Verified Document

Stories Of Change Term Paper

Change management initiatives of HP, IBM, Kodak, and McDonald's Kotter's Model

Although it is said that the only constant in business is change, the need for change has thwarted many potential corporate superstars of the recent past, including Hewlett Packard, IBM, Kodak, and McDonald's. Although these companies were able to deal with the changes demanded by exterior economic circumstances and internal corporate pressures with varying degrees of success, all met with roadblocks on their way to pursuing change. Kotter's model for successful change suggests that all change entails a certain amount of urgency; a period of coalition building during the pre-change process; the need to create a vision for the change; communicating that vision; removing obstacles; creating short-term wins; building on the change; and permanently anchoring that change in the corporation's culture (Kotter's 8-step change model, 2013, Mind Tools).

HP: Three significant errors

However, in the case of HP, critical errors were made during the change process. The first and most serious one was creating insufficient urgency about the need for change: when HP merged with fellow computer company Compaq, significant organizational players were resistant to the merger, dooming it from the start. Rather than building coalitions, HP CEO Carly Fiorina strong-armed the merger with little concern about generating buy-in amongst other members of the company. Her reorganization of company divisions also generated resistance and even though her principles for doing so were sound, she did not clearly communicate her vision for why this was necessary.

Recommendation

Creating goodwill by proceeding more slowly with the merger (or not undertaking it at all if there was profound organizational resistance and instead attempting to improve what was wrong with HP alone) would have been the wiser task in hindsight.

Change image

HP's strong-armed model of change ultimately failed to generate buy-in

IBM: Three significant errors

In the case of the stalwart computer company IBM, IBM was initially slow to react to the development of the Internet. However, as a result of internal...

Also to generate more organizational cohesion, top management began to erase some of the discrepancies between CEO salaries and members of the general staff. Its CEO eliminated unnecessary bureaucracy and made a strategic, technical acquisition of modest cost to improve service to customers. "Technological advances and globalization have completely changed the rules about how and where things can and should get done, yet many companies still cling to their old models for operating, duplicating the same functions and organizations in various locations" (Van Kralingen 2010). IBM was forced to deal with a new, global economy with enhanced technological capabilities and added additional flexibility to its approach. Eventual total transformation was required. "Companies in a crisis need to look at their entire portfolios, rationally and candidly, and figure out what they have that customers want today and what customers will want tomorrow" (Van Kralingen 2010).
Recommendation

Until IBM embraced the new world economy and reconfigured itself, it remained trapped in its old, inflexible corporate model, unwilling to realize its past formula was ineffective. Change model

Sometimes when a company is very successful, change can be even more difficult, as was the case with IBM, until it finally adopted a successful new business plan, literally enacting change from the ground up.

Kodak: Three significant errors

In contrast to IBM's successful attempts to change, the story of Eastman Kodak is a relatively dismal one. Faced with substantial changes in the industry thanks to the explosion of digital picture-taking, Kodak was forced to reinvest in its technology, shifting from a model which emphasized selling film to making a profit from cameras. However, investors were extremely resistant when they learned their dividends would be slashed during the reorganization. Clearly, Kodak did not create sufficient urgency to communicate the necessity of change. There was also little sense of enthusiasm for the vision of the new company amongst employees who feared…

Sources used in this document:
References

Adamy, J. (2007). For McDonald's, it's a wrap. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117012746116291919.html

Kotter's 8-step change model. (2013). Mind Tools. Retrieved:

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/07/ibm-transformation-lessons-leadership-managing-change.html
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Kodak and Fujifilm the History and Core
Words: 2477 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Kodak and Fujifilm The history and core business of Kodak and Fujifilm Kodak and Fujifilm have been the most popular companies in the history of U.S. And world photography industry. Little is known about the history and the existing rivalry between the two companies over the years. Both companies have intriguing historical backgrounds; how they began and how they continue to grow and challenge one another in the industry. Fujifilm was set

Kodak and Fujifilm Kodak and
Words: 1915 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

It is common sense for a company to lower their costs when they are aware of the upcoming losses from the market. Unfortunately, Kodak was slow to realize that where Fujifilm adapted to it quite quickly, After many power changes, the eventual leader Shigetaka Komori put the company on the right path. The restructuring and the remodeling plan that he started, he basically went onto lay off people and cut down

Kodak's Digital Strategy It Is Very Notable
Words: 1252 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Kodak's Digital Strategy It is very notable to mention how Kodak experienced a downfall with the emergence of digital imaging. Kodak's stock fell from about 80 USD to 3 USD within a period of less than ten years. The number of employees also declined. In 1988, the company employed about 140,000 employees but currently it has employees of not more than 20,000. This was as an unavoidable challenge and Kodak used

Kodak & Fuji Eastman Kodak
Words: 1881 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

The company finds itself having to try to attract talented people, but without the cash or desirable location (sorry, Rochester) to attract the best talent. Further, there is perpetual uncertainty about the future of the company. Thus, reinventing itself as an innovator has proven to be a much greater challenge for Kodak than it has been for Fujifilm. Part of the problem was the conservative culture at Kodak, and

Kodak, Long Dominant in the Photography Business,
Words: 2584 Length: 7 Document Type: Case Study

Kodak, long dominant in the photography business, has struggled with the transition to digital technology. Beginning in the 1980s, the company saw a number of strategic shifts. The company is now faced with four potential paths ahead, each one representing a different strategic view of the company and the industry. This paper will first present some historical context to Kodak's current situation, and then discuss the different strategic options in

Kodak, Has Been a Household
Words: 1858 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

" (Tully, 2004 p. 61) Though die hard print photography lovers, mostly professional photographers who do much of their own developing, may complain about the rapid advances of digital technology, as they are still set in the abilities of the print film technology to do things digital cannot yet the decision made in 2004 proved wise. There may be a time in the future when some of these changes can

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now