Ooredoo, a Qatari multinational telecommunication company, was founded in 1987 as a telephone exchange company and is today one of the largest communication operators in the region, with operations spanning 16 countries. It offers its over 115 million customers mobile, digital, fiber, and broadband services. The company is publicly listed in the Abu Dhabi and Qatar stock exchanges. The company, previously known as Qtel, was renamed Ooredoo in 2013 as part of its strategic move to consolidate its assets to form a global brand in the telecommunications field. It has since experienced tremendous growth from a single nation operator to a global company with a foothold in over 16 countries. Ooredoo upgraded to 3G in 2010 and launched a mobile money service. The company had grown its network through the introduction of fiber network by 2012. It was the first company globally to launch the 5G network in 2018. As of 2016, the company’s majority was the Qatari government entities with 68%. 22% is owned publicly and 10% by UAE’s ADIA. The current CEO is Saud Al Thani, a member of the country’s royal family.
Ooredoo is a strong and popular brand that has gained recognition in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. It enjoys a loyal customer base across many countries, providing telecommunication services with a desirable internet experience. Ooredoo is a leading network in 4G and 5G in telecommunications. The organization has experienced tremendous challenges in adopting comprehensive internal digital transformation. There is absence of clear project objectives, limited executive support, and few benchmarking events. As the telecommunication sector has become highly competitive, Ooredoo needs to rethink and improve its customer service quality by using online customer review analysis and other digital tools.
Change Context and Design Choices
Balogun and Hope Hailey designed the change kaleidoscope model with organizational contextual features in the outer ring and the design choices in the inner circle. The outer consists of the features time, diversity, preservation, capability, readiness, capacity, and power (Zangenberg, 2017, p 19). The inner ring has the change path, start point, style, target, levers, and roles. The change kaleidoscope was developed to consolidate and codify the many types of implementation options and contextual features during a change initiative in an organization. The change kaleidoscope allows for a thorough analysis of the context, a consideration for wide-ranging implementation options, awareness of self-preferences, and the development of change judgment (Zangenberg, 2017, p 20). The change process consists of the current status, the transition status, and the future status. The change kaleidoscope offers an effective mechanism for dealing with planned change when there is a certain objective to be accomplished.
Ooredoo has applied a combination of emergent and planned approach in different phases of its transformation over the years. When change originates from the aspect of the changing business environment, the company applies an emergent approach by developing reengineering programs and restructuring the company. A planned approach is employed to complete the company’s structure change for the long term. For instance, the company rebranded from Qtel to Ooredoo in 2013 as part of its strategic move to consolidate its assets to form a global brand in the telecommunications field. This improvement plan will take the planned approach to enhance a successful outcome.
Change Kaleidoscope
- Time – the change needs to be implemented within three years.
- Scope – The scope of change is a realignment of employee behavior.
- Preservation – to retain Ooredoo’s talented workforce for their know how.
- Diversity – change is required in the customer service division. Diversity acts as an enabler for change.
- Capability – the prospect for capability is neutral due to the low experience in change management but there is a highly educated team at the company.
- Capacity – Ooredoo is a big brand with sufficient affluence for investment on the change initiative.
- Readiness – readiness may be marked low due to low change awareness among employees.
- Power – since Ooredoo has to preserve a high number of employees during this change, management may be limited in its quest to impose change.
Oregon will use the evolution path to implement the proposed changes, and other implementing choices are listed below.
- Change path – the company will take the evolution path through reengineering and reconstructing to develop long-term transformational change. the transformation will be achieved through increased customer focus and relationships.
- Starting point – the top management will initiate the change.
- Style – the changing style will be participation from collaboration in actual implementation.
- Target – to change employee behavior to embrace digital transformation and online customer review analysis to improve service quality.
- Intervention – Ooredoo to enhance appraisal and evaluation systems to motivate employees to improve their service quality.
- Roles – senior management spearhead the change initiative as the change champions with the help of outside consultancy.
The ideal leadership style to steer Ooredoo through the change process is transformational leadership. A transformational leader can successfully change a company’s culture and develop the necessary strategic realignment to meet the demand of the environment. Transformational leadership theory terms it as the ability to motivate employees to achieve more than they planned to. Transformational leaders have idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and are inspirational. Research has shown that transformational leadership has positive outcomes for the organization and the individuals. The absence of good leaders leads to poor motivation among employees to carry out their organizational mandate innovatively and effectively. Today’s leaders face a complex and dynamic environment, whereby the change is a persistent feature that needs to be addressed effectively by enhancing employee participation to achieve the desired change. Transformational leadership positively influences organizational behavior, performance, and organizational culture (Alqatawenh, 2018). Individually, it impacts employees positively by raising their level of performance and satisfaction.
The current digital world requires companies to change from obsolete industrial solutions into smart and digital structures. They must be able to manage quickly, predict, and analyze transformations in all relevant business operations. Digital technology becomes a key component in improving the service quality the customer receives. Investing in technology becomes the main pillar for innovation and sustainability in the organization. Digital transformation influences consumers’ lifestyles, but the pace in the company may not catch up. Digitizing business operations encourages innovation and improves customer service (Alabbasi, 2018, p 4). For Ooredoo to maintain its leading position as a brand with many loyal customers, it has to focus on them first. Customer satisfaction is the first priority and it is necessary to ensure high quality service. Digital technology becomes a key component in improving the service quality in the company across all its markets.
Digital transformation entails providing a digital lifestyle through the latest technological services, such as advancement to 5G. to move to the next generation, Ooredoo needs to explore digital channels such as the internet of things to harness the monetization capacity of the next-generation network. Advances in technology provide customers with new and better service offerings and enhance customer relationship management. An organization can keep up with changing consumer demands and ensure swift and seamless service and problem resolution. Digital customer relationship management is an all-around platform to manage all customer interactions (Alabbasi, 2018, p 6). It contains digitized customer journeys that include digital onboarding and electronic know-your-customer. It has personalized reward packages to build brand loyalty and differentiation.
Ooredoo has to decentralize its existing digital structure as advanced technology allows for the agile implementation of cloud computing. Another challenge involves introducing all Over the Top (OTT) services to achieve complete impactful digitization (Guest, 2017, p 4). Adopting 5G requires tackling complexities such as customer support, billing, and initial configuration (Alabbasi, 2018, p 7). These complexities increase the installation and operating cost and additional training and resources for employees. There is still no set formula to integrate cloud computing and the Internet of Things. This acts as both a challenge and an opportunity for Ooredoo. The company must figure out how these digital advances can fit its infrastructure to enhance performance and improve existing processes. Ooredoo needs to upgrade some of its legacy systems by replacing older software and systems with new pieces of technology. This is one of the most common obstacles for telecommunication companies. It is a time-consuming and costly and, therefore, has to fall under planned change.
The final challenge in digital transformation to improve service quality is employee pushback to cultural changes. Digital transformation could challenge an employee’s role or even lead to job loss. Employee negativity and apprehension over technological changes can seep into the workplace culture negatively affecting the transformation initiative. Such opposition can lead to a problem with projects being allocated adequate resources and support. Transformative leadership is important in this scenario, as it enables a manager to be consistent and transparent and keep staff involved and informed throughout the change process. The plan empowers employees by showing a future they can all work towards using the proposed digital transformation strategies. Managing employee resistance to change is perhaps of greater importance than managing other aspects of the digital transformation process. Effective management of resistance is critical to the successful implementation of change in the company.
Leadership Development
Leadership History and Roles
I worked in Ooredoo telecom as a sales executive and my main responsibilities included:
- In charge of the Education Sector
- Manage all requests for Direct lines, internet, SMS that come from schools, Universities, and Education City
- Following up requests with other departments
- Communicating with customers
- Giving Solutions to customers for a better business
Skills gained:
- Dealing with customers face to face or by phone
- Solving customers’ problems in a limited time
- Giving solutions to customers
- Managing time in the office
- Enhanced Communicating skills
- Gained knowledge of Qtel products
- Teamwork
I was asked to lead a team from different departments and set up meetings with schools in the country; they had to present and offer the schools services that will be useful for education and school systems. I followed up on each department and arranged the services after the client’s acceptance.
Leadership Attributes and Skills
I believe I have a winning combination of thinking and acting as a leader and the requisite personal traits. I am partially endowed with some leadership skills and have learned other leadership abilities along the way. I can fully utilize the resources at my disposal to accomplish the set goals, adapt, and use my abilities as the situation demands. I try and learn to be passionate about the roles that I have been given to do my work and those following me easier. When I have a task, I prefer to have clear goals so that we know what is required of us together with my team.
I prefer the transformational leadership style as it focuses on developing and enhancing the followers. I am interested in developing the value system of those I lead and raising their inspirational levels so that they can harness their abilities. I aspire to influence and motivate the follower so that together we can successfully accomplish the task at hand. Transformational leadership builds momentum and creates positive permanent changes. I like encouraging people and turning challenges into opportunities.
Shaping Strategies
Some have told me of my friends that I have commendable emotional skills. I can identify my emotions and those around me. I am sensitive to other people’s needs, so I would be sensitive to employees working under me. Showing empathy can be a positive thing in leadership, as employees recognize their manager as a caring person. I am hardworking and highly engaged with the tasks I am assigned. Hardworking leaders can positively influence their followers to apply the same or more energy in their work to achieve the set goals. As a hardworking leader, the chances to impart knowledge to the followers are more. This is beneficial to both the leader and the team members as everyone learns from each other. Teaching team members helps inspire and motivate them to meet the team’s objectives.
My leadership style involves inspiring and motivating people to accomplish their tasks. The appropriate way to motivate team members is through raising positive emotions. My team must have clear and measurable goals to know that we are working towards something concrete. It is crucial to provide followers with feedback on their work. Good performance motivates even better performance while showing the nonperformer how to improve. The leader must avail themselves to the team to offer informal, personalized, and honest feedback to followers to avoid inertia. Without dialogue, the team members wouldn’t be able to share feedback and concern. Flexibility and setting realistic goals take off undue pressure from employees. When the task seems too big and unmanageable, they become demoralized and the project fails. I assign my team members ambitious but realistic goals and objectives, while giving them enough time and flexibility to accomplish their tasks. An employee feels more motivated when they have a manageable task at hand, one they know they can finish quickly and move on to the next one.
Reaction from those I Lead
Most of the employees I work with have a positive attitude, although a few are cynical about what we try to achieve. A higher than average number improves their performance and behave in a professionally desirable way. They remain motivated and persistent in what we try to accomplish with the resources available. Many of them are committed to improvement, while a few seek guidance from me on the way forward. A few employees usually exceed expectations owing to their commitment to work and benevolent behavior. Most of the employees I manage seem to be happy with their jobs and eager for bigger challenges. A number of them approach me to give them more challenging tasks that will enable them to get rewards and promotions. I feel that there are many reactions (negative and positive) made by employees that are directly attributable to me. I think most of those reactions are positive and yearn to enhance them. My leadership effectiveness can be evaluated using employees’ reactions, their performance, and their satisfaction with the work they are doing.
Teamwork
Organizations today tend to be structured around workgroups and teams to perform the day-to-day business and long-term projects. A team leader has a significant impact on how effective a team will be. As a transformational leader, teams are a favorite way of meeting organizational goals. By guiding my teams towards greater levels of accomplishment, my leadership has been essential in promoting teamwork. It is my duty to ensure that the team meets or exceeds the set goals, works together towards meeting the goals, and members feel satisfied while in the group. Team members should adapt to any changes within and outside the organization; they should have the capacity to use and enhance available resources to meet the expected outcomes and have a quality group experience. The members are emotionally committed to their team and implement innovative working methods. Team members have good experiences in terms of their quality of group experience, and they often work together until a task is accomplished. Inspiring team members to be emotionally invested in the group results in better team outcomes.
Improving Leadership
There is much that can be done to improve and develop teamwork capabilities. Enhancing my leadership behavior and skills will positively impact me and those that I manage. I am improving how I give and receive feedback to allow and support development and performance. It is important to acknowledge employees’ contribution individually and as a team. I have not been very keen on rewarding team performance which is equally crucial to an organization’s success. When I am within a team, I should get to know everyone and take cognizance of what inspires and motivates them. Apart from rewarding good performance, I should proactively deal with performance challenges affecting employees. It is imperative to demonstrate a motivating vision for the organization with a corresponding mission which emphasizes on customer satisfaction. I will involve and challenge team members more to shape their work and grow within the company. Learning to make timely and effective decisions is critical in keeping the business relevant and thriving. Since leadership is about handling strategy, inspiring the team, and managing resources, I need to have aptitudes in all these fields to be an effective leader. They are attributes that an individual is given naturally, but there are others that one develops as they advance in bigger and more challenging leadership roles within the company.
Conclusion
Research suggests that incremental change is easier to implement than transformational change. it requires fewer changes and involves relatively fewer people. On the other hand, transformational change is far-reaching and can affect the entire organization. It is thus more challenging to implement and requires astute and able leadership to be a success. It involves implementing a new way of doing things that require significant culture change. Changing employee culture is one of the main obstacles to successful transformational change. People, in any environment, are generally resistant to change. When it affects their jobs directly, and even threatens their daily livelihood, change is viewed negatively. It therefore becomes challenging for a company to execute transformation successfully. It is advisable to employ the services of a transformational leader for major change management. Transformational leadership is essential in this situation, as it enables a leader to be consistent and transparent, while keeping staff involved and informed throughout the change process (Sarran, 2017). The rate of change in the future is not going to change anytime soon. It is upon organizations and their management to come up with strategies to cope with the ever-changing business environment. The plan is to empower employees by showing a future they can all work towards using the proposed transformation strategies. Managing employee resistance to change is perhaps of greater importance than managing other aspects of the digital transformation process. Effective management of resistance is critical to the successful implementation of change in the company.
Bibliography
Alabbasi, B.M. (2018) ‘Digital transformation and change management practices in Qatari organizations: Challenges and recommendations.’ University of Liverpool. Web.
Alqatawenh, A.S., 2018. ‘Transformational leadership style and its relationship with change management.’ Versluis, 19(1), pp.17-24. Web.
Guest, M. (2017) ‘Digital transformation for telecom operators: Adapting to a customer-centric, mobile-first world.’ Deloitte. Web.
Sarran, P. (2017) ‘Change management toolkit.’ University of California, Berkeley. Pp 1-49.
Zangenberg, S. (2017) ‘Applying change management in a project context: The case of BP VDU Revamp Project’ Universitat Jaume. Web.