Company X has been in operations for almost three decades as a fast food business with various products such as fries, burgers, hamburger, and soft drinks. At present, the company is a top brand in the US market and other regions such as Mexico, part of Europe, and Asia. In the last five years, the sales at organization X have dropped by 10% and the firm has been struggling to regain its market dominance. This analytical report examines the organizational environment of company X using different change concepts and proposed strategies that may be put in place to address this setback.
Company X Change Management Strategies
Theoretical Perspective
According to Anderson (2014), desirable leadership traits are significant in inducing a holistic modification of employee behavior. It motivates a positive reinforcement of performance and ideas among the employees. As proposed by Kurt Lewin, positive reinforcement is catalyzed by effective leadership, which stimulates optimal performance among employees (Baxter, 2015). In order to reinforce positive leadership effects at company X, it is important to integrate the aspects of continuous learning and proactive system thinking. The organization has systems for promoting positive thinking through an organized governance, management, work, and cultural domains. These networks are properly aligned to an efficient learning module that is capable of balancing the counterproductive and productive behaviors, organizational psychology, and work ethics (Brown, 2009). Moreover, the learning model is characterized by an inverted organizational psychology which helps to manage the interests of different stakeholders within the company’s performance goals.
The aspect of contingency planning has been integrated in the current organizational management strategy at company X. In line with the Fiedler contingency model, organization X has created systems for measuring the ability of managers against its management plans. Specifically, the company is focused on the healthy organizational culture characterized by a continuous system for developing and managing healthy relationships between the management team and the other employees (Kirkpatrick, 2001).
Moreover, the current contingency measurement approach has internalized task accomplishment within set targets. These goals are streamlined towards the achievement of a positive work environment that encourages innovation and optimal performance (Harrison, 2018). As proposed by Kotter and Cohen (2012), an effective change management process should be accompanied by a dynamic and focused contingency plan. In relation to company X, the contingency module has incorporated different incentives in the training programs aimed at implementing different changes at any given time. Moreover, the plan accommodates a proactive people-subsystem that is capable of tracking actual outputs of a training program against set targets. These outputs are measured in terms of the consistency of productive behavior and healthy work approach (Sostrin, 2013). The plan also measures the consequences of the outputs on the basis of personal responsiveness and optimal productively.
Focused Performance Management
The human resource management department of company X has effectively established policies for creating a focus performance management procedure. At present, there are performance appraisal goals, a channel for managing positive and genitive feedback, and a strategic and continuous evaluation process to ensure that employee performance is at its optimal level (Kotter & Cohen, 2012). As part of motivational initiatives, the company has systems for allocating appropriate roles and responsibilities to each category of personnel in line with their qualification and mindset. For instance, organization X is effective in incorporating the equity theory of management to empower its workforce and create a healthy work environment. This strategy is aimed at assuring the employees that their contribution to the organization is appreciated. Moreover, equity management could be attributed to the company’s effective human resource management (Kirkpatrick, 2001). The strategies aimed at reinforcing positive employee behavior have improved the performance of the company from a change management perspective.
The current model for reinforcing positive behavior at organization X consists of elements such as strategy, goal setting, feedback channel, exception criteria, and a continuous evaluation standard. In terms of strategy, the model functions on the principles of empowering employees to proactively and consciously participate in the production processes. The strategic component of the model has also created a series of motivational programs that encourage teamwork activities in the company. The goal setting aspect is characterized by setting specific and attainable assignments which allow employees to consistently consult in the different ranks of decision-making (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2015).
Moreover, the goals are modeled around fixing the motivational programs in the short and long term organizational calendar. In terms of the feedback channel, the program is effective in creating several interactive sessions for the management team and the employees to build consensus before decisions are made. The channel also has analytics for carrying out a performance comparison in different departments of company X. The Exception criteria of the program have channels for reaffirming the desired organizational ethics and culture in addition to defining the limits for each responsive training initiative (Brown, 2009). As a result, organization X has been effective in testing team insight and spirit through periodic performance reviews. Despite these successes in change management, company X is currently faced with a myriad of challenges discussed in the next section.
Current Change Management Challenges at Organization X
The relatively poor performance of company X’s customer centricity approach is attributed to competitive forces, characterized by the perfect application of same strategies by other players. Since the organization is a leader in the fast food business, many competitors have managed to copy its strategies and successfully implemented them. Moreover, the competitors have been consistently poached the best talent from company X, especially in the department of sales, thus, are always ahead of this organization in offering properly customized services (Sostrin, 2013). Despite the fact that the current customer centricity strategy of organization X is relatively healthy, its implementation is harried and poorly organized in the marketing structure. Moreover, the integration process for customer centricity is void of success reporting and modules for adjusting business dynamics (Brown, 2009). For instance, in the last financial year, the company adopted a series of expansion strategies that were not market-oriented and friendly to the workforce. Due to poor research and lack of support from employees during the implementation period, the company could not meet the set targeted. Moreover, the market swings associated with the fast food industry have reduced the company’s competitive advantage and market size.
Company X has not achieved its targets for the last three financial years due to weak customer centricity and human resource management challenges. For instance, the system for communicating policies from management decisions is not consistent with the large workforce (Kirkpatrick, 2001). The company has maintained its linear decision-making module and reporting process, despite the high number of employees. The poor communication network between the management and employees, who are expected to be part of the policy implementation, have compromised the effectiveness of marketing strategies (Obeidat, Masadeh, & Abdallah, 2014). At present, the company is in a dilemma on the ideal changes that should be integrated at the organizational level for improved performance. The proposed change plan is examined in the next section.
Proposed Change Plan
The proposed change plan will involve the improvement of the current focused performance to integrate the five levels of change management. These levels are reaction to the performance tracking modification, effectiveness of the implementation process, application, organization environment and on-the-job activities, and actual impacts (Kotter & Cohen, 2012) (see table 1).
Table 1. Levels of management of the proposed change.
The rationale for this proposed change plan was informed by its ability to sustain the current focus performance management by balancing the non tangible and tangible benefits of its effective integration in the running of organization X (Brown, 2009). Moreover, it will empower the managers to incorporate the benefits in the short and long term strategic plans for optimal performance level and general acceptance. However, the success of the proposed change plan is dependent on the ability of the organization to alter its current work culture (Sostrin, 2013). Moreover, the plan needs approval from the stakeholders since they are part of the implementation team. In addition, the current management might lack the required expertise needed to fast track the entire sustainability implementation process. For instance, it is vital for the managers to be in a position to strike a perfect balance between optimal performance and business reputation as the market leader in fast food products.
Implementing the Change Management Plan
The proposed change plan should incorporate a comprehensive communication channel to ensure that the decision-making process accommodates the interests of the employees (Brown, 2009). Specifically, the partnerships and negotiations involved in convincing the stakeholders to accept the plan should integrate the company’s performance interests and employee input (Reina & Reina, 2015). This means that the communication channel should be reachable for the stakeholders to timely raise complaints or distresses for the entire implementation period. In addition, the plan should internalize a continuous feedback reporting for the stakeholders to estimate its performance against set targets. The dynamic change proponent essence should be consultative, structured, and proactive to effectively facilitate a smooth implementation module for company X.
Measuring Effectiveness of the Change Plan
An effective and flexible change plan for company X should be in a position to predict future performance levels and achieve them in a timely manner while continuously responding to the current challenges facing the organization. Since the proposed change plan is cyclic, it is created to operate in an interactive work environment under the dimensions of direct alignment and exemplary behavior. These dimensions ensure that the primary objectives are well-planned and effectively executed in the right manner (Reina & Reina 2015). In the case of company X’s proposed change, the implementation committee should be tasked with the duty of balancing the interests of the internal and external stakeholders. The company may consider incorporating exemplary behavior standards in the management system to guarantee continuous evaluation (Brown, 2009). However, these factors will only be achieved when the productive organization behavior surpasses the counterproductive attitude. Thus, organization X should have defined and appropriately inscribed productive behavior guideline.
The current organizational culture should also be modified to integrate vision and directional strategies for sustainable operational modeling. Basically, operational strategies in an organization consist of plans that guarantee articulation of functions in a dynamic and holistic manner. In relation to the proposed change, it is necessary for company X’s change implementation committee to embrace the enabling strategies suggested by Kobler-Rose (Kirkpatrick, 2001). For instance, the change plan is likely to incite positive response among employees when the implementation strategies are aligned to proper communication, reward system, performance management, and continuous resourcing. Company X may consider adapting a manual that defines the policies, procedures, and processes that should be met for the change integration to be declared a success. For example, the change delivery procedure is instrumental in ensuring that there is consistency in the vision and value alignment to the quantifiable organizational needs. Depending on the department of implementation, the proposed change plan should be incorporated into the decision-making processes to guarantee general organizational commitment to the preset goals (Brown, 2009). In line with the change management kit, organization X may be modeled into a proactive, holistic, and healthy work environment by a feedback tracking measurement module (see table 2).
Table 2. Modeling an effective change management process for organization X.
Conclusion
The aspect of organizational change is dynamic and multifaceted. Although organization X has effective change management strategies, they are not sustainable and lack the aspect of continuous performance trackers. The report has presented a comprehensive change plan for the organization through improvement of the focus performance management to improve on employee performance and create a healthy organizational culture. Since the proposed change is expected to take about three months to fully integrate the current management system, organization X should encourage well-documented, inclusive, balanced, and a feedback tracking process.
References
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