Change Management Process - Kauflauf GmbH - Case Study Example

Change Management of the of the Answer Westerly had taken charge as the assistant product owner relationship management in the year 2011 as she wished to bring about a change in Kauflauf GmbH. She was the assistant product owner for the office supply wholesalers as well as the retailers at Kauflauf which is newly emerging subscription enterprise software headquartered in Germany. After the completion of the extensive Kauflauf orientation program, Westerly communicated with her colleges through emails regarding the process to redirect the call patterns in order to make a greater coverage of the potential purchasers of the customer relationship management software that is used for the professional purpose within the organization. Westerly was responsible for answering the queries from the interested customers. Westerly also explained her research method and the data collection techniques to Robert Lin who is the regional sales director (RSD) for Asia-Pacific. There were two other RSDs who received the negative complaints from the field consultants. Many of the RSDs from Europe and Middle East did not bother to respond to Westerly’s emails as they considered these as irrelevant. However, there were further complaints against her poor performance and she realized that she had failed in undertaking a change management within the organization. Answer 2 After Westerly’s recruitment in Kauflauf, she had to participate in a very short training program of around two months followed by visiting the regional sales directors in the fields and observing their work process. However, she gained an experience regarding the corporate culture followed in various organizations, but the training period was of a very short duration. Westerly was confused with the work process in the relationship driven and solution oriented work process, where technical excellence was considered to be an important factor. She had never worked in an informal atmosphere and the culture was completely unique as well as challenging for her. Many of the employees of Kauflauf considered working in the organization as a source of pride, whereas, very few of them felt that the job seemed frustrating. Westerly had been trained for a very short duration of time and she had to develop a great deal of understanding about the new culture of the organization. Therefore, the change management was a very challenging issue for her and she faced difficulty in understanding the demands of the customers. Hence, her attempt to undertake a change in the sales call pattern failed. Answer 3 Westerly had developed an understanding regarding the company policies during her training period. She had noticed that the company was spending much time on the small accounts and therefore proposed a detailed calculation in order to make the transactions clear enough. The detailed calculations indicated a movement of the company towards the important customers who are willing to pay a huge amount for their product. Thus, diverting the business towards the target customers helps the company to expand its business in the international markets. Serving a huge customer base would also help the company in earning a high profit margin and the company can plan for its future growth prospect. However, in order to bring in a change within the organization, the Kotter’s eight step change model is highly suitable which starts with the identification of the requirement for the change and then gathering a team to set up the company’s vision and then finally undertaking the change (Hasle & Jensen, 2006). Westerly was dedicated to her work and in order to prove herself, she started working on the finding that she had determined for the success of the company. She had also gathered relevant data in support of her idea and she had proved herself to be rational by conducting an overall study on the customers and other employees of the organization. Within a few months, she could establish her position as the assistant product owner for the customer relationship management under the office suppliers group. This indicates that are proposal to change call patterns was worthwhile as she could gather evidence to support her idea. Answer 4 Kauflauf was highly successful in the software development process in the international market and the strategies undertaken by Westerly, have directed the company towards the highly valued customers to make them purchase the products. It has also increased the sales figures as well as the profit margin of the market. However, as the time is running the private investors of the company has their own demands of making the policies stricter in order to establish the future growth prospect. Westerly needs to design further product development as well as marketing strategies in order to attract the target customers in the international market and also to compete with the competitors. The company is likely to face a healthy competition from the strong companies that are emerging in the international market, such as SAP and ORACLE. Westerly also need to take care of the product quality as well as the durability in order to serve the customers with the high valued products. According to the Kotter’s eight step model, understanding the company’s vision is very essential before undertaking a change (Kunnanatt, 2007). Hence, it is necessary that Westerly realizes the effectiveness of bringing a change in the organization and plans out the future strategies for change management in Kauflauf. Proper planning and participating in the decision making process with other staff members can help Westerly to bring in a further change in the call patterns within the company. Answer 5 Kauflauf has been successful in increasing a huge customer base in the international market but the data suggested that the company has been losing the current sales opportunities as well as the customer call pattern. Hence, it is recommended that the managers within the company must collect detailed information regarding the preference patterns of the customers. Figure 1: Kotters eight step Model (Source: Eick, et al., 2001) The Kotter’s eight step change model can be useful in bringing a change in the organization. The model involves identification of the field in which the change has to be implemented and then a group has to be formed to bring in the change within the organization (Eick, et al., 2001). As the data suggested that the Kauflauf’s revenues have been declining, there is a need for the company to take up new strategies that would increase the sales of the company. The change that the company needs to initiate is that of training the employees as well as hiring skilled workforce to enhance the customer relationship management process in the international market (Park & Pena‐Mora, 2003). The process would help the company to raise the customer base and in turn raise the sales volume. Answer 6 The implementation plan for the change would be exactly according to the Kotter’s eight step model starting from identifying the need for the change to achieving success in implementation of the change (Dunne & Martin, 2006). The annual report published by the company shows that the company’s sales figures has been deteriorating and there is a need for adopting a change. However, there are barriers to the change management as the employees may not be accustomed with the new rules and regulation within the company. According to Kotter’s model, the next step is to set up the company’s vision for the change and discuss the process of change management with the group of senior members (Todnem By, 2005). The obstacles within the change management process can be removed by motivating the employees and rewarding them for their extra-ordinary performance (Todnem By, 2005). However, there are chances of failure in the change management project, but it depends on the efficiency of the team leaders within Kauflauf, regarding their strategies to execute the change. The change management process involves planning out strategies to overcome the challenges and providing training to the employees to enhance their level of performance which would in turn contribute to the success of the organization. Maintaining a healthy work culture also contributes to the change management process, because it motivates the employees of Kauflauf to serve the organization with full dedication. References Dunne, D. & Martin, R. (2006). Design thinking and how it will change management education: An interview and discussion. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5(4), 512-523. Eick, S. G., Graves, T. L., Karr, A. F., Marron, J. S. & Mockus, A. (2001). Does code decay? assessing the evidence from change management data.Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, 27(1), 1-12. Hasle, P. & Jensen, P. L. (2006). Changing the internal health and safety organization through organizational learning and change management. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 16(3), 269-284. Kunnanatt, J. T. (2007). Impact of ISO 9000 on organizational climate: Strategic change management experience of an Indian organization. International Journal of Manpower, 28(2), 175-192. Park, M. & Pena‐Mora, F. (2003). Dynamic change management for construction: introducing the change cycle into model‐based project management. System Dynamics Review, 19(3), 213-242. Todnem By, R. (2005). Organisational change management: A critical review. Journal of Change Management, 5(4), 369-380. Read More