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PART 1 – COMPARISON OF CHANGE IN TWO COMPANIES

Name:

Course:Managing Organizational Change

Date:9/15/13

Practitioners and writers like Lee Bolman, Terrence Deal, Gareth Morgan, and Mary Jo Hatch claim that the images that people hold of companies or organizations influence their interpretations of what they think is going on, what they think it has to happen and the way they think things ought to happen. The images can be seen as metaphors or frames that people hold in their minds. These images of change and of managing influence the ideas of people and what people think management of change is about. This paper discusses these images of managing change in relation to two organozatins, the Microsoft Company and Apple Company.

The facts from the week one proposal are that the drive for change for Microsoft Company is the rising level of competition that calls for a need to have differentiated and integrated products. Information related to this is that the company has been able to develop integrated devices such as Windows phones and services like Bing. In order to have a range of products, the company wishes to acquire the mobile device sector of Nokia Corporation. On the side of the Apple company, the drive for change is innovation and high tech pressures to be in a position to maintain its high levels of technology. As a result, the company has managed to produce efficient products such as iPhone 5s, iOS 7, and other services (Luecke, 2003).

The changes in Microsoft Company are that it shifted from manufacturing computer software to produce products and services that meets the needs of consumers. This is through the production of windows phones and services such as Bing. The change had a positive impact to the company as it was in a position to acquire more customers and increase its profitability. In addition, the company gained growth ability and complex situations faced by the company in its business operations and accuracy in running the businesses that were initially absent.

To Apple Inc. the changes helped it maintain its image as the top ranked technology software innovator through producing products that are more efficient. Through the change, the CEO of the company held a legacy as one of the best managers. The change also made the company acquire more customers and therefore it was in a position to add more employees that participated in the design of the products and marketing. The change also influenced the key competitors to the company such as Samsung as they had to change to counter the increased level of competition from Apple Inc (Luecke, 2003).

The changes in the two companies are similar in terms of innovation and growth drivers for change. In addition, both the companies benefited from the change, as they were able to attract more customers and improve their images. However, the changes in the companies also differ in some way. Microsoft Company embraced changes to show its innovative power and to show to the markets that they were able to restore back discipline in the decision making process. On the other hand, the changes experienced by Apple Inc. were due to buffer strategies as the company is always on the struggle to develop new products and brands that would be helpful in keeping its leadership position in innovation and product design (Burnes, 2009).

Change Image	Basis of Image	Application to Company #1	Application to Company #2	Pressures for Change	Differs from others how?	Unintended consequences from Image
Coach	Shaping parts of the organization to ensure a positive outcome	Moderation through the CEO	The CEO controls the process	Internal pressures	Pressure for change is what leads to entire restructuring of the organization	The image of the company changes
Interpreter	Creating sense of the formulated strategies for change to prevent digression	Matching the products to the main activities of the company	Testing of the new products and comparing them to the existing ones.	Internal and external	Managers call on the staff to provide them with the information on what is going on	The company is able to acquire information on its image from the markets
Nurturer	Shapes the organization in a manner that the developed strategies for change do not negatively affect the organization	Acquisition of part of Nokia mobile devices	Formulation of various ways to create the more sophisticated products	Credibility pressure	The adaptive capacity of the organization the organization's ability to respond to pressure	Realignment of the organization to adapt some pressures

The coaching image was crucial in ensuring that the organization had a form of shaping in relation to the flow of information relating to the required change through products. The pressures in this image were therefore arising from within the organization. Comparing the outcomes of the companies, this image did not affect Apples Inc. but rather affected those of Microsoft making it address the need of having a computer like phones. The interpreter image was also due to the internal pressures and its main aim is to ensure that the management team concentrates on designing products and strategies that ensures the attainment of the goal at hand (Burnes, 2009). Through the coordination by the CEOs of the two companies, this image led to positive outcomes as Microsoft were able to produce new products and services while Apples Inc. came out with improved products. It implies searching for relevant information on consumer wants and expectations to ensure that the products formulated addresses those needs. The nurture image is an organizational image that aims at ensuring that alteration in the functions of the company in efforts to address change does not have negative consequences to the normal functions of the organization. Microsoft’s normal operations were not affected by this image because there was continuity in the manufacture of its past designs. However, Apples Inc. shifted all its operations to ensure improvement in the majority of its products (Woodcock & Francis, 1992).

The nurture image facilitated the described change in each of the companies because the CEOs of the two companies had to research on the consequences of the changes to be able to determine whether the entire organization changes permanently or the change is only attributed to address the problem at hand. The leaders of both the companies resembled the director image the most because they are driven by the urge to leave a legacy. As a result, they perform the function of ensuring that the organizations changes while they are still in rule (Paton & McCalman, 2007).

Works Cited:

Burnes, B. (2009). Managing change. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Luecke, R. (2003). Managing change and transition. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Paton, R., & McCalman, J. (2007). Change management: A guide to effective implementation. London: SAGE.

Woodcock, M., & Francis, D. (1992). 25 training activities for creating and managing change. Amherst, Mass: HRD Press in association with Gower.

Cupertino, C. (2012). Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services. Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/10/29Apple-Announces-Changes-to-Increase-Collaboration-Across-Hardware-Software-Services.html

Etherington, D. (2013). Apple’s New Product Strategy. Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/30/apples-new-product-strategy/

Vincent, J. (2013). 'Titanic' changes at Microsoft: Will CEO Steve Ballmer create an ecosystem to rival Apple's? Retrieved August 5, 2013, from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/titanic-changes-at-microsoft-will-ceo-steve-ballmer-create-an-ecosystem-to-rival-apples-8671891.html