The type of barriers involved with
Honeywell’s merger is no different than any other merger, challenges are going
to be there and those challenges will need to be conquered. Brown mentions in
his text that “changing a corporate culture is not easy. Culture emerges out of
the shared behaviors and the working relationships of organization members that
have developed over time.” (Brown, 2011)
Two different companies, Honeywell and Allied Signal for example, grew up
separately from one another and have thus developed two completely different
cultures. When merging the two, there is likely to be a culture clash and
possible heavy resistance to any sort of change project.
Michael Bonsignore mentions that he
will compensate and reward people who look for best practices from both
companies and punish those who do not. (Duke University, 2011) In the sense
of rewarding those who adapt, Brown brings up the point that “one of the basic
underlying concepts of motivation is that people tend to behave in ways that
provide rewards or reinforcement.” (Brown, 2011)
By rewarding people who go along with the Honeywell/Allied Signal merger, a
smoother transition is likely to take place. However the idea of punishing
those who don’t adapt, while noble, has the potential to cause problems. Scott
Anthony, managing partner of the innovation strategy consulting firm Innosight,
brings up the idea that “the most successful businesses come out of a process
of trial-and-error experimentation. Failure and false steps are natural parts
of the process.” (Anthony, 2012) The fear of punishment could be
greater than the risk of innovation on adapting best practices from both
companies and as such, it will be hard to predict the outcome of Honeywell.
Will the rewards sway people in the right direction or will the fear of failure
stop people from taking chances?
As Honeywell crafts its newly
merged organization it will need to be mindful of the three basic strategies:
structural, technological, and behavioral. Structural strategies “attempt to
change an organization’s design by modifying the lines of authority, span of
control, and arrangement of work functions.” (Brown, 2011)
It was a little unclear in the video how Honeywell will tackle the problem;
however merging two big companies changes everything as top managers will gain
new spans of control and arrangements change. Technological strategies are
about “[implementing] new technologies, such as new computer systems and
machinery.” (Brown, 2011) Allied Signal
is a technical organization that builds many different products. By adopting the
company and their practices, they are adopting the technology and machinery as
well. Finally, behavioral strategies “emphasize the use of human resources.” (Brown, 2011) Bonsignore
talks about using reward and punishment strategies for the organizational
transitions, which in theory would take advantage of human potential and remove
bad behavior all at the same time.
References
Anthony, S.
(2012, May 3). How Do You Create A Culture Of Innovation? Retrieved
from
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669657/how-do-you-create-a-culture-of-innovation
Brown, D. (2011). An Experiential Approach to
Organizational Development. New Jersey: Pearson.
Duke University. (2011, June 01). Mastering the Art of
Corporate Reinvention. Retrieved from Films on Demand:
http://digital.films.com/play/GWEU7L
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