Organizational culture and employee morale - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Organizational culture and employee morale. Answer: Introduction Change generally refers to the process that causes a function or a practice or even a thing to become somewhat different in manner than the present or the past ways. Change is a common term that is used to describe the outcomes or the effects of the transformation or the transition of some function, thing or even methods (Hornstein 2015). Changes form a very important part of the everyday life and forms a part of the natural way of life. In order to manage the concerned business on a successful manner, organizations have to implement various changes at the different points of time during their operations (Burke 2017). Change management generally refers to the disciplines that guides the preparation, equipment and the support that is extended to the individuals to help them to successfully adopt the changes so as to derive the organizational outcomes and successes (Langley et al 2013). The concept of change management refers to the transformations in the concerned business organizatio n that are in compliance with the changing trends of the business environment which might help the concerned business firm to grow as well as achieve the targets that have been set by the concern (Hayes 2014). There have been a number of different models of change management that have been developed by the theorists in order to assist the managerial staff to implement the changes in the concerned organization in an effective manner. In the cases that involve the financial institutions such as banks, the implementation of changes become an added responsibility for the managers and the other leaders pf the organization due to the high amount of the interaction that these organizations have with the general public. Theorists like Bridges, McKinsey, Kotter, Kubler-Ross, Lewin and many such others have put forward certain models that find application in the matters pertaining to the change management till date (Shirey 2013; Worley and Mohrman 2014). The following report focusses its attention on the recurring issues that are faced by theAustralia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank and applies the 7S model proposed by McKinsey for the identification of the possible reasons for the same. The report further proceeds to analyze the problems that have arisen within the concern and makes an attempt for providing reasons for the problems with the help of the proposed change management theories. ANZ Bank The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank, is one of the five most successful banks that have been operating in the country of Australia. The bank had set its initial steps in the industry almost 170 years ago when it had stemmed from the Bank of Australasia (Anz.com 2018). The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank is at present headquartered at Melbourne, Australia. In the current scenario of the financial market, the bank comprises of a staffing pool of almost 35000 employees and has been a publicly listed organization. The organization further bears the position of being one of the most trusted among all banks that operate all over the world. ANZ Bank has secured the rank of 92 on the Forbes list of 2000 as per May 2017 market cap report (Forbes.com 2018). The financial organization aims to serve the huge customer base consisting of about six million people of the population of the world. The number of shareholders of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited is almost over 376813. The concerned financial organization continues to serve its clients in over 30 different countries all over the world (Anz.com 2018). The services provided by the bank are known to majorly operate over five major divisions that are inclusive of New Zealand, Australia, the Asia-Pacific area, the shared and the institutional services. It might be noted that the concerned financial organization, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank, has been facing a huge number if problems since the inception of the same. The financial institution has gone through a number of changes in the organizational structure and the concerned departments in order to make the necessary improvements in the performance of the bank. Evaluation of the features of Organizational transformation at ANZ Bank. According to De Grauwe (2013) and Mesnard et al. (2016), the major potential threats that are posed to the financial organizations are the low morale of the employees and the bad debts. The company in discussion, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank, has been undergoing several issues pertaining to the poor organizational activities, dissatisfaction of the concerned customers, the low morale of the concerned employees and the bad debts that they had been facing until the middle half of the 1990s. The major banks of Australia had faced a situation during the later years of the 1990 decade which had led to a widespread ill-will and mistrust among the customers. The bank had appointed Jon McFarlane as the CEO during the late 1990s following the conditions of poor performance that had been delivered by the concerned bank. There had been occurrences of increment of the fees and the branch closures that had taken place all over the country. This had led the clients of the concerned financial organizations to believe in the fact that the banks were not serving the clients, the employees or the communities in an appropriate manner (Thompson 2013). The then CEO of ANZ Bank, McFarlane had highly criticized the move of the financial organizations that dealt with the closure of the branches of the banks in the rural areas. McFarlane introduced a freeze on the closure of the rural branches of the bank. McFarlane also made an attempt to ensure the addressal of the issues that pertained to the lack of female employees in the senior ranks of the concerned financial organization (Munjuri and Maina 2013). This had helped in the enhancement of the diversity that exists within the organization and has also helped in providing the employees with the much needed motivation. McFarlane had been one of the first among his contemporaries to have taken the concept of corporate social responsibility in a very serious manner. The then CEO of the organization had introduced outsourcing of a number of services that might have led to the severe cost cutting on the part of the bank. The financial organization had taken its preliminary steps towards the transformation in a scenario pertaining to the organizations in the year 2000. There were a number of revelations regarding the discrepancies that were found to be existing among the personal values of the employees of the concerned financial organization and their perceptions regarding the same. The revelations also put forth some of the issues that pertained to the set of values that were put forth as well as practiced by the bank. The recent studies have thrown light on the issues that the financial organization had been facing regarding the finances that the bank had been borrowing in order to provide loans to the concerned clients of the organization (Kwambai and Wandera 2013). The nature of the equity market as well as the provided debt had been very volatile. This had led the concerned clients to put up a curb in the issues related to the expenditure which in turn had led to the erosion of the confidence th at the people needed to place on the banks. According to Ogechukwu (2013), the breach of the ethical code of conduct might pose to be a serious issue within any industry that might be clubbed under the banking industry. The financial institution in discussion, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank, had several commitments towards the responsible practices in the concerned field of business. ANZ Bank had faced an issue in 2008 which forced them to turn these commitments into corporate realities in their sector of business (Graetz et al 2010). The financial institution also faced an issue that dealt with the resignation of the staff, who, according to a report, published internally, had been involved with a broking house which had tasted failure in the operations that it had undertaken. The report stated that the identified employees had breached the security code of the bank by involving themselves with the afore-mentioned broking concer n. He report further stated that the concerned employees did hold accounts in a manner that might be considered to be improper. The future goals that are set by the financial institution in discussion is to bring about a significant growth in the presence of the same majorly in the Asia-Pacific area. The bank also aims the maintenance of the opportunities and the business environment that it holds in the countries of Australia and New Zealand. Challenges faced by the managers in the implementation of the changes. In the case of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank, the change in the structure was necessary due to the issues that the financial organization was facing based on the dissatisfied customers of the concern and the low morale of the existing employees of the bank in the early 1990s. The financial organization appointed John McFarlane as the new CEO of the company in the year 1997 which set the required changes rolling as per the chronology. The company had been overcrowded with unnecessary staff which resulted in the hampering of the organizational management and thus led to the poor performance of the concerned financial institution. This problem that the company had been facing had its roots in the poor organizational structure of the bank. McFarlane, on taking charge of the responsibilities of the bank, implied new strategies that that followed the concurrent trends in the banking industry. The management needed to change the old and worn out strategies followed by the bank that led to the concerned issues being surfaced. John McFarlane had noticed that the daily processes that were followed by the bank were not in compliance with the basic rules of the organization and lacked equality in the participation. The CEO also observed that the financial institution had been ignoring the rural communities that have been contributing to its growth. The financial institutions had lost the faith of their clients due to rise in the bank charges and the closure of a number of branches which led the customers to a vulnerable position. According to the McKinsey model for change management, these problems had resulted from the change in those systems of the financial organization that helped to form the daily processes of the ANZ Bank, the distance from the rural communities was considered to be one of the reasons for the same (Singh 2013). The major challenges that were faced by the company while implementing the changes in the organization refer to those that were faced by the then CEO and his team in the fields of bringing forth an engagement among the employees of the bank on all levels. The CEO had also faced a number of challenges in the fields that aimed at the building of a support for the necessary cultural changes that had been taking place within the financial institution. The financial organization had implemented the changes in both the upper levels of the institution as well as the lower levels. The employees were encouraged to share the issues that they had been facing in their respective fields of work. The financial organization had been spread over a large area of operation which led to difficulties in the implementation of the employee engagement all over the organization. There might have been phases where some employees serving the organization at areas other than the headquarters might have raised issues that led to the lowering of the employee engagement. However, the other employees at the same area acted as advocates of the employers and helped the management to deal with the problems that arose within the organization. The CEO of the organization, John McFarlane has introduced the system of internal surveys of the staff that had been working at the banking organization. The surveys revealed the fact that there had been a significant amount of improvement in the satisfaction of the staff of the organization. These results that were achieved from the changes that were implemented by McFarlane, resulted in the staff of the company to focus more on the issues of the employee engagement as well as advocate the issue on the behalf of their employers. Role of leadership in the influencing, directing and managing the process of change at ANZ The CEO had introduced a number of measures that ensures the affirmative action against the scenario that the bank was facing during the then period of time. McFarlane is considered to be one of the first among his contemporaries to have considered the concepts pertaining to the corporate social responsibility in a serious manner. The CEO also displayed a huge talent for fore-seeing the trends that might get popularized in the industry in the near future. These initiatives that were introduced by the CEO led to the improvement of the perception about the ANZ in the eyes of the general public. The then current CEO of the financial organization, John McFarlane had ensured that the financial organization went through a number of changes within a very short period of time (Messai and Jouini 2013). He hastened the cost-cutting drive which resulted in a huge number of job cuts in several branches of the concerned financial organization. McFarlane helped in the reduction of the risk profile of the branch by stepping down from the investments in the emerging markets. According to the McKinsey 7S change management model, skill is a soft factor that might not be easy to recognize but might often lead to a number of problems. ANZ Bank lacked the skills that were necessary for the addressal of the changing trends that had been taking place in the banking sector (Ravanfar 2015). Thus, as a result the company had to face a number of issues regarding the same. The management body of the concerned financial organization lacked the skills necessary to identify the causes behind the escalations of the problems that they have been facing. John McFarlane had demonstrated exceptional skills in the field of identification of the issues and had immediately initiated the changes that were necessary. The changes that were implemented by the CEO led to the unemployment of those employees who had not been performing in accordance to the needed conditions. The CEO also helped the bank to bail out of the bad investments in the markets that were seen to be rising as d ays passed by which helped in the transformation of the financial status of ANZ Bank. The other factors, as discussed in the McKinseys model of change management, include the staff of the organization, the style and the values that are shared by the organization (Arunchand and Ramanathan 2013). The CEO also addressed the issues pertaining to the employment of the female employees of the company (Yadav and Dabhade 2014). The organization had faced issues right after the resignation of McFarlane from the post of the CEO of the financial institution. The problem that the bank faced resulted from the breach of the moral code of conduct that was set by the bank. This had resulted from the inability portrayed by the then CEO Michael Smith in the matters that pertained to the management of the staff of the organization. Recommendations There have been several areas that need to be attended to in order to avoid the situations that the concerned financial organization had been facing since its conception. The organization had been facing situations where they had been incurring bad debts. These conditions might be avoided by lowering the risk factors that are involved in the overdue payments that have been turning into bad debts. The financial institution must introduce greater control in the areas pertaining to the credit matters. The banks must ensure the conduction of a thorough check of the business houses as well as the referring bodies before granting the credit to the new clients. The credit limit set by the bank should be fair and reasonable and must instruct the concerned employee to communicate with the concerned officials in any condition that involves the client requests for exceeding the credit limit that had been agreed upon previously. One of the most important assets of the financial institutions are its staff members. The management needs to look into the matters that pertain to the motivation of the staff in order to achieve the conditions of low turnover and a high productivity. The financial institutions might help the staff members by providing them with the needed recognition and appreciation for their contributions towards the bank. The financial institution must introduce perks and incentives that would be awarded to the staff in order to boost their morale. The management of the bank must allow flexible schedules for the employees that might be availed under genuine circumstances in order to maintain the high morale of the concerned staff members. The staff of the bank must be allowed to put forth suggestions to the management of the society as well as the concerns that they might be facing while carrying out the duties that have been assigned to them. The financial institutions might also need to pay attention to the issues that might have arisen from the factors pertaining to the dissatisfaction of the concerned clients. The banks should aim to from a deep and realistic understanding of the needs and the wants of the concerned clientele so as to bring about an improvement in the services that are provided by the bank towards the concerned customers. Long-term relationships with the clientele might be developed by introducing comparatively new systems and processes in the operations of the bank. The banks must introduce the greater employment of the female staff in the higher ranks of service in order to maintain the equality of the genders within the organization. The involvement of the female staff in the higher ranks of the organization might also help in the diversification in the behavioral patterns of leadership. The rural population might contribute a lot in the potential client base of the financial institution wherein the ANZ Bank is highly operational. The employees of the organization must refrain from the breach of the ethical codes that need to be maintained in the organization. The concerned organization must help the employees to get well-acquainted with the ethical code that is specifically followed within the organization in discussion, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, popularly known as the ANZ Bank. Conclusion Thus, from the above discussion it might be concluded that the application of the McKinseys 7S model of change management had been appropriate for the identification of the problems that had arisen at the ANZ Bank. It may be safely concluded from the organization might face huge problems with any one of the seven major factors functioning in an inappropriate manner. The appointment of a capable CEO had resulted in the recovery of the financial institution from the imminent danger of bankruptcy. The lack of proper management, the improper identification of the core areas hat needed improvement and the absence of the skilled staff in the organization had led to the downfall of the concerned organization. However, a detailed study on the history of ANZ Bank and the current position that it holds in the market might help to provide a deeper insight into the relevant issues for the study. 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