Problem: Analyze the change issues within Owes Home Improvement through Kotter's models of change.
It is relevant to acknowledge that Lowe’s Company, Inc. is an American chain of appliance store and retail home improvement. The company has several retail stores in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Lowe’s Company was founded in 1946 in North Carolina, North Wikesboro. In current scenario, this retail chain serves to more than 14 million customers in a whole week. These customers are served in its 1,781 stores in the United States, Mexico, and Canada (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2009).
The organization’s structure:
Lowe’s Company commenced the construction of two retail stores in Monterrey (a Mexican city) in order to enter the Mexican market. Numerous plans were released by Lowe to construct over 150 stores in Australia in 2011, so that the target of 46 billion dollars could be accomplished. Apart from this, Lowe is the second largest hardware chain in the entire United States (Selden, 2002).
Formal and informal communication patterns:
There are mainly three kinds of formal communications followed in the company, which are horizontal communication, upward communication, and downward communication. Horizontal communication is the flow of messages in the functional areas at a chosen level of organization. The kind of messages in horizontal communication can be task coordination between project teams and departments, information sharing at several work groups, and problem solving (Oregon State University, n.d.).
Moreover, upward communication is the transmission of messages from lower level to higher levels of the company. In Lowe’s Company, these upward communication messages are job concerned problems, tasks and procedures, performance on the job, and fellow employees and their problems. On the other hand, downward communication flows from upper to lower management (Oregon State University, n.d.).
On the other hand, informal type of communication does not reflect officially designated channels of communication. It is also named as grapevine communication which emerges from personal and social interest of employees. The upper management of company illustrates that informal communication is natural and an essential factor of organizational life. In addition to this, Lowe has strong longevity and retention patterns or turnover rates among members of the organization. The company has several opportunities for advancement within the organization (Oregon State University, n.d.).
Various training and development opportunities are supported or offered within Lowe’s Company. It is supposed by upper management of the company that training and development is the field which is related with numerous organizational activities aimed at improving the performance of individual or group of individuals. Under this aspect, company has also included talent development aspect. Talent development signifies a process of altering an organization, its stakeholders, its employees, and group of people in the organization (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2009).
Opportunities for employee input into operations, decisions, or other aspects of the organization
There are several opportunities provided for employees into operations, decisions and various other aspects of the organization. Employees feel sense of belongingness when they get opportunities in their organizations. Employees construct a strong network and give best effort for the company’s development. Thus, the company receives an expected profit and revenue which become beneficial for company as well as employees (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2009).