Introduction
Organizations adopt cultural changes as a form of fundamental and radical organizational transformations that are essential to its development. Cultural change can take various approaches and may involve changing the basic norms, values and beliefs among the organizational members to improve the overall performance of the organization. The development of an organization particularly how it manages change impacts, significantly determines the success of that business. Activities in organizational development intervenes the interactions in the people systems like informal and formal groups, work climate and culture, and the design of the organization to increase its effectiveness using various applied behavioral sciences. Effective management of change will prove successful not only to the organization but the individual personnel as well.
Orange Overview
Behavior and culture in an organization is part of the process and systems that greatly support performance management. Orange as an organization has strived through its launch and inception into the market coupled with its mantra of its advertising slogan ‘The future is bright, the future is orange’, to get through to the people and competition in the market in the mobile network. Since Orange arrived as a brand in the market, had not purposed to venture into communication but rather remain as a mobile phone company. It positioned itself to providing less in services and facilitating more on personal communication, developing personal identity. Orange developed from the France Telecom as a subsidiary and took up the mobile market. It evolved from France Telecom to France Telecom Mobile and finally changed to become Orange. Mobile phones have revolutionized communication means among people through real time messaging via texts, conversation, browsing the internet, chat online at the their convenience. Mobile phones have transformed from being fashion accessories and becoming an everyday basic artifact to life. These factors have enabled Orange through its strong vision of a wire free future, to become an inspirational brand and consequently adopting the retail concept.
Managing Culture and Change (MCC)
Organizations, like Orange, face tremendous challenge to bring about significant change especially the way organizations work in the frequent but necessary current environmental and technological innovations that have proved to be major in the wake of globalization. An organization’s technical side can relatively easy introduce new technology although costly, but the main challenge will lie to getting the organizational members to support enthusiastically the changes which can prove a difficult and complex task (Brooks, 1999). Orange faces an unknown future even as it defines itself as a provider and manufacturer of particular services and products. There aspect of fast changing environment of high-tech developments will require Orange to make rapid approaches for the future of personal communications in the company. It will need to attract adaptable and flexible talent to add to its workforce and promoting its values and culture.
Even as the company adopts its advertisement strategies that are committed customer service which is responsive and flexible, change which is inevitable in the company’s norms and traditions will be a challenge to the organization and its management. An organizations culture has many layers that may consist of behaviors, assumptions, norms, beliefs and values that develop gradually and most of the time relatively unconscious. The culture give the synopsis of how the organization functions both in its relation to the external environment and internal structures. Cultural change can be fashioned to work for the better good of the company by realigning its needs, goals and objectives with the members. When need for change either brought by example, developing strategic networks for Orange to better position itself for the rapid competitive change in the market environment, it might be necessary to make the implicit beliefs of an organizations culture to be explicit because they may no longer be in line with the new behaviors and actions required for the change. However, change is frequently difficult for organizational personnel.
Understanding this aspect can help a company like Orange to develop methods and processes that may ease this resistance to change and simultaneously increase the possibility that the changes will succeed (Brown, 2003). Generally, after people have worked for a long time in a company, they get to absorb a set of expectations and norms of what to expect, approved and rewards. This widely shared beliefs on what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right ’ and ‘wrong’, ‘true’ or ‘false’ forms the organizations culture. Managing change whether it is possible or not, Orange has to be clear on the changes that it expects in its organizational structure and hierarchy with the intention of building a culture that supports its new strategies, mission, goals and practices. Communication of change in advance before the actual change increases the probability of exponential success.
Orange will have to take the approach of assessing its current system of beliefs and norms through a wide cross section of its members to determine the changes that are needed, and consequently designing the implementation plan. A change in Orange might be in its regulation utility by employing more flexible and adapted workforce that will attend more good behavior towards customer courtesy and efficiency. This change will be more rewarded to its workforce with the value being reinforced through performance reviews, training programs and other subtle ways of communication. The resulting behavior and beliefs need to be elevated by Orange to a conscious level in order for the organization to choose those aspects in culture to modify its practices.
The new values and assumptions have to be articulated systematically and communicated through all channels with reinforcement at every opportunity. When the personnel at the various organizational levels participate in activities and meetings to identify new objectives and goals of Orange in its strategic vision, new inventories can be created in the changes of old thinking that can be done away with. This exercise can turn what might have been perceived as source of serious resistance modified to work for the benefit of the business (Burke, 2007). For change management to occur, organizations must consider that change impacts on individuals who hold different psychological perspectives. People are different in nature and every individual will react in his or her unique way. Some will reject and others accept and embrace change. Orange will be more successful if it involves people in the changes rather than impose on them. Imposed changes often encounter resistance and resentment from people through participation of those activities among staff workers.
Change management will require sensitive implementation and thoughtful planning and more specifically involvement and consultation of the people the changes are going to affect. Responsibility for managing change must be enhanced through executives and management of the organization.
Kotter developed a change management model that sought to detail the process of change in an organization. According to Kotter changes are brought by new organizational initiatives, technology improvements, and project based working aimed at beating the competition and staying ahead. Orange challenges include the rapid change in mobile technology structure, 3G networks, and mobile phones though the manufacturers, and network providers. Kotter’s model integrates key principles that relate to approach and response by individuals to change at each stage. The model’s eight steps can be summarized as:
- Create the urgency-through inspiring people to make real and relevant objectives
- Form a powerful coalition-getting the right mix of skills and people in various levels
- Create a vision for change-establishing a simple strategy and vision to focus on aspects that will drive efficient service.
- Communicate the vision-involve people as much as possible by communicating needs and essentials example making technology work for you.
- Remove obstacles-empower action through constructive feedback and support from leaders via recognition, rewards and achievement progress
- Create short term wins-easy and achievable aims should be set. Current strategies should be finished before new ones.
- Build on change-encourage and foster determination through ongoing changes with persistence. Future milestones can be highlighted.
- Anchor the changes in corporate culture-values should be reinforced through successful change via promotion, recruitment or change of leaders.
Kotter continues to describe why change management sometimes fails through; allowing a lot of complexity in strategies, failing to communicate clear visions and allowing obstacles through change initiatives. Therefore, Orange has to consider all these aspects and change management principles to foster its competitive edge in the communications market by having a strong internal organization that will effectively deliver towards the customers’ expectations (Carter, 2008).
The change management model by Kubler Ross evaluates the transition or grief cycle that details the stages which organization members react to change and how they adapt. The sequence begins with; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. His grief model can be applied in business context use in a simplified aspect of four stages that include denial, resistance, exploration, commitment or acceptance. Commitment or acceptance can vary depending on the reaction of participants and depth of change. Different personnel in the organization receive change initiatives in different ways depending on the habits that were formed as the organizational culture.
Prosci developed an individual change management theory which describes the blocks necessary for change in an individual which must be realized for success and include, Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement (ADKAR).
Change impacting on the evolution of the current organizational culture at Orange
Constant change at Orange has been contributed by both internal and external factors. The company is facing more global, technological and economic developments that are rapid and continuously changing and simultaneously increase business risks, challenges, and uncertainties in the phone technologies, network providers and emerging markets. Orange is facing competition form established phone providers like Nokia and Motorola. Specialization and fragmentation in the industry has seen more technological advances have led to growth of consumer electronics, computing and communications innovations in the mobile telephony. As technologies converge, companies get new opportunities as the competitors change resulting to new emerging economies that give competition to the dominant players. These markets give a dynamic feature in the mobile telephony industry globally for other companies to be more innovative to compete in the market environment (Schilling, 2005). The changing competitive environment in manufacture and design of cell phones, will task the Orange managers to help the organization respond effectively to adjust to these changes.
The organizational change will involve transforming their present organization culture to the desired customs that will help the company obtain and increase its strategic advantage through the constant and evolving economic and business environment. Evolution of culture would be inevitable in facing the constant changes in the market. The Orange managers must not only embrace changing structures in the organization, but the corporate culture as well. In addressing change in the evolution of culture to meet the demands of customers and competition, Orange can plan for change rather than being unfavorably affected by ad hoc change. The performance of the following areas can be targeted for improvement: Human resources where most of its distinctive skills and competencies in employee abilities lie and can be developed for competitive advantage; Functional resources in the organization towards function needs will have to be developed in the challenges the company faces. Resources can be transferred to functions that will improve the company value that will change its culture, structure and technology to new product developments; Technological capabilities may give Orange enormous capacity to manage its evolving cultural change to better position itself in exploiting the market opportunities.
Developing new stream of products in either smart phones or improving on existing models will continue to attract customers who are the base and core competency for the organization. Continuous improving of services and goods in reliability and quality will be crucial organizational capabilities; Organizational capabilities will improve on the design of the company’s culture and structure to effectively exploit technological opportunities. Organizational change affects the relationships between functions and people that can be fashioned to sustain cultural value and profitable growth. Monitoring for gradual change is important which can either take the form of evolution which is incremental with specific focus or revolutionary which is sudden throughout the organization.
Innovation and technology has to be key focus at the Orange Company by the management who will evaluate issues and change management skills. Innovation relates to the new services or products or operational systems that will define and improve their manufacturing and production process (Tidd, 2005). Orange technological and technical focus on its mobile broadband vision will require more and advanced skills, experience, and scientific knowledge that will enable it in the design, communication, distribution and production of services and goods. Technology through research and development is central to Orange overall operations which have major implications. The constant new technologies like the third generation (3G) mobile phones and smart phones have increasingly made company’s to revolutionize their marketing strategies and organizational cultures to integrate new processes and procedures necessary in the constant market environment change.
Orange may have to adopt personalization in its brand values that enable personal communication in respect to the turbulent market to give customers what they need, wherever and whenever they require it. Increasing customer focused competition will create a customer friendly business even to Orange partners through also integrating customer demand and technologies through innovations. Fixed line and mobile broadband innovations are transforming convergence possibilities for both the customer and the organization.
Conclusion
Orange commitment to its employees and evolution of its organizational culture will better position it to handle constant change and develop organizational capacity in responding to those challenges successfully. Performance of its employees inevitably translates to the overall organization performance in the adverse market competition. Change affects the company from both internal and external factors. Managing these factors will determine the organization’s success. Change in culture in an organization must be appreciated through innovations to respond, adapt and influence that change. Change is rapid and cannot be stopped and adequate planning and management is essential for businesses to gain competitive advantage and profitable growth. Change cannot be imposed on people, but people should be involved in the change.
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