Company Overview Essays Example

Introduction

Change is essential for an organization in this rapidly advancing era. Change is important because it helps an organization to maintain its competitive edge in the market place. In order to ensure consistent success, an organization should create such an environment that is adaptive to the change (Blasingame, 2013). The preferences of the customers change with the passage of the time, so with the adoption of change, the organization can effectively meet the needs and demands of the customers. Further, change provides more growth opportunities to an organization. In this paper, several reasons why the management of an organization needs change are explored. The plans that an organization need in order to bring required change are also presented in this paper. The paper analyzes several measures, which can enable the chosen organization known as United States Postal Office to conduct its business in an effectual manner. This paper, however, discusses implementation of the change in the top-down arrangements as well as management processes of the organization. Further, this paper also explains how US Post Office can use Kotter's 8-Step Approach in order to bring change in the organization.

Background for Change in an Organization

In the business environment, the functions of the organizations are witnessing several changes. Most of the organizations have, however, faced changes in the previous years. Moreover, in the recent era, the changes have exerted their impact on all the operations of the business, and all the activities of the organization. The technological advancements and modifications, the competitive forces resulted from the market deregulations, and globalization has compelled the organizations to adopt the change in order to survive in the global marketplace. The trend also change so adoption of change is necessary (Gladwell, 2011). The changes adopted by the organizations are a mean of surviving, progressing, and surviving for the organization. In order to induce the change the organization has to focus on its environment in which it is operating. Several actions can take place that pave the way to the adoption of change in the organization so that it can manage the affairs of business in an effective manner. Further, some catastrophes such as floods, earthquakes, political changes, economic changes, and the civil wars also play their role, and compel the organizations to adopt the changes. The economic indicators of the market, however, indicate the changes in a positive or negative manner that pave the way to the re-structuring. Moreover, it is also difficult for the organizations to forecast the movements and the modifications that take place in the stock market. Further, the industrial progress and the type of the capital inflow also exert their influence on the business and pave the way to the change in the organization. It is essential for an organization to exploit new opportunities in the marketplace so that it can penetrate in the market and compete with the existing customers. These factors, however, make several organizations to be impacted by the change in a positive manner, and also convince them for the adoption of the change. The organizations should focus on adopting new principles, rules, regulations, and guidelines in order ensure effective change management within the organization.

The United States Post Office also known as United States Postal Service with abbreviation USPS is an agency of the U.S. federal government that is working independently. It traces its roots back to 1775, and Benjamin Franklin was selected as the 1st postman general. However, the Post Office department at the cabinet level was formed in the year 1792, and then modified into its present form under the 1971 Postal Reorganization Act.
The US post office provide the postal services to people, it delivers the mail pieces and the packages of the customers. It, however, delivers about 513 mails and picks approximately 700,000 packages in a day. They are committed to continuously provide the postal service without any failure. They are committed to provide the service even during the change that takes place in the organization. The company is also trying to form strong footing financially. The mission of the company focuses on the delivering effective service to the customers. The company emphasizes on the provision of the valuable services, and giving great experience to the customers. The postal service has a significant place in the daily lives of people and communities in the whole country. The company delivers improved products and services, and is trying to provide much better services to the customers in order to serve Americans in an effectual manner. However, the US Post Office is working in collaboration with the Congress in order to build a business model that helps the company to operate in an effective manner and profitably, make investments for the improvement of the organization, repay the debts, and effectually adapt to the changing conditions of the marketplace. The employees of the US post office travel extra miles in order to facilitate the communities and the customers on daily basis, and they are also highly dedicated and committed towards their role and responsibility as public servants.

Diagnosis

Reason for Implementing Change in US Post Office
The employees working in US Post office feel that they do hard work, and work for a longer duration. They are overburdened with the work load and also they have to undergo a lot of stress in this work. They consider that they work more. All these factors are has been creating a problem of low morale. However, many employees are also facing the psychological as well as physical issues, which are paving way to the absenteeism of the employees from the duty, as a result of which the productivity of the organization is decreasing. The organization is, however, facing problems and the employees are deciding to quit their jobs, so that they can find a better opportunity in other organization. There are chances that the company may incur extra cost in order to select, hire, and then train new people or employees.
According to the United States Postal Service Annual Report to Congress (2014), the company is increasingly responding to the remarkable changes that are taking place in the external environment such as change in the use of technology , and the changing trend of mailing that are taking place in the market. But, the company is not facilitating its employees in an effectual manner. This is because of the fact that the company is facing several issues relating to the business model, and it is also facing legislative complaints. In the year 2014, the company has made remarkable progress in serving the customers and performing as business. The progress include the fact that the company focused on the innovation in providing service to people becoming more technology-centric, data-centric, and significantly empowering the employees. These changes are important as they help the Postal Service in competing so that better service can be provided to the customers. With the help of the improved products and services, the US post office believes that it can achieve the desired growth, and can help the Americans to a greater extent.
All these changes will enable the Postal Service to compete for customers and better serve the public far into the future. However, the employees working in the US Post Office do not have adequate understanding on the issue that is relevant to the direction of the organization. The employees blame that the top management is aware of all the conditions, but is not taking sufficient measures for solving the problems that they are facing at work. It can be seen that proper communication is not ensured in the organization, as a result of which employees are getting inadequate information and are becoming anxious. The anxiousness of the employees is because of the fact that the management is just using tactics in the name of the change. In order to ensure smooth functioning of all the functions, the US Post Office has adopted novel methods. These changes are meant to be implemented in the entire organization.
The changes are also executed on the technology used in the business, and on the top management teams that are working at the Executive level. But, this change will exert its influence on the business at domestic and international level. The media and the clients have also pressurized the Postal Service to modify its strategies that are used in the operations. The US Post Office, however, uses change management and Human Resource strategies. The company has a plan of engaging the employees in the training in order to ensure the success of the organization and people (United States Postal Service, 2014).
These strategies will be helpful for the organization as they will help it to adopt the change that can be implemented within the company. However, after the initiation of the change the employees can be gathered in order to know the effect of the change on them. The company can ensure that it will provide the relevant information to the employees on weekly basis, and the employees can also feel free in order to submit their response. According to Red Tree Leadership & Development, the change will help in building effective leadership in the organization that helps in achieving the required goals and targets.
In order to induce change in the organization new manager will be hired. The new manager will be in charge of handling and establishing effective business models, and to supervise the intended changes so that they can be implemented in the best possible manner for solving the problems faced by the employees working in the organization. This strategy will be helpful for receiving the feedback and communicating with different departments without any difficulty. The selected manager will be encouraged and motivated for the increasingly using the principles that are in the favor of the organization as a whole. This is because the new entrants to the organization will want increased flexibilities, improved technologies, training and developmental programs for ensuring improved productivity, collaboration, cooperation, and engagement (United States Postal Service, 2014). The focus of the company in the future is to meet the needs of the employees.

Kotter’s 8 Step Approach

The US Post Office’s management, however, desires to start the plan about the change within an organization. Some people working in the organization may find it difficult to adapt to the change. the company will ensure proper communication so that the employees become aware of the facts, and get required information. John Kotter has introduced the theory of change that can work in an organization. Kotter’s theory emphasizes on the leadership and on the change management. Kotter has presented eight steps that can help an organization to achieve the best possible results from implementing changes in the management. Additionally, in the case of the US Post Office, Kotter’s theory is significant for an organization to prevent the resistance from the clients as well as from the employees, and move forward on order to implement change successfully. The 8 steps presented by Kotter are Create urgency, form coalitions, create new visions, communicate the vision, empower others, creating wins, consolidating the improvements, and reinforcing the change. The detail of these steps in context of United States Post office is described below.

Creation of Urgency

Creation of Urgency is a significant approach in Kotter’s theory. When change is needed in an organization, it is important that the organizations have knowledge regarding what an organization need in order to achieve the change. It can be considered from the fact in the case of the US Post office the creation of urgency will help the management to communication necessary information to the employees regarding the situation prevailing in the company. This is essential for the change because it gives a foundation for the management of change and for the leadership. However, the detailed and in depth analysis, recommendations and approval from the top management is required for initiating the process of change. The US Post Office performed well in this regard and in the phase of creation of urgency, and outlined improved ways for starting a change.

Formation of Coalition

Formation of the assisting and powerful coalitions is also beneficial for US Post Office. Change starts with one or two individuals and then it expands in order to include more individuals who also believe that the change is essential. The employees of US Post office have different skills, capabilities, and reputation. If these skills are brought together, they will help the organization to form more creative ideas and concepts from their urgency sense. The person that has started the change should be involved in the discussion, which is meant for introducing change in the organization. The US Post Service can use this approach by calling all the employees in a meeting, and discussing the problems faced by the employees in order to find the effective and permanent solutions for the problems . The US Post office, however should consider choosing true leadership, and should form emotional associations with the stakeholders so that they can implement the change in an effectual manner. The US Post Office has also performed successfully in this phase because clear guidelines were provided by the company in order to adopt and work for the betterment of the organization.

Create Vision

In order to implement the change successfully, it is necessary that the future prospects of the company are communicated to the employees, stakeholders, and customers (Weiss, 2012). The vision of a company provides direction. The US Post Office will emphasize on its mission as well as vision. It will move ahead in order to implement the mission statement so that new ideas, and creativity will be embraced for the customers. The mission statement points out towards the fact that the clients should be preferred. The mission of the US Post service focuses on delivering customer service, delivering improvements and change, and delivering better services in the changing marketplace. The vision of the company focuses on serving the customers in a better and improved manner. The determination of the outlining strategy as well as vision is crucial in this phase. However, the vision and the team of the US Post Office are good enough for improving the implementation as well as strategic orientation process.

Empowering Others

The organization should try to overcome the hurdles that can hinder and resist the progress of the company. In this regard, the company will change the systems and the structures that weaken and challenge the current vision of the organization. Further, US Post Office will also encourage the risk taking attitude, activities, and actions because risks can pave the way to the success. This will also help in the empowerment of the employees. Empowerment can play a useful role in mitigating the resistance in the way of change, and encourage the adoption of change.

Communicate the Vision

The organizations should use appropriate means in order to communicate the information regarding new rules, decisions, vision, and the strategies. Instructing about the behaviors the help in the building of coalitions can be very effective in this regard. This approach is beneficial for the organization that is about to lose the change. This approach is effective when individuals have power and authority of resisting the change. However, this approach can be applied on the US Postal Service, when the employees find it difficult or unimportant to adopt the change. In this case, the vision should be communicated in an effectual manner in a way that it is applicable to all the operations from the initial training to the performance appraisals.

Creating and planning from the Short term Wins

The US Post service can reward the employees according to their performance. Rewarding the employees and ensuring improvement make it easy for the organization to adapt to the change without any difficulty. People should be encouraged for spreading the ideas, because people whom can spread the ideas irrespective of the nature of ideas are, however, winners (Godin, 2003). Small targets can be assigned to the employees; because targets are motivating and they can also make adoption of change and management of change easy for the organization.

Institutionalize New Approaches

This step explains the inadequate and incorrect information that is communicated to the employees of a particular organization. Development is, however, needed in the organization so that new behaviors can be linked to the success of the organization. However, US Post Office can introduce and implement new approaches via discussions with the employees that can be helpful in enhancing the entire process of change.

Consolidate Improvements

In order to consolidate the improvements the US Post Office can hire more employees. However, the company can promote the remarkable services that are done by the previous employees. The company should include values and vision in each task in order to make the employees understand the practices for achieving the desired goals.

Conclusion

This paper has explained several changes that are assumed to take place in United States Post Office, the reasons for change in the US Post Office are also discussed in the paper in order to ensure smooth functioning at all the levels within an organization. The change management is essential in the organization in order to cope with the modern era and rapid advancements. The paper has also discussed how an organization can use Kotter’s 8 step approach that provides a good environment for adopting change in the organization.

References

Blasingame, J. (2013, June 5). Are you managing change or leading it? Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimblasingame/2013/06/05/are-you-managing-change-or-leading-it/print/
Gladwell, M. (Speaker). (2011). Malcom gladwell on innovation . [Web Video]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg0Zg8-2_Jo
Godin, S. (Speaker). (2003). Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread. [Web Video]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html
Red Tree Leadership & Development. (Producer). (n.d.). You can be good at change. [Web Video]. Retrieved from
http://www.redtreeleadership.com/video/player.php?video=ChangeEssentialsIntro
Weiss, J.W. (2012). Organizational Change. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
United States Postal Service. (2014). United States Postal Service 2014 Annual Report to Congress: FY2014 Annual Performance Report and FY2015, Performance Plan FY2014 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations. Retrieved from:
http://about.usps.com/publications/annual-report-comprehensive-statement-2014/annual-report-comprehensive-statement-2014.pdf