Organizational profile
Order Instructions:
In your first submission to the Module Project requirements of this module, you produced a proposal that would identify a relevant change driver impacting upon an organisation with which you are familiar.
The proposal would:
•Suggest a suitable change process that would appropriately respond to that change driver
•Identify likely stakeholder reactions to the change process you advocate
•Describe how an existing organisational design might be amended to best accommodate the planned change.
In this week’s activity, you will design an expanded change management framework to support your intended change process. This will, in turn, function as a base for the final change management project plan, due in Week 7.
Scenario reminder
Your role in this project is to identify a specific change driver that you consider especially relevant to an organisation of your choice. You are challenged to apply the theoretical principles discussed in this module to the specification of an appropriate process that will successfully respond to the demands of that change driver. You are encouraged to use your own current employer, and its current operating environment, as a base for the preparation of this project. It is, however, permissible to use an alternative organisation with which you are sufficiently familiar.
To prepare for this Module Project:
• Review the material studied during the first 5 weeks of this module.
• Review the feedback received on your project proposal, and incorporate any feedback suggestions into the framework you present in response to this week’s requirement.
To complete this Module Project:
Prepare and submit a preliminary outline version (approximately 1100 words) of what will eventually be your final Module Project report due in Week 7. Your outline version this week should contain the following sections:
• Organisational Profile: what is the name of the organisation you propose to use, where is it located, what is its primary business and approximately how many staff does it employ? (If there are any concerns about any aspect of commercial sensitivity, it is permissible to use an assumed name for the organisation you select).
• Organisational Structure: how are human and other resources arranged within this organisation, what levels of seniority exist and how are those levels of seniority connected through formal reporting lines? (A structure diagram would be useful here.) To what extent is the decision process centralised in the senior management team, and to what extent is it devolved to lower levels in the organisation?
• Change Drivers: to what extent does this organisation currently align with the principle of punctuated equilibrium? What are the factors in either or both of the external or internal operating environments that suggest a significant element of change is needed to the way in which this organisation works? Each change driver you identify should be categorised according to the criteria presented in relation to the Week 2 Deseret News case.
• Key Stakeholders: who are the individuals, groups and organisations who will be most directly affected by the type of change that is indicated by change driver analysis? To what extent do you expect each stakeholder’s reaction to be positive or negative? What are the primary ‘unanswered questions’ that you expect to receive?
• Change Initiative Overview: what is the primary aim of the change initiative that you recommend be introduced, and how could this initiative be classified in terms of the parameters suggested by Nasim & Sushil? How will success or failure in this initiative be measured? What ethical considerations need to be taken into account as the initiative is designed?
SAMPLE ANSWER
Organizational profile
The organization I intend to use in identification of a relevant change driver affecting it is TLC Fashion Store. The real name of the company is not applicable to avoid misinterpretations. TLC Fashion Store is located in Oxford Street, London, and its core business is the sale of cloths and accessories. The company is strategic in offering high-end clothes, women shoes, jewelry, handbags, and also sunglasses for both men and women. As a small sized firm, the firm targets young adults between the ages of 18 to 35 with income averaging $30,000-40,000. Currently, TLC store has 11 employees with the number expected to increase over the years.
Organizational structure
TLC configures its resources, financial, human, and physical, in a way that it meets the demands of the industry and its stakeholders (Cavalcante 2014). Financial resources are handled by the accounting department, and continuous audit is carried out to ensure that the existing funds such as cash balances, working capital, and debt; and the potential of raising extra funds from investors and listing of the firm in Stock Exchange are consistent with the firm’s strategies. Human resources are managed by HRM manager who is mandated to recruit, select, and train employees to match to the needs of the various job categories. Finished products are bought from suppliers and stored in-house while the marketing and logistics department is given the role of warehousing, distribution, and advertising the products to potential customers.
Each department is managed by a manager who reports to the executive director. The executive manager is responsible for the design of strategic vision of firm including change processes. He then decentralizes operational decisions to the departmental managers. Since it’s a small firm, the CEO handles the corporate vision of the firm and the departmental are mandated with decisions specific to their functional units, which have to be in line with the overall firm’s strategic vision as illustrated in the diagram.
Source: Cavalcante, 2014.
Change drivers
TLC Fashion Store uses the traditional brick-and-mortar model of carrying out business. Customers have to come to the store to order and purchase products. With the evolution of technology and the rise in consumer bargaining power, it is impeccable for the firm to adopt the online business model. Apart from quality, affordability, and differentiation, modern consumers prefer time and place convenience (Reeves and Deimler 2011). Thus, the need to increase consumer’s value through the offered products is a significant change driver to TLC Company. To align the firm with the vision of becoming multinational, it is necessary to change the current organizational structure, which, according to the principle of punctuated equilibrium, will give the company a solid foundation in case of random market changes. The firm’s vision is clear and demonstrates the ability to perform tasks in different ways to achieve different results or the same results sustainably. Therefore the firm is in need of change due to the realization that customers are the most paramount stakeholders, and their changing needs have to be sustained. Moreover, the transformation is a long-term event that should be carried at the onset to avoid incurring heavy expenses, and if done at the right time, it is possible to align other stakeholders without much resistance. A firm aligned with the principle of punctuated equilibrium has sustained growth amidst periods of changes, and since TLC’s financial, human, and physical resources are strategically aligned and equipped to its vision, it is possible to initiate a change without disrupting its core structures.
TLC is supposed to combine the conventional model with the online business model so as to operate a multi-channel framework so that consumers can use either of the models or combine both of them at their convenience. An online platform allows consumers to order, purchase, and make payments online using their phones and other computerized gadgets (Mayfield 2014). It is, therefore, recommendable for TLC to institute an online model so that customer’s value is increased.
Key stakeholders
Customers, employees, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, employees, and the government constitute TLC’s stakeholders. All of these stakeholders are likely to be affected when TLC uses a multi-channel model to run its operations. Customers value is going to be increased since they will be able to purchase and pay for products online using their phones. Employees especially in the logistics, accounting, and sales department would have to be trained on the model to maximize its profitability and use. New employees may be added in the IT department or tasks added to some of the employees which would involve additional incentives to motivate them. Thus, human resource and operational management would have to assimilate the new model in the day to day activities of the firm which would require a change management program for the employees to understand its importance. Executive manager is endowed with the mandate of facilitating the implementation and maintenance of change process thus his he would also be impacted. Shareholders would likely get an increase in dividends and the firm’s share price, and public confidence would increase leading to sustainable growth.
Most of the stakeholders are likely to react positively to the change initiative with the exception of competitors who are already using the online model. Also, some employees may not perceive the change positively if extra tasks are added thus requiring the management to carry out extensive change management education to ensure that all employees are in line with the change (Muchanan 2011). Some questions that would be asked by employees is how the change would impact their roles in the firm, and customers might seek to know whether the price of goods will vary depending on the channel used to purchase them. For such, it is important to note to the employees that their roles may change depending on their functional unit; for instance, sales team would have to include online marketing and selling of the goods in their assignments. Price for goods may have to include distribution costs depending on the location of the customer.
The change initiative involves the formation of a multi-channel business model that combines the mortar-and-brick concept with the online platform. The change is aimed at increasing customer’s value and aligning the firm with the principle of punctuated equilibrium which will make it grow amidst market changes at a sustainable level. The initiative is categorized as an e-governance approach that encompasses all the functions of a firm to produce positive results. The success of the initiative will be measured by the changes in sales level, employee productivity, and the overall growth of the firm. To ensure the initiative is successful and aligned with the goals of the firm, ethical considerations that need to be considered include the provision of correct information about a product to customers, safeguarding customer’s confidential information while doing transactions, and maintenance of high levels of integrity.
References
Banks, S 2014, Drivers of change: Retail industry in Australia. SIES Journal of Management, 14, 1, pp. 3-8, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 29 August 2016.
Buchanan, DA 2011 Reflections: Good practice, not rocket science – understanding failures to change after extreme events. Journal of Change Management, 11(3): 273-288
Cavalcante, SA 2014, Designing business model change. International Journal of Innovation Management, 18(2): 1-20
Mawby, E 2011, How to succeed in the retail industry. Journal Of Business & Retail Management Research, 6, 2, pp. 1-12, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 August 2016.
Mayfield, P 2014, Engaging with stakeholders is critical when leading change. Industrial and Commercial Training, 46(2): 68 – 72
Overstreet, J 2013, What’s driving change in retail? Retail insiders on the evolution of the industry. Ekonomski Anali / Economic Annals, 54, 209, pp. 105-127, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 August 2016
Reeves and Deimler, 2011. Adaptability: The new competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review, 89 (7).
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