MOD004453 Leadership and Change

Posted on February 22, 2023
Amita

MOD004453 Leadership and Change Best Assignment Sample

1. Introduction

Organisational Background and recognition for change

In this report, through reflective writing, I will discuss the change process which was considered when I was working in a local authority in the United Kingdom (UK) and to maintain privacy the authority will be referred to as Ford Motor Company. I was recruited by Ford Motor Company as a product engineer to implement the required technologies to launch Autonomous vehicles with the convenience of a garage for automated vehicles in several locations. The main reason to implement changes and initiatives to launch Autonomous vehicles is to reduce tension regarding driving and increse self-driving services as well as enhancing freedom of movement (Refer to Appendix 1). On the other hand, the UK government has undertaken initiatives to spread Autonomous vehicles due to make ‘road transport smarter, smoother, safer’ by 2040 and it is aligned with the initiatives of Ford Motor Company (Parliament.uk 2022).

Aims and focus of the report

I have analysed that the report aims to analyse the organisational change with strategic leadership as an aspect of organizational change with the help of Lewin’s Change Management Model and I will use Gibbs reflective cycle to explain the overall experience.

Critical Reflection on the current change process

I have evaluated that Ford Motor Company has gone through a changing phase and one of the changing processes is known as transitional change which is applicable in this case. I have understood that transitional change refers to the process as Ford Motor Company replacing selling of traditional vehicles with selling autonomous vehicles with the help of the latest technological development (Ford.co.uk 2022). Additionally, traditional cars are replaced by Autonomous vehicles and the UK government is collaborating with national international governments, encouraging new entrants to launch Autonomous vehicles in a larger number (Hopkins and Schwanen, 2018).

Development for future change process effectiveness

I think the recommendation is important for Ford Motor Company to adopt the organisational changes and effective leadership is useful to minimise challenges related to the changes in the work process. Ford Motor Company is successfully adopting Autonomous vehicles with technology partner Agro AI to launch self-driving system by developing physixcal infrastructure in the opearted cities (Refer to Appendix 2). Especially the facility of a garage in different locations will be provided and I have chosen reflective writing to recommend further change management to resolve issues in future. I have considered the whole process of change and there are two key matters which may influence the whole changing process

Promoting Automated vehicles instead of traditional vehicles
Infrastructure development and technological advancement to handle the organisational change

I will also consider the SMART objective to help to implement the recommendations in the working process of the company and to mitigate the issues related to organisational change in an effective manner.

2. Critical reflection on the change process

Gibbs reflective cycle model

Description
I was recruited by Ford Motor Company as a product engineer to assist the workforce and had an opportunity to experience a changing process within an organisation. I have noticed that the company wanted to replace the traditional vehicles with Autonomous vehicles and to launch the product successfully garages are essentially important to assist the consumers. I have also analysed that Automated vehicles are highly essential for the future as it reduces driving risk and I assisted the employees by providing important product-related suggestions to make it more convenient.
Feelings
I felt nervous on the initial day of my job as I had to give suggestions related to the product and I was not confident that whether the suggestion was apt or not. I have assessed that I have poor communication and to pursue others properly communication is highly essential. Strategic communication management plays a crucial role in an organisation and it helps to cultivate relationships with other co-workers which boosts the work atmosphere as well as the productivity of the employees (Lee et al., 2021).
Evaluation
I was appointed as a Product engineer in Ford Motor Company and it is my first job I have no experience in the role and thus I was not confident to give suggestions for the product. I have evaluated that the company has to think about an overall infrastructure management plan to implement changes within the work process in a constructive manner. In addition to that, there is a strong relationship between innovation knowledge and performance and enhancing knowledge accelerates the speed of innovation (Mardani et al., 2018). I evaluate that I need to improve my cultural skills through which I am able to think and feel about the work activities during the execution of the change management process.
Analysis
I have analysed that the role of the change agent is essential to overcome the challenges related to organisational change and as a Product engineer I had to guide the company to implement technologies to increase the quality of the product. I have also assessed that effective leadership is highly important to lead a team by giving suggestions regarding the product and implementing the changes in organisations’ work processes. I have analysed that at the initial stage of product development as an organizational change, I was not able to perform effectively due to a lack of leadership skills which is one of the important aspects of change management. Effective leadership and transparent communication boost the confidence of the employees in times of organisational change as the employees support the organisation in the crucial period of change (Yue et al., 2019).
Conclusion
I have concluded that I have several flaws such as a lack of communication, lack of proper leadership quality, low confidence level and I need to enhance my capabilities to make active participation in an organisational change in future.
Action Plan
I have to make an action plan to reduce my weaknesses and increase my capabilities to achieve success in the future by taking Specific, Achievable, Measurable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) objectives based on the above analysis.

Table 1: Gibbs Reflection Cycle

(Source: Self-created)

Change process effectiveness

Kurt Lewin’s change management model

Kurt Lewin’s change management model is essential for an organisational change and it provides immense support to mitigate the challenges through three steps such as unfreezing, moving, refreeze. Along with that, the popular German-American psychologist Lewin proposed the Force field Analysis Model and it consists of driving forces such as the UK government’s initiative ‘road transport smarter, smoother, safer’ and resisting forces refers to unprecedented problems similar to high maintenance, operating costs and many more. Kurt Lewin’s Force field theory which is popularly considered as fundamental theory related to change and the three steps such as refreeze, change and unfreeze are immensely important for organisational change (Hassan, 2018).

Unfreeze

The initiative of launching autonomous vehicles by the company is directly aligned with the government of the UK’s initiatives ‘road transport smarter, smoother, safer’ and the automated vehicles provide a more comfortable experience to the drivers. On the other hand, automated vehicles may create problems for changing home location though it provides immense benefits to the drivers (Kim et al., 2020). Unfreezing refers to the step in which with the help of effective communication the changing work process to selling automated vehicles replacing selling traditional vehicles will be discussed with the employees.

Move

The company uses Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) technology to implement profound changes within the product to move to a new stage and Lewin’s move refers to the upcoming changes within the work process.

Refreeze

Refreeze refers to the process which helps to increase sustainability after the change and the A2/M2 corridor in the UK provides special convenience for the company to create their own model, service, and agreement to implement the changes (Parliament.uk 2022).

3. Development for future change process effectiveness

Promoting Autonomous vehicles instead of traditional vehicles

Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Time
To promote automated vehicles with the help of social media such as Facebook and Instagram	To measure the promotion of the automated vehicle through the feedback or review of the consumer	To launch the automated vehicles successfully as the digital technologies are updated in the UK	To launch Autonomous vehicles instead of traditional vehicles which is relevant to the initiative of UK to make ‘road transport smarter, smoother, safer’	Within 12 months

Table 2: SMART Goals

(Source: Self-created)

There are some recommendations on the goals of the company as it helps the company to overcome organisational change through promoting the Autonomous vehicles in a proper way to sell the product in future. The demand for Autonomous vehicles is increasing day by day and it provides more convenience to young people than the elderly people and decreases the higher accidental rates (Hudson et al., 2019).

Infrastructure development and technological advancement to handle the organisational change

Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Time
To implement latest technologies such as CAV technology to infrastructure development a well as manage organisational change	To measure the organisational change and effectiveness of CAV through product quality checking and employees feedback	To achieve the organisational change with effective leadership	To get relevantly success by UK government initiatives incorporation similar to ‘Driverless cars’	Within 10 months

Table 3: SMART Goals

(Source: Self-Created)

There are other SMART goals which immensely help the company to overcome the organisational change with the help of technology such as CAV technology and it helps in infrastructure development for Autonomous vehicles. The policies of the UK government provide an immense opportunity to launch Autonomous vehicles by setting proper policies to adopt it instead of traditional vehicles (Mladenović et al., 2020).

References

Ford.co.uk 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.ford.co.uk/> [Accessed 22 April 2022].

Hassan, A.T., 2018. Organizational change management: A literature review. Available at SSRN 3135770.

Hopkins, D. and Schwanen, T., 2018. Automated mobility transitions: Governing processes in the UK. Sustainability, 10(4), p.956.

Hudson, J., Orviska, M. and Hunady, J., 2019. People’s attitudes to autonomous vehicles. Transportation research part A: policy and practice, 121, pp.164-176.

Kim, S.H., Mokhtarian, P.L. and Circella, G., 2020. Will autonomous vehicles change residential location and vehicle ownership? Glimpses from Georgia. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 82, p.102291.

Lee, Y., Li, J.Y.Q. and Tsai, W.H.S., 2021. The role of strategic internal communication in workplace discrimination: A perspective of racial minority employees. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 15(1), pp.37-59.

Mardani, A., Nikoosokhan, S., Moradi, M. and Doustar, M., 2018. The relationship between knowledge management and innovation performance. The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 29(1), pp.12-26.

Mladenović, M.N., Stead, D., Milakis, D., Pangbourne, K. and Givoni, M., 2020. Governance cultures and sociotechnical imaginaries of self-driving vehicle technology: Comparative analysis of Finland, UK and Germany. In Advances in transport policy and planning (Vol. 5, pp. 235-262). Academic Press.

Parliament.uk 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/commons-committees/science-technology/evidence-tests/Driverless-cars.pdf> [Accessed 20 April 2022].

Yue, C.A., Men, L.R. and Ferguson, M.A., 2019. Bridging transformational leadership, transparent communication, and employee openness to change: The mediating role of trust. Public relations review, 45(3), p.101779.

Appendices

Appendix 1