Unit 10- managing strategic change Flashcards Preview

Business A-level > Unit 10- managing strategic change > Flashcards

Flashcards in Unit 10- managing strategic change Deck (28):

What are incremental/disruptive change?

Incremental - step by step and slowly

Disruptive - dramatic sudden change


Why is disruptive change worse for businesses?

They can't plan for it and therefore aren't prepared


Why is change good?

It can bring opportunities, encourages managers to think


What is lewins force field analysis?

A tool to help managers look at the forces for and against making a change


What is the biggest possible barrier to change?

Staff resistance


Why does staff resistance occur?

Fear of change
Don't want to do more work for same pay
Worry about loss of jobs


What was Kotter and Schleshinger's 'theory' about?

Identified 4 main reasons for staff resistance


What were the 4 reasons for staff resistance according to Kotter and Schleshinger?

1- parochial self interest (people only concerned with impact on themselves)
2- misunderstanding
3- low tolerance to change
4- disagreement over need for change


What were Kotter and Schleshingers 6 ways to overcome staff resistance?

1- better comm. About reasons for change and impacts
2- allow those affected to be involved in change process
3- help employees through the change, e.g. Training
4- negotiation and bargaining about the changes
5- manipulation , e.g. Buy people off
6- coercion e.g. Use threats to get people to accept the change, e.g. Job losses


What is a flexible organisation?

One which can change rapidly


Name some examples of flexible types of organisations

High quality knowledge and info management
Flexible workforces
Able to restructure quickly
Organic structures (highly fluid)


What is organisational culture?

The values and beliefs held within an organisation


What things in a business does organisational culture affect?

The physical environment
Strategic decisions
Leadership style
Reaction to change
Attitude to risk
Who wants to work there


What is Charles Handy's theory related to?

Different types of organisational culture


What are the 4 different types of culture Handy identified?

Power - everything is focused on senior leaders
Role - everything is about the position people have in the firm and there are strict rules and procedures
Task - everything focused on completing task
Person - everything focused on development of each individual


What is Hofstede's 'theory' about?

Used to identify differences between cultures in different countries


What are the 5 criteria that Hofstede uses to judge a countries style of culture?

1-Power distance - shows how well a nation accepts a hierarchical society
2-Individualism v collectivism - shows how much nation is focused on performance of individuals compared to groups
3-Uncertainty avoidance - shows how well a society tolerates an unspecified future
4- Masc v Fem - shows how much a society values assertiveness, ambition and power as opposed to relationships, harmony and work life balance
5- short termism v long termism


Reasons for changing organisational culture

New leader has different ways of doing things
Society's values may change
Performance may have suffered
Takeover, merger
Changing customer needs


Problems changing organisational culture

May challenge employees assumptions of how things are done
Involves changing people's deeply held beliefs
May involve extensive training
May be lots of people involved


What is strategic implementation?

The process of putting plans into action


Different methods of organisational structure are...

Functional - grouped into depths. Where all do similar job
Product based - grouped into depts. that focus on one product only
Regional - grouped into depts. that focus on one area that the firm operates in
Matrix - grouped together at different times, for different projects


What is network analysis?

A technique that can be used to find the quickest way to complete a project


What are some pros of network analysis?

Get things done quicker
Means everything is carefully thought out
Shows the critical activites to focus on
Resources can be allocated more efficiently


What are some cons of network analysis?

External influences can make it worthless
All bases on estimates
Only gives theoretical time to complete


What's the difference between the planed and emergent strategy?

Planned is the one the firm intends to implement
Emergent is the one the firm actually implements


What is divorce of ownership and control?

When communication is poor between owners and managers and what happens is perhaps is oerhaps not in the best interests of the owners


What is corporate governance?

The systems by which companies are directed and controlled


What is contingency planning?

When a business prepares its response to possible but unlikely events