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Organizational Change - Cambio Organizacional

ACCELERATING CHANGE: THE BOUNDARYLESS ORGANIZATION IN ACTION
By: Mariano Bernardez & Haroldo Dahn

change utilizing the Boundaryless Organization Model in an industrial plants conglomerate. The change process required a long term (two years) and multiple tools program, to help to transform Pasa,a traditionally managed american owned argentinian petrochemical company with bad finantial records, obsolete technology and a devastating history of labor-management conforntations in a dynamic, integrated and participative world class business certifying ISO 9001 and 14000 and expanding accross the borders to compete in Mercosur and sell worlwide.

In such a dramatic change, Performance Improve ment Technologies were decisive and extensivelky applied accross the company driving it to a deep cultural change in terms of the Boundaryless Organization Model.

The graphic on the right side illustrates the different stages and techniques that were prove in action during the process:

1. People's different reactions to change:

After the takeover and a small downsizing (less than 10 % of workforce, mostly in managerial positions), it was clear that the change has three kinds of reactions from people involved:

A. The Proactives:a roughly 10 % of the sample reacted inmediately after ther first Leadership Seminar (Module 1) apllying the techniques with their teams

B. The Undecided: a normal 80 % of the supervisors,middle and top managers didn't take action inmediately, requiring another tools like work outs , external & internal faccilitators and a climate survey to begin the process

C. The Reluctants: a 10 % remain resisting the new mangement styles and values until the climate survey boly them to face their people and air th differences ithin thir groups (many not caused by the superviors or managers) that blocked the producivity of teams. Only a few prefer to leave the organization voluntarily and the others start to embrace the new ways.

2.. The change needs a "mix" of tools:

To obtain results, we used a combined set of very proven Performance Improvement tools :

A. Ongoing Leadership Training:

A set of modules (2 per year) of two-days

long seminars were delivered to all the levels in the organization , from supervisors to the top management and the CEO.In each seminar, the participants were encourage to analyze their tendencies & problems vis a vis proven test and the continuous feed back of peers (during training sessions) , supervisors and employees (during the application processes after each module)

After each module, a Performance

Improvement Plan was prepard and implemented by each participant with his/hr workteams and subordinates; at the beginning of the next module, each plan was confronted with the feed-bak of peers and the results of the Climate Survey

B. Work Outs: to "permeate" and dissolve the vertical and horizontal barriers that separated levels and sectors, and accelerate the decision-making process on the change, we used a three days, 25 people format version of GE's workouts.

The results were astonishing: a proven average of u$s 500.000 per work out and the enthusiastic implementation of major changes in plants and new businesses valuated in 1.5 o 2 million dollars came from groups integrated by all levels from top management to operarians and labor

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