Leadership and Organizational Change: The ANZ Bank Case Study

This case study examines the change management initiatives implemented at ANZ Bank, focusing on the leadership of John McFarlane. It explores the organizational transformation during his tenure, highlighting the introduction of programs aimed at cultural and performance improvements. The analysis delves into the challenges managers face in implementing transformation strategies, such as securing sponsorship and empowering teams, and evaluates key leadership attributes demonstrated by McFarlane. The study emphasizes the importance of effective communication, planning, and employee involvement in successful change management within the banking sector. It concludes with recommendations for future change management efforts, underscoring the need for charismatic leadership, strategic planning, and employee engagement to navigate the complexities of organizational transformation.

Change Management – ANZ Case Study
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Executive Summary
McFarlane is the effective leader of ANZ bank that is Australia and New Zealand banking group.
The leader within the organization performed suitable change within the management system
that allows the organization for performing effectively in the market. The change management in
the recent years brings an effective challenge for the managers for implementing the
organizational change. McFarlane is the effective and the charismatic leader within the
organization who provide effective and suitable working function for the firm to maintain their
activity in the organization for the betterment of the employees and the firm in the market.
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
The main feature of organizational transformation during McFarlane's tenure............................................3
Challenges for managers in implementing transformation strategies...........................................................4
Evaluation of key leader attribute at ANZ...................................................................................................5
Conclusion and Recommendations..............................................................................................................6
Recommendations...................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
ANZ is the banking group of Australia and New Zealand banking group and this is one of the
largest banks in Australia and New Zealand. The organization provides the range of banking as
well as the financial products along with the service to the retail sector. In the present day, the
bank is having almost 35000 employees who are providing service to more than 6 million
consumers in the world. The purpose of the paper is to understand the suitable change
management within the organization and to deliver effective working field to the employees.
The main feature of organizational transformation during McFarlane's tenure
The organizational transformation in ANZ Bank at the time of McFarlane was steered as well as
powerful as the leader was having the charismatic personality (Sealy et al., 2016). With the help
of McFarlane, the organization has developed as well as managed the suitable organizational
transformation program which aims for the achievement of the long-term competitive along with
the sustainable advantage for the firm. It can be seen from the case study that McFarlane has
introduced the breakout program within the firm so that cultural transformation within the
organization can be developed. Furthermore, John has eventually initiated the comprehensive
program for the rationalize performance of the bank staff members. It can be also seen from the
case study that McFarlane has also activated the corporate level policy to spot as well as manage
the fresh talent in the company. It can be seen that the changes which were eventually performed
by McFarlane help the organization to bring radical changes within the culture as well as the
value system of the firm (Liu et al., 2015). Though getting suitable success in the organizational
change the process is not perfect for the firm. It can be seen that McFarlane along with his team
has taken the action only against the employees with low performance.
The process of removing the low-performing employees from the workplace that is being
utilized by McFarlane did not work for the senior management thought they were not performing
well (Manning, 2017). Then for the initial stage of the program, they were unable to collect
suitable and effective employee data which create various problems. All the data could have
effectively been utilized for improving the cultural effectiveness as well as efficiency within the
workplace. The primary feature of the organizational transformation of McFarlane tenure is the
participant as well as the involvement of the employees and the senior management within the
change management in the organization (Uslu, and Welch, 2016). With the help of this
participation, the organizational leaders have the ability to remove any kind of aversion from the
staff members. Then facilitate as well as support is another factor can be visualized from the
organizational transformation of the McFarlane tenure. The fact is clear that without suitable and
effective support it became quite impossible for the leader to perform any kind of change within
the organization. Training, as well as counseling, is being provided for the mitigation of the fear
as well as the anxiety that works with the employees of the firm.
From the case study, it can be seen that the job is being cut as well as performing the downsizing
and in this case, the senior management needs to consult with the employees to negotiate and
maintain the suitable agreement. McFarlane has eventually maintained the working function of
the staff members within the organization and for that, they have the ability to provide suitable
and effective change management within the Banking system (Shah et al., 2017). Planning is
highly required for the firm to get suitable working function and this need to be done with the
effective working function and also to have the valuable function within the market. The
transformational program within the organization faced some of the challenges and for that, it
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became much harder for the organization to maintain their activity. McFarlane is the charismatic
leader and he has the skill to deal with various challenges within the organization to provide
effective and suitable change management within the organization (Doppelt, 2017). The case
study shows that the firm needs to have an effective leader for suitable organizational
transformation. McFarlane is the effective leader with the valuable working skill in the
organization which helps to maintain effective transformational change within the banking
system.
Challenges for managers in implementing transformation strategies
ANZ has a suitable and effective leader that implement the transformation strategy within the
organization in the most effective way. In the recent world, it can be seen that the managers of
the firm are facing huge challenges for implementing the transformational strategy within their
workplace (Bolman, and Deal, 2017). In the recent years, it can be seen that the managers are
facing some of the common challenges for the business transformation process like they are not
getting enough support from the sponsors. Strong sponsorship is highly required for the success
of the program and this was effectively available for ANZ which is lacking in the recent years
for the managers. The program is built in such a way that it requires the engagement of the
sponsor on the regular basis. Lack of these support within the transformational program creates a
huge issue for the program to take place within the organization (LÊgreid, 2017). Then the
second challenge that is being faced by the managers is the lack of the empowered roles as well
as the responsibility of the team members. Change is the crucial activity within the organization
where the senior management of the firm also needs to take part in gaining the effective trust of
the employees.
In the recent time, it can be seen that the senior management did not provide their consent and
their view on the effective working function of the firm and for that, the employees are also not
getting trust over the change management in the organization. The team support and their
empowerment for the change within the organization are highly required for the firm (Laudon,
and Laudon, 2016). This is the third challenge that is being faced by the managers in the recent
years. McFarlane got the most effective and the empowered team for the cultural change within
ANZ which makes the change in the most effective and the suitable way. But in the recent year,
people are not getting chance to deal with the various facts within the organization. It can be also
seen that even when the change within the organization took place with the suitable willingness
of the employees, the capability, as well as the capacity gap of the managers, have a great
influence on the change in the firm (Cummings, and Worley, 2014). It is essential for the senior
management to understand the required capability as well as the capacity that is being needed for
the organization to maintain their transformation in the firm.
In the recent years, it can be seen that the managers are not working in the appropriate way and
also they are lacking from the leadership skill which creates a negative impact on the staff
members. Another challenge that is being faced by the managers is the unclear as well as
intermittent communication (Brunsson, and Olsen, 2018). For the change management within the
organization, the most essential part is to perform effective communication process with the
employees. In the case study, it can be seen that suitable and effective program was introduced
within the business which helps to perform effective communication. In the present working
situation the communication process is getting diverse with the help of online and other media
and in this phase, it is essential to perform effective communication regarding the change
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management within the business. The managers, especially in the banking sector, have to deal
with various changes in the management process and also in the working function (Piercy, 2016).
It is clear from the facts that the managers need to maintain their activity and provide the suitable
working function. Change management is the vital aspect of the firm and this need to be done
with the effective skill of the leaders and the managers in the organization.
Evaluation of key leader attribute at ANZ
The primary leader of the firm is John McFarlane who is the CEO of the firm. He worked with
the suitable and effective new management team for the development process of the banking
system within the market (Benn et al., 2014). He was a dynamic leader and have effective
knowledge of the change within the organization. For example; it can be seen from the case
study that McFarlane eventually address the facts and the issues within the organization due to
the lack of women within the senior management of the firm. This show that he has the effective
capability to spotting the trend within the market than his competitors within the market. The
case study also shows the facts that McFarlane promised to bring the change within the working
function of ANZ and it happens in the very short span of time. It clearly shows the effective
leadership of McFarlane for performing the suitable job within the organization (Cameron, and
Green, 2015). He was an effective leader who lowers the risk profile of the banking sector by
bailing out the investment that also in the emerging market. The working function within the
bank has an effective function that helps to maintain the various acts of the employees and the
managers.
The organization was in the bad condition regarding the cost-to-income ratio at the time when
McFarlane was appointed to the firm (Agote et al., 2016). His leadership skill and effective
working function can be understood from the various facts that he did everything and all kind of
changes within the organization without sacrificing the satisfaction level of the employees or the
customers. For example; McFarlane has created the breakout as well as the cultural
transformation team for the improvement of working function within the firm. This is one of the
best ways to deal with the various facts that might be utilized within the organization. Being the
effective and the most influential leader of the bank McFarlane have made the transformation of
the firm in the most effective and the suitable way. Cultural change within the organization is the
amorphous concept which needs to be maintained with the effective leadership skill (Anderson,
2016). The charismatic leadership skill and personality of McFarlane allowed the organization to
maintain their activity in the field. The change process within the organization is managed with
the help of effective planning, coaching as well as assessment. McFarlane is the most efficient
leader who has the ability to interact effectively with the employees and provide them suitable
training and counseling for the change management within the firm.
McFarlane activity in the organization encourage the managers of the firm to meet with their
staff members in the regular basis and provide them effective coaching for the various actors
within the firm (Shin et al., 2017). This eventually helps to create a strong bond between the
employees and the organization. It can be seen from the case study that the manager of the firm
is having a suitable performance discussion with the staff members so that they can track the
progress of the employees and the business. The employees at the end of the performance year
also received the suitable feedback and review to work on that and provide a valuable working
function within the firm. It can be seen from the facts that McFarlane run the most effective
management system within the organization and his skill have the ability to change various
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function within the firm for the betterment of the organization (Lorinkova, and Perry, 2017). The
case study also provides the facts that the working function of the organization is in the most
effective way to maintain various changes within the firm and to deal with the suitable and the
effective working function. The change management is effective for the firm to perform better in
the market.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The paper eventually concludes the facts that change management is essential for the
organization to develop suitable and effective working function within the market. The case
study of ANZ provides the view that change management under the CEO McFarlane is effective
for the firm and it provides valuable working function. The change management process that is
being utilized by McFarlane is also having some of the drawbacks like it is not implemented by
the senior managers. The Entire working process of the firm is quite effective for performing a
various task within the field that cannot be obtained in the recent years. The paper shows that the
effective leadership skill is highly required for the firm to maintain their activity.
Recommendations
It is recommended that the managers within the organization need to have suitable and
appropriate communication process. This will eventually help the organization to maintain their
various activity within the market. It is also recommended that the managers need to share their
view regarding the organizational change in the most suitable and effective manner.
Furthermore, it is suggested that the firm need to have effective leadership skill for the
betterment of the working function and the various activity in the field.
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