By Ian Glendinning (Contact) (Back to K-Blog) (Back to WorkinProgress)
Supervised by Prof Dame
Sandra Dawson DBE
(Currently
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University,
The Master & Professor Management at the Judge Business School)
A
dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
requirements for the
Master of Business Administration Degree,
and the
Diploma of Imperial College
IMPERIAL
COLLEGE London
(where my course tutor Prof
Dorothy Griffiths
is
Deputy Director of the school.)
Dec 1991 - Submitted and awarded highest
grade for MBA Project Dissertations that year.
Jun 1992 - Figures updated to capture all late survey results, no text changes.
Apr 1994 - Note and reference added to
subsequent leadership analysis.
Feb 2002 - This on-line HTML version
prepared – Text complete / Figures incomplete.
Feb 2006 - Updated with broken links fixed and scanned copies of questionnaires
linked.
INDEX OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
2 - THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS
CHAPTER 3 - CHANGE AND FLEXIBILITY - A CURRENT FASHION?
CHAPTER
4 - ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING
CHAPTER
5 - PERFORMING A STAFF SURVEY
CHAPTER
6 - ANALYSIS OF THE OVERALL RESPONSE TO THE SURVEY
CHAPTER
7 - SURVEY ANALYSIS ACCORDING TO RESPONDENT SAMPLE GROUPS
CHAPTER
8 - DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
CHAPTER
10 - CONCLUDING REMARKS
APPENDIX B - COMPANY
ORGANISATION AND STRUCTURE (Figure not included)
APPENDIX C - PROCESS PLANTS
DIVISION STAFF PROFILE (Figure not included)
APPENDIX
D - THE STAFF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
APPENDIX S - SURVEY SUMMARY
AFTER 90 RESPONSES (Figure not included)
This dissertation includes consideration
of attitudes and cultural aspects relevant to the management of change within
an engineering contracting organisation. An outline of the existing
organisation is presented, and a perceived history of difficulty in achieving
change is noted. The dissertation includes discussion of literature on the
subject of organisational change, in particular, recent literature emphasising
the unpredictability of change in the 90's and beyond.
Also reported are the conduct and findings
of a staff survey concerned with their perception of the organisation and the
experience of change within it.
Analysis of the survey response concludes
that the organisation possesses strengths in Total Quality Management and
Project Management resources, but that there are weaknesses in the culture and
leadership of the organisation, which inhibit change and flexibility.
Recommendations are presented which are
intended to exploit the strengths in overcoming the weaknesses in the areas of
corporate identity, wider measures of performance and the development of
management style.
Firstly, acknowledgements go to Foster
Wheeler in general for their sponsorship of the course; in particular to Jim
Foley for his support of this project; to Kevin Tremlett
and Peter deCourcy for assistance from personnel
department; and to my long suffering managers, Peter Underwood, Doug Slawson and Dave Crease. Thanks also to all those Foster
Wheeler staff who took the trouble to respond to the survey.
Special thanks are due in particular to
Sandra Dawson for her assistance with the project in general and especially for
the encouragement given when the going got tough.
THIS DISSERTATION CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT
WAS CONSIDERED STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR THREE YEARS FROM THE DATE
OF PUBLICATION. PRIOR ACCESS WAS RESTRICTED AND GRANTED WITH THE SOLE
PERMISSION OF FOSTER WHEELER ENERGY LIMITED.
Dedicated to Sylvia, Tom and Robbie .....
THE SUBJECT
The subject of this dissertation is change
and flexibility, specifically in connection with my employer, Foster Wheeler, a
process industries engineering and construction contractor. The motivations
behind looking at such a wide and complex issue within the company are
threefold: -
Firstly, there is a perception within the
company that there is a myriad of preserved errors and/or missed opportunities
for innovation. For example, looking at much process plant hardware under
construction, one would find many details unchanged since pre-war days.
Similarly, reports on engineering and construction operations typically include
recurring technical and interface difficulties. Individually, many such
instances may be trivial. Individually, the existence of many may be rationally
justifiable. Collectively, their number and apparent endurance represent a
cause for concern.
Secondly, there is a perception that
Information Technology, which pervades our operation and our deliverables, far
from increasing flexibility, creates new constraints. There has been, and
continues to be, major investment in IT and a shift from centralised mainframe
systems to distributed Personal Computer and workstation based systems. Despite
islands of success, and clear marketing benefits, there is disappointment and
frustration that tangible benefits from such innovation are slow to materialise
in the operation itself.
Thirdly, change and flexibility, as
strategic issues for any firm in any industry, have become subjects for a mass
of current press, learned texts and fashionable "airport bookstall"
literature (37).
The questions prompted by these
perceptions, and addressed in this dissertation, concern whether the first two
issues are as a result of underlying problems with the management of change and
flexibility, and whether the third offers an appropriate strategy or general
solution for them.
As the opening paragraph suggests, this is
a wide and complex subject. Many texts whose titles include some permutation of
Change, Strategy and Management, read like general management texts, covering
such subjects as : Planning, implementation and control; Decision making; Power
and authority; Structure, systems, organisation and technology; People,
attitudes and motivation; Rewards and performance measurement; and so on.
Even more so than Pettigrew and Whipp (50), authors of the latest UK research based text on
this subject, I must include in this dissertation, their "caveat emptor”:
"There is no single best practice in
managing change. No quick fix is being offered."
THE OBJECTIVE
Having noted that the subject is wide, and
that the questions implied above are too complex to expect exhaustive answers,
I must declare a more limited objective.
I have approached the subject with the
belief that the underlying nature of the perceived problems concerns people,
attitudes and the culture of the organisation. I have therefore chosen to focus
on these issues. In essence my objective is to answer the following question: -
"What are Foster Wheeler's strengths
and weaknesses in the areas of people, attitudes and culture relevant to
managing change? How might these be exploited or mitigated in order to improve
our future flexibility?"
THE METHODOLOGY
The project on which this dissertation is
based had two principal phases.
Firstly, there was a review of available
literature on the subject of change management generally and following up
secondary references on issues arising, in order to construct a model of change.
Far from converging on key themes, this exercise led to ever broadening avenues
of investigation on the widest range of management issues. One particular model
of managed flexibility, the "Organisational Learning" model was
chosen as a framework on which to hang a selection of relevant issues (5).
Secondly, in order to focus on the issues
in the context of Foster Wheeler, a survey was conducted within the company.
The survey was conducted using questionnaires based on checklists suggested by Carnall (17).
THE DISSERTATION
In addition to describing the above
activities, this dissertation includes analysis of the survey responses, and
discussion in the light of the literature, leading to recommendations for
action and further investigation.
However, before describing the findings of
these aspects of the project, I need to set the context, as indeed I needed to
do before embarking on the project itself. With over thirteen years with the
company, I was conscious that I had preconceptions at the start of the project,
which were likely to be subjective. In order to establish a more objective
picture of Foster Wheeler and its business I performed an analysis of reports
and accounts from Foster Wheeler and a sample of competitors for the past
decade. Much detail of this analysis is not relevant to this dissertation, and
in any event might be considered commercially sensitive. The next chapter,
however, draws on this analysis, as well as my personal experience, to paint a
background picture of Foster Wheeler, its industry, its business performance
and its organisation.
GENERAL
The company under analysis is Foster
Wheeler Energy Ltd (FWEL) and, if we are to look at change and future
flexibility, we need a base case; a snapshot of what FWEL is now. This section
provides such a description of the company, its business and its recent
performance.
FWEL is a UK based Engineering and
Construction (E&C) Contractor, which is wholly
owned by Foster Wheeler Corporation (FWC), via Foster Wheeler Ltd (FWL), a UK
holding company. FWC is a US Corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange
and 1991 represented a centenary since the original Wheeler Condenser and
Engineering Company was formed. From the UK perspective, 1990 represented 70
years since its original formation in the Power Specialty Company Limited in
London.
Two thirds of FWC's current operations are
in E&C, serving energy and process industries, and most of the remaining
third is concerned with related energy equipment and services. A significant
and growing part of the business is in "own and operate" projects for
waste to energy and flexible high efficiency power generation facilities.
Foster Wheeler, including its UK based operations, has a long history in power
generation, involving design and manufacture of fossil fired boilers for
utility power stations and marine propulsion, and of nuclear power plant
components. Though still involved in design of fired heaters for process
plants, these power industry aspects no longer form a significant part of the
UK operation.
FWEL is currently the largest of the five
main subsidiaries within FWC's E&C group, which operate in the US, the UK,
France, Italy and Spain. In 1990 FWEL contributed more than $250m to a
corporation turnover of $1700m. Each of the five main E&C contractors
operates internationally, historically in its own local region and typically in
those areas where the home country had colonial interests and a common
language. In recent years however, by agreement within the corporation, each
tenders for contracts anywhere where its resources are better able to serve the
client's project.
FWEL, based in Reading and Glasgow,
therefore operates throughout the world. Recent and current project locations
include mainly the UK, Europe, south east Asia, and Indonesia, as well as
Scandinavia, and parts of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East,
South America, the Caribbean and Australasia.
As already noted, the E&C service is
provided mainly in support of capital investment in the process industries.
These include onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities, petroleum
refineries, petrochemicals, general chemicals, fine chemicals and
pharmaceuticals. Not surprisingly therefore, important clients include
household names like BP, Exxon, Shell, ICI and Glaxo,
and often these operators have significant interests in some of the less well
known clients. Recent areas of diversification, serving a different client
base, have included combined heat and power generation, waste treatment, water
supply, factory automation, rail transport and even a cryogenic wind tunnel.
The E&C service includes any or all of
project management, specialist engineering, purchasing, logistics, construction
and commissioning, but can also include project appraisal, conceptual
engineering, project financing, operator training and even plant operation.
FWEL does not operate as a manufacturer of plant equipment and in the past
decade, in common with all UK and most European competitors, has generally
subcontracted construction services. There are however, fabrication affiliates,
and FWEL has started a move back [since reversed] to direct labour
construction, where a significant proportion of value is added to a typical
project.
Because of the range of services involved
and the range of industries served, it is very difficult to talk in terms of
the total world market and market share vis-ŕ-vis our competitors. Most of
FWEL's competitors are also part of diversified groups and corporations who
operate in overlapping vertical and horizontal segments of the market.
Horizontal diversification includes for
some; E&C services to oil and gas exploration and production, mining and
mineral extraction, metals processing, food processing, civil infrastructure
and industrial and general building construction industries. Integration into
vertical markets includes for some; operation of exploration, production and
processing facilities, and manufacture or fabrication of plant or systems
involved in any of the services or industries mentioned.
The extent of segment overlap amongst
individual competitor operations is highly varied, and in the extreme a few of
the holding corporations are highly diversified conglomerates. Domestically
FWEL could consider some twenty E&C competitors. Internationally up to two
hundred E&C companies could be identified competing in some or all of
FWEL's markets.
THE OPERATION
The operation consists of a stream of
concurrent and overlapping individual projects.
These are generally won by open
competitive tendering, although in some cases existing cooperative agreements
with clients or rolling "term" contracts reduce the competitive
element in awarding some packages of work. On the other hand, sales and
marketing effort in the competitive phase may include prequalification even
before an invitation to bid is forthcoming. In any event, there is a
significant proposals operation involved in bidding for most contracts.
As already inferred, an individual
contract may be a simple study, or a full engineer,
procure and construct project, or project management only, or any other
combination of the services mentioned previously. The contract terms can also
vary between lump sum and fully reimbursable, and more typically involve a
hybrid of both, such as reimbursable costs plus fixed fee. As with contract
management in other industries, the terms may be varied between phases of the
project; e.g. reimbursable during uncertain conceptual or pre-engineering
phases and lump sum during detailed phases after a definitive estimate. This
can be further complicated when there is competitive rebidding between
consecutive phases of a project, and there often is.
Typically a project might last fifteen to
eighteen months but could range from a month or two for a conceptual or
"front end" study to five years or more for a major project
management contract. The scale of a project may therefore vary widely from a
handful of people using a few hundred man-hours to produce a report, to a peak
of as many as five hundred people consuming two million man-hours and procuring
several hundred million [or a few billion] dollars worth
of materials and services.
Almost invariably any project involving a
significant number of people over a significant period is organised as a task
force, with specialist staff physically relocated into designated task force
areas or offices. Increasingly, such task forces place great emphasis on team
building, particularly as it is also increasingly common for such teams to have
client personnel integrated into them.
Naturally, where the contract scope
includes construction and/or operating responsibilities teams need to be set up
at plant fabrication and construction sites. During other phases it is not
unusual for small teams to be established at the offices of clients or other
contractors. Sometimes it is necessary to set up complete project teams local
to clients’ offices or plants, and these can involve some form of joint venture
or partnering with clients or local contractors.
So far, we have looked at FW's history and
operation in the briefest possible terms, and later we will look at further
aspects of the operation in describing the organisation. Staying on the historical
theme however, it is appropriate that we now look at recent past performance of
the operation as a starting point for future change. In looking at performance
in relation to competitors, we will also be able to infer a number of features
of the industry in competitive strategy terms characterised by Porter (53).
PERFORMANCE
The intent here is to look at performance
from a recent historical perspective, in order to infer some relevant features
of the industry and FW's position within it. For the management of change, we
will see later that selection of measures of performance and mechanisms for
monitoring them are important issues. For the limited intent here however, I
need only concentrate on the bottom line. This supremely objective [sic]
measure also satisfies the requirement that this background chapter be as
objective as possible. [even accounts can be distorted
for political ends]
An analysis was performed using a
combination of published annual reports, statutory public accounts and ICC data
cards covering FWC, FWL, FWEL and a sample of competitor operations over the
past decade.
Although a wider range of accounts was
analysed, the comparative data is based on FWEL and 18 other process industries
E&C contractor operations in the UK, ignoring the accounts of the more
diversified company groups. The data used covers the period 1983 to 1990.
Detailed figures and graphs resulting from this analysis are not included in
this dissertation, however the following draws on
selected results.
As far as longer-term performance is
concerned FW's history is witness to its success in satisfying customers and
stockholders and in undergoing significant changes in the industries and client
base served. Clearly, part of that change has involved acquisition, disposal
and restructuring within FW and competitor organisations. This feature in
itself gave some difficulty in comparing equivalent competitor operations at
any given time, even during the past decade.
Longer term trends and fluctuation in the
level of business for FW, and the E&C industry as a whole, tend to have
reflected cycles of recession and growth affecting the energy industries and
capital investment generally. Naturally, higher profitability has been
associated with such periods of higher capital investment in these industries,
where demand for E&C services has tended to outstrip supply. This was
generally not the case during the 80's.
In the later 80's, since 1987, the figures
for FWEC and FWEL show an encouraging 15% per annum revenue growth trend for
both companies, with FWEL certain to improve on this for 1991. From the general
picture however, it is apparent that, whilst contributing a healthy share of
the turnover, FWEL has returned relatively small profits, but that these are
generated from a very low asset base. In order to draw more specific
conclusions, we can examine the comparative ratio analysis between FWEL and an
E&C industry sample average.
FWEL pre-tax profit margins are indeed low
and show a downward trend, but this is better than the industry average, which
returns less than 1.4% in the long term, compared to 1.9% for FWEL. The
perspective from inside FWEL's operation, comparing operating and pre-tax
margins, is even more striking. The bulk of profits, however small, have arisen
largely from non-operating, investment and interest income. The long term
operating profit margin is just over 0.5%. An aggregate statistic for the
period 1983 to 1990 brings this point home. In that period FWEL turned over $1
billion of contracts, earned pre-tax profits of ś20 million (2%), of which $15 million (75% of the
2%) came from non-operating income. The picture is however entirely typical of
the industry, with a long-term average operating margin barely over 0.5%.
Typical also of the industry is the low
and erratic level of operating earnings per employee, with long-term average of
around ś400 per employee.
Though still erratic, returns to capital
employed (or net worth or net assets) look healthier, reflecting the low
capital intensity of the industry, with instances reaching 10 and 20%, and a
long term operating average around 4%. The after-tax return to net worth is an
important corporate target set for the FWEL operation and is clearly aimed at
satisfying stock investor's expectations, although it is not translated into
direct measures of operating performance.
A measure of performance of interest to
the operation, the investors and to competitors is the forward workload,
expressed internally in man-hours and externally in turnover value. Published
industry analyses typically include "boxscores"
of the value of contracts won in a given period and the value of outstanding
incomplete contracts at the start of the next period. Both measures are
concerned with success in winning business, and future security or survival,
but are not related to profitability directly. On such measures, FWEL is
currently performing extremely well, with record levels of pre-booked contracts
and forecast workload levels for 1991/2 reaching levels only previously
associated with the early 70's.
The returns on net assets are again
typical of the industry and are achieved despite low profitability because of
the low asset requirements of the E&C service operation. The industry long
term operating return on assets is just over 3% compared with nearer 4% for
FWEL. The low assets are also reflected in the high asset turnovers achieved in
the industry, with FWEL sweating its few assets significantly more than the
average.
The preceding description of the
performance of FWEL and the industry in general, reflects both the
possibilities for change and, paradoxically, one of the difficulties in gaining
advantage through change in this industry. These same features of the industry
point to generic strategies adopted within it.
GENERIC STRATEGIES
An obvious route to improved performance,
for an operation with very low margins, is to improve those margins through
increased productivity or efficiency. Productivity here includes producing
higher value added for the same costs, as well as producing the same value at
reduced costs. Improving performance through increased volume is resource
limited, skilled human resource limited in this case, and it is not a simple
matter to rectify this by investment. On the other hand the numbers make
productivity improving changes hugely attractive. When your operating margin is
0.5%, an improvement of 1% in productivity could treble your operating profits
in a perfectly competitive market; but therein lies
the rub.
Firstly, the market is oligopolistic in
the sense that contract prices are set in competitive bidding and there can be
only limited flexibility to relate prices to our costs, our capacity and our
desired margins. Secondly, whilst contract pricing includes a reimbursable
element, productivity improvements do not accrue to the contractor directly,
and may materialise only through incentive bonus arrangements.
Related to both of these is the client
power in this market, not just in defining the final product, whether plant or
paper deliverable, but in defining the detailed scope of the service during the
course of the project. To a large extent the content of the operation, and
hence any change in it, is driven directly by client requirements. Productivity
improvements that add additional value during a project may not result in
additional earnings and as already noted those that save costs may not benefit
the contractor. Even those that save schedule may not benefit the contractor
directly.
This particular feature of client power in
setting contract terms can be over emphasised, but it does mean that they tend
to have a very detailed knowledge of contractors' operations and costs, a
feature that can only limit price setting flexibility.
Another feature of the industry that
greatly limits the ability to sustain operational competitive advantages is the
high level of market intelligence. As already noted clients have intimate
knowledge of our operations, as they do of all contractors they become involved
with. The client organisations are therefore a channel for exchange of project
operational ideas from project to project, from contractor to contractor. The
industry also has a fairly cosmopolitan workforce, with a turnover of staff
between contractors and between contractors and clients, and there is also a
floating pool of agency and contract personnel. In general FWEL has had a lower
level of such temporary staff than its competitors.
Another channel for exchange of
intelligence is the market for hardware, systems and services sub-supplied to
contractors on projects. In some particular segments, like for example, the
supply of Computer Aided Design ( CAD ) systems, these
suppliers can also have considerable monopoly power.
Despite focussing on some very narrow
measures of performance, and not having performed a rigorous Porter analysis of
industry structure, we are able to deduce that it is by nature a low profits
industry.
We have high internal rivalry and high
buyer power. Barriers to entry to the market as a whole or to new sectors are
mainly experience, a name and a reputation. Once in, the barriers to providing
new services or servicing new sectors are generally low, the principal resource
limitation being the human resource. Despite this the operation itself does not
benefit from economies of scale except in certain areas of marketing.
For reasons already noted strategies aimed
at low costs and high productivity are difficult to exploit and difficult to
sustain. Also, although buyers have good intelligence and high power, their
incentive to drive down the costs of the E&C service are not as great as
might first appear. The cost of this service may represent less than 10% of
their capital investment in a project and they may be more concerned that the
quality of this 10% does not put the other 90% at risk.
Conversely, a strategy focussing on
particular segments may have marketing merits, but this focus must change as
the market changes. There is little competitive advantage in focussing the
operations capabilities on too narrow a product range.
The generic strategy adopted is one of
differentiation on quality, but providing the widest range of services to the
widest range of industry sectors. In fact a stated objective of FWEL is "
To be in a position to command fees higher than the competition ", whilst
continuing to be a process industries E&C contractor not limited to any
particular sectors.
Before looking at the issue of change and
flexibility in general, we have analysed very briefly the nature of the
industry. Whilst we have drawn no conclusions concerning any specific changes
either necessary or possible, the objective has been to make the following two points :
It is an industry where a competitive
advantage is very difficult to sustain once achieved. This means that is is essential to introduce improvements continuously just to
keep half a step ahead of the competition, because they too must be introducing
change continuously in order not to fall more than half a step behind. Everyone
must run just to stand still.
If this is a depressing prospect in a low
profit industry, then there is another side to the coin. Any change that
creates significant additional added value or significantly reduced costs could
in principle be turned to competitive advantage. As we have already noted, if
such advantage could be exploited and sustained, the gains in profitability
could be disproportionately great because existing margins are so low.
Even from this simple historical analysis
of performance and existing competition, we can deduce that there is both
necessity and attraction for change in our industry, notwithstanding the
perceived need for change described in the introduction. But before we can talk
about change at FW, we need to know a little more about the organisation
itself.
THE ORGANISATION
In order to characterise the organisation
it is appropriate to have an organisational model as a framework. Many writers
have presented models of organisations and clearly these vary depending on the
writer’s original objectives. In the most abstract sense all represent the
organisation as an "interactive open system". Interactive,
in the sense that the constituent elements of the organisation interact with
one another; open, in the sense that these elements also interact with the
external environment; and systems, in the sense that the elements and
interactions cannot be treated in isolation from one another.
The simplest descriptions, after Leavitt
(37), involve four elements: - OBJECTIVES, PEOPLE, TECHNOLOGY, and STRUCTURE.
As well as the external ENVIRONMENT, there is the more intangible aspect of the
internal environment that we might call the CULTURE of the organisation, or
what the Mckinsey model might call SHARED VALUES and
STYLE (48).
To move from the abstract to the specific,
it is necessary to describe some of these features explicitly in relation to
FW.
OBJECTIVES OF THE FW ORGANISATION
In the preceding sections I have already
described in broad terms the purpose of an E&C contractor and possible
generic strategies for FW. We also noted a number of business objectives in
discussing recent performance above. I do not intend to say anything more
specific here, about FW's actual strategic objectives.
STRUCTURE OF THE FW ORGANISATION
Appendix B includes outline organisation
charts for FW Corporation, the Engineering and Construction Group and FW Energy
Limited. A management organisation chart is included for Process Plants
Division, the process plants E&C contracting operation of FWEL. Also
included is a typical project organisation chart.
With operations organised as projects the
organisation structure is quite naturally a matrix form. Most individuals in
the organisation find themselves reporting to a hierarchy of project management
as well as line management. In fact the apparent hierarchy facing the
individual can seem very complex. Within the project there may be Discipline
Leaders, Area Engineers, Project Engineers, Project Engineering Manager,
Project Manager and Project Director, as well as other functional coordinators.
The line management hierarchy includes levels of seniority and status as well
as Discipline Principals, Section Supervisors, Discipline Chiefs, Group
Managers and Divisional Directors.
Delegation of recruitment, appraisal and
technical management functions by line management can further confuse this
picture, but in practice the real hierarchy (33), with hire, fire, reward and
spending authority is rarely more than three levels.
In recent years there was an attempt to
flatten the engineering line management hierarchy by removing a further level.
This was however reversed due to problems with issues of status and career
development paths, which had not been adequately addressed in the attempt.
The structure is in fact an extreme form
of matrix, largely consisting as it does, of task forces, but where line
management retains technical management and back-up responsibilities for staff
on projects. The organisation therefore also experiences the normal matrix
conflicts with competing claims for resources between one project and another
and between projects and corporate aims. Other inconsistencies are apparent
between project and corporate responsibility and authority. For example, as an
authorised signatory on a project an individual may be authorising
specifications and recommendations representing millions of dollars
worth of work, whilst that individual's line manager may have negligible
corporate spending authority.
PEOPLE IN THE FW ORGANISATION
FW's business is a "knowledge
business" (26). It may be easy rhetoric to say so, but clearly the main
assets of an E&C contractor are its personnel, their expertise, the systems
and procedures they operate and the electronic and paper "deliverables"
they are able to generate.
Appendix C contains a summary profile of
the 1300 staff of FWEL Process Plants, the operating division of FWEL. An
additional significant proportion of employees, typically around 30%, comprises
temporary agency staff, particulary employed in
"production" departments delivering designs and drawings.
The majority of staff in most departments have specific technical and professional qualifications or
the equivalent in terms of experience. The majority therefore, whether formally
affiliated to professional institutions or not, behave as professionals with
much that that entails. Positive examples would include peer group influence on
health and safety responsibilities or on contractual codes of ethics, but there
can also be negative aspects concerning demarcations of responsibility, verging
on restrictive practices.
TECHNOLOGY IN THE FW ORGANISATION
The technological resources of FWEL's
operation fall into three broad areas.
- Process Technologies.
- Plant Design and Construction Technologies
- Project Management Technologies
PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES
This area of technology involves expertise
in the chemical engineering and physics of the processes involved in the plants
themselves. It is applied plant functional definition, to the original
specification of energy and mass balances, pressures, temperatures, volumes and
compositions of the processes, to their control philosophies and to the
ultimate commissioning and operating procedures.
In certain sectors of the core business, eg specific oil refinery process units, such in house
technology generates original process designs from basic concept. In other
areas the expertise is needed to extract and interpret process designs from
client/operators, process licensors and process package suppliers.
The products of this technology within the
operation are information deliverables, paper or electronic, and in the
commissioning phase can include direct supervision and hands-on services.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES
These are the technologies associated with
the methods and processes of design, engineering, construction
and testing of process plant hardware and systems. This ranges from basic civil
engineering works, through a whole spectrum of mechanical and electrical
disciplines to control systems software engineering. Most of the physical and
systems design employs Computer Aided Design and drafting technologies, and
increasingly relies on three-dimensional (3D CAD) modelling techniques.
Again the bulk of the direct product of
this technology within the operation is information, whether delivered in
electronic or paper form.
A large part of the operation is concerned
with coordination and interpretation of technical data exchanged between
different engineering and design disciplines and between the project and
specialist suppliers of equipment and systems.
The same range of technologies and
expertise are also brought to bear on the surveillance, technical supervision,
and inspection of manufacture, construction and testing of plant at suppliers works and construction sites.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES
As a contractor, as opposed to a
manufacturer or operator of process plants, the key area of FWEL's technology
is in project management. As in any other field of project management, this
expertise is concerned with the planning, implementation and control of
activities and resources with defined objectives of cost, time and quality.
This expertise is not confined to Project
Managers, Project Engineers or others with specific project control functions,
but is inextricably part of the technical coordination activities described
above, and is bound up in other purchasing, sub-contracting and logistical
functions.
As well as the aggregate experience and
knowledge of individuals, such proprietary expertise and systems are captured
in a significant body of "Contract Execution Procedures".
CULTURE OF THE FW ORGANISATION
Of the component parts of the
organisation, its culture is one of the least tangible and most difficult to
describe objectively. Culture is a measure of the style and personality of the
organisation, which affect the natural patterns of behaviour within it, but in
ways that are taken for granted.
Handy (30) categorises culture according
to the predominant patterns of organisation in the operation; Power, Role, Task
and Person cultures. On these axes, FWEL is predominantly a role culture, as
witnessed by the range of functional titles in appendix C. Whilst, no doubt,
few individuals refer to their job descriptions, there are few who do not
recognise demarcations around their job function and many who would react
defensively if others transgressed. I believe even new employees quickly sense
such demarcations long before they appreciate their subtle details.
Such a role culture is moderated only on
the smaller, more close knit, project task forces or
proposal teams, who can develop a task culture, with all hands on deck to
achieve specific milestones. A strong role culture is typical of large
bureaucratic organisations and is ideal only in the most stable of
environments.
Deal and Kennedy (22) characterise
cultures according to the nature and potency of heroes, rituals and anecdotes
that exemplify the culture and underpin its beliefs and values. In order for
such informal symbolic features to represent an asset, it is argued that they
need to be common across the organisation and consistent with formally stated
aims.
Employees’ perceptions of the company are
also indicators of the strength and direction of its culture. Some aspects of
this are revealed by the staff survey analysed later in chapter 4, but an
earlier survey of corporate image by Paul Peters (45) indicated some important
themes. For example:
The dominant perceptions of the company's
personality, according to its staff were successful, good quality, reliable and
traditional, but with low ratings of dynamism, innovation and flexibility. When
asked openly to identify FW's good points, technical quality and reliability
recur.
The great majority of staff also perceived
that neither themselves nor the company as a whole had sufficient vision of its
goals and direction. When invited to identify bad points, inflexibility,
bureaucracy and lack of innovation recur, but so also do perceived internal
problems with listening and communication. Again when invited to identify areas
for improvement, most of the previous good and bad points recur, but so do
issues of commitment, involvement, belonging and motivation.
Another later survey (65) of 80 staff
members of one particular large department, was
concerned with their perceptions of team leaders and managers within that
department and with those leaders views of their own styles. Whilst there was
clearly a large range of perceptions of individuals, the average ratings
reflect the inherent leadership style or culture in the organisation. This
yielded extremely low ratings concerning the extent to which management inspire
any vision for the future or the extent to which they
tend to question or effectively challenge the established practices and
processes. The ratings were so low as to place them in the bottom 15 to 20% of
any management population sampled.
In summary, there is a strong quality
image, but with a traditional, reliable, bureaucratic theme running through
FW's culture. The fact that there is no strong vision of direction and goals
means that we must assume that any informal heroes, rituals and anecdotes are
unlikely to be common and consistent across the organisation, or consistent
with any formal goals. Whilst the traditional quality culture is strong and
could be considered positive in the appropriate circumstances, it is unlikely
to be seen as positive when we consider future change and flexibility.
THE FASHION
As well as an interest in the specific
needs and opportunities for change within FW, the introduction also noted that
there has been a recent fashionable focus on the issues of change and
flexibility. The purpose of this section is to look at some of the issues in
the headlines and to identify their relevance to FW, and also to identify the
extent to which such issues are already established management themes.
The fashion for change and flexibility is
apparent not only in the popular management literature, but also in a wide
range of management texts, current business press and trade press. Several of
the references in the bibliography, not listed here explicitly, serve to
demonstrate this. The fashionable aspects have been linked particularly to an
overriding perception that factors affecting business internally and
environmentally are changing:
a. increasingly rapidly
b. in
increasingly large steps
c. in disjointed and less predictable ways
The general implication is that such
change will be a constant part of business life and that in order to handle it,
organisations themselves must also change.
One only has to sample the language of the
titles, subtitles and headings being used by recent popular management authors
to get a flavour of current thinking:
"World turned upside-down"
"Chaos" "Change is the only constant" to quote Peters (46).
"The age of unreason"
"Change is not what it used to be" "Catastrophe theory"
"Discontinuous upside-down thinking" to quote Handy (29).
"Riding the Whirlwind" to quote
Benton (9).
"Cacophony"
"Revolution" "Discord" "Creative destruction" to
quote Kanter (35) quoting Marx and Schumpeter (60).
"Waves of change"
"Turbulent world" "Fracture lines" "Outside-in
management" to quote Morgan (42).
The language may seem out of place in
business organisations, but can these, and a dozen other gurus, all be wrong?
There is no suggestion that they are wrong, but the point is what is actually new ? It is after all, only a small mental leap;
from - Chaos, Discord,
and Unreason,
to - Uncertainty, Paradox, and Irrationality.
In the context of business management and
management in general, these are not new fashions, but established themes
featured in a wealth of literature.
UNCERTAINTY
Uncertainty, is the reason why managers,
or anyone else for that matter, need to make decisions. Without it, decisions
would make themselves. Without uncertainty, much of the science of operations
management and quantitative analysis is redundant.
PARADOX
Paradox, the fact that possible outcomes
may not only be competing, but may also be mutually exclusive, is one reason
why management decision making is much more than an analytical science. Many
paradoxes arise in decisions which may have both long and short term outcomes,
but there are many other classic examples:
Centralisation vs De-centralisation
Specialisation vs Integration
Control vs
Discretion and Empowerment
The "competing values model" of
organisational effectiveness presented by Quinn and Rohrbaugh
(57) summarises a number of paradoxical issues which need to be balanced by
Management. See figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 -
The Competing Values Model (57)
IRRATIONALITY
Irrationality, as an issue for management
consideration, is one manifestation of paradox.
Brunsson's
work on decision making (11)(12) links "Decision rationality" with
"Action irrationality", the point being that decisions made by the
most rational analysis of all available data are unlikely to be those executed
most effectively. Which is not to say that human decision-making behaviour
defies logic, more that individual actions depend on individually perceived
logic.
The decision making process is an
important determinant of how effectively a decision will be implemented.
Furthermore, implementing a decision is by definition, making a change; the
action taken changes the situation that would exist in the absence of the
action. The issues of rationality, decision-making and the management of change
are closely linked.
CONSTANT CHANGE
Another implication of the fashionable
focus on change has been the fact that it will be ever present, but this
constancy of change is not a new theme either. As interactive open systems,
"business organisations are never static, something about them is always
changing" (21). At any time, changes are occurring in the people, the
technologies, the structure, the objectives and so on.
Changes in culture perhaps occur most slowly, and changes in environment least
predictably, but changes in any of these elements interact with one another
and, in any event, include both planned and unexpected aspects.
To note that change is constant is not to
suggest that it is continuous or uniform. Ever since Schumpeter (60) in 1911
and Kondratiev (36) in 1925, observed trends of
recession and boom in macro-economic activity, the pace and direction of change
has been seen to be cyclical. Schumpeter and others linked such cycles to
underlying technology changes, and even now economists agree (7) that the
growth phase of the business cycle is driven predominantly by advances in
technology. Most recently, Freeman and Perez (27) have characterised these
macro-cycles, or Kondratiev waves, as paradigm shifts
from one "Techno-Economic Paradigm", or TEP, to another.
Whilst at this macro-economic level these
cycles may appear long and gradual, it is quite reasonable to predict sudden
transformations for individual industries and businesses. A firm may be
experiencing incremental changes in some aspect of its operation which are part
of the emergent TEP. When a critical mass of changes has occurred in the
industry, the existing status quo and decision-making norms can be undermined
to a point where the industry finds itself at a cusp in its development.
Subsequent change can be particularly disruptive and unpredictable, as the
whole structure of the industry is transformed into the new TEP. This ongoing
cycle of change allows current gurus to predict the unpredictable, and draw on
the language of catastrophe theory and the science of chaos.
The upswing of K5, the fifth Kondratiev wave, into the information and communications
TEP, might in itself be enough to predict a period of uncertain change.
However, as much of the current change literature reminds us, we are at the
same time also experiencing several other unconnected, and potentially
far-reaching, changes in our environment. For example, shifts in population
demographics; globalisation of competition; economic union in the EC; social
and political shifts in the disintegration of eastern bloc countries; a third
world debt crisis; social and political pressures increasing the importance of
ecological issues and alternative technologies. Unpredictable or not, a number
of these factors are
worth discussing in
relation to FW.
GLOBAL COMPETITION
Like many of our multinational clients, we
operate and face competition globally. Currently FWEL are very active in
Southeast Asia and Indonesia, but the possibility of counter competition is
real. Already, for some years, the Japanese are the main competition in these
local markets and in other markets such as the Middle East and Africa. How long
will it be before the Japanese compete seriously in markets nearer to home?
What significance should we attach to the Japanese contractor managing a
construction site half a mile from Foster Wheeler House, our main office? How
long before we must take seriously threats from players in Korea, Malaysia,
India and other recently developed countries? Will these nations have the same
human resource limitations (54)? Are our traditional clients not also facing
similar competition in their own markets?
Like many industries before, the existing
Far East competition has acquired a cut-price and ruthless image contractually.
If we pursue the strategy of targetting higher price,
higher added value, niches in the market, might we one day look back on an
irretrievable sector retreat?
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
We have already noted that the human
resource is the key resource and an important growth limiting resource for an
E&C contractor. We have also noted that the business is information
intensive, a "knowledge business" (26). Clearly information
technology, in all its guises, has already made major inroads into our
operation and those of our clients. The theoretical technical possibilities for
IT to further increase efficiencies and add value are virtually boundless.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the limitations remain human, but
solving them may keep us ahead of those players with less limited human
resources.
For example, some of the possibilities
could have a major integrative effect on the businesses of clients, contractor
and suppliers. It is possible to envisage, if not yet realise, major changes in
the structure of the industry and the nature of our business operation. As
information and communications technologies are central to the emergent TEP we
might also expect IT changes quite unrelated to our existing value chain to
impinge on our operating environment. Again it is not relevant to speculate on
the detail of such possibilities here, merely to note them and their
significant potential consequences.
GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURES
In contrast to the march of
hi-technologies, there is the march of alternative technologies to consider,
not that they are mutually exclusive. There are fairly obvious opportunities
for a process industries E&C contractor created by legislative and other
pressures to reduce pollution or emissions and to recycle waste generally. We
have benefitted already from such process requirements as the demand for
unleaded gasoline, low sulphur fuels generally and the demand to make use of
low-grade waste heat, or the demand to have environmental impact assessments
performed and so on.
The other side of the story is the threat
to various sectors of our clients' businesses from green pressures and
alternative technologies. The alternatives may not be process industries.
CHANGE AND FLEXIBILITY AS A STRATEGY
Apart from having spawned new metaphors,
clearly one new message in the rash of new literature on this subject is in the
degree of unpredictability in the speed, magnitude and direction of changes in
the 90's and beyond. It’s not difficult to see that if the future is
unpredictable, then flexibility is a good strategy. The novelty is in the
implied urgency.
Flexibility has passive connotations, the
straw bending with the wind. Whilst going with the prevailing flow is a
perfectly valid tactic in many an operational situation, it is definitely not
the basis of a business strategy. Not much advantage being flexible, if the
next gust of wind blows your field off the map. Here we are concerned with
proactive flexibility, adaptability and learning. Morgan (42) talks of needing
"proactive mindsets".
On the other hand, if the future is so
unpredictable, why bother to prepare for it? Don't panic, it might never
happen. Plus ca change, plus c'est
la meme chose. Peters (46) describes this hurdle as "facing up to the need
for a revolution". Handy's boiling frog metaphor
(29) is already hard-boiled. As Handy himself says, the more accurate metaphor
concerns Spanish invaders as seen by South American Indians. It is not a matter
of not noticing the change arriving, more a matter of not recognising the
potential in its arrival, whilst you still have time to take appropriate
action. The boiled frog simply fails to notice a very gradual change that is
taking place.
The potential in an externally triggered
change can be either negative or positive; threat or opportunity. If the future
of change is so unpredictable and disjointed as to be
chaotic, hinging on catastrophes and fracture lines, then being in a position
to handle it is not simply a defensive posture against the potential threat. It
is being in a position to exploit the opportunities arising. "Thriving on
chaos" as Peters put it (46).
Taken to its logical extreme, if you can
thrive on chaos, you may be able to create further advantage by creating a
little chaos in the first place. Others (47) have cited examples of chaos
created in stock markets by the introduction of "junk bonds". Another
high risk example which comes to mind is Malcolm MaClaren,
new wave music impresario who operated under the slogan "Cash from
chaos" during 1977.
Both examples might appear equally
irrelevant to a process industries engineering contractor. No self-respecting
major existing player in a mature industry with powerful buyers and risk-averse
stockholders could contemplate anything so radical as
even admitting the existence of chaos, let alone a strategy to deliberately
engineer it. The significance of health and safety issues in this industry
further reinforces this risk-aversion.
But it brings me, however, to a final
point in this section on the need for, and opportunities inherent in, preparing
for future change.
Even if future change turns out not to be
as chaotic as the pundits would have us believe, we must be open to unexpected
and unconventional possibilities for changing the shape of the industry; daring
to be different. Like many writers before me on the subject of the management
of change, it seems fitting to quote some words from George Bernard Shaw:
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.
The unreasonable man persists in trying
to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
A MODEL FOR CHANGE
The previous chapter included the simple
message that flexibility and innovation must be an important part of FWEL's
strategy for the future in a changing world, whether strategic objectives are
primarily growth, profitability or survival, and whether the generic strategy
is one of quality differentiation, cost leadership or segment focus.
What we would like to address now are
those organisational attributes that confer the appropriate form and degree of
flexibility. The management of change and flexibility however, involves all the
elements and linkages of our model of the organisation, and we could draw up
lists of apparently desirable features against each of them. In fact many of
the authors I have so far referred to, include their own prescriptions of such
features.
I choose to start this section with the
"Organisational Learning" metaphor of Argyris
and Schon (5). I choose it simply because the model
developed has a form which I believe appeals to the engineering mind,
consisting as it does, of a series of activities and decisions linked in a flow
diagram with feedback loops. There is no intent however, to limit our thinking
to the perspective of the purely functionalist paradigm (15). Because it is
incomplete, we can only get so far with this model, but it leads us to some of
the missing elements.
SINGLE LOOP LEARNING
The simplest form of learning,
organisational or otherwise, is single loop learning (5). Refer figure 4.1.
Picture it as a quality control, whereby an error is detected and fed back to
initiate corrective action as appropriate. Alternatively, Tichy
(62) uses the less structured example of learning to ride a bicycle for the
first time. Staying with our quality control example however, there is still a
range of appropriate corrective actions :
1. Reject and repeat or recycle until the
deliverable meets the required standard. ie
Change the deliverable.
2. Accept the deliverable by relaxing the
original quality standard. ie
Change the specification.
3. Recycle the deliverable but modify the
process to achieve the required standard. ie
Change the process.
Typically, even in a simple case, any and
all of the options might be considered, in any order, before acting to correct
the problem. However, in all three cases, the considerations and actions all
concern the original deliverable, its specification and the process that
produced it. This is the essence of single loop learning.
Figure 4.1 -
Single Loop Learning Model (5)
DOUBLE LOOP LEARNING
Figure 4.2 -
Double Loop Learning Model (5).
In double loop learning, the essential
difference is the additional level or loop of enquiry into the original
"defect". Refer figure 4.2. As well as looking to correct the
original error in the original deliverable, questions raised might include:
1. Are
we producing the right deliverable?
2. Are we going about it the
right way?
3. Is there conflict in what we
are trying to achieve?
4. Is this symptomatic of some
other problem?
5. Whilst we're thinking about
it, is there some other opportunity we're missing (internal or external)?
Furthermore, the single and double loop
considerations might also arise in the QC and learning processes themselves, as
well as those involved in the deliverable and its processes. Argyris and Schon call this Deutero-learning. Learning about how to
learn more effectively from your learning experiences.
Having started with a QC analogy for
single loop learning, it is interesting at this stage to note also the parallel
between the concept of double loop learning and a formal quality management
program. As we shall see later, this is no coincidence.
Argyris
and Schon admit that the distinction between single
and double loop learning is not necessarily particularly clear cut in a real
organisation with complex processes and deliverables whose quality standards
rely more on fitness for purpose than physical attributes.
The point however is that single loop
learning is not organisational learning. It is hard to imagine an organisation
without a basic quality control level of learning, but the best you could hope
to learn with this, is to do well what you already do. It is the very
antithesis of flexibility and could only be considered satisfactory if you
planned to "stick to the knitting" (48) in a permanently stable
world.
Organisational learning must include the
additional features of double loop learning and it must be effective.
Graphically and procedurally it is perfectly feasible to describe mechanisms
for generating feedback, analysing it and acting on decisions made. By
coincidence I was asked to draft just such a procedure for FWEL (28) at about
the same time I embarked on this project. Refer figure 4.3.
Figure 4.3 - A Double-Loop Learning Scheme within FWEL
(28).
BLOCKAGES TO LEARNING
The crucial point is that, in general;
SUCH SCHEMES DO NOT WORK AT ALL EFFECTIVELY (4).
The problem with such a mechanistic scheme
of organisational learning is that it is really only a description of how
things might happen in some form of ideal world. As Pettigrew and Whipp put it, these are only the "secondary actions
and mechanisms" for learning and change (50). It is our first indication
that the double loop model of organisational learning is by itself an
incomplete model of the management of change.
Typically, the real world of organisations
is full of inhibitors and blockages to learning and change planned and
implemented along these lines. Argyris (4) calls them
organisational defences. Recognising what these are and then either breaking
them down or going round them is the key to organisational learning.
Argyris
and Schon's work proceeds to categorise the various
defensive effects as "Budgetary Games", "Fancy Footwork",
"Skilled Unawareness" and "Skilled Incompetence". They also
are able to identify the points at which they arise in the learning loops, and
are consequently able to develop their systematic flowchart analogy to
represent many of the subsidiary distorting and counter-productive loops which
can exist. But this is still just a model of the real world, and as Quinn and
Cameron put it "incapable of capturing the buzzing, booming confusion [ of paradox ], no matter how strongly our logical arrogance
tries to convince us otherwise" (56).
Remarkably however, Argyris
and Schon claimed a single root cause of most, if not
all, the blockages. They considered that nearly all individuals in nearly all
[western] organisations hold nearly the same model of organisational behaviour
(5). This "Model I Theory-in-use" as they call it could be largely
summed up as "avoidance of embarrassment to yourself and others you deal
with". Two points are worth drawing from this:
Firstly, we have the term
"theory-in-use". That is the issue concerns the way people actually
behave, not their "espoused theories", those rational principles that
individuals might claim govern the way they act.
Secondly, the emphasis is entirely on
underlying patterns of behaviour, in a word; CULTURE. The important implication
here is that any structural or systematic blockages are either generated or
preserved by such consistent patterns of behaviour.
OVERCOMING THE BLOCKAGES
We have implicitly concluded that
blockages to change and organisational learning in the double loop model above
are due to problems with culture. An alternative statement of the problem is
that culture is the missing element in this mechanistic model of change.
More recent models acknowledge culture as
an essential element involved in change processes. Dawson's model (21) includes
culture in most of the processes of change. Also, this model incorporates
feedback links at each stage of the process and acknowledges the unpredictable
inputs possible at each stage. Refer figure 4.4
Figure 4.4 - Dawson's model of change processes (21).
Brocklehurst (10) presents a checklist of the
elements of a model of change which includes specific aspects of culture. It
includes the need to recognise the dominant decision making model in the
organisation and to recognise the political structure in terms of the
distribution of power and unity of interests across the organisation.
Carnall
(17) talks of establishing "conditions which encourage the emergence of
creative solutions ". On the subject of major strategic change, Pettigrew
and Whipp (50) talk of establishing "primary
conditioning features" needed to plan and implement change.
The choice between breaking down or avoiding blockages to change is equivalent to deciding to
change the culture of the organisation or to modify existing change processes
to take account of existing culture and politics. The decision is clearly
contingent on the scope and nature of change under consideration and the extent
to which cultural blockages are expected to interfere with desired outcomes.
A few discrete changes can probably be
handled whilst playing the necessary political games, without risk of unplanned
compromise in the outcome. A few discrete cultural obstacles may demand
"blockbusting" (2) or specific additional actions to "overcome
organisational defences" (4).
If the history of change has been either
unsuccessful, or unacceptably difficult and inefficient, and general cultural
problems are seen as the cause, then what may be needed is to take a leaf from
the book of the "unreasonable man" and try to change the world. Make
the cultural environment a little more ideal for learning.
THE OBJECTIVE
So far we have talked in very general
terms about some aspects of FWEL and some
aspects
of the management of change. We have also become focussed on issues of
culture.
We need now to generate data which is more specific to change at FWEL and
which provides tangible
information on which to base an analysis of a most intangible
issue.
A survey of staff perceptions on the
subject of change within FWEL was considered a
practical
means of gathering the necessary data. The objective of performing the survey
was to gain a wider
general picture of how the company itself perceived the issues of
change
and change management, rather than relying on the writer's preconceptions. As
the survey developed,
it became possible also to consider how such perceptions varied
across
groups within the company.
BACKGROUND TO THE SURVEY
During the study of the subject
"Management of Change" on the MBA course, reference
had been made to Carnall's "Managing Change in Organisations" (7).
In syndicate
sessions,
several different checklists presented by Carnall had
been used in conjunction
with brainstorming and
force-field analysis on case studies. These included :-
Measures of effectiveness matrix. (p73)
Functional analysis of effectiveness. (pp76-81)
Organisational diagnosis. (pp89-91)
Motivating leadership potential. (p100)
Management development needs. (p102)
Readiness for change. (pp202-203)
Managing change. (pp204-205)
The general conclusions of these exercises
were that the techniques indicated powerful
means of identifying key
issues for the management of change, although we had clearly
been limited by the
level of company specific data which could be generated within such
syndicate
sessions.
As presented by Carnall,
the checklists are generally intended for use by a consultant
engaged
in structured interviews or group sessions with the management team of a client
company.
I decided in connection with this project that several were suitable for use as
questionnaires
to be completed by a wider range of staff within FW. This decision
involves
"suspending disbelief" that the management issues embodied in the
questions
might not be seen as
meaningful by this wider audience.
THE QUESTIONNAIRES
Two questionnaire
were generated from three of Carnall's checklists.
Copies of both are
included
in Appendix D.
Questionnaire 1, entitled "Change
Audit" includes 33 statements and comprises two of
Carnall's
checklists appended one after the other. Statements 1 to 15 are statements 1
to 15 from the
"Readiness for Change" checklist. Statements 16 to 33 are statements
1 to 18 from the "Managing
Change" checklist.
Questionnaire 2, is entitled
"Organisational Diagnosis" includes 40 statements and
consists
of Carnall's checklist of the same name.
A few editorial changes were made to suit
the questionnaire format for issue within
FWEL. Since, however, it
was intended to make use of Carnall's own groupings
of
responses
according to the subject of each statement, such editorial changes were
minimised.
Consideration was, in fact, given at this
stage to more extensive modification to the
questionnaires
to tailor them more specifically towards the target population and the
project
objectives. It was recognised that this would have been a major exercise to
accomplish,
without introducing bias and preconceptions concerning the behaviour of
respondents.
This compromise has its down-side in limitations in the value of some of
the data collected.
THE FORM OF STATEMENTS AND GRADING OF
RESPONSES
Each questionnaire consists of a series of
statements which prompt alternative
responses.
Both are closed, in the sense that respondents must select their response to
each statement from
those available rather than originating their own. The only open
responses
invited are to indicate any specific change which the respondent considered
relevant
in completing questionnaire 1, and to provide any additional general comments
at the end of
questionnaire 2. The two questionnaires are however, quite different in
form.
Questionnaire 2 (
Organisational Diagnosis ), consists of statements requiring response
on a seven point
scale from 1, representing total agreement, through 4, the neutral
response,
to 7, representing total disagreement. Not surprisingly, as the results show
later, this form
prompted very few null responses, and those few could reasonably be
interpreted
as the neutral response in the subsequent analysis. Not only does this scale
cover all possible
responses, but all the responses to each different statement clearly lie
on the same
continuous scale. It is therefore a simple matter to evaluate and compare
responses
to individual and grouped statements in terms of average (mean) responses
and their standard
deviation or some other measure of variance.
Questionnaire 1 ( Change
Audit ) on the other hand, has 4 individual multiple choice
responses
to each statement. Whilst no other responses are invited, alternative responses
are conceivable as are
multiple responses and a null response is an additional alternative.
A null response might indicate either
indecision or simply that the statement or its
relevance
are not understood, none of which are necessarily equivalent to any of the
other reponses. As we shall see later, alternative responses were
forthcoming
The other feature of questionnaire 2 is
that the available responses are less clearly graded
on a continuous
scale. For most, the first response (a) represents the ideal case and the
other three (b), (c) and
(d) represent less ideal cases or different and progressively more
difficult
problems. As already noted, alternative or null responses generally indicate
additional
problems. Whilst the above is generally true, there are a number of statements
concerned
with the extent to which possible problems are recognised, for example
statements
20, 31 and 33 which concern the pace, effort and stress associated with
implementation
of change. Depending on the actual circumstances and the role of the
respondent
in the change, a low perception of the issue might indicate either that the
issue was not a problem
or that it was a problem which went unrecognised or
underestimated.
These are quite different conclusions.
In analysing the general response to
questionnaire 1, responses (a), (b), (c) and (d) were
in fact interpreted
as a range from 1 to 4, where 1 represented the ideal or least
problematic
case and 4 represented a problem area. For statements 20, 31 and 33, this
was reversed, ie responses (a) to (d) were interpreted from 4 to 1 on
this scale. This is
equivalent
to assuming repondents experienced the change as end
users, rather that as
implementers
of the change. In all cases, null and alternative responses were assigned
the value 4 on this
scale. This facilitated comparison of average responses to individual
statements
and groups of statements with other statements or groups. For reasons noted
above, however, this
interpretation is imperfect and caution will be needed in drawing
conclusions.
Testing the significance of any
conclusions may require categorical non-parametric tests
of response
distributions, and may require more information about the respondents
involvement
in a given change than the questionnaire was designed to collect.
THE SURVEY SAMPLE
The original intention had been to select
a sufficiently large random sample to represent
the pattern of
perception across the staff as a whole. In order to simplify its
administration,
the first limitation to this aim was to confine the survey to Process Plants
Division, which falls entirely within the
authority of the sponsoring director. The staff
population
of this operating division at the time of the survey was 1273. A detailed
breakdown
of the population is given in appendix C.
Establishing the minimum necessary sample
size requires some assumption concerning
the range of responses
and their likely variance. The decision to obtain data which could
be analysed
meaningfully across various groupings within the population required
sufficiently
large samples within each group. The populations of pre-defined natural
groupings,
for example across ages, lengths of service and departments, varied widely,
some being much smaller
than others. This implied the need to optimise pre-defined
groupings
and group sample sizes as well as the overall sample size.
Whilst such an exercise was theoretically
possible, there were two practical expedient
reasons
why this was not done :-
Firstly, the groups of interest are not
clearly defined by the original scope and objective
of the project. Any
useful information obtained concerning response variation across
groups
was effectively a bonus. It was not essential that they be pre-defined.
Secondly, since the survey was to be
conducted voluntarily via the internal mail system,
the response sample
was clearly not going to be the same as the target sample. Apart
from value in analysing
the level and pattern of response, it was considered wasteful to
expend
further effort pre-defining group samples.
QUANTIFYING THE SAMPLE SIZE
In order to draw conclusions about sample
mean responses with any confidence,
minimum
sample sizes are needed. Looking at the questionnaires, with their four and
seven point scales, the
maximum standard deviations we might expect, for say an
entirely
uniform distribution of responses, are 1.1 and 2.0 respectively. Assuming a
more
normal
distribution is more likely, we might reasonably expect standard deviations
somewhere
less than 1 in questionnaire 1 and somewhere over 1 in questionnaire 2.
Assuming on these scales we would like to
obtain estimates of average (mean) responses
+/- 0.25 with 90% confidence, then the
sample size required is given by :-
n = ( t.s / 0.25 )2
where s = sample
standard deviation, approx. = 1
and t = the t statistic, approx. = 1.7 for 90%
CI
hence n = 46 approx.
Later our analysis will involve responses
to groups of questions, groups of 3 in
questionnaire
1 and groups of 5 in questionnnaire 2. Each repondent will therefore
provide
a sample of 3 or 5 data points on each issue analysed. This implies that the
sample
size required in terms of numbers of respondents could be as small as 10 or 15,
ignoring
any direct correlation between an individual's different responses to different
questions.
Assuming a 50% response rate, then a
target sample of 200 individuals will provide 100
responses.
This should provide sufficient flexibility to permit subdivision into 5 sample
groupings
of up to 20 each. The intention, therefore, was to target an overall sample of
around
200.
SELECTING THE SAMPLE
A database file representing the entire
process plants division staff was extracted from
the company's
"Perseus" personnel database system as a formatted ASCII text file.
For
subsequent
manipulation and sorting this file was imported into DBASE IV (R) and LOTUS
123 (R) form. For each of the 1273 current
staff, the extracted file included :-
EMPLOYEE NUMBER
NAME
DEPARTMENT CODE NUMBER
JOB-TITLE
COST CODE NUMBER
STAFF GRADE
SEX
AGE LAST BIRTHDAY
YEARS SERVICE COMPLETED
LOCATION
The first action needed was to rationalise
on those attributes which were of interest. This
was partly to make
handling the data manageable and partly for reasons of
confidentiality.
Employee number was discarded at the
outset. Name and Location were retained in the
target
sample files for use only in addressing questionnaires to individuals, and are
not
included
in or linked to respondent files. The only unique identifiers in these files
are
sequential
file record numbers.
Sex, age and years
service were retained as attributes for subsequent sorting and
grouping
of the population, the target sample and the response samples.
Department, title, cost code and staff
grade required some rationalisation. Department
clearly
indicates the general area in which an individual works as does the title, but
it is
the cost code which
indicates the specific functional discipline. Unfortunately there are
some 63 different cost
codes represented in the population and their primary function is
to allocate staff
costs. It was considered impractical to use this cost code for grouping
and sorting the sample
during analysis for this project, however cost code remains as an
attribute
within the target and response samples. Department is the only indication of
functional
area of work used here.
In order to have some indication of an
individual's level in the organisation in terms of
management
responsibility and authority, title and staff grade are relevant. Staff grades
are actually an
indication of wide overlapping salary bands, and the combinations of title
and staff grade are
not applied uniformly or rigorously across all departments.
Furthermore there are some 358 unique
titles and 643 unique combinations of title and
grade within the
population of 1273 staff. Recognising their imperfection, staff grades,
of which there are
20, were selected as the only indicator of level in the organisation.
This left 5 useful attributes to be use for sorting and stratifying the population and any
subsequent
samples :-
DEPARTMENT
STAFF GRADE
AGE
YEARS SERVICE
SEX
It was theoretically possible, but not
practically appropriate for reasons noted earlier, to
stratify
the population on each of these bases before selecting samples uniformly
distributed
within each band on each axis. A simpler approach was adopted.
The entire population was arranged
alphabetically on employee surname and, starting
from the randomly
chosen third entry, every seventh candidate was selected. Having
removed
from this sample a number of anomalous entries with null attributes and zero
years
service completed, a sample of 165 remained.
Sorting this sample according to the five
attributes selected shows subjectively at least
that the sample
includes a reasonably uniform proportion from each stratum. (
Refer
appendix
C ). The most apparent anomaly is the disproportionately small sample of grade
12 and 13 staff.
No further attempt was made to reselect or adjust this sample before
proceeding.
Each copy of the questionnaires issued was
labelled with the five selected attributes (and
cost code) of the
target individual. This allowed anonymity whilst permitting the
necessary
sorting of responses without any link back to the population and target sample
files.
GENERAL LEVEL OF RESPONSE
Of the 165 individuals targetted,
90 returns or 55% had been received at the time of the
analysis
described here. A further 7 individuals responded informally that they would not
be returning the
questionnaires. Reasons given were too few years service to comment,
long term remoteness
from corporate organisation on assignments, and no experience of
significant
changes on which to base comment. Two other individuals queried issues of
confidentiality
and these may or may not be included in the returns above.
A full summary and breakdown of the
responses are included in appendix S. This chapter
describes
how the response data was handled and analyses the overall response to the
questionnaires,
including individual and grouped questions. The following chapter
considers
the response of various sample groups within the overall reponse.
HANDLING AND PRESENTATION OF RESPONSE DATA
For each returned questionnaire the data
logged included :
- Details of the respondent as
defined earlier.
- Their response to each
individual statement, including null
or
alternative comments.
- The relevant change indicated
in questionnaire 1.
- Any additional comments made specifically
after
questionnaire
2 or incidentally elswhere.
The aggregate response to each
questionnaire statement is summarised and presented
as a histogram with
tabulated totals, and as the sample mean and standard deviation
values
evaluated on the scales discussed above. ( Figures S6
and S7, in Appendix S,
present
these summaries for questionnaires 1 and 2.)
In analysing and comparing responses
later, the sample means are used extensively for
rating
and ranking problem levels perceived in relation to FWEL. For questionnaire 1
this
is a rating on the
scale of 1 to 4 from least to most problematic. For qustionnaire
2 this
is a rating on the
scale from 1 to 7, ranging from least to most problematic, or most to
least agreed with,
depending on the context. For shorthand the phrase "... the statement,
[or group of
statements], whose mean response yielded the most [least] problematic
perception
..." will simply become "... the most [least] problematic statement
[or
response,
or issue] ..." throughout the following analysis.
Figure S8 summarises the changes indicated
in response to questionnaire 1.
Figure S9 summarises the supplementary
comments received.
OVERALL REPONSES TO THE QUESTIONNAIRES
On the whole responses were generally
positive, that is grouped closer to the least
problematic
end of the scales defind, and relatively few extreme
individual responses
were indicated. A
significant number of additional comments and remarks were also
received.
I concluded that the questionnaires had been completed thoughtfully and that
there was no reason to
doubt the validity of responses.
With a survey of this nature, requiring
voluntary effort by each respondent, we might
expect
a positively biased response in relation to the whole staff population.
Of the four respondents who identified no
relevant change on which to base
consideration
of questionnaire 1, all four left that questionnaire entirely unanswered, and
one also ignored the
whole of questionnaire 2. Their null responses are included in
average
responses on the basis described above along with null responses to other
individual
statements.
OVERALL RESPONSES TO INDIVIDUAL STATEMENTS
The least and most problematic statements
from each questionnaire are tabulated in
figure
S10.
QUESTIONNAIRE 1
The most problematic individual response,
No.27, indicates that on the whole staff
perceived
that changes implemented had included only problems and no specific
incentives
for users in their implementation. Contrasting this with two of the least
problematic
responses, No.s 29 and 30, indicates that on the
whole the effects of
changes
were perceived to be measurable even if most perceived that any benefits did
not accrue to them.
Two of the next most problematic
responses, No.s 22 and 23, reveal the perception that
inadequate
emphasis was given to training in connection with changes. This
contrasts
with two of the least
problematic reponses, No.s
10 and 11, whereby staff perceived
senior
management enthusiasm for change and the committment
of resources to
implementing
change. Also, two more of the least problematic responses, No.s
1 and 3,
indicate
that changes made have generally been perceived as successful.
The implications so far are that change
has generally been initiated and implemented by
senior
management decree rather than by wider committment to
it. Consistent with this
is response No. 26,
indicating a perceived problem with the level of discussion between
staff and management generally
in connection with change.
Another of the least problematic responses
in questionnaire 1 was that to statement
No.12, where most staff perceived
performance appraisal as important to change
management.
Interestingly, a number of the qualified responses to this statement
included ;
"What has this to do with change ?" and "[It's important] only
if it's done
properly."
This gives an indication that whilst performance appraisal is perceived as
important
it is not necessarily done well, certainly not in relation to change. I suspect
a
number
of others who agreed with its importance may have left such qualifications
unsaid.
This point is significant as we move on to look at questionnaire 2 on the same
basis.
OVERALL RESPONSES TO INDIVIDUAL STATEMENTS
- QUESTIONNAIRE 2
Two of the most problematic responses to
questionnaire 2, No.s 22 and 36, indicate that
on the whole,
performance appraisal is seen as infrequent and arbitrary. Several writers
have indicated the need
to include appraisal of change performance in general
performance
appraisal. I believe this is supported by the general perception within FW.
Furthermore, the survey seems to indicate
a significant performance gap between the
perceived
importance of appraisal and the experience of appraisal. Addressing this issue
clearly
holds significant potential for improving change management at FW.
Another problematic statement is No.12,
which indicates that in general most staff
consider
that they deserve greater financial remuneration. Whilst this is perhaps
predictable
behaviour in response to the statement posed, it does indicate some potential
for linking appraisal
of change performance to valued financial incentives. Significantly
however,
this question also yielded the flattest response, with a standard deviation of
1.68 compared to around 1.0 to 1.3 for
most other responses and 2.0 for a theoretically
uniform
response. This clearly indicates, if further evidence
were needed, that financial
rewards
are not the only valued motivator. This does not however undermine the implied
potential
in performance related rewards.
On the subject of motivation, several of
those statements most agreed with, indicate the
perception
that individuals and teams are motivated to achieve good performance. No.17
specifically
suggests that individuals consider the work itself motivating. No.s 16, 27,
37 and 40 all confirm the impression of
motivation, but give no indication of the source
of motivation.
Whilst on the whole individuals find the
work motivating, there is strong disagreement
with statement No.32
that all tasks are ncessary and effective. Not
surprisingly therefore,
in response to
statement No.23, there is the general perception that individuals would
like to make changes to
their work, coupled with the reassuring perception, in response
No.31, that
the organisation possesses the capacity to change.
One area where individual perceptions
indicate no problem is in relationships with people
around
them, with statements No.11 and 19 being the two most agreed with.
There is an interesting difference between
the response to statement No.1 "I understand
the objectives of
FW", which was one of the most agreed with, and statement No.25
"FW's priorities are understood by
its employees", which was one of the most disagreed
with. This looks like a
behavioural issue associated with the questionnaire itself, and the
wording
of statement No.1. So far as an individual knows FW's objectives, it is difficult
to admit not
understanding them, even anonymously, and even recognising the different
view of others. I note
that when I trial completed the questionnaire myself, I too
exhibited
this behaviour.
Alternatively, if we accept individuals'
objectivity in their response, the general positive
bias in the overall
response may mean that, in general, those who responded do indeed
identify
more with corporate aims than those who did not. Either way, my conclusion
here is to suspect that
FW's priorities and objectives, other than current project
objectives,
are not generally well understood.
Finally, in this section on responses to
individual statements in questionnaire 2, the single
most problematic
statement, No.28, and two of the others most disagreed with, No.s 14
and 30, are management
criticisms.
The perception that "encouragement
and recognition are not given for all tasks at FW"
is a concern for
motivation whose only conceivable consolation is the possibility that
inclusion
of the word "all" made it subtly too extreme to attract general
agreement. The
other two problem
statements criticise "senior management style" as innefective
and
unhelpful,
and leadership of "the management team" as innefective
and uninspiring. A
number
of the general comments received, presented in appendix H, also reinforce this
perception
One concern with these criticisms based on
perception is to establish who is being
criticised.
The lack of encouragement and recognition may be aimed at colleagues and
peers as well as
immediate supervisors and higher management, although we should bear
in mind that most
perceived good relations with those around them.
I would surmise that most individuals
include management higher than their immediate
supervisor
when referring to senior management and the management team. This is
borne out by the
contrast with statement No.s 5, 6 and 38 which drew
consistently more
favourable
responses in relation to "my boss" on similar issues. Clearly this
issue can be
analysed
further later when looking at diferences in response
across different levels in the
organisation.
A second problem here is to decide if it
matters whether such criticisms are based on real
or perceived
problems. Clearly it does matter, in the sense that a different problem may
demand
a different solution, but either way a problem is indicated. If the criticisms
are
not founded in real
objective issues of management style, then the problem may be a
perception
of "us and them", whoever the management team is perceived to be.
Again,
if not, we will need
to consider what they are based on.
OVERALL ANALYSIS OF GROUPED STATEMENTS
We have analysed the overall response to
individual questionnaire statements only where
their average ratings
were the more extreme. There nevertheless appear to be some
themes
emerging concerning problem areas. In order to take account of responses to all
statements
not just the most extreme, it is necessary to group the responses. Carnall,
on whose checklists
the questionnaires are based, proposes a
grouping applicable to
each questionnaire
based on the issues reflected in each statement. As we shall see
several
of the themes already identified recur in these groupings.
THE ISSUES IN QUESTIONNAIRE 1
According to Carnall,
for questionnaire 1, concerned specifically with planning and
managing
changes, statements represent groups relevant to the folllowing
issues :-
TRACK RECORD ( No.s
1, 2 and 3 ). Has past change been successful,
resisted, misunderstood, met with caution ?
EXPECTATIONS ( No.s
4, 5 and 6 ). Does everyone know what to expect
from change, are the objectives clear ?
OWNERSHIP ( No.s 7, 8
and 9 ). Who identifies with the change; staff,
management or is it just procedure ?
TOP SUPPORT ( No.s
10, 11 and 12 ). Are top management supportive,
do their actions match the perception ?
ACCEPTABILITY ( No.s
13, 14 and 15 ). Is there a fit between current
work, future aims and planned change ?
PLANNING ( No.s 16,
17 and 18 ). Are change plans clear and achievable,
are responsibilities well defined ?
INTEGRATION ( No.s
19, 20 and 21 ). Will the scope and pace of change
be accommodated by the organisation ?
TRAINING ( No.s 22,
23 and 24 ). Is appropriate training provided, is it
correctly targetted ?
COMMITTMENT ( No.s
25, 26 and 27 ). Will the manner of
implementation create ownership and committment ?
FEEDBACK ( No.s 28,
29 and 30 ). If the benefits will accrue slowly or to
others, will users see them ?
STRESS ( No.s 31, 32
and 33 ). Is it recognised, how will problems be
handled in the "coping cycle" ?
THE ISSUES IN QUESTIONNAIRE 2
For questionnaire 2, concerned with organisational
performance as a whole, Carnall
arranges
responses to the statements into 8 groups of 5 as follows :-
KEY TASKS ( No.s 1,
9, 17, 25 and 33 ). Are the basic objectives defined
and work tasks meaningful ?
STRUCTURE ( No.s 2, 10,
18, 26 and 34 ). Are there problems with the
organisation and structure of tasks ?
RELATIONSHIPS ( No.s
3, 11, 19, 27 and 36 ). Are there
problems with
the way staff relate to one another ?
MOTIVATION ( No.s 4,
12, 20, 28 and 36 ). Are there problems with
encouragement, recognition and reward ?
SUPPORT ( No.s 5, 13,
21, 29 and 37 ). Are there problems with
organisational support ?
LEADERSHIP ( No.s 6,
14, 22, 30 and 38 ). Are there problems with
management style and leadership ?
ATTITUDE ( No.s 7,
15, 23, 31 and 39 ). Do staff have an attitude
problem towards change ?
PERFORMANCE ( No.s 8,
16, 24, 32 and 40 ). Are there problems with
performance and achievement ?
ANALYSIS OF GROUPED RESPONSES
On the basis of the above groupings the
mean responses to each group of statements
in both
questionnaires are presented in figure S11. These are ranked in order from the
most to least
problematic issues as perceived by the aggregate sample. Perhaps not
unexpectedly,
the most and least problematic groups of statements include several of the
most and least
problematic individual responses.
In connection with change specifically,
the same issues arise in questionnaire 1 as
perceived
problems. For example ;
The two most problematic issues concern
TRAINING in connection with change and
implementation
of changes in ways likely to achieve COMMITTMENT. Again also, this
is contrasted with
the fact that TOP SUPPORT for changes from management is not in
doubt and must, in part
at least, be responsible for the perceived success in implementing
specific
changes.
The next most problematic issues were
perceived to be INTEGRATION and
ACCEPTABILITY.
These indicate possible problems with changes not being perceived to
fit with wider goals
and objectives or previously defined tasks, or problems with
introducing
specific changes too fast on too wide a scale.
Three of the least problematic issues were
perceived to be the TRACK RECORD in
actually
implementing changes, the generation of FEEDBACK from changes, and the
PLANNING of changes.
The success in actually planning and implementing specific
changes
should be expected in an organisation whose core operation is project
management.
On the whole questionnaire 1 did not
exhibit a wide spread of ratings for the mean
response
to grouped questions. Such trends as are indicated however, appear consistent
with the analysis of
the more extreme responses.
Looking at the mean grouped responses for
questionnaire 2, also presented in figure S11,
we see again the
issues of MOTIVATION, LEADERSHIP and organisational SUPPORT
perceived
as most problematic. Conversely, Individuals see the definition of KEY TASKS
and objectives, the
general ATTITUDE towards change and their RELATIONSHIPS with
others
as least problematic.
Generally again, the analysis of grouped
statements reinforces the analysis of individual
statements
without highlighting any new issues and it is now possible to summarise the
overall
response to the survey :
SUMMARY OF THE OVERALL SAMPLE RESPONSE
ANALYSIS
Having analysed the overall sample mean responses to individual and grouped
statements,
we are in a position to summarise the analysis of ovearll
staff perceptions.
A number of themes and key issues have
arisen, several of which are common to both
questionnaires.
In summary :
* Planning and implementation of identifiable changes in the recent past
are perceived to have been successful.
* The support from top management for such specific changes is
perceived to have been enthusiastic and this
has contributed to such
success.
* There is perceived to be an underlying recognition of the need for
further
change and an implicit desire for involvement
in it.
* Problems are perceived concerning involvement with and committment
to changes experienced, possibly related to
inappropriate use of training
and feedback, though
feedback in itself is not perceived as a problem.
* The style of management and leadership is perceived to be
discouraging,
which conflicts with management enthusiasm for
specific changes and
which acts against the apparent positive
attitude to further change.
* Problems are perceived with motivation generally and specifically with
incentives to generate change. There is
evidence to link this with
ineffective use of performance appraisal, reward
and recognition.
* There is a perception that corporate goals,
wider than immediate project
objectives, are not widely recognised.
ANALYSIS OF REPONSES FROM DIFFERENT RESPONDENT
SAMPLES
All the previous analyses have been based
on the mean responses from the overall
sample
of 90 respondents, looking first at individual questionnaire statements and
then
at grouped statements
relevant to particular issues. We can get information about how
responses
vary for various groups within the sample by sorting according to the various
attributes
defined earlier for each respondent and calculating mean responses within each
sample
group.
There is no specific requirement in the
stated objectives to analyse particular groups, but
any significant
response differences may warrant different conclusions and
recommendations
concerning that group. The main objectives here in analysing different
sample
groupings are firstly, to establish the extent to which the overall sample is
representative
of the overall population, and secondly, to establish the extent to which
the overall mean
responses reflect general perceptions or merely the average of more
diverse
perceptions of different groups of the population.
THE SELECTION OF SAMPLE GROUPINGS
The overall sample responses were sorted
according to each of the respondent attributes
recorded
earlier and according to the change indicated in connection with questionnaire
1. Against each of these axes, the sample
was grouped into bands which were
contiguous
across the whole sample, and which maintained useful sample sizes within
each band so far as
practicable.
Analysis of responses to individual
statements was going to be impractical across
multiple
groupings and therefore all considerations of useful sample size were based on
subsequent
analysis of groups of three and five statements per issue. Using the
arguments
which led to the original overall sample size, the target was to select groups
of not less than 15,
although groups of 10 only could be considered useful in analysing
responses
to questionnaire 2.
Because of the limited objectives in
analysing the group samples there was no intent to
establish
significant correlations between groupings on different axes, nor sub-groups
within
groups. In looking at responses from different smaller sample groups to
different
issues
it was useful to bear in mind the sample mean confidence intervals implicit in
the
data. The analysis includes
references where applicable to approximate estimates of the
90% confidence intervals related to the
actual sample sizes and sample standard
deviations.
GROUPINGS ACCORDING TO CHANGES INDICATED
Respondents indicated relevant recent
changes in response to questionnaire 1, the
change
audit. These are summarised in figure S8, and discussed below. An important
point to bear in mind
during the subsequent analysis is that the responses give us no
indication
of the individual's role in the change indicated, other than that they
experienced
it and thought it relevant to the survey.
Apart from those 6 respondents who
identified no relevant change, only 7 changes were
identified
by more than one respondent. The groupings of change indicated are as
follows:
CHANGE INDICATED "SWIPE"
16 people referred to the introduction
during the previous year of an electronic swipe
card system, as a
combined replacement for security passes and manual clocking-in cards
for all employees. As
far as individual users' activities are concerned ,
practical effects
ofthis
change are limited to eliminating a few minutes effort each week manually
calculating
and reporting their hours attended at the office. The system automatically
generates
such records for management, and permits interested individuals to interrogate
their own hours recorded
so far. For supervisors and administrators, checking of manually
completed
clock-cards is replaced with the task of checking and reconciling system error
reports.
CHANGE INDICATED "DMS"
Interestingly, the next most frequently
indicated change reflects the other side of the
same coin. 14 people
indicated the introduction and upgrade of a project management
information
system. The Document or Deliverable Management System ( DMS
) was first
introduced
over four years prior to the survey and since then has been introduced onto
most projects and has
undergone a couple of upgrades. The system impinges on all staff
involved
in project operations, who must individually allocate and report their hours
spent
against
work breakdowns and subdivided activities
associated with deliverables within
the DMS. Prior to
introduction of this system, reporting of activities at levels lower than
overall
contract and account codes was the exception rather than the rule. For line
managers,
project managers and supervisors, the DMS is one, if not the, key means of
planning
activities, allocating manpower resources and budgets and the monitoring and
controlling
subsequent progress. In some areas, the definition of tasks within the system
are being linked to
specific procedures and work instructions for quality management
purposes,
and to higher level planning and estimating activities. Like any powerful MIS,
its value relies on
detailed planning, reporting and forecasting by those involved at the
individual
task level. This is the other main area where DMS impinges on the activities
of most individuals
in involved in project operations.
CHANGE INDICATED "TQM"
9 respondents indicated as their subject
change, the introduction during 1989 of a Juran
based Total Quality
Management program. This has so far involved setting up of a
Quality Council, several Quality
Improvement and Action Teams and numerous Quality
Circles. In part at least, its
introduction stemmed from recognising its importance to
major clients, but also
from internal recognition of its potential for making operational
improvements.
Having adopted TQM is almost certainly a marketing success, and in fact
much of the language of
TQM has become accepted curency throughout the
company
and on projects. It is
quite normal to refer to "TQM facilitators", "team
building",
"internal
customers" and "opportunities" as opposed to problems. The jury
must remain
out concerning the
extent to which significant tangible benefits have accrued, but it is
still relatively early
days to expect dramatic improvements. Despite frustration in some
quarters,
there remains high level recognition that TQM not only holds enormous potential
for change, but also
that tangible benefits may need to be preceeded by
less tangible
cultural
changes. To some extent, the brief for this project stems implicitly from this
latter
point.
(With a sample of only 9 groups of 3 or 5
statements, the 90% confidence interval for
sample
mean responses is estimated to be around +/- 0.33 on each of the scales
defined.)
CHANGE INDICATED "LRQA"
Another 9 respondents selected another
quality related change; accreditation of our
operation
by LLoyds Register according to BS 5750 Quality
Systems. More so than with
TQM, this was a directly market driven
change. The organisations we were dealing with
and important
competitors were becoming accredited and there was a danger of this
becoming
a definite diasadvantage in the market place. FWEL
has operated systems and
procedures
satisfying much of the intent of BS 5750 or ISO 9000 since before such
standards
existed. This quality image had in fact probably given FWEL certain competitive
advantage
prior to widespread accreditation. Individual involvement with this change
varied
enormously. Some were heavily involved in a major "facelift" given to
all our
existing
contract execution procedures. Most if not all individuals will have been
exposed
to the published
revisions to these procedure. To a greater or lesser extent many have
been involved in
preparation for and participation in increased audit activities, prior to
during
and since accreditation.
( The same comment applies
to the sample size as TQM above.)
CHANGE INDICATED "PC/IT"
15 respondents indicated IT changes. This
included 4, who referred to the widespread
introduction
of Personal Computers (PC's) for general purpose use, whilst the remainder
indicated
11 different specific IT changes affecting their own areas of work. Only one
referred
to the widespread introduction of "PDS" 3D CAD modelling as the main
design
tool on current
projects. Only one referred to the recent introduction of, so called,
"intelligent
flowsheets" as a project engineering tool on
some recent contracts.
OTHER CHANGES INDICATED
Changes indicated by the remaining 21
respondents are lumped together as the "REST"
for later analysis.
Of these, 5 identified the adoption of an
American Express (AMEX) based personal
expense
account system to replace the existing internal system.
3, all from Project Engineering,
identified the reorganisation which merged their
department
under the Engineering and Computer Aided Design department.
5 others identified structural changes;
various separate group reorganisations and one
personal
assignment change.
The remaining 8 identified different
procedural changes, such as the introduction of
specific
new systems or practices into specific groups.
It is relevant to note at this point the
nature of the changes indicated as relevant by more
than one respondent.
Three of the changes indicated are administrative or control
systems
( SWIPE, DMS and AMEX ), and two are quality management initiatives ( TQM
and LRQA ), the other
being a structural change. None are operating systems.
Clearly we might expect a larger sample
from the administrative changes simply because
they directly affect
most of the population. Whilst this finding does not in itself indicate
a low level of
operational changes, it does nevertheless seem to indicate a lower general
emphasis
on these as perceived by the staff population.
GROUPINGS ACCORDING TO SEX ( Refer figure S3 )
Not much mystery here about the groupings.
In fact the response included 76 men and
14 women and hence these form the two
groups analysed. This reflects a very similar
response
rate between the sexes, 58% for women, 54% for men. The target sample was
also very uniformly
distributed according to the distribution of the sexes in the
population,
15% women and 85% men. The overall response sample analysed earlier is
therefore
very closely representative of the mix of sexes within the staff population.
GROUPINGS ACCORDING TO STAFF GRADE ( Refer figure S2 )
With 20 different staff grades represented
in the population and the target sample, the
response
sample includes widely ranging response rates and sample sizes for each
individual
grade.
Firstly, consecutive grades were grouped
to provide useful sample sizes as follows :
Grades 18, 19 and 20 formed a sample of 11
Grade 17 formed a sample of 15
Grades 15 and 16 formed a sample of 21
Grades 12, 13 and 14 formed a sample of 14
Grades 10 and 11 formed a sample of 18
The remaining grades 0 to 9
formed a sample of 11
Even having done this, the response rate
and population proportions vary significantly
between
groups. For example :
The higher grades 17 to 20 had a higher
response rate of 73% to 75% compared to 55%
overall,
whereas grades 12 to 14 and 0 to 9 yielded a lower response rate of 34% to
45%. Whilst this is in itself of interest
in terms of identifying the most positive response
behaviour
amongst the higher grade staff, the effect on the representative nature of the
overall
response needs also to take into account the bias in the target sample.
As noted earlier, grades 12 and 13 were
already under represented in the target sample.
The net result is that the overall
response analysis presented earlier is biased towards the
grade 18, 19 and 20
group, and under represents the 12 to 14 and 0 to 9 groups. We
need to bear in mind
also that staff grade is only an imperfect indicator of organisational
level.
GROUPINGS ACCORDING TO AGE ( Refer figure S4 )
Responses were first grouped into age
bands of useable sample sizes.
Those up to and including 25 years of age last birthday
formed one group of 15.
Those 26 to 35 years formed a group of 18.
Those 36 to 40 years formed a group of 13.
Those 41 to 45 years formed a group of 16.
Those 46 to 50 years formed a group of 11.
Those 51 and over formed the remaining group of 17.
The response rate across the age groups
was quite uniform, ranging from 49% to 59%
compared
to 55% overall, except for the 41 to 45 year band which yielded a 76%
response.
Taking into account the original bias in the target sample, the overal population
was uniformly
representative of the population age bands, with a slight bias towards
those in the 36 to 45
year groups being over represented.
GROUPINGS ACCORDING TO LENGTH OF SERVICE ( Refer figure S5 )
As with the other groupings, the response
sample was grouped into bands which
provided
useful sample sizes.
Those with 1 to 2 years service completed
formed the first
group of 25.
Those with 3 to 5 years service formed a group
of 12.
Those with 6 to 10 years service formed a
group of 22.
Those with 11 to 15 years service formed a
group of 16.
Those with 16 and over years formed a group of 15.
There was some variation in response rate;
the 6 to 10 and the 16 and more year bands
yielded
69% and 65% responses compared to the overall rate of 55%.
The overall response sample was uniformly
representative of the population, except for
a bias towards the 6
to 10 year band being over represented. Because of a deliberate
bias in the target sample,
the response did not include those with less than one years
service
completed at the time of the survey.
GROUPINGS ACCORDING TO DEPARTMENT ( Refer figure S1 )
Departments do not fall into neat
groupings, and several smaller individual departments
yielded
very small response samples. It was not generally possible to create artificial
groupings
of useful sample size, as was the case with other groupings. Those groups
analysed
are summarised as follows :
The Glasgow and Glasgow assigned departments, 111 and
112, formed one small group of 8 responses.
The Process Engineering department, 152, yielded another
small sample group of 7 responses.
The Engineering and Computer Aided Design department,
153, is the largest department
and yielded the largest
sample group of 38 responses.
The Materials Management department, 165, incorporating
purchasing, inspection and shipping groups,
provided a
useful sample group of 11 responses.
The Home Office and Field Construction departments, 193
and 196, yielded another small sample group of
5
responses.
The remainder formed a group of 21 responses.
Both the Glasgow (111/112) and
Construction (193/196) departments yielded below
average
response rates of 44% and 42% compared to 55% overall. Construction
departments
response rate as recorded is depressed by two of their target sample who
failed
to receive their questionnaires in time, whilst assigned to more obscure
locations.
Unfortunately, Construction were also
somewhat under represented in the randomly
selected
target sample. The low response from Glasgow may be connected with two
queries
of confidentiality originating from there.
The net result is that the overall sample
is clearly dominated by the largest department;
Engineering and CAD.
The overall sample is in fact biased towards both this dept
and to
Materials Management department, whilst
both Glasgow and Construction departments
are under represented.
The sample sizes of response from Glasgow,
Process and Construction departments are
too small to draw much
significance from their mean responses.
ANALYSIS OF RESPONSE FROM GROUP SAMPLES
For each of the sample groups described
above, mean responses were evaluated from
the aggregate response
to each defined group of statements relevant to a specific issue,
in the same way
described earlier for the overall sample.
These mean responses for all sample groups
for all groups of statements are presented
in a single table;
figure S12. In this figure responses are tabulated within each
questionnaire
in the same ranking from most to least problematic issues derived from the
overall
analysis. By highlighting the two most and the two least problematic issues
according
to the perception of each sample group in this table, comparison between the
ranking
of issues according to each sample group and the overall sample is facilitated.
Several alternative graphical
representations of this data were investigated, involving
either
large numbers of individual histograms or fewer multivariate histograms. I
concluded
that none were any easier to interpret and compare across the groupings than
the tabular form.
Clearly if specific comparisons or correlations warrant further analysis,
then specific graphical
presentations may prove more useful and the data remains
available
to generate these at a later date.
The following analyses are therefore based
on the data tabulated in figure S12.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON SAMPLE GROUP
RESPONSES
The first point to note is that the
general rankings from most to least problematic issues
according
to the perceptions of each sample group is much the same as the overall
sample.
The following are three examples of the extent to which this is true :
Firstly, there are no exceptions to the
statement that the top 2 most problematic issues
in any of the 32
sample groups in either questionnaire are always ranked more highly in
the overall sample
than the 2 least problematic issues in the same sample group.
Secondly, there are only 2 exceptions to
the statement that 3 out of the 4 most
problematic
issues in any sample group of responses to questionnaire 1 are ranked
amongst
the four 4 problematic issues in the overall sample. Furthermore in 12 of the
32
sample
groups, all 4 issues fall in the overall top 4.
( Interestingly,
for 12 of the 17 groups where only 3 of their top 4 fall in the overall top
4, the 4th ranked issue is STRESS, the 5th
most problematic issue in the overall sample.
As noted earlier, this issue incorporates reponses to individual statements 31 and 33,
whose evaluation on the
scale adopted was most suspect, depending on an assumption
about the individual's
role in the change.)
Thirdly, there is only 1 exception to the
statement that 2 out of the 3 most problematic
issues
in any sample group responses to questionnaire 2 are ranked amongst the 3 most
problematic
issues overall. Furthermore, 25 of the 32 groups have the same top 3 issues
as the overall
sample.
Having said that, a number of exceptions
and trends are observable amongst the sample
groups:
RESPONSE DIFFERENCES ACCORDING TO CHANGES
INDICATED
The mean responses from the sample
indicating the TQM change were generally less
problematic
than the overall reponse for both questionnaires.
As a well publicised
initiative, whose objectives have been the subject of numerous
presentations
and communications within the company, there are relatively low problems
perceived
with the issues of COMMITTMENT, INTEGRATION and ACCEPTABILITY.
Perhaps not unsurprisingly, TQM scores
relatively badly on issues of TRACK RECORD and
FEEDBACK, consistent with a perceived lack
of tangible benefits.
The sample indicating the LRQA change
produced the lowest average level of perceived
problems
in questionnaire 1, although it exhibits virtually the same relative ranking of
problem
issues as the overall sample. Particularly low perceived problem levels were
indicated
for the issues of ACCEPTABILITY, EXPECTATIONS, PLANNING and TOP
SUPPORT.
This was a change whose success and schedule were known by all to be of
the highest importance
to top management and to FW's position in the market.
The response from the sample indicating
the SWIPE change also reflects the nature of
the change and its
implementation. FEEDBACK was the least problematic issue, but then
the system provides
some immediate feedback to those interested. It gave the 2nd
lowest
STRESS rating, but then it involved minimal new activities for most users.
Interestingly, it scored above average
perceived problem levels for the issues of
COMMITTMENT, ACCEPTABILITY and
EXPECTATIONS, but then the success of a
change
with minimum tangible impact on users does not necessarily demand high levels
of committment and understanding of its fit with wider
objectives.
The DMS change reponse
yielded the highest perceived problem levels for questionnaire
1. The system involved in this change is
now widely active and hence successfully
implemented.
This is reflected in the relatively low perceived problem level for TRACK
RECORD.
Nevertheless FEEDBACK yields a relatively high problem level, probably
reflecting
a significant body of users who remain sceptical about its benefits outweighing
the extra effort and
discipline. This too is consistent with the higher than average
problem
ratings perceived for the issues of COMMITTMENT and ACCEPTABILITY and the
highest
perceived problems with STRESS. Despite higher than average problem ratings
for the DMS change,
TOP SUPPORT still yields one of the least problematic ratings,
reflecting
that users are nevertheless well aware of the importance that higher
management
attach to this system.
In questionnaire 2, the change indicated
is not directly relevant, but reflects firstly, the
particular
groups of individuals who saw each change as relevant in the previous
questionnaire,
and secondly, the extent to which perceptions specific to the change are
carried
forward to the general issues in questionnaire 2.
In fact, responses to questionnaire 2, the
organisational diagnosis, vary little with the
change
indicated in questionnaire 1. The only significant observation is that those
who
indicated
the DMS change also yielded higher than average general problem ratings for
questionnaire
2. This group yielded the most extreme perceived problem levels for the
issues
of LEADERSHIP and MOTIVATION, which appears quite consistent with this
group's
perception of the DMS change.
RESPONSE DIFFERENCES ACCORDING TO SEX
As the dominant sample, response to both
questionnaires from the men more or less
reflect
the overall sample analysed earlier.
Women perceived higher average problem
levels for both questionnaires. Both sexes
agreed
on the four most problematic issues in questionnaire 1, but women perceived
COMMITTMENT and ACCEPTABILITY issues of
specific recent change as significantly
more problematic.
Women also considered STRESS as least
problematic, which could reflect either that
women are more tolerant
of pressure, or that women in the organisation are less exposed
to it. The survey
sample summaries in appendix S show that the distribution of womens
roles are skewed into
certain grades and departments, however to pursue any
correlations
and causal connections is beyond the scope of this dissertation. ( Remember
also that responses
concerning the STRESS issue are of more doubtful significance due
to survey
limitations. )
In questionnaire 2, women are also unique
as a group in perceiving the definition of KEY
TASKS and objectives as one of the most
problematic issues. The fact that the women
do emphasise
different issues from men supports the idea that encouraging women into
a wider range of
roles and levels can only improve the balance of issues addressed in
future
decision making.
DIFFERENCES ACCORDING TO STAFF GRADE
With perceived problems of management
style, LEADERSHIP and MOTIVATION as key
themes
emerging, any pattern or trend in perceptions across levels in the organisation
would be of particular
interest.
In questionnaire 1, the change audit,
those in the hihest grades, 18, 19 and 20, yielded
higher
than average problem ratings but this does not seem to reflect any general
trend
across
the grades. Significant differences in the general ranking of issues include
the fact
that ACCEPTABILITY and
STRESS are elevated to the top two perceived problem issues
for grades 17 to 20.
In questionnaire 2, the organisational
diagnosis, there are differences across grades, but
again no clear trends
are apparent. All except grades 10 and 11 perceive MOTIVATION
and LEADERSHIP as the
two most problematic issues. Grades 10 and 11 place SUPPORT
and MOTIVATION as the
top two problem issues and relegate the issue of LEADERSHIP
below STRUCTURE and
PERFORMANCE. The lack of any clear trend is illustrated by the
fact that grades 1 to
9, 12 to 14 and 17 all perceive the issues of MOTIVATION and
LEADERSHIP more problematic than do grades
10 and 11, 15 and 16, and 18 to 20.
DIFFERENCES ACCORDING TO AGE AND YEARS
SERVICE
These two groupings are analysed together
because they exhibit very similar patterns,
probably
reflecting a correlation between age and length of service.
In questionnaire 1, the two most
problematic issues concern TRAINING and
COMMITTMENT for ages up to 35 years and
all lengths of service up to 10 years. Above
these bands, there is a
general reduction in average problem levels received, bringing
issues
of INTEGRATION, ACCEPTABILITY and STRESS to the top of the list of problems.
In questionnaire 2, the three most
problematic issues remain MOTIVATION, LEADERSHIP
and organisational
SUPPORT across all bands of age and all lengths of service, except
those 46 to 50 years of
age. The three issues perceived as least problematic,
RELATIONSHIPS, ATTITUDES to change, and
the definition of KEY TASKS and
objectives,
also remain the same across all bands, except for those over 16 years service
where issues of
structure are perceived less problematic.
DIFFERENCES ACCORDING TO DEPARTMENT
There are observable differences in
response across departments, but the dominant
samples
from departments 153, 165 and the REST ( excluding 111, 112, 152, 193 and
196 ) agree most closely
with the overall ranking of problem issues. The more marked
differences
are yielded by the less significant samples, department groups 111/112, 152
and 193/196.
Of the more significant samples,
Engineering and CAD department (153) yielded the
highest
average perceived problem levels for questionnaire 1, the change audit. Of the
less significant
samples, Process Engineering department (152) perceived the highest
average
problem levels.
Glasgow departments (111/112) indicated
COMMITTMENT and INTEGRATION as their
most problematic
issues, which would be consistent with a general perception that
Glasgow tend to
be less involved with Reading originated changes. It is worth noting at
this point that the
voluntary response rate to the questionnaire was particularly low from
Glasgow.
Process Engineering department (152), also
one of the smaller less significant samples,
yielded
the highest average perceived problem level for questionnaire 1. It was however
also a particularly
flat response, such that even the two issues perceived as least
problematic,
TRACK RECORD and TOP SUPPORT, are in fact rated more problematic than
even the average
problem ratings of most other groupings.
In questionnaire 2, the two most
significant samples from Engineering and CAD
department
(153) and Materials Management department (165), show the highest
perceived
problem ratings for the MOTIVATION issue. Also in questionnaire 2,
department
152, Process Engineering, was unique in ranking ATTITUDE to change equal
to LEADERSHIP as the
most problematic perception, relegating MOTIVATION to third
place.
GENERAL CONCLUSION FROM SAMPLE GROUP
RESPONSES
The general conclusion from this section
must support the general observation at the
start of the analysis of
sample group responses, namely that the ranking of perceived
problem
issues is uniform across most groupings. This can only reinforce the impression
that the analysis of
the overall response does reflect generally held perceptions.
A possible alternative conclusion, which I
believe should be discounted, is that the design
and execution of the
survey is unsatisfactory and is perhaps unable to separate the
issues
involved. The responses could merely reflect some other random scatter of
responses
associated with surveys of this type rather than the specific statements and
issues.
Faith that the survey does indeed reflect
perceptions concerning the issues under analysis
was confirmed in
particular by the variation of responses according to the change
indicated.
Significant variations in the change audit perceptions as a function of the
change
seemed to fit most plausibly with my own ab-initio
experience of the specific
changes,
quite separate from the questionnaires themselves. Furthermore the rankings
of responses to
questionnaire 2, the organisational diagnosis were particularly uniform
across
the same grouping. This was entirely consistent with the prior statement that
the
response
to the organisational diagnosis should not be directly dependant on the change
indicated
in the change audit.
Part of the objective stated in the
introduction was to identify FWEL's strengths and weaknesses in relation to the
management of change.
The strengths can be summarised under four
headings:
- Project Management
- Project Culture
- Networking
- Total Quality Management
The weaknesses will be discussed under
also under four headings:
- Bureaucratic / Role Culture
- Management Style
- Corporate Identity
- Performance Appraisal
STRENGTHS - PROJECT MANAGEMENT
The implementation phase of any change
whose intended outcome can be pre-defined in terms of deliverables can be
managed as a project. Project management is a core aspect of FWEL's operation
and we should not be surprised to find this a strength
in the management of change. Visible top management support and clear planning
have contributed to successful implementation of specific changes.
STRENGTHS - PROJECT CULTURE
As well as the mechanics and skills of
project management, a general feature of the operation is that most functions
are project based. The majority of the workforce is accustomed to a fresh start
on each new project assignment. This break with the old is particularly
clear-cut for those physically assigned to new task forces. Many things about the
new role will be the same as the old, but the start of each new assignment is a
trigger to ask what's new. The start of each new project is also the natural
opportunity to introduce new systems.
This does not in itself overcome the
natural fear of uncertainty in any new features of a new project, but staff are used to having to cope with it. This feature too
may also contribute to the relative success in implementing specific managed
changes and to the positive attitude towards change perceived by individuals.
A counter feature however is the natural
effect that in order to have a necessary level of continuity from project, and
in order not to reinvent too many wheels each time, there is the need for
formalised systems and contract execution procedures against which tasks are
planned and controlled.
STRENGTHS - NETWORKING
The regular setting up and disbanding of
project teams means that individuals meet a range of opposite numbers in
different groups with which they must interface on each project. Groups of
individuals who gain good experience of team members on one project have made
useful contacts to draw on informally when difficulties arise on later
projects.
This feature can at least partly explain
why individuals generally perceive satisfactory interpersonal relationships
whilst experiencing some remoteness from members of their home department and
line management.
STRENGTHS - TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
The current TQM initiative already
represents a significant investment in financial and human capital. I am not
able to claim from this project that there is evidence of tangible success in
TQM, but it is an undoubted asset in the management of change.
Key aspects include identifying relevant
indicators of performance by open brainstorming, monitoring and evaluating the
indicators, diagnosing problems and opportunities, evaluating and selecting
courses of action and so on. The aims and philosophies of TQM are entirely
consistent with the management of change
In addition to the techniques and tools of
change management, TQM also recognises the importance of less tangible elements
like culture and commitment, even if it does not itself provide prescriptions
for managing these.
WEAKNESSES - A BUREAUCRATIC ROLE CULTURE
We have already noted that the range of
specialist disciplines and functional titles in the organisation tend naturally
to indicate a role culture. Even before quality management systems became
widely formalised, health and safety aspects of the operation demanded clear
definition of authority and responsibility for technical decisions of all
kinds. Extensive procedures and administrative controls are a natural
consequence.
As IT spreads into the work processes and
control systems, the controls can take on the flavour of direct technological
control. When it does, the balance between control and discretion moves towards
control, and it becomes increasingly difficult to buck
the system. I consider that these lines of argument can explain some of the
perceptions of an impersonal bureaucracy.
It seems almost unnecessary to point out
that such a culture is a weakness when trying to encourage creativity and
innovation.
WEAKNESSES - MANAGEMENT STYLE AND
LEADERSHIP
Another inescapable weakness is the fact
that management styles and leadership are perceived to be ineffective and even
discouraging.
We noted that questionnaire statements
referring to "my boss" drew generally more favourable ratings,
implying that the perceptions were levelled mainly at higher management,
however this is not necessarily the whole story. Whilst some individuals’
perceptions of "higher management" will be based on their direct
experience of individual managers or directors, many will not. Some will no
doubt be based on here-say and reputations, but it is quite possible that many
could be attributed to a more anonymous image perceived through the culture of
the organisation.
(Added 1994) Note also the later survey
(65) of 80 staff members of one particular large department yielded extremely low
ratings concerning the extent to which management inspire leadership or any
vision for the future - ratings so low as to place them in the bottom 15 to 20%
of any management population sampled.
WEAKNESSES - PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Another motivational weakness identified
concerns the perception that performance appraisal is infrequent and arbitrary.
Linked to this perception is the perception that there is insufficient
attention to reward, recognition and encouragement.
I believe the importance of performance
appraisal in encouraging creativity and change is being overlooked. There is
potential for linking such appraisal to rewards and recognition in general.
WEAKNESSES - CORPORATE IDENTITY
One downside of the project management
strengths and the project culture is the weakening effect on corporate
identity. Individuals identify with their current project(s) and for good
project management reasons are encouraged to do so. For a large body of
individuals, assigned to one project after another, links with line management
and corporate aims can be greatly weakened.
It is not surprising therefore to find the
perception, in both this survey and Paul Peters' survey (45), that corporate
goals and performance are not widely recognised, and that corporate management
appear somewhat remote.
Recommendations are proposed under four
headings:
- Total Quality Management
- Measures of Performance
- Corporate Identity Program
- Management Development
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT – A ROSE BY ANY
OTHER NAME
My first recommendation is quite simply
that any of the following recommendations be explored and developed under the
TQM banner using TQM tools and techniques. I have already stressed that TQM is
an important asset for the management of change.
It would be entirely inappropriate to
institute a further general program of change alongside or in place of TQM. To
supersede TQM with a new initiative concerned with change and flexibility would
be to replace it with TQM by any other name.
If there are perceived to be blockages to
achieving success with TQM in the corporate sphere, as opposed to on projects,
then these should be addressed directly.
MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE
As a short-term measure, awareness of the
importance of performance appraisal of individual staff should be raised
amongst all managers, who should be encouraged to ensure that existing
arrangements are at least applied regularly.
In the longer term, measures of
performance should be addressed more widely by an appropriate Quality Team.
Those measures directly relevant to individual performance should become the
basis of performance appraisal and performance related rewards. For example, If contributions to change and flexibility are valued by the
company, then performance appraisal must reflect this. Ultimately rewards
should be directly related to such performance indicators.
The concern with measures of performance
is much wider than this however. We need to be concerned with the
"performance gap", or the "cost of poor
quality" in Juran TQM terms, across a whole
range of values of importance to the company. Subsequent use of such measures
in all appropriate applications can gradually define the cultural values within
the company.
Carnall's
"measures of effectiveness matrix" (17) presented in figure 8.1, may
be used as a framework for brainstorming ideas relevant within FWEL. The
important point is that we should aim to identify a whole range of measures
that together give a balance between efficiency and effectiveness, between
resources and objectives, and between the quantitative and the qualitative. It
is a simple matter to identify quantitative effectiveness and efficiency
objectives like profitability, growth, productivities and reject rates. It
would be normal to find an existing imbalance of available measures in this
direction and qualitative resource measures are needed to restore the balance.
All future Quality Teams will have this
inventory of measures available on which to base assessment of other desirable
improvements, and against which to monitor their progress. If the performance
of TQM activities is to be valued, they too need measures of performance.
CORPORATE IDENTITY PROGRAM
Corporate identity programs are credited
with a whole range of operational, marketing and other benefits, and may
comprise a whole range of elements, from the visual image of the corporate logo
to the less tangible aspects of corporate culture (45) (43). We are not
concerned here with the arguments for or against FWEL initiating a corporate
identity program of this type, however the need to address the extent to which
staff identify with corporate aims, is a clear conclusion of this project.
I recommend that another quality team be
charged with the task of establishing a corporate communications program. The
object would be to increase awareness of corporate aims and performance against
those aims. It must draw on the measures of performance established above. It
must also, where appropriate, raise awareness of the significance of specific
aims in relation to FWEL's position and threats in the market and the
environment in general.
Vehicles of communication should not be
limited to one-way top down publications and presentations, but should also
consider the use of more interactive discussions at group levels. In other
words such communication must address understanding, commitment and involvement
as well as information.
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
It is impossible that perceived problems
with corporate leadership and management style can be seen here as specific
actual problems with specific remedies. There can be little doubt however, that
the perceptions are genuine and that they do represent a blockage to creativity
and change which needs to be addressed.
We have already acknowledged that part of
the problem may be a general perception of the culture rather than specific
experience of individuals or groups of managers. Strengthening the image of a
wider range of corporate values can go some way to improving this general
cultural perception.
Perceived visibility and remoteness of
line management from project assigned staff could only benefit from a simple
recommendation that managers should increase their use of "management by
walking around". A renewed attention to regular performance appraisal
would also improve perceived visibility.
Reading the perceived criticisms of
discouraging management style and ineffective leadership, managers may not openly
recognise specific failings that they could correct. Understanding and
accepting such problems as may exist would however be a pre-requisite for
planning any remedial action.
Ensuring that the range of performance
indicators explored above included qualitative management performance
indicators is an essential step towards identifying such problems. A natural
next step is to ensure such indicators are included in managers' performance appraisals.
Management involvement in quality teams addressing management performance
indicators may in itself also contribute to those managers recognising problems
of management style.
In an organisation tending towards a
bureaucratic role culture, it would be surprising not to find these development
activities compromised by existing politics, organisational defences (4) and
various perceptual, emotional and cultural blockages (2). Performance
indicators themselves will be prone to manipulation for diverse ends during
definition, reporting and analysis. This is one reason for ensuring that the
widest range of performance indicators is available and in use wherever
appropriate.
Nevertheless, it may be necessary to
address such cultural blockages directly, rather than expecting commitment to
TQM and the establishment of clearer corporate values to generate a gradual
change in the underlying values. There are no clear conclusions from this
project as to how this might be achieved and there is every indication that
this would be a far from easy process. It is beyond this dissertation to
propose specific actions here.
This project has been successful in
achieving the stated objectives of identifying strengths and weaknesses in the
areas of attitudes and culture relevant to the management of change at FWEL,
and of identifying actions intended to exploit or mitigate these. This
dissertation has presented findings which may be summarised as follows:
Concern with future change and flexibility
at FWEL is a relevant current issue demanding attention with some urgency. FWEL
must be ready to change in ways that cannot necessarily be predicted.
FWEL's Total Quality Management and
Project Management resources provide powerful mechanisms for managing change,
but successful change and flexibility rely on more than mechanisms. There are
cultural weaknesses manifest in perceptions of bureaucracy, management style
and corporate identity, which the recommendations address directly and indirectly.
As acknowledged at the outset, the subject
was wide and encompassed most general management issues, many of which I have
barely touched upon. Choosing to focus on attitudes and perceptions of culture
and style has presented a challenge in objectivity of analysis and
presentation.
The survey itself, which made direct use
of checklists presented by Carnall (17), appears to
have been successful in identifying the issues. Limitations arose from failing
to establish each respondent’s role or involvement in the specific changes
identified, and in the selection of sufficiently large samples from some of the
groups of interest.
The actual response to the survey yielded
no major surprises, however it provided essential data without which objective
analysis of intangible issues in the FWEL context would have been near
impossible.
There were two conclusions that interested
me in their own right, quite apart from their future relevance to FWEL.
The first was the realisation of the close
parallel between the management of change and TQM, although I did not followed up any links in the literature. It reinforced the
impression that making TQM work is an essential component of future change and
flexibility.
The second was recognising the culture of
the FWEL organisation in my own choice of the organisational learning model of
change as the starting point of my analysis. I was starting with a logical,
rational system model against which the softer issues might be seen as
secondary. It's the way we do things around here, or at least it has been.
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65. (Added 1994) UNPUBLISHED.
LEADERSHIP PROFILES INVENTORY, FOSTER WHEELER PIPING ENGINEERS
LEADERSHIP PROGRAM, EASTHAMPSTEAD PARK, APRIL 1994.
APPENDIX B. COMPANY
ORGANISATION AND STRUCTURE
APPENDIX C. PROCESS PLANTS
DIVISION STAFF PROFILE
APPENDIX D. THE STAFF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
(Linked are zipped, scanned PDF copies of the Questionnaires actually used,
but with the statistical summary results pasted in.)
APPENDIX S. SURVEY SUMMARY
AFTER 90 RESPONSES