an icmr-iipm think tank publication - Cycbth.org

WILFRIED AULBUR
thoroughly chosen people who
work very intensively to come up
with solutions for the clients problem.
This requires a different management
approach: It is much less
hierarchy and much more leading
by example, by providing the right
environment and by motivating
people with the appropriate challenges.
That's the internal aspect.
What role do you think change
management strategies play
when one talks about company's
overall structuring?
We used to live in a world where 10-
year plans made a lot of sense because
changes in the environment
were few and mostly predictable.
Today, globalization and dramatic
economic, technological and political
change is common place and
change management is a part of
day-to-day management. Consumer
preferences change overnight,
standard consumer classifications
become less relevant, new competitors
appear out of nowhere, speed
and complexity of business increases
constantly as well as the ambiguity
of the environment in which
companies operate.
Companies that are able to adapt
their strategies and their organizations
quickly to this changing environment
will be the winners going
forward. Change management
projects need to be stringently run
and focus on content, commitment,
capabilities and culture.
However, it is important to realise
that change management must
not only address vertical conflicts
of interest. For example, the last
strikes in Germany of any scale and
impact happened in the early 1990s.
After that the influence of unions
has waned and in a globalized environment
the opportunities for
workers to leverage influence vs
company management has weakened.
Nevertheless about twothirds
of change management
projects fail or fall short of expectations.
Today, change often not only
affects workers, but also threatens
the positions of executives who in
turn will try everything they can
to protect the status quo.
There are very few CEOs who have
taken bold steps in transforming
their companies. Do you feel that
CEO's are still shy when it comes
to unconventional innovations or
managerial decisions?
The job of a CEO is not an easy one.
While some may realise the necessity
of change when they often face
legacy problems in their own organisations
which have grown with
time and are difficult to dismantle.
For many OMEs this means that resource
allocations have to be made
correctly.
How change management in India
is different from that of Germany?
And who would you think
are more active towards it: the
Indian CEOs or the West CEOs?
Change is difficult in all cultures as
it often threatens the positions of
entrenched players. It is in particular
more challenging in rigid, hierarchical
structures. As far as India
and Germany are concerned, one
major difference is that in Germany
vertical challenges have subsided
over the years and major hurdles to
change are often found within the
management teams, i.e., in horizontal
conflicts. In India, horizontal
conflicts are important as are vertical
conflicts as recent labor problems,
e.g., in the automotive industry
have shown.
Secondly, I would not like to differentiate
between nationalities
and it is more important to focus on
individuals. There are people who
have the vision to grasp change
with both its challenges and opportunities
and to thrive in today's
complex and ambiguous environment.
Then, there are people who
are more set in their ways, maybe
even satisfied with the position
they have achieved for their company
and for themselves. And in
such a scenario, the first set of people
will be more likely to succeed in
the 21 st century.
Change and transformation
sometimes bring with itself lots
of resistance and difficulties? Did
you face any such resistance &
how did you address the same?
Resistance to change is to be ex-
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE IS TO
BE EXPECTED AND THE BEST WAY
TO HANDLE SUCH RESISTANCE IS
TO IDENTIFY AND COMMUNICATE
'WIIFM' (WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME)
pected. One of the best ways to handle
such resistance is to identify
and communicate the WIIFM,
('What's In It For Me'). If people understand
the necessity and benefit
of change, then driving that change
becomes much easier. A good example
is the fact that social benefits
and pay in Germany have been cut
over the last number of years to enable
Germany to fight, e.g., Chinese
competition in global markets. The
WIIFM for German workers at that
point in time was the preservation
of jobs in Germany rather than a
massive shift of all production overseas.
In Indian factories, improvements
in productivity could eventually
be linked more directly to
the performance of workers and
supervisors so that company and
individual interests can be aligned
accordingly.
What are the strategic differences
in Mercedes Germany and
Mercedes India? And how difficult
was the transition for you?
The competitive environment between
India and Germany and the
challenges the management face
are surprisingly quite similar. However,
customers in India do require
a specific approach, targeted on
their expectations towards Mercedes
as a luxury brand.
Do one need to alter style of leadership
while implementing any
change in the company?
Change is very much part of our
day-to-day business. As a consequence,
there is no leadership style
which is the 'right' leadership style
for change, but each leadership
style needs to be tuned into the
company's culture, policies and
take into account, that transformation
is a key responsibility of today's
leaders.
count your chickens before they hatch 25 april 2012