Organizational Change Navigating Organizational Change

Organizational Change Navigating Organizational Change According to Current Scholarly Research One of the most pressing demands imposed upon an organization undergoing some degree of change is that concerning the relationship between leadership and membership. Often, the strains of change can be difficult to assimilate for both aspects of the organization. However, it is the core responsibility of leadership to ease this transition by opening the airwaves for communication, presenting with clarity information about the form which this change will take and proceeding with a clear plan of action.

The three articles considered hereafter address different aspects of organizational change. One of the great ironies of implementing a major organizational change is that those organizations which are most expansive and successful are often those that will face the greatest practical difficulty in implementing change. So demonstrates the article by Tsao (2002), which examines the challenges faced by McDonald's as it simultaneously attempts to alter its image and improve its economic fortunes.

Tsao reports that the fast-food giant had been in something of an economic downslide as the public focus shifted to greater patterns of health consciousness, as its own market became more competitive and as McDonald's simply reached a plateau in terms of the practicality of expansion. Accordingly, the article reports that McDonald's would face myriad practical difficulties in the process of change. As the Tsao article reports, "It's a very large ship to turn around,' says S&P equity analyst Dennis Milton.

And not only is McDonald's a mature company, with 30,000 stores worldwide, but its primary business is saturated: The market share that burger chains hold among all quick-service restaurants has fallen from 37.1% in 1997 to 35.3% in 2002, according to Chicago-based market researcher Technomic." (Tsao, 2002) in attempting to address this condition, McDonald's would initiate a multipart strategy of change which included such measures and drawing back from its steady pace of physical expansion to focus on improving aesthetic and practical conditions at existing locations.

Other measure of importance would prove to be the shift of menu and image to improve McDonald's poor nutritional reputation. As with McDonald's, the rationale for change at Wal-Mart is similarly imposed by image problems. Likewise, the situation calling for change at Wal-Mart is driven by a combination of internal pressures based on policy orientation and external pressures proceeding from economic realities.

As the article by Hays (2004) reports, Wal-Mart has begun to experience a correlation between its own often-maligned labor practices and the ways that consumers respond to the retail giant. The article suggests that Wal-Mart finds itself at a crossroads with respect to the methods it has used to cut costs and improve profits. Though it has historically done this at the expense of its workers, Hays suggests that consumers may be more wary of Wal-Mart because of these methods.

In addition to this pressure, the Hays article allows us to deduce that Wal-Mart is also responding to the internal pressure plied by its laborers, who could represent the risk of unionizing to Wal-Mart. It is thus that the nature of the changes made as reported by the Hays article would be poised to alter the course of Wal-Mart's labor orientation.

Thus, in 2004, it would announce a set of changes in this area, "including the establishment of a compliance group that will oversee workers' pay, their hours and even whether they take breaks. Wal-Mart is testing a program that will alert cashiers, for example, when it is time for a meal break and shut down their cash registers if they do not respond." (Hays, 1) These decisions represent a newfound concern on the part of Wal-Mart about the way that its image impacts its sales and success.

By contrast, computer and printing magnate Hewlett-Packard (HP) would undergo a much publicized shakeup in 2005 that may be viewed almost strictly as an internally-instigated transformation. Here, the influence of a single executive and her regime would first instigate a major strategic change at the company, subsequently experience widespread failure in this ambition and ultimately produce calls for yet another transformation. In 2005, an article by Fox News reports, Carly Fiorina was dismissed as CEO of HP after a disastrous attempt at reorganizing a company that was sliding in market share.

As Fox.