Organizational Change – Target Corporation

Organizational Change – Target Corporation

As organizations become more global and information-intensive, the environments in which they operate are becoming uncertain and complex. These changes necessitate organizational change interventions for respective organizations to remain competitive in a highly competitive global business environment. Notably, strategic change in an organization involves aligning an organization’s design, structure, strategy, and environment. Further, strategic change seeks to improve an organization’s relationship with its environment and ensure a fit among its structural, human resource, informational, and cultural organizational components. The need for organizational change intervention is necessitated by significant disruptions such as the entry of new leadership, technological advancement, and a shift in regulatory requirements. Strategic organizational changes are mostly driven by top organizational leadership, and they involve changing various organizational levels and cultures to produce desired objectives. This paper will delve into four interventions for Target corporation, including, employee involvement, performance management, developing organizational talent, and managing workforce diversity, and how important they are in driving organizational change. These interventions are focused on human resource improvements to align an organization with environmental and internal demands, with the long-term objective of retaining the best talent and achieving organizational goals.

Employee Involvement

Faced with operational challenges and demands, organizations turn to employees seeking higher productivity, cost reduction, and operational flexibility. In broader terms, employee involvement refers to engaging or empowering employees to participate in organizational development (Cummings & Worley, 2014). It involves practicing democracy by giving employees the chance to offer their insights on how they think the organization may be run best. It also involves allowing employees to have a quality work life balance such that they can be in a good position to participate in organizational development. For instance, companies like Wells Fargo and Boeing have formed employee involvement teams whose objectives include collecting suggestions from employees on how they can improve quality and productivity. In the same breath, SouthWest Airlines has a union management cooperation seeking to get suggestions on how they may ensure a work-life balance (Cummings & Worley, 2014). Target Corporation can also adopt this system by forming employee involvement teams that will collect employees views regarding how best the organization may improve the quality of service delivery and ensure work-life balance for employees.

Importance of Employee Involvement

One of the benefits of employee involvement is that it improves communication among workers so that they can solve problems. In this view, horizontal coordination among employees grows as they share ideas on how they can improve operations and solve ongoing challenges in the organization (Jones & Kato, 2003). For instance, at Target stores, a shared problem may be crowding around the checkout area. Employees may share ideas to the employee involvement team on how attendants can distribute customers to various checkout destinations to avoid overcrowding a single station.

Employee involvement also goes a long way to improve discretionary effort and motivation among employees. This is because employees who work at the frontline are the ones who understand the operational challenges the organizations undergoes (Jones & Kato, 2003). Therefore, giving them powers to make some decisions will help them solve problems in real time without necessarily involving the top management. For instance, if inventory management design recommended by the top management seems to confuse customers, attendants and other junior staff may reorganize the store to ensure customers enjoy their shopping experiences.

Evaluation

Features of high involvement organizations may be used to evaluate the extent of employee involvement in the running of an organization. For instance, open information systems may indicate if an organization involves employees in decision making (Sofijanova & Zabijakin-Chatleska, 2013). To that end, participatory goal setting, whereby employees are given a chance to offer their insights on goals is necessary to determine of an organization is a high involvement entity. Also, the nature of reward systems in an organization indicates whether an organization is involves its employees (Sofijanova & Zabijakin-Chatleska, 2013). Open reward systems based on skill acquisition, and distribution of organizational profits indicate high employee involvement.

Intervention Design

Adopting a transparent criteria defining how rewards and recognition is earned is crucial to ensure employees are satisfied. This is motivating because employees will know what they are supposed to do to improve their perks. Besides, this practice enhances employees’ trust on the organization since they know the process is fair for all, and not biased toward a few employees. On the other hand, access to performance metrics and data such as sales figures and customer feedback will give employees an insight into how the organization is performing. With such information, employees will know what interventions they will implement to improve their productivity.

Measuring Results

The best way to measure results regarding involvement interventions is by collecting employee feedback. A structured feedback system offers employees the opportunity to give an honest opinion regarding implemented employee involvement interventions (Cummings & Worley, 2014). The feedback system may be one-on-one, whereby a manager asks employees to give their honest insights. Alternatively, it can be anonymous to ensure employees give honest feedback.

Performance Management

Importance of Performance Management

Performance management is a human resource intervention addressing how goalsetting, reward systems, and training and development can be used to enhance individual and group performance. Goal setting, which is an important aspect of performance management is crucial because it goes a long way to ensure that there is goal alignment (Cummings & Worley, 2014). It ensures that all organizational members are working towards same performance outcomes, and this can is crucial in ensuring organizational efficiency. For instance, at Target, one of the main problems facing the store is theft and shrinkage. To that end, the goal of store managers is alleviate shoplifting and this can be achieved if all organizational members collaborate toward its alleviation.

Besides, performance management is crucial in aiding employee development. One of the key components of performance management is a feedback process. Using regular feedback and assessment procedures, the organization can identify weaknesses among employees that require further strengthening (Cummings & Worley, 2014). This way, the management can come up with effective internal training mechanisms that may be used to bolster performance.

Evaluation

Assessing employee reactions will offer useful insights that will go a long way to evaluating the effectiveness of performance management interventions. Employee reactions such as job satisfaction and commitment to staying in the organization will indicate if the employees are satisfied with an organization’s performance management intervention (Schleicher et al., 2019). For instance, if Target implements a performance management intervention such as a training program, the success of the process will be measured based on employee commitment. If employees stay at the organization longer after the training exercise, that is a positive sign that the exercise was successful.

Also, managerial reactions may indicate whether a performance management intervention was successful or not. Notably, frontline managers and other line managers are responsible for implementing most training program (Schleicher et al., 2019). Just like it is the case in employee reactions, positive managerial reactions can indicate that a performance management intervention was successful.

Intervention Design

Various intervention designs may be implemented to ensure the organization achieves positive employee and managerial reactions following the implementation of a performance management program. As stated, the training program seeks to prevent cases of shoplifting at Target stores. To achieve positive reactions from employees, it is crucial to develop a prior communication plan prior to implementing the training program (Schleicher et al., 2019). Among others, the communication plan should entail a window for regular updates and opportunities for employees and managers to offer feedback.

In the same breath, there is a need to involve employees and managers while designing the training program. For instance, Target can organize workshops where employees and employers can give their insights about the training program. Also, advisory committees may come in handy since they will provide insights about employee and managerial preferences before a training program is launched (Schleicher et al., 2019). That way, working groups will ensure the programs capture employee and managerial needs.

Results

The relevance of training programs to a employee and managerial functions is one of the indicators of the effectiveness of training programs.  If employee report positive correlation between a training program and their work, that means the program was largely effective (Nassazi, 2013). Also, evaluating the quality of the content of a training program is crucial in determining whether a training program was successful (Nassazi, 2013). This may involve simply asking participants if the program helped them improve their specific functions. For instance, CCTV observers at Target may be asked to state whether a training program improved their focus at work in detecting potential shoplifters.

Developing Organizational Talent

Importance of Developing Organizational Talent

Talent development is a human resource intervention geared toward addressing attraction, development, and retention of the best talent in an organization. Talent development targets all organizational members, from top leaders all through to low-level organizational employees (Cummings & Worley, 2014). Talent development is crucial in improving organizational members, while portraying the organization in positive light to the external environment. One of the significant benefits of talent development is enhanced self-awareness, particularly for leaders (Cummings & Worley, 2014). Also, talent development helps both employees and managers work across boundaries by equipping them with the skills they need to serve different functions. These improvements address the problem of employee shortage in some organizational areas. For instance, attendants equipped with the right skills can still work as CCTV attendants when a shortage arises to prevent shoplifting cases.

Evaluation

One of the intentions of developing talent is provide members with accurate expectations about work requirements. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention at Target stores, there is a need to assess whether there is reduced turnover, training costs, and an increase in employee commitment. Another goal of talent development is to provide members with interesting assignments that potentially lead members toward attaining career objectives. To ensure that this goal has been attained, the organization should assess whether there is an increase in person-job fit. Also, the company’s ability to identify high potential candidates will imply that the organization conducted its talent development effectively.

Intervention Design

According to Ford et al. (2010), attaining talent development objectives requires a local definition of talent management rather than embracing a universal or prescribed definition. As stated above, the goal of Target Company is to develop employees who can work across boundaries. The retail industry is competitive in terms of pricing, and this calls for Target to reduce price by reducing operational costs. By training employees to perform multiple tasks, the organization will cut operational costs and transfer the saving toward retail price reduction.

Results

To measure the specific outcomes of employee talent development interventions, there is a need to measure the level of employee motivation. If employees start to welcome increased responsibilities, be challenged and excited about tasks, or welcome transfer to a new position, it means that they are satisfied with the intervention (Baartvedt, 2013). Also, increased professional knowledge in different aspects of business at Target Company will indicate that the employee development intervention was effective.

Managing Workforce Diversity and Wellness

Employees from different cultural backgrounds work at Target chain of stores, reflecting the cultural diversity in the USA. Notably, diversity goes beyond cultural connotations to include people who bring diverse perspectives to the organization. Therefore, managing workforce diversity is crucial in ensuring that these employees deliver diverse perspectives that can help the company attain its objectives (Khan et al., 2020). Besides, managing diversity is crucial as it goes a long way toward ensuring the company complies with anti-discrimination laws. A pertinent problem regarding employee diversity at Target company is challenges with collaboration due to communication challenges posed by cultural differences.

Importance of Managing Workforce Diversity and Wellness

Effective diversity management ensures that all organizational members, including those from minority communities get the opportunity to give their perspectives on various organizational matters. Also, diversity and wellness management ensure members from different sexual orientations, such as gay, transgender, and bisexual are accepted in the organization and facilitated to perform their tasks (Perales, 2022). Further, disabled members of the organization will achieve feelings of acceptance in the workplace.

Evaluation

To evaluate diversity and wellness management intervention, the organization should review its policies against actual practice. The goal is to ensure that practice aligns with the organization’s culture (Baartvedt, 2013). Also setting performance metrics will help the organization measure whether it has effectively implemented wellness interventions.

Intervention Design

Setting diversity goals is crucial in ensuring employee wellness. The company should set measurable goals and regularly check whether it is moving toward the right direction. Also, there is a need to introduce qualitative metrics targeting specific employees to ensure they work toward attaining set diversity objectives.

Results

Expected results from diversity and wellness interventions include reduced absenteeism at work. Once the organization implements diversity protection, employees will feel safe and are unlikely to skip work. There is also a need to monitor participation of minority groups as a way of ensuring that they are comfortable with implemented changes.

Conclusion

In summary, organizational change interventions are crucial toward establishing a competitive edge for an organization. Some key human resource interventions as stated above include employee involvement, performance management, developing talent, and managing workforce diversity and wellness. These interventions seek to ensure the organization aligns with changing employee demands due to globalization and technological advancement. The end goal of organizational change interventions is to ensure employee satisfaction and person-job fit.

References

Baartvedt, N. (2013). Talent management as a strategic priority for competitive advantage. : A qualitative case study on talent management implementation within a Multinational Company.

Bahaudin Mujtaba. (2007). Workforce diversity management : challenges, competencies and strategies. Llumina Press.

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization Development and Change. Cengage Learning.

Ford, J., Harding, N., & Dimi, D. (2010). TALENT MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT An Overview of Current Theory and Practice. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/87115/1/talent-management-and-development-an-overview-of-current-theory-and-practice.pdf

Jones, D. C., & Kato, T. (2003). The Effects of Employee Involvement on Firm Performance:      Evidence from an Econometric Case Study. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.445440

Nassazi, A. (2013). Effects of training on employee performance.: Evidence from Uganda.

Khan, MD. R., Shobikah, N., & Kaium, M. A. (2020). Managing Workforce Diversity in Organization: A Case Study on Aetna Health Care Service. Khatulistiwa, 10(1), 62–94. https://doi.org/10.24260/khatulistiwa.v10i1.1693

Perales, F. (2022). Improving the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ employees: Do workplace diversity training and ally networks make a difference? Preventive Medicine, 161, 107113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107113

Schleicher, D. J., Baumann, H. M., Sullivan, D. W., & Yim, J. (2019). Evaluating the effectiveness of performance management: A 30-year integrative conceptual review.Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(7), 851–887. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000368

Sofijanova, E., & Zabijakin-Chatleska, V. (2013). Employee Involvement and Organizational Performance: Evidence from The Manufacturing Sector in Republic of Macedonia.   Trakia Journal of Sciences, 11(1), 31–36. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35333238.pdf

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In this paper, you will demonstrate your ability to apply organizational change concepts to real-world situations in an organization or organizations with which you are familiar ****IF THE WRITER COULD USE RETAIL ORGANIZATIONS, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING****.

You will choose four (4) topics from the selection offered in the table below.

Topic 1
Transformational Change
Topic 2
Continuous Change
Topic 3
Transorganizational Change
Topic 4
Interpersonal and Group Process Approaches
Topic 5
Organizational Process Approaches
Topic 6
Restructuring Organziations
Topic 7
Employee Involvement
Topic 8
Work Design
Topic 9
Performance Management
Topic 10
Developing Talent
Topic 11
Managing Workforce Diversity and Wellness

Each of these topics represents an “intervention”—or planned organizational change process.
References to concepts from your textbook and outside research in the online library academic scholarly databases are expected.
Guidelines
Title page – Follow standard format for the MBA program.
Format – per APA manual
Double-spaced
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point
Margins: per APA
Page numbers: upper right corner
Length – Your analyses should be a minimum of eight (8) pages in length; this equates to approximately two (2) pages per each of four (4) topics.
Terminology and Concepts – Demonstrate mastery of course objectives by:
Using and defining organizational change terminology.
Making frequent references to and explaining course concepts.
Examples – Support generalizations with specific examples from the organizational situation you are addressing. Present “pictures” of organizational behavior; include what actions were taken/are to be taken, by whom, where, and when.
Other Sources – Library research is required for the following topics: Coaching, Workforce Diversity, and Employee Wellness/Stress. Students are encouraged to conduct brief research on other topics. You may also want to reference textbooks from, for example, Contemporary Management, Organizational Behavior, and/or other Leadership Concentration courses. Include a Reference page and cite your sources per APA.
Citation- Please cite and use references per APA 6th Edition. Use the Student Resources Link to obtain helpful materials. Use the Writing Center and GROWS. A minimum of 10 peer-reviewed references from the online library are required.

Review paper grading rubric and expectations.
Twenty percent (20%) of your grade is based on the quality of your writing and eighty percent (80%) is based on the quality of content.
You will receive a grade and feedback within 72 hours from the due date and time.
Topics
Choose four (4) of the topics indicated in the “Topic” column of the table available at your Week 8 link in the Blackboard classroom.
The headings and subheadings in the “Content of your Analysis” column of the table generally reflect the contents of material in the indicated chapter in your text.
For most interventions, the textbook includes an introduction on the intervention’s importance, discussion of “Application Stages,” and a section on results.
To ensure full credit for what you write, include the boldface headings and underlined subheadings that are located in the “Content of your Analysis” column.
Avoid identifying organizations/employees by name. Use pseudonyms.
Note: If you do not have adequate organizational experience to respond to four of the indicated topics, imagine yourself in a troubled organization. Describe possible needs for improvement and design interventions to address these needs. Feel free to contact your professor for coaching on this alternative.