A Re-managed Heart in Retail Change - Essay Example

?A Re-managed Heart in Retail Change Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Influence of external environment on the organizational behavior of food retailers like Stox Stores 3 Relationship between organizational culture and organizational development can influence the way change is managed 4 Effective change for Stox Store’s using Theory of Change 5 Leadership styles and approaches available to the Stox Stores management team and recommendations for more appropriate style 9 Stox Store’s Current HRM approach 10 Reference 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction The domain of organizational behavior helps the managers to understand, learn and work with their workplace. With better understanding of the workplace and behavior of the organization the managers are better prepared for the different situations which may arise in the business. He needs to understand the internal as well as the external environment to cope different critical situations. There are several internal and external factors like the cultural change, technological changes, social behavior and economical changes often influence in the change of organization behavior. Influence of external environment on the organizational behavior of food retailers like Stox Stores In this report we can see the food retailers like Stox Stores needs to change their business practices and organization behavior due to the change in technological development and also because of the social changes that occurs externally from time to time. The use of technology helps the competitors’ to providing better productivity and at a low cost. New products are developed at a shorter time and also at low cost which in turn increase demand for the product. To compete in this situation the organizational changes are required in the field of technology to meet the demand of the customers. The changes in the pattern of consumer behavior also lead to changes in technology for the food retailers. Various online stores with the facility of home delivery attracts customer in this busy world (Bakan et. al, n.d. p.8). Another important factor affecting the organizational behaviors’ is the social factor. The behaviors of the customer are changing with time with the change in their lifestyle. Companies need to be more customers centric these days to meet the demand of the customers. Society is more concerned today with the type of services they get from the company. The retail chains are required to manage their operations thinking about the demands of the market. Better service from the company, increase customer loyalty, reputation of the company which in turn increases the market share of the company. The customer centric approach is the modern trend in business process. The services provided by the company should satisfy the needs in respect of customer care, pricing and also the availability. In food retailer industry the management should be smooth so that the customers don’t face any problem while buying and check out process. Cutting queuing time as well as handling the shelf is the major aspects companies should look upon very carefully with proper management and staffing (Lamp, Hair & McDaniel, 2011, p. 105). Relationship between organizational culture and organizational development can influence the way change is managed Organization development is about knowing a system and the people associated with it and then to plan for the development and changes of the organization for growth and better relationship. Organization development practitioners improve the effectiveness of the organization by applying their knowledge on different disciplines (Human Dimension, n.d.). On the other hand the organizational culture is about the personality of the company. It comprises of the firm’s values, norms and assumption of the members and their behaviors’. It’s very difficult to isolate what is culture in an organization but every employee knows what is right and wrong for the organizational culture in practice. It can be taken as systems of practices which are carried out in the organization (McNamara, 2000). Understanding the relation between the Organizational development and Organization culture is very important to implement changes. The employees with a different cultural background cannot successfully contribute to the development of the firm with the changes taking place. The firms with a practice of sharing ideas and working in teams if suddenly needs to work alone under the supervision of a hierarchical system the employees don’t feel flexible enough to perform according to the corporate norms and also the performance output goes down with the changes. With immense pressure on single position the people performance level is not up to the mark. Employees with a practice and values if suddenly told to abide by new rules and policies of the company it will the affect the company if the change is not implemented in a right way. The difference in thinking of the top management and the employees are needed to be exchanged before the change occurs. With a hierarchy system the top management doesn’t come in direct contact with the ideas of the employees who are also responsible for the growth. Only they are told to abide by the rules and strategies adopted by the company. This leads to dissatisfaction amongst the employees of the organization and thus they don’t perform for the company rather works just for their jobs (ODN Chicago, n.d.). Effective change for Stox Store’s using Theory of Change Stox Stores wanted to be the market leader in food retail industry with their customer centric strategies. This strategy needs to change the business process with its new Business Empowering Staff Terms (BEST) techniques. But the change in the process also demands some changes in other aspects of the firms for a smooth transition. For a more effective transformation the company should follow the change theory to match the culture of the employees and should implement the strategies according to the values of the company rather than a drastic change in the whole process. The theory of change can sharpen the process of planning and implementation of a new approach (Connel, Kubisch, 1998, p.2). The diagram below shows an example of a theory of change in Higher Education system. Figure 1: Theory of Change in Higher Education System (Source: Act Knowledge, n.d., p.7) This change strategy comes with several steps like – Clarify goal At first the ultimate goal is to be evaluated where the company would like to be after the implementation process. It’s generally the vision statement of the organization with a specific target. The long term goals are identified in this stage (Cameron, 2010). Here Stox wanted to develop a better customer service (Stufflebeam & Shinkfield, 2007, p. 293). Identify Powerful Strategies Then the specific strategy is identified amongst the existing strategies of the firm to meet the particular goal. These strategies include campaigns, public awareness, collaborations etc. Stox took the strategy of reducing personnel officer and handed over the responsibility to higher posts with more responsibilities. But this strategy of Stox was not suitable with the culture of the company as the employees are not trained enough to handle the pressure. Creating “So That” Chains A chain is formed to reach the goal of the organization strategy. Like when a company introduced certain actions it should lead to certain result thus forming a chain of doing ‘this’, ‘So that’ it results to ‘that’. In this way a chain leads the initial step to the final goal to be reached by the company. Stox adopted the strategy in order to reduce the manpower and saving more by giving more responsibilities to one person. With more responsibilities to single person will help them to organize the company in a more centralized manner. But on the other hand if the company would have employed more people to manage the operation then it could have managed the operation more smoothly. Link Strategies with Outcomes and Goals Several strategies help to achieve a common goal. Thus a linking of all the outcomes with the strategy is done in the change process. Common outcome can be achieved from different types of strategies. Stox needs to integrate all its departments so that every employee can know the common goal of the organization. Test the Logic and Relevance The outcomes are needed to be reviewed and the logic is evaluated for implementation of the strategies. The test results are needed to be discussed with the stakeholders to understand the needs for developments. Stox needs to improve in this step. The top management needs to discuss the ideas and the reason for adopting the specific strategy. The people involved in the business should get a clear idea about the reason for their work (Organizational Research Services, 2004, p. 23). Articulate Assumptions With the visual sketch of the outcome map it is also required to articulate the assumptions which influenced the process of designing the map. With more theories of assumptions more opportunities opens up for the company. With hypothesis testing the alternate hypothesis is rejected thus more accurate decisions are taken in the business process (Hamilton, 2009, p. 4). Stox should have analyzed other ideas to implement in their business change. Leadership styles and approaches available to the Stox Stores management team and recommendations for more appropriate style Different companies follow different types of leadership styles. Leadership can be divided into three broad divisions. These are Autocratic, Democratic and the Free Rein style of leadership. Figure 2: Leadership Styles (Source: Singla & Singla, 2009, p.177) The leadership style followed by Stox Management is mainly of Authoritative nature. The top management is only involved in taking decision and there is no involvement for the other members in the hierarchy to participate in the policy formulation process. Even at other levels the responsible person works alone only to take decision for the situation there is no team participation for taking decision. This type of leadership style often involves a huge risk in the business process. Since the departmental analysis is not done and a central decision is taken for the different strategies it often overlooks the problems which might arise for a particular decision. This type of style generates less scope than a conjoint decision (Brennen, n.d.). In case of Stox Stores the leadership style should be Democratic in nature. With this style of leadership the top management will be able to understand what the employees want to contribute and this will also motivate the employees as their ideas are also taken into consideration before taking the final decision. This type of leadership practice gives more options to the company before reaching the ultimate decision and also the possible outcomes are evaluated in a collaborative manner (Changing Minds, 2011). Stox Store’s Current HRM approach The HRM approach of Stox Store is not carried out with proper planning and evaluation of the business process. The recruitment policy and the staffing of the company need to be changed after evaluation of the process responsibilities. The process approach of HRM should be very appropriate to adopt in HRM implementation for Stox Stores. The low promotional prospect of the company doesn’t motivate the employees to work hard and loss of job due to the reduction in new practice often adds more pressure to the mind of the employees which are reflected in their work. Thus training and development is very critical before the change take place which was not at all performed before implementation of the new strategies for the organizational change. Stox needs to educate its employees and make them understand why the changes are taking place before implementation of the revolutionary changes (Paauwe, 2004, p. 21). Reference 1. Act Knowledge, (No date), Higher Education TOC, [Pdf]. Available at: http://theoryofchange.org/documents/TOCOlayoutandprintingexamples.pdf . [Accessed on: 22nd April 2011]. 2. Bakan ET. Al, (No date), The Effect of Technology on Organizational Behaviour and the Nature of Work. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.iamot.org/conference/index.php/ocs/4/paper/viewFile/644/141 . [Accessed on: 22nd April 2011]. 3. Brennen, A., (No date), Leadership Style. [Online]. Available at: http://www.soencouragement.org/leadership-styles.htm . [Accessed on: 22nd April 2011]. 4. Cameron, C., (2010), Theory of Change: A Collaborative Tool?. [Online]. Available at: http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/social-entrepreneurship/theory-of-change . [Accessed on: 22nd April 2011]. 5. Changing Minds, (2011), Lewin's leadership styles. [Online]. Available at: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/lewin_style.htm . [Accessed on: 22nd April 2011]. 6. Connel, J., Kubisch, A., (1998), Applying a Theory of change approach to the evaluation of comprehensive community initiatives: Progress, Prospects, and Problems. [Pdf]. Available at: https://communities.usaidallnet.gov/fa/system/files/Applying+Theory+of+Change+Approach.pdf . [Accessed on: 22nd April 2011]. 7. ODN Chicago, (No date), Employee Effectiveness. [Online]. Available at: http://www.odnetwork.org/odnc/whatis.htm . 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