Managing Change: Ooredoo Telecommunications Strategic Report

This report offers a detailed examination of strategic change management within Ooredoo Telecommunications, focusing on the evaluation of change agents' knowledge, attributes, skills, and development. It explores the critical relationship between leadership and change agents, analyzing their characteristics and effectiveness. The report delves into various approaches to organizational change, evaluating change theories, tools, and techniques, and identifying both internal and external triggers that impact the organization. A significant portion is dedicated to developing a change management strategy, considering stakeholder perspectives and potential resistance to change. Furthermore, the report provides insights into the implementation of effective change, including relevant tools and techniques, and a plan for change implementation, along with measures for monitoring and evaluation. It also addresses stakeholder responses, analyzing potential risks, conducting stakeholder analysis to understand resistance, and suggesting strategies to manage it. Finally, the report examines the involvement of functional areas in change management, exploring the relation between management disciplines and organizational change, and developing an integrated change management plan for the organization. The report is a comprehensive analysis of the change management challenges and opportunities at Ooredoo Telecommunications.

Running head: MANAGING CHANGE AT OOREDOO TELECOMMUNICATIONS
MANAGING CHANGE AT OOREDOO TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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Table of Contents
1. Evaluation of Change Agents’ Knowledge, Attributes Skills and Development..................3
1.1. Relationship between Leadership and Change Agents...................................................3
1.2. Characteristics and attributes of change agents..............................................................4
1.3. Evaluation of the effectiveness of change agents...........................................................5
2. Approaches to Organisational Change and Relevant Processes............................................6
2.1. Evaluation of Change Theories, Tools and Techniques..................................................6
2.2. Evaluation of the Internal and External Triggers of Change that may affect an
Organisation...........................................................................................................................7
2.3. Change Management Strategy for the Organization and Consider the Stakeholders.....8
3. Implementation of Effective Change within an Organisation................................................9
3.1. Relevant tools and techniques to implement and manage change..................................9
3.2. Plan to implement a change in an organisation.............................................................10
3.3. Measures to monitor and evaluate progress of the change plan....................................11
4. Stakeholder Responses to Organisational Change...............................................................12
4.1. Possible risks associated with an organisations’ change process..................................12
4.2. Stakeholder analysis to understand possible resistance to change................................13
4.3. Relevant strategies to manage resistance to change in organisations...........................14
5. Involve Functional Areas in an Organisation’s Change Management.................................15
5.1. Relation between management disciplines and effective organisational change..........15
5.2. Role of various business functions/departments within change management..............16
5.3. Develop and evaluate an integrated change management plan for an organisation......16

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References................................................................................................................................18

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1. Evaluation of Change Agents’ Knowledge, Attributes Skills and
Development
1.1. Relationship between Leadership and Change Agents
Organizations incorporate changes within their system to make progressive
advancements for the better interest of their organizations. These changes might be
influenced by technology, globalization or due to the evolving demands of the customers.
Change management is thus viewed as an important component of leadership quality that
should be incorporated by the leaders to implement potential changes in an organization
(King and Stevenson 2017). A change agent is someone who implements these changes and
are often considered as efficient team leads or supervisors who have the experience and the
capability to conduct the change in the operational processes. The change agent might be
someone internal from the organization who is already aware of the history and the
management of the organization (Gaubatz and Ensminger 2017). It can also be someone
external, such as a consultant who will take the initiative to bring about the changes
efficiently.
Ooredoo Group of Telecommunications as the name suggests is a leading
international organization that provides mobile and broadband connection to their valued
customers in the country of Maldives. The company has improvised changes in many areas
and has developed in numerous sectors with the sole focus to expand their business arena.
The organization also has profound plans on stimulating the growth of connections amongst
the people of the nation with their full potential by implementing effective changes. Thus, to
accomplish this vision, the company needs to have effective change agents who will be
skilful as well as experienced enough for this purpose.

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It is evident from history that to implement massive changes in the departments, any
organization would require experienced leaders to manage the change and address the
associated issues (Haake, Rantatalo and Lindberg 2017). Hence, Ooredoo
Telecommunication’s organization should incorporate competent leaders to bring about
overall changes and help the company gain a smart competition in the market. If the leaders
are not competent enough, the organization will not be successful in its processes and fail in
their operational processes.
1.2. Characteristics and attributes of change agents
Successful leaders in a company prove to be effective change agents due to the
experience they have gained by working for the organization for a prolonged time. The
primary responsibility of these leaders is to implement the new processes in the system to
fasten up the regular activities that will help in achieving the goals of the organization. They
should also be in charge of guiding the employees to adapt to the changes and be accustomed
with the new executed processes of the organization (Zbieg, Batorski and Żak 2016). The
change agents should primarily have the vision to detect which changes will be beneficial for
the organization and implement those for the increment in production.
The Ooredoo organization of telecommunication should adapt both internal and
external change agents for the execution of the new processes in the organization. These
change agents should have some attributes in common to bring about effective changes in the
organization. The most primary quality in change agents is the flexibility to adapt changes.
They must have an entrepreneurial attitude in their approach such that they can explore the
various business opportunities associated with the relevant changes in the organization
(Eskerod, Justesen and Sjøgaard 2017). They must also possess a diversified knowledge
about the possible chances of growth in the telecommunication industry such that they can
identify which changes will be effective and plan accordingly to bring such changes.

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The change agents of the telecommunication organization should also take the
complete responsibility in the change management procedure in the systems of the company.
By taking the ownership, they need to implement the changes and take care about the
consequences regarding the same (Rupietta, Meuer and Backes-Gellner 2018). They should
also check whether the employees of the organization are able to align themselves with these
changes or not. According to the role of the change agents, they should be responsible for
bringing about only those changes that will prove to be effective for the organization.
1.3. Evaluation of the effectiveness of change agents
The role of a change agent in an organization is to bring the changes effectively and
monitor the aftermath of these changes with full responsibility. However, the effectiveness of
the change agents can be evaluated by certain metrics that will highly contribute to the
overall organizational performance. In the telecom organization of Ooredoo at Maldives, the
competency of the change agents can be estimated by the efficiency rate of the new processes
and whether they are successful in bringing in more productivity for the organization or not.
They need to implement changes by assessing the urgency of the required change in
the telecom company. For instance, the up gradation of the company from the manual
processes to automated processes are a necessary requirement change than the changes need
to be made in the HR policies of the company. Hence, the responsible executives will look
into the urgency of the changes and implement it chronologically. Another metric to evaluate
the change management is the timeline of the changes in the processes (Lubasi and Mwangi
2017). The change management procedure should have a proper planning and a time within
which it should be completed. If the change agents are not able to complete the changes
within the stipulated time, it will lead to other hazards in the operations of the organization.

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The Ooredoo telecom should also determine the evaluation of the change agents by
their deliverable outcome from the changes that have been developed by them. The managers
of the departments should use the minimal amount of resources while bringing the changes
and thus incorporate lean methods to get the maximum from the resources used by them
(Leiber 2019). They should make sure that the changes align with the culture of the
organization. These changes if turns out to be unsatisfactory for the employees will not be
effective for the organization. Hence, the change agents will be effective for the company
only if the company progresses in its operations due to these changes.
2. Approaches to Organisational Change and Relevant Processes
2.1. Evaluation of Change Theories, Tools and Techniques
For every organization, discrete tools, procedures and theories are considered before
considering changes in the processes. A comprehensive framework is formed using these
tools and techniques such that the changes prove to be successful amongst the employees as
well as the clients (Evans 2020). In the telecommunication company of Ooredoo, the changes
can be implemented following the below steps. The change agents of the company should
first look into the ‘human side’ before applying any change. They should consider the effect
on the changes on the employees of the organization and verify whether it will be mutually
beneficial or not. The leaders of the organization should analyse the data, considering the
history of the company and check whether the changes can befit in the organization (Hunjet,
Lusavec and Kozina 2019). Once the analysis is done, the executive personnel of the
company should engage the stakeholders and make them aware of the relevant information
associated with the changes. Hence, participation and involvement approach is incorporated
in the company such that everybody is aware of the happening changes.

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If the stakeholders appreciate the changes, the executives of the telecommunication
company should spread their vision amongst the lower levels of the organization. This is the
first step to cascade the possible changes to all the levels of the organization. The leaders of
the Ooredoo telecom should construct a roadmap for implementing the changes and forward
it to all the departments such that each employee is aware of the possible changes in the
organization (Doppelt 2017). It will help them to understand the functionality of the new
processes and their respective role in adapting to the changes. The executives of each
department should develop a communicational set up where the employees can share their
feedback in incorporating these changes. Thus, educating and communication approach is the
best for any organizational change. This will help to evaluate the effectiveness of the changes
adapted in the telecom company. The last principle of the change procedures is to be prepared
for the unexpected outcome of the changes such that the company can revive from adverse
situations.
2.2. Evaluation of the Internal and External Triggers of Change that may affect
an Organisation
Changes that are applied in the processes of an organization are caused due to
different reasons. The reasons might be internal in the organization as well as external in the
market. However, the changes are implemented for the enhancement of the processes and
increase in productivity. For every change in an organization, a cause triggers for the change
to happen. The primary reason for change are the change in the requirement of the customers
(Shakerian, Dehnavi and Ghanad 2016). If the customers are not satisfied with the quality of
services or products, the organizations are bound to bring change in their operations. Thus, to
gain customer satisfaction, an organization should implement changes in their processes
effectively.

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Reengineering of processes are another internal factor for the changed processes in an
organization. Renovating the existing processes in an organization without replacing them
with new processes is called reengineering of the processes. This is a part of total quality
management that is conducted to make the processes more efficient in its operations (Lee and
Day 2019). The Ooredoo Telecom has expanded its business in regions like Middle East,
North Africa, South East Asia. Hence, expansion of business leads to more production and
thus the need for reengineering of the processes.
The external factors that triggers for a change in the organization are the change in the
markets (Kaufman 2017). The Ooredoo Communications need to change their business
management scheme because the customers’ base is expanding. In addition, the customers are
having a preference of wireless e-services that will serve their purpose better. Hence, to adapt
wireless services, the organization need to implant various infrastructural changes that will
help them to attain their business goals. Thus, these are the causes behind the changes in the
telecommunication organization at Maldives.
2.3. Change Management Strategy for the Organization and Consider the
Stakeholders.
The changes required in the Ooredoo Telecommunications should be categorized
according to the business objectives as well as the departments in the organization. The first
step to implement change in the processes of the organization would require a change
management team that will be responsible for bringing about the changes in the
telecommunications company. This team can be classified into the work group, the real team
and the high-performance group. The members in the work group will be responsible for
sharing information and practices that are relevant to the changes in the organization (Al-
Raggad and Alsawalhah 2017). They are not meant to attain the business objectives. Their

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sole responsibility will be to analyse the requirements of the customers, conduct market
research and other such activities. The real team will consist of members that will have a
common goal to achieve in Ooredoo company and the high performance team will be
responsible for carrying out the technical changes in the operations. The high-performance
members will not only attain business goals but also look for their personal goal achievement.
The members of the change management team will inform the different types of
stakeholders about the changes that need to be implemented and the progress of the changes.
The primary stakeholders are the customers of the Ooredoo Telecom who will take advantage
of the services provided by the company. Thus, the consumers of the company should know
about the changes and their associated benefits along with it (Grantins, Sloka and Jekabsone
2017). The government is another major stakeholder of the Ooredoo telecommunications. If
the company is making changes in the organization, it should make the environment aware of
the changes and proceed only after the permission is granted (Qureshi, Malik and Qureshi
2017). The operators are also one of the major stakeholders of the company. They are
responsible for obtaining the operational licenses and certain obligations from the
government. Apart from these external stakeholders, the internal stakeholders such as the
employees and the executives will already be aware of the changes happening in the
organization.
3. Implementation of Effective Change within an Organisation
3.1. Relevant tools and techniques to implement and manage change
The Kotter’s eight-step model includes eight effective steps that can manage changes
in the organizational processes. The first step is to detect the urgency of the change. In this
step, the members of the organization need to be convinced that the changes are urgent and
needs to be implemented on an urgent basis (Thornton, Usinger and Sanchez 2019). The

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second step in the model suggests building a change management team that will be
responsible in conducting the change in the processes and detecting the associated risks with
it. The third step is to build a vision for the organization with respect to the changes. The
vision in this model incorporated has to be SMART depicting that the vision is Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound (Chowthi-Williams, Curzio and Lerman
2016). If the vision is not clear, the strategy to make changes cannot be developed. The fourth
step is the communication step. In this step, the vision needs to be shared amongst all the
members of the organization such that they can align themselves with it. The fifth step in the
model is the most important one as it implements execution of the processes. The members in
the change management team needs to be supplied with sufficient resources for proper
execution of the changes. The sixth step is to implement the motivation factor amongst the
employees for every little change that has become successful in the organization (Rajan and
Ganesan 2017). This will help the employees to carry out the further changes with full
enthusiasm. The seventh step incorporates the improvement in the changes that are made in
the processes such that no further quality issues occur. Finally, the eight step is to make the
change permanent such that the organization benefits from the changes applied. Hence, the
organization of Ooredoo telecommunications can adopt the Kotter’s eight-step model to bring
changes in their systems.
3.2. Plan to implement a change in an organisation
The Ooredoo telecommunication at Maldives can implement changes that will be
effective for the production in their organization. For implementing the changes, the company
needs to detect the departments and sections where it wants to develop the processes. The
first step that the telecommunication company should take is to conduct a market research
and specify the client requirements for developing solutions. After the market research, the
Ooredoo Company should arrange for an ERP system that will be responsible for the smooth

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operations of the Research and Development department (Sudirlan et al. 2019). The ERP
system will be helpful because it will arrange for resources and maximize the production with
minimal usage of them. ERP systems will also help in automation of various processes such
that the employees can focus on creating innovative solutions for the customers.
The company can also bring changes in its marketing processes. Since, the company
is at its budding stage, it needs to expand for gaining a standard position in the market and
beat its competitors. Hence, they need to improvise on their marketing strategies to reach out
to a wider base of customers. They can incorporate digital marketing processes following the
current trends and this will help them to attain customer attention from different regions of
the world (Majeed and Kureshi 2019). They can create accounts on social websites and create
their official page on different platforms. They can conduct digital campaigns about their
business processes and clarify product specifications and services in these official pages.
Hence, the company can be cost-effective in its measures while implementing the changes.
Another change that should be implemented by Ooredoo Company is about the
Customer Relationship Management. They should arrange for a 24*7 availability of services
to the customers and thus recruit employees who will be comfortable in working for night
shifts. The customer relationship managers and their team should be effectively
communicating with the clients such that they can gain customer satisfaction while dealing
with their issues.
3.3. Measures to monitor and evaluate progress of the change plan
The change plan in Ooredoo Company incorporates three sections that are the
implementation of the ERP system, developing digital marketing strategies and improvising
customer relationship management. Since the goal is known over here, thus goal and process
based evaluation will be effective in monitoring the progress of the changes.