La langue : un « instrument » à façonner

It is useful at this point to reflect on the experiences of the Participatory Interventions within Situations A, B and C. It is important to recognise that the design of the interventions in each case has been important to their overall success within the context of each situation.

Common successes for all situations include:

 The use of creativity techniques, including the use of metaphor, to engage stakeholders in analysing their situational context. This has enabled a shared understanding of the urgency and need for change.

 The participation of stakeholders in planning the design of the solutions. Again the use of creativity techniques to engage participation has played an important role in the process and has helped acceptance of change within the organisations.

 The importance of senior sponsorship. This has helped provide legitimacy to the change and the allocation of necessary resource to ensure changes were implemented.

 The planning of the intervention. This has helped in the smooth running of the programme and enabled communications to be effective.

In particular within Situation C, the development of the Participatory Intervention Framework has extended the need to embed processes for change within the organisation. This was successfully achieved using the Participatory Intervention Framework as a method for providing an organisation wide process to effectively manage the complexity of running multiple interventions in a controlled and managed environment. The process itself acts as a self-regulatory function that continually reviews its performance as a whole against its target policy. Reviews can take place when and where necessary to improve the working of the Framework in practice.

To manage multiple interventions effectively, whether these are simultaneous or on-going within the organisation over time, the Participatory Intervention Framework should adopt higher management processes. Again these are designed using cybernetic principles and participatory elements. Figure 29 demonstrates the higher level processes that are needed for the Participatory Intervention Model to be effective.

Figure 29: Participatory Intervention Framework including Management Processes

At its highest level the Participatory Intervention Framework sits within an organisational situation (a) where issues or need for change occurs. Key to the success of the interventions is both the communication of the issues to highlight the need for change within the situation and the early participation of those involved or affected by the change.

The Change Programme b) provides operational processes or interventions to effectively deliver action to improve the situation and ensure that communication and participatory elements are evident. As seen within earlier applications, the processes within b) can accommodate single or multiple interventions. The management and co-ordination of these interventions are managed by the Change Programme Management processes embedded within c).

It is imperative that the principles of this simple design model employ existing processes or mechanisms adopted by the organisation so that the acceptance is effective. This can be achieved by adopting local organisational cultural language and should be supported by Senior Sponsorship.

These processes create the conditions for change which are sustainable within the organisation.

The application of the Participatory Intervention Framework within Situation C has highlighted how the model has emerged and no longer required the involvement of the Researcher to ensure it was effectively used. The processes of the framework were adopted by the organisation and embedded within the local policies and practices of the operations. The Researcher was able to observe at a meta-systemic level the adoption of the processes and reflect on its use but at this stage could not directly influence the outcome of any discrete intervention. Instead the Participatory Intervention Framework itself was proving to be an effective change framework.

4.7 SUMMARY

This chapter has described the development of a Participatory Intervention Framework that has been applied within a range of organisational situational contexts. The use of creative and inclusive intervention workshops has proven successful in engaging stakeholders and in generating ideas for change to be effective. It has also become apparent that to embed a culture of change within the organisational situation, that the Participatory Intervention Framework should adopt local change processes to create the conditions for change that will enable sustainability of the model. The Framework itself however provides a cybernetic management structure which allows effective design of interventions with clear understanding of roles and responsibility by participants and clear channels of communication for successful co-ordination and avoidance of conflict. The Participatory Intervention Framework has been extended and developed through use.

Phases Two and Three of this research study will explore the application of the Framework in two further contexts. The Participatory Intervention Framework is initially used as a means to audit an existing change programme to help identify where improvements to the change programme can be made. The Framework is then used for the design of a multi organisation change initiative within a specific industry sector. In the second application the Framework is used to design a rapid change initiative.

5 RESEARCH INTERVENTIONS PHASE TWO

5.1 INTRODUCTION

A further opportunity to test and refine the Participatory Intervention Framework arose in 2005 when the author was approached by the Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) who were looking to develop a model for culture change that could be rolled out within the local automotive supply chain. Following the successful completion of the series of interventions within Situations A - C the NAA invited the author to meet GETRAG Ford Transmissions (GFT), a local Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the industry sector, who had designed and developed their own successful transformational change programme.

The initial brief given to the Researcher was to audit the GFT change programme and subsequently develop a framework for Organisational Transformation which could be rolled out within the sector. Staff from GFT would be utilised to support change initiatives within other organisations taking part in the Programme. The project, known as the Organisational Change Pilot (OCP) Programme took place between 2005 and 2007.

This intervention provided an opportunity for the Researcher to test whether the Participatory Intervention Framework could be used to audit an existing change programme and highlight areas for improvement. The Framework will provide a structure for the design of a complex Change Programme that involves multiple independent companies across an industry sector with individual needs and challenges. It will allow for cross collaborative activity and sharing of ideas and resources. The Framework will incorporate the participatory and creative elements which were proven to be successful within the applications of situations A – C.

This chapter introduces the development of the Participatory Intervention Framework within Situation D. A summary of the design of the intervention, the audit of the original transformation programme within GFT and the interventions delivered within the participating companies are presented. The chapter concludes by highlighting lessons learned and improvements to the Framework.

5.2 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH

As stated earlier the application and development of the Participatory Intervention Framework during Phase Two of the research involved a partnership involving Liverpool John Moores University, GETRAG Ford Transmissions, the North West Automotive Alliance and a number of SME organisations from within the Automotive Industry.

5.2.1 GETRAG FORD Transmissions

GETRAG FORD Transmissions (GFT) was founded as a joint venture between GETRAG and Ford in 2001. Part of the GETRAG Corporate Group (GCG), are a supplier and integration partner for transmission and drivetrain systems within the automotive sector. Delivering an annual volume of more than three million transmissions (Figure 27) and one million axles, GCG is the largest independent manufacturer of transmissions in the world.

The success and growth of GETRAG FORD Transmissions is founded on three basic values that go to the core of their being: Precision, Passion, and Partnership.

Precision not only cements the good reputation of the transmissions and drivetrain components, but is internalized in their global organization and sets the benchmark for the reliability that their customers have come to expect in every area.

Passion is what drives the company to constantly strive for better solutions, push the boundaries of what is feasible and deliver genuine excitement to their customers and partners.

Partnership stands for the high standards of relationships with customers, suppliers and associates as well as the cooperation between the individual companies in their organization. Partnership means constantly enhancing and maintaining trustful and professional relationships both in what they think and in what they do.

It is GFT’s goal to live out these basic values day by day with all the people in the organisation.

The focus for this part of the research study is with GFT’s UK plant based in Halewood on Merseyside. Employing 700 staff, the site first operated in 1973. Originally a Ford site, Halewood joined GFT in 2001 and had immediately embarked on a programme to help the workforce embrace change. This project was known as the Blue Sky Culture Change Programme

5.2.2 The Northwest Automotive Alliance

The Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) is a not for profit organisation that is industry led and comprises of a Board of Senior Managers from the key automotive companies in the region. Its aim is to raise the competitiveness and profile of the North West automotive sector working in a strategic partnership with the Northwest Development Agency and network with other national, regional and local initiatives. NAA aspires to be recognised as the focal point for representing, leading and supporting the regional automotive industry.

In 2005 the NAA had been exploring ways in which it could support GFT to refresh its culture change programme. Supplementary to this the NAA had been trying to develop a culture change model for SMEs and initially looked at other organisational models but realised that these were too resource intensive for SMEs. Separately the NAA had recognised that throughout its sector, and indeed across other sectors, in order for a company to sustain any improved performance it has to have the right culture in place. At a meeting organised by NAA, the potential for developing a framework to deliver a Culture Change Programme targeted to the northwest automotive supply chain was discussed. The programme would complement other initiatives run by the NAA. The project proposal intended to build on the experiences of the GFT Blue Sky culture change programme and use this as a platform to develop and pilot a culture change programme which could be applied further down the supply chain and across other sectors. Key stakeholders at the meeting included the Chief Executive of the NAA, who presented their current dilemma, Senior Managers from GFT, who had delivered the Blue Sky Programme and the Researcher with her experience in designing and delivering the Participatory Change Framework within a range of organisational contexts. The GFT Team described the approach taken for its Blue Sky Programme followed by an outline from the Researcher of the Participatory Intervention Framework. It became evident quite quickly that although the Blue Sky Programme had been successful within GFT Halewood, the model had been evolutionary and it would need further development to be robust enough for use within the wider supply chain. The Participatory Intervention Framework provided an overarching set of protocols which however could allow a Methodology to be developed thus combining aspects of both approaches. It was recognised that as GFT was a large and well recognised player in the automotive sector, their figurehead role in such a change project would add weight and value to the marketing aspect of any Change Programme. GFT also agreed to provide staff resource in the delivery of the Programme.

The NAA commissioned the Researcher to lead the OCP Programme and work with GFT to deliver the intervention. There were significant benefits to be gained by all stakeholders of the partnership. For the NAA the intervention would fit into to the portfolio of products and services offered to its membership and the regional agenda; GFT would gain kudos for their involvement in such a programme within their immediate and wider supply chain as well as updating skills and competence of staff and refreshing ideas for developing their own Blue Sky Programme.

The Researcher would have an opportunity to further develop and test her Participatory Intervention Framework within a very different industry sector and with a diverse range of companies. Indeed the Participatory Intervention Framework will provide a structure to allow the design and management of multiple change interventions across multiple organisational cultures and settings. More importantly the application will allow the Researcher to identify key skills and competencies required for the successful deployment of the Framework and allow for the transfer of these skills to key stakeholders within the interventions. This key element would ensure that each participating company would embed the skills and competencies for successful utilisation of the Framework beyond the timescales of the research allowing each company to maintain a viable and sustainable change philosophy within their organisation.