Change Process Management Case Study: Baskin Robbins

There are many definitions of change. Change can bring meaning to cause to become different or to alter or convert. Change can also mean to undergo alteration or replacement or to pass from one phase to another. Change has always been a necessity in an organization. People react, respond and adjust themselves to the change. Some people in the organization may resist change from happening, and some will follow without protest. Below is the basic cycle of change where people behave when changes take place.

Get Help With Your Essay
If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Essay Writing Service

From the above, we can say that when changes take place in an organization, there will be denial, emotions, resistance, and acceptance towards the changes. Denial is where the leaders who want to make changes communicate the 5Ws and H that is who, when, where, what, why and how. Changes must also be communicated through various formats so that every people in the organization can aware of the changes. Examples are like email, newspapers, and television, besides using notice board in the organization. In this stage, leader must also state mutual benefits while acknowledging risks. Emotion is the stage where people react when they heard about the changes. A leader must accept that emotion is part of the human condition and they must acknowledge people’s feelings. Emotions can be in term of happy, sad, angry, calm, and others. Leaders must invite feedback from the people around the organization and accommodate their requests, postpone or explain obstacles.
Resistance is where people refuse to change. It is a neutral concept and is best dealt with by respecting it, rather than downplaying, avoiding or suppressing it. People usually don’t resist change, but they resist pain or the possibility of pain. They are afraid of the unknown, for example, whether they will be fired, promoted, or even step down from their current position. Acceptance happens when people have no other choice other than accept the changes made by the organization. In this stage, the leader must hold whatever they have achieved or accomplished in the negotiation. They must also follow up all promises they made before implementing changes and reward and recognize the behaviour change when necessary. For example, if the organization promises to give bonuses to the employees that give their best in performance, the leader must make sure that the employees get what they deserve.
Below is the illustration of 8 steps of change cycle. This change cycle can be illustrated as an action plan by Baskin Robbins to implement the necessary changes for the organization.
The first step in the change process is performance gap. Performance gap means when there is a lack of performance from one organization, and then changes will take place. Based on Baskin Robbins, their mission is to make the Baskin Robbins neighbourhood store a tasty, fun place for our customers. Nowadays, Baskin Robbins has good customer service, online service, quality product and the others. Based on this performance, Baskin Robbins can provide a delivery good services online as a company changes. This changes can satisfy the customer need and wants, it also makes the customer happy in the future.
The second step in the cycle of change is to identify a designed future where the changes are made to make sure the organization have a better prospect. In this step, Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins as the owner of Baskin Robbins for sure plan to expand their product to the nationwide in the future. To expand it, the organization should make all the people know about their product, they can provide the delivery online service to the customer and perform better in future. More and more customers prefer buying goods and services on the internet as it provides greater flexibility, speed and choice. As a result, organisations are adding more and more content to their websites, which is fuelling the customer’s thirst for knowledge.
From there, recognize the need for making the changes in the organization. More and more customers prefer buying goods and services on the internet as it provides greater flexibility, speed and choice. As a result, organisations are adding more and more content to their websites, which is fuelling the customer’s thirst for knowledge. After recognizing the need for making the changes we can then go to the fourth step, which is problem diagnosis. This is where the manager will have to evaluate and understand the problem that the company faces which requires changes. For example, the problem in the company is due to unsatisfied employees such as not on time delivery, wrong delivery places, wrong delivery products and others. In this case, managers need to understand why employees are not satisfied and come out with several ways or methods to solve the problem.
The fifth step in the change process is to seek environment alternatives, where managers have to find other alternatives to solve the problem. For example, rather than fire the unsatisfied employees which bring troubles to the company, managers can help the employees to understand the environment of the organization and make them comfortable. From the available alternatives, the manager will have to make a selection or seeking the alternative selection. After selecting the appropriate alternative to solve the problem, the manager will then carries out the plan or implement some action to solve the problem. The action may affect the organization. Whether the implementation is a success or not, managers have to evaluate the outcome of the action they have taken in making the changes. This is the last step in the change process. This is where managers will see whether the outcome or results match with the purpose of the change.
Usually, when the company is going through the process of changes, there will be resistance among the members of the organization. This may be caused by their self-interest where they afraid on how the changes will give impact to them. Besides that, people resist changes because of lack of trust and they often feel comfortable with the old ways the organization has operated. The change cycle is the process that can be implemented for all organizations that want to make changes in the organization’s management. For overcoming the resistance to change, there are several methods that Baskin Robbins, who is in charged to implement the change, can take to make sure that the process runs smoothly.
First is to educate and communicate with the members of the organization about the changes that they will go through. For example, Baskin Robbins must give enough information and ensure the change is clearly communicated to those it affects. This way, members of the organization can prepare themselves for the changes that will affect them. The second way to overcome the resistance to change is ensuring the participation and involvement of all members of the organization. For example, when there are meetings or activities held by the organization for the changes process, the managers must ensure that all members participate and involve in the activities and make them comfortable with the new changes. Thirdly is by negotiating and make an agreement. Negotiation is where there is an understanding dialogue or meeting between two parties, for example, the organization that want to implement changes and the members or employees. After these two parties have negotiated, they will come to an agreement between the unions and organization.
In conclusion, the change cycle process can help the Baskin Robbins to make changes in the organization. When there are changes, there will be resistance by those who don’t want to come out from their comfort zone. Leadership in a change process involves helping people accept the current realities and make effective choices. One can then be helpful in assisting them in taking responsibility for pursuing these choices. However, Baskin Robbins may make the changes at any time because there is no perfect time to make changes in the organization.