DESCRIPTION OF THE TASK – WHAT YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO DO?
Background: BIXTRO is a world-renowned computer networking company providing hardware, software, and service offerings to small and large businesses around the world. Founded in 1960 by a small group of computer scientists at Telford University. Bixtro is known for pioneering the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with over 100,000 employees worldwide.
The Concern: Even though Bixtro has been awarded the highest recognition as one of the 30 World’s Best Workplace, their leadership team never stopped working to ensure a consistent employee experience across their myriad of offices.
“Employees are at the heart of everything we do – if they feel supported and equipped to perform at their best, then everyone benefits,” says the CEO.
“When looking at our 2020 Trust Index [employee survey] scores, we could see that those employees of less than 5 years in the organisation were having a different employee experience,” CEO explains.
“It became crucial for us to be able to create a safe space to understand and support these category of employees, and to make sure that we were maintaining a constant flow of communication as opposed to just being reactive.” CIO mentions.
Fast Forward: Two years later, we’re pleased to see 95% of Bixtro’s UK-based employees say, “Management shows a sincere interest in me as a person, not just as an employee.”
Synopsis of Management Tone at the Top:
“We hold listening circles to understand the experiences of those with notable concerns,” CEO continues. “We’ve also focused on closely working with our Employee Reserve Organisations – to identify those who identify with any concerned groups in the workplace.” CIO
“It is a big focus for us as a business. The survey previously told us that financial wellbeing was an area that our employees needed support with, so we put some new programmes in place and amended those that already existed.” CEO
By recognising and then acting on employees’ concerns, Bixtro’s leaders proved to their workforce that they genuinely care about those working for them – no wonder, then, that 93% of staff agreed with the survey statement “My organisation genuinely prioritises employee wellbeing” and 95% believe “Management is honest and ethical in its business practices.” CTO
The Way Forward
“As great as the recognition is for current and future employees, for us it’s more than that – it gives us a benchmark by which to measure ourselves, assess where we need to improve, and gives us something actionable for us internally.” CEO
Abbreviations
CEO-Chief Executive Officer, CIO-Chief Information Officer, CTO-Chief Transformational Officer
Using the case study above, demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the role of a leader (including leadership style) in promoting organisational success through the organisational change. Support your discussions with a good knowledge of the strategic and operational importance of leadership styles using a wide variety of research materials from the core reading lists. You must demonstrate an in-depth understanding of concepts and theories of leadership and change and apply these to this case study.
Word count: Your word count margin should not be more or less than 10% of the 2,000-word count. This attracts a penalty of a deduction of 10 marks if violated.
As part of your discussion,
Your case study needs to include the following:
1. Introduction: Briefly introduce what leadership is as well as what change management is in the context of an organisation (200 words).
2. Provide an analysis of the leader’s role and the leadership styles perceived to be in use at Brixtol. (400 words).
3. Provide a discussion of why operational and strategic change is important in an organisation. This should include a definition of operational and strategic change. (400 words).
4. A discussion of 2 models for change that are open to the leadership of Bixtro to adopt and how these models could promote organisational success. (400 words).
5. Recommendations (400 words): As part of your recommendations to the leadership of Bixtro,
I. You should suggest alternative leadership style available to Bixtro and explain what benefits this style(s) have on organisational success, using literature to support your recommendation.
II. The way change could be communicated to minimise resistance within the organisation. Using literature to support your recommendation.
6. Conclusion: Summarise the key findings and overall conclusion remarks (200 words).
