Leadership and Change Management in Moroccan Lights Co

This article discusses the different change management approaches for job rotation in Moroccan Lights Co and their pros and cons. It also suggests the best approach and the change management phases to be adopted in sequence. The article emphasizes the importance of involving employees in the change process and provides guidance on how to manage resistance to change.

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Leadership and Change Management in Moroccan Lights Co
Student’s Nam
University
Date
Instructor

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Leadership and Change Management in Moroccan Lights Co
Introduction
Organization change management is one of the issues that managers deal with in
organizations. According to Senior & Fleming (2006) there are different types and causes of
change that emanate from both the external and internal environment. This entails evolutionary
reasons and revolutionary reasons that dictate the way organization operate. One way of change
in the organization is adjusting the business operation or work practices within the organization
to meet the changing needs of the work environment. The role of organizational change is to
develop new organizational or work practices that seek to improve the condition of the
organization. This is the reason why Oussama developed the job rotation approach as a way of
changing organizational practices to make the organization more dynamic and create better work
arrangements.
1. The pros and cons of each option
To implement the job rotation approach, there was a need for Oussama to adopt a change
management approach that will be used to address the issues that revolve around the change.
From Lewin’s force field analysis model, any change in the organization must meet resistance
thus the need for management to address the resistance to change. The model suggests that
change can only take place in an organization if the forces for change overcome the opposing
forces of change (Hussain, et al. 2016, p. 6). The first option that Oussama thought of was
forgetting about the job rotation issues and allow the status quo to remain. The main benefit of
this process is that it will retain the status quo of the organization and assist the manager to avoid
any challenges that emanate from the change process. Since changes can be expensive and if not
implemented well can have serious implications to the organization, then avoiding the change is

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one option that can be taken by management thus maintaining the status quo and ensuring that
the business runs as usual. This means that Oussama will be avoiding to deal with the challenges
of the change process thus failing to show the ability to be a leader.
The limitation of this strategy is the fact that it leads to no change at all and shows
weaknesses in the leader due to the inability to deal with the issues that revolve around the
change. For change to take place in the organization, management must be willing to deal with
the challenges of resistance and other underlying organizational issues (Lamsa & Sintonen 2006,
p. 111). This shows weaknesses in the leader and the lack of strategies for managing change
related issues. This means that the leader will have failed in the change process since nothing
will have happened and at the same time this is an indicator that there will be future challenges in
implementing similar change initiatives in the organization.
The second option in the change process is making job rotation mandatory through a
management order that makes the change to be effective immediately. This is a top-down
approach that allows management to make decisions from above and make the subordinates to
follow without any objections. This is an element of the bureaucratic structure where top-down
management decisions are used to ensure that organizational goals are met (Fugate, Kinicki &
Prussia 2008, p. 8). In most cases, top management seems to understand the needs of the
organization better than lower level employees thus the reason why Oussama needs to make such
a decision. This means that management will be in charge of the whole decision and will develop
the change management process and then execute it through a top-down approach. This option
reduces the challenges of processes which do not meet organizational requirements since top-
level management needs to strategically develop the job rotation process thus ensure that the

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process is aligned to the strategic goals of the organization thus increasing the chances of
meeting the required needs.
One major limitation of this process is it fails to address the resistance to change in the
organization which is critical in achieving the desired goals. This creates high resistance to
change since employees will feel threatened by the new change process especially if they feel
that they were not consulted in the initial process of developing the strategy (Sartori, Costantini,
Ceschi & Tommasi 2018, P. 4). When resistance to change is high then the possibility of the new
change process being effective becomes limited. This reduces employee’s morale which in turn
affects performance. Strategic management theorists insist on participatory approaches where
management involves the employees in critical decisions to reduce resistance to change.
This means that by making job rotation process mandatory Oussama will be limiting
employee participation which is an important element in modern management. Modern managers
are result oriented through applying human relations approaches that seek to ensure that
employees meet the needs of the organization. Thus by failing to recognize the views of the other
employee and failing to accommodate his needs, then the performance and effectiveness of such
an employee can be limited thus making it difficult to achieve the intended benefits of job
rotation (Fedor, Caldwell & Herold 2006, p. 14). This can also lead to turnover issues within the
organization since the employee who is not comfortable with the turnover strategy can decide to
find another job which can have another cost implications Moroccan Lights Co.
The third option that Oussama can take recognizes the views of all the employees and
makes job rotation flexible by applying it once and then waiting for some time before applying it
again to accommodate the needs of all the employees. Flexible work arrangements exist in
different organizations and are sometimes used to create varying work arrangements that reduce

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boredom in employees. This flexible arrangement increases employee morale and commitment
since it allows them to meet different needs in the workplace. This means that the work
conditions are adjusted by implementing the job rotation approach and at the same time applying
the traditional job patterns so that this is not a permanent process but rather a flexible one
(Cummings & Worley 2004, p. 23). This creates better work conditions since it accommodates
the needs of all employees. By implementing the job rotation approach using a flexible
arrangement, Oussama can with time make it permanent by slowly reducing the flexible duration
as employees adjust to the new work arrangement.
However, this change management process can be challenging since employees can find
it difficult to work in such work arrangements when employees hold different work opinions.
This is because there is no delineation between the job rotation approach and the traditional
approach. Oussama will have difficulties determining which of the two approaches is yielding
better results. In such situations, there are challenges in performance management since it is
difficult to measure employee performance at different levels. Further, Oussama can have
difficulty preparing employees for handover as they shift from the traditional approach to the
rotation one and the other way round. Further, this arrangement is not always suitable for all
employee roles some roles like projects require plenty of time to work on them.
The last option that Oussama can take is discussing the benefits and limitations of the
proposed change process through change rotation and discuss how this can be implemented
within the organization to reach consensus. This approach borrows on the participative decision-
making process which entails addressing employee issues through a consensus that is reached by
employee participation. Force field analysis is used to analyse both forces for change and forces
against change then addressing the resistance to change as a way of ensuring change takes place

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(Fedor Caldwell & Herold 2006, p. 11). In such arrangements, management seeks to address any
barriers to change through dealing with the perceived challenges that employees feel can affect
the new work arrangements. Through discussing employee’s issues that relate to the new
changes, Oussama can ensure that the job rotation process works well since this approach
addresses employee needs thus increasing support due to accommodating each employee. Thus
the strategy is to address the resisting forces to increase the chances of accepting the new
changes.
On the other hand, this method is time-consuming since it requires time to discuss the
issues that concern the employees thus delaying the required time for applying the new changes.
Furthers, discussing the pros and cons of the job rotation process with the employees to explore
the option of convincing the other employee does not guarantee his acceptance since he can feel
that the cons outweigh the pros which makes it difficult to initiate the new changes in the
organization.
2. The Best Approach to be Taken by Oussama
According to, Kotter (2012, p. 62) change needs to be managed in the organization to
achieve the desired goals. This means working on any force that can lead to resistance to change
and at the same time working on the forces for change to achieve the desired results. By
involving the employees to understand the benefits of the new change, Oussama increases
employee participation since it creates better conditions for employees to determine the best way
that they can participate in the change while at the same time increase chances of making the
organization better. The philosophy of giving employees a stake in decision making is used by
strategic organizational managers to create harmony in teams and increasing acceptance between
employees. This means that Oussama will be linking strategic management with employee needs

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This process also assists in addressing the challenges of the job rotation strategy and any
gaps that the process may in the organization. Since employees are used to sticking to their jobs,
the job rotation requirements need to be adequately addressed to ensure that the organization and
the employee benefit from both. This means that even the employee who resisted change will
feel needed in the organization since resisting change means that they were only expressing their
views. Such employees have improved morale since they see meaning in the job rotation strategy
(Zafar, 2014). This means that the employees are autonomous and are treated as assets in the
organization rather than subordinates. Such employees learn and can become mentors in future
change management processes in the organization. When morale is increased, productivity is
also increased by allowing employees to concentrate on the requirements of the job which leads
to stronger work ethics.
3. Change management phases that should be adopted in sequence
Assessment of change
This is the first stage in change management, it entails assessing the required changes in
the organization to determine how they affect the organization and how they will be
implemented. This means that management has to conduct an easement of the organization to
understand how system issues will be affected in the organization and how change is needed in
the organization (Cameron & Green 2007, P. 24). This includes carrying out SWOT analysis of
the change process to understand how the organization will benefit from this process. Through
the analysis, opportunities that will be shared with other employees need to be identified so that
management can understand how these opportunities affect the organization.
Preparation for change

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When preparing for management needs to understand the nature of change that the
organization is yet to experience so that an analysis can be done on how these change will affect
the organization. Change can be a result of internal or external forces that determine the way the
organization is affected (Neal 2008, p. 31). Oussama also needs to understand the groups being
affected by the change process, this means that change can affect the whole organization or part
of the organization. In this case, the change being effected by Oussama only affects a section of
the organization which is the job areas that the three employees are in charge of. In this stage,
management needs to create the right model that will be used for the change process. This step is
important since the change model adopted is critical in achieving the desired goals for the
organization. According to Cancialosi (2015, pp. 5), when assessing several models of change,
the risks associated with each of them need to be identified so that control measures can be put in
place. For example, in the case of Moroccan Lights Co resistance is one of the risks that can lead
to employee turnover or low productivity. This means that special tactics for managing such
risks and challenges need to be developed. For example, the resisting employee needs to be
enlightened about the importance of the new changes so that he can understand the importance of
job rotation in the organization.
Planning for change
To plan for change, Oussama needs to develop an implementation plan that will be used
to implement the new changes in the organization. For example, applying the job rotation
strategy does not just mean that the process will be easy rather there needs to be a plan for
putting such structures in place. Since the organization has several employees, then it means that
a strategy for change needs to be developed that will determine how organizational change is
implemented. Further, sustainable change mechanisms require the input of employees thus

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management needs to determine how employees will be involved in developing the new change
strategy for the organization (Jabri 2017, p. 17). A proper communication plan also needs to be
put in place to ensure that employees understand their role in the process. Since organization
change affects employees, then communication is a tool for addressing such challenges and
reducing any resistance that can result from organization change.
Implementing the change
This stage entails taking the change action by implementing the change initiatives. This
means that management needs to take action by and communicate the change process in the
organization. Sometimes change requires management strategies like coaching and facilitation of
employees to realize the intended change benefits (Loesch 2010, p. 29). This is because the new
changes may require additional skills to be used in managing the organizational activities.
Resistance to change management tools like facilitation, education, participation, negotiation,
and co-optation need to be applied to meet the needs of the organization. Thus Stragalas (2010,
p. 34) argues that the role of coaching and facilitation is to empower employees with appropriate
skills for managing different organizational situations that arise from the demands of change.
Oussama also needs to put measures in place for dealing with gaps that exist as a result of
implementing the change process. Gaps and resistance need to be addressed to increase the
outcomes of change. The change process needs to be measured based on the set indicator to
determine if the change process is on track
Sustaining the change
This is the last step of change that involves ensuring that the changes are sustained in the
organization. One way of achieving this is through integrating learning and the results of the
change process into organizational processes. This includes conducting an evaluation of the

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change process to assess its achievement on the required indicators. By analyzing the results
against every change process, management can determine the impact of the change so that a
decision can be made on whether the change needs to be implemented or not. The role of this
stage is to improve on the achievements of the change while at the same time address the gaps
and limitations noted in the process.
4. A detailed communication plan to help implement the proposed organizational changes
The communication plan is important since it shapes how the new changes will be
communicated to employees and how issues that revolve around the new changes will be
implemented. From the case study, it is evident that there is resistance to change because there
was no clear communication plan that was used to share the information with the employees.
This communication plan will enhance engagement since it will lead to increased capacity of
management to handle the issues.

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Moroccan Lights Co
Audience Audience background
and potential reactions
Communication objectives Responsible Communication
channel
Timing or
frequency
Management
team
Managers are aware of the
new changes and have
welcomed it thus only need
to implement the
requirements of the new
changes in the organization
Managers need to:
Ensure that line mangers or
departmental managers understand
the requirements of the new
changes and support the decision.
Understand
Top
management
Email immediately
Line
managers
The line managers are
aware of the job rotation
strategy and are more than
willing to implement it
Line managers will:
Communicate the new change
process to their subordinates.
Identify any issues relating to the
change process and find ways of
harnessing support from
employees.
Line managers need to understand
that the change is a top down
decision thus they should find ways
ensuring they get subordinate
support.
Top
management
Top management In board
meeting
Departmental
staff
The reception from the
employees may be mixed
since some are
conservative and would
want the status quo to
remain
Functional managers will need to:
Appropriately communicate the
change to the employees.
Identify any pertaining issues to the
change.
Generate possible solutions that
seek to accommodate the needs of
all the employees.
Share the concerns with
management for proper feedback
and way forward
Functional
managers
In departmental
meeting
followed by
memo
When they
get the
information
Top The management team is Top management will Functional In personal After

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Management
team
not aware of the change
challenges thus the need
for line managers to share
the challenges and possible
solutions for the change.
Analyse the issues presented by
functional managers from the issues
that they are facing with the new
changes.
Present recommendations and new
ways of reducing resistance to
change like coaching and educating
both employees and functional
managers.
managers meeting gathering
enough
information
Functional
managers
Functional managers
understand the
organizational change
challenges that the
organization faces and
need to implement
solutions developed from
top management
Functional managers need to:
Engage top management on
developing the right way of
addressing the resistance to change.
Acquire proper skills and
knowledge for managing change
through any means possible like
training and coaching.
Top
management
In personal
meeting
On a rolling
basis

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