Running head: ASSIGNMENT 2 1

Assignment 2: Partner Assignment

John Bogan & Heather Cantu

EHRD 624-700: Change Theory

Dr. Rosalee Opengart

Texas A&M University

April 26, 2020

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Introduction

Comcast is a provider of telephone, internet, television, and wireless services in the

United States of America (Haberern, 2017). They also tend to be the sole-provider of these

services within certain areas of the United States, which leads them to possess regional

monopolies (Haberern, 2017). In this paper, we review Comcast’s business interactions with

their customers, their stance on net neutrality, their reputation among consumers and employees,

and ways in which their reputation can be improved via organizational change methods. These

suggested methods are supported by academic literature in the field, and applied accordingly.

Additionally, this paper analyzes the company as a whole through an organizational development

lens, suggests ways in which Comcast’s business strategy can be improved upon, and their

overall readiness for change is investigated.

Summary of Articles Related to Comcast

Haberern (2017) reviews Comcast’s business interactions with its customers. The author

recognizes that monopoly situations can arise within the telecommunications and internet

industries that allow organizations to conduct business in less-than-savory ways due to a lack of

competition in the market (Haberern, 2017). The article goes on to point out that it is key to

present consistent customer service techniques across a company, which “... will result in

creating identical and satisfactory encounters with consumers, who want a company that will

fulfill their needs without feeling as though they have been taken advantage of” (Haberern, 2017,

p. 323).

In an all-too-familiar narrative, Haberern (2017) describes how Comcast typically locks

customers in at a low-rate for their first twelve months of service, and then increases the price of

the same products for the remainder of the contract. Additionally, since these consumers are no
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longer ‘new customers’, they cannot take advantage of promotional deals, savings, and are stuck

paying a higher-rate for the same goods. Seemingly insidiously, customers are sometimes not

aware or otherwise forget that their monthly bill will increase after the first twelve months

(Haberern, 2017). Perhaps on a related note, although Comcast is performing well in terms of

revenue (arguably due to monopolies in their field), “according to consumer affairs,

Comcast/Xfinity received a 1.1 out of 5. Customers were dissatisfied from hidden fees and

deceptive package bundles” (Haberern, 2017, p. 326).

Finally, due to a lack of options in terms of phone, internet, and television in some areas,

“... Comcast understands that it will receive the business, regardless of what the rate is”

(Haberern, 2017, p. 327). This results in unhappy customers and low customer satisfaction

ratings (Haberern, 2017). We are subsequently concerned that many Comcast consumers would

simply abandon ship if given the option to do so, regardless of their tenure with the company.

Comcast also found themselves in the midst of controversy surrounding the net neutrality

debate, as described in Roxberg (2011).

The term “net neutrality” embodies the idea of a free and open Internet, one that prevents

ISPs such as Comcast, AT&T, and others from using discriminatory network

management practices against consumers. Net neutrality seeks to preserve ISPs’ role as

gateways to the Internet rather than gatekeepers (Roxberg, 2011, p. 225).

Around 2007, Comcast began intervening in its consumers peer-to-peer networking applications,

which is an activity that uses significant bandwidth. These actions prompted several groups to

file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (Roxberg, 2011).

“Comcast defended its actions by claiming the interference was necessary network management

due to ‘scarce network capacity’” (Roxberg, 2011, p. 230). The FCC found Comcast in violation
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of its net neutrality rules and required them to make changes to their network management

practices, but Comcast filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. Ultimately, the Court sided with

Comcast (Roxberg, 2011). We believe these actions have politicized the company and put it front

and center of a highly-contentious debate. This could potentially alienate many talented

employees, or attract unwanted attention to the company.

Connections to Conceptual Frameworks of Organizational Change Theory

As one can see by reviewing the articles in the previous section, Comcast has several

issues to combat both externally and internally. In this section, we recommend three conceptual

frameworks of organizational change theory that can be applied to ease the troubles that the firm

is currently facing: (1) the star model; (2) the 7-S framework; and (3) the four-frame model

(Palmer, Dunford, & Buchanan, 2017). The potential implementation of these frameworks at

Comcast and their benefits are explored next.

The star model is an interesting model of organizational change because it operates under

the assumption that “... for an organization to be effective, its strategy, structure, processes,

rewards, and people practices have to be in alignment” (Palmer et al., 2017, p. 106). Based on

the evidence available surrounding Comcast as an organization, it seems as if the value statement

itself is out of alignment. Comcast states, “we are committed to a culture of fairness, respect, and

inclusion: within our workforce, with our customers and suppliers, in our programming, and in

the communities we serve” (Comcast, n.d., para. 4). Haberern (2017) raised doubts on whether or

not Comcast has been treating their customers fairly and with respect by giving their long-term

customers higher prices. It seems as if their business strategy is to attract new customers with

reasonable pricing, and then make their revenue off of their long-term customers. If another

telecommunications company becomes available in a geographical region, it seems likely that

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long-term Comcast customers would switch carriers to take advantage of cheaper new customer

packages. How can Comcast combat this? We propose one way is via the star model (Palmer et

al., 2017).

Instead of making revenue off of long-term customers, the strategy of Comcast should be

to retain long-term customers. Rewarding customers with attractive new deals, discounts,

upgrades, and the like in exchange for their loyalty might be an alternative to the current

business model. This would counteract the possibility of Comcast customers leaving for new

companies if they know, for example, in six months they will receive an upgrade from Comcast.

The structure of the company should be aligned to this strategy. That means that all departments

should be onboard with the initiative, otherwise it will fail. Ultimately, we believe human capital

efforts should first focus on marketers to reveal the new strategy to the public, as well as ensure

buy-in from stakeholders. This will not be an initially ‘lean’ process, as it will involve re-

evaluation of the entire pricing structure. However, once the process is aligned, it should flow in

quite an automated manner with enticing updates being added as Comcast sees fit. We believe

the rewards structure should be focused on employees promoting the fact that the longer you stay

with Comcast, the more rewards you receive. For example, agents that explain this process

thoroughly in a call-center setting for a month straight should be rewarded. Basically, the reward

system that we would like to see implemented is one that recognizes employees for not only

putting customers first, but also acknowledging their loyalty to the brand. In the final section of

the star model, we would like to see Comcast’s human resources department focus on attracting

talent that are socially-skilled, have integrity, are honest, and are free-thinkers. We think

Comcast could improve with having such employees in their ranks. With all of these pieces

moving in cohesion, we believe that the brand could be redefined and appreciated by long-term
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customers.

Next, the 7-S framework operates under the assumption that “... organizational

effectiveness is influenced by many factors, and that successful change depends on the

relationships between those factors” (Palmer et al., 2017, p. 104). In some ways, it is very similar

to the star model that was previously discussed. However, “... this framework emphasizes the

interconnectedness of the seven sets of factors, and also argues that the ‘soft’ issues (style, staff,

skills, shared values) are just as important as structure, strategy, and systems” (Palmer et al.,

2017, p. 105). Roxberg (2011) discussed Comcast’s stance on net neutrality in their article. They

became enemy number one in this battle to many tech gurus, and placed themselves in the center

of a political debate. Hoover (2014) states that it is acceptable to mix business with politics but,

interestingly, companies should pay particular attention to what millennials think, according to

trends. For example, Chick-fil-A “... is still trying to repair the damage to its brand caused by a

2012 statement by Chick-fil-A President, Dan Cathy, against gay marriage” (Hoover, 2014, para.

11). Considering that Comcast is in the technology market and how controversial the net

neutrality debate is in the tech field; we believe this was damaging to their brand. For example,

many tech start-ups are founded by millennials and,

Beyond the impact on free speech and censorship, net neutrality is important for

innovation and small businesses because it provides an even playing field for start-up

companies who are competing with already established corporations. This is where the

issue of ‘paid fast’ lanes comes in… If your company can not afford to compete with

Amazon or YouTube, you will end up in the slow lanes, effectively killing any chance of

your company succeeding (Perri, 2018, p. 53).

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Now that Comcast has already escalated their battle all the way to the Supreme Court,

going back and saying that they support net neutrality is probably not going to come across as

genuine (Roxberg, 2011). In fact, if we (as change agents) suggested that they change their

stance on the issue, we would not be considering the organization and would not be very

effective change agents. Perhaps, using the 7-S framework, an alternative approach exists.

Comcast’s strategy could be to supply scholarships to those in STEM fields and

encourage high school students to pursue higher education in such fields. This would not only

benefit the community, but it would assist with re-branding of the company image. There could

be a new department structured to report to public relations that selects the recipients of said

scholarships, works with high schools and universities, and performs community outreach on

behalf of Comcast. Their ‘systems’ or daily functions would be determined by the public

relations department and themselves as the project evolves. The superordinate goals of this

project are to further education in technology and computer science, supporting students

financially, and making students aware of what opportunities exist for them in the fields. The

style of leadership on this project would need to be very nurturing, as it is an evolving project

that we imagine will grow over time (Palmer et al., 2017). The staff in this department would

ideally have an educational background, have knowledge in relevant fields, have experience in

community outreach, and be very socially-skilled. This type of initiative may help break-away

from the low-ratings that Comcast has received in recent history, show that they support the

community, and even attract these students as new talent in the future.

Finally, the four-frame model proposes that a leader should see the organization's

challenges through the four frames or 'lenses', to gain an overall organizational perspective, and

to decide which frame(s) to use to approach organizational issues through multi-frame thinking.
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Simply put, this means, “seeing the same situation in different ways” (Palmer et al., 2017, p.

167). It also uses metaphors to associate each frame. In Figure 4.3 we see the Structural frame is

a Factory or Machine, Human Resource is Family, Political is Jungle, and Symbolic is Theater

(Palmer et al., 2017, p. 107). By using these frames in conjunction with Comcast’s actions and

future planning, we can get a better idea on how they can improve.

First, we must look at the structural frame. In this respect, the organization is a factory or

machine. This means they put out a product. Sometimes organizations must contract out to other

factories when demand exceeds supply, and they still want to produce enough to meet demand

but do not have the structural or mechanical capacity to match those needs. As Comcast has

grown through mergers and purchases, they have neglected their customer service and had to

select whoever was available to meet their helpdesk demands. Management needs to figure out

what their goals are, and then start applying new technologies, better organizational structure,

and training employees to bring it back in-house and to make it manageable for both employees

and customers.

Secondly, we have the human resource frame which is the family. The Comcast family is

a dysfunctional one. Currently, the employees do not feel like their parents (management) care

about them because they do not utilize them as they are trained to do, but instead try to mold

them all into salespeople (Jefferies, 2014). Leadership needs to look through this lens and

attempt to empower their customer service representatives to do the jobs they were trained to do.

Sales will occur via customers feeling like they receive value from their Comcast products, and

the satisfaction they get from customer service that deals directly with their problems versus

being sold irrelevant products.

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Third, we have the jungle that is the political frame. Comcast’s customer service is a

jungle of wild growth that lacks organization. Different facilities have different rules and

expectations depending on who is in charge. Leadership needs to look through this lens and

develop an organization-wide policy and agenda to bring them all in alignment and tame this

jungle. This can be accomplished by holding all operations to the same standard whether they are

company-owned or third-party contractors. For example, when a customer calls Comcast

customer support, they do not know if it is core or third-party when they speak to a technician.

All they know is that they are Comcast customers and they need help. Standardization across the

board means that the Comcast name is not brought-down by someone they contract with that is

not part of the organization.

Finally, we have the theater of the symbolic frame. Comcast has an issue with what they

say versus what they actually do when they present themselves. They claim to be “doing the

right thing and acting with integrity” (Comcast, n.d., para. 3). Leadership needs to be inspiring,

and upper management does not currently act in this way. They represent a culture of corporate

greed with sales before people or their needs. They can correct this by living up to their words

and creating an organizational culture that emphasizes customer satisfaction as paramount to

corporate success. By setting an example from the top down, they can get buy-in from those

below them as they follow the example set for them and know they will be held to the same

standards.

Course Readings Applied to Comcast Situation

Kotter’s The Heart of Change (2012), describes Comcast’s situation quite well because

they have done the opposite of all eight steps he presents. The steps are: (1) increase urgency; (2)

build a guiding team; (3) get the vision right; (4) communicate for buy-in; (5) empower action;
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(6) create short-term wins; (7) don’t let up; and (8) make change stick (Kotter & Cohen, 2012,

pp. 3-5). If we look at each of these steps individually, we can see how Comcast has always gone

left when the correct choice was right.

Since at least 2004, Comcast has been at or near the bottom of almost every large public

customer satisfaction survey, so this dissatisfaction should not be a surprise to them (Cook,

2004). In the sixteen years since then, they have shown almost no urgency to correct the issues

they face as their placing in the surveys relatively does not change from year to year. They have

built no guiding team or put forth any vision on where they want their customer service to be in

the future. With none of these steps accomplished, they have nothing to communicate either

internally or with the public to have them buy-in to Comcast improving their customer service.

Comcast does nothing to empower their employees, but instead shackles them with other

jobs such as sales on top of their present job (Jefferies, 2014, para.7). Because they have not

done any of the first five steps, they cannot create any short-term wins to improve their situation

and infuse pride in their employees or customers that they are making meaningful changes to

their organization. Therefore, steps 7 and 8 do not exist in this problem because they have done

nothing to let up on or changes to make stick.

Even following this basic framework would have allowed Comcast to make several

improvements in their operations that could get them some goodwill from clients and employees.

It could be assumed that since they continue to make large profits that Comcast sees no need to

improve this sector of their company or the image it gives them. Kotter wrote “in an age of

turbulence, when you handle this reality well, you win. Handle it poorly, and it can drive you

crazy, cost a great deal of money, and cause a lot of pain” (Kotter & Cohen, 2012, p. 1).
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Missing Information About Comcast

We do not have all the information to adequately explain the situation. What we do not

know that could help explain the situation is the number of call centers Comcast has, the amount

and what kind of training a customer service representative (CSR) receives, and what upper

management perceives the CSR’s job to entail. With that data we would be able to more easily

explain how they came to this point, and how they can make changes.

Comcast’s call centers are a patchwork of foreign and domestic, as well as Comcast

owned and third-party facilities (Jefferies, 2014, para. 10). Employees of third-party facilities are

not Comcast employees, and their training is not the same. Former employees have even stated

that “exact training and incentive structures vary by call center, and on whether employees are

working on business services or residential services” (Jefferies, 2014, para. 10).

Former and current employees have said it did not matter if their call center was for

billing, tech support, or general customer support, they were supposed to be selling products

(Jefferies, 2014, para. 6). We do not know if this was Comcast mandated, or if a facility was

trying to up its sales numbers to increase payments or bonuses they make for bulk sales. These

same employees have also stated that if they did not make sales numbers, no matter what their

job classification, they were put on probation. Once again, we would need to know if this was the

facility management pushing to meet their own numbers or direction from Comcast corporate

headquarters.

What we also do not know is Comcast’s upper management's role or view in their

customer support operations. On Comcast’s website, they claim that they believe in “doing the

right thing and acting with integrity. It’s as simple as doing what’s right and treating people the
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right way” (Comcast, n.d., para. 3). Between that statement and the reviews they have received,

it shows there is a disconnect in the chain somewhere.

Comcast’s Readiness for Change: An Analysis

As one of the top five businesses in each of the product markets they are in, they have the

finances to make changes. The question is if they have the organizational will to change. Tom

Karinshak, Executive Vice President of Customer Service for Comcast stated in a Forbes article

that they have been making strides to improve the situation (Solomon, 2017, para. 4). This

indicates that they know there is a problem, and that they need to fix it. Karinshak also stated that

they “took a look at everything – from our culture, training, systems, processes, technology, and

tools to create a fundamentally better customer and employee experience, because, to be

successful, it all starts with our employees” (Solomon, 2017, para. 8).

Karinshak claims that Comcast has expanded their digital care team, which are the

employees that assist customers online across social platforms 24x7. They have quadrupled the

size of the team since 2015 and they handled nearly 732,000 social interactions in the first half of

2017. He also says they introduced a callback feature on My Account, their self-service account

management platform. It enables customers to schedule a time for Comcast to call them back to

reduce hold times. Karinshak also stated, “we’re empowering our employees to help customers

the first time by making policy changes as a direct result of employee feedback on common

issues or processes that made their jobs harder than they had to be” (Solomon, 2017, para. 14).

They have also been able to cut the three-hour window for service down to one to two hours, and

if they are even a minute late, the customer gets twenty dollars off their next bill. “The

improvements haven’t just decreased the calls customers make to the company; it’s saved the

company money. Customer service expenses have dropped or stayed flat every quarter for the
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past nine quarters, and five of those quarters saw decreases of more than 2%” (Caffery, 2019,

para. 15). This goes along with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts who said “almost 80% of its

interactions are now digital, and the quarter saw its lowest service-call rate, highest first-call

resolution rate and shortest repair times on record” (Caffery, 2019, para. 11). Comcast also

acquired Skye networks in 2018, and in doing so received Skye’s customer service department,

which has consistently scored highly in customer satisfaction. If they are able to utilize them to

improve their other customer service divisions, they could see marked improvements in their

scores with customers.

These changes show that they have the ability and will to change, but they have a lot of

work ahead of them. The American Customer Satisfaction Index found that Comcast’s customer

service score related to its pay-TV services stayed the same from 2018, with a score of 57 out of

a 100-point scale. That puts it at the bottom quarter of providers, with AT&T’s U-verse TV

getting the highest with 69. As a broadband provider though, its score rose 2% to 61 out of the

100-point scale, the fifth highest, with Verizon’s coming in at the top with 70 (Caffery, 2019,

para. 8).

Conclusion

Comcast has a lot of room to grow in terms of organizational change, but they also have

the human and financial capital to make these changes occur. It comes down to whether or not

they are willing to break the chains of old practices and beliefs, and explore new options, trends,

and business strategies. Comcast is an example of a company with great products that

unfortunately sometimes has poor execution. We believe that by applying some of the change

methods described in this paper or similar ones, they can be an advocate for their consumers and

turn their ratings around to match the quality of their products.

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References

Caffery, M. (2019, May 22). Jokes aside, Comcast has moved far from ‘most-hated’ status —

and a recent survey confirms it. Retrieved from

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2019/05/22/jokes-aside-comcast-has-

moved-far-from-most-hated.html

Comcast. (n.d.). Our Values. https://corporate.comcast.com/values

Cook, D. C. (2004, June 3). First Quarter, 2004 Print Transportation/Communications/Utilities

and Services: Industry and Company Results. Retrieved April 17, 2020, from

http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=90

Haberern, L. (2017). Cable me not. International Journal of Business & Economics, 16(3), 323–

328.

Hoover, K. (2014, October 29). Mix business with politics? It's OK with most folks, but consider

these 5 things. The Business Journals.

Jeffries, A. (2014, July 28). Comcast Confessions: when every call is a sales call. Retrieved April

7, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2014/7/28/5936959/comcast-confessions-when-

every-call-is-a-sales-call

Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2012). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change

their organizations. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press.

Perri, J. (2018). Building a momentum for net neutrality: How and why Change.org built a

campaign to protect neutrality of the internet. Sur: Revista Internacional De Direitos

Humanos, 15(27), 51–59.

Roxberg, E. R. (2011). FCC authority post-Comcast: Finding a happy medium in the net

neutrality debate. Journal of Corporation Law, 37(1), 223–244.

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Solomon, M. (2017, November 9). How Comcast (Yes, Comcast) Has Been Working To

Transform Its Customer Service Experience. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2017/11/06/turning-the-customer-ship-

around-how-comcast-yes-comcast-has-been-working-to-improve/#16b4ea92753b