Introduction
This essay will be about change and leadership, with evaluating the positives and negatives of each using the appropriate models. by exploring Ooredoo and their management change we can gauge the effect of change and leadership. Change is usually defined as “the modifications in organisational structures, goals, technology and work tasks, but also modifications in attitudes and values” (Linstead and Pullen, in Linstead et al, 2009). While leadership is “the skill of motivating, guiding and empowering a team towards a socially responsible vision” (LIHC, 2011). Ooredoo is an international communication company that is based in Qatar, it operates in more than 10 countries around the world with a vast customer base of more than 100 million customers (Ooredoo, 2017). They were looking at changing their management team to help deliver their vision of growth and completed this in 2013; the global mobility programme.
Literature Review
Topic 1: Change
Change is something that happens in our everyday life, it is what we do in order to advance as humans. There are several factors that trigger change in an organisation internally and externally. An external trigger might be a result of developing technology, changing trends and change in the consumer's conscious. An example of internal change would be new staff or management, updated technology and newly developed products and services (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2008, p.14-15). Change is not only about being reactive to triggers, it is about being proactive as well by anticipate trends and opportunities (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2013, p.619). Change has types including the transformational change that happens when an organisation changes completely, Kotter’s eight stage theory is an example of transformational change. When implementing the change Kotter suggested eight stages of change as a sequential process of “creating a sense of urgency” as the first step as it's important to shift people’s thinking with the provided analysis (Kotter, P. and Cohen, 2002, p.1-3). However, it is argued that the if it is not applied correctly it will be ineffective. In addition, the theory is mainly for big scale change and big organisations. Another implementation theory is the Lewin’s three steps model. It is similar to Kotter’s theory in motivating people in order to start a change (Burnes, 2004).
Change is what keeps organisation successful. Nevertheless, change can have problems which can cause major disruptions. Resistance to change is one of the difficulties that change possess and it is “the act of opposing or struggling with modifications or transformations that alter the status quo in the workplace” (Heathfield, 2017). This could be as a result of selfishness, misunderstanding, opposing opinions and the difficulty in coping with change (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2013, p.629-30). In addition, it is ironic that the managers view the resistors as the wrong party in where they need to change their behaviour when managers are equally blamed (Ford and Ford, 2009). Strong leader or managers often underestimate reactions to change and how they can be a strong influencing character when dealing with retaliations, furthermore Kotter and Schlesinger (2008) recommended 6 ways for managers to deal with resistance. For example, educating the employee about the change by pointing out the benefits and the logic behind the change, offering negotiations such as a raise or a promotion, and offering them emotional support when needed.
Resistance can be an understood as a damaging force for the health of an organisation, Waddell and Sohal (1998) concluded that resistance was the function of multiple social factors counting rational factors, non-rational factors, political factors and management factors. However, resistance can be a constructive tool for change management, it is not necessarily a negative reaction but a response that shows that change can be a harmful thing too. It also creates a semblance of balance against external and internal factors that encourage change (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). Thus managers can use resistance as a sign for the cause of it, and instead of avoiding it they can solve the problems behind it.
Topic 2: Leadership
Leadership is a critical factor for a group’s effectiveness. Leaders are often viewed as having the top position in the market, the ones that hold the position of power, but leadership can be found at every level in the organisation (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2013, p.652). Leadership and management have been an arguable topic, some state that they completely differ from one another, others say that leadership is a part of management. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing” this is the most used reference stated by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985), which proves that while both of them are different it does not mean that one is good and the other is bad. Each has its pros and cons, for example, leaders are viewed as visionary and approachable, while managers are the opposite. However, leaders can become megalomaniacs who spend too much money on pet projects and follow wish-driven strategies. Managers on the other hand are can be humble, think before they act and follow realistic strategies (Buelens, 2004). That is why leadership is usually over romanticised by people, they tend to be associated with better sounding words than management (Knights and Willmott, 1989). Kotter (2001) stated that leadership is about coping with change while management is coping with complexity, both are needed in order to have a successful organisation.
A traditional approach towards leadership is the trait approach. The trait approach or the trait-spotting theory, which is “the search for good qualities in a leader” was influenced by the great man theory that specifically talked about political figures and the power they hold (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2017). A list of typical traits was written by Ralph Stogdill (1948,1975) including a strong drive for responsibility, self-confidence and the ability to influence the behaviour of others. Nevertheless, these traits are not committed to leadership only, they can be found in various roles as well. Also, most of the traits on his list have been found in one study, they are vague and unhelpful in leadership selection context (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2017, p.601-2).
Case Study: OOREDOO
Change and leadership notions that are linked to Ooredoo as they have recently changed their CEO and their management team. The global mobility programme in 2013 was about changing their management team because the organisation shifted their strategy from growth to integration (Arnold, 2015). The programme is a part of a commitment to expand talent and build stronger talent management across the group (Relocate global, 2015). The change was necessary for Ooredoo as they have spent the years before that doing an aspiring acquisition spree and by 2012 and became the fastest growing telecoms operator by revenue in the world (Arnold, 2015). They wanted to unify all brands they overtook into one brand and deliver explosive value through change. In addition, the market they operate in is the fastest growing market in the world and they needed to keep up with it. This gives them the opportunity to focus on what they actually wanted their international telecom company to deliver and stand for a standout recognition, help the Muslim culture to catch up with the modern trends and give women a voice. Overall they wanted a transformational change in the telecom sector. 62% of the previous employees had positive reviews other disagreed for reasons such as unrealistic goals, aims with tight deadlines, little personal time and inexperienced management team (Glassdoor, 2017).
Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al-Thani is the current CEO of Ooredoo, he started working in 1990 and weaved his way to the top gaining experien
ce along the way and was appointed as the group’s CEO in 2015 (Ooredoo, 2017). He is a born leader as he is a part of the royal family, which follows the trait and the great man theories that leaders are born and not made. However, Sheikh Saud used his inborn talents in addition to what he learned in his career in order to become a leader. The difference in culture for many employees made it hard for them to adapt, so a diverse management team was formed to promote leadership and companionship.
Recommendation
Ooredoo’s transformational change has been a major success for them as they had applied to Kotter’s 8 stages theory (2007) when they used their strategic change as a reason to change. They also created a highly diverse managerial team to help implement the change and deliver the vision they had for their new organisation. However, even with the success they have, they need to keep it. Boris Ewenstein et al. (2015) suggested the use of digital tools to help to implement the change as well as making the change meaningful for them and for the employees. Ooredoo can use this to give employees immediate feedback, deliver personalised information to their roles and needs, remove all political influence from the hierarchy and establish direct contacts between them and the employees. In addition, create a community that has a shared purpose for physically distant people and finally demonstrate their achievement in real life. All of this will help them create a culture that connects the foreign employees they get to the culture of the country work in.
There is a major difference on how western people view leadership than other countries. In order to combine those Ooredoo an ethnically diverse management team. However, the countries Ooredoo resides in are highly political countries, they use their power to get most of the important positions, which some employees found unfair to the hard working ones. So I recommend the use of middle managers to create a sense of equality and balance between change and continuity (Huy, 2001). This also leads to creating closer bonds between the employees and people from higher positions. There are dangers Ooredoo should avoid with leaders who consider themselves as the white nights, Khurana illustrated 4 criticism of them such as dismissing the rules. They also encourage errors and ignore impersonal forces that shape their efforts and destabilising the organisation.
Conclusion
To conclude a change is needed to keep up with the constant developments occurring every day in the economic, geographic, political and technological departments. Failure to change is a risk for the organisation’s future. Change can be triggered by various factors internally and externally, but change is also about anticipating trends and opportunities. It is a difficult process and takes a long time to be done, but with the help of theories and models like Kotter’s 8 stages theory and Lewin’s three step model, it can be done. Kotter’s theory is what we call a transformational change. Resistance to change is a normal reaction that can happen to every organisation, it is usually blamed on the employees but managers are also blamed. Managers can tackle it easily with theories like Kotter and Schlesinger 6 ways to deal with resistance. Finally, Sohal looked at resistance as warning that the change is not a good thing to the company.
Leadership is needed for the organisation to be successful, it can be found in many organisational levels and is not restricted to CEOs only. Leadership and management are different than each other, leadership is said to be a part of management, doing things right or what is needed for change. Management, however, is about doing right things and deals with complexity. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but they are both needed to have a successful organisation. One of the traditional theories is the trait theory which is influenced by the great man theory. Ralph Stogdill wrote a list with traditional traits, however, it is not a reliable list to use when choosing a leader.
Ooredoo is an international telecom company that had the major managerial change in 2013 because of the change of their strategy from growth to integration. The change was a needed action in order to make Ooredoo an international organisation and to deliver explosive value through change. In addition, they are operating in a fast growing market so they had to change to keep up with it. This gave them the opportunity to deliver what they stand for recognition, help women gain a voice and make the Muslim world a modern one. The altogether they wanted a transformational change. The CEO Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al-Thani is considered to be a born leader because of his familial position, but he has weaved his way into leadership and did not depend solely on his family name. As for the managers, they had to create a multinational team in order to create a culture that can combine the western and the eastern culture together. This proved to work well for foreign employees and citizens.