Leadership and Change Management in Swedigi Case Study Analysis

This report analyzes the Swedigi case study, focusing on leadership and people management issues within the company. The report identifies communication problems, lack of employee trust, and ineffective product launch strategies as key challenges. It examines the impact of these issues on employee morale, motivation, and overall business performance. The report then recommends steps for improvement, including the implementation of the ADKAR model to facilitate change management and improve communication. The analysis covers the importance of employee awareness, fostering desire for change, providing knowledge and training, developing employee abilities, and reinforcing new behaviors. The report emphasizes the need for effective leadership to address the challenges and ensure the successful launch of a new product, ultimately aiming to improve the company's financial performance and employee relations.

Running head: SWEDIGI CASE STUDY
SWEDIGI CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
Author note

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Table of Contents
People management issues.........................................................................................................2
Steps to take for the product launch...........................................................................................4
Leadership style to be adopted...................................................................................................7
Decision to improve the situation..............................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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People management issues
The major issue that the company has been facing in the management department is
the fact that there has clearly been a communication problem in the management efforts by
the management team. This is evident in a lot of facts from the case study of SweDigi.
Firstly, it shows that the first resort that the company would be needing in order to
make up for the decreasing sales figures in the company would be to fire some of the current
employees. This has clearly set for bad employee relations with the rest of the workforce.
This is because the other employees feel the fear that if things continue to go wrong for the
company, they could be next in the unemployment line. Furthermore, they realize the fact
that many of those who lost their jobs, rather lost it in an unjustified manner. This is because
they have been doing their work as per the orders from the management, and still, ended up
losing their job, just so that the management could make some more profit from the declining
sales. It is for this reason that the main thing that had to be done in this regard was to make
sure that the talent in the company was used in a rather efficient manner, coming up with
innovative projects, and perhaps doing some unique product designing to make sure that the
company could make some profit and increase their declining sales figures, rather than firing
employees right away. This was never communicated with them, perhaps because the
management could not think of any such innovative idea to bring the company back on track.
It is for this reason that their employees do not seem to be happy with them at all.
Secondly, employee trust is an issue that the company has been apparently facing.
This is because of the fact that when Jan came up with the proposal to innovate a new project,
few seemed to be agreeing with his decision, with some of the main employees of the
organization even threatening to leave. This ensures that the people in the company have not
been managed well enough to make sure that they are have trust in the management of the

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company. It has been pointed out by some of the members of the board itself that Jan, the
new CEO of the company does not seem to understand or listen to his own management
team. This is a bad way to manage the people in the workforce. A management team that is
not inclusive of the opinions that matter in the company, gives way to lack of motivation in
the workforce of the company. This is the reason why production in a company sometimes
goes down because of this lack of inclusiveness and communication within a team of the
workforce. This is the first and foremost thing that a management team should look into in
terms of people management to make sure that the company stays on track for sustainable
development.
Initially it should have been made clear that the sales figures were forecasted to be
low, and the employees should have been asked to come up with ideas to make sure that the
main thing that has to be done on an urgent basis is to come up with ideas that would help in
making sure that the company got back on tracks. It was never a good idea to leave such a
complex and critical issue into the hands of the management, with the people in the rest of the
workforce being completely left out of the scene. It is for this reason that the company lost
out on some valuable time and effort, which could have been otherwise utilized to ensure that
several ideas for the improvement of the current condition of the company were gathered.
Instead, this was not done and on top of that, many people lost their jobs, who could have
potentially possessed the talent that could have proven to be valuable for the company. it is
for this reason why it could be said that the company made two mistakes out of a single issue,
and the people management in the context could surely have been better.
Last but not the least, after the launch of the new product, the sales team had enough
training about the new product, but no support has been given to them to make sure that they
can access the proper and prospective clients. This is a severe issue, since the problem here is
that the company has the product in which it has invested a large amount of money, but is

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now struggling to identify and reach out to its target audiences. Also, the management team
at this stage has varying opinions on how the issue should be handled, which is further
holding back the progress. This is another lag in people management. This is because the
CEO himself is not clear whether to listen to the opinions of the management, and if so, each
of the proposals should be further synthesized in order to reach to a proper conclusion. Every
opinion should be analyzed and reasoned out and weighted against the current strategy to
ensure that the best strategy is chosen from the management. This would include the
members of the management team, and would motivate them more to work a way out.
However, this has not been done, which is why the case is further facing constraints.
Steps to take for the product launch
In the scenario that is being discussed, a change process is ongoing and it is necessary
that the steps are done according to a proper plan. It is for this reason that a proper model for
change process has to be adopted for the successful execution for the change. Therefore, the
ADKAR model has to be adopted. It is the abbreviation for awareness, desire, knowledge,
ability, reinforcement (Inc. 2019).

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ADKAR MODEL
SOURCE: (Inc. 2019)
The first thing that Jan needs to do is to spread awareness about the change that the
management is planning to implement. In this regard, it is important that each of the
employees in the required workforce is told about the necessary information regarding the
change that is being implemented. This is of critical importance since it is important that the
most of the employees who would be involved in the change project, know what they are
doing and what is the desired result of the effort that they would be putting in. It is for this
reason that the majority of the support has to be garnered by the management. When the
workforce knows what they are planning on doing, and what steps they must take in order to
get the work done, they would be able to execute the work more appropriately and efficiently.
In addition to that, they would also be able to remain motivated since they would be getting a
feeling that they do matter in the project since all of the important information is being
conveyed to them. in this regard, Jan must make sure that all of the employees have a proper
knowledge on the hi tech simulation game project that the management is thinking about, and
all of the related information that is related to product development and reaching out to
prospective clients.
The next step is to create a desire. Employees must not feel like they are being forced
to do something simply because the management wants them to do it. It should be ensured
that the communication is done in a way that creates an interest in the project that would be
undertaken by the employees of the company. The best way to do this would be to make sure
that the benefits upon the successful completion of the project is conveyed properly to the
employees such that they realize that there is something to gain out of the effort that is being
put into the project. This is because of the expectancy theory, that it can be said that such a

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measure would be fruitful. According to the theory, employees tend to act in a certain way,
when they are motivated by the fact that there is a certain reward for the way in which they
are acting. In such a situat6ion, where employees feel that there is a certain reward for their
actions, they feel motivated to accept to act in the desired manner, which is the main thing
that the company requires in the situation that they have been facing as of late.
The third step, is knowledge. It is not sufficient to just let the employees know about
all the things that the plan is supposed to do and creating a desire in them to execute the plan.
The above two steps are just like the foundation for the change project to be executed by the
employees. Without letting the employees gain knowledge about the execution of the project,
they remain to be clueless about what could be done in order to make sure that they
accomplish what they want to. Therefore, Jan must make sure that the employees know about
the process that they have to pursue in order to ensure that they accomplish the goals of the
company. It is like the infrastructure that they need in order to proceed with the task and do it
efficiently in the process. Therefore, Jan must lay out the plan for the majority of the project
and also provide the details and training about how the project has to go around and how
employees can be successful at their work. This would be tremendously helpful for the
employees.
This is followed by ability. It is the most important thing that is required by the
company from its employees. This is because even if the company invests in imparting the
necessary knowledge about the change project and gains the trust of the employees in the
context as well, it would all be in vain if the employees do not possess all the necessary skills
to make sure that the project is well executed and according to the plans and desires of
the management. It is for this reason that the main thing that Jan needs to do in this regard is
to arrange for proper practical training sessions that would improve the skills of the
employees in order to make sure that the main thing that is achieved pout of it is the enhanced

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skills of the employees. This would be critical for the employees. Jan needs to assess the
requirements of the skills that have to be imparted and developed in the employees to
properly design the training sessions. This is to make sure that the infrastructure that has been
put forth by the company is utilized to the maximum efficiency.
Last but not the least, is reinforcement. It has to be ensured by the management that
the team that has just been exposed to the new change in the process stays in the improved
change, and do not go back to the old ways of doing their work. It should be ensured by the
company’s management team that the employees set their new change framework as the new
traditional way of getting things done, without being diverted (Kotter 1995). As per Kotter
(1995), this is why monitoring change is so important. It is almost as important as assessing
skills and abilities. This is because if the change is not even sustained, it would be a complete
failed effort in the end. Therefore, what Jan must do in this context is to ensure that he
regularly interacts with his employees with his own initiation and takes regular feedback
from the supervisors of the employees to check if the change is sustained in the workforce,
and that the employees are working according to the plan of the management. It should also
be ensured that the employees face no constraint in moving along the path, and if they do, the
management should intervene and clear the way. Regular inspections by Jan are also required
to be assured that the workforce is indeed working according to the planned manner and that
the change process is on the right tracks.
Leadership style to be adopted
To be precise, there are two types of leadership styles that have to be adopted by Jan
in the context of this change management process. The first type of leadership style that has
to be adopted during the change management process is that of Democratic style.

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In this type of leadership, it is a combination of autocratic leadership and laissez faire
leadership. To be elaborate, this type of leadership is focused on involving the employees in
the work and doing the work maintaining their own interests, and also making sure that there
is sufficient hold of power in the hands of the leader. In other words, this type of leadership
does give emphasis on the needs and wants of the employees, while the main power is in the
hands of the leader himself, in terms of decision making (Iqbal, Anwar and Haider 2015).
Jan must take this approach because of the fact that the current situation of the
company has been such that employee motivation is low. It has been reported that Jan does
not understand or listen to the main people involved in the project, let alone the junior
employees. It is for this reason that the trust of the employees in the manager has gone down,
and if this continues, this would be just another failed attempt for the management, with
nothing fruitful in the outcome. Therefore, giving enough emphasis on the employees would
not only make them feel motivated but would also ensure that they work more efficiently in
the process. Furthermore, the ADKAR model requires the people to make sure that the main
thing that has to be done is to address the employee needs by assessing their abilities and
imparting knowledge to them, which is why the democratic leadership style in this context
makes the most sense.
Another form of leadership style that could be adopted by Jan in this context is that of
transformational leadership style. Transformational leadership is a style of leadership in
which there is a clear communication between the management and the employees of the
organization, goal setting and motivation of the employees. However, it is not just goal
setting for the individuals, but goal setting for the entire organization, which has to be
collectively achieved. A transformational leader is highly driven by the commitment of
organizational goals, and employee motivation (Hawkins 2017).

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Employee motivation is just another reason why this type of leadership has to be
adopted by Jan. this is because employee motivation is clearly lacking amongst the people in
the company as most of the employees do not trust in the visions of Jan at all. Therefore, it
has to be set out to them that there is a lot to gain and that it has a lot in store for the
employees to make them feel motivated. It is for this reason that the main thing that has to be
done is to make sure that Jan’s transformational leadership is able to bring the employees
together in a positive and productive manner, such that the main thing that is achieved out of
this is the efficient workflow of the employees. Furthermore, the concept of organizational
goals being prioritized over individual goals is also relevant in this context. This is because of
the fact that the situation of the company at the present is such that the company has to take
desperate measures to make sure that the sales figures are revived in the year, and the time to
do so is less. Generally, individual goal is stressed upon, when the organization has enough
time for the completion of a goal, that they can serve the needs of the individuals so that they
can fulfill the needs of the organization. Furthermore, the skills required are common for the
employees and does not need special skills for each individual.
Decision to improve the situation
The first decision that has to be made primarily to improve the situation is to take in
the inputs of the members of the management team to ensure that they do feel motivated in
the project, and gain interest in the same. Each of these opinions need to be synthesized and
broken down to assess the feasibility of each of those opinions. Followed by that, each of the
opinions should be weighed out as alternatives to the intended strategies of Jan, to make sure
that the best alternative is chosen.
Followed by this, a step by step process should be laid out to have a clarity of how to
the strategy would be implemented. The next thing to do would be to make sure that the

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employees have enough knowledge about the change that is going to take place, so that they
too feel motivated in the project, and most importantly, have the necessary idea of what is
happening and how things are supposed to go around in this process.
In short, the main idea is to make sure that the employees at all levels, who are in
connection with the project, feel motivated by project, and are willing to adapt to the changes.
In this way, they would be working willingly, and therefore, would be much more efficient in
making sure that they are fully productive in their efforts for the company.
It is a complex process that has to be undertaken by the management, but it has to be
ensured that the decision to include employee interests and importance is established in the
organization.

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References
Hawkins, P., 2017. Leadership team coaching: Developing collective transformational
leadership. Kogan Page Publishers.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S. and Haider, N., 2015. Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), pp.1-6.
Kotter, J.P., 1995. Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail.
Prosci’s ADKAR model (a goal-oriented change management model to guide individual and
organizational change) – free guides are available to download
from:https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model