A Strategic Change Initiative In Algorithm Sal: A Case Study

Background

This report has aimed to examine a strategic change initiative in the given organization in the case study. In this given report, Algorithm Sal has been chosen as the organization, which is a regional distributor of pharmaceutical products in Middle East, Near East, east Europe and North Africa. The organization had acquired Merck& Co. in an attempt to become the manufacture of products by establishing manufacturing units in Lebanon.  The company is one of the largest regional pharmaceutical manufacturer and has gone through series of changes throughout the years. The company restructured the organization in the year of 2017 which was focused on agility and growth of the business entity. The restructuring started at the senior level and moved down to the bottom levels.  The organization wanted to segregate the operations into five franchises where different managers would head operations in different countries. The decentralization of the overall operation has proved to be one of the major challenges for the managers. The first phase of the overall structure has been completed and the next phase will develop processes to match up the new structure. 

The organization has grown substantially in the past decades and this new change initiatives were taken to improve the agility and growth. The organization has been aiming to transform their business so that they can compete more effectively in the global market. The company had expanded their business by acquiring smaller companies and forming partnerships with various other global brands. This has provided them with the knowledge, expertise and resources to enter into the territory of complementary products. The company had become one of the top local companies. However, in order to make their mark in the global context, a significant change in the structure of the organizations is required. The business entity has started the restructuring process which started at the managerial level and moved down to the lower levels. The company has been successful in decentralising the operations in different countries by developing franchises. However, transformation of the overall organization procedure is a step by step process. The major change that would be carried out in the current project is development of transformational teams that would develop communication plan, reform organizational processes, articulate objective and vision of the franchise.  It is essential to develop organizational processes that would meet the new structure of the organization. The operations of all the processes will run out smoothly, only if all processes are effectively supported and developed. 

Challenges faced by Algorithm Sal

In order to develop processes and support the execution of the franchise processes in different countries, Kotter’s eight step change model had been used. The eight step model developed by Kotter facilitates in evaluating the methods and approach that needs to be taken in order to successful achieve the change objectives of organizations.

The eight step change model developed by Kotter has provided the effective methods used to successfully implement the change within the organization (Chappell et al. 2016). The eight step for successful implementation of decentralization of the franchise and developing suitable processes have been explained in the research. The eight step model is as follows:

• Creating Urgency within the organization is the first step towards effective change implementation. The change can be driven in a better way, only if the overall company feels the same way about the change. This will help in providing motivation to the workforce so that things get moving with pace (Calegari, Sibley and Turner 2015). In order to achieve change, the transformational team will have to communicate with everyone regarding the purpose of change. The change in market conditions, need for flexible organizational structure and effective growth to remain competitive in the market would have to be communicated with the employees.  Therefore, the transformational team should examine the external market to identify the potential opportunities and threats so that its future impact can be portrayed effectively to the whole organization.  The transformational team would motivate the workforce to provide innovative ideas and suggestions for developing effective processes that would fit into the operation of the organization.  In order to support these arguments, the transformative team needs to provide relevant statistics that would depict the issues faced by the organization and the future growth opportunities.  The first step is the most critical step so as to avoid short term losses and develop a plan that is feasible.
• The next step is developing coalition within the organization by convincing the internal stakeholders that change in necessary.  The key stakeholders need to provide strong support and have to lead from the front as managing and leading the change initiative effectively is critical for sustainability of the organization (Burden 2016).  The transformational team will act as the leading team and should consist of influential people having expertise and organizational status to create a strong coalition. This transformation team should include people from different departments so that all weaknesses can be addressed effectively.
• The change initiative will result in evaluation of varied options and ideas. These ideas would have to be linked together to form a vision which could be understood easily and provide a clear path for the long run implementation (Chowthi-Williams, Curzio and Lerman 2016).  This clear vision would facilitate in formulating strategy needed for achieving the objective of the change management plan. This means that value should be created that is fundamental to the change which depicts the position, the organization wants to reach in the next five years. The strategy has to be formulated based on the vision.
• The fourth step is effectively communicating the vision of the new change management plan.  The execution of the developed vision effectively would determine the success of the restricting plan.  There are multiple aspects that are being communicated within the organization so in terms of change management initiatives, the plan of action needs to be communicated within the organization on a regular basis (Issah and Zimmerman 2016).  This would facilitate in solving the issues more effectively and address the different kinds of challenges in moving towards the objectives. Moreover, the implementation of the change in vision has to be implemented top every sphere starting from performance reviews to training of employees.
• The process would start flowing effectively by this time where buy-ins would be developed from different departments and levels within the organization.  Moreover, the staffs have been motivated to follow the strategies developed by the organization. However, there will be still people and structures that would act as a hindrance for the new change management initiative.  These structures that are outdated or redundant have to be removed to make the change process smooth (Hackman 2017).  This would require continuous evaluation of the change management processes and the obstructions to the change so that obstructions coming from personnel and processes can be removed immediately.  The organization would also have to provide rewards to people that are promoting the change initiative and supporting it effectively.  Therefore, the business entity would have to examine the job descriptions, performance and structure of the organization to keep them in alignment with the vision.  The personnel resisting the change would have to be made to understand the significance and purpose of executing the change or would have to be removed quickly to progress onto the next step of the change management process.
• The next step is gaining short term wins.  The employees and other stakeholders would definitely would like to identify some results from the work done by them so developing short-terms of some sort is essential. In case of Algorithm, the organization should able to increase their market share by 2% within the next year. This would provide motivation to the employees and negative thoughts among the critics will be reduced.  Instead of setting only one long term goal of growth and agility, it would be beneficial to develop short term achievable goals within the organization (Al-Haddad and Kotnour 2015). However, it would be difficult to develop short term goals and targets that are achievable and provide knowledge about the progress of the change management initiative. In this case, the transformational team would have to set smaller target regarding decentralization of the whole structure, effective operation of franchise, increase in market share and productivity. However, early targets should not be chosen as it would be more expensive. The positives and negatives of each target has to be evaluated so that the short term goals are reasonable.
• Building the change is a continuous process and generally projects fail when extra precautions are not taken during the execution phase. It is easier to get reluctant after short term positive results are obtained. Therefore, the transformational team needs to be evaluate the successful results to highlight the areas that needs improvement (Leavy 2019). This would facilitate in developing a culture that promotes continuous improvement. Suppose, the organization is able to launch one new product, then it is a short term achievement but if the organization is able to introduce 5 products in a year, it would reflect that the new structure is effective in promoting growth.
• Finally, it is essential to adapt these changes into the core values of the organization. This would facilitate in making changes to the existing corporate culture and incorporate these changes.  The basic values also needs to be modified based on the new changes management processes. Moreover, it is essential to incorporate the change in every aspect of the organization so that change fits into the organizational culture. The transformational team should make sure to appreciate the efforts and contribution made by the old and new employees.  Recognition is another key aspect in keeping the employees motivated and the way they can effectively contribute to the growth of the organization. 

The case study has already reflected the fact the organization needs to improve their growth and flexibility. The eight step change is a suitable model to implement the change initiatives with the organization. The implementation of the model would provide positive results for the organization if executed effectively. It has been seen that the organization has completed the first step towards the change where they have been able to decentralize the overall operation of the organization by dividing into five franchises that work independently. The application of the change management initiatives based on the requirement of the new structure would provide high growth within the organization.  This could also be understood by the fact that the organization is one of the top pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the region in the year of 2017. The implantation of the overall restructuring would take time and the organization would face various barriers to changes. However, this could be effectively managed by following the eight step model mentioned above. The role of transformational teams are highly significant in this scenario as it would support the development of necessary processes for new vision, objective and goals of the organization. 

The analysis of the case study has provided following recommendations for implementing change within the business entity:

• Effective vision, mission and objective have to be developed in each of the franchise
• Change management policies have to be aligned with the current core values of the organization  
• The organization would have to follow continuous evaluation of their short term success and results to identify the improvements possible within the business model. This would facilitate in improving the efficiency of the model and achieve the long term objective set by the organization.  

Conclusion 

It can be concluded from the report that the use of eight step change model is critical for successful implementation of the change management initiative. The organization has proceeded through the first step of decentralization and franchising. However, the main issues would be faced while developing suitable organizational processes in respect to each of the franchise. These franchise would be decentralized so there would be some distinction among the diverse franchises in different countries. However, the core values have to be kept intact to facilitate effective knowledge transfer between franchises. 

References

Al-Haddad, S. and Kotnour, T., 2015. Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), pp.234-262.

Burden, M., 2016. Using a change model to reduce the risk of surgical site infection. British Journal of Nursing, 25(17), pp.949-955.

Calegari, M.F., Sibley, R.E. and Turner, M.E., 2015. A ROADMAP FOR USING KOTTER’S ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MODEL TO BUILD FACULTY ENGAGEMENT IN ACCREDITATION. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 19(3).

Chappell, S., Pescud, M., Waterworth, P., Shilton, T., Roche, D., Ledger, M., Slevin, T. and Rosenberg, M., 2016. Exploring the process of implementing healthy workplace initiatives: mapping to Kotter’s leading change model. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 58(10), pp.e341-e348.

Chowthi-Williams, A., Curzio, J. and Lerman, S., 2016. Evaluation of how a curriculum change in nurse education was managed through the application of a business change management model: A qualitative case study. Nurse education today, 36, pp.133-138.

Hackman, T., 2017. Leading Change in Action: Reorganizing an Academic Library Department Using Kotter’s Eight Stage Change Model.

Issah, M. and Zimmerman, J.A., 2016. A change model for 21st century leaders: The essentials. International Journal of Pedagogical Innovations, 4(01).

Leavy, B., 2019. Nathan Furr: Leading transformation, empowered by behavioral science models. Strategy & Leadership.