Implementing Pressures for Change

Evaluating Pressures for Change Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Good title page overall, but check title capitalization in the header

Jenn Ellsworth Comment by Heather F Lukashin: As a reminder, the following was expected: Details: Being able to recognize potential pressures that require an organization to change its practices or processes is a vital for its success. Examine an organization in the field or industry in which you work, or are planning to work. In 1,000-1,250 words, evaluate the pressures the organization currently faces and discuss the potential effects these pressures could have on the organization. You will use your evaluation of this organization for your Implementing Change assignment. Include the following: Identify and describe the organization you are evaluating. Provide an overview of the industry within which the organization operates. Identify the environmental and organizational pressures currently driving organizational change in your field or industry. Explain the origin or reason for these pressures, and explain how they directly affect the viability of your organization. Predict what type of organizational changes (first-order/second-order) these pressures may cause within the organization. Provide support for your analysis and prediction. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Grand Canyon University: AMP-492

April 15, 2018

Running head: ASSIGNMENT TITLE HERE

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Running head: Evaluating Pressures for Change

Introduction Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Repeat title here – see APA paper template.

Comcast Corporation is a telecommunications and media company. It is the nation’s largest provider of data, video, and telephony services to residential and business customers (Comcast Cable, 2012). It is the largest broadcasting and cable television company and was ranked number one for pay TV providers in 2017 ("Largest pay TV providers in the U.S. by subscribers 2017 | Statistic"). Comcast is also one of the largest internet providers, delivering the fastest speeds available. In 2011, Comcast became owner of NBCUniversal, which is an international media company. NBCUniversal owns and operates a premier motion picture company, entertainment and news television networks, and world-renowned theme parks (NBCUniversal, 2012). Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Use your introductory paragraph to preview key points you will be making in your paper. This is likely the only section of a paper where source citation may not be necessary. You seemed to have skipped the intro paragraph and jumped right into addressing the first question. Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Your paper is of proper length – good job!

The values of Comcast include having a positive impact on the community, connecting more than four million low-income American homes with the internet, diversification in their workforce, and becoming sustainable by setting up a more resource-efficient company (Our values). Other values include supporting the military community and ensuring their services are accessible to the broadest possible audience. The mission of the company is to deliver the most reliable and customer friendly services and provide their customers with a superior experience. Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Comcast would be the institutional author here.

Comcast operates in a branch of iInformation technology concerned with telecommunications. It offers a wide range of services mainly for the aim of entertainment and education of the consumer. These services include high-speed broadband internet, cable networks, broadcast television, as well as security and automation services for the home and business. Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Ok, but what about discussing the industry in general?

Environmental and Organizational Pressures Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Using section headings – great! Make sure they are together with the relevant section

The telecommunications industry is susceptible to external environmental changespressures. To remain competitive, organizations must be ready to quickly react and adapt to environmental challenges. Presently, the primary environmental pressure that drives organizational change in this field of technology is hypercompetition pressure. Hypercompetition is the use of tactics by an organization to disrupt the competitive advantage held by industry leaders (Rifkin, 1996). In a hypercompetitive market, pressure is ever present for an industry leader and that “means that no market leader can rest on its laurels” (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009, p.58). The central pressure that Comcast faces is competition from other companies. Numerous companies in America offer pay TV and Iinternet services, which includeincluding AT&T, Charter, Verizon, and Century Link Link, and among many others. The competitors are coming up with newer ways of delivering content to the customers, which forces the organization to follow suit by investing in innovative technologies. Such technological advancements include the emergence of 3-dimensional films, online media platforms, and the development of mobile applications that gives access to programming. Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Why not cite to our textbook instead here? Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Remember to proofread manually before submitting! Automated software tools are unable to catch certain types of mistakes. At the same time, when MS Word highlights something as a potential error, remember to always investigate.

Another driver to organizational change in the industry in which Comcast operates is the influence of other stakeholders who have an interest in the field of communication and entertainment. The stakeholders include the government, local communities, special interest groups, creditors, and shareholders. The stakeholders hold very significant power, and the company must take into account their input any time they make statements. The government makes and amends laws which the company must abide by or else face legal repercussions. The Federal Commerce Commission monitors the content that is broadcasted by the company and has the power to remove the programs that violate the restrictions put in place (FCC, 2018). Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Wouldn’t this be the mandated/environmental, rather than organizational pressure?

The threat from other substitute products or services has also driven change in the industry. The threat comes in the form of innovation from other industries. Some of the companies that have put pressure on Comcast include Apple Inc. and Google Inc. that have unveiled plans for introducing new products in the field of entertainment, and especially video distribution. Additionally, the music industry is making many strides in expanding their media to online databases and also increasing the services that they provide to the customers. Essentially, the music industry is mainly creating one-stop-shops, which now means that the consumers no longer have to visit different channels for entertainment, as they can access all the music or videos from a single point. Thus, Comcast has to implement organizational or environmental changes to ensure that it does not lose many of its customers to the emerging new trends. Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Did you mean first- or second-order changes here?

Type of Organizational Changes

The primary organizational change that should be carried out by Comcast is a technological change. This is a first- order change, as it will only involve an upgrade of their existing technology and not a complete overhaul of their systems (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, et al., 2009). The evidence of the need for change is that many other companies are now coming up with new technologies like 3-dimensional pictures, mobile applications, and online databases for their movies. Comcast should invest in such technology and develop a department that will ensure that these platforms are regularly updated for them to keep up with their competitors and to fend off threats from other industries such as Google and Apple Inc.

Another organizational change is in the integration processes. It is also a first-order change that will enable the operations in the organization to work in line with their technology. The process will involve the aligning of the technology and the values of the company so that they complement, support, and add value to each other. Comcast has been criticized for many years, and their customer satisfaction ratings are among the lowest in the country (Mlot, 2017). They have been titled “America’s Most Hated Company” (Mlot, 2017). For the organization to ensure they win back the trust of the people, they should ensure that the technology they invest in works to add value to their process and to improve the experience of the customers by improving their integration processes.

The second-degree organizational change that Comcast should implement should occur in their culture. The organization has developed a bad reputation among the people in the country, and it has twice been ranked as the worst company in America by a popular magazine (Matyszczyk, 2014). Many of the customers have reported not to be satisfied by the service delivery of the organization. Comcast should carry out a complete overhaul of their operating culture that has seen them drop to the very bottom of the ratings in customer satisfaction. The process may necessitate some changes in the staff that have been employed in the organization especially those in the marketing department and customer service. Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Did you mean second-order? Also, how would you define it?

Conclusion

Overall, Comcast is one of the leading pay-tv, internet, and telephone services provider in the United States. The company has well-structured values, mission and a vision that propels them towards a prosperous future. However, it has been facing different organizational and environmental pressures in the recent past that include competition from other service providers, the influence of the stakeholders, and threats from substitute services form Google, Apple, and Music providers. The prediction of first and second order degree changes that the company will implement include changes in the technological sector, integrational processes, and operational culture.

References Comment by Heather F Lukashin: Nice job on the references page overall. Remember: Don’t use retrieval dates in APA 6th edition

Comcast Cable. (2012, September 01). Retrieved April 13, 2018, from https://corporate.comcast.com/our-company/businesses/comcast-cable