Organizational Development: Case Of Best Buy

Answer :

Organizational Development

A case study of Best Buy

Theories and concepts of organizational development in the current business environment:

The organizational development can be described as the set of values, theories, techniques, and strategies on the basis of the behavioral and social sciences which are developed to apply a planned change of the frame of the organizational activity. It is done with an aim to enhance the individual development and to increase the organizational performance by upgrading the behavior of its members within the organization (Al-Haddad, and Kotnour, 2015). In the present business scenarios, OD can be termed as the organizational culture. It is the response to change and a complex educational strategy which are indented to change attitude, beliefs, values, and structure of organizations so that the organization can effectively adopt and implement the innovative technologies, challenges, market and the giddy rate of change itself (Bartunek, and Woodman, 2015). Bennis has utilized the four words, which are assumed today as the major elements of organizational culture known as attitudes, beliefs, structures and values. 

Understanding the nature and implementation of planned change for improving the performance of the organization: 

There is a huge importance of nature of change and its effective implementation within the company, as it will drive the organizational performance. The planned change refers to the detailed process of implementing tools and techniques in order to manage the different resources so as to accomplish the desired business outcomes. The application of planned change incorporates the different tools of the organization, which can be used to assist the employees in order to make effective endeavors for adopting and realizing the change (Holten, and Brenner, 2015).  The planned or organizational change is all connected with the optimization of the performance standards of a company and therefore it may happen as rather due to the capability of the organization's workforce to be proactive or as a response to the environmental changes and the presence of a crisis. Whichever may be the case, it is generally performed to attain the growth and development by enhancing the performance of the organization (Cameron, and Green, 2015). 

Change is initiated for enhancing the performance of the organization and thus it enables the teams within the organization to promote curiosity & experimentation, diversity of input and ideas, etc. The change process within an organization enables the workforce to become more responsible and to get more committed to their assigned jobs. Such attributes ultimately lead to the increase in the organizational performance.   

Identify the external and internal factors which impact the procedure of organizational change and development at Best Buy

The major internal and external factors, which affect the organizational development of the Best Buy as stated below: 

Internal Factors 

The internal factors refer to the internal key elements of the organization, which has major influences on Best Buy. some of them are as follows: 

1. Mission and vision statement: The vision statement of the Best Buy is “we’re a growth company focused on better solving the unmet needs of our customers-and we reply on our employees to solve those puzzles”. However, the company lacks any proper mission statement and focus on some of the core values to achieve its objectives. These values focus on unleashing the people’s power, learning from change and challenges, showing respect, humility and integrity and having fun while being the best (Roose, 2017). For the said purpose, the company has implemented a unique strategy of store-within-a-store where big retailers like Samsung and Apple operate their departments in a Best Buy retail store (Alvesson, and Sveningsson, 2015). 
2. Organizational Culture: It also influences the organizational change or development process. The culture defines the values, beliefs, code of conducts, etc. within the organization. On this level, Best Buy holds an organizational culture where people work together to accomplish the purpose of the company as well as their life’s purpose. The company believes in maintain an environment where employees can unleash their power and maintain a diverse and inclusive culture across the organization (Hornstein, 2015). 
3.  Leadership Style: It is one of the major internal factors, which influence the organizational development. An effective leader frame and implements unique ideas or working strategies of the organization. It directly leads to the failure and success of the organizational development (Cummings, and Worley, 2014). The leadership style followed at Best Buy is focused around being more purposeful and authentic where clarity of goals and values forms the basis of directing the employees. Such an approach helps people at various levels to link their personal goals with bigger organizational goals. 
4. Nature of Workforce: The human resources are the most valuable assets of the Best Buy, which performs the wide ranges of business operations. Presently, the new generations of the workforce are more emphasizing on the human values and accountability of each workforce. Recently the company has moved towards a standard 40-week work program where the aim is to motivate every individual at the organization to sign into a “Results-Only Work Environment” (ROWE) where they were given power to decide how, when, and where they could work (Bhasin 2013). They are given an option to work in office, from home or in a park that too in any country or any place of their comfort. The initiative brought a significant change to organizational development making employees more committed and working towards the innovative idea while contributing the best to organizational goals. 

External factors:

There are several external factors that affect the organization development of a company like Best Buy. The company is engaged in several activities aiming to promote political organizations and candidates. However, while operating in the US, it is important to consider the prohibition of direct contribution to candidates in certain states. It is necessary that Best Buy focus on following the laws and managing company operations according to changing policies and political environment in the country.

Further, it is to be noted that Best Buy was significantly affected by economic slowdown and it has to identify appropriate strategies for managing different challenges relating to consumer a different points of market. Any such economic change results in change in consumer behavior that has a long lasting impact on the company (Bala and Lorange, 2012). However, Best Buy has maintained stability in revenue by reducing the workforce during crisis. 

The company is also involved in several social initiatives to support local communities and enhance educational status of children, engage them with different development activities and help youth to get job. This makes Best Buy socially acceptable holding a strong and positive image among the people in society. It is also engaged in engaging with latest technology development and use website encryption of securing transactions made by customers. 

SWOT analysis of Best Buy 

The SWOT analysis of the Best Buy will depict its major areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Such assessments are essential to consider prior initiating any change within the organization. 

Strengths: 

• Market leadership in North America
• Strong management team
• Geek Squad Support
• Establishing Geek Squad as a support service to improve the Net promoter Score
• Affordable prices of the products and services 
• Extensive adaptation of technology  

Weaknesses: 

• Lack of focus on maintaining strong relationship with vendors
• Unable to compete with newer segment of products while remaining focused on pushing smart homes and assisted living for seniors. 
• Lack of flexibility 

Opportunities: 

• Growing demand for new products
• Rising demand for E-commerce and M-commerce 
• Diversified store types offering wide ranges of products
• Emerging international markets especially developing nations

Weaknesses: 

• Cut throat competition within the industry like from Amazon.com, Apple iTunes, Netflix etc.
• Increasing popularity of digital delivery of electronic media
• Deep discount pricing by Walmart
• Direct sales of electronic products by Apple and Samsung
• Growing popularity and reduced prices of online shopping platforms

Design and structure related to organizational change and development at Best Buy 

The organization structure at Best Buy seems to be confusing as it is divided into many sub organizations like Best Buy Mobile and Geek Squad divisions. It also operates through different names in other regions like with the name of Future Shop in Canada. It is a network organization where the store level employees form the network at the base of the organization (Wells and Ellsworth, 2018). The different divisions have different structure and design where varied methods of communication thrive within the power structure of the company. The aim of such communication and design is to ensure efficient communication and networking with employees at various levels. 

The current structure of organization hampers the proper communication among employees leading to politics and issues among them. Moreover, poor communication between corporate and store level employees lead to dissatisfaction of customers, thereby hampering the organizational development. There is a need to bring change in traditional chain style network structure of Best Buy (Wells and Ellsworth, 2018).

Recommendations

It is recommended that Best Buy should bring a transformation in its organizational structure and communication strategies. The focus of communication should turn to reverse feedback also where employees receiving information are given the opportunity to share their views and suggestions to the management. This will result in directly information related to consumer needs, demands, complaints and expectations to the management that currently remain limited to store level employees. 

It is also recommended to focus on employee development programs to meet the future demand of skills in organizational talent. A focus on employee development will improve motivation and morale and provide resources with additional competences. It will also reduce the need of reducing the workforce during economic recession.

Best Buy needs to focus on finding new ‘Blue’ in the market to compete with online retailed like Amazon while focusing on better relations with suppliers, improving employee engagement and improving the cost structure of the company. The focus of building new Blue should be on accelerating growth in Canada and Mexico with exploring new developing markets. The company should maximize the multi-channel retail business and provide better service while looking into actual customer needs and expectations.