Different Types of Conflict Resolution Systems and Evaluation of Its Usefulness
The conditions of the competitive global business environment resulted to diverse problems that affect the overall stature of an organization. In the recent years, conflict within the organization is among the most common problems that every management personnel are dealing. Any industry – profit- or non-profit-based, is not exempted and has been singled out as prevalent areas where dispute is popular. Since any industry has a potential in contributing sustainable development in every given economy, there is a need to maintain the most favorable working environment that is free from any conflict. Managers and other personnel need guidance to help them reduce the impact associated with disputes in both management and operating functions. This is done through various conflict resolution systems.
Conflict resolution is important because of the fact that conflict is unavoidable. Conflict is inevitable in every organization because the business environment, both external and internal, experience changes constantly. For instance, the rapid development of technology makes other approaches obsolete, as more and more companies accept the change, affecting the standards in business processes. When business processes are affected and an organization is forced to change its ways, the problem with human factors would then take place. Staff and employees are not passive individuals, but rather show reactions to such changes. Change affects many working processes that might have a direct or indirect impact on an employee. The impact might affect the way they work or might determine their attitude in adapting with the changes that took place. Furthermore, most likely there will also be problems on the capabilities of the employees to adapt with the change. For example, the implementation of new information systems or any technology requires the knowledge of the employees to operate. If the employees are unfamiliar or lack the trainings needed, the pace of change will slow and implementation would most likely fail.
CONFLICT AND ITS KINDS
Conflict simply means lack of agreement in terms of beliefs, practices and in other human activities. It has different levels, which are: intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict; interpersonal conflict; intragroup conflict; and intergroup conflict (1999). The four types of conflict are: intrapersonal conflict; interpersonal conflict; intragroup conflict; and intergroup conflict.
Intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict means conflict occurs within an individual (1999). Of course, this is understandable because interpersonal communication means communicating to one’s self. Roots of conflict in this level can be ideas, thoughts, emotions, values, predispositions or drives (1999). The person basically reflects in those roots and creates conflict with how he or she will react. Conflict within self is closely related to psychological and psychiatric field because it is linked with cognitive theories, behavior change theories, motivation theories, etc. (1999).
Interpersonal conflict, on the other hand, is the second major level of conflict, which means conflict between two or more individual people (1999). In other definition, it is the interaction between persons expressing opposing interests, views, or opinions (1990). Interpersonal conflict is a process that has three main stages (1990). The first stage of interpersonal conflict is when the person is faced with a choice between two or more incompatible options or goals. The conflict manifests in the second stage when interaction reveals that the two persons involved in the process want different things, but they think that these differences can be resolved. Then, in the third stage, the parties perceive that there is no mutually acceptable outcome and unwanted sacrifices must be made for resolving their differences. Personal interests come first in the third stage. There are winners and losers and exercises of power likely dominate the process ( 1990). Furthermore, interpersonal conflict has different levels of its own.
The different levels of interpersonal conflict include: behavioral conflicts; normative conflicts; and personal conflicts (1990). also mentioned these levels for intimate conflicts, but basically, they can be applied to interpersonal conflicts in general. Behavioral conflicts include conflict over specific behaviors, such as different preferences for management style, leadership, team building, recreational activities, and doing tasks and jobs. Normative conflicts involve conflicts over the unique norms and rules of the relationship. Finally, personal conflicts concern a person’s characteristics, dispositions, and attitudes including life values, selfishness, inconsiderateness, and human relations (1990).
Intragroup conflict takes place within a small group, basically on teams and committee members within a particular organization. In this level, “conflict is analyzed as it affects the ability of the group to resolve disputes and continue to achieve its goals effectively” ( 1999, ). Then, intragroup conflict takes place within a small group, basically on teams and committee members within a particular organization. In this level, “conflict is analyzed as it affects the ability of the group to resolve disputes and continue to achieve its goals effectively” (1999).
Finally, intergroup conflict is a level of conflict that involves large number of people – for instance, conflict that takes place between unions and management, warring nations, feuding families, or community action groups and government authorities ( 1999). Conflicts can occur within groups and between groups simultaneously.
However, all management teams like the human resources (HR) experience difficulties. In the organizational setting, the types of conflict are: C-type conflict and A-type conflict.
C-type conflict means that employees or members of a particular team “focus on substantive, issue-related differences of opinion that tend to improve team effectiveness” (1995). In this type of conflict, different ideas are being taken into consideration through effective communication. (1997) stated: “It allows members to contribute openly and honestly to the team’s decision-making process while maintaining acceptance by team members and creating greater commitment” ().
On the other hand, A-type conflict decreases the effectiveness of the group by allowing personal feelings or someone’s own agenda to deter the members from the team’s objective (1997). This type of attitude can basically prevent creativity as ideas of change are barred with personal feelings and agenda. further stated: “Creativity is limited by the members’ reduced ability to contribute input due to the increasing hostility, anger and the elimination of trust” ().
STEPS AND KINDS OF SOLVING CONFLICT
In relation to solving various types of conflicts, (1995) provided certain steps on how to manage this type of conflict effectively. They stated the effectiveness of meetings in resolving both types of conflicts. The first strategy they suggest is to disseminate a full agenda early. The manager (particularly the HR manager) should develop a plan to explain the full agenda of the meeting clearly to the GM and staff. This should be followed by stating the philosophy of the agenda clearly and providing relevant and convincing back-up along it. The Chief Executive should also consider the right environment for the meeting. Also, behavioral strategies should be observed in the meeting to prevent the increase of A-type conflicts. Another approach is keeping a sense to the where the discussion is going. The discussion should also be channeled from A-type conflict to C-type conflict. Finally, the leader should support the team and should be proactive and reactive.
(1999) suggested other integrative sub-strategy in direct negotiation other than presenting the agenda through meeting. The chief should plan the opening moves in the negotiation and should be willing to bargain and discover new options. An emergent agreement strategy can also be used where certain requests of the GM will be considered in order for him to accept the implementation fully (1999). On the other hand, if all else fails, one option is to look for another GM who is more comfortable with changes and is willing to improve.
Negotiation strategies can also be the key in managing conflicts. Types of negotiation or bargaining strategies include: soft bargaining strategy; hard bargaining strategy; tit-for-tat bargaining strategy; and principled bargaining strategy (1993). Soft bargainers attempts to prevail by being agreeable. Hard bargainers are rigid and agree only on their own argument. On the other hand, tit-for-tats uses motivation of reward and punishment for negotiation. Finally, principled bargainers separate people from the problem, focus on interests, generate options for mutual gains, and use objective standards (1993).
In terms of strategies to counter hard bargainers, (1991) suggested negotiation jujitsu. Negotiation jujitsu means not fighting strength with strength but rather, their force should be channeled into exploring interests, options for mutual gain and looking for independent standards. It means that positions of the opposing side should not be attacked but should be used against them by looking into options that would make them accept the proposal without affecting their position. Furthermore, if the person is a hard bargainer, the problem should be attacked instead of the person. When the problem is the one attacked, interests for mutual gain can be developed which could lead to positive results.
Communication is also important in conflict resolution systems. Communicators are in different types of relationship contexts. These are important to determine the right content and relationship message to be delivered. (1999) enumerated the types of relationship contexts, and they are: acquaintanceship, friendship, romantic relationships, family relationships, and work relationships. Communications are irreversible and once they are said, they can never be taken back. That is why critical thinking and good control of emotions are needed in communication. (1999) stated that critical thinkers do not fall prey to emotional appeals because they examine evidence on which conclusions are based – if they are valid, if they have weaknesses, etc. Finally, communication is personal because every word the communicator says reflects his attitude and behaviors, emotions or beliefs. For instance, emotions such as anger, happiness, surprise, fear, and sadness can affect the message that sender will deliver to the receiver. Communication should be enhanced in every company to have better results in resolving conflicts.
Similarly, (2004) suggest that troubles encountered by practical team managers and members may be both technological and non-technological. For instance, in virtual project management, the technological problems may include slow computer networks, lack of collaborative software, and poor/ill-fitting architecture. They have observed that in recent history, technologies meant for the conventional workplace are made available. Therefore, they surmise that those who might be working in far-away and inaccessible places may encounter interfacing problems ( 2004). While these technological difficulties may be distressing for the team, there are other more significant difficulties that the authors suggest. They pertain to cultural and organizational barriers – disruption of corporate culture and loss of loyalty among employees (2004;2001). (2001) said that this (virtual office) new form of employee arrangement change the historical meaning of a ‘workplace’, making it more difficult to evaluate the process of work. Trust is also important. What, then, builds trust? Communication does. (2000) proposes that the quality or richness of information is better than its quantity. Richness, (2004) pertains to the characteristics of the medium used to relay the information. This includes the capability of the medium to grant immediate feedback and language variety, use multiple channels, and permit personalization of messages (2004). For , it is very important for team members to trust each other. It is crucial for them to know others are doing their part of the project.
On the other hand, it is important to identify the kind of conflict in order to predetermine the possible conflict resolution and the consequences that may aggravate the situation. For instance, conflicts in relation to cultural diversity are ubiquitous in multinational and transnational companies. According to (1994), sometimes employee dispute processes that are created to deal with complaints of discrimination expand naturally to deal with broader areas of disagreement. For example, spurred by rumors of sexual harassment, a national nonprofit organization hired a conflict management or HR expert to teach several of its employees to counsel or mediate complaints of harassment as well as other forms of discrimination. Managers had decided to spread the neutral’s role over several employees on a part-time basis in order to give people with problems access to counselors of different races, sexes, and shifts. Shortly thereafter, the general counsel, who had participated in the counselors’ training, succeeded in mediating a bitter conflict between workers in two departments over their overlapping jurisdiction to perform different types of work. As a result, employees from the two departments produced a more workable and easily understandable arrangement. With this, the HR manager should been called on to meet with groups of the company’s employees (in one case, with men and women separately) in order to mediate disputes that had been festering between them ( 1994).
Furthermore, (1994) stated that some employees prefer procedures that adjudicate who was right and who was wrong over those that attempt to smooth over differences, particularly in what they consider serious cases of infringement on their rights. Most, however, when given a choice, opt first for private, non-confrontational avenues, either because they want as much anonymity as possible or because they perceive benefits in preserving their working relationships with their employer or other employees. Especially in such sensitive areas as sexual harassment, complaint handlers report that most complainants prefer counseling, coaching on how to help themselves, or some form of mediation to any sort of adjudication or public exposure of miscreants ( 1994).
When employees’ complaints cannot be resolved internally, (1994) affirmed that they still may be settled short of a courtroom through mediation. At this point, when many of the employees involved have been discharged managers who have hired counsel to pursue claims against their former employers, the mediations have been conducted exclusively by outsiders. Sometimes a mini-trial or summary jury trial may be useful in showing a complaining employee or responding employer (often by this time a former employer) how each side’s case will play to a judge or jury. This ad hoc use of outside mediators to resolve large claims when both sides are represented by counsel may become part of the official system for processing claims of employment discrimination, many of which are brought by unrepresented complainants.
All in all, it is very imperative to identify the type of conflict before implementing any course of conflict resolution. Most managers assume that organizational conflicts are directly under the control of the human resources management department wherein it tackles employee, employers and overall management issues. With the knowledge of the type of conflict, the conflict resolution mechanisms and its related aspects will be fully maximized in particularly to the addressing of other connected issues.
CRITERIA TO EVALUATE THE USEFULNESS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION SYSTEMS
The most primary measure in evaluating the usefulness of conflict resolution system is its direct effect in the organizational productivity and performance. As indicated, the HR department handles the issues of conflict management. Thus, to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the conflict resolution method, it is reflective in the performance of the people concerned.
Any organization, may it be profit oriented or not-for-profit, the most vital asset is its employees. And for these organizations to maximize their assets, they should manage the employees’ working condition with intelligence and efficiency (1998). They must be allowed to be involved in making work-related decisions to further enhance the organizational structure (1996). Furthermore, the structure of tasks among the employees strengthens the organizational performance (1989). It is therefore necessary to understand the employees for the organization to be effective (1983). The development, building, motivation, enhancement and enrichment of the employees of any organization largely depend on the leadership, mandate and vision of the organization (1999).
In the era of globalization (2000, 1990), every organization must keep itself along with all the other organizations on being globally competitive. Corporate or organizational competitive advantage does not only depend on the organization’s financial resources but on the knowledge and effective implementation of people and organizational management particularly in conflict management. That is, for the organization to achieve competitive advantage, the people involved in the organization must also be united and competitive.
As organizations seek to develop sources of competitive advantage, researchers and practitioners have looked to firms’ human resources. Recent research by (1995), (1995), (1996), and others has demonstrated significant relationships between HR practices and organizational performance. This line of research has estimated that a one standard deviation increase in the use of “progressive” or “high performance” work practices can result in up to a 20% increase in firm performance (1996;1999).
The global market is considered to be in hypercompetition (1995) mode and its rate is increasing as technology and industry concentration is intensified. With the international conditions of every particular business, the aim for competitive advantage and market superiority remains to be one of the most important factors at hand. Aside from ensuring effectiveness in management, profit-oriented corporations are also considering a total evaluation of their standards when it comes to people and organizational management. Organizations are now faced with leaner structures and increased competition which in turn are generating a rapid pace of change in the workplace. The greatest barrier to adapting to continual change lies with the management of people rather than technology. The constant efforts of effective implementation and utilization of the HR strategies make it possible for the company to perform well in the market.
Therefore, the knowledge and management of an organization’s human resources especially in conflict management is pivotal to its responsiveness. In order to achieve this, the role of people and organizational management needs to change from reactive to proactive. If it is to be used to an organization’s competitive advantage, it needs to go beyond merely attracting and retaining good people. It should strive to gain a complete understanding of its workforce and develop organizational systems and processes that enable individuals to add value within a larger organizational unit ( 1989).
Treating the employees as champions and as a significant aspect of the organization naturally results to other positive outcomes. One of which is the improvement of the overall organizational performance ( 2000). A number of empirical studies have concluded that understanding people and organizational practices have a significant effect on the organization, which leads to high performance (1999). One good example that identifies this relationship was the study conducted by (1996). Utilizing 590 profit and non-profit-oriented firms, the researchers concluded that HRM practices like staffing selectivity and training are positively associated with organizational performance.
Organizational performance is achieved through HRM functions as they mold the employees as significant contributors to the firm. Having the appropriate skills that are honed to the maximum level, people and organizational management practices will then lead to the attainment of various goals of the organization. From this relationship, it is then appropriate to conclude that the understanding of people and organizational management directly connects to the success or failure of the organization.
In general, the effectiveness or usefulness of the conflict resolution systems implemented in any particular case is dependent on the overall spill-over effects to the productivity of the people especially the ones who are involved as well as to the entire performance of the organization. The emergence of digitalization (998) and globalization in all operating global industries paved way to the further improvements related to conflict management techniques. Regardless of the unprecedented drawbacks of such ideas when being used, every organization and its managers are required to undergo constant knowledge progression and management must administer and control them in the most beneficial ways possible. Every decision made by the management must be directed to the welfare of the whole industry. With the right abilities, knowledge and characteristics of good manager, understanding management theory, strategy and strategic planning plus constant organizational learning will result to eventual business productivity and growth, market superiority, competitive edge, and success.
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Change Management in the Acquisition of Aetna and Reliastar
by ING Life
In the epoch of various occurrences (e.g. globalization, industrialization and technological advancement), the international marketplace including its particular areas and systems is overly affected by the intrinsic processes relative to them. Among the observable impacts of such emerging business conditions is competition. Competition among the various industries in every given economy is rapid and stiff. It is as if ‘survival of the fittest, extinction of the weakest’ trend. Further, the advances in technology and the fast modernization of the world, in general, opened new and very promising avenues of business opportunities not just in an individual’s locale but also abroad. A lot of business-minded individuals from different countries with different nationalities and cultural orientation have and continuously defied the geographic boundaries that exist between continents. This is evident in the growing number of internationally-operating business firms all over the world run by entrepreneurs of varying race and culture. The information man has successfully rebelled against intercontinental borders and the challenge that confronts him the most, deals with how to fit and blend in the new cultural environment in which their businesses are situated.
Most of the successful business endeavors depend greatly on good interpersonal communication and relationship between the service or product providers and their clients. Persuading customers on trying the offered services and products is only a start on putting up a successful entrepreneurial activity. Gaining the trust of the clients and maintaining patrons is very important to ideal business transaction flows. Making business transactions and communication within business organizations to promote good working relationships through enhanced knowledge and skills among employees will definitely put a business endeavor into a success wherever the location may be.
COMPANY PROFILE
ING Life offers its customers a comprehensive range of quality insurance products and services. The company’s extensive portfolio of insurance products includes individual life, medical insurance and employee-benefits schemes is tailored to meet customers’ needs throughout the different stages of their lives, covering them in every situation.
Started in 1991, the ING Group is one of the first integrated financial service providers in the world, when Holland’s largest insurer, Nationale-Nederlanden, merged with the country’s third-largest bank, NMB PostBank Group.
ING Group is active in the fields of banking, insurance and asset management in more than 50 countries. With its substantial worldwide experience and with more than 113,000 employees, ING Group provides a full range of integrated financial services to over 60 million customers globally, including individuals, families, small businesses, large corporations, institutions and governments. ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent business that increasingly serves their clients under the ING Brand.
ING’s mission is to be a leading, global, client-focused, innovative and efficient provider of financial services through the distribution channels of the client’s preference in markets where ING can create value.
To maintain the confidence of its customers, shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders by acting with professionalism and integrity, ING Group attaches paramount importance to upholding its reputation by striving to upkeep five core values: integrity, entrepreneurship, professionalism, responsiveness, and teamwork.
ING Life believes that customers are its number one priority, and its Customer Service Department is established to meet customers’ needs at the front line. The department is constantly striving to provide efficient and personalized service for all its customers ().
MANAGEMENT CHANGE
Change management is basically defined as the formulation and assimilation of change in a methodical process. The major objective of change management is the introduction of innovative means and systems in the work organization. Businesses must normally undergo change in order to evolve to a higher level of for instance, stability, management or production. Appointing a new head officer, for example, can greatly enhance his subordinates based on his management principles and personality.
Organizational change is part of and a result of struggles between contradictory forces, also change management practice is related with endeavoring to manage their competing demands. To understand why and how to change organizations, it is first necessary to understand their structures, management and behaviour. According to (1996) these systems of ideas are crucial to change management in two respects. They provide models of how organization should be structured and managed. Then they provide guidelines for judging and prescribing the behaviour and effectiveness of individuals and groups in an organization. (1996) also believe that modern organizations passed by the guild structures and as organizations grew larger, skills become increasingly fragmented and specialized and positions become more functionally differentiated. It can be said that organizational change is one of the critical determinants in organizational success and failure (1998). (1998) stated that the focus of successful organizations is on customers and their needs, which includes investing in ways to improve sales and provide superior service to clients, and they do not forget that their customers and their customers’ needs underlie their organization’s existence. In addition, adapting factors crucial to the success of certain missions and the implementation of solutions to problems are common traits of a successful organization (1998). The lack of such initiatives can throw an organization into confusion, being stuck in traditional practices that cannot solve or handle the current problems faced. Thus, the lack of such factors stresses the need for a strategic organizational change. It is basically a flexible strategic planning process as opposed to a static form of strategic planning.
Adding a new member in the organization or reconstructing an old company program are called smaller versions of change and are significantly different from that of change management. The scope of organizational change is much wider as compared to minor company changes. This may include changing the company’s mission, reforming business operations, application of new technologies, major group efforts, or adoption of new programs. Usually, the organization is encouraged on settling on change management due to external influences, usually termed as the environment (2004). Thus, change management can alternately be defined as the response of different business to changes brought about by environmental influences in which organizations have minimal or absolutely no control over.
Perhaps the space between the new organization design and implementing it into actuality is the whole coverage of organization change and development. People are adaptive to change. However, certain skills must be present from the initiators of change so as to successfully implement their project. Thus, managers need to have the necessary abilities not only in detecting what needs to be changed but also how to introduce the change effectively.
THE CHANGE
ING acquired Aetna Life Insurance in late 2000. After the acquisition, the company mission statement stipulated that we have to be “The Best Insurance Company in Hong Kong” in terms of revenue and service provided to the customers. Therefore, during these 5 years, the company has increased its businesses by employing more quality agents, introducing new business channels with bank. In addition, the company has introduced many state-of-art technologies in order to improve the operation efficiency which includes workflow system, imaging system implementation, and the others. Due to these new systems introduction, staffs have to be retrained to adopt the new operation flow. But some of them are unwilling to change.
MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE IN ING LIFE
With nearly 100,000 employees in more than 65 countries, ING Group is a global financial institution active in the field of insurance, banking and asset management. Cooperation between and among its Business Units is essential for integrating financial services which is the major concern of the company’s management in addressing the demands of its diverse target market around the world. The change in ING’s management structure is organized in a way to promote co-operation between countries, regions and market segments. Due to their international nature, financial and banking activities are organized on a global basis. Other activities are organized through geographical regions under an equal number of Executive Centers. The change that the company acquired through the acquisition of Reliastar and Aetna Financial Services is in lieu of the objectives and vision of the business organization in the further internationalization and development of the company in the competitive global business setting, particularly in the United States.
In order to formulate ideas and strategies to increased financial targets that fit the ambitions and reflect the confidence in the prosperous development of the Group, the company initiated change in its acquisition of Reliastar and Aetna Financial Services. According to (2000), Chairman of the Executive Board of ING Group, the acquisition of Reliastar and Aetna Financial Services gave ING Group its long-desired top 10 position in the US life insurance and wealth management market. This business strategy of combined operations of ING and Aetna made the company the leading foreign life insurance in Latin America and the second largest in Asia. The combined assets under management placed the company as one of the world’s ten largest active asset managers in accordance with the company’s strategic concepts of improved services to clients, consolidation, integration, operational excellence and mandatory synergy (cited in
The operationalization of the said business strategy by the ING Group was realized through the ownership of the Aetna and Reliastar. In one of the press releases of the company in Amsterdam, it was indicated that Aetna Inc. shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition at a special shareholder meeting in November 2000 wherein all required regulatory approvals have been received. The contribution of Aetna to the net profit of ING Group will be a net profit per share of approximately EUR 0.18. Furthermore, ING reported that its intensive planning for the integration of Aetna Financial Services and Aetna International and the ongoing integration of ReliaStar has positioned ING Americas to deliver substantially increased profit and revenues in 2001. The combination of ING, ReliaStar and Aetna Financial Services in the United States allows ING to create new business lines and distribution channels, solidify a new management structure, and fund key priorities to build market share and enhance customer loyalty in 2001 and beyond (c
“The Aetna platform rounds out ING’s asset accumulation and employee benefits businesses in the U.S. and provides the elements that are necessary to achieve our financial services strategy,” said Ewald Kist, chairman Executive Board ING Group. “With Aetna and ReliaStar, we now have the products, scale and distribution we need to be a leader in the U.S. market. As well, the international businesses add new platforms in promising emerging markets and add scale to ING’s existing markets. Based on life insurance premiums, ING will now be the top international insurer in Latin America and the number two international insurer in Asia.”
To accomplish this, the organization maximized its new distribution channels, particularly direct and the Internet, to deliver life, annuities, retirement, reinsurance and mutual fund offerings. This will include working closely with ING Direct, ING’s direct-to-consumer business, which was launched in the U.S. market and currently offers banking products via the Internet and telephone. Enhancements were made to maximize the productivity of traditional distribution channels, including the largest independent broker/dealer network in the US, as well as career and independent insurance agents
The organizational structure of ING Group was restructured into a two-level management system with the Group at its head which has the direct management of Insurance Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking and ING Direct. Management and executive committees were abolished to give way to simple, clear and transparent business operation management, client focused and business logic led business decisions, personal accountability and empowerment of every staff and employee as well as for short and direct reporting lines. The company capitalized in the fusion of its brand and distribution success with that of its efficient and effective organization goal: 14.3 million clients, 200,000 points of distribution, 10,000 ING Advisors, 62% brand awareness, 9,200 employees, innovative and broad product range as headcount downs to 21% of 2,200 full time employees, 22% decrease in investment costs excluding ING investment management (350 million euros), elimination of 50+ legal entities, outsourcing of payroll systems and IT infrastructure and the integrated Reliastar, Aetna Insurance Financial Services and ING. Appropriate attention and investigation of promising growth engines to capture the benefits of the Group was given priority. These include state of the art technology which allows for competitive pricing, tangible value propositions for customers and operational expense to assets. Capital efficiency to create value for the benefit of the customers was conceptualized in the implementation of the company’s campaign entitled “Volume-to-Value-Changes”. The campaign was formulated in order to control costs and consequently maintain competitiveness and service quality, proper alignment of products and clients by prioritizing products and re-segmentation of the client base and finally, reassessment of the organization’s geographical presence ( 2004).
The management has been very particular and focused regarding the changes that were proposed for the overall success of the business organization. The vision of the shareholders, the company leaders and other beneficiaries of the profit of the company were implemented. Efficiency counts in every business organization and the changes that will exhaust the opportunities of the company should be immediately implemented for the eventual use of the profits incurred. The management, in order to provide satisfaction and greater benefits for the customers, implemented the strategic business plan in the shortest span of time possible. Since improved customer satisfaction most of the time result to increased profit in the business, changes for the betterment of the whole company was duly implemented.
However, it cannot be put aside the fact that adaptation and gradual acceptance of the company’s transformation posted difficulty among the employees and staff whose responsibilities, duties and positions in the organization were braved. For those who were threatened by the changes, the transformation was, for them, immediate and unreasonable. The threats to their occupation in the company could be traced to their competence as quality work force of the said business organization. The new learning process that inevitably should take place within the company made the worries of lax employees to surface. But for the employees and staff who have the attitude of improving themselves with the changes that were being implemented in the organization, the transformations were faced as a challenge and opportunity for individual and personal evaluation improvement.
The eventual changes in the acquisition of Aetna and Reliastar by ING did not only post challenge to some of its employees because even the Information Technology Department of the business organization was also faced with some difficulty. According to I, Senior Vice President, IT, ING US Financial Services (Atlanta) and , CIO, Principal Finance Group () who addressed “Achieving the Single Customer View: A Reality Check,” at Insurance & Technology’s Customer Service Leadership Forum, although the potential benefits of achieving the proverbial “single customer view” are numerous—including reducing costs, improved cross-selling opportunities, and closer relationship with the customer—the business factors driving insurers to pursue this strategy are quite varied. ING’s 2000 acquisition of ReliaStar and Aetna Financial Services gave the Amsterdam-based company a significant US presence, with 14 million customers and the third-largest broker/dealer network in the US which meant many opportunities to cross-sell. However, taking advantage of that opportunity required finding a way to identify customers and their wants. “On the IT side we had tremendous redundancy,” Heege explained. The technology environment contained more than 2,500 applications on 35 major platforms. Heege further said,
“We had multiple help desks, multiple data centers—a very disparate technology environment,” she added. “We had data everywhere, but information nowhere. We were a knowledge-starved company trying to bring all this together. we really needed a road map and a framework that was going to tell us how to bring this diverse technology environment together. And we had to develop a strategy about how we were going to bring all these diverse Web sites and customer contact center systems and solutions together.”
The strategy of consolidation, integration and optimization to progress and improve 14 contact centers were consolidated down to six and four data centers were reduced to one in the ING business operations (2003). Undeniably, the whole business management of ING Company was the winners of the change since the company is at present doing well in maintaining the profits they gained from the initiated change within the organization through the acquisition of the Aetna and Reliastar. The statistics of the Group has been improving for the last couple of years since the transformation. The customers also benefited from the change since it brought improvements in the service and relations of the organization with their clients. The efficiency brought by inevitable demands of change especially in the IT Department of the company resulted to increased customer satisfaction and better service of the organization. The other side of the coin is the people who were part of the organization who were not able to adapt and go in harmony with the changes that were initiated by the management.
The success of employing quality agents, structuring new and efficient business channels with banks in different parts of the world, utilization of state of the art technologies for improved workflow system highlights the beneficial and profitable developments incurred by ING in its acquisition of Aetna and Reliastar. The innovative and drive of the management of the company made it experience the achievement of being able to put to reality the vision of a business organization. The company will not be successful in its endeavor if it not for the contribution and willingness of the employees to be part of the transformation of the business organization. The company could have faced greater problems in its implementation of organizational and management changes if the employees became highly contradicting in the proposed transformation.
IMPACT OF THE CHANGE AND THE MODEL OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Continuous improvement within any business organization can only be realized if good working relationships between and among employees is experience by all the members of the company. To be able to function effectively with clients and customers, manufacturers of goods and products as well as service provider companies should be aware that success is first elicited inside the organization. Good working relationships should be observed first within the company so that the whole business operation can answer to the demands of the business transactions with clients and suppliers alike.
The Model of Continuous Improvement offers a lead on how to manage a business enterprise especially those operating in the international business environment. It highlights the relationship between the tools or resources of a particular business organization with the people working in the company and the systems that that the company employ in processing their transactions. The concept of culture, communication and commitment is given importance in overall and continuous improvement of a business firm. These concepts should be first inculcated and learned by the members of the company so as to ensure that the business will run smoothly.
EVALUATION
The employers, in their goal to improve and develop aggressive and competitive business organization, may exhaust the potential of their human resources for the benefit of the company relative to total work output. This will also promote the positive working relationship and good communication channeling among the personnel in the establishment whether between the supervisor and the subordinates or employee to peers and colleagues.
The employees, on the other hand, should avail of the opportunities of developing their skills further and enriching their knowledge through the training programs and exercises that their company invests on. This will ensure their competitiveness in the fast-paced and ever-changing description and scope of their work and may also sustain their personal desire of improving themselves as productive individuals. Minimum stress level could also be expected in the workplace atmosphere.
In the evident advantages of practicing workplace learning on the side of both the employers and employees, it is apparent that the business organization as a whole will in general gain from utilizing the said training and bonding practices. The smooth working business operations and transactions inside the company that resulted from the availed workplace learning activities will guarantee that the higher productivity level of the organization in general.
Change of management is not bad as long as the changes made can really enhance the competitiveness and strength of an organization. It is effective, if and only if, a thorough investigation and evaluation of the company’s performance has made. And if the study suggests that there is a need for change, then that is the only time, the organization should imposed required changes to be done. Because, change of management system is very critical, one wrong move, the company, might faced its biggest downturn instead of strengthen its business portfolio and survive to the stiff competition in the business arena. It is recommended that any organization, which will undergo some changes on their management system, must see to it that the changes are well planned and implemented carefully, because these will the basis for the success and/or failure of any organization.
Word count: 3507 including in-text citations
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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