University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Assignment Cover Sheet

Student Details ( Student should fill the content) Name Student ID Scheduled unit details Unit code Unit title Unit enrolment details Lecturer Mode of delivery Assignment Details Nature of the Assessment Topic of the Case Study Learning Outcomes covered Word count Due date / Time Extension granted? Is this a resubmission? Declaration I certify that the attached material is my original work. No other persons work or ideas have been used without acknowledgement. Except where I have clearly stated that I have used some of this material elsewhere, I have not presented it for examination / assessment in any other course or unit at this or any other institution Name/Signature Submission Return to: Result Marks by 1st Assessor Marks by IV: Name & Signature of the 1st Assessor Agreed Mark Date The Transformational Change in Brandix Individual Report GIVEN YES 2000 words individual report 8 March 2012 No No Extension Date Resubmission Date MBA 400 People and organization Assignment 1 Year Study period Mr Pat Class room lectures 2011/2012 Russell Williams UWIC Number 20023761 ICBT Number UWIC/MBA/MT/12/13

Name & Signature of the IV For Office use only (hard copy assignments) Receipt date Received by

STUDENT NAME: Russell Ralph Williams

Module Number & Title: Organizational Behavior

STUDENT NUMBER: UWIC Number 20023761 ICBT Number UWIC/MBA/MT/12/13 Semester: 1st Semester

Assignment Type & Title: Case Study of Brandix casualwear For student use: Critical feedback on the individual progression towards achieving the assignment outcomes

For 1st Assessor use: Assessment feedback Strengths

Weaknesses

Areas for future improvement

Name & Signature of the Assessor : Comments by the IV

Date :

Name & Signature of the IV:

Date

People and Organizations Assignment -1 Case Study Report on Brandix Casualwear

Marks: Report 2000 words Word limit: 2000 words

- 25% of total marks (Individual)

Learning outcomes covered Organizational design Organizational culture Management of change Group and team behavior

TASK 1 Select an organization of your choice and critically examine the management practices with regard to the organizational change processes, including cultural change, organizational design and individual and team working. Task 2 Based on the group presentation in task 1, write an individual 2000 critical report on chosen organization. The report will need to be submitted in line with a group presentation. The report should comprise of an introduction to the selected organization, and a critical evaluation of the

management practices, integrating theory into your work and putting forward recommendations for future improvements in performance Assessment Criteria REPORT (100 %)

Find information appropriate to the task (10 %) Evaluate and organize information in a logical and coherent way (10 %) Application of theoretical models for appropriate argument (15 %) Use of practical and realistic approaches for findings (15 %) Critically analyze and synthesis the information gathered (35 %) Communicate information clearly and accurately (5 %) Refer to information sources accurately (10 %)

About Brandix In 1972 some individual apparel companies decided to merge and create a i n s p i r i n g b r a n d n a m e i n t h e a p p a r e l i n d u s t r y. T h i s l e d t o t h e c r e a t i o n o f Brandix Lanka. The main reason for this merger was to depict a bigger stronger company profile in which their customers would be attracted to deal with them. Gradually based on the demands and market needs Brandix once again broke down their operation to casualwear, intimates etc About Brandix Casualwear. Brandix Casualwear which was created in 2003 is a flagship entity bearing the parents vision of To be The Inspired Solution for Branded Clothing it masters itself in the creation of top quality garments such as GAP, Mark and Spencer etc. The branch network in Sri Lanka has spread to 6 sites and has also marked its presence in Bangladesh. The current workforce of Brandix Casualwear is around 9000 employees and it provides an annual income of USD110Mn to its group. The company has created many milestones out of which the significant one to Brandix casualwear is the creation of a fully automated denim facility which is the first in Sri Lanka. Justification to have selected Brandix casualwear T h e c o m p a n y h a s u n d e r g o n e s i g n i f i c a n t c h a n g e s i n t h e p a s t f e w ye a r s . Which has led to a dramatic change in its organization structure? These changes has been mainly effected to align them self to be the inspired solutions provider. Which is Brandix core vision? In order to achieve this millstone Brandix Casualwear management has changed the organization by not only looking at one aspect but in 4 different aspects and this shows a transformational which led us to select this organization,

SWOT Analysis Based on the research we carried out on the company. I understood that the company has followed a similar approach of a SWOT analysis to understand their weakness and as to how well they could correct them and capitalize on their opportunities. To be aligned in been the inspired solutions provider for branded clothing. To achieve this they had to meet c u s t o m e r d e m a n d b y m e e t i n g o n t i m e d e l i v e r y r e q u i r e m e n t . On time delivery in the apparel world is when a client places and order the manufacture to deliver the end product on the specific agreed date. This includes the end product reaching its final destination. The SWOT analysis revealed the failure of the organization which led the company to look in to and take appropriate action promptly to be aligned with its vision. SWOT Out come Strengths Skilled Staff Size of the operation Financial Strength of the company Customer reputation

Weakness Lead time Organization structure Flexibility Seasonal fluctuations of capacity

Opportunities

Speedy solution as per customer demand. L o n g s t a n d i n g r e p u t a t i o n o f t h e c o u n t i e s p r o d u c t q u a l i t y. Innovative products for higher price.

Threats Other low cost production bases in the region. (Competitors) Scarcity of labor force New booming other industries (Tourism Industry)

The company hired an outsourced a consultancy firm to provide them with an unbiased feedback as to how the organization could capitalize on their weakness and as per the research company its was noted that the organization structure itself was requiring a huge change to meet its ultimate goal in been the inspired solutions provider.

Considering the above the management of Brandix Casualwear understood that the company needs to change promptly to be a leader in the apparel industr y. Thus the compan y based upon the feedback of the consultanc y firm and the managements clear vision to make a change decided to implement changes under the below categories.

Management Practices implemented to achieve companies vision Organizational Design Organizational Culture Management of Changes Individual and Team Behavior

Let us now look at each of these segments and as to how the management effected the change. Changes done to the Organizational Design

To understand the organizational design let us look at the previous organization structure and what changes are been done.

The above structure depicted a failure in communication and a difficulty in meeting the companies ultimate goal which was to be an inspired solution provider. The more centralized operation process was required to be changed considering to be competitive in the market hence Brandix casualwear came up with a more single ownership structure .

The above structure depicted owner ship and accountability rather than the previous structure which required communication with two parties one

which is the Business unit looking in to the external factors such as marketing and obtaining customer orders and then needed to communicate via the COO to get the task processed this depicted a delay in communication and ownership. However due to the implementation of the new structure this process was eliminated.

The company was able to meet this change by implementing Lean manufacturing process which looks towards a shorter cycle of work process and eliminating waste (ex non value addition task.) Brandix casualwear further focused on the areas of an organisational design and commenced changes in a more organized manner by communicating its changes to the employees the areas they focused was as below and the reason these were implemented explains Brandix casualwear motive to change and absorb change to be a challenger in be aligned with its vision.
Strategy -To meet Customer expectations (On time Delivery) Organization Size -To provide Accountability and Ownership Environment -Appreciation of the Rupee and Global Competition Technology

-To Improve Process efficiency and meet customer expectations example Introduction of On time Tracking System.

Once the management had a clear view of the requirement to change the organisation design the next process was to implement them. The process was executed stage by stage in the below depicted manner.
Communicating the Change - Elimination of COO, Introduction of

Business Unit
Emphasizing on the benefits to the Employees - Accentuating on

survival in the industry, Job Security

Communicating

Accountability and ownership orders and distributing them to sub business units.

-obtaining

bulk

Changes done to the Organisational Culture

Once the organisation design was changed the management then look towards changing the mind frame of its employees the driving force of the comp an y. The related theor y practised by the organisation in implementing them is as below. Reinforcement Theory

In this approach Brandix look towards changing the employees mind frame on the changes made to the organization when a change happens to an organization design the common factor is that Job security arises. To mitigate this fear the company adopted training highlighting the change is required to sustain and reinforced the confidence in them by to blend as per the requirement of the company this was conducted with many out bond training and team building activities. Job Design Theory

The next stage was to align employees as per the need of the organization T h e e m p l o ye e s w a s s t u d i e d b y t h e m a n a g e m e n t a n d b a s e d o n t h e i r competency they were blended to meet the company objectives by assigning responsibilities to one individual who has the capability of handling multiple tasks. an example for such a change is Cutting and Sewing departments aligned to one supervisor.

Double S Cube model

The previous culture of Brandix was a more mercenary model this was transformed to a more social and solid change by changing the organization structure which linked to better communication with sub departments since one business unit head had under his wing the entire processing team this increased the ability of better communication and understanding of one another. Changing a culture of an employee base of 9000 was magnificent since they now work as one big family working towards a common goal. Changing of culture is the most difficult task in an organizat ion since yo u have a mix of employees this required a change from the leaders and outbound training activities were carried out to the senior manages to influence the change towards the subordinates A mechanism of the Kaizan culture adopting small changes was introduced t o t h e e m p l o ye e s i n w h i c h t h e y h a r v e s t e d a c u l t u r e o f o w n e r s h i p i n w h i c h

even the small change done by an employee was highlighted and appreciated by the management enabling them to be a part of the new culture of Brandix. The need to drive this cultural change was enabled by continuously emphasizing on the need to changes the staff was required to be more customer focused and to challenge the current process this change enabled them to build up ownership and among teams. Implementation of Management of Change The implementation of management change was believed to be practiced u n d e r t h e d yn a m i c o f c h a n g e o f L e w i n - S c h i e n m o d e l .

The changes were practiced in stages by Brandix casualware by motivating and highlighting the need to change and then by practically changing the process gradually and refreezing the process confirming the change has been adopted. The below explanations depicts as to how Brandix practiced its changes
Unfreezing

-Training and Introduction of Lean manufacturing Techniques Creation of Lean manufacturing team as a reinforcement team ,Explaining the ground reality , Providing Extensive trainings (Department wise)

 Changing - Redesigning of the Organization Structure driven by

single ownership and monitoring the process., Implementation of Change Plant wise and department wise
Refreezing - Establishing the new Organization Structure, Each

Business Unit functioning separately Engraving changes on Individual and Team Behaviour. The heart of any organisation is its employees Brandix never forgot this and Emphasized on the development of the individuals and harvested the team behaviour in an more appropriate manner. The goal setting theory was adopted by Brandix establishing employees to have goals in their life this is not only towards work but on extracurricular and learning and development as well. F u r t h e r B r a n d i x e m p h a s i s e d o n t h e s yn e r g i s t i c a p p r o a c h yo u c o u l d a c h i e v e when you work as a group. The above concepts were put in to practical real life scenarios in the below manner Creation of SMART Performance Appraisals Objectives /Consisting of Individual

Enabling them to gel with other colleagues Harvesting of an open door policy Training, Coaching and Feedback been provided to guide staff and groups to meet company objective. Consisting of Employee Surveys Rewarding Mechanism

The above steps developed the employees to get a feeling that the organization needs them and their service is valued. This transformation m e n t a l l y a n d p h ys i c a l l y e n a b l e d t h e e m p l o ye e s t o c o n t r i b u t e m o r e t o w a r d s the company because they were aware that they have a return if they meet the objectives of the organization.

Brandix Casualwere is one of the companies that made a change from the top line initially addressing the issues from the very top level pointed out a picture towards the lower level staff that to survive in the apparel industry one should absorb change promptly and blend in to the culture of the apparel industry. U p o n c a r e f u l l y s t u d yi n g t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n I n o t i c e d t h a t m o r e c h a n g e s could be adopted in the apparel industry of Brandix casualware my personal recommendation would be as follows.

Considering the current organization structure a business unit Is been handed over with a team to develop world renowed casualwear however one must not forget that due to single ownership in the event the leader falls ill, or leave the organization suddenly the production of the said goods would get halted. My recommendation to this would be Brandix to develop a backup leader to each unit which would then ensure that even though the current leader fails to deliver the required task the backup leader would sail the ship with ease. Job Rotation Due to single ownership the lack of job rotation is noticed this in the long run would make individual less productive and would not be able to compete with the changing environment. My recommendation would be to implement short term assignments c o m m o n l y k n o w n a s S T A t h i s w o u l d a l l o w t h e e m p l o ye e t o l e a r n a b o u t other functional operations within their own business unit. The business u n i t w o u l d n o t l o s e h i s w o r k f o r c e s i n c e i t w o u l d b e e m p l o ye e s w a p f r o m cross departments and they would learn from their peers of the task been done. This would lead to employees to be more motivated and also getting an option to learn a new line of business. Build up a culture of togetherness I noticed that Brandix single ownership derives a bit of a taks orientated job role the business unit manager is more keen to achieve its objective and this leads to a stern leadership role. Employees would at times bee

treated as mechines due to thie stern leadership approach. My suggestion on this would be that business unit head should take an initiative to understand as to the background of his workforce this would be being with the employees in hard times and see as to how they get the task done, drop them home this would show the subordinates that the business unit head cares for them. Once these practical task are been executed the staff would be more comfortable on the leadership shown by the business unit and would proactively help him to achieve the business units task, External Factors. The mind frame that the society has towards the apparel industry emp lo ye es needs to be changed. It should be highlight ed that the task done b y them adds so much of value to the societ y and to the countr y. This needs to start from the smallest place which is the family. Brandix should practice to invite the families of their work force for a days trip within the factory premises . From this activity the families would learn as to the job done by them is a very respectable job that brings in much m u c h m o r e f o r e i g n e x c h a n g e t o t h e c o u n t r y. O n c e t h i s i s e s t a b l i s h e d media campaigns needs to be run that depicts the value of the apparel i n d u s t r y e m p l o ye e s . B y d o i n g s o t h e c o m p a n y w o u l d b e a b l e t o a c h i e v e low staff turnover and maintain existing staff wihich has greater work experience.

Conclusion One should keep in mind that changing an organization is one of the hardest task and the process and technology could be easily changed but the human element adapting to this change takes a quite a bit of a time. This is because mankind shows resistance on changes however if the right technics our used the human elements change could be changed gradually and this is what Brandix has done to achieve its ultimate vision of been the ultimate solution provider in branded clothing.