were overstretched. This was exacerbated by the fact that, in order to fulfill immediate contractual requirements
for guards and escorts, supervisors had to stand in and personally cover for staff shortages.•Ineffective management information systems: Decision making was highly centralized but inadequately supported by the quality of available management information. For example, managers located at headquarters did not have access to up-â€Âto-â€Âdate information on operations, making it difficult for them to schedule work effectively.The CEO shared and debated this assessment with senior colleagues. This debate produced some additional data and one minor reinterpretation and provided the basis for a searching discussion of what could be done to improve the situation. One suggestion was to explore ways of improving the performance of existing staff, but it was recognized that before this possibility could be pursued there was a need for more information. The operations director agreed to co-â€Âopt a site supervisor and conduct two focus groups with guards and escorts drawn from several sites. Their report indicated that while the guards anZd escorts raised different points specific to their roles, a number of common themes emerged. For example, both groups indicated that they often felt bored on the job, which lacked any meaningful challenge, and some remarks hinted that when not directly supervised, they read newspapers or did puzzles rather than give their full attention to their duties. They also felt undervalued. They realized there was a growing demand for personnel who had the level of security clearance required by SSSE’s clients, but they felt that this ‘scarcity factor’ was not reflected in their rates of pay. These findings prompted the management team to initiate a more detailed diagnosis of the roles people were required to perform, with a view to redesigning their jobs in ways that would improve their motivation and the quality of their work. A consultant was employed to facilitate this step in the process. He introduced managers to Hackman and Oldham’s (1980) job characteristics theory and helped them to use the job diagnostic survey to gather more information. Another suggestion for improvement was to take a detailed look at the way the organization was structured and the prevailing management style, and to consider alternatives that might address some of the issues uncovered by the initial diagnosis.The consultant who had been brought in to help with the redesign of the jobs performed by guards and escorts was asked to facilitate a workshop on organization design. This led to the senior management team exploring the possible benefit of introducing team working on client sites, with self-â€Âmanaged teams being delegated responsibility for monitoring their own performance as well as executing the task. Hackman’s book Leading Teams (2002) guided much of this work.
Task Required:Question 1: Discuss how the change process involves number of events, decisions and actions in the four types of theories; teleological, dialectical, life cycle and evolutionary, and are connected in some sort of sequence. Your discussion should also include how the four theories differ;a)In terms of the degree to which they present change; b)Extent to which the direction of change is constructed or predetermined; andc)Applicationof change process within the three types of organisations; Alpha, Beta and Omega,researched in the reading; Malhotra, N. Hinings, C.R. (2015), Unpacking continuity and change as a process of organizational transformation. Long Range Planning, 48, 1-â€Â22. Please quote the relevant texts and readings to support your answer (450 words).(10 marks)Question 2: Develop a list of possible change management actions that could provide the basis of how the change actions might be sequenced from start to finish at Site Security and Secure Escorts-â€ÂSSSE in planning and managing the process of change. For each action, identify whether it should occur early or late in the change management process using Table 1.1 of Hayes (2014), The Theory and Practice of Change Management(Record this view in the space provided on the right-â€Âhand side of the Table 1.1). Please quote the relevant texts and readings to support your answer (450 words).(10 marks)Question 3: Explain how according to the punctuated equilibrium paradigm, organizations experience two types of change and not all organizations are able to successfully negotiate episodes of discontinuity and those that fail to adapt may drop out or be acquired by others.Support your answer with reference to the reading; Gersick, C. (1991), Revolution change theories: A multilevel exploration of the punctuated equilibrium paradigm. Academy of Management Review, Vol. 16. No. 1. 10-â€Â36.Please quote the relevant texts and readings to support your answer (1000 words).(20 marks)Question 4: Identify and discuss the type of change experiencedat Site Security and Secure Escorts-â€ÂSSSE. Also analyse the implications of your chosen type of change for SSSE. Discuss in detail by quoting the relevant texts and readings to support your answer (1000 words).(20 marks)Question 5: You area consultant retained by the CEO of Site Security and Secure Escorts-â€ÂSSSEand have been tasked to diagnose the current state of SSSE with reference to theissues that require attention. Identify at least 20 different entries and record them using Table 7.1 of Hayes (2014) and then group the different entries together which, might be related in more inclusive categories using Table 7.2 of Hayes (2014). Please quote the relevant texts and readings to support your answer (450 words). (10 marks)
Question 6: Describe the rationale you used for including or grouping information in each category in the above table7.2 of Hayes (2014). Justify your answer by referring to the reading; McFillen, J.M. O’Neil, D.A. Balzer, W.K. Varney, G.H. (2013), Organizational diagnosis: An evidence-â€Âbased approach. Journal of Change Management, Vol. 13, No. 2. 223-â€Â246and other relevant texts and readings (450 words). (10 marks)Question 7: With reference to Hayes(2014) ‘Collaborative Modes of Intervening’, which two or more of these modes of intervening might you recommend to the new CEO of SSSE and why? Also support your answer with reference to the reading: Jansson, N. (2013), Organizational change as practice: A critical analysis. Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol, 26, No. 6. 1003-â€Â1019. Please quote the relevant texts and
Understanding the SMU Grading System: A Comprehensive Guide for Students
Singapore Management University (SMU) is a premier university situated in the heart of Singapore, a
Mastering Essay Formats to Write a Winning Essay
“Why is an essay format so important?” this question must have crossed your mind as a student.
The Complete Guide to Controversial Essay Writing + Topics
Controversies lead to disputes, contentions, and arguments. The key to contending any controversy s
How to Write a 2000 Word Essay?
Life is a struggle between joy and sorrow, light and darkness. Therefore, a wise attitude in dealin
