Essay On Organizational Change

 

Work design, organizational change, and  development play a critical role in the organization as every change made within the organization is required to be evaluated and assessed properly for its impact on other business functions and operations. In order to make the organization effective, the change management and development strategy along with work design must always be considered as they are responsible for demonstrating how an adjustment or replacement during the process of major change might impact the overall systems, and processes, and employees within the organization (Tannady, Nurprihatin & Hartono, 2018).  Therefore, it is crucial that the organization has a specific process for planning and testing change to be implemented, and accordingly document the same. It is also imperative that organizations during the implementation and scheduling of change maintain an audit trail that would ensure compliance with the internal as well as external controls including the regularity compliance of the organization (Holten, Hancock & Bøllingtoft, 2019). The next part of the report explains the impact of implementing a major change in terms of technology implications on Costco and elaborates on the implementation of this change program through critical assessment. In addition to this, the report will also make use of a popular change theory such as Kurt Lewin’s model of change to identify and address the application of technology as a major change within the organization. Using this change model or theory in guiding the process of handling change in the organization and identifying practical and logical steps that Costco could use for determining the processes that require to change.

 

 

Costco Wholesale Corporation is one of the largest and most successful wholesale organization operating with a unique business model that allows and assist the organization in making money from several revenue streams (Costco, 2022). In addition to this, the change  management approaches and strategies of the organization also make it possible for Costco in making the desired change specifically through effective technological advancements. It is also evident that at present, the organizations are heavily influenced and promoted by information technology. Moreover, it is also seen that the introduction, as well as the use of information technology in organizations like Costco, can bring several major changes in terms of organizational and workplace structure.

 

Taking the learning of Week 10 into consideration, it is evident that organizations like Costco encounter a severe dilemma with respect to planned change and hence, it is imperative for the organizations to have stable outputs, predictable costs, and protection of its integrity all at the same time (Trish et al., 2021). Technology advancement in different industries including retail creates the need for change to strive and thrive to the needs and preferences of the customer base and keep them satisfied and involved with the organization for a longer period of time.

 

 

The sudden outbreak of the Covid 19 virus, has impacted the manner in which businesses are conducted and it has made it imperative for the organizations like Costco to master retail technologies as they would help in staying relevant in the global retail market during the hard times. High technological innovations assist wholesalers and retailers to stay competitive in four major categories that include price, size, speed, and convenience. However, in the case of Costco, the organization lost its track after the sudden hit of the pandemic and began losing its identity in the global retail industry (Mirzaei et al., 2019). This was primarily due to the improper and ineffective tools and technologies that became dogmatic after a certain while and could help the organization balance its inventories, and assortments, or handle or manage orders and track the pricing of the deliveries. As a result, the organization encountered a severe decline in the customer satisfaction rate, and promoting loyalty by enhancing the shopper in store experience became difficult for Costco. In addition to this, the lack of appropriate technology and advancement, Costco encountered several challenges in terms of efficiency and streamlining processes (Banerjee, 2019). Therefore tracking and maintaining the flow of information (customer data) become a challenge and employee satisfaction was also hampered. As a whole, the overall costs of operation of Costco increased and the organization began experiencing challenges while growing and developing rapidly in the global market as well.  Thus, here began the need for change for Costco ion the executive level and top managerial levels as adapting and implementing technological changes (advanced) could enable Costco in enhancing the planning as well as decision making process through different data mining technologies that would allow and assist Costco in stocking, marketing, making decisions and pricing as a whole (Akbari & Pratomo, 2021). Fostering a new technological change within the organizational functions would also help Costco in continuously transforming the organizational systems through various social trends, regulatory forces, technology as well as political reasons. 

 

 

However, while considering the change within Costco, it is imperative to consider the internal and external environment of the organization and how changes could be made while keeping the environmental factors into consideration. Internal factors like people, systems, and structure of the organization (Costco) are major drivers that influence the activities, business decisions, and employee attitude and behavior of the organization (Cirillo & Molero Zayas, 2019). Similarly, competition, customers, and available resources are external factors that influence the current operations and change within Costco. Thus, scanning the environmental environment to monitor and accordingly make adjustments will allow Costco in strengthening the core strategy and inefficiencies within the organization.

 

 

For organizations like Costco, it is essential for the organization to recognize the current position of the organization in the change cycle. This would effectively explain the readiness of the organization toward change and enable Costco in making clear and effective changes within the organization (Eren & Henneberry, 2021). By evaluating the readiness for change, managers, human resource managers, change agents as well as organizational development consultants of Costco would be able to recognize the gaps existing between their own expectations about the change efforts and among organizational members (Guimarães, 2022). Accordingly, Costco can make required strategies to fill the gaps and change the implementation process would not be threatened. Hence, taking the Kurt Lewin’s model of change and applying it to Costco it is evident that, the change model primarily follows three major steps that incorporate unfreeze, change and refreeze. Therefore, it is imperative for Costco to understand these three stages and accordingly plan to manage the same successfully.

 

 

The prime or most fundamental step that Costco needs to take is to determine the processes that require to change within the organization. For this, Costco should have a thorough understanding of the main reason why Costco requires undergoing a technological change and accordingly seek entire support from top management (Abd El-Shafy et al., 2019). This approach will help Costco in framing the needed change process in such a manner that it demonstrates importance across an entire organization (Kaur, Arora & Bali, 2020). during this process, it is essential for Costco to check the concerns and inputs of the people involved by remaining responsible and open to the question accordingly taking practical steps will help in making the change implementation (technological change) easy (Trish et al., 2021). Costco must also make sure that during the change process, the organization is involved in proactive participation of the employees going through the change and make sure to offer them with short terms success and directions regarding the change process at the same time. Taking the final stage of the model (refreezing), it is imperative for Costco to identify that the employees have embraced the change and there is an existence of a table organization chart within the organizational processes at the same time (AGYEI, 2021). Costco must also make sure to internalize the change process, along with the availability of consistent job descriptions during the change process (Muldoon, 2020). Therefore, the refreezing stage must be handled by anchoring the new changes within the culture of Costco while addressing and responding to the factor assisting the change. Identifying the barriers and accordingly taking sustainable measures is also imperative for Costco.

 

 

Resistance to change is common and could be relevant in several forms (Trish et al., 2021). Hence, it is essential for Costco in understanding the causes of resistance to more successfully address and respond to it.

 

 

Poor communication: lack of communication could significantly impact the well thought and planned organizational change of Costco (Holten, Hancock & Bøllingtoft, 2019). Therefore, it is imperative for the organization to cultivate a proper culture of transparency throughout the organization wherever feasible and accordingly share the obtained information with employees, this would help in navigating the change more appropriately. Lack of trust in leadership and not having enough time to process the information could also result in the later pushback of the planned organizational change for Costco.

 

Fear of failure: planned change could bring fear among employees leading to improper outcomes at work (Holten, Hancock & Bøllingtoft, 2019). The minds of the employees are exceptionally adaptive, however, it could be difficult for the individuals to engage successfully with the new information.

 

 

In order to overcome the resistance encountered, Costco requires to educate employees on the value of the change by building a case as to why the planned change is imperative and could assist employees in adopting to it more rapidly (Abd El-Shafy et al., 2019). It is essential to make them aware of the required change efforts and address their respective concerns. This would provide valuable insights to leadership on what the employees are required to proactively embrace to stay competitive. 

 

 

It is also essential for Costco to communicate the change early and often and lead the change that the organization is hoping for. Building a bridge between employees and management is also essential (Abd El-Shafy et al., 2019). Accordingly involving key stakeholders as a part of the change with help others in adapting to the change more readily.

 

 

The wholesale or retail industry is a highly dynamic and competitive industry and the success of any organization operating in this industry depends on how well the organization is capable of doing as compared to the existing competitors (Malhotra et al., 2021). As a result, in order to stay ahead gains the competitors, it is imperative for Costco and its managers to use appropriate technology to gain better and enhanced letters. Therefore, in order to facilitate change within the organization, it is imperative to make the employees know and aware of the different technologies that Costco is going to implement (Busari et al., 2019). This prior idea will enable and help the employees in setting up their minds and accordingly facilitate the change in a positive manner. Considering the identified issue of Costco it is essential for the organization to implement advanced technology and software for inventory tracking, customer service, and data warehousing. Implementation of these technological updates will enable Costco in considering and anticipating the future trends in the industry and accordingly manage them effortlessly. Implementing technologies such as electronic data interchange, wireless hand helped inventory units, automatic replenishment, customer relationship management, point of sale terminals, e commerce technologies will enable Costco in enhanced product identification using unique numbering and technology and would save a lot of time and money of the organization at the same time (Oreg & Berson, 2019). This approach will also enable Costco in staying ahead of the competitors as Costco could easily anticipate the market trends and deliver products and services according to the predictions made.

 

 

Considering the Kurt Lewin model of change, it is evident that organization of all sizes is encountering the issue of digital imperative. Hence, it has become essential for Costco to introduce new technologies effectively to prevent competitive obsolescence (Trish et al., 2021). In order to effectively implement the identified technological solutions for Costco, the following negotiation strategies are recommended:

 

 

Strategy1: assembling an executive team to facilitate the new technology: in order to implement the change successfully at Costco, it is essential for the organization to develop and assemble a team that primarily aims at three crucial tasks. These include making sure the change receives appropriate resources, seeking at gaining the smallest administrative details, and handling conflicting priorities in a certain successful manner. For considering and performing all these tasks, Costco will require an internal sponsor for the new technology primarily the change manager, agent, or an integrator (De Keyser, Guiette & Vandenbempt, 2021). This strategy will enable Costco in developing superiority over its competitors and accordingly gain a strategic value when it would come to its existence and acceptance among the existing employees.

 

 

Strategy2: offering proper training and development sessions about using the new technologies and tools to the employees: it is essential for Costco to understand that not all technologies are user friendly and new technologies like the identified ones for Costco are complicated and the employees will require extensive training. Hence, considering a training session will help in making sure that all the employees are on the same page (Srivastava & Agrawal, 2020). However, it is essential for Costco to keep in mind that every individual has different learning needs and styles, and tailoring a training session to address all the queries and concerns of the employees is pivotal. Thus, making the training personal and letting employees know why the training matters will help in making the learning process easier.

 

 

Strategy 3: open to gathering honest and constructive feedback from the existing employees: while conducting the training and development sessions it is essential for Costco and the change agents to ask for continuous feedback from the involved employees (Shahbaz et al., 2019). Asking for feedback from the employees at every stage in the implementation process while rolling out a new piece of technology could also help Costco in ensure the change is successful.

 

 

Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that In order to make the organization effective, the change management and development strategy along with work design must always be considered as they are responsible for demonstrating how an adjustment or replacement during the process of major change might impact the overall systems, and processes, and employees within the organization. This is because, a well designed organization is more efficient, and conducive to higher quality and has the ability of offering products and services to the customers that are more innovative in nature. Hence, in order to facilitate change within the organization, it is imperative to make the employees know and aware of the different technologies that the organization is going to implement. Costco has understood this well, and accordingly implementing the above mentioned strategies will help in facilitating the change in a more appropriate and successful manner. This approach will also enable Costco in staying ahead of the competitors as Costco could easily anticipate the market trends and deliver products and services according to the predictions made.

 

 

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