Three Organizational Changes Seen as a Business Situation in the Media - Coursework Example

Running Head: Three Organizational Changes (Management) seen as a Business Situation in the Media Student’s name Institution Course Professor Date Introduction Change has become an inevitable event in the contemporary world and many companies are working hard to ensure this phenomenon never leaves them behind (Waddell, 2011). The bulging demand for firms to make a change is due to the constant changes in the environment set up and the rate at which these changes occur. Many organisations have therefore been restricting their organisations due to various reasons some of which Harvey and Brown, (1996) highlighted. Among the reasons that compels different firms to contemplate a change according to these two scholars are deregulated by the central authority, privatization of public institutions, technological renovation and innovations, expansion of services to other countries, changes in top leadership, social and even economic strain. In light of the previously mentioned sources of pressures for innovation, many firms may initiate a particular change or adopt a combination of changes that best suits them. According to Waddell (2007), some of these changes may include changes in organisational cultures, downsizing of the workforce, engineering various production methods, removing certain unnecessary structures, exploring foreign markets, adopting new technologies, introducing new products among others. Up to this point, it is of essence to comprehend the real connotation of the term change within the framework of organization as defined by various scholars. To start with, Jick (1996, p.1) gives the simplest and the shortest definition of the term change as a planned or unplanned response to external forces. In his definition, it is apparent that for a firm to initiate a programme in changing certain things in the organisation there must have been pressure exerted upon the firm. The external forces that he uses in his definition have been discussed in the first paragraph of the discussion. Huber (1993) gives a candid definition of organizational change as the difference in how an organisation functions, who its members and leaders are, what form it takes, or how it allocates its resources. His definition of change summarises everything on the forms of changes in a company. Robbins and Judge (2009) goes ahead to recognise the fact the company can never have asuccessful implementation of any programme without resistance, whether external or from within the organization. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify different changes that specific organizations; three to be precise, have adopted in trying to absorb the external forces and turn it to its advantage or reduce its negative effects on the firm. The paper sourced most of the details about the change that these companies have carried out over time from the available journals from the companies’ websites. Hewlett Packard limited (HP) Fobres magazine ranked Hp in 2013 as one of the top ten biggest companies that hire more graduates than any other firm in the world. Over the past, this company has been evolving to offer affordable products to its consumers and improve on its sales volume. Concurrently, the American government and other environmentalist have been keen and piling pressure on the manufacturers of computer and its peripherals to adopt more environmental friendly products. Over the recent past, the American government have been passing a series of regulatory acts to confine these firms within a certain limit of environmental pollution. These laws intend to limit particularly the amount of the industrial wastes that these firms emit and make them responsible for their actions. For this reason, most of the companies that produce computers and computer products such as printers, monitors have undergone a great revolution to ensure that they stay firm in the market and at the same time adhere to these stringent legislations. Among the changes that took place resulted in the production of TFT screens that have replaced the old CRT. The latter had many environmental effects including the problem of being disposed after outliving its useful life. The CRT was associated with pollution of landfill and consumption of a lot of energy when in use. It had also the problem of emitting poisonous chemicals that could be harmful if not well disposed. Following the pressure from environmentalist and the overall awareness of the effects of global warming, the USA government formulated various policies that could help minimize environmental degradation of these products. HP as a company that deals majorly with the production of computer hardware was compelled to adapt safe production methods and concurrently try to maintain, if not to increase its sales volume and value, Lowitt and Grimsley (2009). Eventually, this has led to the transformational change as scholars nowadays call it. These small computers have replaced the big ones and it has seen the introduction of laptops. The company records show that the production of laptops has surpassed the production of desktop computers by almost half, Lowitt and Grimsley (2009). The company has initiated a recycling program for its products. In fact, the company has over collection points in around 66 countries for its used products that the company recycles. The stringent legislation is also pressurising the company to be more innovative and develop products that are more environmentally friendly. Key among was the engineering of the CRT monitors that are also being phased out with the introduction of TFT screens. As if the usage of TFT was still not comforting, the company invested heavily in research that has also seen the introduction of LCD screens (HP Editions, 2012). Consumers prefer these monitors more as compared to the TFT screens because the chemicals that the company uses to produce this product consumes less power and saves them much money, Geert (2007).During this period that scholars call as transitional change, the company has seen an increment of its annual profits by a huge margin. Though they are a bit expensive initially, in the end the consumers save a lot due to its low energy consumption and the super resolution that it comes with. The company has also tremendously reduced the size of the computers. In effect, this saw the introduction of laptop computers that are more preferred to desktops due to its portability, (HP Editions, 2012) In order to counter competition from other computer firms effectively, Hewlett-Packard has initiated a joint production of TFT and LCD screens with its rival computer-producing firm, Compaq as Stace (1996) predicted. The two companies have started producing computers with their names on it, HP-Compaq, Fiorina (2002). This alone led to several changes to occur as far as its top-notch leadership is concerned. The process of decision making concerning various issues adopted demands now demands a thorough consultative approach in particular matters that could potential impact on the products that they produce jointly. Although there have been numerous changes in the company, the above-mentioned are the most conspicuous ones that have had a greater impact on the production of the computers and its components. On the face of resistance, the management can report very little on the same because the top management of the organisation headed the implementations of these changes. Other than this factor, the changes that occurred in the company resulted to increased profits and such a change even an employee cannot object to because the prosperity of the company is a concrete assurance of their job security. Bank of Queensland Bank of Queensland is a bank in Australia with around 270 branches all over the country. The bank has been in operation since its inception in 1874 and remains to be one among the banks in the country that has managed to dodge the rampant take over by banks that many consider big due to their sizeable financial base, (JP Morgan Investor Conference, 2008). The company is among the 100 companies ranked by market capitalisation on the Australian Securities Exchange and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority that is country deems to be the Authorised Deposit-taking Institution regulates its operations. Although the bank has been facing bruising competition from other financial institutions, it has managed to overcome these challenges by adopting appropriate measures when need be. One of the most notable changes in the history of the bank was when it had merged with the Home Building Society and Pioneer that has seen the growth of its customer base to the current 650,000 clients. The merger assisted the company to trim the stiff competition that was eating into its profits and even threatened its closure, (Davis, 2007). Other than that, the company has also diversified its financial products to make it appealing to its customers. Some of the products that are advertised in the media and even posted on their official websites seems to very attractive and any reasonable person with the need of the product can hardly anticipate for an alternative bank for the same product. One of the products is the recently launched is the “web saving accounts” that attracts an annual interest rate of 4.35%, (http://www.boq.com.au/). This bank has integrated mobile banking with the internet that makes it convenient for its customers to access the services that the bank offers at anytime and anywhere. Additionally, the account allows for unlimited deposits from its clients at no fee at all. The bank also changes no fee for any transfers into the bank account contrary to what used to happen initially where the bank used to charge some nominal fees on the incoming funds into the account, especially when it is from a foreign country. The bank also allows for unlimited over-the-counter withdrawals from any of the bank branches. This never happened before since the bank used to peg the number of times an individual can withdraw money in a specific duration, (http://www.boq.com.au/). The modern world has not sidelined the bank too in the usage of technology. One of the evident proofs of technology is the adoption of the mobile banking. Mobile banking has become contemporary phenomena that even the bank of Queensland cannot do without its in integration with its services. This adoption of mobile banking has seen the reduction at the expense of hiring new employees since the new technology replaces takes their job, Tiwari (2006). However, the bank has also pumped good amounts of funds into seeing the implementation of these new technologies and their maintenance. Moreover, the recent introduction of website banking according to Abbey (2012) has attracted many fraudsters that have forced the bank to invest more funds in its online security systems. In trying to maintain professionalism in offering its services, the bank has adopted a rigorous process of hiring new employees. The interview is very thorough and the management aims at ensuring that the whole process assists in selecting only the best candidates get to form part of the bank’s family, (Bank of Queensland code of conduct).. The management also promote workers based on their personal hard work. In addition, the bank offers attractive remuneration to its employees barring other banks from poaching their resourceful employees. The bank of Queensland has also initiated a graduate trainee programmes. The bank started this programme to tap the best graduates from various institutions and train them in preparing them for specific tasks of the company. The bank also hires highly qualified staffs from other organisation to head different departments (Bank of Queensland code of conduct). The management at the headquarters proposes these changes to the directors of the bank who approves them or not. After the approval, the directors offer a green light for the branch managers to effect these changes. However, some of these managers due to some unspecified reasons tend to run the implementation in a slower manner than had been anticipated. For instance, the auditors’ reports in the year 1997 indicated that some branch managers did not appreciate the introduction of the CCTV cameras in the banks. Consequently, they would intentionally slow down the installation of these gadgets by delaying the contracting of the experts to install them. Another challenge that the bank has been going through is the resistance by the old employees. Some of those in the sales department complain that they have been in the field for many years and fresh graduates take over the office jobs even before the bank subjects them to fieldwork, Abbey (2012). This has not influenced well on their sales volumes that the bank sets. As a result, they have remained in the field for a longer time than expected. Nokia Nokia is a mobile company with its headquarters in Espoo, Finland and exclusively deals with the manufacturing of mobile phones and other portable devices. The company has been struggling to keep a foot in the market despite the ever-increasing stiff competition from other big firms like Samsung. In 2012, the company annual report showed that it had employees of over 100,000 in all its branches located in approximately 120 countries globally. Fobres magazine ranked the company second place in the world after Samsung among mobile producing companies with the global market share of about 18%. The company faced a very bruising competition from other Smartphone companies that saw it lose around 40% of its total market share to its rivals, (Nokia 2012 financial reports). The company had been the largest mobile firm since 1998 to 2012. However, the invention of the android enabled Smart phones has left the company with a big dent in its sales volume, Wayne Lam (2012). In countering its rivals, the company collaborated with Microsoft that saw the replacement of Symbian; a company that used to provide Nokia with its mobile applications, with the Windows phone that Microsoft creates. However, the partnership did not help anything but ended up making the situation even worse. By January 2013, the company had dropped from its first position as the largest seller of smart phones to tenth position. In a bid to rescue the company from falling apart, Microsoft announced its interest of acquiring the company but the top management of the firm has not approved it. Normally, directors of any company may resort to such desperate measures like mergers and takeovers if they are convinced that the company can never return to its normal operations or it might take long to redeem itself again (Burker and Noumair, 2002). Nokia had maintained a firm grip on the mobile manufacturing industry because it had a wide capital base, Chetan (2013). This enabled the company to have a valuable goodwill that made it very easy to sell its products. Consumers believed that the company was producing products that were genuine and customers could easily identify counterfeits from the original phones, Abbey (2013). Its interface made it easy to use even among the old guards. However, the mobile industry has revolutionized over the past decade and it seems that Nokia has a company took long to bend to these changes. In return, it ended up losing its customers to other firms easily. They did realise very late that things were not right a bit late and to salvage the company to its initial market status is proving to be a nightmare for its directors. The changes that the company is effecting including increased financial allocations for advertising is not helping that much, Pangarkar, (2011). Records from the company do not indicate any internal resistance on these changes. However, the directors are facing very tough and rough time in explaining to its shareholders on what exactly happened to warrant such a big loss of its loyal customers. In fact, this is the sole reason as why the directors are still reluctant in letting the company go to Microsoft that has showed a keen interest in acquiring the company by proposing a financial offer to the directors that is so tempting. As things stand right now in the company, the next move of the company’s management on whether to sell the company or not would have a very huge impact on it. Conclusion In this ever-changing world, which has turned into global village, the companies are under immense pressure to meet the demands of its clients in order to stay in the market. These forces impel companies through the management to evoke some of these changes depending on the sector that they operate in and occasionally the strategy that its competitor resorts to (Doyle, 2002). In such a circumstance, the management of the company should try as much as possible to create several options from which they are able to choose the best alternative in the midst of the rest. This is indispensable because some of these strategies could be detrimental to the company and may hurt the company as demonstrated by the working of Oreg, (2006) and further illustrated by the given example of Nokia. On the same line, it is also important for the directors of the company to have at the back of their mind that refusing to pull a change is sometimes making a change itself (Erwin, 2010). Analysis of Nokia has also helped in bringing out this point clearly. On the same not, it is also evident that the pressures for change emanate from various directions and the company should evaluate and single out the most pressing one and then rank these changes for execution. Once it is done with one of the needs for change, it is obvious that other pressures for transition would be absorbed halfway (Anderson, 2001). Nevertheless, implementation of a particular change could also create need for another change (Kotter, 2008). This was illustrated the example of Bank of Queensland that introduced mobile and online banking services. In effect, these new changes forced the bank to enhance and strengthen its overall security systems. Reference Abbey, G. (2012), Queensland Marketer: The BOQ Owner-Manager Story. Queensland: Australian Marketing Institute Abbey, R. (2013), Increase in fake mobile phones cost manufacturers billions of money. London; Centage publishers Anderson, D. (2001). The Change Leader's Roadmap: How to Navigate Your Organization's Transformation. New jersey: Kindle. Anderson, N. K. (1995). Innovation and Change in Organizations. London: Routledge. Burker and Noumair (2002). The role and function of personality assessment in organization development. London. Brown, D. a. (2011). lOrganisation development and reinventing the organisation, in An experiential approach to organization development, 8th edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Brown, D. R. (2005). An experiential approach to organization development2005. New Jersey: Prentice Hal. Carleton S. Fiorina (2002). Social and environmental responsibility report innovation, community, sustainability. Hanover Street: Hewlett-Packard Company Chetan Sharma (2013). What (really) drives mobile device market performance? A mobile future forward research series paper Davis, K. (2007). Community Banking, Bank Consolidation and Bank Valuations. Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies vol. 1 pg 1 Doyle, T. (2002). Deontological International Ethics. London. Eric M. Lowitt & Jim Grimsley (2009). Hewlett-Packard: Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage. Erwin, D. G. (2010). Resistance to organizational change: linking research and practice. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(1), 39-56. Forbes magazine Glick, W. H., & Huber, G. P. (1995). Organizational change and redesign: Ideas and insights for improving performance. New York, NY [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press. Geert Carrein (2007).Characteristics of CRT and LCD displays. London: Display systems Harvey, P. H. (1996). New uses for new phylogenies. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press. HP Editions (2012). HP’s Environmental History. Washington DC: HP publications JICK. (1993). Manage change.Module 4 The Recipients of change JP Morgan Investor Conference (2008). Bank of Queensland. New York, USA: JP Morgan Investor Conference Kanter, S. a. (1992). The Challenge of organizational change: How companies experience it and leaders guide it. New York: Free Press. . New York: Free Press. Kotter, J. P. (2008). Choosing Strategies for Change. Harvard Business Review. Harvard: Harvard university press. O'Toole, J. (1999). Leadership A to Z: A Guide for the Appropriately Ambitious, Jossey-Bass, 1999. Jossey-Bass. Oreg, S. (2006). Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change. Journal of Work & Organizational Psychology, 15(1). Retrieved February 23, 2008, from Business Source Complete database. . Piderit, S.K. (2000) “Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: a multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organizational change”, Academy of Management Review, 25 (4), pp. 783-794. Palmer, I. D. (2006). Diagnosis for change‟, Managing organizational change: a multiple perspectives approach. New York: McGraw-Hil publishes. Pangarkar, N. (2011). High performance companies: Successful strategies from the world's top achievers. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pardo del Val, M. &. (2003). Resistance to change: A literature review and empirical study. Management Decision,. Pritchard, B. a. (1992). Changing the essence. The art of creating and leading fundamental change in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rajnish Tiwari, Stephan Buse & Cornelius Herstatt (2006) Mobile Banking as Business Strategy: Impact of Mobile Technologies On Customer Behaviour And Its Implications For Banks. Istanbul (Turkey): Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology” Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2009). Organizational behavior. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc. Schermerhorn, J. G., Hunt, J. G., & Osborn, R. N. (2005). Organizational behavior (Ninth edition). United States of America: John Wiley & Sons . Waddell, D. C. (2007). Organisation development & change. South Melbourne: Thomson. Waddell, D. C. (2011). Organisational change: Development and transformation. South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning. Wheatley, M. J. (1994). Leadership and the new science. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Inc. All about Bank of Queensland retrieved on 7th October 2013 at http://www.boq.com.au/ Global Citizenship/Hp official site-Hewlett Packard retrieved on 4th October 2013 at http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/global-citizenship/index.html About Nokia was retrieved on 5th October 2013 at http://www.nokia.com Wayne Lam (2012). Samsung Displaces Nokia as Top Cell phone Brand in 2012 and Takes Decisive Smartphone Lead Over Apple. IHS iSuppli's market intelligence Yammarino, A. (1992). Self-awareness in leadership. London: Centage. Read More