Week 5
Week 5 - Assignment: Explore the Role of Disruptive Innovation in a Global Marketplace
Assignment
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Due December 1 at 11:59 PM
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One type of change to consider is disruptive change or innovation. Disruptive innovation is a relatively new term coined in 1995 by Bower and Christenson. In essence, this is any new or different approach to a product or services that radically change the market. This kind of radical change is hard to predict from your competition, but just the type of internal innovation that change managers want to develop their competitive advantage in the market. Organizations that empower employees to create innovative, disruptive technologies, products, or services are the hallmark of pioneering industry leaders.
The companies who are the disruptive innovators are companies that compete in the market differently, serving an underserved or unserved customer base, and do so in typically at a lower price. One example of this kind of disruptive innovation was the emergence of Amazon into the retail space. Amazon was one of the first companies to consider e-commerce as the primary method of product distribution. This disruptive approach to business has by its growth affected the retail so much that historical physical or brick and mortar companies are weakening or closing. Retailers that were once the largest retailer in U.S. cities no longer exist or are failing because of the disruptive innovation of companies like Amazon and its largest competitor, Walmart. The disruptive innovation and efficiencies of both of these companies have an impact not only in retail, but logistics, technology, and public buying trends.
For this assignment, you may choose to represent either Amazon or Walmart. If you selected Walmart as your company, you would assess Amazon's practices. If you selected Amazon, you would assess the practices of Walmart. As the representative of your chosen company, you have been asked to identify the three most impactful, disruptive technologies that your competitor is using to secure market share. You will then address how that disruptive innovation should be treated in your selected company at each of the three identified change management tiers (i.e., enterprise, organizational, and individual). If you choose to include graphs or figures, they should be included in an appendix. Your audience for this paper is the executive leadership of your selected company. However, you are expected to write in an appropriate academic voice.
Length: Your assignment is to write a paper of 5-7 pages, not including a cover page, references, or appendices.
Please consider that those holding doctorates in business are often hired for their professional and academic expertise to offer solutions to businesses in need. This assignment is geared toward helping you discover how you might respond if asked to act in this role.
References: Include at least 4 references in your selected company. Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.
Week 5
Disruptive Innovation and Change Management
The leadership author, lecturer, and business coach John C. Maxwell was quoted saying, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” This adage is true for individuals and organizations. The very nature of a company is that it is, refereeing to the idea earlier in the course, a living entity. The nature of organizations is that they do not remain static. Change and managing change is one of the most critical tasks for a business leader. Changes can come from lots of different directions, including customer demands, market conditions, economic conditions, competitors, technologies, and input cost changes. The effort to address and control a company’s response to these changes is called change management, and a company’s ability to respond rapidly and appropriately to these changes is agility.
Change management might be referred to as part science and part art. It is science because it is a structured approach to support the organization and the people within the organization from the current condition or status to a future desired condition or status. It is an art because people must be led to enact the change instead of being managed to change. To understand what change management is, it is helpful to break it down into three tiers or levels. The highest tier is at the enterprise level. At this level, the focus is on capabilities, structures, processes, leadership, and when applicable projects.
The next tier is the organizational level. At this level, the focus is on identifying groups, functions, and teams that will need to change. At this level, the application of strategic vision is to see the change and then organizationally address this through changes to the identified groups, functions, and teams. A standard tool used at this level is project management where individuals from across functional teams or whole teams are chartered to execute changes, focus on organizational awareness, training, or coaching.
The final tier is at the individual level. At this level, the focus is on individual employees and their ability to adapt to the change, develop the new skills, and modify work patterns to match new processes. This level requires less management and more leadership and encouragement, and it can be viewed as less science and more art. However, even given the personalized nature of addressing individuals at this level, the principles of psychology and group dynamics are well within the domain of scientific management principles. After all, you have to know how to understand when and when not to meet individual needs and address behaviors that are contrary to the desired change.