Pressures for Change (graded)

Organizations change due to many different pressures. In your lecture for Week 1, as well as your
reading in Chapter 3, you are introduced to many of these pressures. Think about a time at work, at
school, or at home, when you have been subjected to similar pressures (this is your" example). Did that
pressure make you change or dig in your heels and refuse to change? What does that say about
pressures for change? Does it always lead to change?

Provide your example in your first post, and if you can, explain how the theories on pressures for
change help explain why you were or werent actually pressured to change in your example. Please also
discuss your classmates examples with them. In follow-up posts, talk about how these pressures did or
didnt cause a company to change, to their benefit or detriment.

Your instructor will come in with additional questions and thoughts based on your comments and the
pressures for change, and during the week, your main focus will be on why companies change. Enjoy
the discussions!

Class, as you contemplate your responses to the questions, please select one and explain thoroughly rather than responding to all three at onc

Regards,

Dr. Dale

RE:
Welcome Joshua Collier 7/12/2012 8:51:14 PM
to Week 1

One thing that I hate about my organization is that it is constantly undergoing change; so much so that it feels like it is
undergoing an identity crisis. Often these changes are the result of some new boss wanting to get a promotion or a new
contractor being assigned to maintain a system, but the flood of bad ideas never seems to stop. Occasionally we get
new ideas or programs that are a serious improvement, but the organization resists them because of all of the bad
experiences. Working for a branch of the government we do not have the luxury of refusing change, but I can assure
you that in these instances we sure can drag our feet on a new project or system if the folks at the operational level do
not support the change.

A few years ago a new system was pushed on us. Other maintenance organizations had been using this system since
its inception in the early 1990s, but our type of maintenance unit was using a separate system unique to our type of
maintenance. We drug our feet until the last possible day. The only upside was that the contractor made some much
needed changes to the program to accommodate some unique needs of our unit. In my business the only source of
pressure is referent or legitimate power. This form of power is both very effective at getting change accomplished and
very ineffective at getting change supported.

RE:
Welcome to Clara Ofori-Mante 7/11/2012 10:20:13 PM
Week 1

Currently, my division of the company i work is going through a changing phase, it has been going on
for the past 3 months and its in transition. Initially when the employees were told about the changes
that were going to happen, it was met with resistance because they felt it would be much work having
to change how things are being done. Later it was explained that training programs had been
organized to train each associate, that was received rather well and has gone on really well because
now all the associates are ready to implement the change coming up. They feel they have been
equipped with the necessary tools to be able to deal with this change.

RE:
Welcome Joshua Collier 7/14/2012 9:18:25 PM
to Week 1

I have seen new programs, mostly new computer systems, live or die by the training that is provided at the time they are
implemented. In my line of work as a training developer I really feel that training for the new software should really be
considered part of the SDLC (Systems Development Life Cycle). At work one of the systems we use is very user UN-
friendly. Once properly trained it is fairly simple to use, but the responsibility for training new individuals used to fall to
the person they were replacing. This created a serious problem because the new individual was normally not assigned
these duties until after the previous person had move to a new position. By developing a training program for our training
tracking software and my section taking over the responsibility of training 100% of the unit monitors (about 30 people)
we have almost eliminated errors. Bottom line; sink or swim is never a management style, it is just a bad idea.

RE:
Welcome Clara Ofori-Mante 7/14/2012 10:55:45 PM
to Week 1

That's all true but I believe that the failure or success of training and implementation of a project or
program is all dependent on the objectives of the project ans why it was carried out in the first place. If
the main reason/ objective of the project is not tailored to the training them off course it would fail but if
is is, i do not see how that can fail, when the said objectives are being met.

RE:
Welcome to Brian Dunnicliffe 7/11/2012 12:23:39 PM
Week 1

One of the changes I have experienced in my current position has to do with re-organizing our business model to match
government mandates. This is an example of Formal coercive pressures which is mentioned in our text. When I came
on board, the government had just official mandated a new regulatory world for for-profit educational institutes and with
that came some changes in how things were done as well as how employees were measured and, in some cases, what
their responsibilities were. Although this change was clear and consistent, there was some resistance, especially by
employees who have been with the company for a number of years because there was an uncertainty on how some of
the new processes would actually work. Much training and support was provided and over time most everyone adapted
any changes and are doing just fine. Some folks decided they wanted to pursue other avenues and left the company
but as a whole there was a good buy-in from everyone.

Today, small tweaks continue in an effort to continuously improve and with that comes constant change. However, our
company values stay the same and as long as we can be adaptable there will be less resistance.

RE:
Welcome to Antoinette Watson 7/11/2012 6:57:25 PM
Week 1

Recently there was a system change at my work. They were changing the way that we were supposed to collect
documents from students. Naturally there was some skepticism felt by me and my coworkers. The presentation of how
the changes were going to affect us was not done very well and left us with more questions than answers. When the
change was put in place there were a lot of technical glitches that had not been figured out and many of the advisors
were having a hard time of explaining to their students how the program worked. The was a lto of backlash against
theses changes. The managment talked with the techinical team and there were able to get us job aids that allowed us
to beter explain how the system worked and everything eventually calmed down the change was accepted. The key was
that the managment listened to our concerns and helped us through it.

RE:
Welcome to Lucy Zubek 7/8/2012 2:03:50 AM
Week 1

Most people fear change in their workplaces, especially when it is a bad change such as budget cuts.

Most government agencies budget had been drastically cut within last few years, which not only affects
government employees but also contractors employed by the government. Due to the budget cut,
nowadays, in order to hire or promote one person within government, three people have to
either retire or quit while the same amount of work has to be done. In terms of contractors,
the office I work at (SSA-Office of Disability Adjudication and Review), hearing monitors
were hired and worked for years as an outside of the agencys employees but within the
budget cut, several months ago they all lost their jobs. I dont know the exact amount of
hearing monitors that were let go but we have 164 offices nationwide and each office on the
average used to employ 7-15 hearing monitors. Having these people let go, required us to
take over their positions. Before everything was organized and everyone was trained, it
turned out that the agency was not saving any money, instead backlog was increasing,
therefore since May all hearing monitors are back. During that time the pressure was
affecting everyone, including the management, employees, judges, and claimants. Obviously
no one can be in two places at the same time.

RE:
Welcome Julie Beth 7/9/2012 8:30:16 PM
to Week 1

I can relate with you Lucy, working for the City we have been cutting the budget for the last couple of years. The State
of MN has been cutting our local aid for the last couple of years, so our council would like to get to the point were we
become less dependant on local aid. Being such a small city the big items to cut would be public safety, and let go some
employees. Then they would have to decide since we don't have the man power to accomplish everything then we
would cut services to our citizens. So far the citizens haven't felt the cut backs of the state and local governments but
the employees have, in the last couple of years there has been wage freeze, we didn't rehire a position, and we pay
more for our health insurance.

RE:
Welcome to Michael Rohde 7/9/2012 6:55:10 AM
Week 1

As far as organizational change is concerned one particular situation stands out to me as a good example of dealing
with change. At the time I was the Vice President for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW 1413), and
the major change was going to switch the department to four crews and work 12 hour shifts as opposed to 8s. The
added benefit to the 12s is that you work 48hrs one week and 36 hrs the next with every other weekend off aligned with
the short week. There was a lot of push form the members to allow this change to be implemented for the obviously
reasons. Union Officers dont have the privilege to look at the short side of the argument, we had to sit at the table and
negotiate with the company on the agreement before it could be voted on. Long story short all we asked for was
Vacation and Personal time to be day for a day which means where we would normally get 8 hrs of vacation to coincide
with and 8 hour work day we would get 12. We also asked that holiday pay be 12 hrs for the crews working only and that
8hr overtime rules be applied during maintenance and refueling outages. Its important to note that working twelves
greatly reduces overtime which greatly affects pensions in the long run pensions are calculated by total money made not
hours worked. As a union officer I didnt back the change because 1 the company could have negotiated on any of the
items requested instead of refusing all. Now where it gets tricky is that I took an official stance in not backing the
agreement which is what we told the members in our meetings if voted down the company (may) renegotiate now even
though I was a VP and that was the unions official stance I as a member get a vote and being 27 at the time pensions
didnt mean as much to me as every other weekend off with my family.

RE:
Welcome Instructor Prondzinski 7/9/2012 12:32:06 PM
to Week 1

Lucy and Mike open our discussion for the week regarding environmental pressures that drive an organization toward
change. As you review their thoughts, can anyone address if changes in your organization are done for the right
reasons? How do you know what are the right reasons?
Dr. Dale

RE:
Welcome Lucy Zubek 7/9/2012 1:33:21 PM
to Week 1

In my opinion, most major changes do come from a need, but there are others that come from a "want".

It is not necessarily a need if company wants to expend; It can be a want. In regards to having everyone buy into
the change, I find that impossible. There will be always somebody who is not willing to accept the change. Yes,
we want to minimize the pain and resistance, but sometimes that cannot be done. We just have to figure out who
are the key pieces for this change to be effective and successful. I strongly believe that in order for an
organization to grow it must change from smaller to larger, from simpler to more complex, from being the new
kid on the block to being an industry leader. Organizations that do not change do not last.

Important point on the "planning/changing phase:" quality time spent on the planning/changing phase, including
project communication-plan, should reduce the number of significant issues/roadblocks during change
implementation.

RE:
Welcome Carl Henning 7/11/2012 7:31:16 PM
to Week 1

An organizational change that was done for the right reasons was the decision by Sprint to cut their ION (Integrated On-
demand Network) initiative. They began work on it in 1998 and spent billions on getting the technology working in a test
market. The company could never get a good enough deal for the "last mile" connection (owned by AT&T) and decided
to quit work on the project by 2001. Starting the project without a firm deal on renting the last mile was a terrible
decision, but killing the project was a good move as costs associated would have just escalated for a product the public
was only somewhat interested in.

Brief description of ION for those who might not know: What they were doing was introducing a one cable for all your
telecommunications needs technology for the household. By the time they were testing the product, they already had
competition from other companies who also bundled those services, but used multiple wires to accomplish the task.
Turns out the public didn't mind the extra wiring.
 RE:
Welcome
Courtney Chairez 7/14/2012 2:23:27 PM
to Week
1

Good post, that was a good idea for them to end the project due to the fact that it
was not generating business but instead they were losing money. Most people have
alot of wires running from one area anyway and probably have adjusted to it quite
easy. Since the change took to long to process they had already lost potential
customers because of the competition.

RE:
Welcome
7/14/2012 9:32:19 PM
to Week Carl Henning
1

It's a common difficulty of "bleeding edge" companies like Sprint. The emphasis is to be first to market, but if there are
issues with the new technology then the competition catches up. In this case, the issues were from the competition and
getting to a strong market position with the new technology would have been difficult to say the least.
Not to mention that other companies had already usurped them by going around the technological improvement.

RE:
Welcome Jesus Pintado 7/12/2012 9:29:29 PM
to Week 1

At Verizon Wireless, change is inevitable with the rapid growth in cell phones and tablets. Most of the changes that take
place at Verizon are for profits and being a for profit company is usually for the right reasons. These changes are to
generate growth and revenue which are the right reasons for employees and offer customers more options. From an
internal perspective, change has been good and for the right reasons. The results for the changes taking place prove
that the right changes were done for the right reasons.

RE:
Welcome Brian Dunnicliffe 7/12/2012 12:40:43 PM
to Week 1

I feel like sometimes my organization creates change for the right reasons and sometimes I am more suspect on if there
is a good reason. I think that might be true for just about every organization. To me, change is created for the right
reasons if:

It is necessary to comply with rules/regulations/policy etc

It is necessary to remain profitable in a new market dynamic
It makes the customer experience easier and/or better
It is neccessary to remain competitive
It is to streamline processes (through technology for example)
If a best practice has been proven which creates positive results and can help the organization

Those are a few reasons which came to mind first and I am sure there are many others which would justify
change. However, sometimes I think change can be created on too much theory and not enough evidence and that's
where the risk comes into play in my opinion.
 RE:
Welcome
Instructor Prondzinski 7/13/2012 7:13:33 AM
to Week
1

Lucy, Carl, Jesus, and Brian make some excellent points regarding are changes done for the right reason. Remember
changes must be tied to the vision and mission statement. If they are not, they will certainly fail. I can also add that
everyone must adhere to the vision and mission statement in order for them to be effective. This includes top
management. In my organization we seem to go in circles. We make a change to the change and end up back where we
started. Other thoughts?
Dr. Dale

RE:
Welcome Lucas Shepard 7/14/2012 12:53:05 PM
to Week 1

For the most part changes in my organization are done for the right reasons. My employer sees a need to improve a
process and they plan a way to act on it accordingly so that they can implement change based on employee and
customer feedback. However, there are many times that my company will make decisions to change without consulting
employees and without providing a clear explanation as to why the change is being made in the first place. These
decisions are typically not well accepted by employees. Because of this the change implementation rarely goes well. I
know when change is done for the right reasons because the change being implemented is done so only after taking
feedback from employees and customers and is done to benefit employees, customers, and the company as a whole.

Change
David Schupner 7/9/2012 3:35:47 PM
Pressures

Having worked in the technology industry, change has always been around the
corner. At one of the companies I worked for we had to lay off some of our support
people. In their place we were required to develop a one-to-many approach in the
form of an online bulletin board that would answer customers questions. In both
cases my company used:

1) Downsizing pressure to realize savings

2) Technological pressure to do more with less.

Pressures of
Charlie Kazarian 7/9/2012 5:46:35 PM
change

Work was the last major pressure I had and it falls under Technological Pressure. We just got a new
global system in April and working in customer service you work with the customers live. Whether it is
an order they are placing, looking up an order, checking their pricing, or whatever the issue
maybe. However unlike any other department customer has the unique challenge of having to know
how to navigate the system correctly the first time. We didnt/ dont have time to place customers on
hold and ask for help, we had to get it right. I made sure I went with the change because ultimately it
is my job if I refused. However there were individuals who decided to retire early and others who
found jobs at other companies or other departments. I think that pressure is a great catalyst for
change but it truly matters what is at stake for change to successful or not.

RE:
Pressures Joshua Collier 7/15/2012 7:59:46 PM
of change

I too have enjoyed getting to know numerous new systems. In a tie in to another post I made; I am wondering how much
training was provided with the new system? I know that software changes are not the focus of this class, but with IT
being such a huge part of any industry these days; the majority of changes that most of us are likely to see involve
massive changes to a computer system that was use daily to accomplish our jobs. As someone who develops training
systems, and is required to use numerous data systems, I am very curious as to how to make these changes
more efficient, and easier on the folks who are expected to use my products.

pressure
Jacqueline Vargas 7/9/2012 11:44:32 PM
for change

When companies decide to change or restructure it is a scary time for a department or entire company
of employees, people lose jobs and jobs get restructured and new one may appear. In order to
prepare for this change good companies are careful in planning and managing change. Having a
vision and communicating it with the employees is important for a successful change. I know that
when we changed from Western Career College to Carrington College Ca. Was very scary for
everyone, According to the book managing organizational change takes on multiple perspectives and
approaches Figure 1.1 A road Map of the Book shows images of how managers change and
influence how we do and what we pay attention to. The book also points out that managers can
shape rather than control and the change may open alternative images of what change means to the
manager.

RE:
pressure Instructor Prondzinski 7/10/2012 12:32:11 PM
for change

David, Charlie, and Jacqueline provide their thoughts regarding the environmental
pressures that drive an organization toward change. As you review their thoughts,
consider the fact that most of us are part of the international workforce to some
extent. What are some of the change pressures that U.S. workers face both here or while
working in a foreign country?
Dr. Dale

RE:
pressure
Lucy Zubek 7/11/2012 1:06:34 AM
for
change
 According to our book Managers are faced with a paradox. They are told to change their organizations or risk
them perishing; at the same time, they are told that their organizations are at risk of perishing because of the
disruptive impact of change. Up to 84 percent of U.S. firms are involved in a major organizational change,
although many are deemed not successful. The pressure mainly comes from the shareholders who are often
threating companies by removing their investments in it or by replacing senior management if the
management resists pursuing with change. Clearly, managers are pressured to adapt change within last few
decades due to globalization.

(Ian Palmer 49)

Ian Palmer. Managing Organizational Change, 2nd Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2008.
<vbk:0077587448#outline(3)>.

RE:
pressure
Michael Rohde 7/11/2012 6:25:12 AM
for
change

As far as my experiences indicates the breakdown in organizational change comes during implementation, which is the
most crucial part. usually the process is brought down from the corporate level and little or no training has been initiated
for informational or educational purposes. The manager or supervisor level doesn't have the drive or knowledge to
correct or answer the workers questions. Than the workers don't feel comfortable with the changes and or how its being
managed the start to push back and reject changes which could result in the 84% successful rate.

RE:
pressure
Lucy Zubek 7/10/2012 5:26:57 PM
for
change

The change pressures that U.S. workers face both here or while working in a foreign country is the cultural
change which indeed could be challenging and hard to adapt. No matter what change it takes place, it always
affects internal and external stakeholders, as well as employees so communication is vital. Therefore
stakeholders and employees should be inform of any change company is about to implement. Change involves
risk and uncertainty, so risk management is necessary to mitigate adverse impacts. Not all changes can be
foreseen, but a risk assessment and a contingency or response plan in place will provide a proactive rather than
reactive response.

RE:
pressure
Charlie Kazarian 7/11/2012 6:36:56 PM
for
change

I think the major pressure that American workers face is the worry of their jobs being out sourced. They are worried that
they will lose their jobs because the company they work for wants to cut cost on employment by farming it to another/
cheaper company.

As far as working in a foreign country at least in a war zone, contractors worry about being killed. Whether it be by a
stray bullet or and IED.

For the workers that are working in a foreign country that are not in a war zone, I would say a few things for them to
worry about. The first is that if and when they decide to go back their to their native land will there be a job for them to
come back to. The second thing is how their local economy has changed and the adjustments. And lastly how will do in
the foreign economy.

RE: pressure for change Julie Beth

I think some of the change pressures that US workers face both here or working in a foreign country is the diversity of the people we work wit
geographical ares. The companies have to know what is the acceptable values and behaviors of different cultures to have successful busines
meant "no go", so people wouldn't buy a car that doesn't go.

RE: pressure for change Lucas Shepard

The change pressures that U.S. workers face here are the need to change how they communicate based on the increasing diversity of the wo
learning to adapt to a more diverse workplace. In a foreign these U.S. workers face pressures to adapt to a new country which involves a new
regardless of whether they are working in the U.S. or abroad. They are faced with many new challenges that they must learn to overcome if t

Pressure to change Lisa Dixon

I do remember a time when our company was undergoing change. I work in health records, and we were going through the process of conver
get and access records without the help of the record department staff. So, I did put up some resistance to the change. I did come to realize t
down to one. This is one of the reasons that I am now back in school.

RE: Pressure to change Rae Davis

Unfortunately a change such as the one you have written about sometimes cost the lost of jobs, and for that reason many people resists the c
Expectations, technology, and trends are some of the driving forces of organizational changes. As technology changes, so does trends and e

Rae Davis

RE: Pressure to change Ikaika Genegabus

This is very true Rae. As technology advances, our jobs are becoming more and more automated. Companies are looking for every way to s
and making the company more process efficient and cost efficient. I know some people like to resist change, I know I have been told countles
most people would usually look for another job, outside or within the company, or conform to the changes. I know that when I was faced with
the change, but ultimately, it made our jobs easier.
 RE: Pressure to change Jacqueline Vargas

Lisa,
I too feel it is best to just go with change and don't put up resistance, and again jobs may be lost but most of the time it is out of our control. I
the self check out because I think it takes jobs away from people. I hate to sound so narrow minded but although I am all for change sometim
but sometimes we can decide not to change as in my decision not to use the self check out.

pressure to change Tina Hoskie

I just recently went thru a change in jobs and in moving from one city to another. The job I left was with a credit card company, working in thei
Fifith Third Processing.. and the name was changed to Vantiv. One of the changes they made was the benefits and the holidays. Before the m
externally. They did not and do not care if merchants are satisfied or not.. I got tired of being yelled at, cussed at for something that I had no c
I have been with this new job now for a week and so far like the atmosphere and the fact that they do not micromanage (another reason I left

RE: pressure to change Julie Beth

Over the last couple of years I would say with the recession and the down sizing of companies, has forced people to down size their homes b
make different choices and make changes to adjust their lives to make it manageable to live.

RE: pressure to change Instructor Prondzinski

Lisa, Tina, and Julie provide some additional thoughts regarding environmental pressures. What happens if the leaders of an organization do
environmental pressures to change?
Dr. Dale

RE: pressure to change Lisa Dixon

Circuit City is one company that comes to mind when I think of companies that did not respond to change in their environment. Walmart came
response to external pressure.

RE: pressure to change Instructor Prondzinski

Lisa,
Great example in regards to Circuit City not responding to the pressures of change. Can you recall what their response was to decreasing sa
Dr. Dale

RE: pressure to change David Schupner

CEO Schoonover blamed labor costs for employees as the culprit to declining sales and terminated
compensated employees were less experienced people hired at a lower wage. Soon after this Circui
 RE: pressure to change Antoinette W

This reminds me of what happened to Borders bookstore when they went out of business. They refused to embrace the internet and the chan
website user friendly and promoting the idea of ebooks by marketing their e-reader/ tablet the nook. This also helped them compete against A
respond to the pressure to change the way they do business and the went out of business because of it.

RE: pressure to
change Ant

A change that I remember going through when I worked at Crate and Barrel was when the company was struggling with their image and wher
having a special on all bedding products or on all pots and pans like many of their competitors had. Their policy was that all of their product w
would be after Christmas and after the Summer season. When I was working as a sales associate I would constantly hear customer asking a

Eventually the company realized that if they wanted to stay in business they would have to make some changes. They started slowly by offeri
some furniture items. This seemed to help the sales and the company has continued to stay in business and continues to offer more specials

RE: pressure to change Lucy Zubek

Circuit Citys response was to lay off 3,400 of its best paid and most knowledgeable workers. They did this as a way to increase thei
purchases at their stores and which also led to customer complaints. About a year later, they laid off more of their employees and jus
compensation to the companys CEO. As a result, not only did they lose top quality staff, which led to poor customer service, they w

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/circ-n04.shtml

RE: pressure to change Michael Rohde

You make a good point I think that the same can be said for when on line shopping was out selling brick and mortar stores before companies
still shop online unless what I need is an emergency or its grocery shopping. It just easier to use amazon with two day shipping then to stand

RE: pressure to change Charlie Kazarian

Adding on to what Lisa is saying, companies have to realize that business changes every day. The changes may not be large changes but ch
what they are receiving currently. As a company you have to be on top of a customer's wants and be able to shift your business to their need
 RE: pressure to change Tina Hoskie

I have never rented movies from netflix, but from what I know.. they would mail the movies to your house and you send them back when done
returned by a certain time, or would be charged for another day. so with the few things I do know, the pressures that seemed to have affected
unlimited movies. Oh my bad, I just went to the website and it is only $7.99/mth for unlimited movies and you get the first month free.. wow! w

So with the ease of ordering, convenience of rec'ing.. the cost and ease to cancell membership with netflix, It was and is difficult for blockbust

RE: pressure to change Michael Rohde

I believe blockbuster is in the process of integrating an online service like netflix. The store in out area closed because they were moving onlin
Could be good for business for blockbuster if the transition works well the the change is properly maintained nd implemented.

RE: pressure to change Courtney Diggins

One example that comes to mind is Facebook. There are so many other social networks out now and instead of stay true
tainted its allure. I don't think that the people in charge are really understanding that their not making it better than all the

RE: pressure to change Jesus Pintado

Professor and class these are great examples of environmental pressures. If the leaders of an organization does not respond to external pres
iphone products. Blackberry is could not keep up with the changing technology and is on the brink of being bought by another company or jus

RE: pressure to change Jacqueline Vargas

Julie,
you are so right because of the recession it seems as if everyone is down sizing and companies are forcing people to retire and paying less b
leaders and managers will still have a hard time managing companies.

RE: pressure to change Rae Davis

Tina, your arguement is that of many employees who have been through some organizational changes or restructuring where at the end the a
think the new focus of the company is, do you think they achieved the desired outcome after the change?

Pressure for change Courtney Diggins

Last year in July the medical spa that I was working for said that they were closing the location that I
was fine for me, the commute was going to be shorter and not as much traffic (living in DC at the tim
finding a new job as I didn't want to be out of a job. I did end up finding a job within a month and wor
chaos.
 Pressure for change Sadaf Durrani

I work at the Sewer District in their IT department. We are faced with pressure for change most of the time and it is mainly due to the new imp
and precision to the work and service. Mostly I have to agree upon the change because it is the orders from above management and then wo

RE: Pressure for change Julie Beth

If managers don't accommodate the external pressures eventually the companies will end up closing or downsizing tremendously. Knowing w
they had a couple of major forced retirements to get rid of employees, they also rented out a lot of their space in their building to other compa
looking toward the future.

pressures for change Lucas Shepard

I work for a chemical company that has dealt primarily with cleaning and sanitation products for many years. Recently the company has decid
of our work environment. This pressure was a little uncomfortable for at first, but I am embracing it because it is allowing me to take on many

RE: pressures for change Greg King

Working in food service before I know exactly what this means. At first you were just concerned with OSHA laws and abiding by them, now y

pressures for change Jesus Pintado

I recall when I had to make the decision to go back to school. After being in a dead end job for 10 years I felt the pressure of not ever getting
industries. I went from a not for profit agency to a for profit agency. The pressure of bills mounting and being unable to enjoy simple things in

RE: pressures for change Instructor Prondzinski

Modified:7/12/2012 8:06 AM

Courtney, Sadaf, Luke, and Jesus provide their thoughts regarding the environmental pressures that drive the organization toward change. A
organizations?

Dr. Dale

RE: pressures for change David Schupner

David Hurst from Forbes makes the argument that creating change in both GM and Chrysler is syste
resistant to change. To recover requires a systematic renewal, otherwise the corporation will slowly
what the purpose or vision is for the company, the company begins to focus on quantitative approac

RE: pressures for change Lisa Dixon

I would say once a company has undergone change, it then would want to stabilize itself in the market again. A company would also want to
had gained any market power within their industries.

RE: pressures for change Courtney Diggins

Lisa makes a great point by saying a company would want to first stabilize and once again stabilize itself back into a market. When you are kn

RE: pressures for change Lucy Zubek

The organizational changes undergone by GM and Chrysler have saved the companies from the possibility of a bankruptcy and enab

In Chrysler, a change in their organizational culture led to overhead cost savings amounting to millions of dollars, increased stock pr
of people, that is, it enabled customers, suppliers, mechanics, and assembly line workers to provide their input on the car designs, wh
companys core objectives, which prevented expensive last-minute changes to the initial plans. In addition, Chrysler worked with H

In GM, a cultural change was also implemented where GM changed from a laboratory that primarily provided support to its existing
methods for addressing the environmental challenges brought about by the changes in the marketplace. This entailed forming allianc
new production metrics. As a result, GM was able to regain its status and position in the marketplace.

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/arossett/pie/Interventions/od_1.htm

http://thomas18.com/pdf/Organizational%20Design%20and%20Effectiveness.pdf

Pressure to Change Rae Davis

I have been subjected to many organizational changes throughout my work life, especially in the military. Some of the changes I did resist, ot
have to move with the tides, thats the culture of the military. As far as the civilian side of my career, I have more room, per say, to resist chan

As I have mentioned earlier, not all changes are good, but not all changes are bad either. Does the change always happen? No. Some chang

Pressures for change Ikaika Genegabus

I feel that change is always happening. However, I do remember when I was working within an organization when it felt like everything was c
employees were being let go and to top it off, we were in the middle of a full upgrade of our customer interaction system. There were about

My Response Yadean Sum

Like I said in my other post, I work for a satellite imaging company known as DigitalGlobe here in Colorado and our EQS Automation Enginee
performance. We were doing well so many people had objected to this change as the majority did not feel the need to change but it was ultim
more opportunities and helps me grow.

RE: My Response Clara Ofori-Mante

Change is the only constant thing in life, its the only thing that changes and people understand to live with, In my person
always learnt.

RE: My Response Yadean Sum

This somewhat goes back to the theory of needs. Change is needed to keep people happy. To go to work and execute the exact same proces

Pressures for Change Greg King

As a recruiter I am normally effected by the changes of the operations of my company. One particular time I was trying to staff a position in o
searching for candidates and I wanted to see it through until someone was hired.

RE: Pressures for Change Yadean Sum

Many larger corporations do this. I've seen teams that have been working for months on end meeting strict deadlines and at the end of the da
thrown away, all that matters is that you got paid for what you did. At least that's how I look at it.

Change for the better Courtney Chairez

I was working two jobs recently I would work my primary job first and on my days off I would work my second job. I would be working seven d
twelve hour shifts at my first job my employer at the second job wanted me to come in and work a eight hour shift then leave there and go to m
which is a very dangerous environment. Our main moto is stay alert, stay alive. Not only was I sworn in by the state to service, safety, and st
informed my employer that this was not going to work and that I needed to focus more on my primary job and that it was in the best interest o

RE: Change for the better Carl Henning

This reminds me of a new policy change that seems to be coming to the forefront of several companies in the U.S.. In some companies, the in
using this policy to help with a newer initiative of having employees available as needed for their customer bases.
This kind of action can be seen as an attempt to maximize profits by eliminating employee costs during non customer intense times. The pres
But it cannot do anything but hurt moral within the company as the employees are being treated as nothing more than equipment at the store.
another job, etc).

RE: Change for the better Greg King

I may be a nerd for saying this, but your story reminds me of the most recent star trek movie. James Kirk, in order to regain control of the Star
earlier pressure for change can be a good thing, especially in the welfare of others.

Week 1 Summary Instructor Prondzinski

Class,

In this thread we addressed TCO A: Given that progressive and successful companies require their employees to embrace change, examine
demonstrate how models are used in Change Management for diagnosing an organizations need for change.

To this end we discussed the forces that pressure organizations. We looked at the internal and external environment of the organization.

The internal environment consists of conditions and forces within the organization. Some examples are core competencies, non salaried wor

The external environment is composed of the task environment and the general environment. Some examples of the task environment are co
political/legal, socio-cultural, and international.

One way of evaluating the environment is to use the SWOT analysis. The manager attempts to leverage the organizational strengths to take

As always the threads will be open until midnight Mountain Time Sunday evening. I look forward to our continuing discussions in Week 2.

Regards,

Dr. Dale

RE: Week 1 Summary Brian Dunnicliffe

I like the point you made about using a SWOT analysis as a tool evaluate the environment. My company has us do a SWOT analysis each y
terms of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that are considered in the SWOT analysis. I find it to be a very useful tool an

Reputation and Credibility Pressures Tina Hoskie

Reputation, this can be a very big issue for many businesses. It only takes one rumor to go ruin a business. Trying to build a good reputation
Mattel and how 10 million toys as a result. Wow!! that is a lot of toys, people want and expect toys to be safe for their children. That does not
do to minimize the problem they had with the recalled toys. I will have to dig deeper to find out.

RE: Reputation and Credibility Lucy Zubek

 Pressures

Tina, I could not agree with you more. Reputation as you stated, it can be a very big issue as it can make you or break you by both
is free and at the same time much more precise. We tend to recommend places/items to others upon our satisfaction, however more

RE: Reputation and Credibility

Pressures Ikaika Genegabus

Tina, this is absolutely true. Now days, its hard for an organization to keep their reputation up. There are different sites, such as AngiesList,
needs to be changed, however, the bad reviews could cause potential customers to try a different place. Reputation is very big, and should b

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