Change Management for an Organization and Its Customers

Change Management for an Organization and its Customers

Organizational change is both an inevitable part of a company’s life cycle and an enigma within itself. Successful organizations require stability and efficiency in their processes to yield success, yet that stability often needs to be disrupted in order for a firm to stay competitive in the marketplace. Change is driven an organization by both internal and external forces. External forces are often categorized as demographic changes in the workforce, technological advancements, market changes and social/political pressures; whereas internal forces come from within and are driven by human resource issues and decision-makers (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009). Learning about organizational change and the management of the process is of interest and relevance to me and my current role in the workplace. The firm I work for is currently undergoing a change to their business model driven by external market changes. Although firms face this challenge on a regular basis, what makes my situation doubly interesting, is the product and service that we are evolving in reaction to the marketplace is also one that requires a great deal of organizational change for our customers once they adopt it. Not only are we undergoing a large organizational change internally, but we are tasked with the role of selling and assisting our customers with an organizational change as well. As part of the team driving this change forward within the organization and with our customers, analysis of what the change means to the parties involved and knowledge of what tools and strategies to use will help me navigate interactions with not only my colleagues, but with my customers as well.

My current employer is a firm that has been a leader in its marketplace for 135+ years. The business model has consisted of contracting with learning institutions to provide them a brick and mortar or sometimes virtual store to service their faculty and students....