After
watching the “Gallery Furniture Video
Case Study” by Jim “Mattress Mack" McIngvale and the “Listen, learn ...
then lead” video by Stanley McChrystal, it really does help tie-in the lessons
from this chapter to actual experiences from the leaders currently going
through organizational change. Reflecting on the information gained from the
videos, I know gained a better understanding of the importance of leadership
during times of transformational change in an organization. Leaders help
influence and begin the transformation needed for an organization to succeed
but, employees carry out those strategies, they are the ones who actually
change the culture. In other words, top management can demand practices, tell
employees what to do but without the employees buy-in and understanding, that
type of change or strategy will only be successful in the short term.
A good example of this is Jim’s video on leadership
during organizational change/transformation. In the Gallery Furniture video,
Jim explains that the furniture business drastically declined in late 2007
during the house market crash (Gallery Furniture, 2012). Later on, Gallery
Furniture suffered a huge fire accident in one of its warehouses, which caused
further financial damage to the entire organization. During such hard times Jim
realized that it was time for a change, but in order for the change to be successful
Jim needed to change organization’s culture. This meant changing 30 year-old
practices, implementing new technologies, training employees, implementing new
practices, and much more.
Reflecting on Jim’s video, I would say that Jim’s
approach to change and transformation applies to both the strategy-culture
matrix (figure 15.5) and to the relative strength of corporate culture (figure
15.4). In the strategy-culture matrix, Jim’s approach to change seems to fit
more with quadrant 1, manage the change. In other words, instead of talking
about change and asking employees to change, Jim involved everyone including
himself. Jim shared the new organizational vision, reshuffled power (although
not explicitly mentioned in the video), and reinforced the new value system by
creating incentives and rewards to those making the effort to change. Jim
didn’t force the change into the organization; he influenced it and explained
to employees the benefit to changing. In
respect to the relative strength of corporate culture, by what Jim explains, it
seems that member commitment to the organization’s values is high and by Jim
influencing the organization’s culture with the values already respected, he
was able to gain the buy-in, respect and trust from employees to transform the
organization into one more technological, well-respected in the industry, and
so on.
In the second video “Listen, learn ... then lead”
video by Stanley McChrystal, an Army leader, McChrystal explains how technology
required him to change his leadership style. In the video, he talks about how
it became difficult for him to lead, influence, and motivate other fellow army
members who were far from his reach. Meaning, as technology has increased its
presence in organization, it has become a challenge for old leaders to adapt to
this new form of leading through the use of technology. Instead of talking to
employees who were under the same roof as him, McChrystal now needed to lead
Army members over video conference because they were all spread out throughout
the globe. To me, it does seem challenging because it isn’t easy to say
inspiring or motivational words without using hand gestures, giving a hug to a
fellow team member, and so on. Technology has come a long way and it does help
us communicate faster, but it does limit the amount of contact we have with
those we are communicating with and this is where a new form of leadership is
needed.
Applying my understanding of the video, I believe
McChrystal’s form of leadership applies to both the relative strength of
corporate culture and the strategy-culture matrix. Brown mentions,
“Implementing strategic changes can be done more effectively when the culture
of the organization is taken into consideration” (Brown, 2011). This is very
true and applies to McChrystal as he took into consideration (the mission,
different backgrounds but the same learning, and the different location of each
member) the culture of the organization when he sought out a different form of
leading through the use of technology. My main understanding from this video is
leading by example. McChrystal mentions that every Army member receives the
same type of training, they all rely on what has been taught to them by their
superiors but this isn’t what makes a good leader; what makes a good leader is
their willingness to trust, communicate, and learn from those around them (McChrystal,
2011). It is evident throughout the video that the Army’s culture is a strong
culture where members are committed to the values of the organization and there
are a high number of members sharing the same values. It is also evident that
McChrystal reinforces the culture due to the high compatibility of change with
the existing culture while there is little need to change the strategy of the
organization.
Reference:
Brown, D.
(2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.).
Boston: Prentice Hall.
Gallery
Furniture. (2012). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from https://www.vitalsmarts.com/casestudies/gallery-furniture/
McChrystal, S.
(2011). Transcript of "Listen, learn ... then lead" Retrieved
November 30, 2014, from http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal/transcript?language=en#t-78245
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