Change Management at Cafe de Coral Company - Essay Example

Change Management Introduction In this paper, I will deal with Cafe de Coral Company that is a moving Chinese food brand in Hong Kong. It was started in 1968 and it has established more than 100 self-service restaurants in the area. Since then the company has been gaining customers every day due to the quality of the services and products. Moreover, it offers vast challenges to its competitors because the chain of the command is extremely stable in the market. The restaurants offer a range of quality food and services in the area which main products include western cuisine and the Chinese traditional dishes. The restaurant’s menu is designed to meet all taste and the purchasing power of the customers. The company has been a global operator and its experience in the market and well-established services make the company market structure moral stable. From the large number of the customers who feed in the restaurant every day and well management of the funds the company financial situation is extremely stable. In order to meet the competition in the industry, Cafe de Coral Company has commenced planning, leading and implementing management changes needed to improve effectiveness and performance. Change Management Change management is never a choice between technologies, organizational or employee oriented solutions, but it involves combinations for best strategies designed to produce results. Hughes (2006, P. 180) indicates that the future scenarios are dynamic as they depend on the company’s abilities to manage them properly. According to Kam and Ming (2006, P. 217), the effective and progressive management of change can assist in shaping a future that will better the enterprise’s survival prospects. The managers and companies operating in public or private will continue to be evaluated depending on their capability to manage change efficiently. Cafe de Coral Company has a larger global market place that has been made smaller due to the enhanced technologies and competition from abroad. Hughes (2006, P. 129) claim that Companies should note that planned change management is not impossible, but it is difficult. The significant point is that change management is an ongoing process, and it is incorrect to think that visionary Cafe de Coral Company can be reached in a highly programmed way. The growth of the company from the local operator to a global operator it shows the company is a different from what it was ten years ago. Kam and Ming (2006, P. 217) indicate that the company has developed strategies that have assisted in responding to competitive pressures so that it can transform the company. The Cafe de Coral Company has tried to manage and organize it human and technical resources in order to respond promptly to issues they encounter. The company has achieved the change of taste and preferences of client via harnessing the analytical skills and imagination of all company personnel to improve and introduce new products and services. Various factors have contributed to positive and negative changes in the Cafe de Coral Company. The significant change has transformed both internal and external situation of the company that was initiated due to the discomfort with the status quo. The change of Cafe de Coral led to changes in the internal organization and difficulty of operations in the company. The company noticed there was a gap between the set target and actual result in terms of market share and employee productivity. Therefore, there was a need for the company to reduce the gap and handle the forces of change. Adamson (2005, P.358) claim that the Cafe de Coral competitive strategy, and leadership shape has contributed a lot in the change of preference and the taste of the product and services. Meanwhile, the Cafe de Coral wanted to meet the employees’ needs and values that made them change their policies. For instance, it introduced attractive financial incentives that motivated employees and provided autonomy at work to attract and retain its effective employees. Kam and Ming (2006, P. 217) claim that the company had expanded its services into other countries, and there was a need to change its top management in order to make sure duties were delegated accordingly. This change of the top management and negative impact in the ideas to run the Cafe de Coral suddenly led to changes in the system, structure and processes. According to Koo and Lee (2003, 268), technological changes are responsible for changing the nature of the work done and services produced at all level of the organization. The Cafe de Coral is involved in the food service industry; thus, has to contend with a complex of inventory in order to handle the perishable stocks. Koo and Lee (2003, 268) argue that the change in technology has helped the employees to use the inventory system in their operations that have transformed the company. The hasty changes in the company’s situation with stiff competition and the world economy have forced the Cafe de Coral to adjust their operational techniques to meet the requirements of the shareholders. Environmental factors like economic and political play a significant role in devising company’s policies and strategy. For instance, Cafe de Coral had to change their employment policies in accordance with the government policy and changing economic conditions of its operating countries. Koo and Lee (2003, 268) indicate that the Cafe de Coral had difficulties in implementing the employment policies because they feared to loss employees that would cause inadequacy of skills to meet the demand of customers. Meanwhile, they feared to face the resource crunch in the process of implementing the policies and difficulties to bring in the change in set operational methods. Some employees would not advocate the employment policy because it had unknown consequences. Kam and Ming (2006, P. 217 indicate that the company did not know if the change would bring in better prospects in their lives. For instance, the technology change of the inventory system threatened employees because they feared inadequacy of skills, less wage and losing jobs. These make employees work with other set of workers than their existing co-workers whom they had a close relationship and most employees would not accommodate the situation. Therese and Peter (2009, P.267) claim that the change of top management brought potential threat to the company’s power to some people. Thus, some people tried to resist the change to prevent feeling inferior in case they were not given the position they needed. This change brought anger to employees because they viewed the change in top management has a threat to their career and job. Stephen and Osborne (2005, P. 245) indicate that the selection was accompanied by blames and started talking about the new situation in negative terms. The situation led to sabotaging the change process because the company tried to take stances by depending on unreliable information. The reaction of the Cafe de Coral employees was expected because people are rational and they will follow their self-centeredness once change is revealed to them. According to Stephen and Osborne (2005, P. 245), change should be based on the communication of information and the proffering of incentives. Employee are mostly compliant and will do what they are authorized; thus, this type of change is based on the authority and the obligation of sanctions. Cafe de Coral was able to realize that people oppose loss and disruption, but they adapt readily to new circumstance. That why they carried on the inventory system change, despite the oppositions from some employees. According to Burnes (2004, P. 165), structure is the most significant and influential power within the organization. It is vital we deal with the structure because if not the company cannot change. Meanwhile, there were economic changes that management anticipated would affect the productivity of the company Stephen and Osborne (2005, P. 245) indicate that economic shocks are main difficulties that Cafe de Coral faced and challenged the process of change. For instance, the company experienced regional financial crisis changes that affected the productivity and profitability of the company. The effect was so intense that it is still a challenge to the company due to the increase of production cost. Inflation is another economic shock that affect the operational of the company. This caused an increase in interest rate making investment extremely expensive, and since the company is international operator the inflation affected the currency of the country. As a result, there was a problem in coordinating the different management staff in the market segments because of many chains of restaurants. Burnes (2004, P. 167) indicate that managers should understand the nature of their company’s structure before planning and implementing the changes. Unless the employees are motivated and committed to change, getting towards the designed change will be difficult. Meanwhile, Cafe de Coral has created a vision of what they what to achieve in the future. This has energized commitment of change by providing employees with a common goal and compelling rationale for the purpose of the change. In case, the vision the company set the vision that seems impossible or introduce changes that the company cannot implement, it actually can depress employees’ motivation. However, when employees hope that their company will improve its performance, they usually get motivated and work hard. Cafe de Coral introduced training programs to teach its employees about the benefits of positive expectations and to encourage them to set positive expectations for the change program. For instance, the company involved subordinates and others, who were capable to mobilize and direct organizational change. Thus, developing Cafe de Coral vision was heavily driven by an individual’s values, and preferences for what they expected the change to look like and how it should function. The significant basis for change is the company’s core ideology that should describe its core values and purpose over time (Carnall, 2000, P.140). The Cafe de Coral has clear values based on the significant of customer services that has assisted in the change of preferences and taste of consumers. According to Hutchin (2001, P. 321), employees should be encouraged to spend considerable time and energy to discover their company’s core values via discussion of its history. From a political point, The Cafe de Coral as loosely structured coalitions of individuals and teams having diverse preferences and interests. For instance, top management may be interest in diversifying the company into a new look. Stopper (2004, P.21) the marketing department of Cafe de Coral has developed new products and market niche to meet the market demands of the consumer. The change management involves moving from known to unknown, and the company’s future is uncertain and may adversely affect individuals’ commitment. Sepani and Martin (2011, p. 345) indicate that the organization employees are extremely hard to support the change unless compelling reasons convince them to advocate for changes. Adamson ( 2005, P.358) indicate that the Cafe de Coral tends to be heavily invested in the status quo, and resist changing it because they fear to face uncertain future benefits. The diversity of practical advice for managing change and creating a readiness for change among Cafe de Coral members help them to address resistance to change. They should realize that leadership must create an environment in which members accept the requirement for change and commit physical and psychological energy (Carnall, 2000, P.145). The financial incentives to employees have motivated Cafe de Coral employees to accommodate and accept changes. Kotter and Cohen (2002, P.245) indicate that the implementation of IT technologies has helped the company to provide additional flexibility and opportunity to change their operations. Thomas and Christopher (2008, P. 127) indicate that the success of IT technologies was because leaders were paid attention to each activity when planning and implementing a company’s change. They should know that without the support of powerful individuals and groups change may be blocked and possibly interfered. Paton and McCalman (2000, P.125) claim that the transition process should be managed properly in order to prevent difficulties in functioning while it improve its performance from the current situation. Without efforts to sustain a force for change, the Cafe de Coral will face problems carrying the changes through to completion. The external and internal pressures can serve has triggers for the changes; thus, Cafe de Coral must be sensitive to them in order to achieve the set changes in future. According to Kotter and Cohen (2002, P.245), the pressures must pass past the company’s ability to know when to respond to changes. Conclusion Coercing leaders through cultivating external networks should concern organizations with change. Hayes (2010, p.85) indicates that leaders should understand the nature of their company’s structure before planning and implementing the changes. They should know that unless employees are motivated and committed to changing because towards the designed change will be difficult. Meanwhile, change can vary in difficulty from the beginning of natural processes into a small work group to transforming the strategies. Although, change management may differ across situations, the necessary task should be performed in managing any kind of organizational change. Finally, change management focus on identify sources of resistance to change and offering ways to overcome them in order to meet the change target. 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