Question

Implementing change in any organization can be a daunting task. change is inevitable, and organizations need to embrace a culture of change for long term survival. However not all changes are worthwhile. Blindly implementing change can result in sub-optimal performance and in some cases, it can diminish performance. Change initiatives must be evaluated from a business perspective. Consider an example of an automobile dealership is evaluating a new protocol in their auto-service department. The service department generates more revenue than the sales department, on an annualized basis. Sales revenues have been down in recent years, and management would like to find ways to increase service revenue to offset any shortfalls from the sales department. The service department has proposed to senior management that they can make a change to their service offerings to increase revenue. Currently, the service department offers ala carte offerings for service. Patrons can opt for separate services on an as needed basis (e.g. oil, change, spark plug change, timing belt service, transmission service and so on). A key change proposed would involve offering packaged service solutions (e.g. 10K mileage service, 30K mileage service, 75K mileage service, and so on). Each package service would bundle many of the previously offered services. If implemented, the change could yield an extra $1M of service revenue for the dealership. Without this change, substantially growing service revenue would be very unlikely for the dealership. The change implementation will involve having to re-market its services appropriately, changing advertising, increasing promotions, training staff, and so on, They would have to do so without making long-time customers feel like they are being offered more services than then need at any given time. How should the dealership go about evaluating this change? Should they embark on this change? Please explain your answer sufficiently.

Answer 1

Answer:

How should the dealership go about evaluating this change?

Change is inevitable both in the internal environment of the organization or external. Hence the impact of change is largely found to impact both employees and customers. The present case relates to change likely to affect customers. The dealership has to go about evaluating change, but it has to follow a structured approach to understand the issue in a multidimensional angle. The implementation of change has to be visualized in a stage by stage process and the challenges likely to be encountered, clarification for the challenge and benefits accrued at each stage have to be evaluated before implementation.

• The change has to be created as a sense of urgency in the minds of customer hence the organization has to thoroughly review customer expectations and modify the offerings in compatible to customer needs. Any aspects of change that would negatively affect customer has to be re modified at the planning stage. This provides a compelling input for planning the remarketing and advertising initiatives.
• Once the process is approved by the organization the internal environment is perused for necessary infrastructure to meet out the new changes.
• The employees internal to the organization has to be trained and reoriented appropriately to imbibe the new changes and create a positive moale, so that the customer obtains the best in class services and supports the new change initiative.
• After the implementation of change the entire process has to be evaluated to ensure if the desired results are achieved.
• The process adopted can be implemented for future reference

Should they embark on this change? Please explain your answer sufficiently.

Yes, the organization can embark on this change since change is initiated to enable the company to withstand the challenges faced by it. In the event of organization not intending to differentiate itself, it is likely to lead to total loss. It is practically a wise solution to pursue change when organizations fail to achieve organizational goals. However the change proposed to be implemented should qualify in closing the gaps. The change can be in terms of improving the existing technology, recrafting the mission or vision, adopting changes in task, structure, process, culture and people. Any change implemented in an organization would have a domino effect inside the entire organization. This may lead to employees being put out of their comfort zone, hence organization may visualize a decreased morale and increased resistance among employees. Managing the human factor in the organization can help in implementing any complicated organizational change. In the case presented the offerings of the organization would be transformed into a positive aspect for customers, if the organization puts into practice a robust plan and change initiatives by which thehuman factor in the organization gains trust and confidence in the new initiative.