British Airways Change Management

Example of organisational changes

1. British Airways

Back in 1981, British Airways brought on board a new chairperson. When this chairperson started, he noticed that the company was very inefficient and was wasting a lot of valuable resources. To make the organization more profitable, this chairperson decided to restructure the entire organization. He realized that the best way to do this was through change methodology management plan.

Systematically, the company began reducing their workforce. But, before they did this, through his change management leadership, the chairman gave the company the reasons for the restructuring and privatization of the company in order to prepare them for the upcoming change. Thus, through leadership and communication, he directed his company through a difficult time that could have been disastrous without effective change management resistance communication.

2. California State University

California State University (CSU). Any IT system change that happens at the main campus has to go through every satellite campus, meaning those 23 campuses and thousands of employees, staff, and students must adapt their IT systems as well. Dealing with change at a smaller organization can be a nightmare by itself; it's worse at a larger organization like CSU.

But, instead of merely throwing their hands up in disgust, the IT department decided to institute an automated change management system. Using Cisco's Pace functionality, the company can now make upgrades that will automatically make changes to the entire system. And, to make their change management strategy even more effective, they are now defining who can use what system and what changes they can make to their designated area. Their change management strategy considered the human factor and not only included the automated system, but also defined roles of change so that it would minimize the confusion and issues when a change has to be instituted.

3. Foxconn

The world's largest manufacturer of computer components Foxconn grabbed international headlines when more than 18 employees attempted suicide in an 11 month period in 2010. The company, which assembles Apple products among other products, clearly has employee work satisfaction issues. Interestingly, the company has recently announced plans to eliminate workers all together, replacing workers with over one million robots to be implemented over the next three years. Obviously, this is a change which would concern an already delicate employee base. Management, however, chose to reveal the news that robots will be replacing humans at a dance party!

4. Nokia

Nokia have undergone transformational change