Change Management: Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Kodak And McDonald’s Corporations

 Change Management: Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Kodak And McDonald’s Corporations
Introduction
Change management is a critical strategic task in any organization. In many cases, leaders are the ones held responsible for the formulation and implementation of change. In the last decade, statistics indicate that almost 80% of change projects do not succeed. Past studies also confirm that objectives of most change projects are not attained. In certain cases, the change projects are completed after the set deadlines, thus, not benefiting the target subjects. In John Kotter’s article, ‘Why Transformation Efforts Fail,’ he outlines critical factors that affect success in change projects. Kotter introduced a model suggesting that organizational leaders are able to successfully introduce and manage changes if they can perform tasks in the right order. In order to be successful in the turbulent and ever-changing business environment, most companies have tried to initiate significant changes. Some of these organizations end up realizing the objectives of change while others fail (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009).

Change Story: Significant Errors in Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Kodak and IBM Corporations
In this model, Kotter (2012) argues that communication is one of the most important aspects in any change management. Based on statistics, various change projects have failed as a result of lack of proper communication between different parties or stakeholders. The resistance to change is always a common thing that leaders should expect in the process of introducing and implementing change. Tensions often arise when it comes to change management. As a result of this, leaders who are pursuing change management should be ready to handle them (Kotter, 2012). Efforts by Hewlett-Packard to merge with Compaq Computer Corporation were met by various challenges. Although one may argue that pre-merger activities went on smoothly, the reality is that the corporation experienced several challenges. The CEO of Hewlett-Packard decided to reconstruct the company with the aim of making sure that there was a better coordination amongst the sales force since it was losing market share to its arch rivals.

Fiorina, the then incoming CEO undertook the restructuring of the organization without communicating the same to the company’s potential customers and employees. This impacted the loss of the organization’s customers like Ford and Boeing. The customers complained that the new structure adopted by the company did not fully address their needs. Although the strategy to merge with Compaq Computer Corporation was backed by Deutsche Bank through a vote, the CEO of the company experienced lots of problems with the merger. There was tension between the CEO and the whole staff. It is evident that the merger was done without the nod from all the employees. They were not convinced about the entire idea of merging with Compaq Computer Corporation. These challenges were impacted by the fact that the idea of the merger was not properly communicated to the employees (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009).

IBM is also another successful company that has always been trying to introduce and manage change. In the apparent story of change management, it is explicit that communication was effectively conducted. However, when Samual Palmisano took over as the new CEO of IBM, things began to take another twist. He introduced a strategy that would enable the organization to narrow the gap between the CEO and the team. This sounds like a great idea but turned out worse because of the fact that the right steps were not followed. According to the model by Kotter, it is critical for an organization to build a team that will guide the management and entire staff through change management. However, this was not the case at IBM. The leader communicated to all staff members about his intentions of change and the potential benefits, and he should be commended for that. However, Palmisano did something wrong in implementing the change. He failed in building a team that would guide the entire organization throughout the entire process. He, instead, went ahead to dissolve the existing executive management team. After this, he created three teams which they could use to directly relate to him (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009).

Kodak Corporation is one of the film companies that have acquired a larger market share in the United States. It is Proofreading-Editingrenowned for the production of traditional film cameras. Since its formation, the corporation has always been striving towards staying competitive in the film industry. With the emergence of digital technology, the company has structured itself to exploit the opportunities that accompany it. The company has been working quite hard towards increasing its revenues through lower costs. One of the ways of achieving this is through conducting physical changes by reducing the number of employees across the world and also the size of  


Enjoy big discounts

Get 20% discount on your first order