: Change Readiness or Needs Assessment Audit. The data extracted from the employee engagement survey shows the need for change in specific areas. The illustration above highlights the areas that are performing less than the expected levels. The highest performance is in teamwork, and the rest of the areas perform at lower than expected rates to achieve expected goals.

The point to ponder is that most employees are unaware of the company’s mission, vision and direction. Lack of this information affects their contribution to change and productivity at work.

Data points I have selected from the employee engagement survey are listed on the right of the illustration, showing that the improvement in these areas will improve the overall performance of the US branch. For example, senior leadership lacks effectiveness in its roles. Senior leaders at the US branch fail to empower and encourage employees to take the initiative.

Senior leaders do not play the required role in maintaining a positive work environment that affects employees’ productivity and efficiency to achieve organizational values and expected goals. Similarly, ineffective training hinders the professional development opportunities of employees. Managers do not take notice of employee performance and do not suggest to them improvement that affects professional development at the workplace, leaving gaps in employee performance. Change management is needed in all these areas to improve performance at the US branch.

Employee Confidence in Change Management

After analyzing leaders’ self-evaluations, it is concluded that employees have a medium degree of confidence in organizational leadership. Each employee’s skill level and answers show no one is an expert in leading organizational leadership. Leaders are crucial in keeping employees motivated and productive at the workplace.

Still, through the analysis of employee engagement surveys and self-evaluations, it is evident that leaders at the US branch of the company lack competencies to manage organizational operations.

For example, upon asking about cross-cultural awareness, leaders respond ‘somewhat skilled,’ which shows their confusion about their skills. Leaders do not dominate in all areas, and the majority of leaders’ responses show ‘somewhat’ skill in change management.

Change at the leadership and management level is crucial to creating an empowered and productive workplace environment. Middle managers or leaders are crucial in empowering and encouraging employees to work for the organization and in professional development. Lack of basic leadership skills impacts the leader’s role in creating opportunities for professional development that affects the adaptation mindset of employees.

Leadership styles play a crucial role in change management. Thus it is important to spend time and effort on leadership styles and skills. Managers can bridge between leadership and staff members by empowering employees and helping them understand organizational values.

A middle manager should be open, transparent and honest to improve change readiness among employees. Middle managers and leaders play different roles; thus, managing individual roles to keep employees working and motivated is crucial to achieving expected change.

When leaders and managers carry out their responsibilities, employees work productively and achieve expected goals. For example, a transformative leadership style and transparent management could encourage change at a larger level (Abbasi, 2017).

Opportunities to Increase Change Readiness

Some employees accept change because they are open to experiencing new things and developing advanced skills. At the same time, some employees are reluctant to change because they are not ready for it or do not feel any support from the organization.

Employees become reluctant to change because they don’t see what is in it for them. Most neglected employees and face a higher work burden show resistance to change because they perceive it hard for them (Smith, 2018).

The forms of resistance grid show us reasons for resistance to change. For example, ambivalence is a type of resistance in which the reason could be positive or negative feelings about change.

Positive feelings motivate people to vocalize for change and vice versa. Similarly, peer-focused resistance is when people do not resist formally but use indirect sources to create trouble for a change. The grid highlights how and on what basis employees resist change.

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Model

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model helps to understand differences in cross-cultures using different dimensions. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model includes power distance, individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity-femininity and short-long term orientation (Nickerson & Mcleod, 2022).

The company’s operations in the US branch also pose cultural issues for the employees. Cultural differences affect employee engagement and productivity at work. Dimensions of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model help to understand cultural differences in concepts of power distance, individualism, collectivism and masculinity. Understanding these cultural dimensions will help the company arrange leadership and management statuses accordingly to eliminate conflict.

Individualism

The concept of individualism emphasizes the importance of individual rights, needs, and expectations. Individualism impacts cross-cultural communication because the company is not focusing on individual rights, needs and expectations at the US branch, affecting their performance. This attitude needs to be changed immediately.

Power-Distance

The power distance is an index that describes how and on what basis power is distributed among individuals. The US branch should maintain power distance based on hierarchy structure that will not affect individual interests and avoid misunderstanding in a cross-cultural setting (Nickerson & Mcleod, 2022).

References

Abbasi, B. (2017). “Transformational leadership and change readiness and a moderating role of perceived bureaucratic structure: an empirical investigation”. “Problems and Perspectives in Management”, 1-11.

Nickerson, C., & Mcleod, S. (2022, May 4). Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions-theory.html#:~:text=Hofstede’s%20Cultural%20Dimensions%20Theory%2C%20developed,long%2Dterm%20orientation.

Smith, C. (2018, May 30). Why Is Organizational Change So Difficult for Employees to Accept? Retrieved from https://change.walkme.com/why-is-organizational-change-so-difficult-for-employees-to-accept/