A Change Management Process Used in a Bookstore - Coursework Example

 Introduction Change management in the recent times have assumed increased significance within organizations owing to the growing challenges that businesses face. There is increasing demand for organizations to transform existing work processes and adopt new and effective operations for enhanced productivity and performance from its workforce. The advent of new technology tools and applications have created new opportunities for businesses to tap a larger market segment and gain competitive advantage.

However, managing the change process is not an easy task given the resistance of employees to transform their existing ways of work. The managers and leaders face increasing pressures to implement changes effectively. The report here provides an assessment of change management process used in a book store that has decided to adopt click and mortar business model for increased sales and expanding market outreach through online sales. Change requirements and change process The book store has been selling books, magazines, journals, stationaries and other printed materials for over a decade now.

The company has witnessed sharp fall in volumes over the past few years owing to the shift of customers to online book repositories, digital libraries and digitzed books easily available online. In order to retain its profitability and expand market shares, the book store decided to adopt to a more flexible business model that involves both online and offline sales. The Internet has enabled customers with a vast platform to access any books or printed material online and this is one of the primary reasons for experiencing losses in the conventional book selling business.

The owner of the book store thus commissioned for a website that will cater to the online customers and help them access the desired books at the click of the mouse. The shift to click and mortar business operations mandated a lot of change in the existing work processes at the book store. The management decided to roll out the changes in distinct phases that began with an awareness session for the proposed changes and its implications. The employees were given details during group sessions by the managers of the changes, how it will impact existing work processes, and its desired results on the company’s performance.

The employees were given the chance to voice their concerns and issues relating to impending changes and the managers ensured that their opinion were taken into account during the change process. This was a vital step in gaining the acceptance of the employees to the change process and overcoming any resistance at the initial stage of the change management process. The next step was to provide the employees with a employee skill development program that involves knowledge of e-commerce platform and its functionalities.

Interested employees were asked to enroll for training in the e-commerce operations so that they could assist in the functions. The next stage was to consolidate the changes by ensuring that the employees had understood their new work processes and there was no doubt on how to proceed with the regular operations of the company. Theoretical aspects to change management and leadership capabilities John Kotter (1996) proposed an eight steps model for effective implementation of change initiatives.

The eight steps involves - establishing of a sense of urgency for the change in view of market opportunities or crises, forming a strong team to lead the change program, creating a powerful vision and strategy for the change objectives, communicating the vision to the employees, empowering others to act on the vision, plan for short term improvements to sell change, consolidate and promote change, and institutionalize the new approach (Cameron & Green, 2004) This model is effective in leading change initiatives across organizations but the overall process is highly complex since it involves complete integration and coordination between various levels of organization impacted by the change process.

The management must understand thoroughly the range of impact and influence that the proposed changes might have on various departments and levels of organizational hierarchy. The major challenges faced by managers and practitioners within organizations while implementing changes include changing employee mindsets and attitude, corporate culture and lack of adequate resources, lack of commitment in the higher management, and lack of transparency in communication of vital information, lack of motivation in concerned employees, technology resources and changes in the operational systems.

Whatever the form of resistance, it can be a deterrent to the organizational productivity and efficiency. Richard Cooke (2008) observes in his article Why Change Fails that the process of managing change is complex because it is a human process and hence requires “sensitivities and skills that the modern workplace tends not to value or nurture.” Since the success of the change management process is to a large extent dependent on the employees of the organization, people management skills and a humane approach to the whole initiative is much effective.

Conclusion Leadership plays a significant role in driving the change process since managing and implementing changes within an organization requires effective leadership skills. Leadership skills involve the capacity to visualize and identify possible barriers and resistance to the change initiatives, and the ability to gain workforce participation in the change process as evident in the case of the book store. The change management process in the book store followed a methodical approach to resolving any barriers to the new changes at workplace.

References Cameron, E. & Green, M. (2004). Making sense of change management. Kogan Page Ltd. Cooke, R. (2008). Why change fails? Human Capital Management Journal. July-Aug 2008 edition. Kotter, J. (1996). Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press.