The Problems Of Change Are More Pressing For Today’S Organisations Than They Were For The Less Flexible Mass Producers Of Yesterday.’

Contents

Page

1. Introduction 3

2. Agreeing with the opening statement 5

3. Mass Producers of yesterday 9

4. What might organisations do to

overcome the problems of change? 11

5. An example : Asda’s organisation

change by Archie Norman 14

Introduction

Change is generally triggered by an opportunity or threat arising within or outside of the organisation and businesses. In personal terms it is around an individual. Change is about fitting yourself within the environment around you.

There are many impacting forces on organisations and businesses to introduce change in today’s world such as: globalisation, privatisation, mergers and acquisitions, movement of labour towards less economic locations, revolutionary advances in technology, empowering consumers together with changes in demand and competition, Government policies, Quality and Standards.

Different organisations will react to these forces in different ways and introduce changes appropriate to the size of the operation, nature of business and existing culture.

It is the increased pressure, the competition and the business environment (Newton, 2003, p.428; Ellis, 1998, p.231) that decision on new strategy or change is not a choice but an obligation. The driving forces require the organisations to an inevitable change.

In this context the organisations need to have a look at their purpose. This purpose evaluation process will help them to decide which changes, whether strategic or operational, that will help their survival and growth.

The need for change would have existed even in the mass producing of yesterday in different context to today. The hierarchical and control management process style then meant that organisations were more focused on productivity than change of culture or people.

Yesterday’s mass producing was not faced with today’s competition and the demands of the consumer therefore was not an issue that pressured yesterdays mass production and the efficiency of the production system was then relevant to the cause.

Customer choice and competition today has forever undermined the foundations of yesterday’s mass market economy. However some organisations resist changing to accommodate the consumer change and therefore lag behind.

This assignment will look into why organisations today need to change and what problems this may cause.

�The problems of change are more pressing for today’s organisations than they were for the less flexible mass producers of yesterday.’

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Organisations are changing due to globalisation, increasing competition, shifting customer demands, technological advances and changes in the business environment which has occurred over the past 20 years. Organisations are aware that traditional production systems are no longer good enough. There are now much improved systems and technology in place where focus is placed upon customer demand, quality and flexibility.

I agree that the problems of change are more pressing for today’s organisations than they were for the less flexible mass producers of yesterday from the context that the world is today a huge competition which is driven by consumer demands and choices. Organisations and business need to change the way they operate in order to survive.

Without changes and ignorance to change can affect an organisation towards failure yet staying one step ahead can mean continued success. However, implementing change in a poor way can have a detrimental effect and also can be the difference from success to totally destroying the organisation.

“Resistance to change and individual fear of the unknown are well documented and understood to be a major barrier to the introduction of cultural renewal and challenge.” Ellis (1998 p.227)

No doubt that there will be certain barriers to change deriving from either the structure, culture, power centres of the organisations which can cause blockages to change. These barriers require unblocking if change needs to be successfully implemented.

Some of the typical blocks remain such as unclear aims and values, wrong management philosophy, poor training and development and lack of motivation. It is due to these blockages that assumptions made that change will not work.

Today it is necessary for businesses and organisations to be aware of and constantly monitor what is happening in the area of business that they are operating in and through this they could foresee problems and challenges in the market place.

It is the proactive organisations that continually look to determine what is going on and why and seek accordingly to accommodate and benefit from the change. According to Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997, organisations that have continuous changes are argued to be better equipped with core competences and are culture driven.

Change is not just about a process of an organisation moving from current state to future desired state but is also about leadership and management (Gill, 2003, p.309; Stewart and Kringas, 2003, p.676)

It is a very difficult and complex to manage an organisations change. It relies on managers taking decisions that can create resistance and even threaten employee security. It is possible to solve complicated technical problems yet implementing change is much difficult and many fail miserably.

By far the biggest change affecting every organisation today, from business to government and every level of business from international to the smallest business is brought about by the information technology revolution.

Yet the changes that are taking place go beyond the power of IT and Internet. The moving from mass production to flexible, from centralised operation to decentralised adaptable operational structures and using people as human resources to people as human capital. In