Organizations typically respond to the challenges of the above described external and internal triggers with the help of various programs, each designed to overcome obstacles and enhance business performance. According to Luecke (2003), these programs fall into one of the following four categories:
Cultural change
Cultural changes focus on the “human” side of the organization. It handles with the “general approach of doing business” and the relationship between the management and the employees. A typical example for cultural change is changes in the mission and vision of the company and the organizational development.
In order to illustrate the overall impact on the company that cultural changes may produce, I have chosen the example with AT&T and NCR.
Case study – AT&T and NCR (Apendix II)
Structural change
Structural changes address the structure of the organisation and the design of jobs and working arrangements as the key levers of change. According to Mabey and Salamn (1995), structural changes are “triggered by an organisations inability to fully realize the strategy it is following due to administrative deficiencies caused by a mismatch between the new strategy and the existing structure” (Mabey & Salaman, 1995). Luecke argues that these programs treat the organization as a set of functional parts—the “machine” model. Through mergers and acquisitions, between companies, reengineering of units, reconfiguring of divisions, managers try to improve the overall performance and results.
A classic example of redesigning the whole management structure in order to complement the strengths of the top people, is provided by Google (Appendix III).
CASE STUDY GOOGLE, Appendix III
Cost cutting
The third program for change is cost cutting. Its core idea is to eliminate non-essential and non-profitable activities. This can be done through reengineering of the structure, decrease of the personnel, focusing on the production