Effecting Change
Affecting change in an organization is a difficult task that most leaders will endeavor at some point in their career. The Smith & Falmouth scenario illustrates the challenges a leaders faces when entering an established culture and attempting to affect change. Oftentimes, to bring change a leader must restructure the organization to help shift stalwart paradigms. This paper covers the methods of control employed at Smith & Falmouth and examines ways to affect change in the organization through restructuring, and a change in management practices.
Overview Smith & Falmouth
Figure One, S&F Organizational Structure
Smith & Falmouth (S&F) is a mid-size organization specializing in tele- and mail order shopping. Recently, S&F started an e-tailing division to enter the Internet shopping market. The e-tailing division is crucial to S&F’s future. The S&F Online CEO, Irene Graves, has put in place “a web development team, a logistics team and a marketing manager to coordinate marketing and logistics operations with the parent company” (University of Phoenix, n.d.) Irene Graves hired a Chief Operations Officer (COO) to oversee the e-tailing division and make certain the division reached its strategic goals; figure one illustrates the current organizational structure of the e-tailing division. The management is resistant to the arrival of the COO and subsequently forms alliances, and demonstrates behavior and attitudes that are a detriment to organizational success. The COO must understand the current methods of control, how to gain influence over the team, and decide which organizational design will enhance S&F’s strategy. Current Methods of Control
Influence is an important part of organizational success. Some forms of power are position-centered, but to have true bearing over an organization, an individual must...