Response to Classmates Discussions
kingstonman41
BUS637Week2-DiscussionForum1.docxWeek 2 - Discussion Forum 1
TuesdaySep 29 at 6:38pm
“Companies today must be able to adapt to times of change. To pivot, learn to do new things and remain relevant in order to survive” (Anand, 2019, p. 71). As companies learn new things, they become proactive by eliminating problems before they develop. If companies become stagnate and fail to adapt, they quickly become reactive, which forces companies to react to issues after they have already happened. If companies can plan for events, good or bad, they may capitalize on the success and avoid disasters; business adapting can make the difference between failure or triumph. With that said, our text offers three steps to overall effectiveness in aiding the effort to develop the desired proactive stand. First, beware of the current situation within your company. Second is to understand your service and products, and finally, re-image change.
To adapt, your company must obtain information to aid the effort to define the current status. A new generation is entering the workforce, which means new work expectations; therefore, you need to supply intrapreneurs with information about an employee’s happiness and satisfaction on the job. While employees are a business’s most important asset, adaption is equally centered around customers. Has their needs/ wants changed? Is our market still needed? Does our company appeal to different racial groups? Obtaining data may be a difficult task because of the amount of information required to make educated predictions. Not only does the data need to be gathered, but it also needs to be presented and understood by innovative thinkers. Change is necessary for business; however, the process isn’t something that happens overnight. This step may not be practical because of the amount required to archive all the data. By the time the new ideas are implemented, it’ll be time to start the process over again.
O’Neill (2019) says, “Product knowledge is a skill where your employees fully understand and can effectively communicate with customers about your product, its features, benefits, uses, and support needs. Product knowledge is a critical skill that your customer-facing teams should know” (p. 1). There is a lot of training, knowledge, and experience that is needed to properly access your company’s products and services. Have you been to BestBuy and had questions about a camera, dishwasher, or the various other things they sell? When employees understand the product their selling, it builds a sense of trust between the customer and the sales agent and can make the customer feel more conformable buying from you. With that in mind, it takes time, energy, and resources, to spin every employee up on the items. Companies can’t teach their employees everything, so some knowledge comes from past experiences or previous knowledge. Customer’s desires and needs change, so they force a reaction from companies and their competitors. As technology is released, customers expect more. Now, stores aren’t selling outdates technology or things that are no longer popular. Stores update the goods and services they offer to stay current with demands. Understanding goods and services is essential for effectiveness; however, the focus should be on what employees want/needs instead of their satisfaction with existing products.
Re-imaging change may sound like an easy task, but employees aren’t usually experts in multiple fields within a company. Therefore, the re-image may not include every component of a company. If some departments aren’t ready for the change, it could be a single point of failure. Change is coming but understanding how to work with change is the goal. How will this impact the operations? Will customers be affected? Will employees be affected? A lot of knowledge is required to imagine how the change will impact part of the organization. In addition to understanding the impact of all organizations, Re-imaging should also be concerned with adoption techniques.
I don’t think this model is missing anything; it touches on understanding your customers, employees, product, and envisioning change.
Yes, I think Kotter’s entire eight-step model is a way to aid a proactive stance. The model is centered around how to guide change in an organization successfully. “Kotter’s 8-Step Process for Leading Change, also referred to as the Kotter Change Model guides organizations and leaders through the process of transformation” (Ford, 2018, p. 1). Ford describes the purpose of the change model. Kotter provides how to complete change and fix something before it happens, which is a proactive response.
Reference
Anand, C. (2019). The greenhouse approach: Cultivating intrapreneurship in companies and organizations .
Ford, M. (2018, August 2). Kotter's 8-Step Process for Leading Change. Strategy Umwelt. https://strategyumwelt.com/frameworks/kotters-8-step-process-for-leading-change.
Neill, E. O. (2019, December 5). The Importance Of Training And Development In The Corporate Environment. https://elearningindustry.com/importance-training-development-corporate-environment.
WednesdaySep 30 at 11:33am
Hi everyone!
Change is intimidating. There is no secret that change is the one constant in this world, while continuously being one of the largest challenges that businesses face. Recognizing that change is inevitable leads to the solutions at hand for a business entity to be either proactive or reactive. Through methods such as assessing the business as it stands today, carrying an awareness to the products offered, and using intuitive thought teams to forecast the direction of the change will lead to the ability to become proactive on resolving change needs. Difficulty in assessing the status of change will be entirely reliant on the self-awareness of management within the organization. Organizations with their ears to the ground will be more prepared for meeting changes before they come through methods such as product evaluations, feedback loops with both associates and consumers, and if applicable, interested associates preparing the research and development of the product lines.
The depth of knowledge required to meet change as it comes, as well as carrying awareness of what should be proactively considered from change is entirely dependent on the ability for a company to listen to its own pulse. An organization with strictly assigned "thinkers" is likely going to put the requirement of knowledge in both forecasting and current state on the shoulders of a select group. While it is advantageous to some merits for small groups of associates to be dedicated to the tasks of change, it is limiting to the organization to disregard the feedback of the larger associate base. Opening communication with the larger population limits the overall knowledge requirement burden on the smaller groups.
The model presented in the text is seemingly broad and ambiguous enough to leave interpretation to the reader, while setting the high-level precedent of including various facets of the business, such as the consumer and associate involvement, understanding product lines, and forecasting change. The ideology expressed in the model leaves me comfortable in believing the model is strong as-is.
Kotter's eight-step model is a great supplementary piece to add additional clarity in potential needs for review for a business. There is no such thing as a bad model in place if it ultimately leads to inspired thoughts or even leads to a disagreement in opinions, as it translates to more conversation around change.
-Andrew
Anand, C. (2019). The greenhouse approach: Cultivating intrapreneurship in companies and organizations .
Ford, M. (2018, August 2). Kotter's 8-Step Process for Leading Change. Strategy Umwelt. https://strategyumwelt.com/frameworks/kotters-8-step-process-for-leading-change.
