Change can take many forms, from the kind of goods and services, to the production process and the most difficult of all, structural change (Kotter, 1996). The oil company found that the organization’s actual performance was below that of the desired performance, stakeholders want to lower costs and this led to the plan of restructuring to accommodate downsizing.
This would enable top management to increase performance and lower operating costs at the same time. The company however has a mechanistic structure and a stable organizational structure with a hierarchy of positions and that departments are highly specialized and the flow of communication is top to bottom (Cummings & Worley, 2004).Thus, restructuring would be difficult for it entails the dissolution of some departments as well as the laying off of workers, there may also be a decrease in employee morale since they don’t have job security in the face of this change and workers who would be asked to stay has to be trained for their new jobs, the costs would also be too high considering that it has to pay workers that are being laid off. The restructuring would affect the production and operation of the company and the uncertainty of what lies after restructuring.To initiate this change, the organization should do this incrementally; series of small changes be implemented in certain areas of the company to lessen the effects of low morale and uncertainty of the employees, to honestly communicate the need for the change and involve them in the process by gathering their ideas and sentiments. Finally, the organization develop a vision that would guide the change and create change teams to champion to the employees the need for the change and to develop strategies to diffuse resistance to change (Bolman & Deal, 2002).
