Unit 10 Flashcards
What is the theory used for managing change?
Lewin’s force-field analysis
What can Lewin’s force-field analysis be used for?
- investigate the balance of power involved in an issue
- identify the key stakeholders on the issue
- identify opponents and allies
- identify how to influence the target groups
Draw the Lewin’s force-field analysis?
-
What does Lewin’s force-field analysis provide?
an overview of the balance between force driving change in a business and the forces resisting change, using a scoring system on both sides ; for change and against
What are some examples of forces driving for change (internal) ?
- keeping up competition
- increasing number of customer complaints
- poor performance
- desire to improve
What are some examples of forces driving for change (external) ?
- increase demand for better quality
- greater competition
- high costs
- legislation
What are some reasons why changes are resisted?
- poor management
- lack of funds
- reluctant staff to change their ways
- fear of the unknown
- misunderstanding of the need for or purpose of change - communications problems and inadequate information
Why are some businesses better at adapting to change?
some businesses are better at responding to need for changes due to being more flexible
How can a business become more flexible?
delayer
restructure
flexible employment contracts
What is restructuring the business?
when a business reorganises its functions
What can managing data effectively mean for managers?
- identify changes before or as they happen
- develop suitable strategies to respond to or prepare for change
- evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies adopted
What are the problems with strategy?
It requires the ability to :
- identify what really matters and ask the key questions
- make judgements on the importance of issues and then prioritise them in a plan
- persuade others that the plan is right and then to make it happen
What are the difficulties of strategic decision making?
- risky and a high level of uncertainty
- the decision hasn’t been made before - no point of reference
- unknown for a period of time whether the decision was correct
Why do strategic decisions go wrong?
- wrong objectives are set
- data may not be easily available
- data may be badly nalsyed
- the implementation can go wrong
What is the difference between planned and emergent strategy?
Planned strategy is where the managers tend to implement whereas emergent is strategy that develops over time
What is strategic drift?
occurs when the strategy of the business no longer matches with the environment in which it operates
What can cause strategic drift?
- failing to adapt to different environmental conditions
- strategy hasn’t changed fast enough to keep up with what’s happening outside of the business
- failure to identify the changes or failure to react quickly enough
- denial - managers deny there’s a problem
When can divorce between ownership and control occur?
when the owners of a business do not control the day-to-day decision being made
What is corporate governance?
when there are systems and processes that are in place to monitor and control how a business is run
What is contingency planning?
when a business plans for possible but unlikely events
What are the bad things with contingency planning?
- could be a waste of materials as what is being planned for may never happen
- a business can’t plan for everything so managers must decide what the key issues to focus on
What are the 4 phases of strategic drift?
- incremental change
- strategic drift
- flux
- transformational change or death
What happens in the incremental change phase?
- little change in the external environment
What happens in the strategic drift phase?
- rate of change in the external environment starts to accelerate
What happens in the flux phase?
- characterised by a management indecision
- there is now a gap between what the market expects and what they are delivering
- management may recognise the gap and alter the strategy
What happens in the transformational change or death phase?
- either management recognise the need for a transformational change in strategic direction, or the business fails.
- it often takes new, external leadership for this recognition to be made and the relevant strategic change programme implemented
