sohar leadership change management

Having considered the theory, research and science, characteristics of organizations identify and assess:

1. The seven structures and systems present in your organization
2. Analyze and describe how the present Leadership Value Systems and Structures in your organization impact on leadership, management and staff.
3. Consider and analyze differences to your competitors (local or global)
4. Consider to what extent are these differences positive points of differentiation or negative traits of the organization

In Sohar Aluminum, the leadership system has used the seven structures and vMems in a way that suits the needs and demands of the organization and the market of Oman and the Arabian Gulf. According to Reitter, (2014) Grave's theory has presented the vMemes in order to be in many fields of life including leadership. The purple is used in Sohar Aluminum for focusing on group work and employees relationships in order to maintain safety and protection of a one unit working together for presenting the best work for the business organization. The red structure is used for power and maintaining a stable level of business that can compete effectively with other rivals in the market. The blue structure is applied in order to ensure the organizational conformity, obeying authority and orders to meet the organizational values and goals. The orange system is used for meeting effectiveness and achieving the work as it should be done and using many ways to make it entrepreneurial and pragmatic. The green structure is applied in order to ensure communication between employees and leaders in order to assert the work as one community that work according certain goals whatever cultural diversity is there. Sharing ideas of others and showing true care is important and confirmed by the leadership using this system. Yellow system is applied through focus on learning via training employees and raising their awareness and educating them. The turquoise system is used and applied through the leadership holistic approach in including global ideas related to the aluminum industry as well as giving much care to the environment and relevant issues.   

In Sohar Aluminum, there is a focus on specific leadership value systems and structures which are the red and blue with tendency towards orange and green, this leads to many consequences as focusing on these two systems mainly make the leadership less communicative with employees and this reduces effectiveness of performance of many employees who suffer some problems and are in need for communication with leaders. The leadership of the organization prefers the transactional leadership style which leads to many problems and challenges within the organization yet there are many tries of many leaders to apply changes and apply the transformational leadership lately but there should be more flexibility in changing leadership styles. Miller, (2012) discussed the need and importance of communication skills in order to ensure effective leadership, he discussed three important levels of communication important for leaders which are the core communication skills, the team communication skills and the strategic and external communication skills. The leadership focus on the red and blue via the transactional leadership style mostly makes it difficult for employees to find enough time for communication with each other and with their leaders, focusing on rules, adequacy, power elements and authority yet the tries of applying transformational leadership have proved success in bringing in more communication opportunities. Transactional leadership makes it difficult for leaders to assign time for employees' complaints, needs and aspirations and this also makes it difficult for realizing the needs of training related to each employee. The transformational leadership style proved help the leadership to use other value systems that can enable leaders to have more time for communication and discussions with employees and this reduces the efficiency of the staff and makes them lacking the desire and time for innovation and creativity.

The aluminum industry in Oman and internationally face huge development and there are many aluminum companies in Oman such as World aluminum, ORAC Aluminum and OAPIL. The company is always competing other companies in the region of the Gulf and Middle East and this raises the need for effectiveness and efficiency of performance in the organization. This means the need for more innovation and creativity. There is a tendency in the leadership of other companies to apply other new and more flexible leadership styles such as the transformational leadership style. This makes them focus on other value systems such as the orange and the green rather than other structures of the value system. Sabir et al, (2012) discussed the transformational leadership style advantages and its effect on communication in the business organization, applying changes and innovations that can develop the business's performance and improve productivity and profitability. This raises the levels of competition between Sohar and other competitors in the local and global market as most companies are applying many innovations and changes through new leadership styles such as transformational leadership styles.

These differences between Sohar Aluminum and other competitors may lead to negative results on the company as it is a leading company in that field,   one of a slew of operational improvements logged by the company last year. Aluminium production of the company has jumped from 363,528 tonnes in 2014 to 377,186 tonnes in 2015 and the company is in need to keep this level of success and develop it as well. Positive points of applying the current leadership structures and the resulting differences between it and other rivals in the market may be the systematic methods of delivering work, exact delivery times of different orders and this raises the reputation of the company in the market as employees are very keen to be adequate and following the rules and instructions of leaders exactly as they are and on exact times. (Bloxsome, 2016)  

Now that you understand your organizations structure, consider your organizations sector. Critically analyze:

a.      How has your sector evolved?

b.      In what way do they differ to your competitors (local or global)

c.       To what extent are these differences positive points of differentiation or negative traits of the organization

Sohar Aluminum leadership structure yet has evolved to apply different techniques for being a strong sector in the aluminum market. The sector grew with the growing of the industry in Oman. According to Beauregard, (2007) the sector theory made by Hoyt, (1939) focused on life and career in USA and how to change leadership patterns in order to suit development and evolution of business and market. He explained how the sector theory focused on planning as a main component for career and sectors  evolution. In Sohar Aluminum, planning takes important part of interest by the leadership and it is important to set different types of plans and a variety of them. The sector theory also focused on identifying the neighborhood quality and efficiency in order to measure the levels of success, methods and techniques used by competitors and how to face them. Sohar aluminum sector also focused also on cooperation as a main component for evolution through applying the transformational leadership style as according to Jiang et al, (2017) transformational leadership has great impact on employees' performance and cooperation and it ensures sustainable change and effective employees' performance. Because Sohar Aluminum is a private sector company in Oman, it is trying to apply many changes in its leadership and management but this needs much more effort and more space for transformational leadership. Sohar tries to apply the organizational citizenship behavior in order to empower employees and set them into more communicative work environment. Evolution of the sector depended on the team work and team management by effective leadership, this was alongside with the development of the private sector in Oman as development of the private sector tended to apply transformations and changes in its leadership and management styles as many private companies have developed its leadership styles and applied complete transformational leadership in its organizations. This made the private sector play a very important role in developing the Omani economy. (Timesofoman, 2017)

Competitors in Oman all try hard to develop their organizations and find out the best ways of developing the aluminum industry. They all try to apply transformations and innovations. OARC for aluminum, for example, is trying to be a green field company in order to produce clean products that do not harm the environment and to produce new products that can suit the Omani society and the international market as well in order to innovate new products and new relevant pieces of product. There is a high desire for developing aluminum kitchen tools and provide new products that can compete and boost international aluminum resembling products. According to Anh, (2016) competition makes the company try to find new ways to improve its brand and this can be applied by effective leadership and innovative strategy, the company should be aware of all techniques used by other companies and rivals in order to boost them and present new techniques as well. Competition according to Swamy and Wamy, (2014) should be based on many types of analysis and comparing the company's conditions and strategies to others and leadership is responsible for finding the differences in leadership styles among companies locally and internationally, They confirmed the need to understand changes in other companies and how to apply it. Global competitors also are trying to apply changes but they focus more on innovation and creativity in the field of aluminum industry. They are trying to add new features to products and they are applying this through leadership. Leadership has become a global interest in all business organizations, they apply transformational leadership styles that encourage innovation, creativity, change and communicative approaches, global competition has become very severe because international companies depend mainly on the leadership style as there are attempts to change between different leadership styles that can affect the employees' productivity and understand their needs, their ambitions, their problems and their career plan. This is very helpful for any business organization as it helps it improve the employees' performance and in turn improves the organizational performance.

These points are in fact to some extent positive points for the organization. When realizing competitors' planning and leadership. They are positive because they can give the organization the light for following the same leadership strategy or applying change in the organization. The organization can make use of many leadership theories in order to compete other rivals in the market and it can use different leadership styles and change them according to the needs of the organization. The organization can compare its strategy in leadership and apply different leadership styles. It can for example use transactional leadership in order to ensure adequacy and order in the organization as according to Omar et al, (2013) transactional leadership is used in order to maintain order and assure authority in the organization. The organization then can alter the leadership style to be transformational in order to make the work environment more flexible and achieve changes that other organizations have achieved as according to Aarons, (2007) transformational leadership is able to apply changes and transformations and can encourage employees to communicate more with their leaders and suggest their ideas and innovations in order to maintain more flexibility and compete other companies' innovations.

   

Having examined change and transformation critically assess and analyze how to ensure your organization’s  continued growth and success, organizations need to undertake transformation and growth.  

a. What kinds of changes are taking place in your sector and what do you believe the most successful organizations are doing to embrace the changes required to deliver continued success?

b. To what extent is your organization at the forefront of this transformation (or maybe it is trailing some of the best organizations in the sector). Give examples of specific actions and leadership behaviors you are seeing to underpin your view.

In Sohar Aluminum, there are many changes that are occurring such as changing the leadership style to be transformational, changing the work environment to be more comfortable and relaxing and to apply changes in the type of products in order to be innovated and updated and coping new technology locally and internationally. The most successful organizations are always trying to apply different frameworks and theories in order to apply new leadership styles. These organizations also change leadership styles based on the organization's needs, the market needs, clients' wishes and how far the current used leadership styles are effective and what the advantages and disadvantages of each leadership style. This should be through many different types of analysis. Champan, (2002) discussed frameworks for analyzing current and potential leadership styles, evaluating them and methods for improving performance using transformational leadership style. He referred to two levels of change that should be regarded in business organizations which are the first order change and the second order change, he also referred to the qualitative changes within the organization and adjustments that can be done within it. He discussed that the system core shouldn't be changed but changes should be made as a development step towards innovation and creativity that can improve products' performance as well as the organizational performance. This can be applied in Sohar Aluminum when the leadership is more flexible and transformational leaders are able to choose the most suitable changes and apply them with the help of employees. According to () transformational leaders are able to guide their followers to apply the desired changes that can be applied through effective employee leaders programs where leaders are more able to communicate change with employees and identify new innovative methods for applying change from the employees themselves. Motivation is very important for employees who are asked to apply changes as they have to know why changes are taking place and what benefits they and the organization can gain from these changes. Analyzing the different levels of leadership in the organization is very important to be done before applying change as according to Milar, Hind and Magala, (2012) analyzing the current situation in the business organization is very important to ensure success of applying change. Another important thing discussed by them and that is done by successful organization to apply change is ensuring sustainability and this should be done after applying change and evaluating the results and consequences of it, sustainable change can ensure higher productivity levels and more profits to be gained from the right implementation of changes. 

The organization is doing well in applying transformations as there are many signs and examples representing these changes but it still needs more work in order to apply full transformational leadership that is able to apply the desired changes in innovation, creativity and in the work environment. It is clear that some leaders are trying to get the followers' commitment through applying changes in the work environment such as those leaders who applied discussion sessions and open discussions with employees in order to understand their needs, ambitions and complaints. Other examples are found in leaders who tried to change the offices of employees and try to make open areas for having break, restaurants where employees can enjoy free lunch meals together with their leaders and changing old office appliances with new more comfortable ones. Changes have left great positive effect on employees and made them more communicative and more job satisfied. Changes are also occurring in the way leaders are dealing with employees as leaders began to encourage employees to present innovative suggestions and new ideas for marketing the company's products. Employees' innovative ideas have been studied by leaders and the good suitable ones have been implemented. This lead to the emerge of new aluminum products that entered the Gulf market and an increase in exporting the innovated products as they became more competitive and required locally and internationally.  

Every organization faces challenges and problems, which can be driven from rapid growth or serious decline. Identify and critically assess:

a. The top two or three big issues your organization is facing

b. Key actions your organization needs to take to put it on a path of future sustainable success.

Rapid growth of Sohar Aluminum locally and internationally has led to some challenges that the company is facing now such as the low customer service, human resource risk and leadership shortfalls. These problems made great challenges that stand against achieving the desired changes and maintain sustainable success. The low customer service resulted from the high demand on the new products and the innovated products and this high demand made the company in need for delivering the products at exact deadlines and without delaying them but many delays have occurred and many customers have complained. According to Hall, (2002) customer service is very important for maintaining the company's good reputation as he discussed many techniques in order to maintain the satisfaction of clients and customers and that there should be scheduling and rescheduling systems for ensuring exact time delivery of purchased orders. Another challenge is the human resource risk as the organization is suffering changes that occurred to many employees who are resisting change as there are also leaders who resist change and are still using one leadership style such as transactional that doesn't accept innovative ideas needed for applying change, those employees are not feeling well or satisfied with change implementation and are not aware of the high need for such changes to the success and development of the organization. Some of those employees are not cooperative with the organization and they don't participate in the community events and discussions the organization is doing and there are also leaders who don't accept change and are encouraging those employees not to accept it. This has led the organization to face the challenge of losing its human resources and this means more loss and lower productivity and profitability. Those employees are in need for having awareness about the changes and why they are being applied and what they have to do in order to cope with these changes for their own welfare and for the organization's welfare. The third challenge is the leadership shortfalls as some leaders are not able to apply change as required for success and they are not acknowledged of all areas of change, those leaders sometimes face hinders that prevent them from applying change exactly as needed and they then fail to achieve the needed results from implementing change. Leaders who fail to apply change are sometimes not able of the right techniques for choosing the leadership styles and what frameworks can be chosen to apply change. They don't have the proper education or knowledge about the best ways of applying change and maintaining its sustainability within the business organization and in the market locally and internationally.    

For maintaining future sustainable success, Sohar Aluminum should take some main actions as according to Batruch, (2017) sustainability of change can be gained by facing the difficulties and challenges and finding effective solutions for facing them and keep sustainable success. The organization is asked to provide the right training for both employees and leaders before applying any changes and transformations because training can help them be ready for applying the change and it can prepare them to apply changes and accept them. Leaders in particular are in bad need for receiving training before applying changes and transformation as they should be well acknowledged about the reason the organization is applying change. Education should be provided for employees and leaders in order to raise their awareness regarding the need for change and what suitable framework and theories that should be used to apply new leadership styles that can be effective and more suitable for change implementation. There should also be suitable climate for change and the work environment should be developed to suit the new changes and make employees more ready for communicating changes with their leaders.

References

1.      Aarons, G. (2007). ' Transformational and Transactional Leadership: Association With Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice.' https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876730/

2.      Batruch, C. (2017). ' Climate change and sustainability in the energy sector.' Journal of World Energy, Law and Business.' https://academic.oup.com/jwelb/article/10/5/444/4565586

3.      Bloxsome, N. (2016). 'Sohar Aluminium achieves new production record.' http://www.aluminiumtoday.com/news/view/sohar-aluminium-achieves-new-production-record

4.      Champan, J. (2002). ' A framework for transformational change in organisations.' http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/01437730210414535

5.      Hall, R. (2002). ' Excellent customer service: Don't try to practice without it!.' http://journals.lww.com/thehearingjournal/fulltext/2002/07000/Excellent_customer_service__Don_t_try_to_practice.5.aspx

6.      Millar, C. Magala, S. Hind, P. (2012). ' Sustainability and the need for change: organisational change and transformational vision.' Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 25 Issue: 4, pp.489-500, https://doi.org/10.1108/09534811211239272

7.      Miller, B. (2012). 'Leadership Communication: the Three Levels.' https://www.mcgill.ca/engage/files/engage/leadership_communication_miller_2015.pdf

8.      Omar, Z. Silong, A. Suandi, T. Mahdinezahad, M. (2013). 'Transformational, Transactional Leadership Styles and Job Performance of Academic Leaders.' https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1068712.pdf

9.      Reitter, N. (2014). 'Clare W. Graves and the Turn of Our Times.' Journal of Conscious Evolution Issue 11, 2014 http://cejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Reitter.pdf

10.  Sabir, M. Javed, H. Chaudhry, A. (2012). 'THE IMPACT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL AND TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLES ON THE MOTIVATION OF EMPLOYEES IN PAKISTAN.' Pakistan Economic and Social Review Volume 50, No. 2 (Winter 2012), pp. 223-231http://results.pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pesr/PDF-FILES/7%20CHAUDHRY%20Motivation%20of%20Banking%20Employees%20in%20Pakistan_v50_no2_2012.pdf

11.  Swamy, R. Wamy, N. (2014). 'Leadership Styles.' Advances in Management. Vol 7. Feb. 2014. https://www.mnsu.edu/activities/leadership/leadership_styles.pdf