Claymore Consultants Case Study

Introduction

Claymore Consultants is a management consultants company that was established by the two businessmen- Angus and Hamish. The main purpose of the establishment of the firm was to provide companies with advice regarding strategy, operation, technology, and organization. The business did well, and indeed so well in its time that saw it grow to recruit more staff and increase its market base to becoming a competitive consultant firm. Along the way things change and like any other company/firm, it starts to struggle in maintaining the practices, people and activities that it previously did well. One of the problems that hit the firm so hard is the fact that it lacked the flexibility of situations. In other words, the firm was not sensitive to changing business environment rather the dynamics in the market. The directors of the business were not alert on the trending in business locally and even beyond the local perspective.

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Another problem is that the company had an issue with the leadership. True leadership calls for making out a leader that by default attracts the followers unlike for their case it was much more self-centered. Leadership in an organization or a firm goes beyond a level of just being the boss- the top head to a level where you become a servant of the others- you practice transformational leadership (Maurer, 2014). Furthermore, this leadership has to be nurtured among other employers through constant trainings on leadership aspect. Becoming a true leader makes the people around you to understand that they have a role to play as far as the company's progress is concerned. This will only be possible if the top management acts as an example rather become a role model to becoming exemplary tools in the service of the company (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).

It is notable that the two top ends (Angus and Hamish) were the only people who were involved in the day to day running and operations of the business. This is bad governance. The responsibilities ought to be shared among all the staff in the company. Their self-centeredness saw them lose trust in even delegating the slightest duties to any of the staff members in the organization. The heads of the enterprise have no trust in the members they have recruited themselves. It is then apparent that in such a business and working environment there was no teamwork. It was challenging rather it's hard to believe that there was co-operation among the staff if at all the there was no mutual trust among the top management and the junior staff members. An organization is referred to as defaulted when teamwork is not a key factor in the carrying out of the day to day activities.

Another notable problem in the organization is that they were riding on the irony of their present circumstance. It is interesting that the firm was offering services to the companies that would help them overcome the headwinds as they enjoy the tailwind yet themselves are struggling with the same issues they want to offer to other companies. Some of the contributors to failure in an organization are lack of motivation of the members within the organization. Failure to reward and recognize some of the people in the organization can be very detrimental to both the business and to whom the firm is offering services to. Everyone in an organization has a critical role to play otherwise their absence will mean inefficient running of the company. Therefore, everyone in the company is great and they ought to be rewarded and recognized as important persons and great assets of the company. Most businesses especially firms have the mantra, "our core our people". It all starts with making the employee the best person in this world and the next thing you 'll observe is tremendous growth of an organization.

Reasons for the Arousal of the Problems in the Organization Regarding Change Management Theory

The appropriateness of the application of change management theories is viewed as the final driving factor of organizational change success. The different model's theories and models have potential benefits or weaknesses for the specific organization. In other words, these theories try to explain how change can be managed in an organization to keep the organization relevant and up to date. Out of these theories, it is evident that there must have been causes of the problems identified in the claymore consultants and that the firm fails to apply appropriate models or strategies in coping up with the change. Considering the ADKAR theory of the change management, it is apparent that the consultant firm's management team was not focusing their activities on business results that were specific. For instance, at one point, the consultants firm does not value any more the training, mentoring and even giving the platform for the young and recruits develop their skills and grow in their career paths. They failed to focus on the business result-oriented activities. It is important therefore that the events on change management be aligned to a given goal or result. This model/ theory is a coaching tool (to help employees through the process of change) that the company came to detach itself from it and this was the beginning of the problems. It is also right to conclude that the reason as to why such problems happened is because there was no awareness of the need for change among the management team and the staff member. There might be no desire for those in the organization to participate and support change. There might also have been no knowledge to embrace change, the ability to accommodate the required behaviors and skills and finally, it might be that there was no reinforcement from both parties (management team and the staff members). Without ADKAR, therefore, resulted in more resistance from the staff members, lower productivity, higher turn-over, hoarding of information and sometimes resources and sometimes delays in implementation of important assignments and activities (Zettler & Hilbig, 2010). It also led to employee worrying if they were prepared to be successful in the future, and this saw some of the expertise walking off and starting their own company, the organization created a history of poorly managed effective change.

Regarding the six-change approach model developed by Kotter and Schlesinger, it is palpable that if it would have been utilized, then the issues with self-interest, misunderstanding, low tolerance and even the disagreement among the employers would not have arisen. The six-change approach is designed to minimize resistance to change of an employee (Kotter, 1995). One of the obvious reason why there were continual cases of self-interest among the top management is that they failed to apply this strategy and were so resistant to change. The reason why people in an organization or firm are usually resistant to change is due to unending self-interest, low tolerance to change, their different level of assessing the situation at hand and misunderstanding.

Finally, reengineering involves rethinking and redesigning the company or organization for work that will deliver outstanding products and services. Lack of this model in claymore consults made it look obsolete in the 21st century. Hence the need to be up to date. The major components of the reengineering involve preparation, identification, having a vision, solution and then going for transformation.

Recommendation

Change management refers to various processes applied in an organization to ensure that the significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and above all systematic manner to cause organizational change (Perkins, 2012). For an organization to remain relevant and be up to date, it is crucial that the firms be ready to accept any change and the dynamics that are accompanied by technology, daily operations, social life, and even the environment. Some of the things that can be done to deal with the resistance to change would be: embracing communication among the members and education. Up first communication and education that opens eyes helps the staff members to see sense in the effort to do a change. Involvement and participation of the employees is another recommendation. When they are involved and allowed participate in making some of the decision in the company, they are more likely to be of the opinion of change rather than condemn and resist it. There is also a need to support and facilitate employees deal with pressures and anxiety in the daily job operations, especially during transition periods.

Angush and Hamish- the top leadership, should consider the grievances of the employees. They should put aside their self-interest if at all they want the organization to head where their vision was first set. It will require that they give every member of the organization an opportunity to express themselves in an honorable and professional manner (Lambrechts, 2008). The other crucial thing is that a company should not operate on a specific people alone, the members need to feel a sense of belonging and ownership of the company so that they will take the utmost care whenever they are handling anything related to the company. Their main aim will be building the reputation of the company, marketing it out and developing their careers because they know that after all they partly own the company. On the contrary, a company that has the top management mistreating the junior staff or those below them, will face it rough. Mistreatment and unequal treatment in the company will pose a likelihood to business failure because no member takes responsibility and accountability of whatever actions they do or engage in on a daily basis.

Modification to an established process. Business is as dynamic as the weather and climate. It keeps on changing every day (Antonellis, 2016). The fact that claymore consultants cannot meet the 21st century needs, the modification is inevitable. It requires that the advice or services given are consistent with the existing new technologies. This does not exempt the up to date standard, procedures, and modification of the unacceptable behavior to becoming acceptable. The company should also ensure that the market pool is enlarged through constant marketing and building the name. Apart from that, the employees including the recruits can only be motivated to stay within the company if it gives platform and avenues for career growth, training, growth and other skills that are related to their career and above all job satisfaction. The employees are an essential asset to a company and all should be done to make sure they are retained within the company/organization they should be retained.

Self-reflection. As the top management of the claymore consultants company, Angus and Hamish should be ready to sit down and reflect on their self (Ogbonna & Wilkinson, 2003). As the matter stands, it is evident that they are a source of all the problems that are associated with the company. They made the company look like it belongs to them, but this is not how it should be (Ross & Sicoly, 1979). It should not mean that when one of them is not round, no decision can be made, or no one can stand in their shoes; this is detrimental to an organization because immediately they are taken off the company it collapses or dies. There should always be someone to stand in their shoes just in case they are away. This will build trust and teamwork and hence efficiency and productivity in an organization. All said and done, in managing change in the company that is at the verge of failing will call for the top management ensuring that their self-serving bias does not influence the change of the organization in a negative manner (Isern & Pung, 2006).

Communication is essential. Communication of change i...