Ways in Which Organisations Implement Strategic Change - Apple - Case Study Example

Ways in which Organisations Implement Strategic Change Name Institution Course Date Ways in which Organisations Implement Strategic Change In order to survive, companies require to continuously adapt to business environmental changes (Palmer and Dunford, 2008). One of the most vivid influencer of business success is the change in technology. Organisational change involves the adoption of new ideas, processes or activities by an organisation in order to remain competitive and prosper. It entails change of strategies, operations and structures for the purpose of boosting organisational effectiveness (Palmer and Dunford, 2008). New trends such as supply chain integration, knowledge management, financial pressure, e-business and technology require profound change. Today’s prosperous companies concurrently embrace either incremental change or transformational change. Both external and internal forces drive companies to implement strategic change. External pressures such as market competition and changes in technology can cause change process (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). When change is implemented in an organisation, there may result to resistance. Resistance to change may be due to fear or uncertainty. Therefore, companies need to develop a change management strategy to ensure successful change implementation. This paper will analyse the ways organisations implement strategic change. It will discuss how change in managed and how companies can overcome resistance to change. In addition, the essay will highlight the concept of configuration and offer recommendations and conclusions based on the analysis. There is often disparity between existing and anticipated performance levels. Therefore, in order to close the performance gap, companies implement change processes (Palmer and Dunford, 2008). By asking the question “why”, new ideas can be developed that can impact the bottom line. The need for change originates from focussing on the needs of the customers, the efforts of the competitors, and the availability of opportunities that challenge the status quo. In addition, opportunities in the market can yield the need for change (Kaplan and Norton, 2011). Organisational change can be yielded from the need to satisfy the employees and increase customer base. As the business environment changes, customers’ needs also changes and companies are endeavour to satisfy the needs of its customers (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). As the world continues to evolve, there is need for companies to create new products, services, or business models in order to stay competitive. Companies that continue to succeed are those that can adapt to change (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). There are a number of factors or forces that causes organisational change. The forces of change can either be external or internal. One major external force of change is competition. When a new competitor enters a market, an organisation can decide to change its marketing strategies or business model in order to survive (Vakola and Nikolaou, 2005). For instance, a small retail company will require changing its image in the market when a new competitor enters the market. When a company does not change to adapt to the competition, it can suffer losses or even failure. Organisational change is inevitable and is associated with successful business (Vakola and Nikolaou, 2005). In addition, due to technological advancements, many companies have decided to make some change in their operation in order to accommodate the innovation (Stanley et al., 2003). Innovation in technology has forced many organisations to change in order to keep up. To accommodate new technology, companies may need to train its employees on the new computer system. Companies often benefit from adapting to technological innovations. But in order to ensure successful implementation, companies need to organisational change (Livingstone et al., 2002). For instance, technological innovation has changed the marketing and promotional strategies of hotel industry. Today, marketing is done by use of information technology systems. The advancement of technology has made more and more hotels to adapt to information technological system in their operations and train their employees to learn how to use them Vakola and Nikolaou, 2005). One important internal force of change is desire for growth Vakola and Nikolaou, 2005). In order to grow and expand, companies need to change their business model or methods of operations. Many companies start small and struggle through their first years. Companies start to flourish when they change their operation and models. According to Pearce (2015), without the change of processes, models and business operations, companies cannot grow and flourish. In order to grow, companies might need to implement new processes. To do this, they need to brainstorm ways to achieve this (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). One way to flourish and grow is to introduce new products and target new market. This can be possible through the implementation of new product ideas. This can have a profound effect of the operation of companies (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). Due to globalization and technological advancement, the tastes and preferences of customers have changed considerably (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). The rapid change is consumer preferences and taste has led to the need for companies to introduce new products in the market. One company that has undergone organisational change due to change in customer preferences is Apple (Pearce, 2015). In the digital market, customers prefer products with high flexibility and large storage capacity. They also prefer products that are compatible to other digital devices like T.Vs and PCs. Due to this, Apple is furthering its miniaturisation by introducing new products that can be appreciated by the current customer’s generation. In order to ensure successful change implementation, Apple utilized the Kotter’s 8-step model (Sirkin, Perry and Alan, 2005). Kotter has identified 8-step model that can lead to successful organisational transformation (Rose, 2002). The first step involves establishing a sense of urgency by examining the market and competition, identifying the crisis or opportunities that can be exploited and creating the catalyst for change. The second step of organisational change involves a formulation of a powerful coalition (Rose, 2002). Before implementing organisational change it is important to assemble a team that can lead the change effort and develop strategies for attaining objectives (Rose, 2002). The third step involves creating a vision that can direct the change process. Using effective medium of communication, companies undergoing change process should communicate the new visions and objectives (Rose, 2002). This step is a guiding principle for creating change awareness (Kegan and Lahey, 2009). The next step entails empowering others to take part in the change process. This step involves eliminating obstacles and resistance to change. The sixth step entails planning for the change process for visible performance improvement (Rose, 2002). It also involves recognising and awarding employees who take place in the change process. The next step involves consolidating improvements to the change process by hiring, promoting and developing employees. The last step involves institutionalising new approaches by developing channels to ensure employees employment and good leadership needed for successful organisational change (Kegan and Lahey, 2009). For Apple to keep up with the changing preferences and needs of the customer, it requires to offer innovative products (Kegan and Lahey, 2009). This is possible through the adoption of new technology. Introducing new technology required the company to undergo organisational change. First, the company created the need for change which was to satisfy the changing needs of the customers. Apple carried out market analysis to establish what the current consumers need (Pearce, 2015). In addition, one factor that contributed to the successful implementation of change in Apple is management support. According to Dawson and Andriopoulos (2009), it is important for managers and executives to show support for changes made in companies. Change implementation is effective only when the management is committed beyond mere declarations. The success of the implementation requires devotion and articulate and resilient individuals (Waddell, 2005). Apple is known to have effective leadership that embrace change initiatives regardless of the monetary requirements and time constraints. Apple is considered employee-focussed. It involves its employees in its operations. To ensure successful technological implementation, the company has adopted open communication (Kegan and Lahey, 2009). It has been proactive in communicating with employees at every stage of the change process. It has also developed training and development programs. To be innovative and adapt to new technology, Apple ensures that all the employees are trained on how to use technological systems (Kegan and Lahey, 2009). In all its change processes, the company establishes an effective timeline that incorporates its employees, management, communication plan, training plan and change implementation process. The success of Apple change process has resulted from employee involvement, management support and effective communication (Kegan and Lahey, 2009). Effective implementation of technology has resulted to innovative and high quality products for Apple. One challenge that faces many companies like Apple when undergoing a change process is employee resistance. Organisational change is a major issue in an organisation. Apple, like any other company was involved in major change initiatives (De Jager, 2001). The process of organisational change put a lot of stress on employees and organisations as it challenges how things were initially done. Due to this, employees experienced uncertainty and fear of failure in handling the new situation. According to Markham (2007) stress due to organisational change can result to low motivation, decreased performance, poor communication, low engagement and low quality of work among others (Ryan et al., 2008). For successful implementation of change, companies should come up with strategies to overcome resistance. A company that has done well in overcoming employee resistance to change is McDonald’s. The company is operating at an international level due to its focus on improving its operations (Rodrigo, 2012). The forces for change for the company include intense competition in the fast food industry, customers’ changing preferences and health consciousness and technological advancement. Nevertheless, the company has been faced with forces against change such as cost of implementation, time requirements, and lack of management support (Rodrigo, 2012). However, in contrast to Apple which has been faced with the challenge of overcoming resistance, Donald’s has been able to do so through a number of strategies. Although Apple has established open communication between the management and employees, it has not been able to fully overcome resistance to change. This has led to low retention rate of employees (Rodrigo, 2012). McDonald’s has not only established effective communication media, it has encouraged employee participation by calling them to take part in change-based meetings. In addition, the company ensures it trains about 55,000 employees yearly to offer them ingredients of successful change process (Rodrigo, 2012). Also, McDonald’s has selected a number of change agents who assist manage change planning and implementation. Before a change implementation, the change agent markets the need for change to the employees (Rodrigo, 2012). They help employees to understand the vision of the company and their involvement in the same. This enables the employees to feel they are part of the change process and motivate them to work towards achieving the goals of the new strategies (Rodrigo, 2012). According to Chustz and Lason (2006), development of a change management strategy offers a direction and purpose for change. Any change management strategy should understand the characteristics of the change, a structure to implement the strategy as well as the risks and resistance to the change. This calls for a strategic approach which can be able to manage the change in the organization (Fernandez and Rainey, 2006). Change management is important in giving an organisation a competitive edge. McDonald’s and Apple should apply the Force-Field Analysis in order to be able to determine the driving forces of change and the forces acting against them (Kickert, 2010). The companies can list all the forces for or against a change decision. They can then score each force on the basis of its influence on the change process. With this approach, the companies can work at strengthening the forces working in support of change and manage those that are against the change process (Klarner, Probst and Soparnot, 2008). This can bring improvements in the change process and enhance management decisions regarding the change implementation process. Also, through this approach, companies are able to plan for each change process and build proper functions that support effective implementation (Oreg, 2006). In addition, the concept of configuration is important in change management and implementation (Sminia and Nistelrooij, 2006). The change structure should include elements such as communication plan, training plan, resistance plan, stakeholders’ involvement etc. In addition, it should include the review of the change strategy. This can be done through evaluating the results, enforcing corrective actions as well as celebrating success of the implementing strategies (Wiggins, 2009). This is possible through collecting evidences to demonstrate the success of the implementation through survey or anecdotal and benchmarking process. In conclusion, Organisational change entails change of strategies, operations and structures in order to enhance organisational effectiveness. Every organisation has undergone a change process which is important in boosting competitive advantage. Organisational change can be prompted by factors such as technological advancement, intense competition, the need for growth, and changing preferences of the customers among others. There is often disparity with regard to organisational performance which also creates a need for change. Companies such as Apple and McDonald’s are doing really when in offering quality and innovative products to the customers. This has taken a lot of efforts and operational changes. Although organisational change results to business success, there are a number of shortcomings that come with it such as time consumption, lack of management commitment and support, and high cost of implementation. The success of a change process depends on the ability to manage change and eliminate resistance. Effective management of organisational change results to successful change implementation. References Chustz, M. 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