HRM Essay Sampe on the Change in the American Telephone and Telegraph Organization

American Telephone and Telegraph organization Background Information

AT&T Inc. is one of the greatest American telecommunication company. Its headquarters is based in Della in Texas, United States of America. To arrive at its current name, the company has undergone a lot of transformation. It was started in 1880 and named as Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, during which it was a subsidiary company of the Bell Telephone Company (Van der Voet, 2014). The SBC bought AT&T Inc. in 2005 and decided to adopt the name. Today, AT&T Inc. has 18 subsidiaries distributed internationally. The company currently operates a huge market across the world, thus the huge revenue of about 16o.5 billion US dollars it recorded in 2017. The company has over 254000 employees who help in running their operations to serve their huge market that is widely spread in the world.

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Analysis of human resources at AT&T Inc

The company operation is such that their employees come to work at the stated hours that the company recommends. The Company has a 24-hour operation system such that workers report to their duties in shifts. However, with the situations that currently arise, the company need to change their model such that the number of the hour for working be reduced as the quality of work done is improved. By allowing flexibility in the working hours for the employees, the feeling of being valued by the company and thus increasing their efficiency at work. They will also try to stay by the company as much as possible.

Tools for determining readiness to change in an organization

Kurt Lewis theory of change management values the three steps of managing a change. Kurt Lewis's theory involves three steps that must be followed by a change in an organization. Following this theory, AT&T organization will need to defreeze the company by bringing about the change aspects into the institution. Change valence, needs assessment, contextual factors, and the changing efficiency are the tools that will lead the organization through this step. The next step is the actual implementation of the change (Jacoby, 2014). This is the stage when AT&T Company will come to start the training sessions for their employees. The last step is the refreezing stage when the company is now going back to its normal routine of operation with the changes introduced incorporated in the company operation. This is the stage when AT&T will start employing the advanced technical skills as a routine for doing their work.

Reasons for the need for change

Considering the current trends for managing operation of organizations, there is need to set flexible working hours. Research shows that workers performance is increased when they are set free to work without close supervision. This is because most individuals' critical thinking improves when at work. Their innovativeness will also increase greatly and thus their work output will increase to great levels.

Recommended tool for the change

The best tool that should be used by AT&T Company for managing this change is the change efficacy diagnostic tool. This is because its workability relies on the availability of resources and task demands factor. By changing the work hour policy of the organization, AT&T workers will have the freedom of handling their duties from points that they are most convenient with. Second, the efficacy tool will serve the company because it would enhance the innovativeness of the employees thus enabling the company to enhance the technological change that they intend to make in the company.

Kotter's Change Management Model

Change in an organization is unavoidable following the fact that a lot of changes in the external business organization take place every time. The dynamic nature of trends of the business environment makes a change a necessity for the success of each organization. Changes done by organizations are different based on the nature of the issue that is reportedly facing the company (Nolan, 2008). The importance of bringing about a change in a company is to make sure that it maintains its competitive position in the market and even ensure the development of the company. There are various theories that give the approaches that can be used during the period when the company is undergoing changes. For the case of this paper, Kotter's eight-step theory of change will be used.

Currently, American Telephone and Telegraph AT&T Inc. renown for the wide variety of telecommunication services that it offers to the societies of the United States of America. However, there is the need for change in technology following the fact that the digital era is taking over. The company is therefore left with no option but to make the necessary changes as a way of ensuring that they do not lose their customers to the other telecommunication service companies. This means that the company need to people who are advance in technology, but at the same time have to make sure that their employees do not lose their jobs (Ashkenas, 2013). There is no way out in this case. AT&T Inc. has to train their employees the new advanced technology skills. Kotter's theory approach starts by Establishment of the sense of urgency. Since most people are afraid of change, AT&T Inc. human resource and other managers will need to set a meeting, discuss about the changes and decide on the approach to pass the message about the change. Second step is creation of a coalition where company will contact potential and willing stakeholders to talk about the change that they intend to introduce. Through this, AT&T Inc. will build the potential for running the organization during the period of adapting to the change without necessarily causing deviations to the normal operation of the company. Third, the company will create a vision that the change to be made should work towards. The value that the change will introduce to AT&T Inc. will be discussed here to make sure that changes made are of greater importance to the company (Dobosz-Bourne, 2006). Having created the vision, Kotter's theory advice f communicating the vision to the other departments as well as the willing stakeholders. Concerns that AT&T Inc. will be expecting following the change will also be discussed in this stage. Empowering broad-based action will then be worked on. This stage involves actions channeled towards persuading employees who view the change in the negative direction at an individual level about its merits in the bid to make them support the change idea. AT&T Inc. will then generate short time wins by making the employees understand the benefits that will come should the changes be executed. For instance, AT&T Inc. is going to welcome huge cash flows thus much profits when they train their employees to adapt to technology advancement. After the change is made, its gains will be consolidated and any necessary changes introduced as anchoring of approaches for sustaining the change is put underway.

Resistance and Communication

It is of no doubt that some of the employees working for the American Telephone and Telegraph organization do not have comprehensive technological skills. The company is, however, planning to make a change to involve much of use of technology in handling their operations. Technology involvement will ensure the competitive advantage if the company. However, higher chances are that most of these employees who do not have adequate understanding will to some extent try to bring a counter-argument against the changes. Some of the employees at AT&T will find it difficult because of the fear that they may lose their jobs because of the reduced working hours (Smith, 2013). However, with effective communication in the company, the best solution to resistance will be developed. The company needs to inform all the employees who are likely to be affected that the changes are not going to work against them in any way. At individual levels, that is, in the case where mass advice will not work, the employees will be made to understand that a good plan, which is leaning towards making them adapt to the change, is underway (Anderson, 2010). AT&T management will need to tell the employees that they will be educated so that they can work without facing any troubles because they lack proper technological skills. Again, since the company is large with very many mergers all over the world as well as subsidiaries, the intended change will have to be communicated from the headquarters in the bid to get the feedback concerning the change before they finally make it a policy for their operations routine.

Sustaining the change at AT&T

The most appropriate strategy for sustaining a change in a company is with the Six-Sigma, whereby customer satisfaction is given priority in the production process through providing standardized quality items for the customers. The steps in this strategy includes problem definition, coming up with measures for the impact of the problem, assessing situations through use of necessary methods to find out about the weight of impact the problem can cause to the company final output, using the change policies to improve the system and controlling the taking control measures such that an adjustment can be done in case there arises a need. The second method that can be used involves sponsoring, understanding, committing, connecting, enabling, supporting, and sustaining the change (SUCCESS) (Hayes, 2014). These strategies are important for ensuring that the company keeps within the track of their initial plan and maintain good relationships between the internal and external environments of the business (Hechanova, 2013). The strategies also minimize the cases where a company gets involved in malpractices as they often plan for everything that they take part in. through the strategies, companies can go beyond to serve the corporate roles to the society such as constructing institutions as well as develop a smooth operation whose end result is great outputs with little struggle to maintain the factors that surround company operations. With the two strategies for sustaining the changes at AT& T company brought into action, the company will manage the changes and the employees will with no doubt support the company management towards achieving the value of the changes. Conclusively, a lot of benefits will come as a result of the work hour policy and technology use changes at AT& T company.

References

Dobosz-Bourne, D. & Jankowicz, A. (2006). Reframing resistance to change: experience from General Motors Poland. The International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 17(12), 2021-2034. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585190600965431

Mintz, B. (2007). The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation: Organizational Change at General Motors, 1924-1970. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal Of Reviews, 36(2), 151-152. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/009430610703600222

Jacoby, G. (2013). Personnel Practices at GENERAL MOTORS. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 1(3), 2-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.2164-585x.1953.tb01330.x

Nolan, S. (2008). Realizing efficiencies through HR policies and practices. Strategic HR Review, 7(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/shr.2008.37207baa.001

Anderson, D., & Anderson, L. A. (2010). Beyond change management: How to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership (Vol. 36). John Wiley & Sons. Mason, Ohio

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Smith, H., & Fingar, P. (2003). Business process management: the third wave (Vol. 1). Tampa: Meghan-Kiffer Press.

Van der Voet, J. (2014). The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure.