Leadership: Motivating Employees Through Change at Regal Construction

This report examines the change scenario at Regal Construction Company, focusing on motivating employees during a merger. It utilizes goal-setting theory to provide a framework for enhancing employee motivation and performance. The report critically evaluates the goal-setting theory, highlighting its benefits such as providing direction and maintaining motivation, as well as its limitations, including potential stress and partial working behavior. Recommendations are provided, including implementing the Kubler-Ross model to manage emotional responses to change and fostering open communication. The report concludes that effective leadership, clear goal setting, and supportive management are crucial for successfully navigating organizational change and maintaining employee engagement. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Organizational behaviour and management

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1
OVERVIEW..........................................................................................................................................1
Purpose, operations and existing culture of the organization.............................................................1
Change scenario.................................................................................................................................1
Key organizational theory to be used.................................................................................................2
MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES TO RESPOND POSITIVELY TO AN ORGANZIATIONAL
CHANGE..............................................................................................................................................2
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF GOAL SETTING THEORY..............................................................3
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................4
Summarising and offering recommendations for the organization to execute...................................4
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
In the current competitive as well as continually altering business environment, it is
significantly crucial for the firms to engage as well as motivate their staff members. In the
transition of change within an organization, those employees who are motivated will be able
to utilize their capabilities to contribute effectively in attaining the pre-determined goals
(Storey, 2016). Pertaining to this, the main aim of the current research report is to evaluate
the change scenario of an organization which is a construction company and emphasize on
the ways manager motivate the staff members to respond positively to this change. The report
will also going to include critical evaluation of the organizational theory and
recommendations for change model for the company to execute.
OVERVIEW
Purpose, operations and existing culture of the organization
Regal Construction Company is one of the leading construction organization of UK
and is being into this industry from past 15 years. The firm has initiated its business from a
small plumbing firm and now having a versatile team of professional as well as tradesmen.
The main purpose of the company is to work hard to ensure each and every customer’s needs
are fulfilled. They offer tailored services to their customers such as scheduling,
accommodating, tight deadlines and competitive rates without sacrificing on quality (Regal
Construction services, 2021). Further, they provide different services to their customers like
house extension, renovation, loft conversions and so forth. As far as the culture of the
company is concerned it is very friendly with skilled manpower at work. People are versatile
and work together to attain a common goal.
Change scenario
Presently, the Regal Construction Company is in the process of change. Due to some
personal issue the company is planning to merge with another construction company which
might result in alteration in the whole leadership and structuring of the whole business. This
current change is impacting the engagement as well as motivation of the workers and they are
resisting this change taking place in the organization. This is happening due to the fact that
they are well acquainted with the earlier system, policies and functioning of the firm and
now, they have to again do a fresh start. Leadership styles thus, plays a very crucial role in
this period of change.
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Key organizational theory to be used
The chief organizational theory that will be utilized in the current change scenario of
the company is goal setting theory. This is being selected as it is one of the best process
theories which helps in offering framework that lays down the most practical and valid ways
of augmenting the motivation level of the workers (Miner, 2015). This theory was being
developed in the beginning of the year 1970 and claims that goals which are decided prior
can better induce the performance level of the workers.
MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES TO RESPOND POSITIVELY TO AN
ORGANZIATIONAL CHANGE
Throwing light in relation with the goal setting theory, it is one of the best practical
theories of motivation. In reality, different surveys being conducted by organizational
behaviour scholars have stated that the goal setting theory is very important out of other
seventy theories. Further, this theory states setting up of goal is quite necessarily connected
with the task performance. If the goals are challenging and precise, in addition suitable
feedback is also offered, can result into higher level of work performance. The line
management of the Regal Construction Company can motivate its employees to respond in a
positive manner towards this change taking place in the organization seeking help from the
goal setting theory. It is very obvious that employees perform better than others mainly due to
existence of varied performance goals (Latham, 2004). Thus, it is crucial on the part of
manager to set difficult goals for the employees as it might result into high level of
performance. As the company is restructuring and merging with other business of similar
kind, workers should be given SMART goals, for example, creating 5 best designs for
renovation project in the whole year. Moreover, according to the theory, for achieving the
desired goal, drawing attention of the workers is very essential and this can be done by Regal
Company through planning training and development programs.
In addition to this, after setting the goal it is equally vital for the line management to
make sure that the workers holds ability constantly which signifies that high goals with leads
to high performance levels. Inspiration needs to be put out by the managers from the
employees to attaining such targets. This implies that employees should set their own goals
and must not be designated and with this they will be demotivated. Moving further, proper
feedback needs to be given to the employees by their supervisors so that each and every
employee retain commitment and remain effective. Without suitable feedback, employees
will be unaware about the problems and issues and will become difficult to identify the level
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of efforts being put in by them (Francescato and Aber, 2015). Thus, performance should be
gauged by line management so that necessary conducts can be adjusted for attaining the
desired goal. Other than this, the goal setting theory also emphasize that personality traits
along with incentives helps in influencing the behaviour of the employees. This implies that
the line management of the Regal Company should offer inducements to the workers so that
they can be motivated towards higher efficiency of the work. Overall, it can be said that
employees which are currently not satisfied with their job and are not engaged will be
encouraged towards their work if they are willing to attain their desired goals. This
willingness will not be attained through general, vogue as well as easy goals rather it will be
attained by clear and specific performance targets accompanied with set deadline in order to
evade misinterpretations (Coccia, 2015). Finally, with the help of this theory, the line
management of Regal Construction will be able to increase the motivation of the workers and
their efforts and at the same time it will also support in augmenting the feedback quality.
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF GOAL SETTING THEORY
According to Grammer and Bernhardt (2021) Goal setting theory is one of the
significant theory that is helpful in achieving information regarding the idea that setting
objectives which are measurable & specific found to be beneficial. There are several types of
benefits which can be derived by applying the particular technique into the specific company.
It involves obtaining the directions and having consistent focus on aim of organization. This
contributes in n maintaining motivation among employees so that higher potential to adopt
changing circumstances can be derived. On the other side, Kwasnicka, Ntoumanis and
Sniehotta, (2021) depicted that there are few limitations of goal setting theory which is
needed to be involved in order to have effective evaluation of its implication into
organizational process of change. It comprises limitations like creating stress & pressure,
sense of failure and develops partial working behaviour in the working situation. This does
not allow the organization to achieve effective performance so that higher profitable cannot
be achieved. It leads to impact the overall functioning of enterprise.
In the views of Robison, Unsworth and Brewer (2021) there are number of
competitive edge which can be received by organization in order to change the processing of
business. It helps in identifying the purpose h of established goal so that clarity among
employees regarding particular functioning can be achieved. Developing strategic plan can be
exerted by firm so that significant practices to eliminate aspects which hampers process of
implementing change become possible. It aids in complying with the crucial principles like
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clarity, identifying & overcoming challenges, gaining commitment, eliminating task
complexity, and achieving feedback to make improvement. This theory is largely helpful in
meeting competitive benefits to execute the plan to achieve positive working potential among
employees. In contrast to this, Hofstad and et.al., (2021) articulated that goal setting theory
has drawbacks which are needed to be analyzed for gaining higher level of accuracy to
accomplish the purpose of implementing. It comprises difficulty in managing goals due
incompatible action, possibilities of arising conflicts, more complexity in order to monitor
risky behaviour. There is no surety of meeting the deadlines which might influence
operational practices in adverse manner.
According to Xu and et.al., (2021) organizations in respective to coordinate with
change uses goal setting theory. The one of the main reason for utilizing goal setting theory is
get effectiveness among employees to meet the deadlines of roles and responsibilities. The
purpose of implementing it to provide guidelines & direction by facilitating planning. This
contributes in motivating the personnel of the organization to get ability to share higher level
of potential in turn greater quality based performance through adhering to changing
circumstances can become possible. On contrast to this, Locke and Latham (2019) said that
through goal-setting theory the firm would be able to ensure greater accountability of the
personnel within the organization as clear and specified goals are been assigned to every
individual so that problems of conflicts are not occurred in the future. Also, it helps the
employee to remain motivated for longer period. Furthermore, it can be said that through
using this theory the firm would be able to evaluate and control the performance of the
employees in right manner so that corrective action could be taken on time if required.
Moreover, it ensures that work is completed on time and productivity is also not impacted
through the change that is being implemented. On the basis of this, it can be evaluated that
goal setting theory is largely helpful in meeting organizational objective of adopting change
through motivating employees via measuring and controlling action.
CONCLUSION
Summarising and offering recommendations for the organization to execute
It is to be recommended to the quoted firm that while bringing any new change in the
current business environment Kubler Ross model should be implemented so that no negative
outcome is to be faced later on. Also, through using this model the regal construction
company would be able to identify the five emotions of the individual such as anger, denial,
depression, acceptance and bargaining so that accordingly business decisions could be made.
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Moreover, this would help the quoted firm in identifying that whether the current change is
bringing the positive outcome or not (Kubler-Ross Five Stage Model, 2021). Hence, if results
are negative that certain methods could be adopted so that change could be easily accepted
and adopted by each member at the workplace. Furthermore, it is to be suggested to regal
company that while applying such changes full support of the mangers is to be provided to
the employees so that resilience and personal confidence of the individual could be
maintained while accepting such changes. Also, involvement of the people at early stages
greatly improves the working of the firm for longer duration. Further, this model is best
suited for the firm like regal as it is very easy to understand and to apply in any kind of
situations thus it would help the firm to manage the individual reactions in far better manner
than the old traditional methods. However, it is also to be suggested to the quoted firm that in
complex situations quoted firm should observe and take findings from the experiences of
other companies that has faced the similar type of situations so that change does not harm the
mental well-being of any employee. Moreover, the firm should develop effective
communication strategy when the change is to be implemented in the overall organizations so
that problems of the employees could be heard in better manner.
From the above report it can be concluded that regal construction company should use
the goal setting theory to achieve certain organizational goals and objectives. Further, the
study had identified that through use of this theory quoted firm would be able to motivate
employees and complete certain business goals in well-defined manner. Also, the report had
critically analyzed this theory in context of various authors in positive and negative aspects.
Lastly, the study had provided certain recommendations through using Kubler Ross model so
that quoted firm could implement various changes in the organizations and among employees
in the future.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Coccia, M., 2015. Structure and organisational behaviour of public research institutions under
unstable growth of human resources. International Journal of Services Technology and
Management, 20(4/6), pp.251-266.
Francescato, D. and Aber, M., 2015. Learning from organizational theory to build
organizational empowerment. Journal of Community Psychology, 43(6), pp.717-738.
Grammer, H. F. and Bernhardt, A., 2021. Positive Performance Reviews Using Strengths-
Based Goal Setting. Positive Organizational Psychology Interventions: Design and
Evaluation, p.65.
Hofstad, H. and et.al., 2021. The role of goal-setting in urban climate governance. Earth
System Governance. 7. p.100088.
Kwasnicka, D., Ntoumanis, N. and Sniehotta, F.F., 2021. Setting performance and learning
goals is useful for active and inactive individuals, if goals are personalized and
flexible: commentary on Swann et al.(2020). Health Psychology Review. 15(1). pp.51-
55.
Latham, G.P., 2004. The motivational benefits of goal-setting. Academy of Management
Executive, 18, pp.126–129.
Locke, E. A. and Latham, G.P., 2019. The development of goal setting theory: A half century
retrospective. Motivation Science. 5(2). p.93.
Miner, J.B., 2015. Organizational behaviour 1: Essential theories of motivation and
leadership. London: Routledge.
Robison, M. K., Unsworth, N. and Brewer, G. A., 2021. Examining the effects of goal-
setting, feedback, and incentives on sustained attention. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 47(6). p.869.
Storey, J., 2016. Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends. London:
Routledge.
Xu, L. X and et.al., 2021. Negative feedback change on follower's performance: a goal-
setting theory perspective. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2021, No. 1,
p. 12441). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Online references
Kubler-Ross Five Stage Model. 2021. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.change-
management-coach.com/kubler-ross.html>. [Accessed on 5thJanuary 2022].
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Regal Construction services. 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://regalconstructionservices.com/about-us/>. [Accessed on 5thJanuary 2022].
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