Free Essay on Strategic Change in Organizations: Essential for Growth & Competitive Edge

Introduction

In our daily lives, change is paramount and inevitable. One has to keep on changing and improving as a way of keeping up with the ever-changing world. For businesses and organizations, change is as well required to keep the company in business and in a better position to compete with rivals. Strategic change in organizations is the implementation of new processes and procedures into important business features or aspects (Hayes 2018). Strategic change is done in response to new and arising threats or opportunities within and outside a firm. Since strategic change alters the daily functioning of the business process, the responsibility, therefore, lies to the top organization official who oversees the operations of the enterprise. Before implementing strategic or organizational change, planning the change process is as important as the change itself.

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The management of strategic change involves procedures whereby the strategy is implemented in a structured way to achieve organizational missions, goals, and long-term objectives. Since strategic change is difficult to control or predict, many companies prepare for different scenarios to avoid surprises (Hayes 2018). Proposed strategic change management and planning is done through the use of possible scenarios, facts, and knowledge since the future is unpredictable.

Organizational Context

The chief executive officer of Harte Hanks Inc. requested me to design a proposal for a potential change in the company that needed to be implemented within the next two years of operation. Being a marketing agency, the organization must adopt new technologies urgently in order to remain competitive with rivals. Since the firm offers business development solutions to clients in many regions across Europe and the USA, the need for centralized services is critical. The idea of migrating to a cloud-based system in the firm seems logical with the current developments in the economy. Cloud services are relatively cheap and allow organizations to operate in a more responsive, adaptive, and open manner. Cloud-based systems will also allow company employees to access files remotely, which will enable workers to function more efficiently through quick access to data.

Factors that Trigger Change

Since change can take different forms, our firm, Harte Hanks Inc., will adopt a transitional change process. The change process will lead to the company adopting a cloud-based system, replacing the use of a central server system. Since change is natural, both internal and external forces are responsible for strategic change. For Harte Hanks Inc., several forces have demanded a change in the next two years to allow the firm to remain competitive.

With the company's large clientele based in different regions, the size of the staff is enormous. The need to trim down employees is key to the future of the firm. According to the majority of managers, the staffing requirements of the firm are exceeded, with the majority of workers staying idle for extended periods (Kunisch 2017). Wasting company hours idling around have affected the revenues of the firm, with a large proportion being spent on employees' salaries and remunerations. The need to trim employees is vital to the growth and the future of the firm. Cloud-based systems are a perfect solution to this problem of overstaffing, especially in the I.T. department, since information is easily accessible to workers. Easy document accessibility reduces staffing costs and wasted working hours.

Another force that triggered a change in Harte Hanks Inc. was the change in leadership. The firm's move to hire a new chief executive meant that different changes had to be made in order to adopt the new change in management. Adopting a cloud-based computing system will allow the firm to be more competitive. New strategies must be adopted in order to overcome the current challenges facing the firm.

The need to stay competitive with rivals is also another factor that led to strategic change in the firm. The majority of marketing agencies have adopted new changes which offer them a competitive advantage over us, and to stay competitive, we must also improve our operations and functions.

PESTEL Analysis

The political forces that may affect the profitability of Harte Hanks vary from civil unrest to critical decisions made by the government. The exit of Britain from the European Union may affect the profitability of Harte Hanks UK operations immensely. Among the economic factors that may affect Harte Hanks include the changing inflation rates and the current economic cycle being experienced in the economy. The social factors that may challenge Harte Hanks range from the communities in which the business operates as well as the employees who come from diverse groups.

Technological forces that may alter Harte 'Hanks' future growth include the different innovations that are taking place in the Tech industry. In order to remain competitive, the firm must be up to date with its rivals. The environmental factors with the possibility of affecting Harte Hanks include climate change, which could render some products useless, thereby affecting the 'firm's overall revenue. Legal factors that may affect Harte Hanks include data protection and intellectual property laws if the migration to a cloud-based system materializes.

The Role of Leaders of Strategic Change

Effective strategic change management is dependent on the leaders, bosses, and managers who exercise direct authority over employees or even change an 'organization's vision. Organizational leaders guide their junior colleagues through the transition by executing change themselves (Jabbar and Hussein 2017.). Successful leaders understand that their guidance and role in strategic change management are vital to the success and growth of their respective firms.

In a setting like Harte Hanks Inc., leaders play many roles during the process of change management. They act as role models. Managers and supervisors must always be willing to go first and demonstrate the required behaviors and attitudes necessary to implement change. Employees watch their leaders for consistency between what they are preaching as well as their actions. Therefore, leaders must always demonstrate behaviors and attitudes that support their words during strategic change management.

Leaders also make decisions. Managers are responsible for controlling company resources such as equipment, budgets, and workers and thus have the power to make decisions that impact the change initiative (Hussain et al. 2018). During the process of initiating change, leaders must make informed decisions and set decisive priorities that support change.

Managers are also the voice and face of the planned change, hence the role of communication. Sharing information, keeping workers motivated, and also updated since employees listen mostly to their immediate bosses (Hussain et al. 20180. Leaders should be transparent and consistent when interpreting the message of change to other employees. It is also the role of leaders to get workers involved during the change process. Offering recognition to employees doing well is key to improving performance during change management.

Issues that may Disrupt Effective Leadership of the Change Initiative

During the process of change management, many issues may come up within the organization. These challenges may disrupt effective leadership during the entire period of implementing the change. The strategic change process can create challenges that affect the leaders and drivers of the change more than any other stakeholder (Cameron and Green 2019). A well understanding of the possible challenges that lay ahead is essential in preparing to deal with them.

Although change impacts everyone, and therefore resistance is always expected. The ability to overcome this resistance distinguishes between influential and destructive leaders of change. Some of the issues that may arise to disrupt the implementation of change include the following;

Lack of Clarity by Employees

When implementing the new system of Cloud computing, senior employee figures may have enough information about the proposed change. On the other hand, regular employees who do not attend company meetings often may be at risk of inadequate information about proposed changes in the workplace. The lack of clarity by company employees is risky to the entire process of transition because employees without clarity can easily resist change efforts.

Failure to Align Change with Strategy

Another possible issue that can arise during the process of transition is the failure to align the proposed change with the strategic goals or vision of the firm. If the change agents in the firm lack clarity of what the change will bring about, the idea of change may be challenging to sell. Organizational leaders must first convince their colleagues of the benefits and values that the proposed change will bring. Change advocates in any firm planning to undergo a specific type of transition must be well aware of the competitive advantages that will be generated from the change.

Conflicts

Change is scary, and the majority of individuals do not like it. In this sense, the prospect of change evokes emotions such as fear and uncertainty. The fear of the unknown can lead to employees taking their frustrations on each other. Since conflict is a typical challenge that comes up during the change process, it is always the responsibility of the change leaders to manage employees' emotions and fears (Aslam 2019). Conflicts during a transition can also erupt if the change agents lack practical change management skills. Employee Disagreements/conflicts may lead to reduced engagement among employees, which may impact the entire process of transition. Disagreements between workers affect the productivity of the firm by disrupting the set schedules to solve conflicts.

In Harte Hanks Inc., some employees might view the introduction of cloud services as uncalled for, while others might like it. The division in opinions of how the change will affect them may lead to endless disagreement that directly affects the process of implementing change. Whenever a conflict arises, influential leaders should act swiftly to prevent the conflict from escalating and creating a fiasco in the organization. When addressing the issue of conflict, patience is vital. Leaders must reason with the conflicting parties or employees by understanding the two sides of the story and providing an unbiased response. Conflicts may disrupt the entire process of change and, therefore, must be addressed quickly to prevent them from escalating.

Lack of Communication

The process of strategic change management involves every employee in an organization. Therefore, proper information transfer between the leaders of change and their respective employees is crucial. Failure to communicate the intended changes in a firm can disrupt the entire process. Misguided and false information transfer among employees has the possibility of sweeping out an entire firm (Burnes et al. 2018). Lack of trust among colleagues will hinder employees from embracing change, especially when they do not know what is expected of them.

Workers are required to understand the extent of the expected change because employee uncertainty can derail workers. Workers should know all planned updates to prevent them from aligning with their objectives, and neglecting the organization. Keeping employees up to date is through ways such as brainstorming sessions, and meetings are crucial to maintaining harmony among them. Communication during the process of change should be two-way, with both the leaders and employees offering their opinions on different issues.