Sunflower
unflower Incorporated: Analysis of Case
Introduction
Sunflower Incorporated is experiencing some competitive and quality problems. An evaluations of the company branches indicated that some companies are making huge profits by offering substandard products while other are struggling to keep up with competition. Albanese, who was hired to solve this situation, proposed implementation of standardized pricing and purchasing decision across all regions. Though Albanese’s proposal was great, it was unable to achieve the desired outcome. This is because the proposal involved major changes to the organization purchasing and pricing processes and Albanese did not use the right strategies for managing the change process.
Managing Change
Change is inevitable especially when an organization has to make improvements on the prevailing situation. However, change involves moving from known to unknown and if not well managed the change process may result in failure and experience resistance (McLean, 2005). Organizational development (OD) is one of the approaches that are popularly used to manage changes within organizations. The concept of OD suggests that change should begin by analyzing the system and diagnosing problems (Cumming & Worley, 2005). Albanese was successful in diagnosing the problem. She identified that Sunflower Incorporated’s problems arose from lack of standards for guiding the organization’s pricing and purchasing decisions. Consequently, some regions struggled to remain competitive while others made huge profit as result of offering substandard goods.
The next step in managing change, according to OD concept, is developing interventions (Cumming & Worley, 2005). This are specific strategies that are meant to address the problem (s) identified in the assessment and diagnosis stage. Albanese was relatively successful in developing interventions. Albanese recognized that in order to enhance the company competitiveness and protect the company’s
Introduction
Sunflower Incorporated is experiencing some competitive and quality problems. An evaluations of the company branches indicated that some companies are making huge profits by offering substandard products while other are struggling to keep up with competition. Albanese, who was hired to solve this situation, proposed implementation of standardized pricing and purchasing decision across all regions. Though Albanese’s proposal was great, it was unable to achieve the desired outcome. This is because the proposal involved major changes to the organization purchasing and pricing processes and Albanese did not use the right strategies for managing the change process.
Managing Change
Change is inevitable especially when an organization has to make improvements on the prevailing situation. However, change involves moving from known to unknown and if not well managed the change process may result in failure and experience resistance (McLean, 2005). Organizational development (OD) is one of the approaches that are popularly used to manage changes within organizations. The concept of OD suggests that change should begin by analyzing the system and diagnosing problems (Cumming & Worley, 2005). Albanese was successful in diagnosing the problem. She identified that Sunflower Incorporated’s problems arose from lack of standards for guiding the organization’s pricing and purchasing decisions. Consequently, some regions struggled to remain competitive while others made huge profit as result of offering substandard goods.
The next step in managing change, according to OD concept, is developing interventions (Cumming & Worley, 2005). This are specific strategies that are meant to address the problem (s) identified in the assessment and diagnosis stage. Albanese was relatively successful in developing interventions. Albanese recognized that in order to enhance the company competitiveness and protect the company’s
References: Cumming, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2005). Organization development and change. USA. Cengage Learning McLean G. (2005). What is Organizational Development. USA. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. May 21, 2012. http://www.bkconnection.com/static/mcleanexcerpt.pdf