The goal of this case is to help you understand how to manage change. The case covers the topics of Management of Change and Organizational Culture. Before you analyze the case, make sure to read the assigned readings. If you understand what helps and hinders change, you can easily identify the mistakes that are made by various stakeholders in the case. The case also covers other topics that we have covered in the past which you should be familiar with already. As always, remember to distinguish between facts, opinions and assumptions.

Please answer all questions. I will grade Q 4, 5 and 6. You must do 1, 2 and 3 to do 4-6 well. We will discuss all of them in class.

1. What was the situation faced by Smithers in this assignment? Don’t forget to discuss the environment faced by the company, unit etc (discuss the context).

2. What forces in and outside the company are likely to push for change? What forces are likely to act as a hindrance to change?

3. Chronologically list the activities related to the change process. (Although you do not need to turn the response to this question to me, you will find it impossible to do the case even reasonably well if you do not do this for yourself. Consider each step in the change process as it unfolds to identify where errors were made)

4. Discuss why things went wrong. Who was responsible? This is an important question – make sure to think broadly and consider the roles of various stakeholders in the change process. (75% effort and space)

5. Was Smithers effective? (Discuss. (5%) (what criteria did you use to make this decision)

6. What could Smithers have done differently? As in the past, provide specific actionable recommendations chronologically(20%)

Detailed comments on the above questions.

1. We start all our analyses with such considerations: Think about the issues the organization has been facing, and as a second issue, that Smithers is facing. Identify key stakeholders in the change process. Understand their goals and actions.

2. Look at Sigtek as “the company”. Consider forces that are likely to help (or push for) this particular change (the TQM effort) to take place. Then consider forces that are likely to hinder change (be resistant to change). You can consider the broader environment, the HO, people in Sigtek in various departments etc… Look at different stakeholders and their positions.

3. The question does not ask for your opinion or analysis. All you need to do is to chronologically list out how the change in question (the TQM) was rolled out. This non-evaluative list will help you identify underlying issues at each stage as the change was rolled out.

4. This is the most important question to answer and is the heart of the analysis. You have to think about what mistakes were made at various points. Many stakeholders (parties involved or impacted by the change initiative) were involved in the change process. If they made any mistakes identify them. It will be very useful for you to understand how to make successful changes so you can identify errors made by various parties here.

5. Take a stand on whether you judge Smithers to be effective (or not). You need to explain the standards by which you judged his effectiveness (or not). Defend your opinion with facts.

6. This is also pretty obvious – we have done questions like these in all the cases. Support your views.