Table of contents:

Task Contents

1 Understand the background to organisational strategic change

1.1 discuss models of strategic change

1.2 evaluate the relevance of models of strategic change to organisations in the current economy

1.3 assess the value of using strategic intervention techniques in organisations

2 Understand issues relating to strategic change in an organisation

2.1 examine the need for strategic change in an organisation

2.2 assess the factors that are driving the need for strategic change in an organisation

2.3 assess the resource implications of the organisation not responding to strategic change

3 Be able to lead stakeholders in developing a strategy for change

3.1 develop systems to involve stakeholders in the planning of change

3.2 develop a change management strategy with stakeholders

3.3 evaluate the systems used to involve stakeholders in the planning of change

3.4 create a strategy for managing resistance to change

4 Be able to plan to implement models for ensuring ongoing change

4.1 develop appropriate models for change

4.2 plan to implement a model for change

4.3 develop appropriate measures to monitor progress

Introduction

Strategic marketing deals with the 'big picture' marketing planning. It analyzes how a company can best satisfy its customers and make a profit at it. Strategic marketing planning is directed from the top of the company and is extremely important in any for-profit organization. Several key principles govern strategic marketing.

Understand the Marketplace and Consumer

A company must identify the sources of demand for its products and closely analyze the competitive landscape in which it wants the consumer to prefer its products over those of competitors.

The company must divide potential customers into segments and find ways to best satisfy them. Each segment may require a distinct marketing mix.

Deliver Value

While satisfying individual consumer segments and gaining market share is important, the company must add value to be successful in the long term. Strategic marketing planning must be build on a strong foundation---a company has to deliver a tangible benefit to the consumers of its products.

Task 1.1: Discuss models of strategic change

A strategic planning model is more about  a different approach to the project. It's about stepping back from the execution-mode in order to examine and evaluate it from a different angle. 

In the traditional project cycle the monitoring and evaluation was done towards the end of the project. This model changes that by considering on-going monitoring and frequent evaluation as vital parts of the implementation stage for a successful project. It's important to recognize what is working and what needs to be changed on time. As a manager you need to become strategic and view your project from different lenses. If you focus only the execution part and the day-to-day tasks, how do you know that  the selected project tools are working effectively?  How do you measure the quality of what you are doing? What are your indicators? 

In order to create a strategic management model that will support the current implementation and the long-term impact of the project start with the following questions:

-  What is the purpose of the project?

- How do all the activities we are implementing relate to its purpose?

- Are we sticking to the project plan? 

- What have evolved or changed from when we started? Why?

- How it would it look like in 3 years? What would be the impact?

- How do we measure impact? What qualitative and quantitative indicators exist to back-up our success?

- Who benefits from our project? Are they winners and are they losers? Why?

In the WCO Compendium the perspectives being handled are limited to two recognizable and widespread models:

• The Planned Change Management model

• The Organic Change Management model

Both models are introduced, although the Organic Change Management model is handled in more detail. By taking the Organic Change Management model as the foundation, it will be possible to illustrate the steps needed to start up a change process in order to implement the strategic action plans.

1.2 Evaluate the relevance of models of strategic change to organisations in the current economy

The study of strategic change has long occupied an important position in the larger field of strategic management. Strategic change has been recognized as an important phenomenon because it represents the means through which organizations maintain coalignment with shifting competitive, technological, and social environments which occasionally pose threats to their continued survival and effectiveness. The study of strategic change has long occupied an important position in the larger field of strategic management. Strategic change has been recognized as an important phenomenon because it represents the means through which organizations maintain co alignment with shifting competitive, technological, and social environments which occasionally pose threats to their continued survival and effectiveness. Thus following all the models of strategic change, we can help our organization to reach to newer heights. For this we need to know what basically the purpose of our project is and how it could be done. All the models of strategic change do help in improving the current economic conditions.

1.3 Assess the value of using strategic intervention techniques in organizations:

Strategic planning implies planning for the long-term. In many organizations, the time frame associated with this type of planning is from three to five years into the future. Due to this timeframe, there are several challenges associated with long-range planning. These include: creating a plan that is breakthrough in its orientation rather than “more of the same,” getting all stakeholders to commit to the organization’s strategies and to follow through on implementation of critical activities, and decreasing cycle time in the planning process. In today’s world, organizations cannot afford these challenges. To survive, they must be able to quickly create, deploy, and implement breakthrough strategies that help them to continually anticipate and meet current and future customer requirements. In doing so, they must be able to align all internal and external resources around the plan. This sort of orientation necessitates approaches to strategic planning that involve all employees and stakeholders in the planning process and a planning process that can occur within a shortened time frame.

Large group intervention techniques have emerged that more quickly effect large-scale change. As such, they have been effective tools in dealing with some of the issues associated with strategic planning. These intervention techniques include: Future Search Conferences, Real Time Strategic Change, ICA (Institute of Cultural Affairs) Strategic process, The Conference Model, Fast Cycle Full Participation Work Design, Real Time Work Design, Participative Design, Simu-Real, Work-outs, and Open Space Technology.

These approaches allow organizations to involve anywhere from 30 to hundreds, if not a few thousand, individuals in working together to accomplish a common outcome. They may come together for a single day or multiple days or events. In the process of working collaboratively, the organization can more quickly achieve what Kathleen Dannemiller has coined “one heart and one mind”—a key factor in organizational alignment.

TASK 2: Understand issues relating to strategic change in an organization

Strategic Change means changing the organizational Vision, Mission, Objectives and ofcourse the adopted strategy to achieve those objectives.

“Strategic change is defined as " changes in the content of a firm's strategy as defined by its scope, resource deployments, competitive advantages, and synergy"

or

“Strategic change is defined as a difference in the form, quality, or state over time in organization's alignment with its external environment.”

Considering the definition of strategic change, strategic change could be affected by the states of firms and their external environments. Because the performance of firms might dependent on the fit between firms and their external environments, the appearances of novel opportunities and threats in the external environments. In other words, the change of external environments, require firms to adapt to the external environments again; as a result, firms would change their strategy in response to the environmental changes. The states of firms will also affect the occurrence of strategic change. For example, firms tend to adopt new strategies in the face of financial distress for the purpose of breaking the critical situations. Additionally, organizations would possess structural inertia that they tend to keep their previous structure and strategy.

2.1 Examine the need for strategic change in an organization

The reason for this failure is the inability of the organization to deal with Change. When installing a new application or implementing a new customer service initiative, most organizations view the installation or implementation as the end-point in the initiative. When things start to go awry after implementation, individuals within the organization start to believe that the decision to proceed with an initiative was wrong and start trying to return to their old ways. Although this can be true, more often than not they don’t realize that by implementing they are now forced to BEGIN a process of Change. “Change Is About People; and People Hate Change”

What most organizations forget is that the benefits of a new system, a new org structure and new approach to the business are not realized until people change their behavior. A change in behavior cannot be realized until AFTER the initiative has been implemented. In other words, Change begins with an Ending. Paradoxical as this might seem, every change involves giving up something and taking a leap of faith into the unknown.

The time between the change and the realization of the results of that change is what William Bridges calls the “neutral-zone”1 and what I call the realization gap. This is the time between the implementation and the realization of the benefits of the change. Most initiatives are given up because organizations don’t see the gap for what it is; the transition between the old world and the new.

2.2 Assess the factors that are driving the need for strategic change in an organization:

Organizational change management includes processes and tools for managing the people side of the change at an organizational level. These tools include a structured approach that can be used to effectively transition groups or organizations through change. When combined with an understanding of individual change management, these tools provide a framework for managing the people side of change. People who are confronted by change will experience a form of culture-shock as established patterns of corporate life are altered, or viewed by people as being threatened. Employees will typically experience a form of "grief" or loss.

Following are some of the factors that are driving the need for strategic change in an organization:

Financial losses and profit reductions         Increased competition) almost 50% Technological development New chief executive Industry in recession

Other factors are:

External    

o Changes in competitive forces o Regulation/deregulation o Changes in customer expectation o Changes in standards o Technology changes

Internal     

o Performance dips

o Changes in the management team (particularly the chief executive)

Grundy (1993) further suggests that when a number of factors converge major change can crystallize. For example, internal performance may be flagging; external competitive pressures may be increasing; and at the same time a new CEO wants to put his/her stamp on the organization. Where these influences coincide “a wave of change” can be produced which managers find difficult to cope with.

2.3 Assess the resource implications of the organisation not responding to strategic change

Human-based competences and human resource management which aresome keys for the long term organizational competitive advantage, doesn’t respond much to strategic change. Because HR department of an organization is the main part and its processing need not to be changed frequently, although the employees may change.

A strategic human resource management system (HRMS) must allow the adaptation of human resource management practices and the knowledge and behavior of the employees as regards the immediate needs of the organization, which are shown in its organizational strategy. On the other hand, a human resource management system must promote the development of a dynamic organizational capability that generates agile responses to the needs of current organizational strategy. In brief, the SHRMS must facilitate strategic flexibility with the goal of reaching a dynamic fit and adequately answering the requests of the strategy and the environment. Human resource management must explore how the integration and complementarities of resources, practices and organizational capacities facilitate the achievement of the competitive advantage for the organization. Then we must analyze how human resource architecture can shape human resource systems and practices towards the development of organizational competitive capacity. Here the concepts of internal fit and external fit are really useful.

Task 3: Be able to lead stakeholders in developing a strategy for change

Stakeholders are those who have rights or interests in a system. If you are concerned with the future of a system – the stakeholders are those you should worry about. For an organisation, for example, stakeholders are any group or individual who can affect, or is affected by the achievement of the organisation’s purpose. This definition is too broad for some as it includes interested parties as well as affected parties. Some prefer to restrict the term to those who have a ‘stake’, claim or vested interest – those who provide something of importance to the organisation, and expect something in return.

Stakeholders can be individuals, communities, social groups, or organisations. For example, stakeholders in a forest policy might include people who live in or near the relevant forests, people who live further away who use these forests, settlers from elsewhere in the country, or abroad, workers, small scale entrepreneurs, forest officials, timber company managers, environmentalists, politicians, public servants, national citizens, consumers, forest authorities, central government agencies, local government agencies, national NGOs, academics and researchers, donors, consultants, international NGOs, community based organisations and general. All these people, if their interests in forests are indeed legitimate - and one role of stakeholder power analysis might be to examine the legitimacy of their claims - should in some way be involved in the making and implementing of policy which affects forests.

3.1 Develop systems to involve stakeholders in the planning of change

Investigate stakeholder’s interests, characteristics and circumstances:

Once stakeholders have been identified, their interests, characteristics and circumstances need to be better understood. At this stage it is particularly important that stakeholders express their own concerns. A checklist of questions for each stakeholder group might include:

What are the stakeholder's experiences or expectations of the policy/ institution? What benefits and costs have their been, or are there likely to be, for the stakeholder? What stakeholder interests conflict with the goals of the policy/ institution? What resources has the stakeholder mobilized, or is willing to mobilize?

3.2 Develop a change management strategy with stakeholders

For this useful methodologies are there which must be followed for bringing a strategic change.

Brainstorming to generate ideas and issues within a stakeholder group. This takes the form of a session in which ‘anything goes’ - with all points recorded. Later these points can be sorted and prioritised. Focus groups can then be convened with particular stakeholders to discuss particular topics.

Semi-structured interviews in which an informal checklist of issues is used to guide an interview with a stakeholder group, whilst allowing other issues to arise and be pursued. This approach is particularly useful for cross-checking, identification of common ground, identification of tradeoffs and identification of decision-making frameworks of stakeholders.

Digging up existing data – a variety of recorded materials may shed light on stakeholder’s interests, characteristics and circumstances. It is always worth probing

and rummaging for reports and recorded information, there is almost always more of it than at first appears, sometimes found in the most unlikely places.

Time lines can be prepared with stakeholders of the history of links and impacts of particular policies, institutions and processes, with discussion of cause and effect of various changes.

Diagrams help many people to get a quick idea of what is planned or talked about. They can work well to stimulate discussion by both non-literate and literate people. In general diagrams and visualisations work because they provide a focus for attention while discussing an issue, represent complex issues simply, stimulate ideas and therefore assist in decision-making. Of course, some people do not think or work well in terms of diagrams and prefer verbal discussion with descriptions of real examples and stories.

3.3 Evaluate the systems used to involve stakeholders in the planning of change

Identification and confirmation of the level of effort to be assigned to each stakeholder group and the preferred form of engagement and associated frequency need to be established by the program manager. Early engagement with stakeholders helps set the stage for a constructive process throughout the entire program execution process. Stakeholder engagement can begin in the earliest stages of issue identification at the program level and then be built upon as the program is developed and ultimately implemented through a series of projects. Proactive engagement allows surprises, issues and problems to be addressed within a framework in which a high level of trust exists. Contrast this with the reactive situation where first engagement takes place around a problem or crisis. Programs should scale their stakeholder engagement strategies relative to the risks and impacts the program and its various projects are likely to create. There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to engagement. Like any program function, stakeholder engagement needs to be managed and driven by a well-defined strategy. Clear objectives must exist together with a timetable, budget, and allocation of responsibilities.

Good stakeholder engagement programs are characterized by:

Timely and Comprehensive Information Disclosure factual information earliest possible disclosure

o understand timing related risks

readily accessible respect for sensitive information structured to facilitate engagement

Early and Ongoing Stakeholder Consultation founded on well developed and communicated plan consultation well defined

o purposeo any pre-conditions for consultationo affected stakeholders

issues prioritized carefully selected engagement methodologies

clearly identified responsible individuals both within the program andproject levels

document consultation process, feedback and actions and feedback to stakeholders

3.4 Create a strategy for managing resistance to change

Managing Resistance to Change is a methodology that is designed to help people in organizations face resistance and cross the street -- to actually manage the transitions experienced within organizational change.

Ways to reduce resistance to change:1. Involve interested parties in the planning of change by asking them

for suggestions and incorporating their ideas.2. Clearly define the need for the change by communicating the

strategic decision personally and in written form.3. Address the "people needs" of those involved. Disrupt only what

needs to be changed. Help people retain friendships, comfortable settings and group norms wherever possible.

4. Design flexibility into change by phasing it in wherever possible. This will allow people to complete current efforts and assimilate new behaviours along the way. Allow employees to redefine their roles during the course of implementing change.

5. Be open and honest.6. Do not leave openings for people to return to the status quo. If you

and your organization are not ready to commit yourselves to the change, don't announce the strategy.

7. Focus continually on the positive aspects of the change. Be specific where you can.

8. Deliver training programs that develop basic skills as opposed to processes such as: conducting meetings, communication, teambuilding, self-esteem, and coaching.

Task 4: Be able to plan to implement models for ensuring ongoing change

4.1 Develop appropriate models for change

Create Urgency: For change to happen, it helps if the whole company really wants it. Develop a sense of urgency around the need for change. This may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving.This isn't simply a matter of showing people poor sales statistics or talking about increased competition. Open an honest and convincing dialogue about what's happening in the marketplace and with your competition. If many people start talking about the change you propose, the urgency can build and feed on itself.

What you can do: Identify potential threats, and develop scenarios showing what could happen in the

future. Examine opportunities that should be, or could be, exploited. Start honest discussions, and give dynamic and convincing reasons to get people

talking and thinking. Request support from customers, outside stakeholders and industry people to

strengthen your argument.

Form a Powerful Coalition: Convince people that change is necessary. This often takes strong leadership and visible support from key people within your organization. Managing change isn't enough – you have to lead it.

You can find effective change leaders throughout your organization – they don't necessarily follow the traditional company hierarchy. To lead change, you need to bring together a coalition, or team, of influential people whose power comes from a variety of sources, including job title, status, expertise, and political importance.

Once formed, your "change coalition" needs to work as a team, continuing to build urgency and momentum around the need for change.

4.2 Plan to implement a model for change

When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember.

A clear vision can help everyone understand why you're asking them to do something. When people see for themselves what you're trying to achieve, then the directives they're given tend to make more sense.

Determine the values that are central to the change.

Develop a short summary (one or two sentences) that captures what you "see" as the future of your organization.

Create a strategy to execute that vision. Ensure that your change coalition can describe the vision in five minutes or less. Practice your "vision speech" often.

4.3 Develop appropriate measures to monitor progress

A frequent assessment of progress is necessary in order to ensure that plan objectives are achieved in a timely manner. Course corrections may be required as new information becomes available or new opportunities or threats develop.

The process of determining local performance measures and performance outcomes should be transparent and readily available to the public. The performance results for each participating program should also be open for review, as businesses, workers, and jobseekers all need to know what services work. Further, taxpayers should be informed of the extent to which the expenditure of public funds yields outcomes beneficial to the community.

Providers and other partners that do not meet performance standards or advance the system's goals and objectives should receive technical assistance to improve their service delivery. If these organizations or individuals do not achieve better results, they should be sanctioned and ultimately dropped from the public workforce system. Funds should be tied to performance measurements which account for the particular challenges of working in different communities. Indeed, WIA permits job candidates to use training vouchers to select industry-recognized training or education programs that have been designated eligible training providers by local WIBs and the state because they have proven results.

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