606_CLASSMATES_P1

Order Description

 

DISCUSSION QUESTION THE CLASSMATE ANSWERED:
Consider what you read in the assigned readings and present to the group two examples from your own organization for each of: (a) revolutionary change and (b)
evolutionary change. In addition, present examples of an organization dealing with both: (a) a successful organizational change effort, and (b) a failed organizational
change effort. Feel free to use information from available press reports or your own organization. Focus on expanding the understanding of the whole group.
REFERENCES
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/lao/issue_9/pdf/strategic_triumvirate.pdf
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jsl/vol1iss1/JSL_Vol1iss1_Switzer.pdf

 

ELIZABETH RESPONSE:
Evolutionary changes happen in gradual increments, over time, in an organization. In higher education the implementation of new programs will usually happen in this
manner. I work at Regent University and this type of program growth is an example of evolutionary change. Teams of faculty members, program directors and university
leaders work together to implement new programs based on strategic thinking and planning to grow the university and meet student and industry needs. Revolutionary
change is fast-paced and implemented in a top-down fashion. Growing the central enrollment departments with a focus on student growth could be an example of this type
of change at Regent. The focus and resources were directed in a manner to make it possible to grow the student population and these departments quickly. Both types of
change were successful for the university and those that it serves.

 

British Airways is an example of an organization that went through a successful change of management plan successfully. One of the key factors of the change being
successful was that the CEO was intentional about transparency. He vocalized and shared why the change was needed for the future of the company to be successful and
how the change would happen. An example of failed organizational change can be shown by the video store, Blockbuster. Blockbuster was a leading organization in video
rental stores, gaining much of its profits from late fees, but the advent of Netflix and the ability to rent videos without late fees and stream content was too much
of a competition for the rental chain. Blockbuster failed to change its late fee policies until too late and failed to heed the warning signs that streaming content
was the future.
References:
Eber, H. (2017, October 24). The Rise and Fall of Blockbuster. Retrieved from The Week: https://theweek.com/articles/490746/rise-fall-blockbuster-video
Grugulis, I. (2017, October 24). British Airways: Culture and Structure. Retrieved from https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/2024/1/2001-4.pdf
History. (2017, October 24). Retrieved from Regent University: https://www.regent.edu/about-regent/history/#tab-timeline

GRACIE RESPONSE:
Revolutionary changes affect the organizational deep structure, such as the leadership, strategy, structure, culture, systems (Gersick, 1991), decision making,
responsibility, control, and distribution of power, observing, react and relate to external environment (Tushman & Romanelli, 1985). It happens when organizations
deviate from their stable conditions caused by technology change or change in key personnel (Burke, 2018).

In 2013, our Senior Pastor suddenly fell ill and had to immediately take complete rest for six months. As the Church Pastor/Administrator, overnight I was tasked to
take over some of his responsibilities, distribute some to other leaders, formulate communication of the unexpected situation, the change in leadership roles and
decision making, reallocate preaching assignments, and postpone several major projects. Even the bi-vocational pastors had to stepped up. In 2014, a decrease in our
young adult invited guests surfaced several challenges. After several brainstorming sessions, we started a young adult outreach initiative, called LIVE Party to bring
the church to their friends through career talks and networking parties in homes instead. Today, LIVE Party is still ongoing and our young adult group has grown and
ready to start a new service by mid-2018!

Evolutionary change with small incessant adjustments, involving enhancements, incremental phases to solve problem or change that does not upset the organizational deep
structure, can accrue and produce significant change (Weick and Quinn, 1999). This continuous improvement involves changes in existing systems, such as eliminating a
layer of management in the organizational hierarchy (Burke, 2018).

For many years, our mid-week small groups called Lifenet, struggled to grow. Leaders made changes to meet the different needs of our people, but with no success.
Eventually we consulted with another church and adopted their cell model. We communicated the need for change to improve, new and intentional objectives to multiply
leaders and grow Lifenets, various level of training required, and the expected implementation timeline. Over these last two years, we are registering significant
growth in the number of Lifenets and within individual Lifenets. Due to this growth, our plan for 2018 included changes to streamline ministries and flatten
organizational structure for effectiveness, and training and empowering more leaders to manage the growth projection for the next three years.

Organizations progress through periods of evolutionary change interspersed with revolutionary change. However, leaders must adapt organizational culture and strategy
to the current environment, and create organizations capable of concurrently pursuing incremental and discontinuous innovation to achieve long term success (Tushman &
O Reilly, 1996).

In the 1960s, Seiko’s leadership, inspired to be a global leader in the watch industry, discovered alternatives through internal research, and made a daring decision
to convert to a quartz and mechanical watch company in the mid-1960s. These low-cost and high-quality watches generated extensive change within Seiko and the world-
wide watch industry. As Seiko flourished, the Swiss watch industry suffered severely (Tushman & O Reilly, 1996).

Until 1991, Sears was the largest American retailer as a family department store. However, by the mid-1980s, market share fell by 15 percent from its high in the 70s,
stock price dropped by 40 percent, and prolonged high costs stalled Sears from matching competitors’ prices. Sears tried to make several strategic changes to stop the
decline, but the CEO, Brennan was unable to revamp the old Sears culture, which was rooted in a long ritual of controlling the retailing industry, producing in Sears’
leaders an arrogance, and resistance to change (Tushman & O Reilly, 1996).

Long-term success is marked by increasing alignment among strategy, structure, people, and culture through evolutionary change punctuated by revolutionary change.
Although structural and systems change are comparatively simple, cultural change is not. Organizational culture is key to short term success, but when badly managed,
causes long-term failure (Tushman & O Reilly, 1996).

How can leaders manage organizational cultures to handle evolutionary and revolutionary change to achieve strategic innovation and successful organizational change?

References
Burke, W. W. (2018). Organization Change: Theory and Practice, 5th Edition, SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

Tushman, M. & O Reilly, C. (1996). Ambidextrous organizations: Managing evolutionary and revolutionary change, California Management Review; Berkeley, Vol. 38 Iss. 4
pp. 8-30, https://eres.regent.edu:2048/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.regent.edu/docview/216130045?accountid=13479