Introduction

The assignment aims to elaborate on the impact and effect of staff resistance regarding the change process. The following is based on two questions focusing on a case study of the Brown Brothers. Furthermore, this assignment demonstrates the roles, which are essential in a project team. It describes the communication processes which are used in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the firm. It is essential to provide controlling methods to the senior management so that they can plan to enhance their quality in the right manner.

Case study

Brown Brothers has been one of the large manufacturers in the kitchen and stuffs related to it. They have been working in this sector for many years and therefore they have a workforce of more than 180 employees in their workplace. It is found that in the recent years their sale has been decreasing drastically. According to their Sales Director, their competitor is selling products 30% cheaper than their products. On further investigation, they found that they are also using advanced methods which are cheaper and less time-consuming. However, their competitor is using low-quality material which decreases the quality of their finished product but it did not affect their sales.

Question 1

• Change Management Process

The change management process is essential for every organisation all over the globe. It is noted that change is important in order to stay in competition in the contemporary market. Therefore, Brown Brothers organisation has to select an effective and efficient process. For this reason, they can choose Kotter’s 8 Step process which helps them to identify the urgency of the change (Magnúsdóttir, 2018). In this way, they are able to make strategic vision and take strong initiatives. Furthermore, it helps them to understand the barriers and issues in their organisation so that they can work on it in order to achieve small target. This helps them to obtain a sustainable amount of acceleration and institute change within the organisation.

• Manage Change Process with Minimum Disruption

It is important for leaders, senior management and higher hierarchy of any organisation to make effective changes within their firm in order to increase their sale (Lee, Idris, and Delfabbro, 2017). However, change management cannot be applied without the application of the proper amount of information and knowledge. Therefore, CEO of companies need guidance for their managers to provide them with efficient corporate strategies which can help them to make their structure better and enhance their processes and procedures (Stubbs, 2019). In the modernised world, the role of advanced technologies have also increased and therefore they can play a vital part in creating vast changes in the external environment. The first and foremost task of any change process is to implement a new process or business strategies which can enhance their business (Balocco et al., 2019). Subsequently, companies have to look for the negative impact of the change on their company and staff member so that they can minimise it.

The demand of the modern world has made many firms to look into their traditional processes and make changes in it. For this reason, organisations have to take swift actions which can affect not only their products but also their processes and employees as well (Mathar, and Gaur, 2020). However, the change process is essential in evolving business but most of the employees resist it and do not want to leave their comfort zone. For this reason, extra efforts are needed from the experts and professionals which can help the senior management of the organisation so that they can develop effective approaches and methods which can navigate the change without disrupting the staff members.

According to the study of Sullivan and Staib (2018), it is impossible to make a change and creating no disruption for employees. On the other hand, the leaders and CEOs of the companies looking into the new and effective initiatives for their companies also have to look into the disruptors which can affect the flow of work and their staff. It is noted that two much change in any organisation can be disruptive for their process and staff which can lead to overload of change process (Clegg et al., 2018). In this way, employees failed to adopt the new methods in a timely manner, and it can be exhausted. It is common that each employee has a different tolerance level and due to which it increases the occupational stress among the employees due to the change process. However, it is analysed that disruption of staff can be minimised with the help of well-laid plan from the senior management (McCrorie et al., 2019). The disruptive effect can have a negative impact on staff so therefore, managers have to present the systematic management change process. Moreover, managers also have to understand the tolerance level of their employees and in accordance with it make a change process. In this way, both organisation and staff members can bear the disruption which is occurred due to change process (Sherf, Tangirala, and Venkataramani, 2019). On the other hand, lack of proper guidance and information is the reason for the disruption of staff. Therefore, senior management has to involve them as well so that they can minimise it. It is important for managers to keep a watchful eye on their staff and give them clear direction so that their no disruptive effect created by the change process.

Organisational Change

It is common that organisational change is important as with the help of change they can avoid stagnation (Vargas et al., 2019). It is essential for companies to put efforts into the change process and prepare for it. There are several options which can be used by the Brown Brothers to make an organisational change. The best-suited change for them is the transformational change (Termeer, Dewulf, and Biesbroek, 2017). In this change, companies need to make a better and much favourable strategy for their organisation. There are companies all over the globe who are making changes in their strategies and adopting new methods. It is vital for them to make a transformational change in their firm if they want to raise their company at the highest. According to the case study, Brown Brothers competitors are using advanced technologies which make them unbeatable. It is because they are making goods faster and in a cheaper manner. It has become the requirement for Brown Brothers to adopt new and effective methods which are according to the current situation (Misra, and Srivastava, 2018). They have to mainly focus on the technological progress as it can help them to enhance their manufacturing pace and it can be cheaper for them. Secondly, they have to look for the cultural factors such as new trends so that they can lure more audience through it (Seijts, and Gandz, 2018). In the digitalised world, they need to make an advertisement with the help of social media so that they can provide important information about their quality products to their target audience, and it helps them to generate more revenue through it.

Reduction in Employee Resistance

The change is uncomfortable for most of the employees and therefore they show reduce towards it. It is analysed that organisations have to deal with employee resistance whenever they make any change in their system and process (King et al., 2020). Most of the employees fear the change because it is unknown to them. The preference of employees is status quo and due to which they show resistance. The best possible way for reducing the employee resistance towards the transformational change within the Brown Brothers is communication and input of their senior management. The managers can play a vital role in reducing the employee resistance towards the change process by conducting collective meetings and having face-to-face conversation (Rafferty, and Jimmieson, 2017). In this way, they can guide their employees about the change and it helps them to transform the system of the organisation. It is also essential for companies to communicate with their employees because they have to implement the change at the departmental level. With the help of effective communication of the employees, the change can be reached from top to the bottom of the organisation in an effective manner (Heyden et al., 2017).

Question 2

• Roles of Project Team

The role of a project team plays an indispensable role in the success of the project, and it is found that, with the help of effective and careful planning, a project can be a success. It is analysed that project cannot become successful without the efforts of their key members (Wu et al., 2017). Therefore the roles of members in the change process are essential for organisations to get effective and positive results. There are several roles, which have been played within the current project and change process of Brown Brothers. The major project team roles, which will be discussed, are that of a project manager, project sponsor, business analyst, and team members to conduct the basic tasks.

The first and foremost role, which is played within the project, is by the project manager. It is important to analyse that no project can get results without the endless efforts and important guidance provided by the managers (Meng and Boyd, 2017). The completion of any project is the sole responsibility of the project manager and, for this reason, they have to make sure that the project is moving promptly. The budget and plans are mainly made by the project managers, which help to achieve their goals and objectives (Nkukwana, and Terblanche, 2017). However, it is important for the project managers to get a sufficient amount of resources and help from the organization. The reason for this is to enable them to make a better relationship with their stakeholders, and fulfil the needs of the consumers. In the current project, the role of managers is essential because they develop the plan and recruit project members according to it. Moreover, they used to assign task to different members which minimise the occupational stress among employees (Maqbool et al., 2017). Furthermore, the role of project managers is to continuously take updates regarding the project so that they can communicate it with and keep the CEO and senior management updated on the progress.

The CEO of Brown Brothers also has to create the role of project team members for the change process. As team members can transform the system and process of the organization, the importance of team members has increased in the past couple of decades (Rogach and Kuznetsova, 2020). Therefore, it is vital for the organisations to involve team members in their change process as well. Without the involvement of employees and staff member change cannot occur within the organisation. The in-house staff member for Brown Brothers have to co-operate with their managers and have to adopt new and effective technologies. It is analysed that the role of team member is to give expertise to their manager and in this way, they can fulfil the needs and demands for their business (Pollack and Matous, 2019).

The third role for any project that is essential for its success is the project sponsor. The main driver of any project is their sponsor who provide resources both financial and physical (Martinsuo and Hoverfält, 2018). The stakeholders and senior management of any organisations are the project sponsor. It is noted that project sponsor work closely with their project manager to make sure the project runs smoothly (Zwikael, Meredith, and Smyrk, 2019). With the help of project sponsor, Brown Brothers will be able to resolve conflicts among employees and help to reduce the disruption of staff. They are an essential part of the project because they pass the project budget and ensure that all valuable resources are available.

The last role associated with the current project and change process of Brown Brothers is that of a business analyst. It is noted that business analyst and experts are essential for organisations such as Brown Brothers to find solutions for their problems. The company is currently facing financial issues and therefore the role of a business analyst is vital as they can provide them proper guidance in order to achieve their goals (Vidgen, Shaw and Grant, 2017). In this way, they provide issues and problems such as lack of advanced technologies in limelight and emphasizing performance management. In this way, the business analysts are able to enhance the value of the current change process by defining the project accurately.

Communication and Controlling Process

In order to meet the management and managers’ need to efficiently deliver and share their ideas and notions with their employees, communication is essential (Antony, 2018). In addition to this, the management and the managers can also communicate with the higher hierarchy of the organisation with the help of the implementation of an efficient and strong communication process. It is noted that, in every single organisation around the globe, two types of communication processes are used such as formal and informal (Armona, 2018). Senior management mainly use formal communication method in order to convey the plan of the project with their managers. In this way, they can discuss the project budget and how they can make changes to it. With the help of formal communication processes, the project responsibilities and roles are allotted from higher to lower management (McAlpine, 2018). It is important to have formal communication because it helps senior management to control the progress of the project. In this way, they can get updates from their managers and formal communication helps them to provide relevant information to those who need it. Moreover, human resources and project sponsor use different control process such as project meeting and seminars so that they can discuss the new and effective policies.

Subsequently, organisations can also use informal communication processes, which cannot be controlled. It is analysed that informal communication processes are effective as it helps them to make and maintain a strong connection between employees and employers (Papadonikolaki, Verbraeck, and Wamelink, 2017). The primary way to flow the information about the new and change process within Brown Brothers Company to their employees is by the help of informal communication methods. The organisation can use social network of employees to transfer information about the project and change process and in this way, they can reduce the disruption of staff as well. The informal control process helps an organisation to understand more about the right quality and need of advance technology (Rains et al., 2019). However, senior management get feedback by the help of informal control process such as face-to-face conversation so that they can work on it in order to fulfil their objectives.

Conclusion

In order to stay in the market and compete with the competition, Brown Brothers need to implement change. Organisational change can cause disruption among employees, rendering it inefficient. Therefore, effective communication and proper laid plan can reduce the employee resistance. It is concluded that the senior management of Brown Brothers needs project team which can fulfil their roles effortlessly. For this reason, project manager, team members, project sponsor and business analyst play an indispensable role. However, senior management also need communication processes so therefore, they focus on both formal and informal communication methods. This helps Brown Brothers to achieve their objective by enhancing their technology and quality of their goods and products.