Management Organizational Change - David Jones - Case Study Example

Management Organizational Change Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Introduction Management organizational change refers to the shift of the organization from its current situation towards a perceived state intended to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. An organization is often forced to change the way it conducts its operation for a number of reasons. For some organizations, it could be the need for improving their products and the need to rebrand among others. These reasons are the basis for the varied types of change that has been characteristic of various organizations. For instance, some of the major basic changes identified in organizations include, evolutionary change, which is mostly initiated gradually (Consador, 2012). The revolutionary change is another type of organizational change, which is initiated drastically to enable the organization to handle sudden changes. However, studies show there is need to follow certain steps before an organization can fully opt to initiate changes in its operations (Armengot, Parellada & Carbonell, 2010). First, it is vital to establish the need for the perceived changes. This is mostly to enable the organization access whether there is a problem that needs to be addressed and how soon it has to be managed. Then follows the decision on the type of change to be made, after evaluating the problem at hand, an organization can design the measures it needs to take (Mattiske, 2011). Last is the need to introduce and monitor the change. This final step helps in the evaluation of the effects the change has on the organization. It is important for an organization to analyze if the changes implemented are effective as expected. The focus here is the ways the David Jones’ management can introduce and manage change in their respective organizations. Additionally, common challenges that management faces when they need to initiate changes are included. Common theories associated with the management of organisational change are identified as well as the most appropriate way of communicating these changes to other stakeholders. According to Harigopal (2006), in his book, change has been categorized into a number of different types. First is the happened change, which the writer refers to be the unpredictable change that often occurs when an organisation has acquired its optimum objective. In this type of change, the writer indicates that the organization experiencing these changes have become prey to the external environment. That is, the factors affecting the organization are mostly from without. In addition is the reactive change where an organization undergoes changes in reaction to certain situations. For instance, the changes in the case of the retail rescue plans for David Jones where the organization is reacting to the event of facing competition from other organizations. The anticipatory change, this change has been identified to relate to the anticipation or expectation of things to unfold. In this type of change, an organization majorly focuses on the future occurrences likely to affect its operations. By being able to analyze these possible changes, an organization can prepare and manage the changes if they happen. A good example of this type of change is when an organization decides to establish an employee’s training and recruitment program that will ensure the availability of manpower when the time to hire replacement employees approaches (Harigopal, 2006). The Nature and need for Change The nature and need for organizational change is mostly defined by the respective problem within the organization. For instance, if a problem does not impose major threats to the operations of the organization, an evolutionary change is mostly the appropriate step to be taken. However, if the problems at hand are vital and can drastically affect the operations of the organization, the appropriate change would be to implement the revolutionary change. In other cases, changes are related to arise from the change in leadership or even objectives of the organization. Taking the problem posed in David Jones, for instance, the best change would be evolutionary. This is because, analyzing the increase in the competitor’s business profits following the advancements in their implementation of the use of online marketing, David Jones’ business has no immediate threat to its business operations. However, with a delay in implementing the necessary changes, serious effects can occur in the sale and development of their business. The need to establish if a problem identified will affect the business instantly or in the near future helps an organization to plan and prepare its resources. In other instances, the nature of change required in an organization depends on the nature of the issue to be addressed. For instance, if the problem is visual, the change to be made will be visual oriented; it could be the need to rebrand or rename the organization. It is thus important to note the nature of the problem at hand before establishing the nature of the change to be implemented. The need to initiate organizational change has often been related to the need to improve the organization. In other instances, this need has been denoted to arise from external factors, which influence the way an organization functions. This could be the need to advance in service efficiency and employee effectiveness or the need to revamp the structure of the organization. In the case of the retail rescue plan for David Jones, the need to change the organization can be said to arise from the need to keep up with the market competition; noting their competition had established a website at the same time they did. David Jones’ organization faced a major challenge for the same market. This, in addition to the fact that they closed their site way before utilizing it gave their competitors an opportunity to maximize their profits. It is thus appropriate to say the organization’s need to change their operations as well was stirred by the need to keep up with the market competition. The nature of change for the David Jones retail business is thus because of the competition they face in the market. This need can also be acclaimed to the future market prospective expected by the organization’s management. Following the steps established in implementing change in an organization that is the first step to take. With regard to David Jones situation, Zahra is accurate in taking a step to make changes in the organization with the hope for catching up with their competitors. Challenges Managers Might face when Initiating Change in the Organization Establishing and making changes in an organization seemingly contribute towards the betterment of the organization (Hernandez-Mogollon et al., 2010). However, in most cases, these changes are often not supported by other parties within the same organization. Managerial staff experiences a number of challenges when trying to implement changes in their organization. A common identified challenge is resistance to the change mostly from other members in the organization. A number of these resistances from within the organization often originate from fear of the unknown and misunderstandings arising from the need to change. These often emerge when the employees have not been adequately informed about the changes. Studies reveal that a number of resistance to change experienced in organizations relate to the organizational culture. Many employees and staff members are used to their normal way of conducting business, with a new introduction to their normal operations; many get cold feet and try to fight the new developments. The need to motivate and enlighten others within the organization is vital if a change is to be embraced. According to various researches, managed change needs to be implemented in stages to ensure the level of resistance is reduced. This is because, when the change is gradual, members of the organization slowly learn the effects that the changes will have in the organization. They analyze the change in its relevance to their daily operations and adopt it with time (Hussey, 2000). Another common challenge to change in an organization is the inadequacy in resource like space, financials, and labour. Many changes in the organization require different resources to ensure its complete implementation. However, there are certain times when an organization has trouble in facilitating these changes. As seen above, changes can be structural, visual, or operational depending on the nature of the problem. In certain times, an identified problem could be vital and the need for change is immediate, but the availability of the necessary is an issue. These difficulties are what mostly hinder the new changes to be implemented in the organization. Structural changes can be physical or managerial depending on the issue at hand, in most managerial structural changes, the major issue is mostly the hiring of personnel to fill in a vacancy or to manage a section of the organization. This challenge often calls for the need to establish a recruitment program within the organization that ensures availability of personnel when need arises. There are certain times when the perceived changes exceed the available resources, but the expected outcome seems to be more rewarding than the risks involved. In this case, an organization needs to measure and weigh its options on whether to implement the change or not to. In the case of David Jones retail rescue plan, the perceived outcome of implementing a new online market appears to be rewarding despite the advancement made by their competitors (Graetz et al., 2011). Strategies of Managing the Change Process Managing organizational change requires the employment of effective strategies, which will ensure the organization advances in its developments. First is the need for effective communication. Communication plays a vital role in ensuring that information is exchanged and shared across a defined parameter. This aspect helps in reducing issues of misunderstanding and enhances the effectiveness of change. It is through effective communication that change can be managed. This is so because, before a change is effected in the organization, the relevant parties need to be informed and enlightened on the same. This helps in reducing resistance and accelerates the adaptation of the change into the system (Baker, Kan & Teo, 2011). Effective communication can be achieved through the establishment of feasible communication channels. For example, issuing employees with brochures on the proposed change in the case of introducing new technology plays a vital role in ensuring the parties involved in the change are aware. Communication within the organization helps in guaranteeing that detailed analysis and evaluation of the problem at hand is done. It acts to identify the necessary changes required and in the planning for the same. Effective communication seeks to incorporate the views and needs of individuals within the organization. It helps in addressing the possible ways of addressing an identified problem (Lee, Ridzi, Lo & Coskun, 2011). Another vital strategy of ensuring effective management of organizational change is planning for the change. Having a detailed plan for the perceived change helps in the preparation and availing of resources required to facilitate the change. In planning, organizations can secure the resources needed in handling the problem at hand as well as designing other probable measures that can be taken in case the implemented change fails to deliver as expected. It also helps in envisioning of the state of the organization following the implementation of the perceived changes. In planning, organizations can communicate the changes to other members of the organization. This has seemingly been reported to help in improving and bringing the entire workforce required to share a common goal. In planning, a number of factors come to play; first is the need to ensure that all the parties involved are incorporated in the plans (Magala & Flory, 2012). By bringing in all the parties ensures there is minimal resistance to the changes being established. Many times, there is need for keeping a hold on the organizational objective and goals. The two aspects play an important role in ensuring that the people’s anxiety is maintained and they are reassured the change is only for the improvement of the organization’s effectiveness and not a total overtake of ownership by another group. To ensure an effective management of the changes being implemented, it is imperative to make certain the changes are being implemented in an orderly mode. Seeing that change in the organization can have adverse and at times undesired effects on the people, these changes should be initiated in order. To accomplish this, the managerial staffs’ needs to ensure the transitions and steps required to effect the changes are followed to the latter. Effective transitions often at time go to the great lengths of ensuring that each party is in agreement with the changes and that the process is effective (Scott & Jaffe, 1995). This effective transition can be effected by the delegation of these duties to an individual well-equipped to handle the changes. To ensure an efficient transition, the managerial staff needs to act as role models. This is where the staff embraces the change and tries to influence the other members of the organization to embrace the same. In most cases, it has been evident that when the top management accepts a change in the organization, their subordinates are more likely to adapt to the same changes. This has also been noted to help in a faster adaptation and progress where the management and the staff are in agreement to the changes being effected in the organization (Soriano, 2012). Change strategies for Consideration In the retail rescue plan for David Jones, a number of possible effective measures can be adopted to ensure a complete and efficient change. According to Ribeiro-Soriano and Urbano (2010), there are four major different ways of initiating change in an organization. First is the collaborative style. Here, the parties seemingly to be affected by the change are engaged in the process of change. This mode of initiating change requires an effective channel for the communication and sharing of information for the changes to be made. In most cases, this has been achieved through the organization of meetings where all the parties to the change air their views. Often at times, studies have revealed this mode as effective because of the sense of importance it influences the people involved. The generation of feedback from these meetings has been reported to help in the effective delivery of change. This is because of the criticisms and suggestions being made by different people involved in the change process. A similar approach to the collaborative style is the consultative method. In this mode, the parties of change are made aware of the changes to be made. Their views and opinions are mostly considered. However, this mode differs from the collaborative style in that; there is no feedback in this mode; however, consultations are made and the views of the parties involved are normally taken into consideration. Another suggestion is the directive and coercive approaches. The directive mode has been noted to corporate the need to inform the parties that will be affected by the change of the changes. In this mode, the importance of the changes to be implemented is usually presented to the parties. This seemingly helps in ensuring the parties are aware of the reasons why the changes should be made. On the other hand, the coercive mode has been reported to be more like an order. This is because of the means by which the parties are informed of the changes. In an organizational set up, this mode implies the way the managerial staff passes the need for changes as a requirement and the subordinates are expected to obey. In the David Jones case; however, the most appropriate strategy in implementing it changes would be the collaborative and consultative methods. This is because of the nature of the change required. Seeing that the organization needs to develop new ways of ensuring an expansion in the market niche, the managerial staff should seek the views and opinions of the parties likely to be affected by the change. This will go a long way in ensuring the organization achieves its objective of catching up with its competition (Millar, Hind & Magala, 2012). David Jones’ organization can also seek to adapt a transformational change. This is a change where the organization will be required to change entirely a part of its operations. By reopening their website, the organization will be effecting its operations into a technological era. This will go a long way in ensuring the organization’s market niche is wide, an aspect that will lead to the growth in investment and profits. Considering the current state of the organization, there is need for change to address the external threats exerted on the organization by its competition. A transformational change seems appropriate in this case because, it highlights the current need to improve the organization’s profits. In transforming the organization, the managerial staff at David Jones will be aiming to achieve major profits perceived from the improvement of the current market state. Conclusion In summary, change is a natural and inevitable aspect of life. This common factor appears to have a major effect on the operations of organizations in that; it is often considered a vital factor in the improvement of organizations. Various studies have revealed that different types of changes exist, which can be adapted in any organization. Among these are revolutionary change, transformational change, and reactive change among others. The nature and need for change has also been related to the nature of the problem demanding the changes to be implemented. In most cases, there are identified steps employed to ensure an effective transition of change. For instance, preparing for the change to be made, creating a common vision and goal for all the parties involved in the change to ensure a smooth transition, communicating the changes effectively to the parties involved and addressing the rising concerns immediately, next is to develop a clear and appropriate action plan. This is followed by the implementation of the changes and the monitoring and evaluation of the change process. These steps play an essential role in ensuring that an organization attains its goals and effectively implements the necessary changes it requires. Consequently, research reveals that for changes to be effected in an organization there needs to be an effective channel and means for communicating these changes. These measures go to ensure minimal resistance to the change and that the appropriate methods of effecting the changes are used. Overly, an organization seeking to implement changes needs to ensure it has the logical reasons and the necessary resources to effect the changes. References Armengot, C., Parellada, F., & Carbonell, J. (2010). The immigrant entrepreneur in the international change: A managerial analysis according to demographic profile. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 23(4), 377 – 395 Baker, E., Kan, M., & Teo, S. (2011). Developing a collaborative network organization: leadership challenges at multiple levels. 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