Change Management

Introduction

Problem solving is a part of daily decisions being made by management in the organization and in essence, it is what leaders are meant to do. Implementing the solutions that have been arrived at by management may require change management with so as to minimize the occurrence and effects of the problem and management must be courageous to tackle it head on before the situation gets out of hand.  This is important so as to ensure there is no disruption in organizational performance and ensure that any change introduced is accepted across all the areas or sections affected by it.

Executive summary

The introduction of the new food product encountered major problem related to adhesion of different labels to the packaging of the product and this affected many of the initially introduced products. Various changes should be introduced that ensure all through inspection in the production and packaging process through thorough supervision. This adoption of changes will be effected with the participation of all sections in the organization.

The problem at hand

The organization operates in the food industry and an introduction of a new product encountered various issues related to adhesion of the products labels to the packaging containers and this has affected about one third of the initial distribution. This was the first introduction of the product to clients some of whom were new customers and it was somehow a test of how the product would perform in major stores.

Main issues

Being the initial introduction of the new product into the market through the major stores, there was a need for the first impression to be positive and a success on this could present an opportunity for expanding the distribution to other major stores nationally. However, the problem with the lack of adhesion of the used labels on packaging containers has affected a large portion of the products and this tainted the image of the product in the market. Gaining new customers for the product requires creating trust in the quality of the product and any impression that the product could does not meet the standards sets destroys the image of the product and its prospect in the market.

The problem acts as a hurdle that can see the organization to fail to attract new customers and lose the few who had bought the product despites the fault in it. The labeling of the product through the appropriate packaging is an essential marketing point since it communicates about the features and health benefits of consuming the food item. Earning the attention and trust of the customers in the market can guarantee that the product will be received well and be able to compete against any other substitutes available. The problem can affect the return on investment of the organization in relation to this product line and this can in turn lead to failure to achieve overall goal set. Obtaining considerable sales on this product requires assuring the stakeholders that the problem can be solved and the organization is able to come up with the right solution.

Solutions

Finding solution for this problem involves looking into the source and introducing changes that will ensures there is reduction or elimination of such issues as much as possible. The solution involves eliminating the process at the source by ensuring that labeling of the packaging materials is done within set standards. To adhere to the standards, there is need to introduce changes in across all the sectors including the processing, distribution and sales employees who come into contact with the product. This includes improved supervision and ensuring that employees take personal responsibilities in case of failure to adhere to the set standards. Introducing the changes involves creating urgency across the whole organization and reducing the resistance that are likely to arise out these changes. For a change to be successful there is a need for the entire organization to portray the need for it and leaders should instill urgency among all involved parties and the sense that change is important (Mourfield, 2014). The employees and managers had to appreciate the need for increased attention to standards to ensure that the mistakes previously made are not repeated.  That kind of realization is necessary in order to create the motivation for accepting and taking part in the implementation of the new measures taken to ensure the entire process of production including packaging is appropriately done so as to reduce mistakes or eliminate them completely.  

Approaching the change from a cultural point of view will go a long way in ensuring that the introduced changes become engrained within the organization.  This will require creating a vision and strategy that ensures every provision for maintaining quality and standards is entrenched in the daily operations in the organization. A vision assist individuals to understand why they are needed to be part of the team championing change and after they see the achievement of the set targets, they will be willing to offer their full support (Cawsey, Deszca,  & Ingols, 2012). It will also be important to communicate this change to all the parties involved, to ensure that marketing problem encountered due to default packaging and labeling is corrected. Communication is necessary in change management since information on how the involved parties will be affected is provided and thus readies all members in the organization to reduce resistance and hence, embrace the change. The best communication is when managers and supervisors in the organization walk the talk because actions always speak volume about the right attitude towards the change (Mourfield, 2014).

Recommendation discussions

To eliminate and minimize this problem will involve concerted efforts for all the sections in the organizations in providing standards that should be followed in the operations. Problem solving will be a great enabler of acceptance of the product and growth of the share market of this product. At this stage, the actions are required to ensure that previous mistakes that had been made are not repeated in the packaging process so that the product is presented a manner that serves the clients right.

Trials of recommendation and results

To ascertain the impact of the change introduced in the packaging process, an assessment of the performance of the product in the market will be done to look into how the damage on the image of the product previously has been corrected.  The acceptance of the product by the customers will shows that the various changes introduced have yielded results as expected by the change management team.

Review and measurement of results

 The measurement of the introduced impact of the changes will be carried out through a review of the sales of made in the market. The growth in the market share of the product is also another way of measuring how the changes introduced have affected the embracement of the product in the market.

Summary and conclusion

Problem solving drives the performance of organizations and change management can be used as a tool for providing the appropriate solutions. Change management must involve the participation of all employees and stakeholders for its impact to be realized.

Reference

Mourfield, R. (2014). Organizational Change: A Guide to Bringing Everyone on Board. Management.

 

Cawsey, T. F., Deszca, G., & Ingols, C. (2012). Organizational change: An action-oriented toolkit. London: SAGE. 201-203