The Rules of Rebranding an Organization

¶ … Organizational Structure Changes and Effect on Employee Motivation

This is a case study of a business which dealt in stores in Hawaii and having faced stiff competition that could potentially ruin the investment, the proprietor decided to significantly alter the structure of the organization, reorganize the management style and also change the product line, factors that significantly helped the business to bounce back to profitability and motivate the employees to further deliver in terms of sales and customer relations.

Bearing that the initial business structure was such that all the significant decisions were dependent on the owner, Joe Coulombe, the employees felt helpless and less motivated in terms of deciding on what to do, the effect to which was less participatory in the overall running and success of the organization. This was one of the significant changes that Joe made as he switched to the divisional structure where the departmental heads, referred to as Captains were given autonomous powers to run their departments and even the salespeople also had sufficient autonomy in dealing with customers hence were able to make decisions. This fact made the captains and the salespeople gain the intrinsic motivation hence a boost to their morale and their commitment to the organization as a result of which, there was better customer handling, closer and more personalized customer relationship and a better performing business to the current time. The divisional structure that Joe introduced has the advantage that it became easier to monitor the various stores that belonged to the business chain of stores, it is also a structure that is responsive to change as those that Joe instituted not only in sales but also managerial and in the infrastructure (Johnstone K., 2015).

The decentralized powers that Joe initiated helped in faster troubleshooting within the store hence quicker customer services. The little powers that the departmental heads and salespeople had made them feel like people within the business and felt valued. This also came through from the way the employees in general were treated, a fact that made them felt part of the organization and motivated to accomplish their assignments in proper time.

The establishment of value-based system in the newly branded business was also a morale booster and a motivator since the employees felt that the operations and decisions in the organization were no longer erratically made or even based on personal feelings and opinions but on the culture, values and norms of the organization as a whole. This helped in inducing more professionalism into the business as it cut out a new niche for itself.

As the business rebranded, it made significant physical changes ranging from the higher end new products that it dealt in, the construction of interior physical structures that reflected the Hawaii atmosphere, liberalization of the dress code to reflect the environment and culture within which the business was established all worked well to retune the thinking and morale of the employees. The fact that they now dealt with upscale specialty products was a morale booster that made the employees feel superior to their competition hence work better and smarter to maintain the high standards. This is what is referred to as brand commitment which can only be achieved if the management leads the way in internal brand building as was the case with Joe (Beus S., et.al, 2015:Pp2-3). He facilitated behavioral changes by ensuring each employee understood why the changes were necessary and also invoking positive gains to the employees brought by the new branding.