Case Study On Organization Change for Smartcar- MyAssignmenthelp.com

Questions: 1.What other change strategies should Smart Car Motors employ to increase productivity? 2.What are some of the resistance to change that Smart Car Motors experienced in implementing change? Answers: Introduction The world is changing and there are new methods of production, innovations and creativity that have been adapted with different countries. The customers have also preferred different products to others since of the changing market trends .There has been an increase in control of organizations and improvement of motivation of customers since more innovations are coming up and the need to adapt ways of curbing competition. Most of the companies are now spending millions of dollars trying to invest in research and development on the products and services that they produce in the market since the market has become global with changing market trends. The organizations try to maintain the loyal customers, try to train the employees, adapt new methods of production, better use of technology, good organization structure and lastly changing the reputation of the organization. It is the role of the management to change the view of change management by the employees of the organization. Change management leads to sustainability of organization by changing activities of the organization like culture, technology, the rules and regulations, recruitment and selection, skill development leading to the transformation of the organization (David 2005). According to Stephen.2005 organization change occurs due to different factors like the operations of the organization which may include both internal and external. Change may create resistance among the employees in the organization and it is the role of managers to help reduce the level of resistance to change by employing the forces that bring change like policies and regulations, the development of technology, the culture and social value, new product ideas and satisfaction of the employees. As mentioned above change can lead to resistance like individual resistance to change like fear of the unknown and economic changes. Organization sources of finance would involve fear of resource allocation, little focus on change and also limited expertise in the department. Lastly the resistance to change can be managed by making sure change is implemented fairly, choosing people who are able to accept change, involving all parties in change process by building support and commitment of the employees and other parties. Change Management at Smart Car Motors The company, Smart Car Motors was established in 1985 as many car companies had flooded the business of motor vehicle assembling and selling to clients. The company has experienced a tremendous growth from a small business to be one of the largest vehicle assembly and selling companies in Perth, Australia. The companys Ceo Erickson, developed new leadership style in which he only allowed the company to assemble and sell only new designs of motor vehicles. The new brand of vehicles that were assembled and sold at that time involved Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac, but now with new technology the company has adapted new Japanese cars like Toyota, Mercedes and other good vehicles. The company tried to adjust from the old models to the new designs of vehicles leading to decline in the amount of sales leading the organization to adopt new method of transformation by developing organization change. The main reasons or forces the company to adopt new organization changes is the level of competition experienced by most of the big Toyota dealers in the market. Another factor that led the company to make change is the financial crisis that affected the world making the company to achieve low cash flows. The different change management step that was used involves; the cost cutting strategy through the reduction of some brand to increase he profit level. Another cost cutting strategy included the cutting pay of employees in the organization which was too much. Another change step was to implement cultural change in the organization. The different management boards were removed and decisions were made from the top as the employees got directives from top-down chain of command. As a result of the cost cutting measures led to the company reducing costs from $500,000 to $ 200,000.The Company now concentrated on the sales which increased drastically. Organization culture change also broug ht a positive change to the organization as the employees were able to be more responsible and accountable leading to better productivity in the organization (Muoio2007). The change strategies have helped the company to increase its market share and have a competitive advantage over its competitors in the market. Despite Smart Car facing stiff competition from other motor vehicle assembly industries and dealers the management has turn around the company through the implementation of the above mentioned changes and it has become one of the growing and reliable motor vehicle businesses in the town with affordable prices. Organization change is very vital in any given organization for growth and development purpose.. 1. Apart from the above mentioned change strategies that have been applied in bringing change in the organization, the management should come up with the following strategies which will be effective; improving the public perception of the product and services of the company. The company should try its level best to convince the public that the products produced and sold are of good quality. This can be made possible by conducting a feasibility analysis and also SWOT analysis of the market to increase productivity. Another strategy that needs to be implemented involves the use of market penetration strategies and also product development in which the company tries to develop related products that will suit the needs of the customers in the market. The products to be developed must be of good quality and meet the needs of the customers. 2. As mentioned above a company or an organization will face resistance to change in its implementation of the change in the organization. Smart Car Motors faced a lot of resistance to change as it tries to implement the changes in the organization. In the strategy of cutting the cost of the organization by lowering the pay of the employees faced a lot of challenge as the trade unions did not allow any lowering of pay of the employees. The issue resulted in court cases in which it took a long time for the change strategy to be implemented in the organization. The introduction of the top-down line of command was bureaucratic as decisions were made from the top and did not take any ideas from the bottom which involved employees. There was resistance from the employees as they were not empowered to contribute to the change process of the organization. In addition most of the employees were just reluctant to change due to the fear of the unknown. References David Buchanan and Andrzej Hcuzynski 2005, organizational behavior, 3rd edition, prentice Hall. Stephen p. Robbins, judge, seema sanghi, 2005. Organizational behavior, 13th edition, Prentice Hall International. Muoio, A, 2007. G M has new model for change, online retrieved, 15 December 2009 from fastcompany.com/magazine/41/gmhtm. General Motor taking swift cost cutting action 2008. Online retrieved 15 December 2009 from dailymarkets.com/stock/2008/11/24/General motor-taking swift cost- action cutting.. Driving change at General Motor, 2005, online retrieved 15 December 2009, www.cioleadershipnotes.com/p/gm/htm