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February 16, 2022Organizational Behavior
February 16, 2022Question 1
The overall theory of objectivism suggests that there is an existence of the objective reality that must be increasingly known by the accumulation of certain specific complete information and data. Therefore the ontology of objectivism suggests that the world’s existence is real and the overall acquiring of knowledge can be done or achieved. As per the ontology of objectivism, it necessarily states the fact that the overall specific psychological phenomenon includes the aspects or elements of perceptions, emotions, reasoning’, memory, intelligence, personality and motivation, are having specific or definite causes. The ontology of objectivism can be considered to be significantly underpinning the overall changes within an organization (Nawaz, 2010). In the context of objectivism organizational change can be defined or expressed to be the realistic structural changes that are implemented within the organization in the context of policies, operational strategies and others that are largely interrelated with the business growth and development. In this context as per the ontology of objectivism, the overall changes within an organization have realistic impacts upon the organizational growth and development and are expected to have a potential impact or influence overall the operations and activities of the individual employees as well as the organization as a whole. In addition, considering the overall dimensions of organizational changes, the use of objectivism can have realistic impacts upon the organizational processes.
In addition to objectivism, the change within an organization can also be largely underpinned by the ontology of constructivism. As opposed to the overall ontology of objectivism, the constructivism can be considered to be the specific philosophical paradigm that is seen to be based upon specific relativist ontology at the same time with a specific subjective epistemology (Patel, 2011). As per this specific ontology, the change within and organization can be defined or depicted as the phenomenological change approaches that lead to better and improved organizational processes, growth and developments. In respect to an organziation, the successful implementation and achievement of the desired change goals and objectives that are needed for successful change implementation within the organization. The implementation or the use of the constructivist approach can help the organizations to institutionalize the process of organizational learning that can significantly help in obtaining of higher success in regards to the implementation of the specific and desired changes within the organization. Since the respective ontology is seen to be focused upon employment of a specific realistic approach, it can effectively and successful help in underpinning of the successful organizational change. In this context realistic approaches can be implemented by an organization that can help in better assessment and management of the organizational changes.
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Question 2:
Introduction of the organization
In order to successfully analyze the perspectives of change process within organization, in this particular report the Woolworths retail organization of Australia has been chosen. Woolworths is the leading supermarket chain based in Australia which was established in 1924. The company offers a range retail products and services such as grocery, clothing, stationary items, fresh foods, furniture, soft toys, DVDs, electronic and electrical appliances, financial services and petroleum products for the customer across Australia and New Zealand. Currently the company operates its businesses in different 992 stores in Australia and New Zealand (Engeström & Sannino, 2011). Woolworths has secured 43% of market share in retail industry of Australia. The prime competitors of the company in the Australian market are Coles, IGA and Aldi. Currently Coles retail store have acquired 37% of market share in the retail industry. Woolworths is mainly famous for its fresh food and grocery item. The company has total 111,000 employees across the 992 retail stores of Australia and New Zealand. In order to sustain in the competition, the company has adopted various strategies which could help to maintain long term relationship s with the customers.
Identify and describe the change within organization
In order to meet the ever changing needs of the customers, the management authority of Woolworths has decided to improve its online shopping channels. According to a report published by Woolworths named “Future of Fresh” it can be observed that the company wants to change the online shopping experience of the customers to increase the sales growth and productivity. By adopting this technological change can help the organization to deliver fresh food to large number of customers. This particular change will help the customer by saving their time in purchasing the product. The report also has stated that a hybrid approach will be implemented by the organization for enhancing the shopping experience of the customers. In 21st century, the booming of internet technology has brought various opportunities for the retail organizations like Woolworths to replace their manual handling operations with intelligent system. By implementing hybrid approach of shopping the company can meet the recent trends of the customers. In order to sustain in the competitive retail market, Woolworths will implement this technological change to attract a number of potential customers of Australia and new Zeeland. For this particular change within organization, the change agents are the business analytics and management authority of the organization (Oreg & Armenakis, 2011). From ground level staffs to top level management, all the employees and staffs of Woolworths store are involved in this particular change process.. In any kinds of changes within organization, the employees are mostly affected and sometimes they may resist changing with the flow. In order to expect participation from the all level of employees within the retail stores, the technical consultants and trainers have monitored and trained the all employees of the organization. This could help to understand about the change process for the employees.
Relationships with the definitions and change occurring in this organization
Objectivism and constructivism are both the philosophical assumptions that help to develop logical thoughts for the individuals. In the theories of philosophy, the thoughts of the individuals regarding cultural, moral and political perspectives are either secular or relativistic or the mixed of the both. The concept of objectivism defines the secular and absolutist thoughts based upon some rational self interests such as justice, independent thinking, self responsibility and honesty. Objectivism concepts rely on progress of the organization. Therefore, it can be said that the concept and definition of objectivism is closely associated with the technological change processes of Woolworths (Trossen, Sarela & Sollins, 2010). On the other side the theoretical perspective of constructionism mainly deals with the practical and conceptual resources from the social perspectives of constructionist which helps to transform the change within organization. The constructionism provides the knowledge of postmodern epistemology which supports the research and interventions in changing the organization. Therefore, the constructionism concept is closely associated with the changes within organization.
Question 3:
Using SWOT analysis assess the cause of need for change in the organization
In this particular section of the report the SWOT analysis of the organization will be analyzed in the context of Woolworths retail organization. The SWOT analysis of Woolworths will help to identify the needs for change. The SWOT analysis of Woolworths is given below;
Strengths:
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Weaknesses
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Opportunities
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Threats
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Discuss the analysis, conclusion and summarize the overall implemented changes within the organization:
In accordance with the above SWOT analysis of Woolworths it can be stated that the company has a high market growth and largest market share in the Australian retail market. It can be also observed from the above SWOT analysis that the prime strengths of the organization are strong brand image, experienced workforce, range of products and services and quality goods and services. It can be also observed from the SWOT analysis that the company is facing challenges in achieving customer staosfact6ion due to lack of improved online presence (Cheng & Bryant, 2012). The other weaknesses that are faced by the company are decreasing sales growth, higher prices of the products and decreasing productivity due to poor infrastructure of the supply chain management system. It can be also evident from the from SWOT analysis that the company has opportunity to develop its marketing growth in the domestic as well as international market. Woolworths also has opportunity to meet the recent trends of online shopping experience for the customers. The company also can develop various kinds of new products and services for attracting a number of customers across the Australia and New Zealand. The prime threats of the company are increasing pricing competition in the retail market, changing rules and regulations of the business and reducing power of the buyers due to inflation. Thus, it can be identified from the above discussions that the company needs to develop and improve their online channels which could help to meet the current needs of the customers. By developing online channels, the company also can enhance the shopping experience of the customers.
Identify the benefits and drawbacks of using SWOT analysis to determine the need for a change of the organization:
In the perspective of objectivist and social constructionism the various benefits of using business SWOT analysis in order to identify the needs for organizations change are as summarized below;
- Using SWOT analysis the management team Woolworths can identify their needs for change in order to meet the ever-changing demands of the customers.
- With the help of SWOT analysis, the management authority and business consultants of Woolworths can analyze their opportunities to meet the change process within the organization.
- It has been observed from the weaknesses of the organization that the retail firm is facing challenges regarding poor sales growth due to a lack of online channels (Cameron & Green, 2015).
- It has been also observed from the SWOT analysis that the company has the potential to improve its online channel to enhance the shopping experience of the customers.
On the other hand, the various drawbacks in respect to objectivist and constructionist for Woolworths in order to identify the needs for organizational change are as summarized below;
- SWOT analysis sometimes may not be a good assessment tool as the perspective of the market may be changed due to various factors.
- The identified needs for change may not be realistic as it is based upon the statistical report of the company.
- With the help of SWOT analysis sometimes the strengths of the company may not be analyzed may influence the organizational change process.
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Question 4:
Identify, explain and critically assess the role of change agents for change of the organization
The change agents within an organization play a significant role in managing and implementing the overall change process within the organization. A change agent is an individual person which has a number of skills for influencing the overall changing processes within the organization. The change agent either may be external or internal agents. According to Sutton Jr, Heimbigner & Osterweil, (2011), external change agents are the person who has specialized in human behaviour for influencing the behaviour of the people within the workplace. The external change agents are the business consultants who work for the company for implementing strategic change for the firm. On the other hand, internal change agents are the consultants who are involved with the internal operations of the organization for implementing necessary changes within the workplace. Within the organization, the internal agents are mainly the managers who received training from the external consultants for implementing the change process within the workplace. The change agent should have some specific qualities and skills for successfully implementing the change process within the organization which are as listed below;
- Behavioural skills
- Diagnostic skills
- Attitudes of accep0tance
- Support skills
- Time management skills
The various key conceptualizations of the role of the change agent are as detailed below;
Investigate:
Investigation for successful implementation of the change is very important which can help to effectively manage the various activities associated with the change process (Oreg & Armenakis, 2011). The change agent is responsible for investigating the needs for change for implementation of the change process. The change agent in this stage investigates the attitudes and behaviour of the people within an organization. By analyzing the different aspects of people behaviour and attitudes the change agent can remove the various obstacles to successfully implement the change process.
Advocate:
Advocacy is another important role for the change agents which help to successfully implement the change process within the organization. In this particular stage, the change takes support from engaged people who can monitor and control the other people within an organization.
Encourage:
Change happens when the individual people are engaged with the activities of the change process. The change agents within an organization play a pivotal role in influencing the behaviour and attitudes of the people within the workplace (Trossen, Sarela & Sollins, 2010). The change agents listen and encourage the people to successfully implement the change process.
Facilitate:
One of the prime roles of the change agent is to identify the ways to help people in the change process. As a facilitator, the role of the change agent is to develop systems, tools and processes to help the people in the change process.
Mediate:
Mediation is another important role of the change agent where the change agent can manage different types of conflicts regarding the change process of the organization. The change agent works for the company to reduce conflicts and frictions between different parties to effectively manage the change process.
Advice:
This is one of the most important roles of the change agent to support and advise the people within the organization (Cheng, Wang & Bryant, 2012). The change agent deals with the expertise to ensure the authority to meet the needed changes within the workplace. Change agents conduct the meeting and training for sharing knowledge among the expertise of the organizations for developing necessary changes within the organization.
Management:
This is one of the key roles of a change agent to manage various activities of the change process such as objectives, due dates and target dates to maintain a track record of the change process. These change agents also ensure the various kinds of rewards and punishments for the people associated with the change process.
In order to successfully implement the technological change within the workplace of Woolworths, the external business analyst also will play the above-discussed role. The external agent of the change process will investigate the needs for change within the organization. The external agent also will identify the people attitudes and behaviour regarding the change process within the organization (Nawaz and Kundi, 2010). The change agents such as the business analyst will develop the objectives, goals, target date and due date of the change process for successfully managing the process within the workplace of Woolworths. The change agent also will support the people in achieving various activities of the change process within the organization.
Question 5:
Define and critically assess discuss the problem-centric and dialogic approach to change:
Problem centric and dialogic approaches both is important in order to develop and implement change processes within the organization. In this particular section of the report both the problem-centric and dialogic approaches to change will be defined in order to identify the appropriate approach for developing and implementing technological changes for Woolworths.
The problem-centric approach helps to provide a learning environment for analyzing the knowledge in accordance with the competence of the organization. This particular approach also helps to encourage the people associated with the change process (Sheth, Sethia & Srinivas, 2011). The change agent plays a pivotal role in developing the objectives and goals of the change process. The continuous learning process is also involved in this particular approach through the various necessities of the change within a workplace can be identified. This approach also emphasizes the reality of the change process to draw some conclusions about the implementation of the process. The entire objectives or configurations in this approach are divided into different variables for achieving a successful result.
On the other hand, the dialogic change approach is also a very important approach for managing change within the workplace of the organization (Patel, Patel and Parmar, 2011). Dialogic change involves a number of diversified people within a system who have open interaction regarding unexpected behaviour of the individual. One of the prime assumptions of this approach is that the change will occur only by changing the conversations within the organization. Both the collaborative and technical components are incorporated by the dialogic approach of change within the organization.
Identify, which theoretical perspective underpins each, and briefly explain the links
In the previous section, the two perceptive of ontology regarding the change process within the organization such as objectivism and constructionism have been analyzed. It has been observed from the previous section that objectivism is the view of reality and nature that incorporates the people’s behaviour, social system and morality. Culturally, objectivism provides the ability to industrial progress, scientific development and other development values. Morally objectivism provides some significant traits such as independent thinking, self-interest, self-responsibility, justice and honesty. On the other hand, constructionism deals with the collaborative understanding based upon the shared assumptions towards reality (Furlong and Marsh, 2010). Constructionism is the specific ideas that the people gained from collaborative learning for achieving the shared goals within an organization. constructionism within an organization can build creative ideas. Therefore, it can be analyzed from the above discussions that the constructionism theoretical ontology of organizational change underpins each.
Critically assess the benefits and drawbacks of each of the two approaches:
The various benefits of a problem-centric approach for managing change within the workplace are as summarized below;
- The problem-centric approach mainly develops within the small group which can help the individual to understand the learning process.
- The problem-centric approach mainly emphasizes the problem thus, it would be helpful for identifying the needs for change within the workplace.
- The monitor or facilitator can measure the performance of individual people within an organization.
- Various kinds of new ideas and knowledge can be generated through the effective learning process.
- The problem-centric approach also can help to enhance the problem-solving skills of the individuals within the organization (Coraiola, Foster & Suddaby, 2015).
- Continuous engagement of the employees can be developed in a problem-centric approach.
The various drawbacks of this particular approach are as summarized below;
- As this particular approach mainly emphasizes the problem-based solution thus poor accuracy may have occurred in the activity.
- The people may face problems to working in a large group.
The various benefits of the dialogic approach in organizational change are as summarized below;
- A number of diversified people are involved in maintaining open interaction.
- Different kinds of behavioural problems of the individual within a workplace can be solved in this particular approach.
- Creative ideas can be generated.
The various drawbacks of the dialogic approach are as summarized below;
- Internal change may happen at any time within the system.
- The dialogic approach sometimes cannot provide appropriate results regarding the change process within the workplace of the organization (Bahari, 2010),
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Identify which of these approaches would prefer to use and why:
From the above analysis of the two different approaches such as the problematic approach and the dialogic approach, it can be said that for this particular case of the Woolworths organization the problematic approach will be appropriate. The problematic approach mainly deals with the problem and identifies a number of solutions. It can be analyzed from the SWOT analysis of the company that Woolworths is facing challenges for achieving customer satisfaction due to poor online channels. Thus, in order to improve customer satisfaction, the organization needs to improve its online technologies for attracting a number of customers (Adler, 2013). The change agents such as external business consultant will use the problematic approach to meet the necessary changes within an organization.
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References:
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