Group 5 presentation final version 1

Green Haven - Changed Values

Macquarie University

PSY130 – Organisational Behaviour

Assessment 2 – Group Case Study

Group 5

• Adam Cooper's passion revolved around gardening

• Approximately 30 years ago a business ignited based on this passion

• Resulting in a successful family-owned nursery business, which he named…

GREEN HAVEN

Developing Green Haven

• Adam ensured that all staff he employed shared a passion for gardening• Monthly staff meetings were informal• Adam established and maintained an individual

connection with each staff member• All staff demonstrated generosity towards customers by

being passionate, informative and friendly• Adam distributed a quarterly newsletter to customers• Adam prioritised customers and achieved success and

satisfaction by providing excellent customer service

Organisational Culture

How was success achieved within Green Haven?

Staff members worked as a team and were recognised as experienced in their skill and were fully supported by Adam

Customer satisfaction was the top priority and staff were given freedom to engage with customers at their discretion according to the customers requirements

Customers were presented with a free gift at the staff member’s discretion

Customers purchased high quality plants and seedlings, gardening tools, equipment & decorations



Team Building Meetings

Relaxed Environment

Shared Ideas and Experiences

Dedication to Customers

Adam’s Succession Plan

• Adam was forced to retire due to poor health

• Philip Cooper, Adam’s son stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Green Haven

• Philip is an Accountant by profession, of which he has 20 years experience

• Philip has a fondness for gardening…

but is that enough?

New Management – Changing Times

•Green Haven employees started to feel they had less of a voice with Philip in charge

•Formalised meetings left employees feeling a lack of motivation and missed sharing their knowledge and learning new things with their fellow employees

•Staff at Green Haven started to resign

The staff at Green Haven always felt comfortable in sharing their knowledge and thoughts with Adam.

The employees at Green Haven were beginning to feel a lack of motivation, and the motivational drives (drive to acquire, drive to bond, drive to comprehend and drive to defend) they once had were starting to fade (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

Consequences of Changes

Six months down the track Philip the new CEO of Green Haven, started to notice that employees were leaving the company. Even Green Havens oldest nursery manager had handed in his letter of resignation.


• Some of Green Haven’s employees had chosen the response of “Flight” from the “drive to defend, fight or flight” (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013)

• They had chosen to leave the company (flight) instead of staying and fighting for what they believe is right for the company

• This resulted in Philip losing some of his employees


Customer Interaction Issues

• Removal of free plants to customers

• Reduction of customer interaction time

• Introduction of self serving computers

Handing out free plants to new customers was a way to build relationships and keep customers happy and coming back for the nursery. Practices like this one help to build a company’s relationship capital, which adds to the value of the organisation (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

Free Plants for Customers

Reduced Customer InteractionAnother change that directly affected the company’s

relationship capital was the reduction of customer interaction time. Philip saw a two hour conversation with a

customer as a waste of time, rather than a relationship building exercise.

In an attempt to facilitate the reduction of time employees spend with customers, computers were introduced to provide information on the plants.

Introduction of Computers

By implementing these extensive changes in the way he did, Philip may have created low value congruence between the staff members and himself. A person’s value congruence refers to the extent of which an employee’s values are compatible with the organisation’s values (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

Values at Green Haven

WHAT SHOULD PHILIP DO NOW?

Philip needs to review the values that he has tried to implement into the business and investigate why the changes

have not been embraced by the staff of Green Haven Nursery.

“The challenge of change if not so much in deciding which way to go; the challenge is in the execution of the strategy. When leaders discover the need for change and identify some ideas about the preferred route to a better future, the change process involves navigating around the numerous obstacles and gaining organisation-wide support for the change” (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

Too Much, Too Soon?Research suggests that employees are more stressed when they lack control over how and when they perform their tasks (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

“Employee Engagement - The employees emotional and cognitive motivation, self-efficacy to perform the job, perceived clarity of the organisation’s vision and his or her specific role in that vision, and belief that he or she has the resources to get the job done” (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

Bond Between Personal Values and Behaviour

• Individuals tend to engage their values only when they have a logical reason for doing so

• Individuals are more inclined to apply their values in situations that facilitate doing

• Individuals tend to apply values to a situation when they are reminded of those values

(McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013)

Regaining Employee Involvement

A great first step for Phillip would be to consult with the team and re-implement a high level of employee involvement (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

Phillip has little experience working in a Nursery, so bringing together the staff and asking for possible recommendations and solutions would be greatly beneficial.

This will also allow for Philip to gain the employees trust as it shows he wants their involvement in the future of Green Haven Nursery.

Review of changes made and values implemented

Philip should now implement a small strategic team of senior staff, both management and long term employees, along with a few volunteers to review how the business was, how it is now and the vision for the future.

The key strategy of “evaluating decision outcomes more effectively” (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013) could be adopted.

It’s All About Team Work

Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Model


Minimising Resistance to Change

To assist in minimising resistance to change, there are 6 points that need to be utilised.

LearningInvolvement

Communication Stress Management

Negotiation Coercion


Minimising Resistance to Change (cont.)

Communicating face-to-face, or through written correspondence with employees

LearningInvolvement




Involving employees in the formation of the organisations direction.

Learning



Involvement




Negotiating workplace conditions such as the loss of employee benefits is an important task.

Learning


Coercion

Involvement

Negotiation



Managing stress in the workplace will lead to more open discussions and reduce the employees fear of the unknown.

Learning

Communication

Coercion

Involvement

Negotiation

Stress Management



By giving learning opportunities to the employees they will obtain the knowledge and skills to move forward with the organisation.

Communication

Coercion

Involvement

Negotiation

Stress Management

Learning


The coercion strategy should only be used if all other strategies have not worked, as some employees may find this too confronting within the workplace.

Communication

Involvement

Negotiation

Stress Management

Learning

Coercion



Implementation of Technology

•Philip introduced computers into the nursery for customers to look up information on plants•Great interaction tool for customers •Takes away the customer service aspect of the business which in turn takes away knowledge requirements of the employees

Whilst technology is a beneficial tool, it needs to be implemented correctly.

Knowledge Sharing and Acquisition


Empowering Green Haven Nursery Staff


Democracy in Green Haven

Giving the individual more responsibility and power gives the employees more self-determination, meaning, competence and impact regarding their role in the organisation (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013).

In Conclusion

• Phillip distanced himself from staff, and staff from each other. This reduced employee engagement (McShane, Olekalns & Travaglione, 2013)

• Philip needs to treat his employees as valued people

• Philip needs to engage and promote values

• Philip needs to re-establish acquisition, sharing, use and storage of knowledge. To ensure retention by employees valuable intellectual capital.

Most Importantly

Philip needs to work as part of the team!

References

McShane, S., Olekalns, M., & Travaglione, T. (2013). Organisation Behaviour: Emerging Knowledge/Global Insights. North Ryde, McGraw Hill

Edcuation.

Group 5 presentation final version 1

Recruiting & HR