Final Paper MGT 435 Management Essay Research Paper
Final Paper
Think of an organization you have worked for or one with which you are very familiar. Diagnose the need for change and present a plan to transform the organization, utilizing Kotter’s 8-Step Approach. You will need to research the Kotter 8 Step Change Model extensively. You are encouraged to first review the Kotter’s Eight Step Leading Change Model (Links to an external site.) article. You may select any organization or department where you work or where you have previously worked; however, you are strongly encouraged to diagnose one problem area in the company. Attempting to diagnose an entire company is not feasible, and you will become bogged down.
If you choose a company similar to Walmart to analyze, select just one area that you think needs improvement. For example, Walmart is now very strong in online shopping, yet there are still glitches in the system. Delivery times are often late, the packaging method has problems, and some products come from unknown vendors that Walmart does not guarantee. We may know this from personal experience, but that is not enough. Statements, opinions, and experiences must be supported with valid sources. There are many articles online that you can review easily and quickly.
Your sources for this paper must include research for the company you choose, a valid source for the Kotter model, and your textbook. You are encouraged to read as many articles as you can find and contact the Ashford librarians for guidance. There is bias, missing or incorrect information, and contradictory material in most Internet material. The amount of material can be confusing, but wade through it and question everything.
Include the following sections headings and additional sections as needed:
Introduction
Company Overview
Diagnosis
Kotter’s 8-Step Approach
Conclusion
The Final Paper for the course must be submitted to the instructor by 11:59 p.m. of the time zone in which you reside on the last day of the class.
Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper
Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length (not counting the title page and references) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
Must use at least five scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
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Need for Organizational Change: Peloton
Student's Name
Institution
Need for Organizational Change: Peloton
Change is one of the things that are approached with mixed feelings by companies and individuals. Often, change is associated with too much negativity because, in many cases, people are often comfortable with the status quo and are more likely to resist change. It is believed that change causes organizations to stumble and lose track of their vision and mission. However, as Schulz-Knappe, Koch, and Beckert (2019) indicated, change is necessary because it allows organizations to adapt to the changes in the external environment. This way, organizations can stay on track and work towards achieving their vision and mission, despite the external environment's changes. This paper focuses on organizational change and the need for change to adapt to the external environment. Specifically, this paper explores the need for change at Peloton following major product delivery delays to clients. It also provides a change plan based on Kotter's 8-step model. A diagnosis of the current issue that requires organizational change will be carried out, and a plan will be laid out to help with the change process.
Peloton: Company Overview
Peloton is a US-based company that provides exercise equipment and workout plans for people to incorporate fitness into people's lives (Peloton, n.d.). It was founded in 2012 with the single goal of bringing together a community that is concerned with fitness.
Peloton's Mission and Values
The company's mission is to use technology and design to bring people across the globe together through fitness. In the process, the company hopes to empower people to become their best versions regardless of time or location. Peloton's mission is to provide people with affordable, accessible, efficient, and challenging workouts using superior exercise equipment (Peloton, n.d.).
Peloton prides itself on its focus on its customers. One of its key values is putting the customers first (Peloton, n.d.). Other key values include the spirit of togetherness, empowering teams, and a focus on the goal.
Peloton's Product and Services
Peloton offers a range of products and services designed to meet the specific needs of customers (Peloton, n.d.). Its main products are bikes and treads, which come with different specifications. Also, it offers accessories for both the bikes and treads. The other main product offered by Peloton is the Peloton fitness apparels. The apparels include tops and bottoms for both men and women. Peloton's main services are fitness classes that involve the use of Peloton bikes and treads. These classes are offered to subscribers. Subscribers are provided with in-class instructors who offer training services through live schedules. Finally, Peloton has a fitness app that offers a 30-day free fitness class to new subscribers (Peloton, n.d.).
Peloton's Target Customers
As a company that is concerned with empowering communities through fitness, Peloton's target customers are every individual who is a fitness enthusiast. The company aims at gaining 100 million subscribers to its fitness services one day. According to Thomas (2020), its target market is the 200million people who go to the gym and pay money every month to access fitness training. It currently has 1.09 million subscribers and 3.1 million members overall. Thus, its target market is men and women worldwide interested in quality fitness and wellness services and products.
Peloton's Current Status
Peloton has experienced immense growth in the number of subscribers and members in the last couple of years. However, the most growth was experienced in 2020 when the company experiences a 113% increase in subscribers' number (Thomas, 2020). This increase was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the closure of many gyms worldwide. As a result, people embraced working from home, which Peloton has focused on since its inception. In addition to the increase in subscribers' number, the demand for Peloton bikes and treads has also gone up. According to The Wall Street Journal (2021), Peloton's sales for the bikes and treads doubled in 2021. However, the company is experiencing negative publicity due to its slow delivery of products, despite pre-scheduling deliveries and informing clients that they will receive their orders as promised. According to Hartmans (2021), Peloton has been experiencing delays in delivering products to customers, especially the bikes, which have been in high demand. Customers have to wait for months before they can receive their orders. At times, customers have to endure rescheduling of delivery repeatedly without proper communication from the company (Hartmans, 2021). As such, Peloton needs to make changes to change its current status.
Diagnosis
To plan and facilitate organizational change, it is important to first diagnose the organization's need for change. According to Hayes (2018), diagnosis entails carrying out in-depth research into an organization to determine what can be done to improve its functioning. The diagnosis for the need for change at Peloton is based on information gathered from media reports and observations of the company's nature of operations. From the diagnosis, it is evident that the following factors have contributed to the current state of slow deliveries at Peloton:
* Poor public relations and ineffective communication
Currently, Peloton is experiencing immense growth in sales and the number of subscriptions (The Wall Street Journal, 2021). However, one key area is likely to diminish this growth. As revealed by Maheshwari and Griffith (2021), many customers are frustrated by Peloton's slow delivery of bikes and treadmills. What is even more frustrating is that some clients with recent orders received their products sooner than those who had placed their orders earlier. This is not a problem that started in 2021. As indicated by Hanbury (2020), customers started experiencing delays as early as 2020 when the demand for the company's product grew drastically. While customers have aired their complaints on social media and through the company's website, Peloton has not communicated to their customers and explain the glitches in delivery. This has especially been the case with the unfair delivery of products where customers with earlier orders are left waiting for products while those with recent orders keep receiving products (Maheshwari & Griffith, 2021). Yet, customers have complained that the delivery team has not been effectively communicating with them. Hanbury (2020) reveals that customers understand that the pandemic has impacted the delivery process, but they are more frustrated with the company's lack of communication. Often, customers receive emails from Peloton indicating that their orders will not be delivered and that they should wait to be contacted by a member of the delivery team to reschedule order delivery. However, most customers are never contacted as promised and have to contact Peloton to make inquiries.
* Poor supply chain visibility
In addition to ineffective communication, Peloton's current state is characterized by blame game and a mismatch between warehouse inventories and deliverers' inventories. Maheshwari and Griffith (2021) indicate that some customers have been informed that their orders were being delivered only to receive a call later informing them that the product they ordered is out of stock. This not only points out to miscommunication between employees at different stages of the supply chain but also lacks visibility in the supply chain. Customers want transparency, especially when they are paying premium prices for products, and it is the company's responsibility to enhance transparency even amid a pandemic. When supply chain visibility is low, companies cannot match the demand of products with supply, disrupting the delivery of products to consumers (Silva, Ferreira, Silva, Magalhaes, & Neto, 2017). While customers might understand that products might be out of stock due to the current state of affairs, they get frustrated when they are told that a product is available only to receive a message later informing them that the same product is out-of-stock.
* Lack of scalability
As noted earlier, the demand for Peloton's ...