The Need for Change - VTI Ltd - Essay Example

? TOPIC: VTI CASE STUDY LECTURER: VTI CASE STUDY Overview The growth and development of organizations and companies is a well calculated process rather than a piece of accidental event. This means that success and growth hardly happen when there are no plans in place to ensure that the organization is placed at a level that makes it possible for it to respond to the market in a way and manner that market projections predict (Armenakis, Harris & Mossholder, 2003). It is in light of this that planning remains an important aspect of all organizational structuring and management. In the absence of planning, organizations loss focus and fail to have a yardstick for measuring and identifying the height of growth they want to reach (Fernandez & Rainey, 2006). Through planning also, it is always possible for the organization to identify aspects and areas for change. Currently, VTI has come to a crossroad where the need for thorough organizational planning that will bring about rapid change is more than a necessity. From the situational analysis of the company, it is time for the company to respond to its external factors of competitiveness, which is focused on the use of electronic commerce (e-commerce). The need for change Change has its own merits and demerits, depending on how it is implemented and the factors that bring it about (Hadaway, Marler & Chaves, 2003). Generally though, many are those who are not comfortable with organizational changes. These people, commonly referred to as administrative conservatives hold the opinion that undertaking organizational changes affect the organizational climate negatively because it forces stakeholders to adjust when they are not really ready to adjust (Hannan & Freeman, 2004). A very typical example of this situation could be said to be taking place among the old senior management team of VTI Ltd who are refusing any form of change from the traditional street sales that the company is involved in. currently, change is eminent for VTI Ltd and cannot be delayed any further. This is because the market in which the company is operating has become so influenced with competition and user definition, whereby it is no longer what the company wants to offer to the consumer that matters but what the consumer wants to have (Alversson & Willmott, 2002). The need for change is therefore in the need for the company to keep track with the changes that is happening outside its domain of control. Causes of change The fact that the company is currently experiencing all time low in sales and has not made any profits in the past 2 years is due to a number of factors, some of which are internal, and others, external. Internally, it can be noted that there is a total absence and lack of unified code of conducting business at VTI. Clearly, the old senior management team is in a world of their own whiles the relatively younger staff is in a world of their own. In such a situation, Neale, Tenbrunsel, Galvin & Bazerman (2006) note that organizational conflict becomes common, especially role conflict. Presently, there seem to be a major lack of understanding as to the focus that the company should have in the implementation of basic organizational objectives. This has created an apathy whereby each member of within the organization is defending what he or she feels is right for the organization rather than what the organization wishes to have for itself. In relations to the adage that in unity is strength, it is important that the company has a common focus of the path it is going to trend to bring about the implementation of its goals and objectives. There are also major external causes of the poor performance that the company is currently experiencing. Firstly there is an absence of competitive advantage by the company to meet the competition it is faced with from its key competitors squarely. Currently, the global record sales market has become so competitive that there are new companies and outlines springing up with time. This has created brought about the need for companies to respond through the use of a strategies and interventions that ensures that there is the creations of competitive advantage (Morrow & McElroy, 2003). With a competitive advantage in place, VTI Ltd will become a preferred destination among consumers and the effect of the competition will thus be reduced to its barest minimum (Dunphy, 1996). The changing niche of business operation is also accounting for an external cause to the changes in the company’s profitability. Currently, buyers of record music are fast becoming more and more comfortable with e-commerce, a need for the company to adjust its business operations ideas. Whiles competitors are taking advantage of the merits and benefits of e-commerce, VTI Ltd seem to leave its self behind in this regard. Expected forms of changes In line with the changes that the company experiences, it is important that it would also undertake organizational change that responds directly to the internal and external changes. To do this, there are two major forms of changes that can be experienced. These are planned changes and emergent changes. The kind of planned changes needed at VTI Ltd should be those forms of changes that respond directly to the external factors being experienced by the company. This is because the need for there to be a competitive advantage by the company to ensure that it is able to respond to external competition has been outlined (Farakas & Tetrick, 2009). But to create competitive advantage, it is important that specific strategies, which come as a result of planning, be put in place (Olson & Tetrick, 2008). These planned changes will be the result of a carefully structured meeting that seeks to outline the exact problems of the company, the options and objectives that can be used to solve them (Fowler, 2002). The plan must also include a systematic way of implementing the strategies that will be identified for the company. Internally, there can also be emergent changes, which spring up more randomly and unconsciously, that can also become very positive towards the need to turn the current fortunes of the company around. The need for such emergent changes is in the fact that change can generally be complex and unpredictable (Grundy, 1993). But having said this, it is important that the implementation of the said emergent changes will be carefully monitored against chaos sporadic changes. This is because such chaos that is experienced during changes can be highly devastating and affect the way and manner in which the company wants to go about its future plans. In the presence of chaos, opinions and strategies become divided, making it impossible for there to be a directional goal that the entire company follows. A planning process for change will also create a situation where there will be an excessively too much scope for the organization to track and monitor the change process (Nystedt, Sjoberg & Hagglund, 1999). The emergent changes that will focus on internal changes such as changes with improvement with organizational conflict must not be undertake in a chaotic manner as this could threaten the goal that the company wants to attain in the long run. Starting the change process It is advocated the VTI Ltd undertakes a change that focuses on the institutionalization of e-commerce. This will be a new era in the organization’s operations where there is the use of integrated information system in the control and management of sale of records. For instance it will be possible for the company to undertake online sales and online delivery of goods. But to make this long term change a reality, it is important that the first step of change that will start with a need for human resource development be undertaken (Bass, 2010). It is important to note that once the company switches to e-commerce, it is going to have its entire human resource responsibilities changed to focus on the new paradigm. The need for the human resource to be well equipped through training and development programs can therefore not be overlooked. What is more, inefficiencies with the new change can cause massive losses and create security problems for the company. It is for the need to avoiding all of these that the human resource development is identified as the starting point for the new change that focuses on e-commerce implementation (Greenwood & Hinings, 2006). It is strongly held that if e-commerce is introduced, the company will begin recording improvement in sales because through e-commerce, the company will be responding to some of its most serious external causes of poor performance. Conclusion The case of VTI Ltd is one that outlines the impact of absented change to any given organisation. As the business market around the company continues to change, the company has remained relatively adamant and silent to the changes. This has been the major cause of the company’s declining sales and poor performance. The implementation of the e-commerce module as recommended in this paper can therefore be concluded as the holistic way forward for the company to make strides in its quest to become a market leader in the music record sales business. Having said this, caution will be needed on the need for all personnel within the organisation, be they belonging to the new management or new management to accept the recommended changes as the best way out in saving the company from its challenges. This is because in the absence of support for the new change, the needed growth will not be experienced (Batt, 2002). References Alversson, M. & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 619–644. Armenakis, A. A., Harris, S. G. & Mossholder, K. W. (2003). Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46, 681–703. Bass, B. M. (2010). Bass & Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research & managerial application. New York: The Free Press. Batt, R. (2002). Managing customer services: human resource practices, quit rates and sales growth. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 587–597. Dunphy, D. (1996). Organizational change in corporate setting. Human Relations, 49, 541– 551. Farakas, A. J. & Tetrick, L. E. (2009). A Three-wave Longitudinal analysis of the causal ordering of satisfaction and commitment on turnover decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 855–868. Fernandez, S. & Rainey, H. G. (2006). Managing successful organizational change in the public sector. Public Administration Review, 66, 168–176. Fowler, F. J. (2002). Survey research methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Greenwood, R. & Hinings, C. R. (2006). Radical organizational change. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence. & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The Sage handbook of organizational studies (pp. 814–842). London: Sage Publications. Grundy, T. (1993). Implementing strategic change. London: Kogan Page. Hadaway, C. K., Marler, P. L. & Chaves, M. (2003). What the polls don’t show: A closer look at U.S. church attendance. American Sociological Review, 58, 741–752. Hannan, M. T. & Freeman, J. (2004). Structural inertia and organizational change. American Sociological Review, 49, 149–164. Morrow, P. C. & McElroy, J. C. (2003). Introduction: Understanding and managing loyalty in a multi-commitment world. Journal of Business Research, 26, 1–3. Neale, M. A., Tenbrunsel, A. E., Galvin, T. & Bazerman, M. H. (2006). A decisions perspective on organizations: Social cognition, behavioral decision theory and the psychological links to micro- and macro- organizational behaviour. In S. R. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. B. Lawrence. & W. R. Nord (Eds.), The Sage handbook of organizational studies (pp. 485–519). London: Sage. Nystedt, L., Sjoberg, A. & Hagglund, G. (1999). Discriminant validation of measures of organizational commitment, job involvement, and job satisfaction among Swedish army officers. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 40, 49–55. Olson, D. A. & Tetrick, L. E. (2008). Organizational restructuring: The impact on role perceptions, work relationships and satisfaction. Group and organizational studies, 13, 374–388. Read More