CASE STUDY No 2  MOTIVATION AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Imagine that you have recently been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air New Zealand, which is New Zealand’s `national` airline. It currently operates a fleet of 105 aircraft and carries over 15 million passengers plus cargo to 22 New Zealand airports and 29 international airports, and employs over 10,500 staff (www.airnewzealand.co.nz). The Crown (New Zealand Government) is still the largest single shareholder in the business, with just over 50% of the shares (https://www.nzx.com/files/attachments/242300.pdf). Assume that the company is facing difficult trading conditions for its domestic routes and there is speculation in the media that it will be cutting an as-yet-unspecified number of services and staff. Strong passenger growth in its international, business, particularly to South-east Asia means additional staff (10-15% more than currently) and some new aircraft required. The exact timing of any of these changes has yet to be announced. 1 Your task as CEO is to manage the motivation of staff through this period of change to ensure that the airline runs well and continues to satisfy the requirements of both shareholders and customers.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT – Total Marks 20 Question 5 Resistance to Change (20 marks)

Staff in this type of situation may behave in many different ways, for many different reasons. Apply what you have learned about change to the case study above.

(A) Identify and briefly explain, with reference to appropriate theory, four (4) possible reasons why you think the staff may resist the changes. (4 x1 marks = 4 marks)

(B) Identify and explain, with reference to appropriate theory, two (2) possible approaches you could use to address why the staff are likely to resist the changes. (2 x 4 marks = 8 marks)

(C) Identify and explain, with reference to appropriate theory, one (1) possible drawback for each of the approaches you have explained in Part B (above). (2 x 4 marks = 8 marks)

6 MOTIVATION AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT (54 marks)

Question 6 Motivation and change management One of the best ways to prepare an organisation for change, especially if you are the manager initiating the change is to put yourself in the position of the person the change is happening to so you can appreciate how they are likely to react.

(A) As the Air New Zealand CEO what, for you, would be the three (3) most important reasons why you want to initiate change in the way the business is run, and why? Justify your reasons with reference to appropriate theory or other secondary evidence. (3 x 4 marks = 12 marks)

(B) Using any two (2) motivation theories that you are familiar with from your studies, demonstrate how you could motivate your staff in this case study to continue providing excellent customer service while these changes to the business are being worked through. Show how you would use each of your two (2) chosen theories to provide positive motivation for the staff. You may invent any details necessary to support your explanation. (10 marks for identifying and explaining the chosen theories (2 x 5 marks); 10 marks for applying the chosen theories to the case study (2 x 5 marks) = 20 marks total)

(C) Assuming that not all of your staff react positively to your attempts at motivating them using your chosen techniques discuss with reference to appropriate theory, four (4) different ways you could deal with this problem. (4 x 5 marks = 20 marks) (D) Of the four different ways you outlined in the answer to the previous question for dealing with staff who are not reacting positively to your or motivation attempts, which one (1) do you think is most likely to be effective and, briefly, why do you think this? (2 marks)