Assessing organisational change Value: 40% Due Date: 07-Jan-2019 Return Date: 29-Jan-2019 Length: 2,500 +/-10% Submission method options: Alternative submission method Task You will be assessing...

Running Head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT            1
CHANGE MANAGEMENT                                     12
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
In the current report the aspect of change management has been discussed, considering the Lakeland wonders, an all American wooden-toy manufacturer and its change implementation plan proposed by it CEO Cheryl Hailstorm, as the case study. The report first introduces the topic and the approach overview of the learner. In the following section, the brief reflection of the case study has been provided followed by a critical discussion section. A theoretical discussion has also been provided after the critical discussions to support the critical views in a logical manner. Based on the reflective, critical and theoretical analysis, recommendations were made and finally concluded with a proper conclusion.
Table of Contents
Introduction    4
Reflecting on the Change Initiatives Proposed by Cheryl Hailstorm at Lakeland Wonders    4
Introduction of the Change    4
Leading the Change    4
Justification for the Change    5
Potential Effectiveness and Outcome of the Change    5
Critical Assessment of the Change Implementation Plan by Cheryl Hailstorm    5
Lack of Alignment with Organizational Culture    5
Unrealistic Target Set by Board of Directors    6
Lack of Support for Cheryl Hailstorm’s View    6
Theoretical Aspect Related to the Change Implementation Plan by Cheryl Hailstorm    7
Cheryl’s Utilitarian Leadership    7
Flat Organizational Structure at the Top    7
PEST Analysis of Lakeland Wonders    8
Recommendations In Relation to the Change Implementation Plan    8
Making the Change Desirable    8
Outsourcing Manufacturing to American Manufacturers    8
Adapting Democratic Leadership Style    9
Reconsidering the Annual Business Growth Target    9
Conclusion    9
References    11
Introduction
    In alignment with the changing dynamics of business landscape and market, change implementation in business organizations become inevitable, nevertheless remains a complicated aspect to consider, for the internal resistance to organizational change implementation is also constant. Change management, conducted in a proper way makes existing business get refined in terms of internal functionality and external factors assessment and subsequent response to them, however, an improper change, positioned in contrast to organizational culture could lead to employee dissatisfaction, moderate production performance and eventual failure. Change management and its success depends highly on the nature of the person leading the change, the reason behind the change and the degree of difference the change possesses in the face of the existing organizational culture. In the current report the organizational change aimed by Cheryl Hailstorm, the CEO of Lakeland Wonder, an all American wooden toy manufacturer is presented as the case study, which is I critiqued, analyzed, based on which subtle and apt recommendations are provided.
Reflecting on the Change Initiatives Proposed by Cheryl Hailstorm at Lakeland Wonders
Introduction of the Change
    After the resignation of the CEO of Lakeland Wonders, Mr. Walter Swensen IV, Cheryl Hailstorm was appointed in his place as the first person to chair the post of CEO outside the family, which owned the business (McNulty, 2009). As I went through the case study, I noticed that the board of directors set a target of 30%, for which Cheryl initiated the change management plan, aiming at outsourcing the manufacturing process of the wooden toys to cheaper manufacturers for entering the middle market with the offering of cheaper toys.
Leading the Change
    It is clear that the change implementation plan has been the brainchild of Cheryl Hailstorm, as she was the one, as the CEO of the company, who initiated the plan for a proper change implantation at Lakeland wonders. As mentioned by Hsieh, Kanda and Fujii (2019), in case of major change implementation plans the approval and dedication of the upper management is required. As Cheryl was positioned as the CEO of the company, she had the authority to bring in change implementation and therefore she started planning about it, initiating the change implementation process.
Justification for the Change
    The change proposed by Cheryl was justified in my opinion, as the target of 30% growth of sells was a big task and without the change, with the help of the existing staffs, working casually without stress, would have never met the targets. It can be argued that Cheryl could have tried to optimize the existing production staffs to generate high production performance. However, it has to be remembered that the target of 30% growth within a single financial year was not attainable from optimized production and it was evident that new market was required; therefore, I felt Cheryl was justified in proposing the change plan, which involved outsourcing of production. As affirmed by Hussain et al. (2018), meeting the high demand of the shareholders, organizations often need new buyer than more production.
Potential Effectiveness and Outcome of the Change
    The change implementation of outsourced production facility, according to me, would have given Lakeland wonder the much-needed lower priced products, which they could have sold in middle markets and reach the 30% growth target set up by the board of directors of the company. I felt that the outsourcing of the production would have been limited for the toy manufactured for the middle markets only, which would have secured the job of the existing human resource, in addition, the outsourcing of the low priced products would not have cannabises the existing products, priced much higher. As mentioned by Tsay, Gray, Noh and Mahoney (2018), producing new products through outsourcing, makes the risk casted on existing products less. Despite the high potential the change plan, I noticed serious lack of alignment of Cheryl’s vision with that of the organizational culture, which believe led to unsupportive response from upper management and executives of the company, hinting at the failure of acceptance of the proposal.
Critical Assessment of the Change Implementation Plan by Cheryl Hailstorm
Lack of Alignment with Organizational Culture
    I observed that the change implementation plan was developed by Cheryl Hailstorm, who despite being a part of Lakeland Wonders...