This week’s MSLD 631
blog compares two leaders’ (Ret. General Stanely McChrystal & Jim
McIngvale) approaches to change and how their approaches relate to the two figures
(15.4 - Relative Strength of Corporate Cultures & 15.5 – The Strategy
Culture Matrix) in the Brown (2011) text found in Chapter 15, Organization
Transformation and Strategic Change. Stanely McChrystal’s and Jim McIngavale’s
stories to change is provided in Listen, learn...and then
lead and Influencer |
Gallery Furniture Video Case Study respectively. A review of these videos
is needed to follow the rationale used in this blog to explain why their
actions and approaches make sense.
Jim McIngvale and Gallery Furniture
Jim McIngvale (known in
the furniture industry as “Mattress Mack”) started in the furniture business in
1981, and like other established retail businesses the events of Sep 11, 2001
threatened to put him out of business. If a drop of 75% in core customers was
not enough, a fire in May 2009 at a main store placed the business on life
support (VitalSmarts, 2012).
The
steps Jim took before his company went under changed everything. A simple thing
such as picking up a business journal and reading about how to transform his
company caught his attention. He would follow through by changing the behaviors
of all the employees at Gallery Furniture to bring more a positive experiences to
their customers when they shopped at his stores, which in-turn would bring more
revenue into the store. When comparing Jim’s transformation of his company’s
culture from on where employees where indifferent to the customers to one of
staying engaged with the customers to Figure 15.5 and Figure 15.5 shown below,
it is easy to understand why this change in culture went rather smoothly and
why it was needed.
(Brown, 2011, p. 406-407)
When determining the
culture strength of Jim’s company before the changes were implemented using
Figure 15.4, the culture at Gallery Furniture was weak and with a weak culture
in place it is easier to make changes to the culture and would explain why the
employees did not put up much resistance to the changes. The weak culture was
also a contributing factor to the underachieving performance of the company
that remained unremarkable to in the Post 9-11 era.
When comparing the
company’s situation to figure 15.5, the company’s survival depended on
transformation so the need for strategic change was high. Compatibility of the culture change needed to
make the transformation was low. One might think that Change the Strategy would
be needed in such a case, but Brown (2011) provides this advice that changes
that direction to Manage Around the Culture “Here the critical point is whether
the changes can be implemented with a reasonable probability of success.” (p.
407). Because the change itself is about
a change in culture itself, and Figure 15.4 indicates this change in culture is
likely to succeed, Manage Around the Culture is the clear choice for
implementing the change.
So just how does one “manage
around the culture” when it’s the culture that your trying to change?
Confusing? It may seem that way. The approach to changing the culture at Galley
Furniture is not to make it about changing the culture necessarily. No the
change agents are zoomed into the specific behaviors (like training on follow-up
calls, and prospecting) that make up the culture.
Ret. General Stanely
McChrystal and the Rangers
Having served 20 years
in the military, my initial impression on this portion of the assignment was “piece
of cake”. When will I learn that my initial impressions are almost never
accurate!
McChrystal’s dilemma,
while focused on the same event of 9-11 as Jim’s, was also about how technology
has incrementally changed the Army’s way of doing business and open my eyes to
the fact that the Armed Forces in general are really a remarkable set of highly
adaptable organizations in a very oligarchic traditional hierarchical system.
Seems to be a paradox, and it is really…but one part of military training that
is drilled into soldiers, sailors and airman is to remain adaptable and be
ready for anything. From day one of basic training you’re told that “you’re a GI
(Government Issue) and your job is to be ready for anything”. So the culture of
flexibility and adapting to new environments begins early for all new recruits.
For the ones that don’t get it (adapt to the culture), they are weeded out
before basic training is completed.
A review of Figure 15.4
and 15.5, as it applies to the McChrystal’s situation when 9-11 occurred would
indicate a strong culture, high need for strategic change and high compatibility
with existing culture perfect match for the military mind…”let’s go kick some terrorist
butt”!
The other change topics
that McChrystal refers to in his discussion concerns incremental changes that
sneak up on you. He refers to having to develop teams without able to reach out
and touch that team member, in having to deal with generational gaps, in
watching a battle unfold on a live video stream. McChrystal refers back to the
common bonds and values that are shared between all soldiers, and that is that
they will take care of each other. I’m not convinced that just taking care of
each other is enough. Perhaps if given an opportunity, McChrystal could
elaborate more on this point. The culture of change that is ingrained into new
recruits from day one, is in my mind, a critical factor in the military staying
current and relevant into the 21st Century. Carrying Figure 15.4 and
15.5 around with you to help you decide how to best implement change might also
be helpful.
References:
Brown,
R. D, (2011). An experiential approach to
organization development (Eighth edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
VitalSmarts
Video (2012, September). Influencer | gallery furniture video case study [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20RW75Fhu4.
McChrystal,
S, (2012, March). Listen, learn…then lead [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal.
