Blockbuster Video Memo - Blockbuster Video Change

Blockbuster Video

Memo - Blockbuster Video Change Management Strategy

With the introduction of the latest online video checkout/in-store pick-up system, the in-store experience of our most valuable customers will be streamlined, making it easier for them to stop in and pick up a video they rented online. This is going to accelerate rapidly as there are Apple iPhone, iPad and iTunes versions of the application free for download. Initial estimates are that it will increase rentals by at least 30% in the next two weeks alone! This is an amazing jump in technology for our company.

We're going to need to create an effective change management program to ensure this latest Blockbuster technology innovation reaches its full potential. The use of change management strategies can do more than just enable the accomplishment of goals, it can and does galvanize a culture to higher levels of achievement and accomplishment (Leban, Stone, 2008). We have the potential to drastically change the Blockbuster culture, making it more customer-centric in the process. One of the leading thought leaders in the area of architecting successful change management strategies is Dr. John Kotter, who has created the most pragmatic change management model for purposes of ensuring success of this change for Blockbuster (Kotter, Schlesinger, 2008).

Kotter's Change Management Model is predicated on eight steps that build on each other, scaffolding a business' change management strategies over time. These eight steps include instilling or building a sense of urgency, building a coalition for the change, creating vision and supporting strategies, communicating the need for change, removing obstacles and creating quick wins (Kotter, Schlesinger, 2008)(Leban, Stone, 2008). These initial steps set the foundation for the final two steps of the model, which are finding process- and strategy-related areas where change can continue in the areas of Blockbuster stores (Phelan, 2005) and making change itself permanent (Kotter, Schlesinger, 2008). These eight steps are what anchor the Kotter Model and ensure a higher probability of success of projects where change management is an essential part of their success (Phelan, 2005).

In the context of the new online ordering system offering in-store pick-up, Blockbuster employees need to learn new processes for immediately reserving inventory and also how to upsell customers on items sold in the store. These aspects of change management fall within the change that has to happen culturally within the company, focused more on providing the necessary elements of delivering an exceptional experience as opposed to just renting movies (Kotter, Schlesinger, 2008)