Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Organizational Change Research Paper

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................................................3

Introduction......................................................................................................................................4

PART 1: Current Best Practices in Change Management...............................................................5

A Clear Vision.............................................................................................................................5

Creating a Sense of Urgency........................................................................................................6

Effective Communication............................................................................................................7

PART 2: Case Studies in Organizational Change...........................................................................8

Amazon Company........................................................................................................................8

Shell Corporation.........................................................................................................................9

Kodak.........................................................................................................................................11

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13

References......................................................................................................................................14
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Abstract

Effective management of organizational change is critical for organizations that operate

in the modern business environment which is highly dynamic. However, research shows that

some organizations still fail to adequately prepare for change as evidenced by some case studies

of firms that have fallen behind the times. At the same time, there are other organizations that

have mastered the art of managing change and continue to thrive. The current project is an

evaluation of the best practices in organizational change. It begins with a discussion of the

strategies that organizations can apply to ensure that change is managed effectively. The paper

then looks at three real-world cases to evaluate their level of change management. The

organizations that are used as case studies in this research paper include …the paper then ends

with a brief conclusion.

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Introduction

Change management in business involves continuously reviewing and improving the

company’s processes, culture, strategies, and structure as a way to enhance its capability to meet

customer needs. Scholars in leadership studies have identified change as a constant factor that

affects both the long term strategies and everyday operations of an organization. Therefore, it is

critical for the organization to always improve their ability to identify the need for change as well

as their capabilities to operationalize the strategies needed to achieve the desired change. In the

modern business environment, organizational change has such importance that its effective

management is one of the priorities for the management team. it is a critical managerial skill,

especially in the face of the increasing rate of globalization, rapid technological advances, the

deregulation of markets, and changing customer needs and preferences.

According to Kotter (2012), it is hard to predict the need for change and so organizations

must make it a discontinuous process that they modify to allow them to appropriately respond to

a crisis situation. Although it is widely recognized that organizations must always be prepared to

respond to any changes that emerge, reports indicate that up to 70% of the change projects that

are launched by the organization do not succeed. Such low success rates are a clear indication

that there is a poor understanding of how to identify the need for change and implement the

appropriate strategies to respond to this need. Research studies reveal that change initiatives in

various organizations have been plagued by fundamental flaws that have led to their failure.

The current project is a discussion of the best practices in organizational change

management. The paper also presents three real-world cases of organizational change

management in the recent past. The cases presented are of both success and unsuccessful change

management initiatives.
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PART 1: Current Best Practices in Change Management

Change management plays the role of assisting the various stakeholders in an

organization to prepare for and embrace the changes that occur in the work environment.

Managing change requires a set of skills, principles, and processes that allow the change leader

to mobilize others toward achieving the desired results of the change initiative. Effective and

sustainable change can only be achieved if the leaders integrate change management principles

in all departments and operations of the company. As previously mentioned, there has been a

high failure rate of change initiatives in the last 25 years. According to Hughes (2016) most

change imitative fail because the change leaders do not give enough attention to the people

aspect of change. Additionally, all case studies of successful change implementation show that

the organizations followed a series of steps that are proven to produce positive outcomes.

Overall, the most critical factor in the success of a change initiative is to get people to commit to

and own the change initiative. The three best practices that are discussed in this paper include

establishing a clear vision, creating a sense of urgency, and effective communication at all levels

of the organization.

A Clear Vision

According to Kotter & Whitehead (2010), effective change requires that the purpose of

the change initiative is identified from the onset. Therefore, the change leader must establish a

clear vision of the desired future state that will be achieved after the change process. With a clear

vision that is shared among all the stakeholders, commitment to the change initiative will

increase as all levels of the organization develop a feeling of ownership. The change leader has

to ensure that all employees at the organization understand how the vision is related to their
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work. With such a clear understanding, the employees are more likely to agree to the change

initiative since it is agreed that it serves a bigger role. However, the greatest threat to this step of

change management is when the people take the change initiative as only a compliance exercise,

rather than something that adds value to their work (Kotter & Whitehead, 2010). An additional

threat is when the people at the organization fail to understand how the change is related to their

work. This would limit their buy into the vision and also the process of implementing the change.

It is therefore important of the leaders to establish a clear vision and engage the members of staff

in a way that they also understand the value it adds to their work.

Creating a Sense of Urgency

A sense of urgency has also been identified as a crucial element in achieving

organizational change because, without it, people do not push that extra effort that gets things

dome. Creating a sense of urgency can help the change leader to get rid of complacency in the

organization. Complacency refers to the mentality of being satisfied with the status quo and

reluctance to change from what is familiar to the unknown (Otto, 2016). People who are satisfied

with the status quo will not see the need for change because, for them, the old ways still get

things done, and they are conformable with the way things are. Urgency id the reverse of

complacency and helps the members of the organization to realize the importance of the change

initiative.

A leader who is able to create a sense of urgency demonstrates the ability to challenge the

status quo, eliminate complacency from the organization, and help the employees see the need to

move together as a unit for the good of the whole organization. Employees who are complacent

would not see the need to work extra hard to achieve a common goal since they have not been
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shown how the change initiative benefits them. According to Otto (2016) a change leader who is

unable to create a sense of urgency should not proceed with the change project since they will

not get the employee to commit to the initiative, which is needed for it to be successful. Kotter

(2012) also identified the sources of complacency in an organization. First is when the

employees do not see the need for change, and therefore are not motivated to commit to the

change process. The second is when the top executives do not lead by example and therefore, the

change process is not taken as a serious initiative. The last one is when the employees have the

perception that the organization is already successful and do not see the need to change anything.

Effective Communication

Communication at all levels of the organization plays a critical role in successfully

implementing a change initiative. Effective communication serves numerous purposes in the

organization including delivering feedback about the weaknesses and strengths of the change

plan and informing the employees about tier performance and areas that need improvement

(Hughes, 2016). Communication should be a sustained process because it serves to reinforce the

critical message related to the vision established for the change initiative. It is the responsibility

of the leaders to keep on communicating the vision of the organization and reinforce this

message every step of the way. According to Hughes (2016) organizations should prioritize face

to face communication because it has been proven to create strong bonds between the members

of an organization and also improve employee commitment to the change process.

Communication is also seen as a powerful tool in eliminating complacency as well as resistance

to change in the organization.

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PART 2: Case Studies in Organizational Change

The business environment is always changing, and this creates a need for organizations to

evolve with the times if they aim to remain industry leaders. A simple definition of change

management is that it involves reviewing how well things are running in the organization. This

could mean that the company has to downsize, make changes to its business processes, or even

relocating its manufacturing processes to another country where the cost of production is

cheaper. Therefore, the most important question is how can the organization ensure that its

change initiative is successful. This section presents real-life cases of successful change

management and another of unsuccessful change management.

Amazon Company

Amazon, the world's biggest e-retailer has undergone numerous changes since it was first

launched in 1995, by the founder Jeff Bezos. Amazon has its headquarters in Seattle, and it

originally started as an online store for books only (Landau, 2013). Within a short time, however,

the company expanded its range of products and began retailing CDs and DVDs.

The first best practice identified in the previous section was establishing a clear vision

that will guide the change initiative. Jeff Bezos had a clear vision of what he wanted amazon to

be and set out to take advantage of the increasing availability of the internet before others could

see its potential (Dyer, Furr & Hendron, 2019). He also knew the ideal future state of the

company, which was making it the biggest online store in the world, and employed the

appropriate strategies to achieve this goal. Amazon followed this path by investing in the

promotion of new products and services such as amazon prime, amazon instant video, and many

others. Also, the fact that Bezos had a clear vision allowed him to sell it to his employees by
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giving them a clear picture of what the future looked like, and how the company was going to

achieve it (Landau, 2013). He convinced the various stakeholders to abandon the old ways of

doing business and follow him into the future. His visionary leadership created an appealing

picture of the future and buy-in from various stakeholders of the company.

Up to date, Amazon has sold and delivered more than 200 million merchandise to

customers from around the world. The company has also grown into a giant that is valued at

more than $440 billion, proving wrong critics who argued that it did not have enough capital to

make any solid investments. According to Lee (2019) the company has even more ambitious

plans such as delivering goods to its customers by use of drones. Jeff Bezos has also been quoted

that the company wants to venture into the movie industry by releasing more than 16 films every

year. In 2017, Amazon was honored with 3 Oscars as appreciation to its contribution to this

industry (Schlosser, & Soper, 2017). These examples demonstrate that Amazon is in a

continuous state of change as it seeks to stay up with the times.

Shell Corporation

Shell corporation, one of the biggest oil companies in the world, has experienced crisis

situations and successfully navigated through them through effective change management

practices. In 2004, the company was hit by an oil reserve crisis that led to a dramatic drop in its

market share price (Macalister, 2004). The crisis became even worse when a long-serving

chairperson Philip Watts left the corporation. When a new chairperson was appointed, he

recognized the urgent need for changes in the business processes and organizational structure of

the company. New chairperson, Van Der Veer, recommended a series of globally standardized

processes that he believed would guarantee Shell’s survival (Bergin, 209). However, while these
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strategies were needed for the company to survive in the long run, they proved to be unpopular

among some stakeholders, and also caused the company to lose market share in some countries.

It was a comprehensive change initiative that required the stakeholders to adapt to new

processes and systems. It also had wide-reaching consequences ad by the end, some operating

units became casualties of the new way of doing things. The change leader recognized that he

had to show unwavering determination and also convince all the stakeholders to prioritize this

change process. According to DePamphilis (2009) the leadership at Shell was able to overcome

the initial resistance to change by communicating at all levels. This was critical in reinforcing the

message of change and also selling the new vision throughout the company. Effective

communication strategies were employed to ensure that key players in the markets Shell operates

in were updated on what was required and why. Change initiatives can only be successful if all

stakeholders are aligned with the change requirements.

A team of experts comprising of senior leaders, consultants in change management, and

internal subject matter experts. This was the team tasked with delivering the change message and

ensuring that it was properly implemented throughout the organization. They were selected

because of their expertise and also their ability to lead the change process. Together, these

experts made an efficient team that delivered the desired change by developing a new culture and

behavior that made the change sustainable (van der Voet, Groeneveld & Kuipers, 2013). They

had frequent briefings meant to create a better understanding among those who were to be

impacted by the change and also to get their feedback on what could be improved.

The main message that the change team communicated to all employees was that there

was an urgent need to implement simpler and standardized process in all areas of the company’s

operations. The same would also be extended to Shell's partners in the other markets that the
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company was present. The changes would be far-reaching, affecting areas such as finance and

invoicing systems and even the larger operations such as distribution. The change team was

successful in creating a sense of urgency by eliminating complacency and resistance to change at

the organization. This involved identifying the main sources of complacency and reigning on

those units to avoid losing control.

An ever-present risk when implementing a change is that change management will get

delegated. The leaders of the organization are likely to take a back seat and appoint others to

enact the change project they came up with. This is a risk that often leads to the failure of change

projects. In the case of Shell, the new chairperson was at the forefront of implementing this

change project (DePamphilis, 2009). He was active in emphasizing the need for change and

selling the vision to the rest of the employees. Since this change was implemented, Shell was

able to overcome the crisis ad has been in a much healthier position than before.

Kodak

Kodak is often cited as an example of an organization where change management was a

failure. A company that was once a household name in photography and controlled almost 90%

of the market share, is now forgotten and recently filed for bankruptcy (Merced, 2012). In its

prime, Kodak was known for innovation and new technologies that changed the photography

industry. As a result, it was a market leader in the united states and also other countries around

the world. It was one of the most valuable brands in the 90s considering that it had a 90% stake

in the film market share, as well as an 85% stake in the camera market share (Larish, 2012).

Even at the turn of the century, Kodak was among the top four most recognizable brands after

Coca-Cola, Disney, and MacDonald’s.

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Although Kodak built the first-ever digital camera in 1975, this product was put away for

many years. In the meantime, its competitors began developing digital strategies and released

their products to the market, which were well received b the consumers. By the time Kodak

realized that its products were becoming outdated, it was a case of too little too late. From the

turn of the century, the shift to digital cameras was so fast and had so much force that it put

Kodak out of business. Even so, Kodak still tried to reclaim its market share by bringing new

innovative products to the market (Larish, 2012). The company applied the innovation pyramid

framework successfully at the first level and the second level. which are marketing and design

and production respectively. However, they failed in the eighth level of the framework, which is

business model innovation. As a result, despite launching digital products, Kodak was still not

able to reclaim its market share. In the end, the company was forced to file for voluntary

bankruptcy after 15 years of unsuccessfully trying to catch up with its competitors (Merced,

2012).

An analysis of this case shows that Kodak failed to act when it should have. When the

digital revolution began, Kodak did not recognize the need for change but instead was content its

success at that time (Snyder, 2016). It demonstrates complacency and satisfaction with the status

quo because of the current state of the company. The leadership of the company did not have a

vision but instead were satisfied with the level of success the company had achieved. The fact

that Kodak built the first digital camera proves that the company had innovators. However, they

were never given a chance to present their ideas that would have helped the company avoid

failure. This is an indication of poor communication strategies at the company because, in a

company where there is open communication, everyone's voice is heard (Snyder, 2016). The

leader ignored the voice of innovators and allowed a culture of complacency to develop.
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Conclusion

Change is a constant process in management and will become even more important as

organizations strive to remain competitive in an ever-changing environment. An inability to

adapt to changes places organizations at a high chance of profit loss and even going out of

business as was the case with Kodak. Change management involves a wide range of functions

and sometimes there could be several change efforts occurring at the organization all at once.

Organizations that aim to remain competitive need to be open to reviewing and renewing their

strategic plans. This research paper presents three case studies, two of organizations that

successfully implemented change and one that failed. It also described the best practice in

change management that have been used to analyze change management in these organizations.
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References

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