Administration management - Essay Example

Administration Management Introduction In this rapidly shifting dynamics of the business environment, a firm has no other option but to get accustomed with the changing perspective of the marketplace. Eminent scholars such as Bovey and Hede (2001) have even mentioned that the competitive advantage of a firm lies in the capability of the organization to adjust to the changing situation. Furthermore, with the radical shift in consumer needs and changing scenario of the external business environment, organizations are compelled to bring change into their system of operation.

The change not only helps a company to remain consistent with the external business environment but also helps in complying with the internal state of affairs. However, a change in an organization does not always bring positive outcome, it often results into negative consequence. One of the most obvious negative consequences appears in the form of resistance from the employees to change. This is because employees often feel that a change in the organization will disrupt their current position and they became obsolete and becomes a burden for the company.

This study will throw light on a real incident which took place in the organization where I have worked previously. The organization was basically a retail store with its headquarters in the city of New York, US. In this company, I have worked as a floor manager for two years. During my tenure as a floor manager, I have witnessed one of the major technological changes in the organization, which is the implementation of auto- search technology. The same will be discussed in the latter half of the study and simultaneously the study will also discuss about the main goal of the change, the key stakeholders, the identified steps of change and the risk management steps initiated by the company.

Reason and Goal for the Change Change is a continuous process and the driver of change differs according to the circumstances (Burke, 2010). Moreover authors such as Lewis (2011) has highlighted that from an organizational perspective change is an inevitable phenomenon. El-Farra and Badawi (2012) put emphasis on the fact that both external and internal factors play crucial roles in bringing change in the organization. The technological, legal, political, social, economical, demographic factors etc.

are all drivers of change. In the similar way, the internal factors that force a company to bring in changes are the reduced productivity of the labours and poor quality outcome among others. The internal factors are the doubts over the capability of sales people who were not assisting the customers properly. Hence, it is obvious that organizational change is necessary and without change it is difficult to survive in the marketplace for a longer period of time. In the context of my company, one of the major drivers is the technological factor and competitive forces.

The competitors of the company have already implemented new technologies that have allowed them to offer better service to the customers. Due to technological advancement and implementation of modern technologies by the competitors, the company had no other option but to make changes that will allow them to remain competitive in the market place. Therefore to match up with the competitors, my company has also attempted to implement this technology. In addition to that, the internal factors have also played decisive roles (Linder, 2006).

The sales manager once discussed with me in the meeting that the productivity of the staff members is reduced and along with that customers have companied over the availability of the products. Paradoxically, it has been found that products were available but customers were unable to find the right product. Hence, implementation of a technology that helps customers to find the exact product will greatly help in serving the purpose. Therefore, one more thing that becomes apparent is the reason for change is both the internal as well as the external factors.

The type of change that took place within the company was a technological change for the aim of promoting the sales and offer better service to the consumers. Resistance to the Change Companies around the world have often complained about the high level of resistance, they have experienced while implementing any proposed change. However, resistance appears in different forms but in the case of my company, the resistance was from the internal environment of the organization (Hagel, 2002). As a result of this proposed change, there were extreme levels of resistance from the sales people.

The sales people were demoralized by this fact that despite their presence on the floor the company is implementing new technologies for assisting the customers. Moreover, the sales people also doubted about their existence in the company. The most encouraging fact is that the company has managed the change very well and followed all the required steps in successful implementation of the change. Impact on Key Stakeholders A change in an organization almost impacts all the stakeholders of a company.

However, the level of impact depends upon the nature and type of change (Phalpher, 1999). In this context, the key stakeholders of the company which will be highly impacted are the customers of the company as well as the employees or sales people. The customers will be greatly benefitted by the action of the company as it will allow them to search their desired product without any complexity. Moreover, the search time will be greatly reduced. This will result in efficient management of the customer traffic and the company will be able to cater more customers.

In the context of the employees, they can have both positive as well as negative impact. This is because employees who will consider this as a positive stance will be benefitted because their work pressure will be minimized. On the contrary, some employees may consider this change as a consequence of their poor efforts and hence can be greatly demoralized by this fact. Identified Steps of Change While working with the organization, I have noticed one thing that the company plans it change process very well.

Moreover, the company also follows the required steps in implementing the changes. Regarding this matter, several steps of change became evident in the company. Among the seven steps of change, the company has almost followed all the steps. The company formed a committee and gave them the responsibility to implement the change successfully. In addition, development of action plans, conveying the messages to the staff members about the implementation and simultaneously making continuous improvements were the part of the company’s continuous change process (Linde, 2006). . Hence, steps such as formation of lead team, developing action plans, conveying company’s messages and making continuous development became highly evident.

Risk Management As mentioned earlier, the company is extremely careful about bringing any changes in the organization. As a result, the company also develops an alternative course of action so as to minimize the impact of risks. In order to mitigate the risks, the company pursues a strategy, in which they measure the level and identifies the type of risk associated, examines its vulnerability, evaluates the alternate courses of action and then develops techniques for the management of risks (Holmquist, 2012).

Conclusion The study was meant for analyzing the change implementation process of an organization. The company considered in this case was an apparel retailing outlet based in Ney York. It has been found that the company has successfully implemented the change and followed most of the steps required for implementation. One of the major factors that helped in the implementation process was the better management of the change. Reference List Bovey, W. H. and Hede, A., 2001. Resistance to organizational change: the role of cognitive and affective processes.

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22 (8), pp. 372-382. Burke, W. W., 2010. Organization change: Theory and practice. 3rd ed. California: SAGE. El-Farra, M. M. and Badawi, M. B., 2012. Employee attitudes toward organizational change in the coastal municipalities water utility in the Gaza strip. EuroMed Journal of Business, 7 (2), pp.161-184. Hagel, J., 2002. Out of the box: strategies for achieving profits today & growth tomorrow through web services. Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press.

Holmquist, L. E., 2012. Grounded Innovation: Strategies for Creating Digital Products. Massachusetts: Elsevier Lewis, L. K., 2011. Organizational change: Creating change through strategic communication. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Linder, J. C., 2006. Does innovation drive profitable growth? New metrics for a complete picture. Journal of Business Strategy, 27 (5), pp. 38 – 44. Phalpher, R., 1999. Sustaining organizational change. Engineering Dimensions, (March/April), pp. 49-51.