Leading Organizational Change

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Leading Organizational Change Need for Change Apple operates in a dynamic environment where technological innovations are the order of the day. This implies that there is a need for the company to remain adept to changes, lest it risks becoming obsolete in some of its major functions and may lose the market it has been dominating. The current advancement in technology leaves the company with no option but to adapt to organizational changes that frequently occur as a result of changes in technology.

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Change agents The company stakeholders should take a leading role in the change process. The agents of change within Apple Inc. should include the top managers and first-line managers who have been assigned the role of research and development. Ever since Tim Cook restructured the decision-making process, the agents of change have been broadened to include more than just the top CEO. Each decision regarding effectiveness, improvement, and development will pass through a collective process (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

Communicating about change and communication techniques and channels Given that the mission and vision of the company will be instilled from the top, communication about change will also trickle down from the top to the bottom while at the same time allowing the employees and the other change agents to take part. After the change vision has been documented, with all the details availed, every stakeholder and mostly the employees will be given the handbook. Frequent meetings will be conducted in order to determine whether the organization is on track and whether any milestones are being realized.

Averting change-related problems The first related problem is likely to be resistance from the stakeholders. This can be averted by training the stakeholders about the benefits of the changes and reassure the stakeholders that the necessary support will be guaranteed throughout the process. Another challenge is likely to arise as a result of inadequate planning (Hornstein, 2015). Enough time should be spent on planning so that implementation can be effectively executed. With gaps in planning, the organization may fail to steer the change process up to the desired level. Another challenge has to do with the resources. This also has to do with the planning as there is a need to clarify how every aspect of change implemented will be financed.

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Identification of sacrifices The major sacrifice here will be about resources. There should be adequate investment in the research and development department. Also, some costs should be done away with in order to apportion the money saved from such costs on the change process at hand. The employees will also have to be willing to change how to do things to embrace the culture of innovation.

Essential resources The resources involve adequate personnel, especially in the research and development team, training materials, e.g., the handbook, finances for emergencies, and finances for having the right technological infrastructure in place.

Change management strategies Some of the change management strategies will include monitoring and measuring the progress and realigning in line with the feedback, creating a roadmap, communicating continuously, and considering the input of the stakeholders (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

Company vision and mission The vision of the company is "To make the best products on earth, and to leave the world better than we found it." The mission is "To bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world." The vision and mission are aligned with the changes that the organization intends to make.

Timeline The following Gantt chart represents the timelines. Assessment of the progress will be done throughout the period.

4 Activity Planning for change Training Piloting Initiating the actual change Assesment

month 1 month 2 month 3 month 4 month 5 month 6 month 7 month 8 month 9

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References Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of organizational change management.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Lashinsky, A. (2015). Apple’s Tim Cook leads different. Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/03/26/tim-cook/