Managing Change at Chemicals Inc.

The assignment content discusses the importance of change management processes in organizations. It highlights the need for a structured approach to manage organizational changes effectively. The content emphasizes that change is inevitable, and it's crucial to have a well-planned strategy to navigate through such changes. It also underscores the significance of involving employees in the change process and empowering them with necessary skills and training. The assignment provides examples from Air Products, a leading industrial gas company, which demonstrates their commitment to change management by restructuring their organization, developing employee workforce, and utilizing IT tools like SAP technology.

Running head: AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC.
A Case Study Report
[Air Products and Chemicals Inc]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
The study is on the change management process, which depicts the example of Air Products
and Chemicals Inc. Air Products is the leading name in the gas and chemicals products. It has
also a working relationship with NASA for 50 long years where it used to supply hydrogen
for every space launch. The paper is a good example for readers, which presents them as well
as guides them to the essentials of change management. The paper shows the importance of
change management, the scientific way to implement this and the way to monitor & measure
the success.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Part 1: Organisational strategy...................................................................................................3
Organisational background and vision...................................................................................3
Strategy..................................................................................................................................3
Problems faced (need for change)..........................................................................................4
Process improvement road map.............................................................................................4
Part 2: Process management.......................................................................................................5
Process blueprint....................................................................................................................5
Improvement process.............................................................................................................6
Benefits from global processes..............................................................................................6
Enablers of successful process changes.................................................................................7
Part 3: Role of technology as a Process Enabler........................................................................7
IT strategies............................................................................................................................7
Global IT structure and role...................................................................................................7
Enterprise design and IT tools................................................................................................8
Measuring and monitoring processes.....................................................................................8
Part 4: Change management issues............................................................................................9
People issues..........................................................................................................................9
Change management process.................................................................................................9
Performance appraisal and assessment................................................................................10
Learning strategy..................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

3AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC.
Introduction
Innovation plays a significant role in influencing the business behaviour. It takes time
to earn a multinational reputation. However, it all happens with a continuous highly extensive
strategic planning. Nevertheless, the base for all such strategic planning is innovation largely.
From opening up a new subsidiary centre to introducing a new product, all that happens when
some innovative thoughts take place (Perdomo-Ortiz, Gonzalez-Benito and Galende 2009).
The main purpose of this assignment is to analyse the business of “Air Products and
Chemicals Inc.” from the perspectives of different parameters such as leadership style,
strategy, information technology, people, process etc.
Part 1: Organisational strategy
Organisational background and vision
It is an American based company, whose primary business is to sell gases and
chemicals to the different industries. It is headquartered in Allentown in the United States of
America. The products have its prospect in the technology, healthcare, energy, industrial
markets and food industry. The company supplies gases like nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen,
argon and carbon dioxide to such industries. It also supplies process gases, chemical
intermediates and performance materials. Importantly, it has simultaneously worked with
NASA for 50 years by supplying them liquid hydrogen that were used in every space launch
related projects. The CSR and environmental performance of the company is one of few top
multinational companies in and across the globe. There vision is to solve the toughest
challenges of the customers. They have aligned their vision with the corporate strategy,
which is why they have progressed much in technology (Airproducts.com 2017).
Strategy
Technology has become an important and integral asset of probably every business.
However, it is equally important to understand that the selection of an appropriate technology
is also very much important. This is not just the end but it also needs to be executed properly,
so that, a maximum benefit can be attained (Venkatesh, Thong and Xu 2012). Air Products
and Chemicals Inc. has actually justified the use of technology at the fullest of its capabilities.
An appropriate use of technology can easily be understood with a fact that the company
believes in three aspects such as people, process and technology. They follow a philosophy

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that signifies the importance of aligning the corporate vision with the organisational strategy.
The vice president of the global supply chain believes that it was the alignment of the
company’s vision with the organisational strategy, which has yielded success to it in the last
five years. The company has succeeded in the past with a sheer use of technology.
Technology has made them succeed for more than 15 years. However, they have efficient
performance measuring capability, which has also encouraged them to feel the necessity of
bringing change in the management. According to the VP of the global supply chain, the
change was imperative for the company because with the use of technology it has entered
into a more mature market where competition was high. They needed to bring in the required
competitive skill in order to sustain the business performance. They have exactly done the
same by bringing a significant change. Prior to change, the organisational system of the Air
Products and Chemicals Inc was very complex, which used to take more than the normal time
to conduct a work. For example, approximately 34 systems were used just to place a
customer order. It was indeed done for best quality work but it was time consuming also
(Airproducts.com 2017).
Problems faced (need for change)
Initially, the company had no such set ups where technology could have any
alignment with the process. It was actually aligned to the different functions. For example, to
enter the data of customer order there were 34 systems. There was a separate budget system
was assigned to a particular business unit. The management had eventually analysed the
shortcomings in the strategy, which is why they globalised the business process with the
implementation of SAP. The same level of business operation was required at the global level
in order to align the process with the technology (Weske 2012). The divergence of business
concept at the global platform then produced the necessity of having a more controlled
system. The company has analysed that to incept the one single person for a single global
process. This is exactly what the company has brought with the change. They have one single
process owner at the global level (Airproducts.com 2017).
Process improvement road map
The change management is not a one-day process; it rather requires some through
thought process. On a same note, the company has also realised that the required change
would not just happen overnight. It has to follow a process. Moreover, the company had built
up a process road map following which they brought the required changes. They started with
their organisational vision, which is to “Deliver the Difference”. It then prepared a portfolio

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management work through which they differentiated and identified the business units with
high values. After identifying the units, they constructed a growth strategy on focussing the
four key market sectors. The main idea behind such plan was to become globalised
specifically with the identified business units. The process journey is also incorporated with
continuous improvement, knowledge sharing and e-business (Airproducts.com 2017).
The road map is well structured; however, it lacked in connectivity with the
employees. They have not yet identified the difference between a global process and a global
function. Global functions mean the execution of a function at a global level whereas global
process means the execution of work process as per global standard for competitiveness. It is
indeed very important for employees to be aligned with the change process. The required
input at the lower level would then be attained at the maximum level (Avey, Wernsing and
Luthans 2008).
Part 2: Process management
Process blueprint
The move to convert the global process into one company has produced an enterprise
process blueprint. The modified supply chain does not have all the business process;
however, it has all the owners of the different process. All the owners meet up with the global
supply chain board (GSCB) on a quarterly basis to discuss on the proceedings, so that; it
could add values to the corporate vision. To improve the efficiency of the business,
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution was thought as a way out. They implemented
ERP and set few performance indicators to identify the progress. Those three key
performance indicators were constructing a competitive environment, driving efficiency &
productivity and improving customer loyalty (Airproducts.com 2017).
The blueprint of the Air Products and Chemicals Inc is missing on few notes. An ideal
blueprint should cover every complex operation within just a single architecture; however,
the Air Products and Chemicals Inc do not have such arrangements in their architecture. They
indeed have a meeting on a quarterly basis with the global supply chain board on improving
the performance. However, a direct control on the entire operation could have produced much
better results to the Air products and Chemicals Inc (Jonkers et al. 2006).

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Improvement process
The improvement process, which Cantwell has identified, is focussed on the best
strategy to yield maximum success. They had first shortlisted the top 50 executives to utilise
the architecture design. All those executives would run the process on a global basis. They
would have a meeting on quarterly basis where they would tally the improvement. They have
different scorecards set for different process, which they discuss on their quarterly meeting.
This indeed very systematic, which has yielded them success as well. They had given
priorities to the process over function, which has also helped them identify the performance
related gaps. One person is taking care of the one global process, which is hectic but good
from the perspectives of organisational betterment (O’Dea 2014).
Benefits from global processes
Before discussing any benefits of the change process, it is worth mentioning that
Cantwell has appropriately identified the right way to bring the change. Cantwell emphasised
on process rather on functions. Cantwell had divided the operations into various global
processes supervised by one especially dedicated person. All different executives would meet
at one place on a quarterly basis with the global supply chain board. Performance monitoring
within just three months of time is very effective indeed. This provides many opportunities to
strengthen the process within a very short period of timeframe (Trkman 2010). Following are
the list of benefits that Air Products and Chemicals Inc had with the change process
(Airproducts.com 2017):
 The SAP journey has provided many benefits to the company such as the growth
businesses have increased from 25 percent to 50 percent.
 The global business processes have been aligned to a single manager thereby
providing a high penetration into the operation
 Customer loyalty has been improved by 15% post two years on the SAP
implementation.
 They have been able to attach the business strategy with the corporate vision.
 It has proved that it can excel in both of his efficiency and effectiveness
Enablers of successful process changes
The company had believed unlikely to the real world, which is evident in its approach
for one company at global platform. This signifies that its waste of time and money to

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coordinate the global supply chain operation. They rather believed in managing the global
supply chain by aligning this to a single executive of the company. Following are some of the
enablers o successful process change (Burch 2010):
 Architecture design to form one company that has global process
 Standardising the business process using the SAP despite the facts that there can be
differences in different respect at the local place such as the difference in terms of
language
 Designing a single global SAP system to experience a universal benefit
Part 3: Role of technology as a Process Enabler
IT strategies
The Air Chemicals and Products Inc. has identified that it is important to use both the
technology and the process at the same time. They wanted to focus more on the process
rather than on the functions. For such reasons only, they even went ahead to become a global
process. However, they had also believed that technology is an important segment of their
company, which can never be compromised. This is why they constructed strategies to
facilitate the change while at the same time, they had utilised SAP at its fullest of capabilities.
They actually designed an architecture using the SAP technology to strengthen the bonding
between different global processes. They used SAP to enhance their efficiency and the
customer’s loyalty in them. The enterprise design did not cover the entire shortlisted
executives; however, it gave them a realisation of importance of all the executives in the
change process. The architectural design had inspired Cantwell, which is also evident in the
quarterly meeting with all the executive of different process. It helped the global supply chain
board to have a direct control on all the executive level processes (Grant 2016).
Global IT structure and role
SAP has played an utmost role in guiding the Air Products and Chemicals Inc strategy
change. The process change that happened in the company was just the effect of the
enterprise design management of change (EDMOC). It was indeed critical in the change
management process of the company. EDMOC has helped the company in staying with the
technology while undergoing the change process. It has played various following roles in the
change management process of the company (Airproducts.com 2017):

8AIR PRODUCTS & CHEMICALS INC.
 Process managers (PMs)
 Enterprise design owners (EDOs)
 Global process owners (GPOs)
 Executive process owners (EPOs)
The IT related strategy of the company was then to categorise the four important sectors of
the different required contributions. EDOs are those who take care of architecture, which is of
high use in the change process. They do also take care of the change process; however, they
do not alone make decisions. They take prior permission before making any necessary
change. The global IT structure of the company is divided into four components such as the
process managers, enterprise design managers, global process owners and the executive
process owners. They have strategically categorised the different works to provide them a
maximum exploration from all the executives (Hooper, Coughlan and Mullen 2008).
Enterprise design and IT tools
An enterprise design is a process that facilitates the change process and provides an
utmost control on the operation. SAP is a systematic process that uses few IT tools inbuilt in
it. The first stage of it facilitates the making of request by any employee. The request is then
discussed in between the different assigned EDOs specifically for the architecture. After the
discussion is over, it is then entered into Management of Change (MOC) tool. The number of
requests is then checked to identify the request that needs priority. The identified priority
based requests is then implemented to get the desired results (Bernus, Nemes and Schmidt
2012).
Measuring and monitoring processes
The performance of the change process needs to be monitored and measured in order
to attain the desired results. The Air Products and Chemicals Inc. had realised the importance
of such works, which is why they had planned four steps of performance monitoring that are
as follows (Airproducts.com 2017):
 Identifying the processes
 Assigning all the processes to its deserving owners
 Then measuring the performance of the process based on set performance indicators
 Improving the process with the help of set metrics

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The set metrics further follows few steps such as connection, presentation, collection and
action. Connection covers the connectivity of all the works with the set metrics. After the
connectivity is developed, it is now the time to collect all the data on the performances. The
collected data would then be presented on the dashboard of the SAP, so that, it could be
visible to all. Lastly, actions would be taken accordingly in order to attain a maximum output
of the planned process. It is indeed a very systematic and a powerful plan that the Air
Products Company has constructed (Neely, Gregory and Platts 2005).
Part 4: Change management issues
People issues
Change management fails to accomplish if it does not get the cooperating hands of
employees. Skills and professionalism are the two keys, which help in the change
management process. It is indeed very important to motivate employees and to help them
connect to the change management process. Nevertheless, a change management process is
not an automated process. It rather requires the supports from the various corners of the
management. On the other hand, there can arise multiple issues with the people such as lack
of connectivity, less on motivation, incompatible work related skills etc (Loorbach 2007).
The Air Products and Chemicals Inc. have successfully managed its people in the change
management process. Their vision is to deliver the difference, which is why they put high
focus on their workforce.
Change management process
Change management process needs a strategic planning before implementing any
changes. Without having such plan, the change might head to nowhere. It needs to have a
clear vision, which means the change management should have a clear target. Change
management is a long and a continuous process that needs supports from powerful strategies
and extensive technologies. It also needs supports of motivated and connected professionals
(Hamel 2006). The Air Products Company has produced a very significant example of a
change management. They have used the following strategies for change management:
 Defining the opportunity
 Creating a shared vision for future
 Defining the work
 Building up supports and commitments

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 Implementation, monitoring and rectification action
 Sustenance with the derived results
Performance appraisal and assessment
Performance appraisal is a process that helps the management in appraising the basic
pay of the individual. The appraisal is done after assessing the performance of individual
employee. Performance appraisal is a good way to motivate employees. It also encourages
the employees for their development as professionals (Kuvaas 2006). Air Products gives high
values to the development process. It helps their employees on how to groom their career in
the organisation. It also encourages employees for the performance-based appraisals. This has
also helped the company in getting a healthy support, which was utterly needed for the
required change management process.
Learning strategy
Learning strategy is another very important aspect of a change management process
that needs a serious thought process making for it. Learning strategy should be more aligned
to the set organisational vision. This would help the process go in a right direction (Chamot
2005). Air Products has well analysed the importance of it before they went for a change
process. This is why they moved from a decentralised to a consistent approach. Realising the
importance of a proper learning strategy, they infused the following strategies to make it
appropriate the learning strategy in the organisation (Airproducts.com 2017):
 They realised the requirements to have an owned university of the Air Products
Company, which is why they deployed it and used it
 They had then focussed on improving the ability to generate and find explicit
knowledge
 They have also developed the skills and produced the tacit form of knowledge, which
is one of the most challenging of all the strategies
Conclusion
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. is one of few companies, which has identified the
requirement of change management process in the organisation. Not only this, they have also
identified the right way to head for. They developed their workforce through development
program, so that, they remain connected to the change management process till the end. They
also structured into a simpler but powerful structure. They used the IT tools to its perfection,

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which is evident in their enterprise designing with the help of SAP technology. They not only
moved for change but also brought every terms alive, which are important for change
management such as process blueprint. They kept on following the process improvement
road map till the end of the change management. They regularly monitored and measured the
performance of every single global manager.

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