CORPORATE VISIONING AS A STRATEGY FOR ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE NIGERIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT

The   study   investigated   Corporate   Visioning   as   a   strategy   for   organizational

transformation in the Nigerian textile industry.   The study therefore had the following objectives among others: (i) to determine the relationship between corporate visioning and employee motivation, (ii) to evaluate the extent of implementation of corporate visioning between the distressed and the non-distressed textile firms in the Nigerian Textile Industry, (iii)  to  determine the relationship between corporate visioning and organizational transformation, and (iv) to identify the impact of visionary leadership on organizational transformation.  The study adopted the survey design.  Three hundred and sixty-six randomly selected personnel of managerial cadre, senior staff and junior staff from a population of 7,787 participated in the study.   The personnel were made up of

3,022  from  the  distress  operating  textile  firms  and  4,765  from  the  non-distressed

operating textile firms.   Seven instruments (Corporate Visioning Inventory, Employees Motivation Inventory, Implementation of Corporate Visioning Scale, Innovation Inventory, Organizational Transformation Inventory, Corporate Visioning Impact Scale and Visionary Leadership Scale) were used for data collection.  Frequency, percentage, means, standard deviation, Person’s Product Moment Correlation, t-test and regression analysis were used for data analysis.   Based on the results of the study, significant positive relationship exists between Corporate Visioning and employee motivation.  The study also found that there is no difference in the level of implementation of Corporate Visioning in both the distressed and non-distressed textile firms. The study further found that visionary leadership significantly impacts on the organizational transformation.  The study concluded on the note that the awareness of Corporate Visioning was very high in the industry, yet the implementation was very low. It also concluded that the application of corporate visioning in the firms within the industry is relative low and as such real transformation has not taken place in the industry. It was recommended among others that  in  order  to  enable  the  industry  to  have  a  pool  of  trained  workers,  academic institutions should actively come forward (along with industry) and design courses to suit the  industry’s  needs.  In  view  of the  growing  globalization of the  world  economy, government continued ban on imported fabrics had never worked and will never work. The  way out  is  for the  industry to  be totally  transformed-starting from the  design, production process and  eventually to  marketing  process. All these  can  be  achieved through corporate visioning. This will help the industry to grow and face the challenges which are bound to be in the free market. As contributions to knowledge, our model systematizes the literature, offering more direction to those seeking practical ways of thinking about vision creation and implementation, Secondly, by providing this structure to the literature, we hope it will help shape future research in this domain, clarifying potential links, and providing a roadmap to understanding the existing literature along the way.

Keywords: Corporate vision, strategy, innovation, transformation, visionary leadership.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the Study

Vision  was  mostly  a  concept  of  researchers  who  studied  political leadership and the leadership of social or religious movements before the 1980s (Kantabutra, 2008a:128).   It  was rarely considered within the  leadership and

corporate  literature.    Only  in  the  past  couple  of  decades  has  vision  been extensively discussed in the corporate sector. In this context, the use of vision has been widely exhorted as one of the main characteristics of effective leaders and organization  (Bryman,  1992:31-45;  Humphreys,  2004:96:  Conger&Kanungo,

1987:637-647). Some theorists believe that vision reflects the company’s image of some future state, which will be the ideal achievement of the organization. Organization  sets  this  as   its  vision  for   example,  to   be   a   world  -class manufacturing organization, a pace setter in the industry or a business leader. Having a vision means having knowledge of where to go and a greater control over the future.   If an organization does not control its destiny, other outside forces will decide that for it (Mohtsham, 2004:247-249).  Not only is vision an idea or image of a desirable future, but the right vision can also actually jump- start  the  future of the  organization by  mobilizing  people  into  action  toward achieving it (Nanus, 1992:44).

Effective vision provides a word picture of what the organization wants to become eventually which may be five, ten or fifteen years in the future.   This statement is not only an abstract but it contains a concrete image of the desired state and  provides also  foundations for  future strategies and  objectives.    All organizations face problems in their lives but a well thought out vision together with effective operations, gets the organization out of these troubles (Tregoe, Zimmerman, Smith, Tobia, 1989:249).   Thus vision is like the headlights of a vehicle on a road at night which shows the way to the destination on a dark path avoiding any accidents and carefully leaving behind the other cars on the road.

Satisfying three essential conditions are the prerequisites for Corporate Visioning to serve its function, of setting an organizational development agenda and laying the foundations for more detailed strategy work. First, it  must be comprehensive, touching all aspects of the business. An incomplete vision is likely to result in problems going on recognized or unchallenged. Second, it must be  inclusive, reaching both inside and outside the organization, engaging the agendas of all key stakeholders. A vision invariably is a call for action, and all those involved in creating a better future need to know what is expected of them. Third, a vision must establish a dynamic, a trajectory for change. This in effect requires two visions: a static vision of the enterprise (where it is now and will remain if nothing is done), and a dynamic vision that captures what the enterprise might become if the right moves are made (Finkelsein et al., 2008:505-538).

Overall, research has demonstrated significant contributions of visions to organizational effectiveness (Zaccaro, 2001:367-380). Lack of vision also appears to be associated with failed attempts to manage organizational change (Collis and Porras, 1994:87; Lucey, Bateman and Hines, 2005:9-13) and attention to vision was found to be a key strategy employed by 90 leaders who enlisted others in a common  vision (Bennis  and  Nanus,  1985:44).    Visions  offer  a  value  based direction  for  the  organization and  provide  a  rationale  for  strategic  decision- making.   While most of the previous research into vision was conducted at the individual level, as opposed to the level of the business-unit or organizational- level, vision has been studied as a blend of charismatic leadership in a wide

variety of samples and industries, with generally positive finding between this kind of leadership and followers’ performance, attitudes and perceptions.

Thus, the concept of corporate visioning according to Bennis and Nanus (1985:102-105) “is a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization … (which) articulates a view of a realistic, credible, attractive future for the organization, a condition that is better in some important ways than what now  exists.”    Corporate visioning  has  direct  bearing with the  situation been experienced by the Nigerian Textile Industry.   For instance, Lipton (1996:83-91) asserts that “a clearly articulated vision, fully implemented across an organization, infact makes a profoundly positive difference.”  Similarly, Gladwell (2000:2) in supporting this position, notes that guided by visionary leadership, transformation can gather momentum until it reaches a “tipping point” where it will spread like epidemic throughout the many intertwined systems and dramatically alter how organizations and systems operate.  Furthermore, Roberts (1983:5-16) states that all successful transformations are vision led.  However, transformation is defined as “the radical shift from one state of being to another, where the new state is uncertain until  it  emerges and  is  better  able  to  meet  the  more  sophisticated demand of the environment than the old ‘tried and true’ state” (Ackerman Anderson and Marquardt, 1997:16).  Hence the Nigerian textile industry is facing a tremendous environmental demand.

As a matter of fact, the issue of Corporate Visioning in the Nigerian textile industry has raised great concern in the face of myriad of problems within the industry.   The industry is faced with very low sales as Oshiomhole (2002:2)

rightly observes that there are more smuggled textile materials in the Nigerian markets across the country like Lagos, Kano, Aba and Abuja than the locally made ones.  Further to importation of textiles in mass quantities at prices cheaper than local production, many units went into bankruptcy followed by retrenchment of labour force in large numbers.

Olanrewaju (2002:2) by implication does not believe that the industry paid attention to corporate visioning by asserting that investors in the textile industry failed to re-tool and re-equip their operations, failed to stream-lined their cost of production, cannot compete price wise, with imported / smuggled fabrics.  Further the public perception is that “the quality of their fabrics is lower than the foreign made ones, operate in a seller market, hence they do not market and improve on their products”. Olari (2007:2) lends support in observing that increased global competition as a result of Nigeria’s signing the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement in 1995, the incidences of globalization have all created poor market situations and eroding employment capabilities and further reducing the capacity utilization.  The consequence of this is well known and this calls for immediate attention.  Without the industry coming into terms with corporate visioning, as a strategy for organizational transformation the livelihood of over one point seven million (1,750,000) cotton growers (Walid, 2008:2), retrenched workers and their dependants, all thrown into the already saturated labour markets.  The attendant incidences are already visible; armed robbery has been on increase; motor cycle riders popularly called ‘okada’ are all over the place.  According to Road Safety Report, about 85% of road accidents in Kaduna are caused by okada riders.  The

death-toll among the retrenched workers and their dependants are also in the increase according to National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) report (2008:9).

All over the globe it seems that the textile industry is facing one problem or the  other. In Uganda, Jobanputra (2008:2) having  identified the  problems confronting the textile industry, asserts that in this era of stiff competition, no company can survive without corporate vision.   Consequently, the company’s vision has been to contribute to Uganda’s economic transformation through value addition  to  cotton.     The  All-Pakistan  Textile  Mills  Association  (APTMA) (2008:1) states that due to challenges facing the textile industry, a huge transformation process needs to be initiated at all levels of the industry.  Ebrahim (2008:1) is of the view that “with the globalization process, severe crises has begun to take place and one of the main causes is emergence of new low-cost textile producers who are benefiting with their country’s low-cost structure and opening of global markets.   This however, calls for the introduction of latest technology in the industry so as to reposition their firms to gain competitive advantage. The fiber/textile /apparel (FTA) industry is one of American’s largest manufacturing industries and its success is critical to the economic well-being of the country.  However, though it was once the world’s unchallenged leader, the industry has  faltered  in  recent  years,  and  it  is  in danger of slipping  further (Moncarz, 1993:13).  Thereby, advocating for information technology vision for the  United  States  Fiber/Textile/apparel  industry.     Similarity,  the  European Apparel and Textile organization proposed a vision for 2020.  This vision is built

around the concept of dynamic, innovative, multi disciplinary knowledge – based, flexibly  integrated and  customer oriented networks of businesses.    This will enable  them  move  from today’s  situation toward this  long  term vision  in  a strategically coordinated way.

Previous empirical studies have shown how corporate vision has impacted on organizational performance using customers (Howell and Frost, 1989:245-269; Kirkpatrick, 1992:36-51; Puffer, 1990:177-192), corporate leaders (Baum et al.

1998:43-54; Kantabutra, 2003:122-134), and organizations’ employees (Bennis

&Nanus, 1985:49). In addition, no published studies have reported negative or non significant relationship between corporate vision and organizational performance, possibly because negative or non significant findings are rarely published.

Research on vision itself has generally focused on four aspects: development, articulation, communication and implementation (Nanus, 1992:36; Quigley, 1993:129-134; Robbins and Duncan, 1988:137-162).  Little is known of what constitutes an effective vision.  Baum et al (1998:43-54) were among the first who found positive relationships between vision attributes of brevity, challenge, future orientation, aspiring, abstractness, clarity, stability and vision content, and organizational performance in entrepreneurial firms.  The researchers surveyed CEOs of architectural woodwork firms, and found that vision attributes and vision content were directly related to venture growth, as measured by sales, profits, employment and net worth in these entrepreneurial firms.  These vision attributes have also found to indirectly relate to customer satisfaction and directly

relate to staff satisfaction in Australian apparel or textile retail stores (Kantabutra,

2003:59-72).

As of 1980, Nigeria was ranked the third largest Textile Industry in Africa after Egypt and South Africa (Uduak, 2009:3).  But between 1997 and 2004, the textile industry continued to lose ground and as such has suffered significant stagnation in the past few years.  Within the difficult macro-economic context of Nigeria, firms reported numerous issues related to their business operating environment such as a severe drop in domestic demand, higher production costs due to energy, exchange rates and raw material acquisition, political uncertainty, tax regimes, infrastructure weaknesses, the steep cost of working capital and corruption (Scheller et al., 2002:22).   Nevertheless, there seems to be a strong connection between corporate visioning and the situation being experienced now in the industry (Charkaborty, 2008:1).

In spite of all the enumerated myriads of problems confronting the industry, there is need for the industry to look beyond the present situation if the nation will harvest the gains of the industry. The study therefore, is being conducted to assess corporate visioning as a strategy for organizational transformation in the Nigerian Textile Industry.

1.2      Statement of the Research Problem

Organizations generally, and textile firms in particular are supposed to be operating with a clear vision.  In this vein, it is believed that a clearly articulated vision, fully implemented across an organization, makes a profoundly positive

difference.  This explains why some organizations state their visions right from their inception while others believed that articulating and implementing a growth vision was the key to getting them out of trouble when their very survival was at stake.

Unfortunately, the situation regarding the Nigerian textile industry is different from the one described in the foregoing.  It is observed that the Nigerian Textile Industry has been performing below expectation.  As a result of this, the Nigerian government is not resting on her oar as she is poised to initiate a bail-out plan for the moribund textile industry that collapsed as a result of harsh operating environment and these have great consequences on their operations.   Nigerian textile firms have the problem of ageing or obsolete technology, the inability to acquire the latest and up to date technology in the textile firms, lack of investment on new  and  modern production facilities and  the  problem of non  motivated workforce all these have resulted in their inability to effectively compete with imported/smuggled fabrics from other countries. The firms also failed to innovate and  transform to  move  with  time  and  hence  cannot  meet  the  taste  of their consumers.  This requires visionary leadership to envision, formulate and adopt appropriate strategy that will enable the firms to withstand their vulnerability to environmental risks such as changes in consumer needs and taste, technological advancement,   changes   in   economic   factors,   socio-cultural   factors   and competitors’ activities.

The  environment  of business  and  its  corporate visioning  strategy have  been hypothesized  and  demonstrated  empirically  to  have  significant  impact  on

organizational performance. As a result of this, any firm that desires to perform must set its corporate vision and to implement it must pay particular attention to environmental factors especially in a tough operating environment.  It is in view of this system collapse in the Nigerian textile industry which spans infrastructural and economic malaise that is taking its toll on the textile firms. Thus, the main problem of this study has been that most of the firms lack visioning strategy and where they have, the visioning strategy has been inarticulate or inconsistent.

With all these overwhelming problems, it is not surprising that most textile firms in the country have closed and those still operating, operate below their installed capacities.  It is all these that interest this study.   Therefore, the study intends to determine whether corporate visioning is a strategy for organizational transformation in the Nigerian textile industry.

1.3      The Objectives of the Study

Organizations having  vision means  having knowledge of where to  go  and  a greater control over the future so as to help them cope with and survive competitive challenges. With globalization, the Nigerian Textile Industry cannot be indifferent. Therefore, the objectives of the study are:

1.        To determine the relationship between corporate visioning and employee motivation.

2.        To evaluate the extent of implementation of corporate visioning between the  distressed  and  the  non-  distressed  operating  textile  firms  in  the Nigerian Textile Industry.

3.        To determine the relationship between corporate visioning and innovation in Nigerian textile industry.

4.        To   determine   the   relationship   between   corporate   visioning   and organizational transformation.

5.        To ascertain the impact of corporate visioning on customer satisfaction in the Nigerian Textile Industry.

6.      To identify the impact of visionary leadership on organizational transformation.

1.4      Research Questions

The following research questions will guide the study:

1.        Is  there  a  relationship  between  Corporate  Visioning  and  Employee

Motivation?

2.         What is the extent of implementation of Corporate Visioning between the distressed and the non- distressed operating textile firms in the Nigerian Textile Industry?

3.        Is there a relationship between Corporate Visioning and Innovation in the

Nigerian Textile Industry?

4.        Is there a relationship between Corporate Visioning and Organizational

Transformation?

5.        How does Corporate Visioning impact on Customer Satisfaction in the

Nigerian Textile Industry?

6.        How     does     Visionary     Leadership     impact     on     Organizational

Transformation?

1.5      Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses are designed for the achievement of the aforementioned objectives.

1.           HO1:    There is no relationship between corporate visioning and employee motivation.

H1:      There is a relationship between corporate visioning and     employees’

motivation.

2          Ho2:    There is no difference between the distressed and the non-  distressed operating  Nigerian  textile  firms  in  their  level  of  corporate  visioning implementation.

H2:     There  is  a  difference  between  the  distressed  and  the  non-distressed operating Nigerian textile firms in their level of corporate visioning implementation.

3         Ho3:    There is no relationship between corporate visioning and innovation in the

Nigerian textile industry.

H3:     There is a relationship between corporate visioning and innovation in the

Nigerian textile industry.

4          Ho4:    There is no relationship between corporate visioning and organizational transformation.

H4:     There is a relationship between corporate visioning and organizational transformation.

5          Ho5:    Corporate visioning in the textile industry does not significantly impact on customer satisfaction.

H5:     Corporate visioning in the textile industry does significantly impact on customer satisfaction.

6         H o6:   Visionary Leadership does not significantly impact on Organizational

Transformation.

H6:     Visionary   Leadership   does   significantly   impact   on   Organizational

Transformation.

1.6      The Significance of the Study

This study is  significant when one considers that  the Nigerian textile industry occupies a place of dominance in Nigerian industrial scene as it has the capacity to be the largest single non-government employer of labour and a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as a result the study becomes a necessity.

This study is  also  significant  because  it  will create the  much needed awareness of Corporate Visioning as a management concept that industries should embrace in order to transform and reposition themselves for global competition.

It is expected that the following will benefit and use the information from the study: Strategic Managers of the Textile firms, Researchers and Students of Business  Policy  and  Strategy,  Strategic  Management  and  Business Administrators.

Another significance of this study stems from the fact that  its proper implementation will enable the Nigerian textile firms to compete favorably with their foreign counterparts, consequently smuggling and dumping of fabrics will be drastically reduced if not completely eradicated.

1.7      Scope of the Study

The study was restricted to Corporate Visioning as a strategy for organizational transformation in the twelve selected textile firms. The areas the study covered were four textile manufacturing zones in the country.  The zones covered were Kano and Kaduna in the North and Oki/Isolo and Igalu/Ikeja in the South.

Five firms were selected from the North zones comprising of four distressed and one non-distressed operating textile firms.  Also seven firms were selected from the South zones, comprising also of five distressed and two non- distressed operating textile firms.  These firms were chosen because they were the entities observed. As a result the workers of these firms would be able to give adequate information required.

1.8      Limitations of the study

A study of this nature cannot be carried out without the researcher being faced with a number of limitations.

Time constituted part of the constraints that the researcher encountered in the course of the study. Owing to the constraint, the researcher could not cover all the textile firms in the country.

Finance was also a limitation that hindered the researcher from covering all the textile firms the country.

Another limitation is the inability to use all the employees.  However, the researcher made extensive use of the respondents selected from the textile firms from the four textile manufacturing zones in the country.

The study is also limited by the inability of some respondents to accurately interpret and fill the questionnaire in order to have reliable data. Coupled with this, was that some respondents of the selected firms were unwilling to cooperate. Others were apprehensive of the researcher’s intention suspecting that the researcher  may disclose their  organizations’ information to  their  competitors. Thus, limiting the availability of some of the vital data for the investigation.

Despite these limitations, the result of the study can still be relied upon, especially when the reliability of the instrument and the category of the respondents are taken into consideration.

1.9      Operational Definitions of Terms

In this  section,  the  focal terms and  concepts used  in  the  study were defined.   The following definitions were adopted as operational definitions for this study.

Corporate Vision:   This is a positively stated idea of where an organization wants to be in the future which should be better than the status quo and the idea must be shared with everyone in the organization so as to motivate them to attain the goal.

. Vision Statement: This is a statement of what an organization wants to become in the future.

Mission Statement: This is a statement of organization‘s reason for existence as regards to what an organization does now (Pearce, 1982:15).

A Visionary Leader: This is defined as a leader with great aspiration that drives everyone around to reach his visionary target.

Organizational Culture or Corporate Culture:  This is a set of values, beliefs and  behavior  patterns that  form the  core  identity of organizations, and  help shaping the employees’ behavior (Deal and Kennedy, 1982:13).

Organizational Values:  This is the behavior that an organization cherished and over the time it becomes the guiding principles of the organization.

Innovation:   This is  considered as an ability to  be creative  and  having the capacity to match the external environment, and dominate it.

Organizational Transformation:  This is defined as the shift from one state of being to another, where the new state is better able to meet the more sophisticated demands of the environment than the old state.

A Strategy:   This is  a consistent, appropriate and  feasible set  of principles through which a particular company hopes to achieve its stated objectives (Anugwom, 2005:105).

Globalization: This is the process of change towards global economic integration and a world economy characterized by liberation of trade, and rapid diffusion of advanced technologies and consumption patterns (Anugwom, 2005:125).

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