University Reflective Essay: Managing Organizations and Leading People

This reflective essay examines the author's experiences in change management and leadership within Nokia. The essay begins with an introduction to change management, describing its significance and the factors that necessitate it, using Nokia as a case study. It then delves into the author's personal experiences, detailing the restructuring of the company, the implementation of new management strategies, and the challenges and successes encountered. The author reflects on the application of Kurt Lewin's Three Phase Change Management Model and the McKinsey's 7-S Change Model. The essay evaluates the effectiveness of these experiences, highlighting both positive and negative aspects, and concludes with a discussion on how these learnings will inform future career choices and leadership approaches. The essay provides a detailed account of the change management process and the development of leadership skills within a dynamic organizational context.

University
Topic: Reflective essay on Managing organization and leading
people
Name

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Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Reflection on Managing organisation and leading people 3
Conclusion 7
References 8

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Introduction
This study is mainly based upon the explanation of reflective experience that I have faced while
working in an organization. The instances of my working in the Nokia organization shall be
mentioned here. The change management that had been taken in the company shall be provided
as the theme of the study. On basis of theme, the sentences of change management, the
experiences gathered from it and things learnt by me from those shall be pointed out various
parts of this whole study. Various theories of change management shall also be applied and
mentioned here in order to proper explain the things that have taken place in the Nokia company
while I had been working there.
Reflection on Managing organization and leading people
Describing Change Management objectively:
Change management can be said to be a rapid kind of change that is brought forth in an
organization in order to guarantee its existence in the market. Change management takes place
due to rapid change in technological aspects, management aspects, crisis, review of processes,
change in customers’ preferences, mergers and acquisitions, competition from new rivals and
restructuring of the organization. Nokia has seen one of the biggest companies in the smartphone
market. Founded in 1865, it became the leaders of the mobile phones during the late 1990s and
early first decade of the 2000 (Mutuku & Mathooko, 2014). This was due to change and
acceptance of high level of technology used and maintained in the organization. However, soon
enough, due to high competition from rivals such as Samsung and Apple, Nokia failed to
properly service. A high need of restructuring of management was necessary in order to ensure
the survival of the company in the market. The whole management department was changed,
new CEO was elected in order to take up the rudder of the company (Peltonen, 2019). The
company recruited many highly experienced and skilled people and brought in investment and
incurring of high technology. The ownership of the company was also transferred to Microsoft,
which took many steps to revive the health of the company. Slowly and slowly, the company
started to get back its older platform and at present, the company is present in the market and
giving a tough competition to the other cell phones and smartphone sellers with good quality
products and latest technology used in their devices (Birkinshaw et al. 2016). The change in
technology, management and executive body, change in ownership led to an outright and big

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change management for the company. This whole scene of change management helped in the
continuity for the company and somehow saved it from getting winded up or dissolved.
Interpreting the events:
Considering the reason and the process of the occurrence of the change management and
events
I have been in the management department of the company and I have seen and understood the
need for a change management for the company. Nokia in the early decade of the 2000 had been
one of the biggest leaders in the smartphone market. However, due to poor management inside
the company and lack of innovation, the company could not keep pace with the fast changing
technological world. It was soon out shadowed by the other giants such as Samsung and Apple.
The change in the management department had to be brought in (Lewis et al. 2016). I had been
in the company since 2012. I have seen rapid change to come in the company. As a description,
of incident, the whole restructuring of the company, its organizational goals and policies, its
management and executive departments took place when I was in my full term. Many of the
inefficient people were thrown out of the company or retired on voluntary retirements schemes
(Konlechner et al. 2018). New and efficient people were hired by the company. A new CEO was
elected by the company from its board of directors and then the company started making a place
in the whole of the smartphone market.
Explaining what was seen and heard, new insights, connections with other learning, feeling,
hypotheses
In terms of feeling, I have come to learn and feel how change management is important. During
that time of the change management during the period of 2013 to 2017, rapid changes were seen
in the organization. The Kurt Lewin's Three Phase Change Management Model was used and
applied in order to bring proper change in the company. I had been working as a member in the
management department working in the production department. I heard of that changes were
incoming in the organization and the change style can be well related to the Kurt Lewin’s
Theory. As per the model, first resistance was received when decisions were taken to bring rapid
technological d administrative changes (Beech & MacIntosh, 2017). The people available in the
organization posed to some resistance and threat to the new kind of rapid restructuring of
activities that were taken up by the company. Thus, as form of resistance, those old and

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inefficient people were discarded from the organization and in their place, more competent
people were hired. Old machineries and technology available were also let and new technology
was procured which could give more positive results to the company. Changes were finally
implemented and the new staffs and employees were trained by me and some other people in
order to make them more effective and capable of working (Bower, 2017). Once this was done,
the training mediums and techniques that were used for training were made the final line or
policy of training. That is, from now the company would use these techniques to train up the
employees. From all these experience, new management skills were learned by me.
As a matter of evaluation, the bad things were that many of my colleagues were thrown out from
their places and many new faces camera while the management and staffs were restricted. It was
a difficult task to get accustomed to new workforce and new subordinates who I was to train and
make them fit and ready for the technological outbreak in the company's career. The good things
were I got to learn and know different kind of people and got more skilled in leading and
managing people. By handling new subordinates, I got exposed to more means and need of
developing new kind of management strategies to keep up with the organization policies and
goals.
Evaluating the effectiveness and usefulness of the experience:
Opinion about this experience
After analysing the whole scenario, I can deduce upon the fact that I have been able to gather
many experience by working in the Nokia Company, especially with different people and
situations while the main big change management was in action inside the company. I have
learnt things related to how people have to management and treated. I had worked as a leader in
that time and came to learn and gather several of the leadership skills. I have faced issues related
to resistance shown by the pope to new kind of change in the technology, working aspects
brought in by the company (Cook, 2016). I have learned method to persuade people and make
them accept about the change. I have trained them as per changes that have come upon. By
making use of the McKinsey’s 7-S Change Model, it can be understood that changes were
brought in shared value, the main strategy of the organization as well as of the management and
executive departments, structure of the management and executive departments, systems, style of
managing, staff and increasing their overall possessed skills (Rusko, 2015). The experience that

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was possessed by me while working in the time led to clearing of many doubts and building up
of new ideas related to accuracy working and decision making.
The overall value of this experience and the reason for this
Ijn the concluding remarks, it canb eb said that the experience can be said to be much valued by
me. I learnt different things related to sincere work, needs of creativity in the place of work and
cooperation. Many of staffs who has been less creative, efficient and less hardworking were
discarded from the company during the time of its massive restructuring. Even the CEO was
elected and changed so that the company can be better management (Karima & Uusiautti, 2018).
I have learnt how to train staffs and manage and lead people which shall help me to secure an
important role when such kind of things shall occur in this company or any other concern where
I shall be working.
Planning in regard to usability of this information:
Considering ways this learning experience might serve me in my course, program, future, life
generally
This experience and the things that were learned by me related to change management and better
managing and leading people shall help me to secure better career options in my life in the near
future (Teece, 2018). My future actions plans shall be based upon the things that I have learnt
and experienced in this incident. I can use these experiences to take up the mass training and
modernisation of workplace if any kind of situation appears in the company other places of work.
I shall be able to take important and leading posts in other concerns where I shall be going for
work. I shall be able to management people. I shall be able to contribute to the managing aspect
of the organization by taking an upper hand at training the different kind of people related to
their work, new technological aspects and improvements to be brought in and other things
related to it (Proper et al. 2017).
Process by which I will transfer or apply my new knowledge and insights into the future
I can better carry out with my duties and job in this organization. If I be in this organization, due
to by previous gathered experiences, I shall train more staffs related to how better make
application of change management in the organization and respond to organizational and
executive changes that are brought in an organization (Tukker, 2017). I shall procure an

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experience certificate related to things that had been done and performed by me in the Nokia
concern. This recognition certificate shall help me to get better value of my gathered experiences
in the other concerns where I may go for joining in the future.
Figure 1: Gibbs’ Reflective Model;
(Source: Hayes, 2018)
Conclusion
The whole reflective essay has been done and chalked out based on the themes of Gibbs
Reflective model. The themes have been first described, then the feelings and experiences related
to it has been pointed out. Further, evaluation of the experiences has been done along with
analysis of situation of the experience. Other alternatives have also been pointed out and then,
things that could have done in case of other issues have also been shown in this study.

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References
Beech, N., & MacIntosh, R. (2017). Managing change: Enquiry and action. Cambridge
University Press. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?
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+Cambridge+University+Press&ots=4Bg8O_pSAQ&sig=6_qcoMLMR_Y_08kTjv9cEi
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Birkinshaw, J., Zimmermann, A., & Raisch, S. (2016). How do firms adapt to discontinuous
change? Bridging the dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity perspectives. California
Management Review, 58(4), 36-58. Doi: 10.1525/cmr.2016.58.4.36
Bower, J. L. (2017). Managing resource allocation: Personal reflections from a managerial
perspective. Journal of Management, 43(8), 2421-2429. Doi:
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Cook, P. J. (2016). Leading innovation, creativity and enterprise. Industrial and Commercial
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Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management.Hayes, J. (2018). The theory
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perceptions of success at work in Nokia. International Journal of Work Organisation and
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Konlechner, S., Müller, B., & Güttel, W. H. (2018). A dynamic capabilities perspective on
managing technological change: a review, framework and research agenda. International
Journal of Technology Management, 76(3-4), 188-213. Doi: 10.1504/IJTM.2018.091285
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