Reasons for Change and Improvements of Change to the Organization - Assignment Example

Implementing Change Student’s Name Code & Course Professor’s Name University City Date Question 1 (a) Different organizations in order to gain a competitive advantage among other competitors in the market must embrace variation in user requirement and specification and the rampant presence of change brought about by technological advances hence the need for every organization to opt for change because it’s inevitable.my particular focus is on the change to a new system that is yet to hit my procurement and supply organization which is in this context is driven by different forces within the procurement and the supply players linked to the organization and we will analyze the different reasons for change. (Rolfstam, 2013 p.80). First is the need to have an eye on Total Quality Management (TQM) on end products. This is an ongoing management practice that essentially works on the quality of the organization’s products and services (Wisner, Leong and Tan, 2012 p.77).Here the organization has to control the quality of raw materials that are purchased for processing and conversion to end products. This essentially demands the organization to have an up to date system that has inbuilt controls that give guidelines how to meet the set guidelines of achieving TQM essentially from the suppliers of raw materials. Technological advancement is another key aspect of change in the organization. This mainly comprises of creativity and innovation aspects which essentially is the use of available skills and resources to come up with new ways of tackling different operation processes and creating new goods and services so that the organization can respond better to customer needs and respond positively to cut throat competition. This is supported by the rampant technological inventions that brings to the table new ways and methods of approaching different tasks that facilitate different inventions that brings in efficiency and maximizes production (Wisner, Leong and Tan, 2012 p.277). Government regulation is imperative aspect of change. The government can at some point ban some products in the market hence this will render some machines redundant. The whole system of procuring materials and the supply of the finished product will apparently have to take a different approach to make sure that the organization remains relevant in the environment and achieves its business goals. At this point the organization will have to restructure its operations to produce legitimate products to meet its operating costs to avoid deadlocks in operations.(Booth,2010 p.209). Change in customer requirements is to a large extent sensitive for a change in any organization because it’s through the customers buying decision that any business survives through the revenues collected. An organization’s system that produces products that do not meet the user requirement is rendered obsolete hence the need for an overhaul of the whole system to keep a substantial market share.(Booth,2010 p.209).Change clearly comes in with a lot of impacts that affect the stakeholders negatively or positively. It’s all uncertain to pre-determine how either of the parties involved will respond to change given that no one determines what change may bring about. It’s here that I recommend an evolutionary approach. This is an approach that is implemented gradually in a controlled and considerate planned manner. It also involves heavy involvement of the stakeholders to be patient at all cost to reduce rough resistance and create an environment that embraces change. Question 1 (b) For one to undertake any successful venture, a plan must be put in place to ensure it will run smoothly. When it comes to procurement and supply, it needs an effective and efficient team behind it as its driving force to achieve its goals. Such a team should possess some qualities that will help achieve those said goals: Collaborative The procurement team should understand its position in the overall business processes within the organization and its impact. Engaging each member in all the steps and processes and collaborating together to the final step will assist in the realization of set goals. They therefore need to make a collaborative effort for the success of the process. Communication Communication is vital for a group of people working together to achieve a common goal. Coming up with ideas, analyzing them and deciding on the best way forward will help the procurement process run smoothly since there are no misunderstandings with decisions made. It is therefore important to encourage members of the team to put across their ideas, queries and adjustments to be on the same page. Motivation In order to commit team members to performing and achieving set goals, they need to be motivated. It is a major building block to the overall success of the team. This can be done by rewarding exceptional performance, bonuses and even prompt remuneration. This ensures the team is always on its toes working hard and sufficiently and leaves no room for boredom or monotony. Commitment and trust A team needs to be committed to the work they do and be of upright moral standing. They need to be trusted and be trustworthy in return. This will ensure consistency in work done. A committed team that can be trusted is loyal to the goals set and works towards achieving them. It is therefore important to be predictable to the team and develop a trustworthy relationship to avoid being sidelined on critical issues. STEPS TO TAKE TO DEVELOP WORK GROUPS To ensure that the teams will be effective, various steps need to be undertaken; Skilled workforce By appointing experts in the field, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in all aspects will be assured. Management in not only finances but also decision making will become an easy task for the team since it is already qualified and well versed in the normal procedures. Contracts Members of the team need to be entered into contracts legally binding clearly stating their duties, responsibilities, code of conduct and repercussions should there be any unwarranted behaviors. Interactions with the external environment It is important to consider the various components of the external environment affected by the procurement process. Decisions made by the team have an impact on the society directly or indirectly. There should be no adverse effects on the society at large or the environment. Question 2 Reasons for change in an organization The business world has grown in a general form in all dimensions. Change cannot be avoided in any business rather it should be embraced to realize the organizational objectives to be achieved, which is in most cases being to make profit for sustainability in the market. Competition makes it difficult for a business to thrive, therefore it is necessary for whatever company or organization to grow with the changing trends of the competitors to try and hold the market for sustainability. The main concern with organizations today is how to ensure whatever change they get involved in guarantees them the return needed or expected at the end of the period (Kotter & Cohen 2012). Technology is the biggest cause of change in organizations today, as most businesses are trying to up their game to compete favorably in the market using the current innovations in technology. The challenge remains on the management to explain the need for change and how it should be carried out to ensure effectiveness that can lead to profit maximization and control of the market which is the desire of many businesses (Benn & Griffiths 2014). The workers and the owners should be aware of the techniques to be used towards ensuring the change being addressed in the organization is achieved. To be able to control the market the business has to earn the customers trust. Procurement and supply in an organization is vital and therefore should be well managed to realize the company’s objectives. Technology has grown in the filled of procurement and supply in the organization such that the organization’s management has to come up with other means towards ensuring they get the best products and also there supply to the market is guaranteed (Langley, A, N et al., 2013). The change of means of supply and procurement should be done within the company’s regulations to achieve the intended objectives, though not all change programs in an organization will lead to the intended objectives, probably due to poor management of the change program by the relevant authorities or if the employees were not well informed about the change program and its benefits to the organization, it can also fail to deliver the intended objectives if the structure of the organization does not favor it (Burke, W 2013). Organizations may need to implement change due several reasons which might be internal or external. The reasons for change in most cases will tend to ensure that organizations are able to work within the current environment and still achieve their objectives. In terms of supply and procurement, the organization may need to change its way of doing things to adjust to factors such as; economic crisis, these crisis may affect the company’s acquisition of inputs and determination of prices for their commodities to favor their profit realization and at the same time gain the customer’s trust (Brown & Osborne 2012). Another cause of change may be technological challenge which in most cases recently is the key problem to most organization. Change in technology in terms of procuring for the inputs where most organizations have resulted to the use of e-procurement techniques, this increase competition in the market for inputs (Chang, H et al., 2013). Also the use website selling ensures the organization remains on top of the game, the organization therefore has to embrace these changes and work towards implementing them effectively to achieve its objective and for market sustainability (Ross, D 2013). In implementing change in the organization, it is important for the management to consider its long term objectives, how they think to achieve the objective, and which method is likely well suited towards bringing change that can achieve its long term objectives. It is important also for the management to consider suggestion from employees and other stakeholders towards the change to be undertaken. The approach used in implementing change. The best approach for change in an organization is democratic method. It is important for all the people in an organization to feel the need for change; this can be through the management working with the people to define the kind change being undertaken, supporting the people involved in the change implementation in whatever need that they may require, and also encouraging them by rewarding the team accomplishments at every stage of the implementation process (Benn & Griffiths 2014). Collaboration between employees and management and equal involvement towards change program makes it easy for employees to feel a sense of togetherness and corporation which in turn makes them to accept the change being advocated for in the organization (Monczka, R. et al., 2015). This corporation makes the employees involved in the program to work more efficiently looking forward to achieving the better results associated with change in the organization. The method is very effective in any business program as it ensures that every individual in the organization understands the reasons why there should change towards its way of doing things and what needs to be done to ensure the change program succeeds (Brown & Osborne 2012). The supply and procurement department in an organization is key to sustainability in the long term. It should be noted that, the management of supply and procurement has to be adequate to ensure the organization gets its inputs in time and that accessibility to customers for its output is done in an appropriate manner (Waters & Rinslar 2014). Controlling the market for the products should be the target of an organization; this can be done effectively through ensuring that the method of supply in the market is in line with current trends. Technology should be improved and all employees need to work within the changes applied by the entire supply department in the organization, this will ensure a sufficient competitive advantage for the organization in the market against other organizations that are yet to embrace the change in technology. An up to date procurement and supply function will make it possible for the organization to be able to manage any unforeseen difficulties like financial problems, and also economic difficulties. A good supply function will enable the organization also to identify quality vendors who can make the supply chain of the organization to improve in overall (Robbins, S. et al., 2013). Improvements of change to the organization Improvements in an organization are attributed to the organization’s output at a particular period of time. Increase in efficiency of workers in the organization dictates the future of its output and this improvement in output can be well realized through improved team work performance where each individual is able to put on his/her best performance (Cummings & Worley 2014). The change program in an organization if well done in a collaborative manner will ensure every individual is having the knowledge of what is being done and above all is able to work in collaboration with others to achieve the intended objectives of the change thus increasing output of the organization (Brown & Osborne 2012). The main goal of the organization is to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency which ones realized will improve the organizations ability to increase productivity and increase its customer base for affective sale of its products. It is not always simple for an organization to evaluate the impacts of change in policies its operations immediately. Change has to take time, the management, employees and the organization’s other stakeholders have to accept the policies changes, and the means of achieving the change, this then follows full implementation of the change program that the organization will then be able to assess the impacts of the change at the end of the implementation to check whether they are positive or negative impacts (Pettigrew, A 2013). The organization is able to check its previous objectives through its mission and vision before implementing the change program and after implantation to see if there are any improvements. The evaluation entails looking at what the changes in policy of the organization have offered the organization in the present which was not there before. Organization is able to measure the positive impacts of the organization through increase in its output and productivity in all the sectors of the organization and how the employees are feeling about the new changes in the organization. How to involve people affected by change to buy it Not every individual in the organization will embrace change, and change cannot be imposed on people. Organizations have people with different mindset, many of the people at times fear change itself as they don’t what change brings to them, some like to maintain the organization’s status quo basically because of the rumors about the negative effects about change being said by others who probably might not be aware of the reasons behind the need for change (Waters & Rinslar 2014). In the organization, most people fear change because of the comfort zone in which they are in, most policy changes in the organization are not easy on the part of the employees to be implemented. Change come with its difficulties as the management will always be demanding for the new policies to be implemented as fast as possible, this proves to be difficult for most people as it will mean doing more work than before and as result some people will be negatively affected by the wave of change at the end of the implementation process (Chang, H et al., 2013). It is therefore the work of the management to go slowly in explain the benefits of the change program to the organization and also to the life of the people affected by it. This might take long but it will encourage every person to like the change thus be incorporated in the change for the success of the organization (Kotter & Cohen 2012). Summary Policy change in an organization cannot be imposed on people. As we have gone through the purpose and benefits of change in organizations, it can be said that not all people like to see change in the way of doing things in the organization. It is therefore said to be important for the management to inform all people about the change and why the change, and how to achieve the full implementation of the policy change (Burke, W 2013). This as we have seen it will ensure unity and collaboration in among employees, management, and other stakeholders which is the best way of ensuring full implementation of the change program. References Kotter, J.P. and Cohen, D.S., 2012. The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Harvard Business Press. Brown, K. and Osborne, S.P., 2012. Managing change and innovation in public service organizations. Routledge. Burke, W.W., 2013. Organization Change: Theory and Practice: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications. Langley, A.N.N., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H. and Van de Ven, A.H., 2013. 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