Progress Requires Change
Progress requires change in every economic sector since it enables the elimination of antiquated methods and tools and the introduction of more advanced techniques for carrying out activities in a given sector. The move from current methods to accept the changes, however, may be challenging for firms, particularly in light of the possibility that the employees and shareholders will view the change as disruptive (London & Mone, 2012). The leadership team must possess strong change management skills in order to prevent this from happening because the results of the change can either be favorable or harmful, depending on how it was implemented (Gavetti, 2010).
The Changing Trends in the Brick-and-Mortar Retail Industry
The main goal of this essay is to analyze the changing trends in the brick-and-mortar retail industry, specifically focusing on Amazon.
The Emergence of E-commerce
The emergence of e-commerce has had a profound effect on the retail industry where customers are now finding it convenient to shop online compared to shopping at a physical retail store location. Online retailing has its advantages both to the retailer and consumer in terms of cost savings and access to a wide market and variety of products. Amazon is among the largest online retailers worldwide, and has been operating online until recently when they opened their first brick-and-mortar bookstore in 2016. Merging e-commerce platforms with physical locations is likely to have great benefits to the retailers and their consumers, especially when the change is managed appropriately. According to Welter (2014) keeping a focus on the company’s vision and strategy is a key lesson in change leadership.
Kotter's 8-Step Model of Leading Change
Kotter proposed an 8-step model of leading change that can be applied to the case of Amazon and its strategy of introducing brick-and-mortar stores.
Step 1: Create Urgency
First, there is a need to create an urgency to spark the motivation among the stakeholders to embrace the change. This can be accomplished by conducting a market research to establish the organization’s position in regards to the change.
Step 2: Form a Powerful Coalition
Next, the organization should form a powerful coalition to increase the resource base that will support the transition, such as partnering with existing brick-and-mortar stores to supply products from Amazon.
Step 3: Create a Vision of Change
The third step involves creating a vision of change that also includes the strategy to execute the vision.
Step 4: Communicate the Vision
The fourth step emphasizes the need to communicate the vision in a way that is understandable, preferably by leading through example.
Step 5: Remove Obstacles
Fifth, the management should ensure that they remove obstacles by conducting an efficient risk assessment exercise prior to the introduction of the physical stores.
Step 6: Create Short-Term Wins
The sixth step involves creating short-term wins as these go a long way in boosting the morale of the entire team.
Step 7: Build on the Change
The seventh step involves building on the change to achieve long-term objectives, which relates to the last step of making continuous improvement an organizational culture.
References
Gavetti, G. (2010). The new psychology of strategic leadership. Harvard business review, 89(7-8), 118-25.
London, M. & Mone, E. (2012). Leadership for today and the future. (2nd. ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
Welter, C (2014). Leadership lesson: Keeping strategic focus in a changing environment.. Forbes.com. Retrieved May 25, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2014/04/14/leadership-lesson-keeping-strategic-focus-in-a-changing-environment/.
