The CEO Puts Her Foot in Her Mouth Jan Davis, Communications Manager for Kingfisher Retailers, was stunned. Megan Drake, president of Kingfisher had just announced during an employee teleconference broadcast by satellite to over forty stores that she believed Kingfisher was losing its competitive edge in the electronics market and would have to engage in significant restructuring. Jan knew, of course, that revenues for the last two quarters had not met expectations and that Megan was upset. But to announce her displeasure and hint at a major change without a plan in place was dangerous for Kingfisher and for Megan herself. At the end of the conference, Megan knew she had made a mistake. She told Jan she was tired and angry at the lack of action from her senior vice presidents. She knew she should not have announced her concerns to the employees but had done so in an uncharacteristic fit of temper. Megan asked Jan what she should do next.
Executive Summary
Kingfisher is struggling to generate revenues, and it seems a big thing to worry about. Therefore, mistakenly, they announced the restructuring that put jobs of many employees at risk.
Introduction
Jan Davis is a communication manager, and Megan Drake is the president of the company. Both have concerns about the current situation and ways of the change process. Now, the president has to decide what to do next.
Current Situation Analysis
The firm has lost its competitive advantage due to poor revenue growth. Major stores are not working according to expectations. Thus, there is a need for an immediate change to make the difference.
Background
Jan Davis and Megan Drake are two key stakeholders that can play a role in the change process of the company. The revenue stream is quite low. Thus, the management cannot take on employees to make the change. Therefore, an appropriate plan is needed.
Problems
- Lacking Revenue Growth
- Lacking Change
- Employee Resistance
- The uncharacteristic fit of temper
1-If you were Jan, what would you suggest?
I would like to suggest Mega keep his words because she announced the plan publicly. However, intentionally, she can make the development plan and strategy to change different things in the company (Kotter, 2008).
2-What should Megan do next with regard to her senior leadership?
Well, there are different ways to deal with senior leadership effectively. For Instance, she should keep her mind focused and cooled to streamline different ideas and enhance the visibility of effective communication. The next step for her leadership team is the delegation, as they can streamline ideas and make the change happen (Orridge, 2012).
3-What happens when anger, fatigue, or a host of other circumstances contributes to individuals saying publicly something they immediately regret?
When an individual publicly makes a mistake, it creates a negative perception. In this case, Megan wants to put the burden on employees, and it seems unfavorable for employees. On the other hand, the immediate restructuring may cause major employee resistance which can also cause the failure of the whole change process (Orridge, 2012).
4-Should Megan hold another teleconference to put her concerns in context? Why? Why not?
Yes, Megan should hold another teleconference to eliminate the misperceptions. She should keep her words, but further announce the development or change strategy. She has to come up with a plan that can be generally accepted by all key stakeholders. Apologies for the uncharacteristic fit of temper is the best approach to re-engage people and let them rethink the poor revenue growth and other associated risks (Kotter, 2008).
Decision Criteria
The decision criteria in the case are based on the rational. Thus, the rational decision making is the best option for the company. It is a fact that the company has to compromise on many things to change the process. All actions must contain logic (Orridge, 2012).
Assumptions
It is the company wants to make the change, it must reduce the employee resistance. Low employee resistance can help to contain the rapid change process in the firm
Preferred Alternative
The preferred alternative is to make the changes in different phases instead of restructuring as the whole. Also, holding a meeting instead of teleconference can also be preferred as a key alternative to keep the temper (Kotter, 2008).
Recommendation
The firm should create the clear vision and urgency regarding the change. Creating the urgency will prevent the company from immediate actions that can be rejected or resisted by employees. If the revenue growth is low, causes should be communicated to stakeholders.
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that Kingfisher Company can get rid of its problems the whole case analysis indicates several issues. Solutions have been elaborated in the case analysis along with several insights and impacts. Kingfisher Company is quite capable of doing things effectively. Thus, recommendations should be considered as strategies and implement effectively.
References
Kotter, J. P. (2008 ). Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management. Simon and Schuster.
Orridge, M. (2012 ). Change Leadership: Developing a Change-Adept Organization. Gower Publishing Ltd.
+447462439809