The TLC Fashion Store Discussion Order Instructions: In your first submission to the Module Project report requirements of this module, you produced a proposal that did four things:
(1) identified a relevant change driver impacting upon an organisation,
(2) suggested a suitable change process that would appropriately respond to that change driver,
(3) predicted likely stakeholder reactions to the change process you advocate and
(4) described how an existing organisational design might be amended to best accommodate the planned change.
In the second submission, you designed an expanded change management framework to support your intended change process. For this final submission, you will prepare a final project plan in support of the implementation of the change initiative introduced in the previous two submissions.
the TLC Fashion Store Discussion 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, and 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 seven weeks of this module.
• Review the feedback received on your Module Project proposal submitted in Week 3, and your Module Project outline submitted in Week 5. Ensure you incorporate any feedback suggestions into the final Module Project report you present in response to this week’s requirement.
To complete this Module Project:
Prepare and submit a final version of your project report that contains 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?
• 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: What are the factors in either or both of the external or internal operating environments, which suggest a significant element of change, are needed to the way in which this organisation works?
• 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?
• Change Initiative Overview: what is the primary aim of the change initiative that you recommend be introduced, and how should this initiative be classified?
• Key Success Factors: what specific factors and/or influences will you need to take into account in order to ensure maximum chances of a successful implementation, and what are the principal implications of those factors on the way that your change initiative is designed?
• Change Initiative Process: what process will you follow to ensure that the planned change initiative is successfully implemented within the allocated time span? What steps will you include in this process in order to enhance the chances of success in this project? To what extent will technology be used in the implementation of this process?
• Stakeholder Reactions: to what extent do you expect each stakeholder’s reaction to be positive or negative? How do you plan to deal with those reactions? What ethical considerations will need to be taken into account during this process?
• Evaluation and Assessment: how will you measure the extent to which the project is deemed to be successful, and when will this evaluation be carried out?
SAMPLE ANSWER
the TLC Fashion Store Discussion Organizational Profile
The organisation in discussion is a clothes and accessories high end store referred to as TLC Fashion Store. TLC fashion Store location is on Oxford Street in London. The approximately £ 35,000 annual income store specializes in selling of an upper-class income household client target niche for clothes, handbags, shoes, jewellery, watches and sunglasses. TLC Fashion Store employs 11 individuals at the outlet.
Organisational Structure
The most senior person in the organization is the Chief Executive Officer, who regularly meets with the board of directors to discuss the company’s strategy development and evaluation. The marketing manager, production, finance, human resources and marketing managers all report to the chief executive officer. The retail store has critical stakeholders such as distribution, manufacturing and logistics companies that facilitate prompt availability of the final products to its store and to its consumers (Ozdemir, Gozlu & Sigma, 2016: 223). The TLC Fashion Store clients form a critical group of stakeholders that will elevate the organization from its traditional mode of trading to a new online platform based system. The board of directors at TLC fashion Store are responsible for ensuring that the corporate and ethic responsibilities of the corporation are upheld. The company’s Chief Executive Officer delegates the different far-reaching and specific objectives to the senior managers such as the Chief executive Officer, Marketing and Human resources manager. The senior managers have specific duties such as the chief financial officer who documents and reports on the company’s financial position when required. The managers then make specific tasks that are to be completed by the employees in their departments. The human resources manager is ensures that the company’s human resources policies are attractive to facilitate hiring and retaining of the required talent in the organization. The human resources manager also models the required change at the company and therefore acts as a change agent (Long, Ismail & Amin, 2013: 2022). The major influencing decisions are made by the top managers. The centralized decisions are then delegated to the different employees depending on their respective departments.
the TLC Fashion Store Discussion Change Drivers
TLC Fashion Store has to attain a higher competitive level than its current one, if it is to attain a high benchmark through establishing a multichannel level as a retail outlet. The dynamic millennial client who is in the target niche should be able to shop online, and make a physical visit to the store, and find the products that they want. The internet and technology; especially handheld devices have contributed to an evolution of the brick-and-mortar trading tactics that were previously in use by the store. Many shops in the globe have been able to reach a higher number of clients through the use of online marketing and selling. Clients can search through many stores and find what they require. The clients also give “reviews” based on their customer experience. Therefore TLC Fashion Store requires an elaborate shopping system to increase its visibility, profitability, and reach a higher number of its target niche customers (Overstreet 2013). Acquiring an online shopping system will also contribute to the integration of a needed change which is the acquiring of a secure payment system. TLF fashion store has to ensure that hackers cannot access their information systems which would contribute to capturing of client private details (Banks 2014). Therefore, TLC Fashion Store has several change drivers that it should address so as to attain a higher level of competitiveness in the market, capture the entire available target niche, and ensure secure systems are available for trading. The change driver will ensure that TLC Fashion store clients can conveniently purchase the clothes and accessories that they would choose from the store, and pay for them securely, and have the items delivered at the addresses that they would give. The employees at the retail outlet would have to ensure that the required information would be available at all times such as available sizes of the different products, and additional charges to be charged based on courier fees for clients that would have their purchases delivered to them.
the TLC Fashion Store Discussion Key stakeholders
The internal stakeholders form the most critical component of the organization, because they will determine the level of success that will be attained by the organization through its interaction with external stakeholders. The value of customers is expected to go up based on their new ability to purchase products from the online store. The clients will utilize their technology devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops to access the company’s website and purchase the products that they would like.
The new online model system will contribute to the training of new and current employees in the organization. Employees such as those in the accounting, sales, and logistics departments of the organization will be trained on how to use the online model so that they can contribute to an increase in sales, and therefore TLC Fashion store’s profitability. The company might have to employ new personnel in their Information Technology department to deal with training, management, and control of traffic for the company’s website especially if sale offers are given to clients. The company could also explore the option of hiring outsourced information technology personnel to guide the employees and company in operating and management of the website and online platforms. With time, the employees could operate the website in turns once they are aware of all its parameters and can troubleshoot the website in case of any hitches.
The human resources management will have to act as the change leader during the implementation of the information technology change process within the organization. The operations manager will also be heavily involved in the integration of the required changes in the organization; pertaining an adoption of an online trading system.
The implementation of the change process in the company’s trading platform will contribute to the generation of higher shareholder’s wealth. A maximization of the shareholder’s wealth will in turn contribute to higher ratings of the company since it will be viewed as being profitable. Profitable companies usually attract a high number of investors; which is bound to increase the company’s net worth and create confidence among the shareholders (Parmenter, 2015: 46).
The employees are expected to bear questions on how the new online trading platform will contribute to changes in their roles in the firm. Some of the employees might feel that the extra tasks related to the online trading platform would warrant extra pay. However, the firm would have spent in integration of the website and introduction of parameters related to online trading on other departments’ software. The sales, accounting, and logistics departments trading applications will have to be updated to suit the new information technology changes. Therefore, the changes in the pay made to employees might not be immediate, but will take place with an increase in the firm’s profitability. The employees will also be expected to be aware of the extra charges that the clients will have to pay based on the courier charges to be incurred. The distribution based stakeholder will be asked to provide the fixed or range of prices that should be expected to be paid by clients so that they would include the charges on the money that they would pay; and therefore increase convenience. The employees that contribute to an increase in the company’s sales levels will be rewarded with bonuses to ensure that their morale and motivation is kept high Muchanan 2011).
Overview in Change Initiative
All the different employees will play major roles in contributing to the change process at TLC fashion store. However, the human resources manager will be the main change leader. TLC Fashion Store’s human resources manager will work with the different department leaders to initiate a communication and training plan to the employees. The employees will have to be briefed on the importance of the change so that they adapt the required attitude in making the required change. The change will contribute to value addition and increased profitability for TLC fashion store.
The provision of an online platform through which TLC fashion store company clients can access its products is aligned to the company’s vision and mission. The firm intends on increasing its client numbers in the target niche, increasing profits, and becoming a multinational. A punctuated equilibrium culture adoption will contribute to the company model’s solidification and stability in future. Therefore, the current and future changes will not act in destabilization of operations, employees and other critical stakeholders’ opinion and operations. TLC Fashion Store will adopt a model that will be used even when other changes in its model is required. The competitive nature of retail business requires that organizations adopt changes in a fast manner. The multichannel framework that TLC Fashion Store adopts will contribute to stabilizing of the company’s core structures, values, and culture. TLC Fashion Store employees will also adopt an increased sense of loyalty based on the attainment of information technology competencies that they did not bear before joining the company. The organization’s dynamic model will contribute in the cultivation of a positive attitude among employees, and increase in the levels of productivity through the leaders and executives in the organization (Mayfield 2014). Therefore, TLC’s adoption of an online model will contribute to the required mission and vision attainment.
Key Success Factors
According to Cassell and Bird (2013: 211), the key success factors that are used by an organization are critical for its continuous improvement in factors such as productivity and profitability. According to Ozdemir, Gozlu & Sigma (2016: 225), the key success factors ensure that employees cascade their goals to that of the organization. The key success factors at TLC Fashion Store would include the alignment of the technology based goals into the employees’ personal lives. The employees at the TLC Fashion Store should install and accommodate the company’s shopping application on their personal phones and tablet. Installation of the technology-based application on their gadgets would portray TLC employees’ commitment to the organization’s change initiative and long-term success. There should also be consistent communication between the employees and staff members at the company so that any issues or challenges are addressed promptly.
A key success factor would be the manager’s involvement in the implementation of the change process in the organization. The manager should offer step by step guidance to the employees and check on any assistance that they may require in achieving their set guidelines (Todorovic, Mitrovic & Bjelica, 2013: 43).
The employees would have to be trained on how to post the clothes and accessory items on the company’s website and social media pages. The employees would also receive training on how to ensure that secure payments are made, and client details remain uncompromised. The employees would have to install the recommended security software to ensure security against hacking or any breach of the company’s site and information systems. The employees would take turns in posting, updating and responding to enquires about the company’s products on the online forums. The participation of all the employees would ensure that they all felt like part of the change process and success.
the TLC Fashion Store Discussion Change Initiative Process
Technology application would be the main focus in the change initiative process. The employees would be briefed of the proposed changes, and their role in ensuring its success. The stakeholders of the organization would also be informed of the change initiative that the organization would be taking, and the expected success factors that would be expected to be achieved. The stakeholders would welcome the change based on the convenience and benefits that they would be set to achieving. The employees would be briefed on their specific tasks, and the timelines within which the objectives would be attained. Therefore, the employees would be ready to team with their colleagues to attain the set goals. The employees would be asked to make recommendations on the changes that TLC would make, since they would be the personnel executing the proposed change on the ground. It is expected that a change from the brick and mortar system to an extensive technology based system would trigger some resistance. However, the TLC management team would all be involved in the change process to ensure modelling of the expected changes by the corporation’s leaders.
Evaluation and Assessment for the TLC Fashion Store Discussion
The success of the project will be based on the profitability of the company’s business operations, and user feedback that will be given to the TLC staff members. There is an expected rise in profits that is expected by the organization based on an increase in the level of availability and accessibility of the company’s products. The company would contract the best available logistics partner in delivering the required products to clients (Deville, Ferrier, Leleu, 2014: 30). The logistics partner would be assessed on their promptness in delivering the clients’ products, and the feedback from clients such as friendliness and the safe state of their clothes and accessories. The logistics partner would only be involved in the delivery of the required products, and would not handle funds, since approval for delivery would only be made after payment by the customer. The success of the change initiate would also be based on the feedback that employees would give to the managers.
The TLC Fashion Store Discussion Bibliography
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