Organizational Behaviour

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT 4

INTRODUCTION 5

THE CHOSEN FIRM: HEWLETT PACKARD 5

DIAGNOSING ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS USING PEST ANALYSIS 5

ADOPTED MODEL: BURKE LITWIN MODEL 6

EXTERNAL FORCES LIMITING GROWTH 7

a. Cost Savings Using Technology. 7

b. Conventional Design 7

INTERNAL CHALLENGES LIMITING GROWTH 9

a. New Paradigm In Management 9

b. New Underlying Problems 9

c. Knowledge and Data Management 10

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: INTER-RELATED PROBLEMS 11

a. Reacting to Competitions 11

b. Unappealing Interface-Designs 11

ENVISAGED SOLUTIONS 12

a. Incorporate Innovativeness In Design And Creativity 12

b. Improvement to Customer Relationships 13

c. Proactive Learning 13

d. Building on Branding 13

PROPOSED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR CHANGE MANAGEMENT 14

Communities of Practice 14

Knowledge management 15

Roles of Communities 15

Rewards and Recognition 16

CONCLUSION 17

APPENDIX A: MNEMONICS OF P.E.S.T ANALYSIS 18

1. Political 18

2. Economic 18

3. Socio-Cultural 18

4. Technological 18

APPENDIX B: CONSIDERATIONS FOR CREATION OF COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICES 19

ABSTRACT

The paper begins with the story of Mustang. Roaming free and wild, the Mustangs are a special breed of horses that were strong in physique and brave in character. However, they took risks to explore new grounds, one too many either got injured or perished in their adventurous pursuits. This is akin to the organisation, Hewlett Packard in the mid 2000s, with the appointment of Carly Florina. In order to mitigate the risks, fences and paddocks were built within in the prairies to protect the new generation of Mustangs. These young Mustangs never developed the courage and spirit of adventurism their predecessors possessed. Similarly, a lot of processes and procedures were instituted as part of management. There are a few change models and concepts that could be adopted to achieve a respectable international standing. However, portions of legacy inherited from the new management may sometimes be stumbling blocks to future progress.

Most notably, this paper will depict how external and internal problems saw competitors out muscled Hewlett Packard in the Information Technology industries. Additionally, this paper intends to elucidate the existing imperfections in a critical manner, but also reflect the collective aspirations of the future stakeholder of Hewlett Packard, namely Mark Hurd. Most importantly, this article aims to identify the challenges and changes, and how new visions and management integrate in the visioning process of Hewlett Packard in the future years.

INTRODUCTION

1. Significant changes occurs when an organisation revolutionises its overall strategy for an additional business edge, which evolves over various life cycles, just like how people must undergo changes in the various points of their development. It is inherent to adapt to the changes, evidently some firms are good at this effort, while others continue to struggle and fail1. To maintain at the pinnacle of the competition, it is prudent that organisation stays competitive with the times, through changes in various points of development. However, changes implemented must not be done for the sake of doing it; it must be coherent and parallel to achievement of strategic business objectives.

THE CHOSEN FIRM: HEWLETT PACKARD

2. In 1939, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard the founding fathers of Hewlett Packard met when they were university classmates in Stamford. Hewlett Packard's first product was the creation of an audio oscillator and it was sold to Walt Disney for the production of Fantasia in 19402.

The firm generated its businesses through products such as testing and measurement equipments. In 1969, it's breakthrough in the Information Technology (IT) industry took a quantum step through time-sharing computer systems, before propagating to a wide spectrum of IT products and services.

DIAGNOSING ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS USING PEST ANALYSIS

3. P.E.S.T is an acronym commonly referred to the Political, Economical, Social and Technological factors that are imminent to the company. Change managers and stakeholders use PEST analysis to gauge external environmental factors that are looming to the organisation. Typically, these factors are beyond an organisation's control, hence it acts as a "precautionary" tool for manager to identify potential problems or opportunities to leverage on. Explicit examples of the mnemonics used in the P.E.S.T analysis can be found under Appendix A.

ADOPTED MODEL: BURKE LITWIN MODEL

4. Conceptually, the Burke-Litwin model depicts organisational change and performance. Incorporating the determinants from the resultant P.E.S.T analysis, a concatenation of effects3 could be amalgamated with the 12 core organisation variables found in the model.

Like a ripple in a pond, changes in various components can create domino effect in the remaining components in dual trending: the organisation's performance affects its external environment and the external affects performance4. As shown in the figure 1, elements in top tier can have impact on those below them and vice versa.

Figure 1:The Burke-Litwin causal model of organisational performance and change

Source: Department for International Development -Burke Litwin Model

Many change managers choose the model for