Case Study – Two Department Merger

Business Challenge:  To merge two customer contact center departments, totaling 50 people, with minimal negative impact internally as well as externally.  These two customer contact centers fielded thousands of calls and requests each day from a variety of customers.

Organizational Assessment:  These two departments had been split apart two years earlier.  The initial split had been managed poorly by senior management and there was still a lot of resentment.  There had been little staff turnover in the two years since the initial split.  Almost everyone interviewed had negative feelings about the split – how it was announced, how it was orchestrated, what had happened since then.  The most common theme was “we told them it was a bad idea two years ago, and we were right.”  In addition, even though individuals did similar jobs in the two departments, there were markedly different job descriptions, work processes and pay scales.  Management and associates resented having to dismantle their work environment.  Many associates were worried that layoffs would occur, which had happened after the department split.

What was recommended: 

 

 Results:

  1. Senior management accepted the challenge to not only orchestrate this current change, but to try and fix the negative feelings about the previous change.  They did this through consistent and regular communications with various feedback loops and media.
  2. The new Director was appointed almost immediately.  Senior management took into consideration the role this person would play as a unifier, and chose accordingly.  The new Director was embraced by both departments.
  3. In choosing the leadership team that would work under the new Director, the same focus was given to qualifications as well as ability to lead through the transition.  Those who did not move onto the new leadership team were given specialized development plans to support their future growth.
  4. Everyone worked on some aspect of the transition plan and teams were evenly populated by both departments.  The change management team helped senior management keep tabs of issues; and to their credit senior management addressed each issue as it came up.
  5. Because this change was handled so well it diminished most of the feelings of resentment that had remained from the previous change.  This became more significant when another, even larger, organizational change was announced less than two months after this change was complete.  The department approached the new changes in a positive, productive way and became the leaders in the new organization that emerged.

Bottom Line:  The merger was completed on time, on budget and with no disruption to the business.  The subsequent organizational change was also completed with no disruption to the business.

 

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