TLC Fashion Store Organization Module Project Order Instructions: The purpose of this Module Project is to assess your ability to identify a relevant change driver impacting upon an organization with which you are familiar.
It will challenge you to
(1) devise a suitable change process that will appropriately respond to that change driver,
(2) identify the likely stakeholder reactions to the change process you advocate and
(3) describe how the existing organizational design might be amended to best accommodate the planned change.
TLC Fashion Store Organization Module Project Scenario
Your role in this project is to identify a specific change driver that you consider especially relevant to an organization 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 organization with which you are sufficiently familiar.
To prepare for this Module Project:
• Review the material studied during the course, ((All materials files are sent by email))
•Review the scenario and decide what organization you would like to use as the basis for your report. To ensure you can access all necessary information, use a company you know well or one for which you can get detailed information.
To complete this Module Project:
Prepare and submit an initial project proposal of approximately 550 words that addresses the following questions:
• What is the name of the organization 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 organization you select).
• Using the value creation-modus operand-value capture concept, what is the business model used by this organization? To what extent does this business model rely on the application of new technologies?
• What is the one change driver that is of particular relevance to this organization’s current situation?
• What significant change would you recommend the organization implement in order to address the identified change driver?
• Who are the key individuals and groups with legitimate stakeholder interest in the change process you recommend?
TLC Fashion Store Organization Module Project Sample Answer
ODC Project W3
The name of the organization is TLC Fashion Store; this is an assumed name. The company’s real name is not used since there are concerns with regard to some aspects of commercial sensitivity. In other words, an assumed name is used in order to protect the anonymity of the selected company, which is a fashion retail store. The store is situated in London’s Oxford Street. Its primary business is to sell high-end clothes, shoes, watches, women handbags, sunglasses, and jewelry. The retail store stocks products for men and women aged between 18 years to 34 years, who have an annual income of over £35,000. At the moment, the retailer has a workforce of 11 people.
Using the value creation-modus operand-value capture concept, it is determined that at the moment, the business model that TLC Fashion Store uses is a business model that involves selling its high-end fashion products only in-store; it does not allow online shopping. The store uses the conventional brick-and-mortar store whereby it relies on customers to enter the store, select a product, make a purchase, and exit. This model does not rely very much on the application of new technologies (Cavalcante 2014). It makes limited use of new technologies since the company’s only use of technologies is the fact that it has a website which it uses to advertise but not to sell its wide range of products.
The one change driver which is of particular relevance to TLC Fashion Store’s present situation is certainly the use of a multi-channel store whereby the retailer can combine both the brick-and-mortar store with online shopping. These days, consumers are very much empowered thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and other internet-enabled hand-held devices which have in fact shifted the power from retailers to shoppers (Overstreet 2013). Shoppers nowadays utilize their smartphones and other Internet-enabled hand-held devices to search online, shop and pay for products. As such, it is important that retailers adopt new technologies which would allow their shoppers to shop online, purchase a product online and pay online (Banks 2014). The significant change that I would recommend TLC Fashion Store to implement so as to address the identified change driver is to change and become a multi-channel retailer that not only has a physical brick-and-mortar store, but also has an online presence that allows consumers to shop online for its various products and pay online with the use of smartphones or other Internet-enabled hand-held devices.
In the recommended change process, the key groups and individuals who have a legitimate stakeholder interest include customers; the company’s top managers including the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Senior Marketing Manager; employees; and government regulatory agencies. Customers are a key group of stakeholders since most customers would like to shop for products online and pay online and TLC Fashion Store will greatly improve the shopping experience and convenience of its customers when it allows them to shop and pay online using their smartphones. TLC Fashion Store’s top managers are also a key stakeholder group since they make the decision to implement the change in the organization, they execute the change, and ensure that the change actually sticks by incorporating it in the company’s corporate culture (Mayfield 2014). Employees are key stakeholders since the change would be futile if they do not accept it. Therefore, it would be important that TLC Fashion Store’s senior managers convince the employees to accept the change by telling them about the benefits of the change to them, to customers, and to the company in general so that they do not resist it (Buchanan 2011). Government regulatory agencies are also a vital stakeholder group since the new website which allows online shopping and online payment will have to comply with relevant laws and regulations pertaining to online payment and online cash transactions or else it may not be approved by the authorities.
TLC Fashion Store Organization Module Project 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 26 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 26 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 26 August 2016.
