Overview of ANZ Bank
Discuss about the Change Management for New Zealand Banking Group.
The “Australia and New Zealand Banking Group” or more popularly called by the name of ANZ Bank is not only one of the leaders in the banking sector of the nations of Australia and New Zealand but also of the world (Anz.co.nz. 2018). The bank was initially established around 170 years ago however the first business center of the bank in Australia was established in 1835 (Anz.co.nz. 2018). The bank currently is operational on a global basis and has its business centers not only in the nations of Australia and New Zealand but also in the other nations of the world like Dubai, USA, the continents of Europe, Asia and others (Anz.co.nz. 2018). Presently, the bank has more than 376813 shareholders and more 35,000 employees who are associated with the bank (Anz.co.nz. 2018). Furthermore, the bank currently holds international assets which are worth more than $441.02 billion in more than 30 different countries nations of the world (Anz.co.nz. 2018). Moreover, this particular bank is one of the very few ones which even during the economic recession of 2008, was able to make annual profit of $3.319 million from different international centers (Anz.co.nz. 2018).
Many experts are of the opinion that the real change in the fortunes of the bank began with the leadership of John McFarlane. He is created with introducing the transformational change which proved to be one of the pivotal reasons for the success achieved by the bank on a global scale. The first strategy which McFarlane used for the process of transforming the prospects of the bank was to withdraw the investments of the bank from the various emerging markets of the world (Anz.co.nz. 2018). The bank in order to enhance the revenue earned by it adopted the policy of investing in the various emerging markets of the world in the 19th and the 20th century. However, this particular policy of the bank posed a significant amount of threat to the prospects of the bank since it is commonly noticed that the economies of the emerging markets are susceptible to various kinds of economic risks and thereby are generally considered to be very volatile (Cameron and Green 2015). Another strategy which McFarlane took the help of for the process of enhancing the prospects of the bank was to increase the number of women employees at the top hierarchical level of the bank (Anz.co.nz. 2018). This particular action of McFarlane significantly added to the reputation of the bank as the fair one which provided equal growth opportunities to all the employees. In addition to these, McFarlane also introduced various kinds of new programs as well as policies with the view to provide better kind of services to the customers and also the employees as well as the shareholders associated with the bank (Cameron and Green 2015). The major ones among these were Perform, Grow and Breakout (Anz.co.nz. 2018). The strategy of Performance enabled the bank to focus on the concept of delivering effective financial services and values to the investments made by the shareholders. Furthermore, the strategy of Grow enabled the bank to strengthen various facets of the bank like revenue, leadership, brand and other aspects. The strategy of Breakout, on the other hand, focused on processes of sustainable leadership as well as long-term success. In addition to these, the leader of the bank also drastically reduced the number of employees who were associated with the bank depending on the kind of value which they were contributing towards to the bank. The processes of outsourcing as well as offshoring were also taken help of by the bank to drastically reduce the cost of operation of the bank. In addition to these, the process of restructuring of the complete bank was also undertaken by the bank which significantly helped the bank to realign the resources of the bank at the sections of the bank which required its help the most. The end result of these strategies of transformational change adopted by McFarlane was that at the time of the appointment of McFarlane the ANZ Bank had the worst “cost-to-income ratio” among the major banks of the nations of Australia and New Zealand however ten years later when he retired from the bank the concerned enterprise had the best “cost-to-income ratio” among the banks of the nations of Australia and New Zealand (Anz.co.nz. 2018). Therefore, it would be apt to say that the transformational changes undertaken by John McFarlane were instrumental in changing the fortunes of the bank.
Transformative Strategies Implemented by John McFarlane
The concept of transformational strategies has emerged as one of the most important ones within the matrix of the strategy of change management (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown 2016). Transformational strategies are defined as the strategies with the takes the help of the process of the realignment of the goals as well as the objectives of the concerned business enterprise or the setting up of new goals or objectives for the concerned business enterprises (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown 2016). Thus, this particular process was used by John McFarlane for the process of bringing about the transformation of the prospects of the bank ANZ. Therefore, taking the help of this particular concept he tried to improve the dwindling prospects of the bank. Thus, after taking over the reins of the bank he realigned the goals as well as the objectives of the bank and it is a reflection of this particular fact that the bank withdrew the majority of its investments from the various emerging markets of the world. In addition to this, one of the core strengths of the bank was the huge manpower which the bank had its disposal. However, it was seen that this part huge manpower which the bank had at its disposal was not contributing much of a value towards the bank and furthermore the bank had to spend a considerable amount of capital in order to pay the salary to these employees. However, after taking over the leadership of the bank MacFarlane considerably reduced the manpower of the bank retaining only the ones who were productive and terminating those which were not. Moreover, in order to further reduce the economic burden of the bank and at the same time to reduce the work pressure of the employees he took the help of the concepts of offshoring and outsourcing. However, it is generally seen that the managers as well as leaders face various kinds of difficulties for the implementation of the transformational strategies.
The primary challenge which the leaders face for the implementation of the transformational strategies is the resistance which they receive not only from the employees but also the management team associated with the concerned enterprise (Merrell and Watson 2012). It is generally seen that the employees tend to resist the process as they had established a particular working and had got adapted to them (Merrell and Watson 2012). Therefore, the change is likely to require them to come out of that particular habit or zone which is often resisted from them. Furthermore, the process of the implementation of transformational strategies requires the implementation of strategies or policies which often seem rash or too unplanned at the time of its implementation (Agrawal et al. 2013). For example, in the particular context of the ANZ bank the leader of the bank McFarlane had to resort to the strategy of terminating the employees associated with the bank who were not performing as per the expectation of the bank. Many people considered this particular decision of McFarlane to be too rash at the time of its implementation however later on it was seen that this particular policy of the leader of the bank significantly helped to reduce the capital invested by the bank for the maintenance of its huge workforce (Agrawal et al. 2013). Another significant impediment which the leaders as well as the managers face is from the various investors as well as the shareholders associated with the organizations. It is significant to note that the process of the implementation of the transformational strategies is a dicey situation and often the results of the process can go both ways. Therefore, it is generally seen that the various investors as well as the shareholders associated with the organization often try to resist the implementation of the transformational strategies (Agrawal et al. 2013).
Challenges Faced in Implementing Transformational Strategies
The role of the leaders associated with a particular business enterprise becomes especially important during the time of the implementation of the transformational strategies or more appropriately the process of change management (Pieterse, Caniëls and Homan 2012). The leader is required to effectively manage the affairs during the process of the transformational strategies as during this process various kinds of changes or new strategies are being implemented which are totally new for the employees as well as the management team of the organization (Pieterse, Caniëls and Homan 2012). Furthermore, the leader is also required to make the employees as well as the other entities associated with the organization believe and console that the change which is happening is best not only in the interests of the organization but also for the individuals who are associated with the organization (Doppelt 2017). For example, the leader of the ANZ Bank John McFarlane was required to effective convey the reasons for why a considerable portion of the workforce associated to the bank was being terminated. Furthermore, he was also required to effectively justify his decision to withdraw the investments which the bank had made in the various emerging markets of the world not only to the management team of the bank but also to the various shareholders as well as the investors who formed an important part of the bank. Moreover, an effective leader is also required to motivate the employees as well as the other entities associated with the organization to accept the change which the organization is trying to implement as a necessary one for the growth of the organization and also of the employees who are associated with the organization (Doppelt 2017). Thus, the leader of the ANZ Bank John McFarlane was also required to effectively motivate the employees and other entities associated with the bank to accept the change as a positive one and which would inevitably bring the development of the bank and also of the employees who formed an important part of the bank. In addition to these, a leader is not only required to monitor as well as ensure that the changes or the transformational strategies which have been outlined by him or her is being effectively implemented by the organization as well as the concerned authorities who have been imbued with the concerned roles (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Thus, the leader of the ANZ Bank John McFarlane was also required to undertake the roles of both the supervisors as well as the leader during the process of the implementation of the transformational strategies outlined by him. Many experts are of the opinion that the process of the implementation of the transformational strategies requires the leader to take the help of the process of situational leadership for the purpose of effectively leading as well as managing the diverse entities associated with the organization which is undertaking these transformational strategies (Agrawal et al. 2013). Thus, the leader of the ANZ bank McFarlane was also required to display his situational leadership skills for the effective management of the diverse situations which emerged during the process of the implementation of the transformational strategies.
Many experts are of the opinion that the present volatile world of business has made it imperative for the various business enterprises and the leaders associated with them to take the help of different kinds of leadership styles as it is generally seen that taking the help one particular kind of style of leadership a leader cannot effectively manage the different critical situations which emerge during the process of the implementation of the transformational strategies (Agrawal et al. 2013). Therefore, these in short are some of the factors which the leaders not only of New Zealand but also of the other nations of the world need to take into consideration during the process of the implementation of the transformational strategies.
References
Agrawal, H., Bassu, D., Jain, A. and Zbib, R., Tti Inventions C Llc, 2013. Methods and apparatus for implementing model-based software solution development and integrated change management. U.S. Patent 8,392,873.
Anz.co.nz. 2018. ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd | Online Banking | ANZ. [online] Available at: https://www.anz.co.nz/personal/ [Accessed 29 May 2018].
Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2015. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K.G., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. human relations, 69(1), pp.33-60.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Merrell, P. and Watson, T., 2012. Effective change management: The simple truth. Management Services, 56(2), pp.20-23.
Nordin, N., Deros, B.M., Wahab, D.A. and Rahman, M.N.A., 2012. A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing implementation. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 12(1), pp.101-117.
Pieterse, J.H., Caniëls, M.C. and Homan, T., 2012. Professional discourses and resistance to change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 25(6), pp.798-818.
Van der Voet, J., 2014. The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure. European Management Journal, 32(3), pp.373-382.
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