Reorganization is one of the significant changes organizations make in the turnaround phase. This includes creating new departments, canceling other departments, reallocating resources, developing policies, or adopting entirely new policies (Cucaro, 2019). In this paper, the reorganization will be discussed according to the Denning (2017) article, which studies the case of SRI International.
SRI International:
Denning (2017) discusses how the famous technical research institute SRI International changed its working mechanism by adopting a new approach to innovation based on four main pillars (customer needs - empowering employees - creating a culture of cooperation - measuring results).
Curt Carlson's reorganization:
CEO Curt Carlson made several successful moves in the reorganization process of SRI International (Denning, 2017):
1. Setting goals and objectives: Carlson was evident in his vision, goals, and what he tries to achieve at every step to target customers and satisfy them, and he made that completely clear to the employees and gave them guidance on the right track, which had a significant impact in keeping them motivated to achieve the goals with him.
2. Clarity changes: Carlson strives for every change to be clear, transparent, and unambiguous, leading to doubt and uncertainty among employees, which makes them support the changes one by one.
3. Collaboration culture: Carlson encouraged employees to share their ideas, work on them, give them more attention, and link the different departments and departments together to work on these ideas; even if some of them did not succeed, he made sure that resources were available for these ideas and motivated employees to implement them.
4. Measuring results: Every time Carlson was keen to measure the results of each change, the change that succeeds is continued and supported, the change that does not succeed is canceled, and a new alternative is searched for.
As a result of these changes, SRI has created several successful innovations, including Siri, the intelligent personal assistant now used in Apple products.
Curt Carlson Business Skills:
The CEO's work skills to contribute to SRI International's reorganization were quite clear and compelling. The most important of these skills are the following (Denning, 2017):
1. Good leadership: Carlson's vision was clear, and he had the initiative to take the lead from the beginning and supervise its implementation step by step and constantly communicate with employees to achieve the goals and be a help and guide for them to implement their ideas and he used a variety of communication channels, such as individual communication, individual and group meetings, and e-mail.
2. Decision-making ability: Carlson collected the necessary information before deciding and balancing the pros and cons, ultimately leading to making a sound, executable decision and achieving the desired success. Also, his openness to the ideas of others made him better support his decisions and his flexibility in changing decisions that are no longer appropriate and solving problems arising from mistakes, if any.
3. The ability to make a difference: The CEO could plan short and long-term strategies to bring about changes that benefit the organization. This was through teamwork, respecting all opinions, and creating trust, cooperation, and support. Thus, changes are made that gain everyone's acceptance, support, and success.
As a result of these skills, the CEO has successfully led SRI International through a difficult period of change. The reorganization was successful, and the organization achieved its goals.
Conclusion
Curt Carlson's experience leading SRI International was one of the inspiring experiences of business leaders facing a stage of organizational decline and needing to reorganize their organizations to keep them in line with the development around them and achieve the desired success. This was done through a culture of cooperation, wise leadership, clarity of vision, and the involvement of everyone in it. Reorganization is typically undertaken when a company is experiencing financial distress or is in the turnaround stage and aims to streamline operations, reduce costs, and maximize the value of the company's assets (Platt, 2004).
References
Cucaro, O. (2019). Crisis, Turnaround and Corporate Reorganization. Olga Maria stefania Cucaro.
Denning, S. (2017). SRI’s turnaround: How four principles guided high-value, market-creating innovation. Strategy & Leadership, 45(4), 3-8. Retrieved from ProQuest Central
Platt, H. D. (2004). Crafting a plan of reorganization. In Principles or corporate renewal (pp. 253-290). University of Michigan Press. Retrieved from EBSCO eBook