Response to the following:
Discussion 1:
Think of an organizational change that you experienced. Describe how you were impacted by the change. What could the leadership have done to make the transition more successful?
I worked on the MQ-1 aircraft for over five years and recently we retired the aircraft (Which doesn't happen often). Because the aircraft was retired from the Air Force our Aircraft Maintenance Unit started working on the MQ-9 Aircraft. The honest difference is the MQ-9 is triple redundant, meaning if something breaks then they have two back up systems for it. I wasn't worried about this change because I love learning new things and the fact that I got to learn a whole new aircraft was amazing to me. The main issue we had was supervision. Instead of letting us learn the aircraft slowly (so we can develop and not make mistakes), they forced us to study/work on the aircraft for 12+ hours a day. The transition was successful, but it wasn't because of the supervision, it was because of the higher ranking working maintainers. They took the brunt of the supervision yelling at them, while we studied the aircraft the right way. Leadership could have allowed us to study the right way without force. I understand that I'm in the military, but at the moment we are low manned and because of these scenarios that occurred it forced a lot of Airmen to get out of the military and go contractor, making almost triple what we make. Honestly, we just went over the Road Map for change and if the supervision would have used this Road Map, I feel the change would have been more successful. "In this regard, the road map can be used as a "thinking discipline" rather than a prescribed way of forcing an organization's behavior into a plan and timeline." (Weiss, 2016)
Reference:
Weiss, J. W. (2016). Organizational Change, Second Edition. Bridgepoint Education.
Discussion 2:
By me working under the same Charge Nurse in the operating room for 20 years was a very great and educational experience. She had her way of running the different rooms, surgeries, and doctors because she had a specials relationship with all the doctor's and knew how they wanted their surgeries to go. By her also having a great relationship with her staff, she know which personalities to put with a certain doctor in order for the surgery to go well and the doctor to be satisfied. When we end up losing her because she became sick and pasted away, caused the whole team to go into a very devastating situation. When our new charge nurse came on board, it was very difficult to adjust to her rules and regulations. We knew her replacement was needed quickly because the surgeries needed to go on but I felt if the hospital would have put out a memo and short history background about our new charge nurse, it may have gone a little smoother. Because we all know that change can be very difficult especially in a situation like this was and if reading first in order to get the staff prepared for the change, would properly be a little better for the staff to except faster.
References:
Weiss, J.W. (2016). Organizational Change, Second Edition, Bridgeport Education.
Discussion 3:
Identify factors that can cause change initiatives to fail
Opposition to change
Failure to recognize the need for change
Superficial recognition of the need for change
Failure to systematically implement change
Short-term fix approach
Structural impediments to change
Cultural impediments to change
Failure to sustain change
And the five pillars that can cause them to succeed.
Leadership
Strategy
Culture
Structure
Systems
Highlight an organization that failed to adapt and evaluate which of these factors and pillars were demonstrated by this organization.
A huge company that was once worth millions of dollars failed to adapt to technology. The company i'm referring to is BlockBuster. They were a company that allowed anyone to rent and buy movies, music, and video games from there store. Sadly, companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Redbox put them out of business. I think the main reason they failed is because "Failure to recognize the need for change." (Weiss, 2016) Blockbuster didn't realize that technology was surpassing there business "The inability to recognize the need for change continues to be a major cause of failed change programs." (Weiss, 2016) This ultimately caused the company to go backrupt. I would also say they lacked strategy and leadership. How do you not realize that the world is moving away from discs and VHS tapes? If the company would have used the five pillars for succes, i think they would have been the next Netflix. They were ahead of the curve and could have implemented change faster then any other company.
Reference:
Weiss, J. W. (2016). Organizational Change, Second Edition. Bridgepoint Education.
Discussion 4:
Organizational change is not always successful. Identify factors that can cause change initiatives to fail and the five pillars that can cause them to succeed. Highlight an organization that failed to adapt and evaluate which of these factors and pillars were demonstrated by this organization.
According to the text, there are many factors that can cause change initiatives to fail and those are, "opposition to change, failure to recognition of the need for change, superficial recognition of the need for change, failure to systematically implement change, short-term fix approach, structural impediments to change, cultural impediment to change and failure to sustain change" (Weiss, 2016, section 4.1). The five pillars that can cause them to succeed are "leadership, strategy, culture, structure and systems" (Weiss, 2016, section 4.3).
One company that failed to adapt was JCPenny. There was a failure to recognize change. Cook states, "An obvious trouble is one faced by most brick-and-mortar retailers in the US: the massive costs of storefront upkeep, administration, and presentation of their goods. According to Weiss (2016), there was a "failure to adjust to contemporary markets, customers, and business models" (section 4.1). In today's society, retailers must appeal to the buyers and present them with a good product that is easily accessible. Cook states, "second problem comes from a recent redesign of floor layouts, limiting the number of goods that can be on the floor at once. As well as common scenes of neglect, disorganization, and an unfriendly consumer experience" (2014). "Weiss (2016) states, "Other causes for failure include changes that are initiated too late to regain competitiveness; are initiated poorly, without proper attention to how change processes should be planned; or are not initiated at all" (section 4.1). Although, JCPenny still had an active online catalog, they were still on their way out of the business industry.
JCPenny recently started closing stores, they have not been able to recover. I believe if they implemented the revitalizing strategy, they would have been better off. According to the text, "Enterprise or corporate strategies define a purpose and mission for an organization to satisfy stockholder and stakeholder expectations. They also set a course to meet the demands of rapidly changing external environments while accommodating the needs of internal systems" (Weiss, 2016 ). There should have been more planning to appeal to what the customers wanted.
Reference:
Cook, M. (2014, November 3). 10 Businesses That Failed to Adapt.
Weiss, J. W. (2016). Organizational Change, Second Edition. Bridgepoint Education.