DIBI Restructure: Managing Information Practices at XYZ Insurance

This report addresses the challenges and strategies involved in restructuring the Division of Information and Business Intelligence (DIBI) at XYZ Insurance, a company formed by the merger of Allstate Insurance Company and BYO Insurance. The report identifies key issues such as employee uncertainty, investor reactions, potential loss of assets, and a decrease in public image resulting from the organizational restructure. To mitigate these issues, the report suggests strategies including transparent communication with employees and stakeholders, employee training programs to align with the new organizational values, and a thorough evaluation of the human impact associated with the change, emphasizing ethics and compliance for successful collaboration. The goal is to create a reformed information service that addresses the decline in client base and the integration of differing information management approaches from the two merging companies.

Running Head: Managing Information Practices
Managing Information Practices
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Issues:..............................................................................................................................................2
Strategies to mitigate the issues:......................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction:
XYZ insurance has been constructed recently by merging two business Allstate Insurance
Company and BYO Insurance. Now XYZ is part of the newly constructed multi-site business
Division of Information and Business Intelligence (DIBI). Before merging the two business, AIC
had many employees who were employed as information professionals and they were
geographically scattered, serving a particular branch office. After, AIC decided to merge with
BYO, the branch managers witnessed a significant decline in the client that they used to have.
Additionally, the decision that BYO will no longer support dedicated information service has
made the situation even more complex. The fact that BYO, previously had no dedicated
information professional as AIC had, is perhaps responsible for the decision.
Issues:
With reference to the situation the immediate task that needs to be done is to design a
restructured and reformed information service. This will involve organizational restructure,
which might be considered as the alternative form of the organisational change that is quite
common in the private sector as compared to the government and public sectors.
However the process of organizational change or the organisational restructure is full of
difficulties as it raises issues in the organizational level (Worrall & Copper, 2014). The issues
that is prevalent in this regards are:
Employee uncertainty:

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One of the major drawback of the organisational restructure is the impact it have on the
employees itself. It creates a notion of panic among the employees and compels them to think
about the job security. Most of the time, the employees have this belief that the change will
affect their job with reduction in the employment (Ruigrok et al., 2015). This creates a huge
amount of stress among them and thus making it difficult for them to focus on the actual work.
This situation even worsen if no immediate details about the restructure is made available by the
higher authority.
Investor reactions:
The investors often get confused about the effectiveness of the organisational restructure.
If the investors does not see it profitable, the oppositions are likely to come during the process
which adds another complicacy in successful restructuring. (Lewis, 2015)
Loss of assets:
The process of organisational restructure, in most of the cases is associated with the
reduction in resources including workforce as well as the facilities and the product line. This is
due to the fact that different organizations follows different structure and when two organization
merges, the conflict is likely to happen which is often followed by the compromises in assets and
resources (Lewis , 2015).
One immediate example is the outsourcing of the information resources. When an
organization decides to opt for the cloud services, the automaticity on the information is reduced
significantly. The way the information is stored, processed or accessed is largely decided by the
third party organization or the service provider (Wang et al., 2016). However the outsourcing
makes managing the information easier.

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Decrease in public image:
The process of the restructuring often compels the customers and even the stakeholders
about the future of the companies. The process basically shifts the public image. The process of
restructure involves reduction in employee strength which is criticized more in the public, thus
creating a bad public image.
Strategies to mitigate the issues:
Although the process of organizational restructure is full of issues and complexity, if the
process is carried out through proper strategies, lot of these issues can be mitigated.
Communication with the employees:
In order to make the employees comfortable about the change the higher authority should
communicate with the employees. The communication should not be made one way, there
should be enough space for the employees to communicate freely. This will encourage them to
raise the concerns freely and thus helping the authority to understand issues from the root which
is essential for framing successful strategy to resolve the concerns effectively. In addition to this
the communication should be frequent and transparent, pointing out detailed plan about the way
the restructure will take place (Sitlington & Marshall, 2015). This will make the situation much
more comfortable for them and in turn help the authority to apply the change within the
organisational level.

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Employee training:
The process of organizational change does not always have to be complex and full of
issues, the change should be seen as the opportunity to reach out to the employees, both the new
and the existing ones, for educating them through proper training about the values and the codes
of the newly formed organization (Broadbent, Dietrich & Roberts, 2015).
Communication with the concerned stakeholders:
It is not only enough to create a detailed communication plan for the employees alone,
the plan should include other four groups of stakeholders, equally important in this regard. These
groups include union and workforce council, customer and suppliers, regulators and board of
directors as well.
Evaluation of human impact:
It is important to evaluate the human impact associated with the organisational change. In
addition to this, when two organization merges the ethics and compliance, should be prioritized
above all. This will not only make the change effective, but also help the two organization to
grow in a stable condition which is quite important for successful collaboration.

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References:
Broadbent, J., Dietrich, M., & Roberts, J. (2015). The end of the professions?: The restructuring
of professional work. Routledge.
Fleming, J., & Lafferty, G. (2015). New management techniques and restructuring for
accountability in organisations. Policing: An International Journal of corporate Strategies
& Management, 23(2), 154-168.
Lewis, S. (2001). Restructuring workplace cultures: the ultimate work-family challenge?. Work
in management Review, 16(1), 21-29.
Ruigrok, W., Pettigrew, A., Peck, S., & Whittington, R. (2015). Corporate restructuring and new
forms of organizing: Evidence from Europe. MIR: Management International Review,
41-64.
Sitlington, H., & Marshall, V. (2015). Do downsizing decisions affect organisational knowledge
and performance?. Management Decision, 49(1), 116-129.
Wang, L., Von Laszewski, G., Younge, A., He, X., Kunze, M., Tao, J., & Fu, C. (2010). Cloud
computing: a perspective study. New Generation Computing, 28(2), 137-146.
Worrall, L., & Cooper, C. (2014). Management skills development: a perspective on current
issues and setting the future agenda. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 22(1), 34-39.