Change Control Process for Amazon - Case Study Example

? (2) Prior Change Evaluation Amazon Marie-Cecile Heinze 3525114 Organizational change Dr. Salas-Amaro 11/27 To bring change, is to bring betterment and advancement to maximize availability of products. Change is one of the inevitable facts of life we must deal with. A change is something that is completely unavoidable and it is one of the most adopted facts of life. To be changed, is a matter of human nature and the need of time in order to provide defined Service Level to the users and give them ultimate satisfaction. Amazon, with its advanced Information Technology, is required to give all the required books to its customers at its library. But brining change is not that easy job and most important part of this is to critically evaluate the Change Process or the Change Control (CC). This is the process used by a company to implement its desired and required changes in it. And also controlling the environmental impacts of this change within and outside of the company. This research paper will cover up almost all the basic concepts of Change and also cover up all the steps involved in Change Control and Procedures. This method will be applied to Amazon, the number one internet company, that have the best internet online library for its readers. With the help of suspicious procedure and planning, it is possible to reduce risks associated with changes thereby minimizing the likelihood of detrimental impacts on business operations(5 measure to minimize risk). Organization Change Management The definition of Change Management Change Management is defined as the process of controlling IT service changes in a manner that assures minimal disruption in service delivery and minimal degradation in service quality (Rigby, 2001). Change Control Process for Amazon Instantly changing IT requirement that is to be applied in libraries, is impacting a change in the online academic libraries, like Amazon, Google, Hawlett-Packard etc. A change is something that is completely unavoidable and it is one of the most adopted facts of life. To be changed, is a matter of human nature and the need of time in order to provide defined Service Level to the users and give them ultimate satisfaction. Amazon, with its advanced Information Technology, is required to give all the required books to its customers at its library (How to Make Better Decisions). To bring change, is to bring betterment and advancement for the maximize availability of products. But, at Amazon, we will maintain our standard along and with the adoption of new enabling technologies for our clients, whose mostly are students. Although this change will help us grow our business and bring positive feedback to us but, we surely will maintain a high level of internal security of the company (Amazon, 2012). Amazon – The introduction and need for change Amazon is a big name in the sale of books and stuff online, it is one of the most popular internet companies that was come into being in 1994 in Scattle, USA. at the time, it has more than 20 thousand people working with it and serveing the client with its online shopping and free shipment service. it has a braod range of offered products. Amazaon allows its users to give feedback at their portal that helps in brining change within the organization (Amazon, 2012). Mission of company ‘To leverage technology and the expertise of our invaluable employees to provide our customers with the best shopping experience on the Internet’ (Amazon.com, 2012). Vision of company ‘To be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online’ (Amazon.com, 2012). Objective of company ‘Not to discount a small number of products for a limited period of time, but to offer low prices everyday and apply them broadly across our entire product range.’ (Amazon.com, 2012). Activities contribute in change management Five different activities are involved in change management that affects it on a larger level. These activities help a company bring change easily. Step 1- Motivating Change Keeping the customer in touch with the company, is the best policy of any company and before changing any of its systems, a company should not lose its previous customers. Amazon is a Technology based library that needs to get advance all with the changes in the IT(Rigby, 2001). Creating Readiness to Change To be changed, is a matter of human nature and the need of time in order to provide defined Service Level to the users and give them ultimate satisfaction. Amazon, with its advanced Information Technology, is required to give all the required books to its customers at its library. Recently, Amazon has made Kindle available to the users of US and some other countries. But, Kindle versions of books are not available in many countries and thus we are here going to work for Amazon to bring Kindle in other countries. To give Kindle version books to the readers of other countries(How to Make Better Decisions). To manage this change, Amazon has to make a complete Change Control process and procedure. A prior aim of this change is to make customers, outside US, enable get access to Kindle version of books. But it has to keep sure that the privacy and security of the company will remain secure and new, changed process will be according to the security privacy of the company and improve the availability level of books(Rigby, 2001). Overcome resistance to change The forces to change applied on Amazon are the Economy Knowledge and Electronic Commerce. These two forces are pushing Amazon to improve its library so that the readers outside the USA, UK etc., can get access to the Kindle version of Amazon books. This will add a positive strength in the values of the company and may reduce the power of other un-influencing forces. Although there are many barriers which will not let Amazon to bring this change but with the help of proper and appropriate Change Process, Amazon can pass all the barriers easily(McCleelland, 1985). Step 2- creating a Vision of Change A company’s vision defines its future and guide customers and investors about what they will get in the future and where their favorite company is going? It also tells the basic aim of that company(McCleelland, 1985). Core Ideology This change will bring a positive point in the business and it is a way to overcome competitors. The current vision of Amazon is, “to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.” But if readers of some countries are not getting access to the Kindle version of electronic books, its vision is incomplete. And in order to complete this, this change is good. The outcome of this change will no doubt give high level of satisfaction to the customers and readers on Amazon and high level Service will be guaranteed. Step 3- Developing Political Support No doubt, politics affect a lot a company’s workings and services. This change will be good for the shareholders and stakeholders of the company, as they will get more increased return on their investment. Accessing Change Agent Powers Sources of power of stakeholders and sponsors are a change in their behavior and buying decisions. Suppose if a majority of people are in a favor to not buy products from a company, it may cause a big loss to the company. To avoid this, management authorities need to develop a most influencing and acceptable change(Bevington & Samson, 2012). Identifying Key Stakeholders and Influencing Stakeholders A large portion of the profit earned from Amazon is from the sellers who use to advertise and sell their products on the Amazon. The second stakeholders are the employees working at Amazon and the other associated people. Nearly twenty eight thousand and three hundred employees are employed in Amazon for handling its online operations. Amazon has a number of sponsors that are in the favor of this change and they are the government, readers, investors, share and stakeholders and the economy, as the target of this change is the economy and readers of the Amazon books online. Step- 4 managing the transition Transition is the point where managers are planning to bring change. Its comes prior to the outcome of the change and after to the current or previous state of the company. It is where management is planning and change team management is working efficiently(Kondalkar, 2009). Activity Planning Management needs to be focus more on this level. As now they are known to all the influences, barriers and the powers they have. So the transition plan should be made according to all these points(Bevington & Samson, 2012). Commitment Planning The transition should be working with the help of advanced and innovative IT products. To make the change effective and efficient, managers have to give great attention to this point. The Commitment Plan should be very focused and precise about the effects of the change that what will be reason for the people to accept this change and remain committed with the company and its products. Change and commitment includes a great deal about trust, and long-term trust is founded on evidence(Rigby, 2001). Management Structure Project leaders are to take responsibility of the change and coordinate the entire project in order to complete the process of change and to bring Kindle available to the people outside to USA. The responsibility of advisory leader is to develop the capability of managing change and provide useful advices to the managers in order to bring positive change. Coordination and integration of process will be done at this level(Olson, 2005). The critical skills a management team must have in order to bring change are as follows: Understanding of change Appreciates diversity in new products Anticipates and manage resistance Understand power and influence Manage multiple tasks at a same time Step 5- Sustaining Momentum It is the last stage of change process which is liable to provide resource change, Build a support system, Develop new skills, reinforce new behavior and staying the course. Reinforce the value of successful change via recruitment, promotion, new change leaders. Weave change into the culture. If a change plan remains uncompleted, it is quietly useless and nothing more than a waste of the resources company has wasted in the research and development of the change process(Kondalkar, 2009). Management has also focused on some other processes on business like, sales development, new product development, new market development and distribution plans in order to make After-Change period more effective and easily acceptable by the public, employees and stakeholders. All these steps can help Amazon to bring out change in the world of ebook and to sustain momentum in order to carry change through completion of the change process. Management can guide company with their expertise and allocate resources for the change, building a support system is the key point of change process, making new plans and developing new skills and reinforcing the behavior along with staying the course(Kondalkar, 2009). Conclusion Change management is a vast subject that has many different methods involved in it to describe the kind of change a company is going to implement and to make its implementation smoother and easier. Prior of brining change, you have to set its management process and all the coordinated tasks. Planning, implementing and managing change in a fast-changing environment is increasingly the situation in which most organizations now work. Requests for Change can be applied to any part of the infrastructure or with any service or activity. Some examples include: • Hardware • Software • Documentation • Telecommunications facilities • Data network • IT infrastructure management procedures References 5 measure to minimize risk. (n.d.). Retrieved 5 22, 2012, from ciozone: http://www.ciozone.com/index.php/Case-Studies/5-Measures-To-Minimize-Risk.html Amazon. (2012). Retrieved 11 2, 2012, from Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & More.: www.amazon.com Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2002). Marketing: an introduction (International edition ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Bevington, T., & Samson, D. (2012). 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