Reflection on a change management and leadership

In 1947, MIT Professor Harold E. Edgerton and his several students were established EG & G and which were involved in management of nuclear weapons to government and also in a wide range of similar activities.

Perkin-Elmer was an older company then EG & G and was established in 1930. Perkin and Elmer introduced it in a partnership and its operation was divided into two major divisions which was Analytical Instruments & Applied Bio system.

In 1999, there was an acquisition of Perkin-Elmer and EG & G. Perkin-Elmer sold its name and Analytical Instruments division to EG & G and EG & G also sold its technical services business to Carlyle group investment firm .Then they would drop the EG & G name and take the name of the acquired co. by disappearing the hyphen between Perkin & Elmer and after the approval of its shareholders then after EG & G was known as PerkinElmer.

But there was one problematic element in the future of EG & G & its Perkin-Elmer operations was a good leadership. A good leadership was required in EG & G to change a company rapidly and radically.

That’s why for the fulfillment of the above requirement. In 1998, GREGORY L SUMME brought in company. He was with the experienced a lot as a partner at Mc Kinsey & Co. , at General Motor’s he was general manager of commercial motors, at AlliedSignal’s Aerospace Engines and at General Aviation Avionics he was a president and recently at the Automotive products Group at AlliedSignal he was president of it.

And because of his this track record at making technology companies competitive and profitable the Co. brought him to turn around the business as in recent years the company had been faltering.

Now, PerkinElmer divided its business in two segments Human health and Environmental health. In Human health they are dealing with the companies of Bio-discovery, Genetic Screening & Medical Imaging operating units. Environmental health segments are dealing with the laboratory services, Analytical sciences and detection & Illumination units.

DISCUSSION OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP THEORIES

Change management:

Change management is a structured advent to developing individuals, teams, and organizations from a current status to a desired future status. It is aimed at empowering the employees to secure and changes of the grip in their current business environment within the organizational process. In Change management, project changes are formally introduced and approved.

Models of Change Management

McKinsey 7S Model

The McKinsey 7S model involves seven interdependent factors which are

categorized as either “hard” or “soft” elements as.

I personally feel that 7s model can be related to this assignment as the changes were distributed in 7 elements which are as above and which are explain below as per the related company

STRATEGY: after the acquisition, the leader implemented new strategies in the company.

STRUCTURE: there was a structural change because of acquisition.

SYSTEMS: New systems were implemented by the new leader in a company.

SHARED VALUES: there were some ethics and new systems of work made by new leader which was shared as a core value of company.

STYLE: the style of leadership adopted by the new leader to sort out all the complicated issues of the company.

STAFF: the employees were distributed according to their capabilities and mostly new staff was recruited.

SKILLS: Training programs were given to every individual from top to lower level management.

Leadership is the “process of social esteem in which one person can influences others to attain an objective and directs the organization with a group of people to achieve a common goal through change.

Leader: An individual who has granted authority, usually based on hierarchal position, in an organization.

Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills make it more cohesive and coherent. Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen

.

According to this assignment I concluded that the contingency theories are applied as this theory focus on individuals related to the environment that can be determined which particular style of leadership is best satisfied with the situation. The organization was structured in a way that “who reports to whom” rule was adopted. All the implementations were covered by the leader Gregory L. Summe. He distributed the whole problems in his effective leadership style that he focused on identifying the situational variables to fit the particular circumstances.

COMPLICATED ISSUES IN EG & G

They had problem like inconsistent operating performances, a week reputation with investors, a highly fragmented organization as a company was holding of 31 diverse businesses with 31 different cultures & brands and many businesses with uncertain prospects, no strategic coherence while there was lot of good technology in the business, experienced executives were there in company management but some of them had a lack of the right skills, the Pace & Priorities were incompatible with the direction of the co. want to go as many of them came from the govt. services business and also other managers skills were under-developed and too narrow. So, they worked in one role in one business of EG & G for a long time.

CHANGES ADOPTED TO OVERCOME

Firstly, the company focuses on improving their ability to gain consistent earnings. So that, they had good financial record and also regain trust of financial markets. And for this they established a new culture which was with more ambitious about performing goals and with clearer accountability.

Secondly, it consolidated its 31 businesses into five strategic business units.

Five strategic business units

Thirdly, they offset the charges involved in this restructuring from the sale of several businesses including two mechanical businesses Sealol and Rotron.

Fourthly, they sold all the government services business as it operated in a low margin, consolidating, declining market.

Fifthly, they changed their name to signal to their customers, investors and employee that this was a new company.

Sixthly, as they started with nine different businesses and brands but then they quickly narrowed their focus on just three segments: specialty illumination, digital imaging and telecommunication as dealing in more selective and for healthier their portfolio.

Seventhly, they made seven key acquisitions and this is designed to quickly provide them complementary products, technologies and geographic coverage.

Seven key acquisitions are divided as follows:

One in optoelectronics, One in fluid sciences, Two in instruments, and Three in life sciences.

Eighthly, they shifted power away from corporate center to each of the business units.

Last but not least, for all employees of PerkinElmer’s they place a broad range of training programs to teach leadership skills, business fundamentals and best practices and it consists of four programs aimed to develop each individual at various levels of the organization and they were Advanced Leadership Institute, Emerging Leaders Program, Driving World-class Performance Program and Skills based Training Programs.

SUSTAINING CHANGE

Company’s operating margin which was less than 6% in 1997 exceeds to 11%. After focus on three segments, the market leaders in both specialty illumination and imaging segments, which together accounts for 80% of the division’s revenues. In telecommunications segment, they achieve an annual revenue growth rate of more than 100%.The seven acquisitions made them number one in world in explosives detection systems and one of the top three in analytical instruments. They also have good terms with their investors as they understand and support their strategy to upgrade the portfolio. They reduce their corporate staff from 140 people to 65 people after taking the decision of shifting power away from the corporate center to each of the business units.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that if you have the right person leading the charges, good thing always happen but the Important decision is to choose right person and also in this company they choose a right man at right time which no doubt benefitted the company a lot. In contrast of a company, the Gregory L Summe was taking almost all right decision to turn around the business as per the requirement of the company and it also gained a success by restricting it. As its operating margin was increased , its revenues was increased , the co. had a tag of no. one in world in explosives , detection systems and one of the top three in analytical instrument and in present in current year its revenue was gone up to 498.3 million.

The major change was to change of the name of company i.e. from EG & G to PerkinElmer. The change of the name was just the part of acquisition however it was also to attract the new group of investors in the company.

The profit has been raised in current year and it has been concluded that 2010 may be a brighter year for the company. PerkinElmer is delivering world drive productivity, quality and accuracy. Although forward looking statements such as believes, plans, project intends are leased on management’s current assumption and expectation. However, these should be assured that their expectation and assumption are proved to be accurate and profitable.