Introduction
For any business, one of the most dangerous attitudes is complacency. This can hurt a firm’s competitive position and the ability to adjust with changes inside the marketplace. In the case of Levon, the company has a strong reputation and established relationships. However, they are having trouble evolving with changes in the biding process for cliental. The result is that the company is losing customers from failing to take these views into account. To fully understand what is happening requires focusing on why executives are not listening to their employees and identify three strategies to help them understand the severity of the situation. Together, these different elements will allow the firm to adjust with the challenges they are facing and identify the best ways to encourage them to change. (Luecke, 2003)
Analyze the fundamental reasons why the executives in the case refused to listen to their own employees but were willing to listen to a consultant. Discuss the main reasons why the executives still seemed apprehensive even after the consultant’s presentation.
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The main reason why executives refused to listen to their employees was based upon attitudes of arrogance. Inside the firm, they felt that they understood the marketplace and customers more so than them. When staff members pointed out these issues, they thought that this was directly going against the chain of command and did not believe what they uncovered. Instead, they felt that employees should do as they are told and not offer any kind of insights about what is occurring inside the marketplace. After the consultant’s presentation, they were apprehensive because they thought that they knew what was happening better than an outsider. In this situation, many believed that these recommendations were nothing more than an attempt to justify their fees. (Patton, 2008) (Heath, 2010)
Imagine that you are consultant from the case study. Speculate on three strategies that you could employ to get the executives to understand your point of view and thus support your project management recommendations.
One possible strategy is to go to the board of directors. This is when the consultant can present their findings to them and the attitudes embraced by management. They have the power to remove these individuals and locate executives who can implement specific recommendations. A second avenue is to present these findings to the stockholders of the company. They will be more open, as the lower profit margins will hurt their overall return. In this situation, they can replace the board of directors and management team in order to implement these recommendations. A third approach is to go the news media. They can talk about how the firm has lost its way and needs to be restructured. This can place external pressure on the management to embrace these practices or face the possibility of having added amounts of scrutiny from failing to reverse the situation. Any one or combination of these strategies, are effective in connecting with stakeholders and it encourages the management to take steps in preventing the situation from becoming worse. (Patton, 2008) (Heath, 2010)
Conclusion
Clearly, the executive team at Levon is failing to understand the seriousness of their current situation. To force them to change requires utilizing unorthodox strategies. This means illustrating how they understand there is a problem and are failing to act. Over the course of time, this places added amounts of pressure on them to embrace these recommendations. Once this occurs, is the point they will be more open to them and can easily prevent the situation from becoming worse. This is when the firm can regain its contracts and become better at responding to the needs of customers.
- Heath, C. (2010). Switch. Toronto: Random House.
- Luecke, R. (2003). Managing Changes and Transition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
- Patton, R. (2008). Change Management. London: Sage.
