Strategic Decision Making Process at OJuice - Case Study Example

1.0 Introduction Change is one of the most critical aspects of effective management. The unpredictable business environment in which most organisations operate implies that not only is change a becoming more frequent, but that the nature of the change may be increasingly sophisticated (Hussey, 2000). This is because people are consciously and unconsciously made up through a complex grid of experiences across space and time (Cutcher, 2009). It is not always easy for organisations to conform to change, as there can be resistance from the top management or from the junior staff depending on where the call for change emanates from. In many scenarios, change is perceived as a positive attribute, but in some cases it can be perceived as a negative phenomenon. Where change is perceived negatively, it is resisted, and there are cases where resistance to change has been viewed to be a positive force (Perren & Megginson, 1996). This looks to have been the state of affairs at OJuice. To begin with, there are instances in which the top management continually refused the ideas brought by junior employees regarding the varieties of the juices the company produced. The same employees left OJuice and their ideas were incorporated elsewhere to be elements of OJuice’s major competitors. Thus, there is a major leadership problem at OJuice, which needs to be attended to avert further downfall of the company. OJuice has always prided itself in its efficient set of systems both in the factory and at the headquarters. However, the fact that the company hires staff right from school or university and accustoms them to the old practices means that it is lacking it fresh inputs regarding today’s competition. The fact that the company for a long time seemed to be set against employees’ new ideas and creativity means that it is likely to continue losing employees’ ideas, which ironically are used elsewhere. For this reason, there is need investigate the leadership problems further, and suggest how the company’s management can adopt new ideas by incorporating ideas from both top and low level staff. In this paper, it is suggested that OJuice adopts the Kotter's eight step change model as formulated by Kotter (1996) as it touches on almost every aspect of the organisation. 2.0 Problem identification The leadership problem at OJuice is that the management in the past has been hesitant to adopt change or try new ideas from the employees. Yet, as noted by Moran and Brightman (2000), change management is the process of continually renewing and organisation’s structure, direction, and capabilities to meet the ever-changing needs of internal and external customers. Leaders have the responsibility to ensure stability of their organisations, but they also have to promote change to ensure that the organisations are in line with the changes occurring in other organisations that act as their competitors. Managers also have to anticipate tomorrow’s business environment (Moran & Brightman, 2000). The same authors note that organization become redundant when they fail to observe the essential of managing change. From the case study of OJuice, it is notable that the management ignored the essential aspects of organisation management, such as organisational change and organisational learning. This situation needs to be corrected by engaging in a number of activities such as linking organisational learning with strategies for restructuring, corporate transformation and business process re-engineering (Drew & Smith, 1995). Kotter's eight step change model addresses these strategies. 3.0 Critical analysis Kotter's eight step change model deals with planning implementing and sustaining change. Using this model, the process of handling organizational change can be broken down into eight steps as (1) establishing a sense of urgency; (2) creating a guiding coalition; (3) developing a vision and strategy for the specific change; (4) communicating the vision and strategy for the specific change; (5) empowering the employees for action; (6) generating short-term wins; (7) consolidating gains and producing more change; and (8) anchoring the new changes in the culture (Sabri, Gupta & Beitler, 2006). According to Brisson-Banks (2010), an awareness of the need for change is the beginning of the entire change process. This means that a complete analysis of the current situation is necessary to begin the process of implementing any kindof change in an organization. Further, this is only possible if the there is a consensus within the organisation that in deed, there is need for change in the organisation’s day to day operations. Regrettably, this kind of assessment may take longer than expected (if at all the leaders are willing to implement the change) if the situation is very serious. But of essence is the point that change models are effective only if the individuals in the process are working together to implement the change. The basic goal of Kotter’s model is to make crucial changes in how business is done in order to help deal with with a new, more taxing market environment (Brisson-Banks, 2010). The management of an organisation can say that it has its own way of doing things, but it is quite evident that if Kotter’s steps are ignored, or are not followed in the correct order, it may not fully fulfil the requirement of any change process. For instance, the biggest mistake people make when trying to change organisations is to plunge ahead without determining a high enough sense of urgency in fellow management personnel and employees. By adopting Kotter’s model, the management of any organisation must be willing to take into account the key idea suggested by Kotter, which is to keep improving, going forwards with new and more innovative ways to compete in the market by adding new products, and always looking for new ways to deal with situations and keep the vision going by adding new people and fresh ideas as the organisation continues to grow. However, an organisation’s aspirations of change are usually limited by obstacles such as a feeling of self-satisfaction in which managers would want to maintain the present image of their company (Sabri, Gupta & Beitler, 2006). Kotter’s model may be criticised on the premise that it dwells on a change process instigated by the management of an organisation. However, as Pfeifer, Schmitt and Voigt (2005) note, an enquiry among 600 to managers of German companies indicated that the speed, frequency and intensity of changes in the business environment will continue to increase in the coming years. Yet, as the same authors note, it will become increasingly difficult to foresee the changes arising in the business environment. This calls for concerted effort from all levels of the organisation to plan and implement the change process. Importantly, it is worth mentioning that there is no perfect change model and that although “any model is better than no model,” change models are not mutually exclusive. In addition, most change models are tactical and project-focused rather than strategic and they are not sufficiently holistic (Warrilow, 2007). 4.0 Recommendations To have a more strategic decision making process at OJuice is recommended. The top priority of management should be to welcome fresh ideas and innovativeness from the entire company staff. In order to ensure that everyone in the organisation is involved in the change process, a procedural model is “required for the design, implementation and reinforcement of the intended strategic changes” (Pfeifer, Schmitt & Voigt, 2005, p. 299). The application of such a model should make it possible not only to anticipate and maintain control over the continuous changes but also attract changes that arise suddenly in the environment of the company. Kottler’s model represents a sequential procedure that can adequately suffice these needs. As suggested by Sabri, Gupta and Beitler (2006), successful change involves developing new and more innovative ways to compete in the market by formulating new products and welcoming fresh ideas that ensure the organization’s growth. If OJuice adopts this strategy, it will make use of the diverse ideas contributed by different employees, and thus be more competitive in the market. The role of people in achieving change is the core of Kotter’s framework. This raises the conundrum that people are both a key factor in achieving successful organisational change, and at times may be the biggest obstacles to change as noted by Smith (2005). 5.0 Conclusion OJuice clearly faces a major problem in leadership with respect to change and it is important that the disconnect observed in decision making among different levels of staff be addressed. The review of literature in this paper shows that effective change management occurs when the leadership of an organisation puts in place mechanisms to facilitate the change. This involves allowing each employee an opportunity to make decisions of contribute to the organisation’s decision making process. In sum, embracing organisational change should be ignited by and supported by the organisation’s leadership. Adopting the recommendations suggested in this paper will ensure that employees at OJuice are given an opportunity to express their ideas, and this will go a long way in ensuring that innovations are utilised for the benefit of the company. References Brisson-Banks, C.V. (2010). “Managing change and transitions: A comparison of different models and their commonalities” Library Management, 31(4/5): 241-252. Cutcher, L. (2009). “Resisting change from within and without the organization,” Journal of Organizational Change Management.” 22 (3): 275-289. Drew, S.A.W. & Smith, P.A.C. (1995). “The learning organization: “change proofing” and strategy.” The Learning Organization, 2(1): 4–14. Hussey D. E. (2000). How to Manage Organisational Change (2nd edition). London: Kogan Page Publishers. Moran, J. W. & Brightman, B.K. (2000). “Leading organizational change,” Journal of Workplce Learning: Employee Counseling Today, 12(2): 66-74. Perren, L. & Mewgginson, D. (1996) “Resistance to change as a positive force: Its dynamics and issues for management development,” Career Development International, 1(4): 24–28. Pfeifer, T., Schmitt, R. & Voigt, T. (2005). “Managing change: Quality-oriented design of strategic change processes.” The TQM Magazine, 17(4): 297-308 Sabri, E. H., Gupta, A.P. & Beitler, M.A. (2006). Purchase order management best practices: process, technology, and change management. New York: J. Ross Publishing. Smith, I. (2005). “Continuing professional development and workplace learning 11. Managing the “people” side of organizational change.” Library Management. 26(3): pp. 152-155. Warrilow, S. (2007). Practitioners' Masterclass. New York: Practioners Masterclass. Read More