The economic market is changing almost by the minute as customers demand higher and increasingly adaptive customer service initiatives. Technological advancement is shortening people’s attention span, and patience is ever-decreasing as technology speeds up transactional events to the extent that delivery is expected instantaneously.
Change within an organisation refers to the actions that alter a significant component of its operations. A change might include its culture, internal processes, underlying technology, infrastructure, corporate hierarchy, or any other critical fundamental organisational aspect. The drivers of organisational change are many and varied but may include the following:
- Organisational mergers and acquisitions.
- Expansion into new markets.
- Challenging trading conditions.
- Shifts in strategic objectives.
- Technological developments.
- Government policy and economic trends.
- General legislative changes.
Organisational change should be thought of as a spectrum. At one end, high-performing organisations undertake adaptive changes. At the other end of the spectrum, low-performing organisations go through transformational change projects in which fundamental change is pursued. Typically, there are three change scenarios:
- Adaptive: involves small and incremental changes adopted to address evolving organisational change needs. Typically, these changes are minor modifications and adjustments that high-performing organisations fine-tune and implement to execute business strategies.
- Innovative: usually occurs on an ad-hoc basis and may be irregular but results from new ideas, products, or the need to take advantage of fleeting opportunities where speed is of the essence to maximise the benefits of change.
- Revolutionary: transformational changes tend to be extreme. They are more significant in scale and scope, involving a dramatic and sudden but occasional departure from the typical business pattern, such as launching new products or services or expanding sales internationally.
Achieving organisational change requires a relentless commitment to see change as an evolutionary process that must include those affected most by the necessary changes. Most organisational change initiatives fail because of low-performing Directors and Team Leaders who:
- Fail to understand the need for change.
- Lack of an understanding of the dynamics of organisational change.
- Refrain from seeing themselves as change managers.
Successful change projects require a multi-level approach to ensure their success, from support at the Director level to ownership by those most affected by the change and, crucially, continual support for change by all organisational Directors, Team Leaders and staff.
A failure to adapt to changing environmental and economic market conditions will eventually lead to the organisation failing financially. Some slowly as the economy and marketplace shift over decades, whilst others may be driven out of business in months.
Low-performing organisations need to see that change is a fundamental part of the business life cycle, in which change needs to be proactively managed. The organisation will be owned by the shift to minimise the financial advantages of change in lost revenues as they fail to adapt. In contrast, high-performing organisations seek to own and manage change proactively to maximise the economic benefits of change.
Organisational change increases growth opportunities by allowing staff to acquire new skills, explore new opportunities for personal growth, and exercise their creativity. The demands made of them through change provide an opportunity for their self-development, benefiting the organisation through innovation, fresh thinking, and increased staff commitment.
Effective organisational change attracts new customers and increases customer engagement and satisfaction, promoting increased market competition and growth. With a proactive stance concerning change, high-performing organisations keep pace with the competitive forces of an evolving marketplace and economy. A failure to adapt to change may lead to the following organisational disadvantages, most seen in low-performing organisations:
- Poor financial performance and losses.
- Reduction in organisational quality standards.
- Lowering customer service levels.
- Missed opportunities for growth and increased sales.
- Lower staff productivity rates.
- An inability to hire or retain staff.
Complex organisational change issues may present unexpected challenges and obstacles for low-performing organisations. They may need help as they require an increased ability and political will to adapt and change. Change management means expecting the unexpected and proactively taking action to deal with change.
A change management strategy emphasises the importance of planning and communication when dealing with change. Directors and Team Leaders must involve staff from all levels of the organisation to get them on board with new ideas, change initiatives and processes. Short-term achievable change management goals and easy wins must be incorporated into the change management processes to encourage staff enthusiasm, engagement, and morale.
More articles can be found at Procurement and Supply Chain Management Made Simple. A look at procurement and supply chain management issues to assist organisations and people in increasing the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness in the supply of their products and services to customers' delight. ©️ Procurement and Supply Chain Management Made Simple. All rights reserved.
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