Spar Applied Systems

2 Spar Applied Systems Spar Applied Systems (A): Organizational Change and Team Management Everybody is familiar with the cliché that the only constant in this world is change. In today’s fast-evolving environment, people attempt to manage change in their everyday lives, seeing its potential and enormous benefits. For business organizations managing change has become an important strategy to achieve competitive advantage and to position oneself on top of the competition. One of the critical success factors in managing organizational change is teambuilding. In the case study “Spar Applied Systems (A)”, Laura Erskine covers the issue of teambuilding, employee participation, organizational change and change management. Specifically, Erskine presents the dilemma of Stephen Miller, Spar Applied Systems General Manager, who is confronting a major project overrun. The team began working on their project in 1994. After two years, however, in their presentation of the projected budget and schedule to the executives, Miller was amazed to know that there was a potential $1 million overspend in order to satisfy their contract. Originally, the budget was $3.5 million, $2.5 million of which was shouldered by the company. When Miller questioned the team members during the presentation about the overrun and overspend, he was surprised that the team could not respond. The case study first tackles the organizational change initiatives and management at Spar Applied Systems. In 1992, Jason Rigney led the successful merging of Spar Defense and Leigh Instruments. Through his leadership, contracts were stabilized and Applied Systems was founded. However, the environment was beginning to become more and more competitive, and the competition came from large-scale, highly flexible, and vertical integrated firms who had gone global. When Miller joined the Applied Systems Groups, he was greeted by a hierarchical organization, people with precise position descriptions, and activities directed