Managing Change in Sunflower Incorporated – Case Study

The paper ‘Managing Change in Sunflower Incorporated’ is a worthy example of a management case study. Based on the case study Sunflower Incorporated seems to be experiencing both quality and competitive problems. Evaluation of the branches of the company indicates that some of the branches are making huge profits which the others are struggling to keep up with the competition in their regions. Based on this Albanese was hired to solve the problems that exist and she proposes the implementation of standardized purchasing decisions and pricing in all the regions that the company has branches. the proposal that had been made seems to be appropriate but it failed to attain the desired level of outcome. This is mainly based on the fact that the proposal which had been made comprised of noteworthy changes to the pricing and purchasing processes in the organization and the manager failed to use the most appropriate strategies when it came to managing the change.

Managing change in an organization

Change seems to be inevitable in all organizations and most especially in the ever-changing business environment. The change mainly involves moving from a known situation to an unknown one and if not managed well it can lead to resistance or failure. Most organizations apply organizational development to manage change in an organization. It articulates that change ought to start with the analysis of the system and then a diagnosis of the problems (McLean 67). Based on the case study Albanese was able to identify the problems correctly. According to her the major problems that were affecting the company were due to a lack of standards when it came to purchasing and pricing. As a result, some of the branches were struggling to remain competitive whereas others were achieving huge profits since they were offering substandard goods to the consumers.

Another step that is crucial in the management of change in an organization is the development of interventions. Interventions are commonly termed as the exact strategies that are set with the aim of addressing the issues that have been identified at the diagnosis and assessment stage (Cumming & Worley 99). Albanese developed the interventions successfully. She was aware of the fact that to create a positive image for the company and enhance its competitiveness, it is imperative to launch standards to guide the purchasing and pricing decisions in all the branches. Though she had developed the intervention clearly they did not achieve the desired goals since she failed to consult the other stakeholders when she was developing them (McLean 62).

Organizational development principles place a lot of emphasis on the need for cooperation, teamwork, and inclusive involvement when a certain change is been implemented in an organization (Cumming & Worley 87). Albanese failed in that she did not have a meeting with the regional executives to confer on the benefits of the projected changes, the practicability of those changes, and how the changes will be implemented based on the uniqueness of the business in all the regions and this, therefore, this eventually led to the failure of the policies.

Implementation of the change

In a bid to implement the change Albanese used emails to communicate to the regional executive and the emails contained information on how to go about implementing the new policies that were related to decision making and pricing. Based on the policy, the executives were required to communicate with the head office in instances when they were making foremost pricing and purchasing decisions. After almost eight weeks she had not received any emails from the regional executives and this indicated that the implementation of the new policies had failed terribly. One of the major reasons why the implementation of the policies failed is based on the fact that Albanese had not derived a clear way in which the policies were to be implemented. Concepts in organizational development propose that implementation of all changes in the organization need to take place clearly and systematically (Cumming & Worley 89). This mainly involves the division of the change into various stages and outlining the deadlines, goals as well as milestones of each of the stages (McLean 44). Based on the case study Albanese failed to do this and instead wanted all the changes to be implemented at once. She also failed to offer clear and concise instructions on how the changes were to be implemented.

The policy implementation also failed since Albanese did not work with the regional executives when implementing the change. Organizational development suggests that change ought to be implemented with the collaboration of all the stakeholders involved (McLean 34). She worked with each executive independently and did not offer room for the executives to offer input in the development.

Recommendations

Based on the fact that the implementation of the policies failed various issues need to be changed. Albanese needs to prepare the organization for change. She ought to make all the stakeholders aware of the issues that exist in the organization and their impacts on organizational success. Through this, the stakeholders will be able to appreciate the need for change (Cumming & Worley 54). She also needs to ensure that all the regions participate in the development of the solution. Based on the fact that some regions seem to be achieving high profits while others seem to be struggling with stiff competition it is evident that each of the regions faces diverse challenges when it comes to purchasing and pricing decisions. Through this, the challenges of each of the regions will have been addressed and thus making the change process much easier. By involving the regions in the development of the plan the regions will have a sense of ownership and therefore the possibility of resistance will be minimal (McLean 77). As a final point, she also needs to come up with a systematic way in which the changes can be implemented. This will ultimately involve the breaking down of the process into various phases.

Conclusion

The company seems to the facing challenges that mainly arise from its purchasing and pricing policy. In a bid to solve the issues, Albanese has proposed some changes that would be implemented and it involved the standardization of the branches purchasing and pricing decisions. After the communication of the proposed changes, all the regions seem to be conducting their businesses in the usual manner. Irrespective of the fact that Albanese has come up with a good strategy to solve the issues facing the company, the strategy seems to have failed in delivering the desired level of outcome. This is mainly based on the fact that the proposal that was made by Albanese involved major changes and she was not able to manage them effectively. She failed in that she did not collaborate with the regional executives in developing the plans and she did not use a systematic methodology when implementing that changes about the organizational development concepts.