Change Management and Information Technology: Nokia Company Case Study

Introduction

Due to rapid growth in global trade and market, the organization needs to implement various changes quickly to meet the customers demand and compete favorably. The growth of global standards in quality business quality production and business processes as rapidly increased hence bringing up the need for change to meet the new requirements. Technology is the best tool to use to accomplish all this at a fast and convenient rate (Anderson, 2016). Technology assist organizations in managing changes in various sectors like production, operation, human resource and many others. Organizational changes are meant to improve the performance of the organization by implementing new strategies. According to Charles Darwin, the strongest and intelligent species that survive in the universe are those responsive to change. Similarly, the most successful organizations are those that adopt to changes and new concepts of performance (Benn, Edwards& Williams, 2014).

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Change within a company is influenced by external factors like change in social technology changes and internal factors like decision making, interpersonal relations, communication, and management. Managers need to have a good perception of change to ensure that they get the support of the employees and other stakeholders. Change management is essential as it smoothens the transition and makes each team take part and responsibility for the change. More so, it established a common background and goals to be achieved by the teams (Burke, 2017). Change management involves setting and managing objectives to link to the vision and purpose of the intended change, planning and gathering details on the required resources, implement the set plans through frequent monitoring. Also, the process of change management oversee the adjustments of the set plans to modify the actions and supervise change implementation for easier achievements of the set objectives. Change management pay attention to organizational culture, resistance to change and various stakeholders who participate in the process. It is during this process that the best technology to use during the process is chosen and implemented (Doppelt, 2017).

Case study

Nokia Company is one of the organizations that has adapted change through the help of technology. In the year 2010 to 2012, Nokia was one of the world largest supplier of mobile devices with large shares. Later in 2012, Apple Company emerged in the market and began manufacturing iPhone becoming the leaders in the smartphone revolution. The sales and of Nokia went down drastically hence had to invent new changes to oversee its success and survival in the market. Among the changes implemented were changed in management through hiring a new CEO and new team management. The management decided to sell the company to Microsoft. Currently, Nokia Company is building networks and mapping technologies to ensure its survival in the growing technological world.

Strategies used to execute the change

Currently, Nokia is among the leading network building companies regarding technology worldwide. All this was achieved through the well-planned change management adopted in the year 2012. The company designed its strategies based on content, people and the change process itself. Various approaches were used to ensure the success of the change (Giachetti & Marchi, 2017).

First, the organization identified the issue at hand, analyzed it and saw the reason for implementing change.At this stage, the management spoke to various stakeholders including the employees to gather their ideas and views concerning the situation. After speaking to employees and shareholders, the management came to an agreement that change was essential for the future of the company. The senior staff met and decided on the areas to consider in the change management. After going through the Nokia mission, vision and goals, the management saw the management agreed to change the company's CEO and select an anew team to oversee the improvement of the firm. At this stage, a team to run the entire change process is selected. Additionally, the team will be responsible for improving and creating a strong foundation for ease, clarity and successful implementation of the desired changes (Hayes, 2014).

Second, the company presented the case to the stakeholders who directly contribute to the company's success and who will be affected by the change. The outcome of the change process relies on various factors among them been stakeholders contributions. The groups support changes that they view to be of positive impact. Investors need to be informed of the planned change and their ideas and contributions to the change considered. Investors risk their money and resources to the company hence need to be assured of the company' structure. In case the investors view the expected change to have a negative impact to the future of the company, they are likely to withdraw their shares and money from the firm (Holten & Brenner, 2015). The employees are also an integral part of any organization. They support changes that assure a good future of the company. Although many employees dislike change, they also consider their future in the organization. In case the change is deemed to improve the performance, the employees put more effort to oversee its success. After presenting the case to the Nokia stakeholder's, the group agreed on the make some changes return the company to its performance. The teams decided to change the chief executive officer and restructure the management. Also, they supported the idea of selling the company to Microsoft.

The third strategy was planning for the change. The step includes the roadmap that identifies the route to be taken until the change is implemented and become successful. Various resources to be used during the transition are identified and gathered during this stage. Issues like finance and the team to carry out the changes are selected at this step putting into consideration the desired return and the time frame. Technology to be used to aid in the change management is selected. The use of information technology in change management is vital as it eases the process and reduces barriers caused by human error. During planning, Nokia Company gathered data from the company and from its competitors to analyze the anticipated change. Information gathered also provided insights on the future of mobile phones and the anticipated changes in the industry due to rapid technological advancements (Shockley, 2014).

Once the planning, data collection and analysis is completed, the team took a step further to communicate the changes to the stakeholders and other concerned parties. Major mistake done by most change management leaders is believing that other people understand the issue hence do not communicate often. Communication flow at all levels keep the stakeholders informed and give them a chance to provide feedback and input (Cushman, 2016). Communication offers transparency and two-way communication designed to praise and change the structures that are not working. The success of the Nokia change management in 2012 was made possible by their excellent communication which runs through the entire process. Thee employees felt like an integral part of the company and were ready to support the change of management and also to work under Microsoft management (Giachett & Marchi, 2017).

The last strategy used by Nokia change management team was monitoring the change process, managing resistance and other financial risk and reviewing the situations for continuous improvement. Resistance to change is inevitable, and the success of the change depends on how the resistance is addressed and handled. During the change process, most resistance came from the employees and investors who were uncertain of the investment risk they were undertaking (Cameron & Green, 2015). Selling the company to Microsoft was risking their money and resources. Employees too were afraid to risk their future and jobs when Microsoft take over the company. Again, been under new management brought fear of been retrenched. Through frequent communication, guide and advice, the team leaders were able to win the support of the resisting team thus making the process successful. Even after celebrating the success of the project, the team carried out numerous reviews to make some adjustments to the project. After changing the CEO and selling the company to the Microsoft, Nokia continued to review the project and bring further changes to oversee the success of the company seen through the Current reforms aimed at building networks and mapping technologies to ensure its survival in the growing technological world.

Concept used to execute the change

During The change management process, Nokia Company applied Kurt Lewin's idea of change. The change management leaders used the three-step of unfreezing, changing and refreezing to oversee a smooth transition. The concept was selected since it provides the best criteria for overcoming the resistance imposed on the project.

Unfreezing step is the initial stage of change management that is encountered. During this stage, the selected change leaders created awareness concerning the issue at hand and the current status of Nokia Company. During this stage, the leaders revealed the situation of the company in the world market, the high competition it was facing from Apple Company leading to reduced profit experienced in that year. More so, the team explained the danger that might arise due to the emergence of smartphones that would ultimately replace their mobile phones in the coming few years. There was a need for change which would benefit all stakeholders and see a better long performance of Nokia and maintain the competitive advantage. The unfreezing stage acted as a communication step whereby the public gets to know the desired change and provide their views and feedback concerning the issue. It served as a breakthrough towards the success of the change management (Rosemann & vom, 2015).

Changing process involves transition into the new state. It is the time when the organization has fully implemented the change, and people are struggling with new reality. This period is marked with uncertain and fear of the reality (Pugh, 2016). More so stakeholders start adapting to the new behaviors to make it successful. For Nokia Company, the period between 2012 and 2013 was the changing stage as the company struggled to work under new CEO and the management of the Microsoft. The company was uncertain of the result of the change hence hoped for a good return.

Refereeing is the final stage of the changing concept which symbolizes the stabilizing, reinforcing and solidifying to the new state. At this stage, the stakeholders have already settled with the changes and the operation of the company goes back to normal. The refreezing process is essential to keep the company on track and prevent revering into old ways of performing. From the year 2014, Nokia Company was in Refreezing stage having accepted to work entirely under Microsoft. Mores it is during refreezing that the company looks for other possible changes that may take the company to a higher level. The idea of Nokia Company is building networks and mapping technologies to ensure its survival in the growing technological world emerged during this stage of refreezing. Application of Lewin three-step model in bringing change in Nokia Company led to its success and full change transition.

The use of technology to drive the change process

Most organization have adopted the use of technology in change management process. The use of technology in change reduces the cost by examining various business processes and eliminating actions that are less valuable i...