Answer

Introduction

The manner in which the management handles the change and crisis resolution process determines whether the process will succeed or fail. When employees are involved in a crisis and change management process, it is most likely to succeed. However, most organizations just like Botho University do not have a management team that is well equipped to manage crisis and change. Thus education on the subject is of consequence to facilitate sustainability and growth (Batchelor, 2013. This paper seeks to evaluate a possible problem in growth faced by Botho University and the mitigating factors that can enhance positive change. 

Problem Overview

Booth (2017) identifies growth is the ultimate goal for any business venture regardless of its nature. However, it is not an easy target since several challenges cloud business ventures with some acting directly to affect the business profitability and others indirectly. Botho University faces a major challenge with growth management. Growth management is a product of how well the employees match to their job specifications which are in turn influenced by other factors such as employee-employer relationship.

For a business to attain sustainability and profitability, the relationship between the employer and the employee should be nurturing. A proper harnessing of human resources is a skill every competent manager must have to ensure selection of only qualified candidates steer the organization to high profitability and achieve sustainable growth (Czichos, 2014). However, this is not the case with Botho University where the managers are not effective enough to drive the employees towards performance bliss. Transformation in how the management relates to the employees is required to ensure the company delivers. However, the transformation is usually faced with challenges such as role confusion, an introduction of new ways of doing things, employee autonomy and delegation of duties. The only way to ensure reforms are achieved is to facilitate a good communication network whereby management can effectively communicate their expectations while the employees channel feedback. The company seems to have a communication breakdown, and there exists a barrier between the management and employees. Therefore, for management to be termed competent, they must develop mechanisms to bridge this gap and counter the employee relationship stalemate to enable the company grows.

Critical Review of the Literature – Key Arguments of Change and Crisis Management

Crisis management is a crucial component in managing a business (Bull & Brown, 2012). All organization can encounter a crisis any time due to its public relations or employee relations structure. A crisis ultimately tests the character of the leader whereby they are required to organize the lessons from the crisis and communicate the lessons to the employees to initiate the organizational change. An effective crisis management plan is built on developing the ability of flexible reactions and right decision making that will be needed in case of a crisis and while practicing true teamwork needed during a crisis.

According to Finch (2012), change is one constant in business that employees dislike. They view change as a strenuous process due to the continuous feedback they are required to give.  Similarly, employees will always to deduce the benefits they will get from the implementation of the change plan. Therefore, it is crucial to incorporate employees in the process of change to facilitate their acceptance. Employee involvement will also enable them to learn contextual performance and task performance required for the process to succeed hence facilitating a smooth transition.

According to Batchelor (2013), change is a costly affair to an organization. Therefore, any organization that considers undertaking a successful change process must first consider its operating environment and resource constraints. This is achieved when the management allows employees to be part of planning for limited resources and ensuring the internal business environment is steady. Success in change management, therefore, rests on teamwork. The central control should be reduced to involve employees, external consultants and internal specialists in planning for the change.

The change in the words of Finkelstein (2014), means developing a new behavior towards a phenomenon. To ensure successful change, managers should communicate the need to adopt an acceptable behavior by all employees that will accommodate the implementation. Besides, these behaviors should not harbor cynicism, stress, resistance or denial as the case when employees are forced to incorporate something new into their work plan. To achieve this, the management should have a clear understanding of the considerations in the process and context that may influence the performance of employees (Films Media Group, & Seven Dimensions Films of Australia, 2015).

Key Arguments – As Applied to Me and My Practice

A research of literature revealed that change process is not something management can conduct in success while applying the central management rule. Similarly, crisis and change management requires a thorough process hence should be planned for in the organization’s operations plan (Finkelstein, 2014). Many scholars have conducted credible research explaining why organizations must conduct crisis management and change and develop the change process to be developed when a crisis strikes. I came into a deductive statement that change is an aspect of business and all organizations must go through it at one time and another. Thus Botho University must incorporate the change for growth to be achieved.

Daniels (2015), states that the major aspect of change in my organization is employee relations. The manner in which employees and management interact and the flow of information should be tailored to meet the needs of the organization. As a private university, the organization targets not only making profits but also delivering quality education to its customers. Therefore, unless employee employer-relationship is smoothened, the quality of service delivery will be compromised. Managing employee relations is not an easy task as every employee has unique needs and desires. However, the burden rests on management to ensure all employees feel part of the organization and they have the organizational goals and objectives at heart (Dettwiler, 2012).

When management acts bossy, the employees feel like mere servants. This makes them grow resentful towards any amendments made to the organization’s operations making all effort to facilitate growth meaninglessly. Therefore, power should be bestowed on every member of the organization to do their honest part. This means that the management of the organization should be decentralized to incorporate employees in creating plans for change. As a result, employees feel part of the plan and are motivated towards making implementation a smooth process.

One effective means of involving the employees in the change process is for my organization to open up channels of communication (Have et al., 2017). The university management should ensure that communication can flow from top to bottom and otherwise without a hitch. This will enable the management to communicate their expectations and the employees to give feedback. Similarly, it will facilitate dialogue and discussions on the roles of both employees and the management in ensuring the organization attains sustainable growth (Czichos, 2014).

Plan of Action and Outcomes

Change management is a component of knowledge acquisition and synthesis. A change implementation action plan is an elaborate process that follows a given sequence to ensure crises are effectively managed. For my action plan, I will use the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation process (Alas & Gao, 2012). I find this process effective since it addresses every aspect of crisis and change management.

Assessment

Assessment involves a study of the crisis and its causes. It also entails setting ground rules on how to overcome the challenge. The challenge faced by Botho University revolves around managing growth. As the university grows, the management faces the challenge of ensuring that services are delivered qualitatively, employee grievances are heard and addressed, and the company remains sustainable amid the challenges it faces. Therefore, Assessment of the problem forms the basis for crisis and change management in any organization. This step yields a well deiced problem statement whereby the problem and its causes are identified (Hawkins, 2014).

Planning

Planning provides for defining the ground rules of the action plan. First, the management must ensure that the communications and operation plans of the organization are aligned. An elaborate crisis communication plan must be developed using all available background information such as the manner in which employees are addressed, the operation principle of the organization, and a review of the current policies of the company (Bull & Brown, 2012). Once the operations and communication plans are in sync, a team of crisis members and their backups should be constituted as well as how to reach them. Their contact details are helpful in notifying and convening the team effectively as well as an alternative contact address in case a member cannot be reached.  The team should cut across all departments of the organization to ensure representation of every function in the chain of crisis communication (Booth, 2017).

Once the team is in place, they should know the risks faced by the organization and undertake scenario planning for every challenge. This is an important step to aid in discovering any steps that can be taken immediately to avert the possible risks and eradicate the crisis. However, some problems are inevitable and can be discovered in this step. Similarly, the step informs the team of extra information required, the required initial steps and the manner in which they can communicate the news. As a result, it makes it easy to make a quick comeback and meet the expectation of stakeholders (Bull & Brown, 2012). For instance, Botho University is faced with a risk of employee relationship breakdown and possible growth decline. If the crisis and change management team can identify possible solutions that facilitate good employee-employer relationship immediately, then the company may not have to undergo a growth crisis. This action will not only cut on costs but also ensure the image of the company is not tainted (Vischer, 2012). 

Implementation

A risk analysis opens up to training on the plan of action. Thus, the need to train the crisis management teams once the plan is ready cannot be overemphasized. This is despite the fact that the process of setting up training is usually full of challenges (Tafoya, 2017). Some of the common barriers that may be faced include the additional work that has to be done while preparing the training, settling on the best time that fits with the schedule of participants and lastly is the fact that the teams may be uncertain about its importance (Czichos, 2014). I have learned over the years that training, particularly during a crisis, is usually invaluable. The reason is that it involves the management plan for the crises going through the systemic stages in a manner that highlights the gaps that exist in both the operational and communication processes. It is on the basis of the gaps identified that training is based with the aim of addressing them (Vischer, 2012). Thus, to successfully solve the employee relations issue in the University, both management and employee need to undergo training on how to enhance communication. Once the management knows how to communicate with its employees and vice versa, then they can relate at a closer level and provide solutions to the growth management challenge facing the organization and how to achieve sustainable growth (Mitroff, 2013).

Evaluation

With the fast-changing world, the crisis management plan must also be sensitive to time. The implication is that the elements of crisis management may eventually become outdated. There are a lot of dynamics within an organization which change over time (Bull & Brown, 2012). For instance, the team members may change; there could be changes also in the communication channels and the organizational risks. As such, proper processes must be in place that will ensure there is a constant update and review of the crisis management plan. Research reveals that reputation damage costs are extremely high. The implication is that, once the gaps have been identified, it is crucial that necessary steps are taken to ensure that mitigation measures are in place. However, when the gaps are identified and left unattended to then it could lead to serious damage to the organization. This is in support to the common saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” (Alas & Gao, 2012).

Evaluation ensures that all loopholes are covered and the change management plan can be effectively implemented. Once implementation commences, the process should be continually scrutinized against the standard plan to check for any deviations and make corrections. This is a sure way of ensuring that the implementation is correctly done and desired results are achieved. For instance, communication channels outlined in the action plan should be followed judiciously to ensure communication is enhanced between the employees and employers (Czichos, 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion, change and crisis management education enable management to develop a clear problem statement on the challenge faced by the organization. While the company perceives a possible challenge in managing growth following its expansion, knowledge acquired from this training has enabled me to narrow down the change the perspective. In fact, the real problem that the organization faces is not making employees feel part of change initiatives. As a result, they do not feel part of the team and implementation revokes only negative feelings such as hate, resentment or fear. Consequently, I learned that if the employee were involved in planning for the change and felt that their efforts are recognized, they strive towards ensuring such plans pull through. However, if the current stalemate in the employee-employer relationship continues, the company may experience high employee turnover leading to a decline in its growth and sustainability. Such occurrence can also lead to high costs for recruiting and training new employees as well as maintaining the standards of education that have continually attracted more students to the university.  However, employees can resist change for fear of unknown. Therefore, further research is required to develop ways of facilitating employee acceptance to be part of teams that develop organizational plans as well as how to incorporate employees in these committees.

Change management uses a sequence of steps to form an action plan through which crisis can be effectively managed in an organization. To start with, change is only possible if its causes are known. Therefore, the management must conduct a thorough research of inhibitors of growth and reasons behind the crisis encountered. Once the cause of the stalemate is identified, then the process of change can be carried out progressively through the stages of failure which include decline, an invitation for a response, and transition into a successful outcome. To achieve a smooth transition from one implementation stage to another, planning should be done. Planning entails looking into the details of the risks and devising clear pathways to handle them. For instance, planning entails forming a change and crisis management team for the organization that cuts across all departments. This will facilitate wholesome evaluation of the problem in different perspectives as the individual departments are affected differently by the same challenge. The action plan should be implemented as drawn to avoid sprouting unprecedented outcomes. Finally, the action plan should be subjected to constant evaluation to ensure it works as desired. In case there are deviations, they can be easily corrected because a thorough scrutiny would reveal the causes of these differences.