HRM 560 Strayer University Kotter Change Management Model Paper

DIAGNOSING CHANGE
HRM 560
FEBRUARY 2022
The growth of any organization is highly reliant on its ability to transform its practices
constantly. Organizational changes are effective in ensuring that businesses remain competitive
in their industry. The best way to identify issues in an organization that requires change is
through diagnosing the areas which have challenges to establish the critical strategies of adopting
change. To determine whether they demand transformation, they need to use diagnostic tools that
assess crucial business areas to ensure that they can handle change effectively. This research
paper aims to analyze Target Co. in terms of industry, the current human resource (HR) policies,
valid reasons for change management theories, and diagnostic tools for assessing the need for
organizational change.
Target Corporation
Target Corporation is a department store that has been in operation since the 1960s. It is a
public company that operates mainly in the United States, with its main headquarters in Target
Plaza, Minnesota (1). The company is in the retail industry as its stocks numerous household
items and foodstuff. Currently, Target Corporation has 1,962 stores across numerous cities and
towns. It has grown over the years to acquire at least 135,000 square feet of properties with
multiple stores across the United States. Target stores adopt a big box style of architecture which
enables it to stock various items; however, it plans to ensure that it customizes its new stores to
match the local experience for its neighborhood needs. The company has Super Target stores in
significant towns, larger stores with more checkout lanes, food courts, and expanded pharmacies.
The small?format Target stores are primarily located in cities hence are convenient for fast
shoppers.
The company also has other brands and subsidiaries such as Target General
Merchandise, Target Brands Inc., Target Capital Corporation, and Target Enterprise (1). These
brands enable the corporation to offer diversified services such as sourcing, financial services,
branding, and retail services. Currently, the company is estimated to have over four hundred
thousand employees. George Dayton founded target Corporation in 1902 as Goodfellow Dry
Goods, which was a department store. From 1902 to 1961, the Goodfellow Dry Goods was
renamed Dayton Corporation, later changed to Target Corporation. In 1962, Target’s first store
was opened in Minnesota. Over time, the company ensured that its store was fully restocked
hence offered more suitable goods for its growing customers.
Target’s policies requiring a change
Target Corporation has been in operation for more than a decade; it has remained a
successful and profitable corporation by adopting numerous improvement strategies. Its current
HR practices involve employee recruitment, workforce management, and processes alignment.
The HR department in the company aims to ensure all employees are valued and their needs are
catered for to enhance their maximum performance. With such a vast number of employees, the
company is responsible for serving its customers properly to sustain maximum sales turnover (2).
The company has a suitable recruitment procedure to attract and retain workers effectively.
However, its current employee training, health, and safety policies need to be adjusted to
accommodate its operations.
The company highly values diversity and inclusion in the workplace; as a result, it
ensures that it employs individuals with numerous capabilities. With the increase in new stores
across multiple cities and towns, the company needs to train new employees in various sections
rigorously. The stores’ HR departments should proactively undertake frequent training sessions
for its workers to make them aware of its customer services’ effect on its brand image as one of
the biggest stores in the USA. Moreover, with the onset of the coronavirus, health and safety
issues are critical in the stores (3). The company should ensure that it increases the cleaning and
sanitizing of products to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The onset of the pandemic has
resulted in new guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on ways to prevent the
spread and handle the Corona Virus.
Reasons for change
Change is unavoidable; it is essential to keep adjusting practices to drive the business
towards the most profitable techniques in organizations (4). It can remain a competitive store
chain by changing Target Corporation’s employee training methods and improving its health and
safety measures. Improving employees’ skills is very beneficial towards ensuring that consumers
can get efficient help and customer service every time they shop. Adopting modern health and
safety measures will enable the company to operate in a clean environment and a conducive
space that ensures that people are not quickly falling sick. Change management theories are
essential in identifying ideas that managers can adopt to make change a seamless process in their
organization. First, the company must continuously adopt changes to remain successful; they
must adjust their employee training programs to educate their workers on the best industry
practices.
The Lewin Change model advocates that change should be simple and focused on
shifting one’s mindset (5). Since change is a complex process, Target can educate its employees
on the need for change and offer them step by step guidelines or support in areas where there is
confusion. By enforcing a collaborative culture, the organization can maximize its diversity and
inclusive measures to adopt varying concerns from its employees. Secondly, Target needs to
incorporate change in its health and safety practices to ensure it complies with the CDC
guidelines and creates a safe environment for employees to work and consumers to shop. This
will be a very effective method in ensuring that consumers do not have health concerns when
they shop hence a strategy for boosting in-person shopping experiences. Finally, the company
should adopt change since it is aware of the challenges associated with complacency to change.
New techniques help ensure the company remains competitively advantaged.
Diagnostic tools
For an organization to adopt change, it is necessary to evaluate its current status and
withhold any oncoming shifts. The tools used to assess such readiness are identified as
organizational diagnostic tools. Target Corporation’s two most convenient diagnostic tools to
determine its readiness for change are the Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) and the
Business Improvement Review (BIR) models. The BIR system is a low-cost model that aims to
identify organizational strengths and weaknesses in various corporate sectors. It is also a very
efficient and fast method of accessing data with an easy-to-use interface hence efficient for use
by all human resources in the corporation (6). The BIR model identifies all areas of operations,
marketing, innovation, and resources in the organization, providing a detailed overall report on
the organization.
The OCI model aids in assessing employee behavior and organizational cultural
practices. Based on employees’ behaviors during customer interactions, one can identify which
skills they lack and propose better ways to deal with them. Employee engagement with other
workers in the organization is also a significant measure of the company’s values and behaviors.
The OCI model assesses its current culture and identifies areas that require a change to make it a
suitable environment for business operations (7). It also considers the suitability of the working
environments and how they influence the ability of employees to give their best output and
improve their performance. Various organizations have used and tested both models and are
more approved to provide the best results in change diagnosis.
Organizational change diagnosis
The BIR tool assesses the organization’s readiness for change by evaluating key areas
which influence its operations, such as challenges and strengths (6). The strengths of Target
Corporation based on the BIR tool include its sturdy financial capability, variety of numerous
products, corporate partnerships, and customer loyalty program. The company has been in
operations for multiple years, so it has managed to establish a stable financial position which
enables it to operate steadily. Since the company has numerous stores across various cities, it has
expanded its product portfolio to help its consumers get various commodities to purchase. The
company’s weaknesses include technological issues, high pricing, employee training issues, and
health concerns. Target has been reported to have the highest pricing compared to other stores.
Technologically, the company is lagging in the innovation of its sites hence a significant
inconvenience to the business.
Customers are critical stakeholders in any business; hence their complaints regarding
Target’s customer service affect the business operations significantly. With the onset of the
COVID-19 virus, all individuals must wear personal protective equipment such as masks and
gloves when handling consumer goods. The CDC also offers guidelines on how stores and public
spaces should operate. Based on the analysis of the company’s strengths and weaknesses using
the BIR tool, the organization is ready to adopt the required changes. Its financial capacity is a
good measure of its ability to handle both technological challenges and finance the training of
employees. The company can also incorporate the CDC guidelines since they are critical for its
brand image and the success of its operations (3). By maximizing customer loyalty, the company
can adopt measures that salvage its reputation regarding poor customer service attributed to lack
of training.
Conclusion
Target Corporation is a household corporation that has been operational for numerous
years. The change management models signify the importance of ensuring that organizations
adopt new measures to remain profitable in various industries. Target Corporation is ready for
change based on the BIR model. It has sufficient resources and information on the key areas
which require change. Therefore, it is more beneficial for the company to adopt change since it
increases its competitive advantage in the industry.

Purchase answer to see full
attachment