Essay On Leading Through Digital Disruption

Digitalization is seen as a method for ensuring the success of a commercial organization. It is described as the incorporation of digital technologies into all aspects of a business, significantly affecting how businesses functions and adding value to clients. It is also a culture change that compels firms to constantly question the status quo, experiment, and learn to deal with failures. With the increase in adoption rate of exploiting different technologies for sustaining business and commercial growth, the companies have started to stay aligned with different techniques and approaches that are operated mainly by innovative technologies.  One could argue that digital transformation is, in many ways, the route to an organization's growth. Several business organizations have digitized their operations, encompassing research and innovation, service and support, logistics, supply chain, and other operational services. This particular report is based upon one such company DHL, which is looking for specific plans regarding shifting their operations with digital transformation strategies owing to the recent disease outbreak, Covid 19. DHL is one of the most significant companies operating in the Enterprise Logistics Services sector.

 

DHL is one of the global leaders operating in the logistics industry. It is a German-based company that provides services like package delivery, courier services, and express mail services to its clients (DHl 2022). The offerings from the company have made their customers prevail a convenient service related to the logistical solution. In the Enterprise Logistics Services sector, DHL has become a significant brand in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world (Altman and Bastian 2020). They are best known for qualities like reliability and the trust that they maintain throughout tailoring the needs of the consumers. The company acts as the backbone for the Enterprise Logistic Service sector providing every solution associated with the delivery of packages (Tran et al., 2019). They tend to stay connected with people to improve their operational qualities and remain a convenient choice for the customers.

 

Nevertheless, as Covid-19 hit numerous organizations in terms of continuing their business activities, DHL was no exception. Tons of shipments are sent throughout the world via myriad logistics operations, many suppliers, and a plethora of connections. But the initiation of the pandemic has made the company lose the advantages of manual interventions and assistance. Manual needs were majorly applicable for maintaining the quality of operations. This is where the company needs to uphold a vision of getting digitally transformed before things get normal. Using technologies like Artificial Intelligence, and analysis of big data can significantly help them to achieve the benefits of predictive analysis that can subsequently enhance their quality of services. Moreover, the company is also looking to align with digital transformation policies and strategies to support its customers even more. With the minimal intervention of human beings, the company is looking to sustain the objective of providing additional support to their clients with the utilization of technologies like chatbots. The objective of this digital transformation is to:

 

a) Allow them to understand the quality of deliveries, apprehend real-time issues and shipment movement to integrate robust solutions instantly such the business continuation does not get hampered (Van der Zwan 2022). 

 

b) Allow their customers to perceive real-time information about their packages through chatbots. The digital transformation will also look to enable the users in scheduling the delivery of their packages accordingly.

 

 

The ability of a corporation to adjust swiftly to new developments in the marketplace by handling procedures and assets in a dynamic fashion that maximizes commercial value is referred to as business agility. It relates to a firm's capacity to instantly engage, modify, change, or adapt its operations. It is supported by three pillars: hyperawareness, intelligent decision-making, and rapid execution. Every company must develop 'digital business agility to adapt to the growing operational difficulties at a much quicker and more efficient pace and seize new market opportunities before its competitors.

 

 

The capacity of DHL to perceive and monitor changes in the commercial context can be related to the paradigms of hyperawareness in this context. Businesses that are hyperaware are challenging to destabilize since they perceive the ability to immediately spot flaws in their assumptions and methods and can change them in real-time. An agile corporation is aware of its conventional opponents' strengths and limitations, in addition to the probable impact of new business participants. Based upon the opinion of Awwad et al., (2018), an initiative of relying on big data and gathering consumer insights can help DHL in this purpose significantly. Accurate information needs to be collected, evaluated, modified, presented and distributed to the company for specialists to review and offer recommendations for DHL to make knowledgeable judgments (Lekic 2021). Subsequent analysis and predictions for the company can be handled by technologies and algorithms associated with Machine Learning.

 

 

The firm's decisions need to be made and initiated after a thorough investigation. Since digital transformation includes a lot of broad options, it necessitates a great deal of market knowledge and judgment. DHL should obtain data about its competitors. It can implement the initiative of exploiting Porter's five forces approach to learn more about its competitors. This methodology will enable the organization to recognize and improve its market competitive stance. Ratio analysis is also another significant approach for acquiring information. Market trend analysis is frequently recognized as one of the most successful methods of data collection. This method can help DHL understand further tendencies which may affect administrative and functional performance. This can help the corporation design logistics solutions for new markets to increase product sales. These changes will certainly possess an effect on market demands, which may entail an influence on DHL's income. DHL can successfully move from physical to electronic means by gathering the necessary data on such elements, enabling it to communicate with consumers and serve the public effectively. Employing the features of Artificial Intelligence can enhance the initiatives for DHL as the technology will enable them to pertain clearer procedures with optimum efficiency and be more oriented toward data. Solving complicated problems, initiating strategic decisions, evaluating potential threats, and assessment of commercial performance will also be easier for DHL after the application of AI.

 

 

Change can be difficult to handle and embrace in the workplace. DHL needs to be prepared for a digital revolution that could pose challenges for the firm. When a company undertakes a transformation, it sustains concerns of losing money, facing changes in customer perceptions, and so on. DHL must be ready to cope with all of these problems to prosper in the market; otherwise, it will lose its competitive advantage. DHL is anticipated to execute quick decisions to effectively manage each one of these digital transformation advancements in the workplace. DHL must apply a range of techniques to reach a quick resolution. DHL needs to include and implement initiatives such as the development of dedicated plans, setting goals, embracing teamwork, distribution of resources, and strategies to resolve conflicts for faster execution of the digital transformation approaches.

 

Augmented reality is regarded as the combination of techniques that overlays digital information and visuals on the material realm or rather the physical world. It has the potential to fill this void and unleash previously unexplored and distinctively human talents. AR will enable DHL employees to absorb the tangible and digital aspects concurrently by superimposing digital contents immediately on real items or settings, removing the requirements of mentally bridging the two. This will increase their capacity to grasp data accurately and effectively, make judgments, and do essential tasks more quickly and effectively.

 

DHL requires qualified and creative employees to accomplish its digital transformation. This digital transformation isn't going to be possible without them. Individuals are required to assist DHL with all of its digitalization paradigms, but this may only occur if DHL's managers create a more digital-ready culture. DHL leaders can establish a digital-ready culture for their respective commercial units and apply technological changes and digitized solutions in a broad range of ways across the firm. Following the subsequent strategies can assist DHL in establishing a significant digital culture:

 

 

The customer-centric strategy is not simply a strategy but a major consideration that DHL needs to address. It is a corporation's overall concept that fosters a positive client experience throughout the customer's lifetime. When a corporation like this makes a decision, it examines its influence on its customers. As DHL's technologies and approaches need to prioritize the needs of its consumers, new opportunities for enterprise firms will look to emerge. That is why forward-thinking businesses are investing in digital changes that prioritize customers and their long-term prospects.

 

Teamwork is one of the major considerations that every company should encourage to gain effective business solutions. DHL must educate its workers so that they can take part in the firm's digital transformation decision. Workers of DHL who are now working believe that they are incapable to use Digital DNA or social media networks on a competitive or professional standard, but that the company can instruct them and assist them to understand the real procedure of utilizing such gadgets and technology. 

 

For gaining better encouragement from the employees, DHL can look to provide incentives and other financial benefits to employees. It will also assist the firm in gaining better efficiency in implementing a digital-ready environment. Individuals might resist innovation and pertinent changes because they find it challenging to operate effectively with digital technologies. In this case, the corporation's leadership should provide bonuses, rewards, and acknowledgments to motivate employees to work hard in the new digitized environment.

 

 

To sustain the recognition of becoming a digital champion in the field, and the marketing sector of DHL, the firm needs to ensure that they apply significant technologies and contraptions for enhancing its digitized environment. 

 

 

To steer effective collaboration DHL can include a Chief Collaboration result for pertaining adequate and beneficial outcomes. As per the opinion of Chakkol, Selviaridis and Finne (2018), the job role of a Chief Collaboration Office is to develop a holistic solution for collaboration. The solutions need to sustain with strategies like Human Resource product Development, sales solutions, marketing, and Information Technology. The CCO serves as both an advocate for collaboration and the project's coordinator. A CCO may also assist in the coordination of crowdsourced activities, committees that evaluate project performance, or enterprise-wide collaborative talks (Aghina 2020). The Chief Collaboration Officer needs to complete responsibilities which include making everyone stay on the same page, encouraging open communication benefits, leading by an example, and encouraging open feedback for a better response from the customers.

 

 

The Chief collaboration officer persists with one of the most typical responsibilities that they need to cover for DHL, which is ensuring collaboration within the digital transformation project team. The officer needs to follow the subsequent steps to ensure that employees stay connected while delivering the project-based activities:

 

 

a) The CCO must share the firm’s mission over and over again to make the personnel apprehend the importance and severity of the change.

 

 

b) The personnel need to know about the expectation of both the company and the CCO.

 

 

c) Demonstrating and communicating the team goals will help the CCO in connecting the employees with the vision of the firm. 

 

 

d) The CCO must promote a community working environment to increase the aspects of collaboration. 

 

 

e) Acknowledgments and celebrations can also be done to motivate the employees which will further increase the communication between the team members, and encourage them to work accordingly.

 

Change creates insecurity, and strong leaders offer continuity and vision throughout these moments of transformation. Although administration is concerned with methods and procedures, leadership style focuses with the people who carry out the operation to overcome obstacles and capitalize on their advantages. Successful managers bring a culture on board and integrate varied abilities and broad-based passions to accomplish tangible outcomes. Similarly, for DHL the digital transformation needs to be carried out under the guidance of suitable and appropriate leaders. Goleman’s style of leadership provides the attributes which a leader must possess to help an organization gain its desired outcome with optimum efficiency. In the context of this case, the Authoritative leadership style should be followed by the leaders as it will allow the leaders to have a clear vision of the company and the necessity for the subsequent digital transformation (Ullah 2022). If the leader sustains the qualities of being an authoritative leader, every employee present within the team will be able to showcase their skills and gain significant importance while completing a mission or a project (Sen and Ping 2020). However, authoritative leaders also sustain a major disadvantage that might hamper the motivational paradigms of an employee. According to the opinion of Gui et al., (2018), leaders possessing authoritative leadership skills can often become overbearing while ensuring that their team members perceive the project’s goal. Nevertheless, as digital transformation is a new concept for the organization and its employees, the leaders need to approach the initiative from a position of confidence, and that is what authoritative leaders keep (Minehart et al., 2020).

 

To develop this leadership style within DHL, the first and foremost aspect that the expected leaders must align with is ethical principles. Effective leaders, need to show integrity, trust, fairness, and transparency toward other employees. As Banks et al., (2021), suggests ethical leadership should also be a conscious decision. To develop the skills of being an authoritative leader, the person can utilize the theory of Grow model which includes four stages; Goal, Reality, Options, and Will (Aas, Andersen and Vennebo 2020). This model will ensure that the leaders gain the required skills since the framework emphasizes actions and outcomes. In terms of personal skills, self-confidence is the most important part of being an authoritative leader (Enyedi 2020). Following the parameters of Grow model will let the individual develop leadership skills by learning through relevant experiences, reflections, initiating choices, and pursuing them eventually. Nevertheless, it is also important to consider that trajectory of the framework is based on time and energy invested all through the process (Liu, Mian and Sufi 2022). Overall, the inclusion of skills like empathy, and the ability to adapt (Patwardhan, Habib and Patwardhan 2019), will help DHL, get their desired leader who will guide them well through the entire digital transformation strategy.

 

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