Implementing a Strategy Plan
It is highly imperative for the SMG group to change the management process when implementing strategy in order to face the new challenges posed by the environment. So, managing change is a very sensitive element in whole strategic implementation process. These issues must be taken into consideration when implementing strategies.
Human behavior is very complex, but experts believe that organization change is often overcomplicated by bad execution and lack of clarity and a plan. Successful change management strategies require not only an awareness of human behavior, but also workplace evolutionary trends (humanresources.about.com). Handling change is an integral part of every manger’s job. The success of strategic change in an organization depends on the extent to which people change their behavior. It is therefore necessarily concerned with the beliefs and assumptions that they hold and the processes in their organizational live (Johnson & Scholes, 2005).
There is a high possibility of resistances during change process due to various reasons such as fear of personal loss, uncertainty about outcome and others. One of the major findings of strategic change is the resistance to change at both the individual and the organization level. Only the individual level is discussed in the followings. Individual resistance to change resides in basic human characteristics, such as perceptions, personalities, needs, habit, security, fear and economic factors. (Mullins, 2005). Implicit resistance efforts are more subtle and hence more difficult to recognize, such as loss of motivation to work. Employees’ attitudes and motivation to organizational change should not be neglected (http://www.pamij.com). If resistance to change and organizational inertia are the result of the organization becoming trapped in its own paradigm and routines, there is a need for an “unfreezing” of the paradigm (Johnson & Scholes, 2005). There is also a need to understand the magnitude of the challenge faced in trying to effect strategic change. It can be useful to assess the extent to which strategic drift has occurred and therefore the extent to which incremental or transformational change is required. It is also helpful to identify the specific blocks to change that exist and what forces might exist to help the change process. It can then be useful to map the sorts of change that might be required (Johnson & Scholes, 2005)
The strategy implementation must identify the real issues; likely emerge in the strategy implementation process and to develop effective, targeted strategies to address them. The real issues are the underlying assumptions and beliefs which should realistically be changed. To change them, the strategies must make people feel sufficiently confident, safe and that they have at least some control over the outcomes. Getting people to change behaviour requires communications upon which they would actually act. In fact, they most frequently act based on what is done/said by the people who have a direct, immediate effect on their day-to-day activities. The idea is to ensure that you understand this need and have strategies to communicate to these people in such a way that they can listen (www.tbs-sct.com). While it is very important to identify the blockages to change and understand mechanisms of change, it is also necessary to consider the roles that individual or groups of individuals play in the change process and the sorts of skills they require.
SMG’s strategy for the medium-term must focus on increasing efficiency and productivity while at the same time driving sales growth and increasing margins across the Group. SMG TV Productions has established an outstanding reputation for making high quality, commercially attractive programmes. SMG must focus on creating a service tailored for Scots built on the best of national television blended with high quality local programmes. SMG must maintain its regional production house as a producer of drama and continue to complement the ITV Network schedule with local programming to ensure the popularity of Scottish TV and Grampian TV in a multi-channel world. SMG must invest heavily to establish a suite of websites that offer listings, internet radio and classified advertising and regional content. The acquisition of Ginger Media Group to leverage on the Ginger Online’s internet skills, will strength its online services.
Tags: change management strategies, economic factors, human characteristics, implementing strategy, individual resistance, managing change, organization change, organizational inertia, strategic change
