In your first submission to the Module Project report requirements of this module, you produced a proposal
that did four things:
(1) identified a relevant change driver impacting upon an organisation,
(2) suggested a suitable change process that would appropriately respond to that change driver,
(3) predicted likely stakeholder reactions to the change process you advocate and
(4) described how an existing organisational design might be amended to best accommodate the planned
change.
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Organizational Profile
The organisation in discussion is a clothes and accessories high end store referred to as TLC
Fashion Store. TLC fashion Store location is on Oxford Street in London. The approximately £
35,000 annual income store specializes in selling of an upper-class income household client
target niche for clothes, handbags, shoes, jewellery, watches and sunglasses. TLC Fashion Store
employs 11 individuals at the outlet.
Organisational Structure
The most senior person in the organization is the Chief Executive Officer, who regularly meets
with the board of directors to discuss the company’s strategy development and evaluation. The
marketing manager, production, finance, human resources and marketing managers all report to
the chief executive officer. The retail store has critical stakeholders such as distribution,
manufacturing and logistics companies that facilitate prompt availability of the final products to
its store and to its consumers (Ozdemir, Gozlu & Sigma, 2016: 223). The TLC Fashion Store
clients form a critical group of stakeholders that will elevate the organization from its traditional
mode of trading to a new online platform based system. The board of directors at TLC fashion
Store are responsible for ensuring that the corporate and ethic responsibilities of the corporation
are upheld. The company’s Chief Executive Officer delegates the different far-reaching and
specific objectives to the senior managers such as the Chief executive Officer, Marketing and
Human resources manager. The senior managers have specific duties such as the chief financial
officer who documents and reports on the company’s financial position when required. The
managers then make specific tasks that are to be completed by the employees in their
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departments. The human resources manager is ensures that the company’s human resources
policies are attractive to facilitate hiring and retaining of the required talent in the organization.
The human resources manager also models the required change at the company and therefore acts
as a change agent (Long, Ismail & Amin, 2013: 2022). The major influencing decisions are made
by the top managers. The centralized decisions are then delegated to the different employees
depending on their respective departments.
Change Drivers
TLC Fashion Store has to attain a higher competitive level than its current one, if it is to
attain a high benchmark through establishing a multichannel level as a retail outlet. The dynamic
millennial client who is in the target niche should be able to shop online, and make a physical
visit to the store, and find the products that they want. The internet and technology; especially
handheld devices have contributed to an evolution of the brick-and-mortar trading tactics that
were previously in use by the store. Many shops in the globe have been able to reach a higher
number of clients through the use of online marketing and selling. Clients can search through
many stores and find what they require. The clients also give “reviews” based on their customer
experience. Therefore TLC Fashion Store requires an elaborate shopping system to increase its
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visibility, profitability, and reach a higher number of its target niche customers (Overstreet 2013).
Acquiring an online shopping system will also contribute to the integration of a needed change
which is the acquiring of a secure payment system. TLF fashion store has to ensure that hackers
cannot access their information systems which would contribute to capturing of client private
details (Banks 2014). Therefore, TLC Fashion Store has several change drivers that it should
address so as to attain a higher level of competitiveness in the market, capture the entire available
target niche, and ensure secure systems are available for trading. The change driver will ensure
that TLC Fashion store clients can conveniently purchase the clothes and accessories that they
would choose from the store, and pay for them securely, and have the items delivered at the
addresses that they would give. The employees at the retail outlet would have to ensure that the
required information would be available at all times such as available sizes of the different
products, and additional charges to be charged based on courier fees for clients that would have
their purchases delivered to them.
Key stakeholders
The internal stakeholders form the most critical component of the organization, because
they will determine the level of success that will be attained by the organization through its
interaction with external stakeholders. The value of customers is expected to go up based on their
new ability to purchase products from the online store. The clients will utilize their technology
devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops to access the company’s website and purchase
the products that they would like.
The new online model system will contribute to the training of new and current
employees in the organization. Employees such as those in the accounting, sales, and logistics
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departments of the organization will be trained on how to use the online model so that they can
contribute to an increase in sales, and therefore TLC Fashion store’s profitability. The company
might have to employ new personnel in their Information Technology department to deal with
training, management, and control of traffic for the company’s website especially if sale offers
are given to clients. The company could also explore the option of hiring outsourced information
technology personnel to guide the employees and company in operating and management of the
website and online platforms. With time, the employees could operate the website in turns once
they are aware of all its parameters and can troubleshoot the website in case of any hitches.
The human resources management will have to act as the change leader during the
implementation of the information technology change process within the organization. The
operations manager will also be heavily involved in the integration of the required changes in the
organization; pertaining an adoption of an online trading system.
The implementation of the change process in the company’s trading platform will
contribute to the generation of higher shareholder’s wealth. A maximization of the shareholder’s
wealth will in turn contribute to higher ratings of the company since it will be viewed as being
profitable. Profitable companies usually attract a high number of investors; which is bound to
increase the company’s net worth and create confidence among the shareholders (Parmenter,
2015: 46).
The employees are expected to bear questions on how the new online trading platform
will contribute to changes in their roles in the firm. Some of the employees might feel that the
extra tasks related to the online trading platform would warrant extra pay. However, the firm
would have spent in integration of the website and introduction of parameters related to online
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trading on other departments’ software. The sales, accounting, and logistics departments trading
applications will have to be updated to suit the new information technology changes. Therefore,
the changes in the pay made to employees might not be immediate, but will take place with an
increase in the firm’s profitability. The employees will also be expected to be aware of the extra
charges that the clients will have to pay based on the courier charges to be incurred. The
distribution based stakeholder will be asked to provide the fixed or range of prices that should be
expected to be paid by clients so that they would include the charges on the money that they
would pay; and therefore increase convenience. The employees that contribute to an increase in
the company’s sales levels will be rewarded with bonuses to ensure that their morale and
motivation is kept high Muchanan 2011).
Overview in Change Initiative
All the different employees will play major roles in contributing to the change process at
TLC fashion store. However, the human resources manager will be the main change leader. TLC
Fashion Store’s human resources manager will work with the different department leaders to
initiate a communication and training plan to the employees. The employees will have to be
briefed on the importance of the change so that they adapt the required attitude in making the
required change. The change will contribute to value addition and increased profitability for TLC
fashion store.
The provision of an online platform through which TLC fashion store company clients
can access its products is aligned to the company’s vision and mission. The firm intends on
increasing its client numbers in the target niche, increasing profits, and becoming a multinational.
A punctuated equilibrium culture adoption will contribute to the company model’s solidification
and stability in future. Therefore, the current and future changes will not act in destabilization of
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operations, employees and other critical stakeholders’ opinion and operations. TLC Fashion Store
will adopt a model that will be used even when other changes in its model is required. The
competitive nature of retail business requires that organizations adopt changes in a fast manner.
The multichannel framework that TLC Fashion Store adopts will contribute to stabilizing of the
company’s core structures, values, and culture. TLC Fashion Store employees will also adopt an
increased sense of loyalty based on the attainment of information technology competencies that
they did not bear before joining the company. The organization’s dynamic model will contribute
in the cultivation of a positive attitude among employees, and increase in the levels of
productivity through the leaders and executives in the organization (Mayfield 2014). Therefore,
TLC’s adoption of an online model will contribute to the required mission and vision attainment.
Key Success Factors
According to Cassell and Bird (2013: 211), the key success factors that are used by an
organization are critical for its continuous improvement in factors such as productivity and
profitability. According to Ozdemir, Gozlu & Sigma (2016: 225), the key success factors ensure
that employees cascade their goals to that of the organization. The key success factors at TLC
Fashion Store would include the alignment of the technology based goals into the employees’
personal lives. The employees at the TLC Fashion Store should install and accommodate the
company’s shopping application on their personal phones and tablet. Installation of the
technology-based application on their gadgets would portray TLC employees’ commitment to the
organization’s change initiative and long-term success. There should also be consistent
communication between the employees and staff members at the company so that any issues or
challenges are addressed promptly.
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A key success factor would be the manager’s involvement in the implementation of the change
process in the organization. The manager should offer step by step guidance to the employees and
check on any assistance that they may require in achieving their set guidelines (Todorovic,
Mitrovic & Bjelica, 2013: 43).
The employees would have to be trained on how to post the clothes and accessory items on the
company’s website and social media pages. The employees would also receive training on how to
ensure that secure payments are made, and client details remain uncompromised. The employees
would have to install the recommended security software to ensure security against hacking or
any breach of the company’s site and information systems. The employees would take turns in
posting, updating and responding to enquires about the company’s products on the online forums.
The participation of all the employees would ensure that they all felt like part of the change
process and success.
Change Initiative Process
Technology application would be the main focus in the change initiative process. The employees
would be briefed of the proposed changes, and their role in ensuring its success. The stakeholders
of the organization would also be informed of the change initiative that the organization would be
taking, and the expected success factors that would be expected to be achieved. The stakeholders
would welcome the change based on the convenience and benefits that they would be set to
achieving. The employees would be briefed on their specific tasks, and the timelines within
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which the objectives would be attained. Therefore, the employees would be ready to team with
their colleagues to attain the set goals. The employees would be asked to make recommendations
on the changes that TLC would make, since they would be the personnel executing the proposed
change on the ground. It is expected that a change from the brick and mortar system to an
extensive technology based system would trigger some resistance. However, the TLC
management team would all be involved in the change process to ensure modelling of the
expected changes by the corporation’s leaders.
Evaluation and Assessment
The success of the project will be based on the profitability of the company’s business
operations, and user feedback that will be given to the TLC staff members. There is an expected
rise in profits that is expected by the organization based on an increase in the level of availability
and accessibility of the company’s products. The company would contract the best available
logistics partner in delivering the required products to clients (Deville, Ferrier, Leleu, 2014: 30).
The logistics partner would be assessed on their promptness in delivering the clients’ products,
and the feedback from clients such as friendliness and the safe state of their clothes and
accessories. The logistics partner would only be involved in the delivery of the required products,
and would not handle funds, since approval for delivery would only be made after payment by
the customer. The success of the change initiate would also be based on the feedback that
employees would give to the managers.
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