Custom «Management Report for Wilders Department Store» Essay Paper Sample

As global business environment change, managers, researchers, consultants and theorists seek new ways of increasing organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The driving power behind the evolution of these management changes was the search of better ways of improving the use of organizational resources. Advancement in management change takes place as researchers and managers seek to find better ways of performing principal management duties such as organization, planning, controlling and leading human and other resources in the organization. It is important to note that in the late 19^th management changes consisted of several attempts of getting to understand the new entrants to industrial life especially in the USA and Europe. This paper will critically discuss a case study of the change management report for Wilders department store.

Aim

The main aim of this paper is to find the appropriate changes, which management have to undertake in order sustain the Wilders department store from supplying and increasing its production level, thus enabling it to increase its profitability level.

Scope

The demand of Wilders department store merchandises has surpassed the supply, and this is as result of low level of production, fewer employees, delays in production and scarcity of warehouse. In order for Wilders department store to meet the demand, then changes in management is obligatory. Various sources that contain information regarding to change management will be scrutinized in this paper in order to come with the best changes, which are applicable in Change management.

Wilders department store back ground (current situation)

The back ground of Wilders department store is still largely unknown, but the current situation can be good if the company will makes the necessary changes in management.  Christmas is approaching in the next few months and with the rising cost of oil people are trying to save on petrol costs. Wilder’s Department Store is selling hundreds of bicycles (bikes). The Bicycle Department manager, George Nolan, realised that with such a rush on sales, the department was behind in its record keeping and that the bicycles on display were not always kept neat and clean. Nevertheless he expected that he and the sales staff could catch up on such details after Christmas. In the meantime they would devote all of their energies to selling bicycles for cash and also on lay-by.

If people want boxed bicycles (not assembled), they can take them home on the day of purchase. If they want assembled bikes, they are charged $25 for assembly and are told that there will be a delay time of at least 2 weeks. They should also check periodically by telephone to see if the assembled bike is ready. As Christmas draws closer, the young man assembling the bikes is already 100 bikes behind, and every day the bicycle department is selling more bikes than he can assemble in a day.

The bicycle department has recently been moved next to the toys and sporting goods sections. Sales of those items are also increasing and bicycles salespersons have been told to help out with sporting goods and toy sales. The sales for these three departments are all processed at the same cashier’s desk. Clerks place all sales dockets on assembled and unassembled bicycles as well as lay-by dockets in the back of the notebook. By September, congestion at the desk increasingly gets on the nerves of sales personnel and customers.

Since several department stores obtain bicycles from the same warehouse, clerks in Wilder’s must call the warehouse several times a day to keep a record of which bicycles are in stock. Wilders cannot sell a particular bicycle if the warehouse has less than 20 of that model left. However, the department has a storage problem. It is rapidly running out of space for storing unsold boxed bicycles, assembled bicycles and bicycles on lay-by.

In the middle of October, the Store Manager Mildred Green stopped by the bicycle department to commend George Nolan on the excellent bicycle sales. Mid-October, sales are already higher than they were through Christmas last year. On looking around and asking some questions Mildred realised that if matters continue as they have been going, the bicycle department will be in total confusion during November and December. Bicycles will not be assembled in time for Christmas, the department will have no storage space, and clerks will soon have no time to continually contact the warehouse to check on bicycle availability. Congestion at the cashier’s desk will increase as clerks struggle to record orders in the notebook and to insert or retrieve lay-by stubs. The situation will become more chaotic when customers begin calling constantly to ask if their bicycles are ready.

Mildred remembers the bad public relations experiences of last Christmas when a few children did not get the bicycles that Wilder’s had promised them. She anticipates a large increase of similar instances this Christmas if she does not improve the situation that presently exists in the department.

The need for change at Wilders department store

            For the Wilders department store to increase its net profit, then it need to its management and apply the effective tools that will enable the company increase its sales, especially right now and forthcoming season, whereby the demand will increase significantly.

            From the above information, last year the Wilders department store let down its customers by failing to deriver the ordered merchandise. As a result, the company needs to change its production level, so that it can meet the necessitated demand, thereby building customer trust and satisfaction.

            The operation of Wilders department store need to be streamlined in order to ensure quick flow of merchandises, from the production to the warehouse, and then, to the final consumer. The present situation in the operation is awful, and that is why there is a delivery delays.

            The storage of the merchandises is another vital factor that requires immediate change. The storing capacity need to be increased in order to cater for the demand and also, to offer a clean storage, as many customers do not like duty or badly stored product.

            The increased demand poses a lot of pressure to the production department, thus they are not able to assemble the bicycles correctly due to hurry. Also, few employees become very tired to surpassing production level, thus cannot produce a product with higher quality due to fatigue.

Nature of change proposed at Wilders department store

George Nolan proposed the need to have a neat and clean warehouse. This will greatly attract more customers, thus enabling the company to boost its sales and profit.

Moreover, he also proposes that the staff should work extraordinary during the Christmas period, so that they can meet the demand for bicycles.

Proposed change strategies

Zhang (2000), Hendricks and Singhal (2007), Total Quality Management Master Plan (1990) and Goetsch and Davis (2006) suggest different concepts of the change management. As guided by the nature of the industry and business and for convenience, Wilders department store shall adopt the following listed concepts. 

• leadership
• vision/plan statement,
• employee participation
• supplier quality management,
• customer focus,
• evaluation,

Various authors have developed various implementation programs. Zhnag (2000) suggests the one below though the idea is the same with what Goetsch and Davis (2006) suggest in their 20 step of change implementation program.

Conclusions

Wilders department store should set practical goals, formulate effective improvement plans, get the pilot projects up and running, and get the people involved and motivated continuously for the success of the implementation. There is no universal procedure in implementing changes, but that individual business firms have to develop their own that fit their core business function and vision. Much of the literature on the Wilders department store implementation of change in manufacturing firms noting that due to the people factor in the service industry, success of changes heavily relies on how well the philosophy of change implementation is embraced by the people and not how much it fits with business processes. For Wilders department store, the relationship with suppliers, employees understanding, commitment and production delay among other notable factors are the causes to implement management changes.