Change Management for the David Jones Department Store Chain - Case Study Example

Change Management Name Institution Course Professor Date A Report on Change Management for the David Jones Department Store Chain Introduction Human beings are creative creatures capable of inducing change from different perspectives. This is evident in the meaning of the word “Change”. Change refers to the action of making something different from its original form (Resnik et al. 2012). Change is applicable in many aspects of life. For instance, there is personal and management change. Personal change involves the change in behavior and this is what defines people’s personalities. In reference to business, change is mainly applied in the organizational management and the end product is result. Many theories have been used to explain this crucial aspect. These theories include; the behavioral theory, personal change theory by John Fisher and organizational change theory by Palmer, among many others (Davison et al. 2012). According to the behavioral theory, it covers change in human beings in all situations. That is to say, human beings undergo change that is illustrated in their behavior at different places that is at school, work place and even at home. Thus, change cannot be limited to particular places. At school, children demonstrate change depending on the kind of stimulus exposed to them. Depending on the stimulus, the behavior that would be portrayed can be either positive or negative. Hence, change is facilitated by certain factors such as; reinforcement, rewards and removal of obstacles. Basing on the same theory, at work place, employees demonstrate change according to the treatment they receive from their employers while working in organizations (Bowles 2010). For instance, their relationships with their employers, salary payment, working environment, promotions and awarding of incentives, just a few to mention, determine their behavior towards work. When an employer employs the above factors effectively, the employees are motivated hence, portray a positive change. In addition to this, looking at the organizations that exist in this era, it is important to note that, change is inevitable as it is demonstrated in various ways. For a company or a firm to succeed in terms of high profit margins and sales, many factors need to be put in place. Such factors are dependent on the initial state of the firm. Hence, business employers, shareholders, employees and consumers are very important individuals who determine the change in an organization. Need for Change Palmer, a profound business scholar, concentrates on the issue that involves managing organizational change (Burnes, & By 2012). He explains this in form of factors that business experts could use to the success of many companies. According to Palmer, the tragedy that befalls many businesses is related to poor management. He outlines the main factors that should be considered and they include; decision making, planning, implementation and good management skills. Looking at the David Jones Department Store Chain, it is evident that, there are several issues, which call for changes, especially if the firm is to succeed in the competitive world of business. The David Jones Department Store Chain has been recorded to be going down in terms of its competition in the world of business (Hilmers et al. 2012). This can be related to a number of issues that emanate due to several reasons. The Chief Executive Officer Zahra, points out that, the subsequent fall of the business is due to poor management, discounting and poor services to customers. For him, he believes that, a good business should offer good services to customers in order for the customers to have a good experience thus, look forward to going back to the same store (Davison et al. 2012). He therefore, points out that, the only way to recover the losses that David Jones has incurred for the past five years; the board together with all the employees should invest all their effort in good services. He talks of zero tolerance to poor services. The first factor, which includes decision-making, can be applied in the running of this particular store. Decision-making is an aspect that most individuals have failed in due to lack of the correct way of carrying it out. This is due to a number of factors that emanate from poor leadership. It is therefore, essential that the person who carries out decision making in a firm is a sober one and one who is endorsed with good leadership skills (Griffis et al. 2012). However, something that many leaders fail to understand when it comes to decision making is that, it is not an individual task but it should involve a number of people in the firm. For instance, for a decision to be made, all the people starting from the highest in the rank to the lowest should also be involved in one way or the other. This helps in building confidence in all employees who feel they are also important in the company. Through this, these employees are always free to contribute their ideas in relation to the success of the firm. When several people are involved, the advantage is, a good decision will be arrived at. However, the disadvantage is, it takes a long time to arrive to a decision due to the availability of different views from many people. Even with this disadvantage, it is a plus to include all the people in the hierarchy and another major thing is that, this same people are supposed to implement the decision made (Davison et al. 2012). Thus, when they are involved it is their duty to carry out the actions as per the decision made. In the David Jones Department Store Chain, it is important for the C.E.O. to involve the board of governors and other employees in decision making to ensure high sales and high profit margins. For instance, the issue of online business is an idea that should be explored by a variety of individuals by first looking at the cost that would be spent in the structuring of the business. If the cost is less than the profit expected from it, then the business is good to be established Good managerial skills should be used effectively in the management of a business. A good leader should be able to portray good management skills and this comes along with good relations with the employees. When a manager is able to relate well with his employees, it becomes an easy task in initiating a change (Hilmers et al. 2012). Respectful is an important trait that should be a quality in a manager. Lack of this important quality leads to the downfall of the business. The C.E.O. Zahra is a good leader as he is able to relate well with the shareholders of the store and this is evident from the words of the chairman of the board as he expresses the confidence they have in him. Implementation is yet another factor that should be considered in a firm for its success. This is usually successful when the employees together with their employers are involved in the decision-making. Implementation of an idea in a company requires a united team hence, the need of all people to be involved in the crucial stage of decision-making (MANTERE et al. 2012). All in all, the most important aspect of all is planning. This is a factor that leads to the success of the other factors in a company. This is because, poor planning causes poor decision making, lack of implementation and subsequently this is as a result of poor managerial skills. Good planning is required in the David Jones store as this would be a precise way of ensuring all the activities take place without any hitches. This starts from the sole fact of wanting to make the department store a multi-channel store. When the board is able to sit down and draft the whole procedure and expenditure that are required to carry out the project it becomes easy to identify the change. Thus, the David Jones Store needs change as most of the factors are violated. When the management which is led by the C.E.O Zahra, is able to put in place all the factors discussed above, there is no doubt that, the store will celebrate its way up the ladder in world of business. Nature of Change The nature of change that is applicable in the case study that is to do with the David Jones Store is a hierarchical one. That is, the people involved are ranked from the top to the bottom and they are the ones who are involved in the making of changes in the company. Thus, the hierarchy starts from the top to the bottom. This is good way of ensuring every person in the store chain is informed about any decisions that come along with required changes (Hilmers et al. 2012). Thus, the people in the David Jones Stores can celebrate due to the fact that, it is a store that involves all the people in the hierarchy for its success. Change Strategies To effectively ensure the success of the David Jones Department Store, it is essential to apply a variety of strategies in the running of the business. These strategies are looked at in form of the things that would help in increasing the percentage of the income that is derived from running the business. Kotter and Kirkpatrick designed models that would be used to make a business enterprise efficient and effective (Kim et al. 2011). Through use of such models, Palmer advocates for complete application of the ideas that are represented in the models. He says that, a good business should be able to come up with a business pattern that is used in the carrying out of activities. A pattern is like a plan and this ensures that, all the people are given tasks in relation to their specialization thus, effectively performing their tasks. However, teamwork is also important as it enables those who do not understand a task to consult and thus, perform well in the firm. Considering the 8 model by Kotter, he represents eight issues that should be looked at in a firm for a successful change. He calls them “eight steps to successful change” and they include; increasing urgency, building the guiding team, getting the vision right, communicating for buy-in, empowering action, creating short term wins, not letting up and making a change stick (Wang 2011). All these steps are looked at step by step. Starting from the first step of increasing urgency, it is usually essential for a business firm, through the manager to facilitate the aspect of change. This can be done by looking at the reasons that would open the eyes of the other people involved in the business. Hence, this acts as an eye opener to several shortcomings in the store. The C. E.O. is thus, required to consider this first step in the process of change. When the employees receive adequate communication pertaining to the change that is to be undertaken, the response is often effective due to prior knowledge about the change. This way, they also get the opportunity of putting across their ideas about the change. The second step is, building the guiding team. In this step, it is the task of a manager to identify a team, which can facilitate the change that is desired in a business firm. This team should be made up of visionary people who have the sole goal that lead to the success of the business. This particular team is also supposed to ensure that all the individuals in the business firm are informed about the change that is to be implemented in the company. This form of communication encourages individual participation in the success of the business. Thus, a very strong team is required in the business firm and this can only be identified by the manager who comes in contact with his employees at many occasions. The next step is to set the vision right. A manager should be able to define the vision of the change intended to be implemented in the business (Erwin 2009). Explaining the vision by laying out the benefits expected from the change enables the employees to see the essence of the change. The board of the business firm is also supposed to be convinced about the investment that is intended to be put into the business through the change that would result to more advantages than disadvantages. Therefore, the manager is supposed to get the right words to convince all the people that the change would bring a positive change in the company. The third step is communicating for buy-in. This is the involvement of as many people as possible by explaining to them the benefits that would come along with the intended change. A large population should agree with the change for it to be effective. Thus, when a change is rejected by a majority of the people, it can be due to lack of appropriate communication about the change. Thus, it is the task of a good manager to communicate appropriately about the change to the people. Thus, it also involves the aspect of persuasion through open communication. The people involved in the company in one way or the other are able to see the advantages of implementing the intended change when the communication is relevant and appropriate. After gaining the approval from the audience, the next step is to empower action. In this step, the manager is supposed to remove all the obstacles that may hinder the implementation of the change. The obstacles might include the people who are after the downfall of the business, lack of quality items for the production process and lack of quality services from the employees. This could also result in cutting expenses of the company, reducing the floor space and even reducing the staff of the company. All these are obstacles that affect the implementation of change in one or the other. Creating short-term wins is another step that is very crucial to successful change (Hilmers et al. 2012). Thus, the manager is supposed to establish goals that can be achieved within a short period. Establishing such goals makes the people involved in the company to start quickly seeing the benefits that would result from the implementation of the intended change. This also acts as a way of convincing them thus, increasing the chances of the intended change to be accepted by the audience. Not letting up is the next step after the creation of short terms wins. Through this, the manager is able to gather the confidence that would enable him to successfully implement the change. Having gained the confidence from the people, it is now time to ensure the change is implemented successfully without any hitches. This is essential because the employees have already entrusted the manager with their trust and all they expect from the whole procedure is successful change. The last but not least step is the making of a change stick. This simply refers to the actions that facilitate the intended change. The manager can achieve this by changing the ranks of the employees in the business firm i.e. through promotions. Hence, for the David Jones Department Store Chain, the Chief Executive Officer should be able to follow these eight steps in order to achieve the sole goal of a business firm, which is to earn high profit margins with minimal costs involved in the whole process of change. Challenges to Effective Change It is important to note that, implementing change in a business firm can be one hell of experience. This is due to a number of reasons that emanate from the people who are supposed to make sure the change is effective (Hosack et al. 2012). Thus, the challenges include, lack of quality services as expected, lack of quality facilities, lack of enough manpower and lack of appropriate channel. All these shortcomings are due to the sole fact the not all changes receive a welcoming reception. Lack of appropriate resources is the biggest challenge. This is because, for a change to be effective, the correct resources should be used and lack of this results into the ineffective implementation of the intended change. This results into a confusion in the business firm as the people are already set for the change thus, it might also result to the employees losing confidence in the manager. The manpower should be enough in relation to the change and the channel that is supposed to carry out the change should also be effective. This is applicable in the David Jones Department Store Chain where the board should provide the resource required for Zahra to effectively implement the change in the store. Recommendations For effective implementation of change in a business firm, it is the sole duty of the managers to ensure correct planning. This involves the consideration of all the factors needed for successful change (Bodamer 2012). One of the main factors to be considered is to ensure the planning is in conjunction to the available resources in the firm. Another way is to ensure that the resources that would be required can be afforded by the firm. When this factor is considered, it becomes an easy task to implement the change. Another way of ensuring successful change is by creating a budget that is affordable by the company. An affordable budget curbs the chances that might hinder the successful implementation of change. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is evident that a successful business should have a good manager. A good manager is the main determiner for a good business firm. Thus, the qualities of a good manager should be incorporated in the business firm to ensure all the steps to successful change are carried out effectively. The main factors that lead to high profit margins in a firm are as a result of good services that customers receive from the firm. It has been discovered that, a good firm employs a staff endorsed with good customer relation skills, and this leads to high sales and high profits in the firm. Teamwork is also a key point to be considered in order for a firm to effectively carry out a change. Considering all the people involved in the initiation of a change, the manager is viewed as the team leader. It is the manager who ensures the planning, decision-making and implementation are carried out effectively. Bibliography Bowles, T 2010, 'Readiness to adaptively change under three conditions: Clinical, careers, and natural change situations', Australian Journal Of Psychology, 62, 4, pp. 216-226. Burnes, B, & By, R 2012, 'Leadership and Change: The Case for Greater Ethical Clarity', Journal Of Business Ethics, 108, 2, pp. 239-252. Bodamer, D 2012, 'Ship-to-Shore-to-Store', National Real Estate Investor, 54, 4, pp. 33-36. 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