Change Management

 Introduction

Change management takes place at a period when a company is started to change its values, its focus or objectives. It is the period of metamorphosis where the organisation is at a critical phase. This is why change management is so important. This phase is so critical because it paves the way of the company that they are going to take for the next few years. Change management is the planning and the strategies enforced where each and every layer is defined properly in an organisation. It brings about a revamped feel to the company which helps in attracting clients.

Steps to Change Management

The first step to change management comes with the question that is a change really necessary? If a change is what an organisation needs, then the leaders need to create that urge within the whole group (Hayes, J., 2018). The second step that comes after getting the acknowledgment of most of the workforce is to choosing the team who is going to spearhead the whole thing. The third step is to have an idea of how the change is going to be. The entire vision should be clear to each and every member of the organisation who has a connection directly. This is the fourth step, the distribution of the vision. Change management is not that easy and getting the vote of change from every employee is not possible because there will always be a small percentage who will be against the change and sometimes some technical issues might also be there. The leaders should be able to remove these obstacles to build the willpower of the team. The next step would be complete short-term objectives. After completion, the satisfaction will bring about great motivation within employees and the morale will start to build up. These wins are really good for the smooth operation of a company in this phase. There will be many failures during this change. But the thing to remember at that moment is to stick to the plan. After 100% execution of the plan, it should be given some time to affect in the way as the leaders have planned. Before declaring that the change has been done, let the change take some time to fit into people’s lives (Doppelt, 2017). This was the seventh step. The eight step is to keep monitoring how the change is affecting people’s lives and continuously evolve accordingly. Keeping the change updated and

 Examples of Change Management

Netflix started its business at 1997 where it used to offer monthly subscription to customers with which they could rent movie DVDs. The movies would be delivered to their homes directly. But Netflix couldn’t live up to what it had promised and they were starting to get unsuccessful and their business started to fall. That is when they took the decision of change management. They shifted their focus from home delivery to the digital world and at 2007, Netflix started its digital streaming. This was better than the previous because customers did not have to wait for the movies since they could log in anytime and watch the films (Netflix ,2019). This change management was such a successful decision that Netflix didn’t have to look back again and today it is the biggest global online streaming giant.

Figure: Revenue Growth of Netflix

(Source: Netflix, 2019)

LEGO, the giant toy company which used to make the best toys ever had such a phase. After its expansion, LEGO’s stocks started to fall due to unavoidable situations. By 2004, LEGO was almost about to be bankrupted which is when they took their last attempt to survive and it was to enforce the process of change management. They quickly moved from making toys and entered the then booming digital industry. It opened to doors to new fields from where they could collect revenues (Lego, 2019). Movies, mobile applications and games at almost every platform became their focus and since then LEGO has come back from their worst phase to their lost prime.

Figure: Sales of Lego

(Source: Lego, 2019)

Conclusion

 Change Management is a very good option for a failing business or organisation. But it should only be done when its necessary. The only way it works when the change is properly planned. Without a clear focus and an even clearer objective, it is bound to fail and so it is often risky. Change management should be the last option because once it’s done, it cannot be undone. It is a second chance for an organisation which has not been able to survive due to the harsh nature of this competitive world.

References

Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.

Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.

Netflix 2019, Available at https://www.netflix.com/in/

Lego, 2019. Available at https://www.lego.com/en-us