ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Organizational Change

Contents

Executive Summary2

The “X” Café3

The Forces that Drove the Change4

Readiness for Change5

The Challenges Faced by Management in Implementation of Change5

The People Management Strategies6

Recommendations8

References9

Executive Summary

In 2008, the “X Café” made organizational change to enhance experience of customers. These changes include restructuring of the company, which results in a cut back of both the number of positions and partners by around 600. The exclusion of existing posts and open headcounts was also included in this total, in addition to the decrease in their current workforce. Approximately 220 partners, within this context, were separated from the company. Almost most of them were U.S. partners performing their duties in non-retail support roles. Many support functions were being reorganized or consolidated: Store Development, marketing, global supply chain, global communications and partner resources. “X Café may have inundated its existing market by now or its strategy may have been going into a diverse direction, one that is departing from the target market condition. As such, a strategic change has to be implemented by the company. There is a need of revision in its management practices. “X Café”,in this sense, should make out what are the wants of customer, what is needed by them and what they prefer, not the other excuse.

“X Café, in the previous years, in the course of its practice, appears to be contented in opening out only, not making an interaction with the customers to spot what have been their preferences. It must be highlighted that needs and preferences of customers are always changing. Thus there is also a change in market conditions. “X Café, in this context, failed to continue with the varying market conditions and behaviour of customer. Therefore, performance of “X Café” is going on a downtrend in the last several months. It is crucial that this downtrend's causes must be spot out and remedies must be getting underway.

Organisational Change

Introduction

“Organizations must change because their environments change”.(Bateman and Zeithaml, 1993, p.621) In order to be successful in the 21st century business climate, organizations are recognizing that it is no longer sufficient to conduct business as usual, and that they must embrace change in order to survive and remain competitive and viable as business entities. As the external environment becomes increasingly more turbulent for organizations, the pace of change is increasing with no sign of slowing. For organizations to survive and grow, they must adapt quickly and nimbly to changes in strategy, size, environment, and technology. External pressures for change can involve fluctuating economic situations, technology advances in manufacturing of equipment and globalization, outside pressures coming from changes in the legal and competitive, environments etc. Internal pressures for change can include a renewed emphasis on service quality, changing work climates, declining effectiveness, the move to self-managed teams, and demand for flexible operating procedures. Thus, organizations at all levels, from grassroots to the higher level, need to embrace change to most effectively achieve organizational outcomes. (Huy and Mintzberg, 2003, p. 79-84) This report is intended to discuss “X” ...