Utilizing Kotter's 8-Step Model in Google Inc. Chinese Market Re-Entry Essay

Introduction

Change is the process through which an organization adopts a new practice, approach to activities, procedures, new products, or change in the organization procedures which are aimed at improving the organization performance. Leading organization change is a delicate activity that the organization leadership should plan well and also seek a good change model such as the Kotter's change model. Kotter's model of leading change provides a framework for organizations to initiate and complete change. The change model covers different important aspects of change such as team building, communication, planning, leadership, reward systems, negotiation and influence which are all important aspects considered in any change. Google Company is undoubtedly one of the most popular and leading search engine in the world. The primary services offered by the company to their consumers include search results, which are selected from more than 8 billion chosen sites. The company mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" (Google, 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the Kotter's eight steps and their application to the Google Company through attempting to diagnose a specific area in the company that needs more improvement.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Company Overview

Google Inc. is a global technology company that offers extensive information search products and has an increasingly unified global information search and services. Google Inc. has significantly benefited in globalization and has further promoted globalization by increasing access to information which has facilitated travel and information exchange. Google as a company continues to experience significant growth, and its culture and ideals direct the organization activities. In the entire world, Google processes 50% of all the information search queries more than any other information and technology company.

Google Inc. has a distinctive approach to its organizational culture which vary depending on the organization operation environment. The organization allows the adoption of a different employee's belief systems and management approach depending on the operating environment. This approach has helped the organization to create competitive work environments for many of its employees. Besides, the ability of different organization environments to adopt dynamic cultures has made it easy for the organization to create more significant relationships with other external parties. In a world that is becoming highly regulated, Google should change its approach and service delivery and capitalize on available markets.

The organization has continued to lose billions of dollars by its decision to abandon the Chinese market due to conflicts with the Chinese government (Ghosh, 2018). Despite the need to enforce broad access to information, there is a need for the organization to respect different countries sovereignty and create products and services that do not undermine the regulations and policies of countries (Lee, 2013). Google should adopt a new code of practice to be able to enter the Chinese market using the recommended highly censored search engine. Access to information can be both dangerous and beneficial, and government regulation is a reality that Google Inc. as an organization should appreciate and make future decisions based on this premise. Therefore, there is a need for harmony within the organization as the organization re-enters the Chinese market after eight years of absence.

Diagnosis

Organization principles play a significant role in the direction that an organization takes especially when it is faced by an ethical challenge like in the case of Google Inc. re-entry in the Chinese market. There is the need for a policy change to ensure that the organization agrees with the policies and regulations by autonomous governments that are responsible for their people. The case of Chinese censorship of the internet content is for the good of its people as the government sees fit and does not violate any fundamental human right. Today, information on social media can significantly cause unlawfulness due to people reaction to social media or internet content (Ghosh, 2018). Therefore, it is essential for individual countries to be allowed to regulate how their people access the internet and the content available for the people. Censorship can significantly help reduce crime, riots and even negative social behavior such as immorality.

Censoring pornographic sites, violent contents and negative news in a world that fake news is becoming a problem can significantly improve leadership and peace in individual countries by avoiding irresponsible criticism that can lead to chaos and unlawfulness. Google Inc. decision to re-enter the Chinese market is a significant organization change that should be addressed by the entire organization stakeholders (Lee, 2013). Therefore, the Kotter's eight steps of leading change model are applicable in this situation and can be used to include all the Google Inc. stakeholders in their decision to move to the Chinese market which is unique and has previously caused controversy due to many people disagrees with the country's internet censorship.

Kotter's 8 Steps and their Application in Google Company

Any leader who is keen on creating change within an organization should be able to adopt a model such as the Kotter's eight steps of leading change that establishes a clear framework of initiating and implementing change. Change and its importance in all organizations is an aspect that cannot be overstated as many organizations are fighting with ever-changing external and internal forces, which are found to have a direct effect on the business's success or failure. In most cases, change is essential, and its apprehension in the industry is indispensable for the future, status, and welfare of a company (Galvin & Clark, 2015). As a resulting, by conveying the junior to senior workers on board with multiple modifications, organizations can overcome any change more comfortable and effectively (Benn, Edwards, & Williams, 2014). It is significant to note that change is necessary for any organization as without change many businesses will lose their market share and competitive edge which is essential for the success of any business.

Step 1: Creating a Sense of Urgency

The management will obtain support by offering awareness to the workers regarding the need and determination for change. In this case, honesty, open and considerable dialogue is essential, as it will ensure that personnel in the organization are persuaded of the importance of taking immediate actions whenever required (Hodges & Gill, 2014). Markedly, this could be realized by communicating with the staff sharing with them promising answers. Similarly, it entails discussions and identification if the crisis, main opportunities, or disaster for the organization (Kotter, 2012).

China is a market that Google Inc. cannot ignore despite the previous challenges that led the company to pull out due to the misalignment of values between the government of China and the company. China market is growing rapidly compared to the United States of America information market due to the size of the population. Adopting a more friendly and versatile external engagement policy is necessary to ensure that Google Inc. can return to the Chinese market and agree to the State's desired censorship which is to the benefit of the people. In every country, the leaders are chosen by the people, and they represent the people who mean that the decision of the Chinese government is a representative of the people and should not scare Google Inc. away from a market with significant potential. The Chinese market can increase Google Inc. sales and overall performance which is an expansion opportunity that Google Inc. has been seeking.

Step 2: Creating a Guiding Coalition

For every organization, it is imperative to create a project team that can occupy and relates to the modifications that a business needs to adopt. In this case, Google Inc. will need to change its culture and values to be able to return to the Chinese market which can earn the organization a competitive advantage. Reasonably, these groupings comprise of employees working in different stations, job positions so that all the workers can be influenced by on the team, and identify themselves with the team members (Hodges & Gill, 2014). Choosing an organization change team is a delicate matter that will require a broad representation of the organization different organs in the team to be able to create a holistic approach to re-entry in China. Change decisions are very critical to the success of an organization when it is undergoing change. Although market re-entry in China has many favorable prospects, it is important to note that poor decision making on the different aspects of change that will be required before Google Inc. can launch the censored version which is approved by the Chinese government. Therefore, the composition of the team that will be responsible for planning and executing the market re-entry will be specialists in ethical, information legal framework, organization legal advisor, resident manager and the top organization executives (Hodges & Gill, 2014). The diversity of the team will play a significant role towards ensuring that the decisions towards the re-entry into the Chinese market is informed from an ethical, legal, financial, economic and managerial perspective to ensure the change in the organization policy will be worth it in the long-run.

Step 3: Creating a Vision for Change

The development of a clear and straightforward vision can help all members in an organization to recognize what the corporate is demanding to attain within a specific period. Accordingly, it makes changes to be tangible and creates backing to initiate them. The staff thinking can be embraced in the organization's vision to ensure they consent and absorb the organization's vision much faster. Consequently, linking the staff with the framed vision help to effectively realize their goals. In this case, Google's intentions and visually communicate their aims to achieve and change (Kotter, 2012). In this case, the change vision from an organization perspective is to extend the organization cooperation with state actors in the management and regulation of information which is responsible in controlling the impacts of information in the future. China is the frontline regarding regulating the type of information which is available to its people. Despite previous criticism which led to Google Inc. exit in the market today and in the future Chinese approach to regulation makes sense. Responsible use of technology and information in the future will be a significant topic of debate due to the growing cases of radicalization, hate crimes, fake news, and espionage. Google Inc. should change towards a more collaborative relationship with authorities to ensure responsible information use and also cyber security which is threatened in liberal and unregulated cyberspace.

Step 4: Communicating the Organization Change

The main aim of this step in the model is the generation of acceptance and backing among the workers and the executives. In the recent case, Google Inc. has faced significant criticism from the employees due to its work towards improving military drones using artificial intelligence which many dissident employees have noted that it is against what the organization stands for. As a result, this can only be recognized through discussions concerning the new organization's image with the workers at every change the executive gets, and by taking their iss...