Assign3Harvey1Week6.docx

Running head: KOTTER CHANGE MANAGEMENT MODEL 1
KOTTER CHANGE MANAGEMENT MODEL 7

Week 6

Kotter Change Management Model-UniFirst Corporation Change Plan
Harvey Allen
HRM 560 Assignment 3
Strayer University
Professor: Allan Beck
May 16, 2021

UniFirst Corporation is a uniform renting company with its headquarters located in Wilmington, Massachusetts in the United States. The company heavily relies on its sales team to promote growth and development as well as sustain its existence in the market. Since the company was established, it conducts constant on-the-job type of training and in some instances workshops and conferences are held. However, it has been noted that times are changing and the company require making some adjustments in the manner in which the sales team is trained and developed. The more reason is that competition has hiked as well as consumer views and attitude. The proposed suitable change is where the training program should going beyond tutor-employee engagement and has some recorded trainings accessible through company website and sales simulation systems. By so doing sales team members can easily engage each other hence practicing how to handle any sales situation that the sale reps might face. The change will present an opportunity for the sales team to learn modest sales skills and support each other leading to increased sales and company growth. However, for the change to be attained effectively, going through the eight change steps would come as a great aid. Comment by Al Beck: You begin by describing UniFirst but then quickly change over to SWA. Confused as to the company.

Establishing a sense of urgency

The Southwest Airline Company presently operates in only a few international markets while as there are some other companies in the industry that operates in almost all markets in the world. This is an indication that the company ought to act as fast as possible to embrace the proposed idea to remain relevant in the market and this means that the proposition is of importance. There are several strategies I shall use to create the necessary sense of agency to trigger the company management take the desired actions towards implementing the proposed change (Kotter, & Cohen, 2014). The first strategy is where I shall identify and present possible threats that the company is likely to face in the case the proposed change is delayed targeting more on negative effects that the company is likely to face in the future. The second strategy is where I shall describe the possible opportunities that the company shall benefit from by adapting the proposed change. The third strategy shall be to establish an honest and healthy discussion to take place to allow dynamic ideas and opinions to be raised (Cameron, & Green, 2012). During discussion sessions, I would create different scenarios to help those taking part in the debate to perceive issues from my point of view. Comment by Al Beck: Indent all paragraphs. Comment by Al Beck: Use SWS in-text citations.

Creating coalition

UniFirst Corporation has more than 7,000 in the sales department and this is a huge number of people that can easily resist change in the case they do not understand its importance. It is likely that some employees might not only resist change but also influence others. The human resource department should first work collaboratively with the sales team members in to build mutual trust that would be used to establish and maintain a strong coalition (Kotter, & Cohen, 2014). The human resource department can start by identifying some of the sales team members that have great selling tactics and potentials and engage them to understand their views and wants. Gradually, the human resource to ensure that is a good relationship and that the sale team members are approached from their weak points in to become active part of the coalition with the human resource department. Comment by Al Beck: After discussing Southwest Airlines, you now jump back to UniFirst?????

Developing vision and strategy

A change process without a vision and strategy of how the desired goals will be achieved is a futile mission (Cameron, & Green, 2012). The human resource department would have to create a vision that would guide the change process as well as the strategy that would be used to attain the desired change. The human resource management must first consider the values that are desirable and will sustain the change during and after implementation. Secondly, it would require creating a simple summary of the entire change where I will capture all the vital information and a clear picture of the company’s future once the proposed change is implemented. Thirdly is the development of a strategy that will be used to execute the created vision and help in implementing the strategy. Lastly is the creation of evaluation strategies to determine whether the developed strategy is effective or if modification is necessary.

Communicating the vision

With the vision and mission in place, the human resource management requires bringing the sales team members together and openly communicates the developed strategy and vision of the proposed change. Communication must be clear, precise, and allow the team members to share their views and thought in to have any unclear issue addressed amicably. According to In Goksoy, (2016); the manner in which the vision is communicated determines how the entire change process would be embraced. Caution must be applied to ensure that a positive attitude is applied and more so made strong by the coalition created.

Empowering broad-based action

Dealing with over 7000 employees is a tussle that can hinder the change plan success. It is critical to establish a smaller group from the sales team that would be more proactive in the change process so as to influence the others. In this case, the human resource department would have to select some of the active members in the sales team and allocate them some role and responsibilities in the change process (Kotter, & Cohen, 2014). However, the selected individuals would have to create a structure through which clear communication would be done. Secondly, the selected team members must be motivated to remain committed to the course in to attain the desired goals and objectives.

Generating short-term wins

It is said that before focusing on long-term goals it is important to have short-term goals that helps in keeping the change plan process in track. In this case, the human resource department requires setting some short-term goals that would be achieved before the end of one year. Short-term wins helps to keep the employees focused on the long-term goals. Whenever the short wins are achieved, the involved parties must be appreciated and applauded in to remain motivated to work harder and achieve even the long-term wins.

Consolidating gains and producing more change

According to In Goksoy, (2016); the success of change in most cases is compromised when success is announced early. Patience is vital because short-wins despite the fact that should be celebrated do not mean that the overall proposed change has been successful but rather the achievement of long-term goals. The human resource management must keep a clear record of the gains achieved in all levels of change implementation for the purpose of determining areas that need more change and make the changes implemented. The human resource management must analyseanalyze all the short-wins made for the purpose of pointing out how things faired and the areas in need improvement as this is the only way the change can keep on attaining higher and better goals (In Goksoy, 2016). Additionally, the department must keep resetting goals and engaging the involved team members so that they can change mentality and perspective.

Anchoring new approaches into the culture

As the implementation of the proposed change continues, short-wins made, and improvements made; it is critical to make any new approach developed in the company culture. This is important because the initial training program was designed in alignment with company culture. New approaches into the culture would help to ensure that the change would fit into the culture in place and also make necessary changes in the culture to promote a suitable alignment. According to Kotter, (2014); it is the organizational culture that determines what gets done and what is omitted. The human resource management must talk about the progress achieved constantly including telling success stories of the change process as well as stories that I have heard. Secondly, the human resource management must publicly recognize and appreciate the key leaders that have helped in development of the new approaches. Lastly, it requires replacing key leaders as the change continues while still promoting and acknowledging their legacy with new fresh minds to keep promoting new ideas. This is the only way the change process can remain progressive because new ideas would promote and maintain high levels of motivation and creativity.

Reference SourcesTop of Form
1.Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2012). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. London: Kogan Page. Comment by Al Beck: Number sources in SWS.
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2.In Goksoy, A. (2016). Organizational change management strategies in modern business.
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Top of FormKotter, J. P. (2014). Kotter on Accelerating Change. Boston: Perseus Book LLC (Ingram.
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Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. (2014). Change Leadership. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
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