Sunny Maldives Background

Discuss about the Change Management for Employees and Teams.

Change Management is quite crucial for organizations; it can be defined a transition for organizational teams, employees, teams from the current state to a future state so as to ensure they meet their Company’s vision (Cameron & Green, 2004).  It is happening almost daily; organizations are doing this to maximize profits, improve performance and to gain competitive advantage.  Most organizations have had their success because of embracing positive change. Positive change is, therefore, necessary for organizations. For my assignment, I will focus on the Sunny Maldives Company. I chose this company as it is one of the leading enterprises in the tourism industry. In Maldives tourism is the primary economic activity, this is because it is an island. Many people choose their getaways in islands hence Maldives has been very many tourists. It is owned by a group of companies namely Maldives deluxe resorts, book Maldives resort and Maldives dive boats (Cameron & Green, 2004).

Sunny Maldives was registered in the year 2000. It was known as Marvelous Maldives and later rebranded to Sunny Maldives. The aim of the organization is to run any business involved in tourism. It is recognized by the ministry of education of the state. It started as a company for booking hotels and reservations for tourists; customers were quite satisfied with this service as they offered them professionally. After six years the company had a management reshuffle so as to make sure it gained a competitive advantage over its competitors. After the reshuffle, the organization was able to hit a high target of customers, gain competitive advantage, develop company’s mission and vision statements. Today Sunny Maldives is one of the most reliable and trusted companies in the state; it also gives a variety of services bookings, resort allocation and resorts total allocation. The success of this organization has been linked to change management and diversification of products. They diversify their products by supplying fish and resort supplies. The company stands out from other enterprises by producing quality products and services.

Sunny Maldives Company performed better after an organizational change, re-engineering of their workforce was quite crucial to ensure that they gained a competitive advantage, and they were able to stand out from other organizations in the same sector. They can bridge the gap between what their customers needed and the results. Today they offer the best services on the island. The main aim of changing management was to ensure they deliver expected results. Realistically, before 2006, they used to deliver expected outputs materials but not outcomes. It is expensive funding an organization that does not provide results (Change management, 1989).

Importance of Change Management

Another importance of change management in the company was to mitigate the mission’s critical risk. It is paramount for all agencies to have a mission statement. It guides them by showing them what is expected of them shortly (“Change of editorial address”, 1985). When an organization fails to work towards achieving its mission statements or fails to control possible risks, they increase their costs of rework, redesign, retrain and in some other cases it may result to retreat.

Change management in the Sunny Maldives Company was also to ensure that they treat their employee’s right. Treating employee’s right is important. In most successful organizations, they treat them as their most valuable asset. By treating them right, one creates a conducive environment for working and motivates them (“Change of editorial address”, 1985). Motivation is quite crucial as it makes them work to produce results not just to finish the job (Change management, 2007).

Another important reason for change management is to enhance innovation. Sunny Maldives change management system was of great success as it assisted the company in coming up with better ways of customer satisfaction. Sunny Maldives introduced a new type of super boats that increased was well accepted in the market. It was evident after the turnaround of management in 2006 (Change management, 2007). The new leaders came sat down, brainstormed and they came up with good ways of diversifying their products and ensuring that their customers are satisfied (Change management, 2007). It is evident that the new team had a lot of innovativeness that was important for the company to move forward. Change management makes customers, suppliers and employees support and understand the need of change (Change management, 2007). In most cases, if we do not manage change customers will not be aware of what is happening. It is, therefore, crucial to inform them so that they can support change and embrace it (Green, 2007).

Management changes have already been taking place in this group. There are few changes I would like to make. However, I would like to make slight changes to the F&B supervisor. There have been complaints on trip advisor on setting of the dining. Orders were slow, and there was limited list of breakfast foods to choose. In hotels, customer satisfaction is usually gained through good food and excellent service. The customer appreciates the site at the hotel, but they did not get a variety of food which was not what they expected. It is always good to go beyond customer expectations; this is the only way to satisfy customers. I would recommend change management here so as to ensure that the clients get what they expect. Change management does not mean downsizing an employee just because of one complaint. I would recommend training, an increase of people in the department or a reshuffle. In most cases, we find that people may be useful in other fields not only what they have studied in school.

Identify the Management Changes you Would like to take Place in the Organization

Another important change would be the maintenance team. They have a responsibility of maintaining clean, clear water. Most tourists visit this place expecting drinking water, marine flora, and fauna. Marine organisms cannot survive in areas where water is not crystal clear. For this reason, the maintenance team needs to improve and perform their job in a better way (Green, 2007). I would apply change management in this department. I would only reshuffle the structure of the department and ensure they have a retrain on how to do their job. A warning and a reshuffle is a good way of introducing change to an organization (Green, 2007). I find change only necessary in areas which are not performing to their maximum and that are having a lot of complaints.

Other complaints on the team include; lack of powdery sand, adamant tides and few marine organisms in the beach. I find this as uncontrollable because they occur naturally. On the other hand, a sound management system should find a way of converting their threats into opportunities. It should also be innovative by coming up with a way of the customers not noticing these cons (Green, 2007). For instance, they should know when the tides are quite high and encourage the tourists to do another activity during this time.

We all agree that change is quite difficult to embrace.  Most people fear that change may bring us more bad than good. Positive change is of great essence to an organization (Mabey, Skinner, & Clark, 1998). There are various challenges that managers face when they are trying to embrace change. Those barriers include; involving employees in the change management process. Realistically, employees always do all the work for the organization while management makes the decisions. For this reason, it is important to involve employees in the change process because at the end of the day change hits them harder than the management (Mabey, Skinner, & Clark, 1998). Employees often have better views because they are usually on the ground performing these tasks. Research shows that those who engage employees in the change process are likely to get positive results on change.

Effective communication is paramount for all organizations (Murthy, 2007). The basis of success in business is good communication. In change management, an effective communication strategy is vital. Some managers may introduce change, read it to employees and expect them to follow what they have said. As a real Human resource manager, it is important to communicate effectively on change (Murthy, 2007). One should make employees aware that their management is going to be modified in the way of doing things in advance. Employees do not only need to know that the organization will change, but it is also vital for them to know why it is necessary and how they will adapt to change when it comes (Murthy, 2007).

Challenges that may Hinder Change Management

Most organizations have a bad shifting plan (Powell, 2014). They fail to introduce change the right way. Immediately they talk about change; they expect everyone to follow the procedures. Introducing change is a challenge, but it only becomes a problem if there are improper planning strategies. Planning on how to conduct change is a good way of planning on how the change will be of success to the organization (Powell, 2014). Planning to change and executing programs as required is planning to be successful bit failure to plan is planning to fail.

Some organizations are too involved. In such scenarios, change is usually difficult since they require complex processes (Pagano, 2006). Such situations make it hard to adapt to change and therefore making the organization quite rigid. It is, therefore, important to create systems that can be understood quickly and that are not resistant to change. Complexity does not always lead to success; in fact, the key to success is simplicity and flexibility (Pagano, 2006). A good example is Sunny Maldives which adapted to change management in 2006. Due to its simplicity, it was able to respond to change positively which later resulted in their success (Pagano, 2006).

Before applying the change to an organization, it is important to know the team’s current state (Pugh, 2009). When an organization is maximizing profits, and it is yielding as much as it can with the input it needs, then it might be unnecessary to introduce change (Pugh, 2009). In other cases is when an organization has just begun, and one is not aware of whether the new body structure is doing good, it may be unnecessary to change it. It is crucial to apply change when the customers know to avoid customer disappointments and so that they may be in the know of what is going on. I believe that change should only occur when it is necessary not because it is working in other organization (Pugh, 2009). We all know that one shoe does not fit all so it is quite essential to consider the current state and whether the organization is in an ability to respond to the change positively.

In most cases, external threats are sources of management changes (Pugh & Mayle, 2009). Technology is fast growing and for this reason, companies have to be at par with the fast moving technology. Other external forces include; competition, market conditions, and economic forces.  As stated earlier organizations embrace change management so as to gain a competitive advantage making them stand out in their target market (Pugh & Mayle, 2009). It is a challenge as organizations may not be having enough funds to be like their competitors, another instance is that technology is fast growing hence it may be expensive to change as technology changes (Pugh & Mayle, 2009).

Another challenge is that when a company executes necessary change, it may lack project evaluation techniques (Pugh, 2007). Change is not all about implementing plans; it involves project evaluation so that an organization can see whether the project of change is of any relevance to the organization or it requires further change (Sadler, 2003). Most companies have a well-established change schedule; they communicate to their employees effectively on the modification procedures nut they fail on evaluating the project. The most important stage is that of evaluation (Pugh, 2007). For instance, if you plant something on good soil, water it once but you fail to check on it, it may not grow because it lacked proper monitoring. Sunny Maldives has been performing well after change management because it had proper techniques of control change (Sadler, 2003).

Every challenge has a solution. There are various ways one can overcome these barriers so as to ensure that the organization embraces change in the right way. A negotiation is a valuable tool (“Special Issue of Strategic Organization: “Strategic Management Theory and Universities””, 2015). It is important for an organization to research whether there are other ways of implementing change. In this case, it is important to talk to employees and assess their views. Managers should also hold interdepartmental meetings so as to ensure that all managers are aware of the process. They later brainstorm so as to check whether there is a better solution so as to make sure the companies take the best step to improve its output and to satisfy their customers (“Special Issue of Strategic Organization: “Strategic Management Theory and Universities””, 2015).

Considering effective communication is important. It is only through communication that an organization can be successful (The effective change manager, n.d.). When information is incorrect, it can cause misinformation about change. A team can quickly adapt to change when necessary information is laid down, and employees are aware of what is expected of them. In most cases, effective communication leads to positive change (The effective change manager, n.d.).

Leadership is also necessary in overcoming change management barriers (The effective change manager, n.d.). Good leadership will ensure that employees have enough motivation and guidance of leadership. It also helps in driving employees to focus on change. If managers show the importance of change, then employees will be more than willing to follow change. Leadership should be accompanied with adequate communication, and they should be influential enough. If the If the lack any of the above then they cannot influence change (The effective change manager, n.d.).

Employee involvement is imperative (The effective change manager, n.d.). Without employees, the workforce cannot be available. It is through employees that most companies achieve success. If employees are involved, they can embrace change positively. Sunny Maldives has had a reshuffle twice (Webb, 2007). I believe that the success of the reshuffle has been due to employee involvement in change. For this reason, they have been able to embrace change successfully.

Another way of ensuring that a company overcomes the challenge of complexity in change management is by making sure that the organization has straightforward and untestable processes and organization structure (Webb, 2007). Organizational complexity makes enterprises very rigid to change, and it is hard to apply challenge. If organizations set up proper structures and simple ones, they can adapt necessary change. As stated earlier, Sunny Maldives was able to adapt to change because it has a natural organization structure (Webb, 2007).

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is crucial to managing change. Change management is vital as it makes it possible for organizations to reduce risk, maximize profits and improve returns. Sunny Maldives has been a very successful company because it has incorporated change as an active strategy of developing the company’s profile. Today it is one of the best tourism organizations in Maldives.  The company has been able to gain a competitive advantage in the market by producing quality services and products. On the other hand, there are barriers to change; it is not as easy as it seems to implement change successfully. These barriers include employee dissatisfaction, external force effect, organization complexity and ineffective communication. I would urge all agencies to embrace change and strive hard to make sure companies pick up change management for the right reasons. It is also evident that most companies that are picking up as a strategy for beating competitors. Through change, we have been able to have efficient and effective enterprises.

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