SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL CHANGES 2

Sunderland City Council Changes

Organizational changes are often a reaction to external pressures, internal pressures or
both. These pressures have to be significant enough such that non-reaction from the organization
can have a negative effect on its ability to perform. Some of these changes may be temporary.
However, others main remain in place for a long time thus becoming part of the organizations’
culture.

In the case study of Sunderland City Council, the external pressure that the council faced
was reduced funding from the central government due to the effects of recession. In 2010-2011
financial year, the central government cut the amount of money that it sends to the city by ten
percent. This cutting was significant because two thirds of the city’s funding came from the
central government (Palmer, Dunford & Buchanan, 2017). With the central government planning
to make additional cuts to funds it sent to the city council in the coming two to three years, the
council had to find ways of reducing its spending while at the same time continuing to offer
services to the city’s residents.
It is not just external pressure that forced Sunderland City Council to make strategic and
operational changes. The city also faced significant internal pressure of keeping the morale of
employees high in the face of economic uncertainties (Palmer et al., 2017). Many employees
were worried about their ability to hold on to their jobs in the face of mass layoffs resulting from
the economic downturn that was being experienced at the time. Without motivated employees, it
was going to be difficult for the council to continue offering quality services to the residents of
the city. To keep employee motivation high, the city council needed to prevent layoffs even as its
funding was cut down.

SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL CHANGES 3
In response to these pressures, Sunderland City Council enacted a series of changes that
were meant to address the twin problems of reducing its budget while simultaneously continuing
to offer services to the city. The changes included allowing employees who were likely to lose
their jobs because they worked in an area where services were shrinking to switch to areas where
services were expanding (Palmer et al., 2017). Another plan involved allowing employees to
have greater flexibility at the workplace. The flexibility allowed the employees to work for
shorter hours at the council so that they could have more time to start and build their businesses.
These changes will certainly have a positive impact on the culture of the organization.
The council may have adopted workplace flexibility as a means of addressing the effects of the
recession on its employees. The plan worked well because it was able to avoid mass layoffs and
keep its employees motivated. Adopting an organizational culture that supports workplace
flexibility, however, is not just effective during economic downturns. It is also effective when
the economy is working normally. Flexible workplace culture shows that the employer values
their employees. They appreciate that employees have other commitments outside of their
workplace, such as business, family, and other aspects of social life. Flexible workplace have
been found to not only lead to higher job satisfaction but also more employee productivity
(Smith, Gilmer & Stockdale, 2019). Thus, the organizational changes that Sunderland City
Council implemented during the recession to prevent employees from being laid off and
maintain the quality of services offered to the city’s residents, if sustained, will result in a
positive company culture in future.
In conclusion, the reduced funding resulting from the recession and the need to keep
employees motivated were the environmental pressures that forced Sunderland City Council to
adopt various workplace changes. These changes, particularly the one of increasing workplace

SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL CHANGES 4
flexibility will likely have a long-term positive effect on the council as workplace flexibility has
been found to lead to more job satisfaction for employees.

SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL CHANGES 5

References

Palmer, I., Dunford, R. & Buchanan, D. (2017). Managing organizational change: A Multiple
Perspectives Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Smith, E. F., Gilmer, D. O., & Stockdale, M. S. (2019). The importance of culture and support
for workplace flexibility: An ecological framework for understanding flexibility support
structures. Business Horizons, 62(5), 557-566.