The impact of change on Apple and Blackberry
As per the case scenario, it has been observed that the two consecutive brand both Apple and Blackberry applied substantial changes in their product features and business strategies to create a market demand. The impact of change in product and service process has had positive results in Apply, but Blackberry has faced a disastrous consequence after applying change in their product. After the launch of Apple iphone 3G in 2008 with its special feature of iTune Stores, the product had reached huge popularity in the market and had been sold within 1 month. On the other hand, Blackberry despite rendering new features beyond going the business market had failed to impress the customers’ attention. Therefore, the impact of change management has had two opposite results when comparing the two companies.
The three images that can be applicable for rendering change in the business strategy for both Apple and Blackberry include:
- Director:
Director controls the entire management process as well as the overall business. The primary responsibility of the director is to set the guidelines for employees with the help of managers of several departments (Carter et al., 2013). With the changing needs and demands of customers and situations, should implement change management within the business process by improving their managerial policies. For an example, Blackberry was very restricted within business market due to its email facilities. As a result, the target group was restricted within businesspersons and the brand failed to gain success in the overall market. Therefore, the director decided to extend the features of Blackberry to go beyond business market. Still Blackberry failed to draw customers’ attention. On the other hand, the business experts of Apple have decided to change their product features as per the changing needs and demands of customers. Apple as a result has gained the trust of customers.
- Navigator:
Managers have to play the role of navigator and should control every situation while running the business. The navigators of Apple intend to change their business policies as per customers’ expectation. On the other hand, the navigators of Blackberry failed to catch the market needs and demands. As a result, customers after using Blackberry for few years showed their reluctance for purchasing products and services.
- Interpreter:
The primary role of interpreter is to evaluate whether change management has a major impact on the companies like Apple and Blackberry. Implementation of change management is not sufficient for an organization. The interpreter should analyze whether the change would be beneficial for the company or not. The interpreter of Apple has successfully maintained their role by interpreting the necessary risk factors of change management. Therefore, change management has left a positive impact on the mind of customers.
Three images applicable for rendering change
The impact of the three images mentioned above is inseparably related to each other although the three images are playing different roles in change management. The Director’s role is to take the decision based on the analysis and evaluation of the navigator and the interpreter (Fugate, Prussia & Kinicki, 2012). On the other hand, the interpreter plays no role in changing the business process. The primary function of an interpreter is to analyze whether the change is effective for the business organization or not. Evaluating various risk factors and analyzing the alternative strategy and policy is the primary responsibility of interpreter. Finally, the navigator has to focus on both the employee and customers’ reaction after the implementation of change management.
The navigator of Apple after rendering change within their products conducted an in-depth analysis as to whether the employees were flexible with these changes or not. Blackberry should have taken more initiative from the navigators after implementing change process within their business to analyze the risk factors before implementing change management.
Among the three images, the role of the navigator would be best facilitated for changing business due to some specific reasons for both the two companies. The decision of the director would be highly dependent on the analysis of navigators (Jacobs et al., 2013). On the other hand, the interpreter would provide the scope needed to evaluate the positive and negative effect of change after the implementation of new business strategy. Therefore, among the three images the navigators play a major role for change management for both the two companies.
The leader of change should focus on two images primarily for keeping control over change management. The images include navigator and interpreter. The leader of change for both the two companies should be concerned about both the employees, customers and whether the change management would leave any negatives that would affect the stakeholders (Langley et al., 2013). An efficient leader like a skillful interpreter should analyze how the change process would affect the mind of customers and the necessary risk factors that may arise after implementing this change process.
Reference List:
Carter, M. Z., Armenakis, A. A., Feild, H. S., & Mossholder, K. W. (2013). Transformational leadership, relationship quality, and employee performance during continuous incremental organizational change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(7), 942-958.
Fugate, M., Prussia, G. E., & Kinicki, A. J. (2012). Managing employee withdrawal during organizational change: The role of threat appraisal. Journal of Management, 38(3), 890-914.
Jacobs, G., van Witteloostuijn, A., & Christe-Zeyse, J. (2013). A theoretical framework of organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 26(5), 772-792.
Langley, A., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2013). Process studies of change in organization and management: Unveiling temporality, activity, and flow. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 1-13.