ORG 100 CSUGC Stow Company Organizational Change Report

Option #1: Organizational Change Scenario

For this assignment, you will write a paper detailing an instance of organizational change at Stow Company addressing the same constructs as the scenario on Page 2 of Module 8 Interactive Lecture.

Stow Company is a marketing and communications firm located in Chicago, IL.  The company’s success has led to the decision to expand the business internationally.  They will be opening an office in Spain to expand their business in Europe. 

Stow Company’s current vision/mission is

To help clients achieve their most ambitious marketing goals and strategic communications objective by delivering the highest levels of professionalism and experience to provide strategic counsel, creative solutions and timely, responsive services.

Stow Company’s current organizational structure is

Organization structure

The paper will address

  • Vision/mission:  will the change impact the vision/mission?
  • Structure – how will the change impact the organization’s structure?
  • Communication:  how will communication patterns flow following change implementation?
  • Decision making and problem solving:  what decision making and problem solving approaches will be used during and after change implementation. 
  • Culture and ethics:  how will the organization’s culture and ethics be impacted by the change? 
  • Organizational theory:  what organizational change theory or theories will be applied to the change management?
  • Leadership: what leadership approach or approaches will be most effective in managing the change and why?

2. Navigating Organizations and Change

A photo of business people walking down a hallway.

Leading organizational change relies on an understanding of organizational theory, approaches to leadership, and models of organizational change. It also relies on an understanding of how change will impact key elements of the organization. Consider the following scenario:

Community Hearth Coffee, LLC is a company that produces specialty coffees. They currently have one production site and twelve retail outlets. Their web presence has been limited to product information, locations, and hours of operation. As the market for specialty coffees has become more and more competitive, the owners have decided that Community Hearth Coffee will begin to expand their online presence to include online sales of their products. This will be a significant change to their operations impacting almost every aspect of their business. In order to successfully plan for and implement this change, the owners must carefully consider these impacts and choose an approach to direct the change to ensure success. 

Vision/Mission

Community Hearth Coffee’s current vision/mission is as follows:

Community Hearth Coffee’s vision is to have a positive impact on the world by providing freshly ground specialty coffees at a price that is fair to both producers and consumers. Our mission is to operate sustainable retail specialty coffee shops to serve people and positively contribute to our local community and our partner coffee-growing communities.

The first impact the expansion to online sales will have will be on the vision/mission. The new vision/mission will be:

Community Hearth Coffee’s vision is to have a positive impact on the world by providing freshly ground specialty coffees at a price that is fair to both producers and consumers. Our mission is to operate sustainable retail specialty coffee shops and provide freshly ground coffees for people to brew in their own homes, while at the same time serving people and positively contributing to our consumer’s communities and our partner coffee-growing communities.

Note that changes were made to include the online sales operations and the communities Community Hearth Coffee will reach through their online sales.

Structure

Community Hearth Coffee’s structure will also be impacted by the change. Employees will be needed to develop and maintain the expanded web page, to meet expanded production, and to manage online sales and shipping. The organizational chart will be updated to include the new and expanded functions.

Current organizational structure:

An organizational structure chart is shown. The Chief Operating Officer at the top, with the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Operations Officer below. Under the Chief Administrative Officer are the Sales and Marketing Manager and the Human Resources Manager. Under the Sales and Marketing Manger are the Retail Outlets Managers (with the Sales Team beneath) and the Marketing Team. Under the Human Resources Manager is the HR team. Under the Chief Operations Officer are: The Operations Manager, Production Team, and Distribution Manager.

New organizational structure:

Another organization structure chart is shown. The Chief Operating Officer is at the top with the Chief Administrative Officer and the Child Operations Officer below. Under the Chief Administrative Officer are the Sales and Marketing Manager and the Human Resources Manager. Under the Sales and Marketing Manager are the Marketing Team, the Retail Outlet Manager (with the Retail Sales Teams beneath), and the Online Sales Manager (with the Online Sales Team beneath). Under the Chief Operations Officer are the Retail Operations Manager (with the Production Team beneath), the Online Operations Manager (with the Expanded Production Team beneath), and the Distribution Manager (with the retail Distribution Team and Online Distribution Team beneath).

The changes involve the addition of managers and team employees to accommodate the expanded production and distribution functions due to online sales.

Communication
Communication paths will be adapted to include the new and expanded departments as shown in the organizational chart. Job descriptions will be updated and created for the new positions.

Decision Making and Problem Solving
Decision-making and problem-solving processes will be modified to reflect the additional online sales units. Decision making and problem solving will now take into account how a decision impacts both local and online sales and customer service by determining root causes and taking into consideration the consequences and trade-offs of decision outcomes.

The recommended approach to determining root causes is the Five Whys technique. For example: (Click the cards to learn more.):

Once root causes are identified, the PrOACT Problem Solving Approach is recommended. Click the tabs to learn more.

  • Problem
  • Objective
  • Alternatives
  • Consequences
  • Trade-Offs

The problem will be solved by identifying high-performing production team members and placing them in training roles. Entry level production team members will be hired to back fill those positions.

Culture and Ethics
Community Hearth Coffee’s culture will be re-energized; the communities they serve will be expanded from local communities and partner coffee-growing communities to communities everywhere around the world that have access to Community Hearth’s coffees online. Training existing employees will be conducted to broaden their focus from local communities to include communities everywhere their products are sold. New employees will receive training regarding Community Hearth Coffee’s history and values. Community Hearth Coffee’s Code of Ethics will remain the same; however, the scope will be expanded to include ethical online policies and practices, and international customs and regulations.

Organizational Change Theory
Given that the nature of the change Community Hearth Coffee is making will impact all elements of the organization, both Kotter’s 8-step Change Model and Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis will be used. Kotter’s 8-step Change Model will be used to guide the process of the change; Lewin’s Force Field Analysis will be applied to specific change events in order to identify and strengthen the forces driving the change while reducing the forces resisting the change. 

Leadership
Given the magnitude of the change, it is recommended that leadership adopt a collaborative approach to managing the change. By collaborating across the organization, input can be garnered from all members allowing for informed decisions as well as greater buy-in. There should, however, also be a level of autocratic leadership in making final decisions. Not all members of the organization will agree on the best way to proceed, so leadership needs to step up and make the decision that is in the best interest of the organization as a whole. Lastly, a situational approach to leadership will be included. With a change this magnitude, it is not possible to predict all the potential situations or risks, therefore leadership needs to be prepared to adapt as necessary.

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