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Case Study in Change Research Paper
Erica Grant
Liberty University
BMAL704: Leading Organizational Change (D07)
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Abstract
Organizational change involves survival and transforming an organization to improve its
effectiveness. Organizational change is essential in firms that wish to prosper in the dramatic,
uncertain, and complicated business environment. Organizational change is crucial for
maintaining a competitive advantage in an industry with high competition. This research is about
the current best practices that can support a successful organizational change and real-work
examples that demonstrate organizational changes.
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Case Study in Change Research Paper
Introduction
Organization change refers to the strategic implementation of new procedures,
technologies, and tools introduced in an organization. Following examinations have revealed that
about 50% of businesses that initiate to make changes fail to accomplish their aims and
objectives entirely. The increased rate of organizational change shows that most organizations
lack effective firm change frameworks. This paper will examine the current organizational
change practices for a successful organizational change. Organizational change needs to be
implemented with the right initiatives since the adoption of specific influence on companies'
operations. The following are the best practices that will enable a successful organizational
change. Senior leadership commitment, sufficient training on the change, effective
communication and measurement of performance benchmarks. In addition, having effective
change agents in the firm will help it implement change successfully and of use the appropriate
technology.
Current Best Practices for Organizational Change
Senior-leadership commitment where the commitment and support of the senior-level
management is one of the most essential for a successful organizational change. Senior leaders in
an organization need to see change as a priority since they offer more support to initiative
through efficient facilitation. In the case where senior leaders in an organization fail to prioritize
organizational change, the entire organization comprising employees is most likely to ignore the
efforts utilized to push the change. Studies show that support from senior leaders plays an
integral role in the implementation of changes such as total quality management in organizations
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since such support aids in ensuring that implementation plans to be executed are appropriate.
Furthermore, support from senior leadership ensures that sufficient resources are availed within
the organizational departments and training employees. Senior leaders in an organization
committed to the change need to offer resources such as knowledge and expertise, budget
allocation, and employee time. Investigations done by Shehu and Akimtoye show that inadequate
commitment from senior-level leaders is the most significant barrier that impacts the successful
implementation of organizational change. Leaders aid their teams in understanding and
interpreting the meaning of change and utilize the new directions and approaches that aid change
(Hannum, 2021). Therefore, for an organization to successfully implement change in its
operations, its senior management must be committed and offer the necessary support.
Sufficient training related to the change since, in most cases, employees become resistant
to change where firms fail to pass sufficient training concerning the change desired. Studies
show that appropriate training is critical for employees who participate in the organizational
change process. Dramatic market change has affected the labor market; thus, organizations need
to have employers with specialized skills and expertise to better adapt to the changing
organizational circumstance (Aldossari et al., 2020). Currently, organizations need to consider
sufficient training as part of the practice that enables employees to realize the need for change
and the essential concepts that staff needs to undertake to accomplish the change. Training offers
to learn to employees to facilitate organizational change since it stimulates behavioral and action
change in the organization. Sufficient training that promotes learning of necessary course of
action plays an integral role in the organizational change process because it instills efficacious
change in businesses. During organizational change, firms need to detect and analyze training
needs within their employees that can facilitate the demand for training to aid in the desired
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change process. In most situations, organizational change makes the knowledge and skills
possessed by employees obsolete; thus, the organization needs to offer training to enhance the
skills and capabilities of the staff. For instance, when the organization needs to implement a new
technical process, people change their initial work and business procedures, making good
training plans necessary since it is one of the current drivers of organizational change. Sufficient
training facilitates innovation and understanding of new business procedures within a company.
Therefore, appropriate training of employees is one of the best current practices of organizational
change.
Furthermore, effective communication about change is one of the best practices for
organizational change. Communication is a critical part of successful organizational change.
Organizational change success is triumphant depending on the communication that supports it.
Effective communication in organizational change clarifies the need for the change and
organizes employees of the company on the verge of promptness for change. Most businesses
fail to undertake change as a result of ineffective communication. Effective communication
directed to organizational change involves clarity and consistency. Also, effective
communication engages employees using two-way communication methods that include surveys,
feedback gathering, etc. Effective communication makes employees feel valued; thus, they
embrace the desired change swiftly. Effective communication within the organization aids the
management in locating barriers; thus, businesses can respond to such barriers accordingly
(Hannum, 2021). Effective communication enables employees to be aware of the necessary
actions and objectives that are critical in driving change. Studies show an exceptional
relationship between change communication delivery and organizational change success where it
is vital to issue the message to the staff before embarking on the desired change. Effective
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communication enables the staff to time comprehend the change, which minimizes employee
resistance. Effective communication may include regular newsletters and memos. Therefore,
effective communication is one of the current best practices for organizational change.
Formulating a clear and compelling vision of change is critical for organizational change.
Vision is one of the most compelling manifestations of the objective of the goal. Following
Kotter's claims that vision reflects the changes into action. An organization with a vision for
change has a clear direction to where the desired change is intended to accomplish and the goals
that the organization aims to attain (Stouten et al., 2018). Vision is regarded as the need to be
feasible in the change process within the organization that improves communication between
leaders and employees that triggers personal initiatives and unconventional actions. Vision in
organizational change enables employees to understand their roles and contributions in the
process of change. Vision involves the essence of work that includes the values and philosophies
that create engagement, inspiration, and an idealized anticipated goal among employees. The
vision emphasizes change, an idealized future objective integrated with a long time frame
compared to strategies (Haque et al., 2017). Therefore, basing the organization's vision on values
aids management in convincing the entire organization to work towards the future state of
companies and enhances personal and organizational routines. Hence, formulating a compelling
and clear vision within an organization is one of the best practices of organizational change.
Having effective change agents is one of the most effective best current practices for
organizational change. Effective organizational change needs to adopt a group that can mainly
act as change agents to aid the transition. Change agents play an essential role in engaging in
everyday aspects of the implementation of the change. Change agents act as internal
organizational change champions who give direction to the change transition. In addition, change
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agents are equipped with specific knowledge on levels of operation concerning the problems and
intended solutions since such knowledge makes the change agents direct the desired change
efficiently (Aldossari et al., 2020). Hang agents are critical in organizational change because they
are responsible for giving regular reports to the executive leaders on the implementation
progress, identifying barriers that impact the specific change, and helping formulate their
solutions. In addition, change agents are essential in organizational change since they offer
training related to the intended change to employees in particular departments. Change agents
communicate how the organizational change will benefit the business and employees, understand
employee reactions to the change, and gather essential feedback to integrate it into the
implementation process. Therefore, having a group of change agents in the organization is one of
the best practices that trigger and leads to successful organizational change.
Furthermore, measuring performance benchmarks is one of the most critical currents in
organizational change. Standard performance benchmarks are essential in the process of change
since the business can identify the match between the accomplishments with the desired change.
Measurement of performance against the set change is crucial as it enables the organization to
identify areas with weaknesses and benefits that will be obtained from the organizational change
(Aldossari et al., 2020). Thus it is possible to sustain the process of organizational change in the
long term. Measurement is vital in sustaining the change since it provides feedback on the
progress of organizational change by recording organizational change performance based on
outcome and process metrics. Therefore, measuring performance benchmarks is one of the
current exceptional practices of organizational change.
Clearly, defining the change and aligning it to the organization's goals is one of the most
current practices for organizational change. Most people view the definition and goal alignment
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as a prominent practice; nevertheless, most businesses forget this critical practice. Articulating
the desired change is one thing, while carrying out a critical review against the objectives of a
business and performance aims is essential. It ensures that the change is headed in the right
direction economically, morally, and strategically (Rosenbaum et al., 2018). Clearly defining the
change and aligning it to the organization's goals is also crucial in determining the benefits of the
change to measure the efforts and resources the organization needs to invest. Therefore, clearly
defining the change and aligning it to the desired objectives is an exceptional practice that can
facilitate organizational change.
Empowering others to act is another best practice for organizational change.
Organizations need to empower employees in ways consistent with the desired change and vision
of the organization. Employee empowerment enables them to develop new concepts and ways of
operation that result from understanding the change independently. Empowerment takes the form
of coaching and giving support to employees to find solutions to issues and eliminate barriers to
desired change. Employee empowerment enables them to take roles and develop particular
actions for every process change. In the design phase, empowered employees are able to
formulate particular change plans; thus, they assume ownership and implement changes within
the process of change (Stouten et al., 2018). Employee empowerment will also make the
employees have passion about pursuing the change process. Empowerment comprises
opportunities for employees to act in ways that they realize have the potential to fulfill their
wants amid the organizational change process. The top management needs to hold conversations
with the staff to get feedback on their issues and objections. The organization needs to consider
the voice of employees to eliminate barriers for them to work in valued ways rather than being
defensive.
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Also, applying appropriate technology is a best practice that aids organizational change.
Currently, most organizations are moving from repetitive operations to the application of
sophisticated technology while handling tasks and passing information. The availability of
technological-based facilities within organizations has enabled employees to waste relatively
more time and resources due to real-time access to precise information (Attaran et al., 2019).
Availability of up-to-date technology is essential in the process of organizational change since
the entire organization has access to necessary information concerning a change at the right time.
In addition, the application of technology helps organizations track the progress of the process
through precise projections and measurements. Through technology, employees in an
organization are able to execute operations of change efficiently through improved productivity.
Technology plays an integral role in enhancing the quality of products and services such as
logistics. Therefore, utilization of technology is one of the best current practices for successful
organizational change.
Three Real-World Cases that Demonstrate Organization-Level Change
Domino's pizza is one of the real-world companies that decided to upgrade its sales
systems by utilizing the right technology, employee training, and employee empowerment. The
company's sales have increased gradually for several quarters where such increases in recorded
in the last few years have been more than 4% and in most cases have been more than 10%.In the
era of Doyle as the CEO, Domino's pizza systems sales were almost doubling from 3.1 billion
dollars to 5.9 billion dollars in a span of 8 years between 2009-2017 (Maze, 2018). The
company's stock was trading below 10 dollars per share; however, it is above 200 dollars today.
Patrick Doyle has directed a remarkable transformation of the company since he primarily
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brought a significant impact on technology. Also, he had a significant influence on the food and
operations that has led to organizational transformation.
Doyle, the CEO of Domino's pizza, played an integral role in engineering an
organizational change without sacrificing committing potential compromises. Doyle builds the
company's sales around a simple concept of enabling orders to become more accessible. Doyle
encouraged collaboration, employee empowerment, and the implementation of appropriate
technology that facilitated change over a long period. Doyle was for a long time an executive and
the president of the chain but was later appointed as the company's CEO. Dominos had made
several changes with several points of sales and distributions, which failed to become effective.
However, the company shifted to a single point of sale system, enabling it to increase its
functionality through digital orders (Maze, 2018). The technology of digital orders enables the
company to handle larger orders with ease. The company introduced a mobile application that
enables online orders. Therefore, the prowess of Domino's pizza is one of the most successful
organizational changes that was enabled through employee empowerment, training on the use of
the mobile application, and utilizing appropriate technology to implement the change and was
able to realize increased sales.
Coca-Cola Company was formed in 1886 in Atlanta and primarily deals with soft drinks.
There are significant changes that Coca-Cola has gone through, which include product change,
internal structure, etc. The company's status before organizational change depends on the
conditions of the market. Coca-Cola faces rivalry from Pepsi, which produces carbonated soft
drinks. In 1961 Cola-cola faced a high level of competition from Pepsi; thus, the organization
decided to make specific organizational changes to address the fierce rivalry through the
introduction of Sprite. Change within the Coca-Cola organization relied on the internal process
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and market dimension. Coca-Cola’s organizational change relies on following best practices such
as committed leaders who realize the need for change and analyze the industry's current
conditions, such as the case of high competition from Pepsi (Panda, 2021). Coca-Cola realizes
the need for staff sensitization and employee involvement by constantly affirming its employees
that they are essential in the change process. In addition, its leaders act as agents of change that
determine the firm's direction.
McDonalds is one of the companies that failed in organizational change due to poor
practice of failing to balance innovation with process efficiency. The company failed to
understand the essentials of committed and flexible leadership. Influential leaders have the
capacity to juggle incompatible priorities and balance them. The management of McDonald's
invested highly in innovation and failed to set a compelling vision on the significant changes in
the food production process that impacted its ability to consistent in speed and costs (Lepsinger,
2017). The firm introduced the concept "Made for You" by believing that most clients preferred
customer-sized orders without researching to get reliable feedback on the concept's implications.
Therefore, it is clear that Macdonald's leadership lacked a compelling vision and failed to
involve its employees in the process and pilot testing.
Conclusion
It is clear that organizational change involves the strategic implementation of new
procedures, technologies, and tools that are being introduced for the first time in an organization.
Organizational change relies on the practices of an organization to understand whether it will be
successful or fail. Several best practices can result in successful organizational change that
includes effective communication, clearly defining the change, and aligning it to specific goals.
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Organizational practices are essential in the process of change implementation, as seen in the
provided real-world examples that underwent an organizational level change.
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