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Channel Assignment and Congestion Control in Mesh Networks that are Multi-Radio
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Outline
Channel Assignment and Congestion Control in Mesh Networks that are Multi-Radio
1.1 Abstract
Introduction
2.1Thesis Statement
Analysis of the problem of channel assignment and congestion and its solution
Description and analysis of Channel Assignment
Methods of solving channel congestion
Use of the Iterative approach in solving the problem of channel assignment and congestion control.
Findings of the research
Results obtained from using the MRMC-CC approach
Results obtained from using the ABL05 approach
Conclusion
Importance of carrying out the research
Advantage of solving the problem of Wireless Congestion Control
Work cited list
Channel Assignment and Congestion Control in Mesh Networks that are Multi-Radio
Abstract
Exchange of information is made easy through timely and rapid internet. The latter is a platform which provides servers and clients with the much needed disparate of information. Furthermore, according to the rules of communication, various protocols have to be related closely. This is for the benefit of ensuring that there is efficient and maximum transfer of data on the internet. Some vital elements of wireless congestion control are fairness and network utilization. Through the use of the Iterative approach channel assignments and yield rates obtain fair objectives. This is what this paper seeks to find and establish as being true.
Introduction
In many orthogonal channels that have multiple radios, the deployment of mesh networks is taking place. This is meant to ensure that high speeds are achieved. There is also a chance that interference mitigation will occur. Many flexibilities have not been explored and this is observed by the architectures that exist. Channels and radios are meant to be allocated fairly in order to control congestion and to maintain fairness. The reason for engaging in this research is that the problem is extremely complex. Furthermore, joint optimization of traffic allocations and radio channel assignments has to occur. The latter is different from the solutions, which exist for single radio.
This paper seeks to find a solution on the problem of channel assignment and congestion control. Also, it seeks to follow an approach that focuses on decomposition and iterativenss.
Analysis of the problem of channel assignment and congestion and its solution
Channel and rate assignment is a problem that needs to be solved through joint optimization. The nature of channel assignments is extremely discrete and thus, the need to study it. Studying an assignment that is fixed channel and the sub problem of congestion control will ensure a solution is found (Bertsekas, 2003. 23). The problem is referred to as being non-linear programming and it is vital in many aspects. The various multiple radios and converged solution accounts are derived from updates that are rate adapted. It also deals with channel-dependent interference and traffic distribution. The latter is possible by ensuring that traffic distribution is flows through radio paths that have been constructed. Moreover, time slots and channels have to be shared in order for traffic to occur naturally. This is possible through the feasibility conditions that exist in their different appropriate sets.
Wireless networks are gaining popularity fast, and the result is that there is congestion and heavy utilization. Bottlenecks for performance are measured by the wireless networks that are heavy utilized. The robust operation of wireless networks is understood best by the various networks used in communication. Network performance is also optimized by having the required understanding. Channel utilization is another method that can effectively solve the problem of congestion control (Wang & Palaniswami & Low, 2003.119).
Congestion control is an issue that needs to be addressed through channel utilization. In order for the network capacity to be distributed spatially, channel assignments have to be empowered by multiple radios. It is obvious that the different channel and radio exploitation transmissions are advantageous. Distribution of traffic should be conducted in a method that focuses on direction. Unfortunately, the latter still needs to be proven by researchers in this field. At every intermediate node, there is traffic that is incoming and it is referred to as total. The various links should all accept the incoming links that are split. The different radios will also accommodate the traffic that is incoming. Furthermore, the outgoing and incoming traffic is distributed as per source. The latter is also possible through conjunction of fairness requirements and source rates. The range of transmission should be within the distance of the flows. In turn, it will be possible to account for the impact achieved through induced interference.
Induced interference is present in every node, and a radio to radio path has to be constructed. It is referred to as the outer‘s’ of the node to node. ‘S’ is referred to as the source, and it is adjacent to the route known as ‘e’. The nodes have ends as well as common channels where a path has to be created. In route ‘e’ there are links, which are subsequent, and they are positioned between the nodes. The previous links are the main reason why the paths are created (Lin & Shroff, 2004). This means that the link, which exists, is known as radio to radio. The procedure of path incremental construction makes sure that all other links are interrelated to it. It extends further until the route of node-to –node is linked. This means that every source‘s’ has paths. The two sub problems are formulated through the introduction of a formulation. Node paths for assignments that are fixed channel are achieved through traffic allocation (informit.com, 2011.1). This means that the sub problem of congestion control takes place. The other sub problem is associated with assignments that are combinatorial channel discrete. The problem of optimization is a solution to congestion control derived from mapping. In turn, the radio paths are distributed further into traffic. Information on channel congestion is provided by finding the solution. It addresses the sub problem of channel assignment. The procedure that follows in interactive whereby, utilization of the overall network is successfully guaranteed. The approach used in this research is beneficial in achieving fairness and utilization of networks.
Individual rates are equal to the radio-to-radio links, and they all follow a crossing network link. The aggregate link portion is affected by the individual rates. The various radio paths are routed with the incoming traffic. The relationships that exist between the networks are in the form of generic contention (Pahlavan & Krishnamurthy, 2009.78). Channel assignment is given to source rates and radio paths, to control the sub problem of congestion control. Resources that are highly congested will no longer have traffic due to channel assignment. The option would be to make sure that the congested areas have added bandwidth. Information obtained from congestion control solves the sub problem that is heuristic. In turn, network utility will be successful and guaranteed.
Algorithms are used in channel assignment and congestion control and they are successful and guaranteed methods. The latter functions based on radio paths and assignments that are fixed channel. This procedure is of extremely low intensity thus, usage of algebraic operations that are comprehensible. On the other hand, algorithms used in channel assignments have low complexity. The search occurs in cliques that are extremely congested. Channel modifications that are favorable are selected through conditions that are eligible. Verification and manipulation of algebraic equations leads to solving the sub problem.
The findings of this research are thus interpreted by various methods that are accepted all over the world. The approach used is known as MRMC-CC, and it focuses on essential aspects of the research. This means that the multi channel and multi radio wireless mesh networks are computed in two approaches (Greenspan & Klerer, 2008. 60). The other approach is known as ABL05, and it ensures that the pairs of source destinations are computed. The latter uses the paths referred to as node to node and are involved in linear programming. The source rate that is obtained gives a maximum yield and ensures fairness is maintained. The demand vector is made to be in proportion with the weight that has been allocated.
The above approach used in this research uses formulation that is utility based. The latter ensures that fairness is maintained all the time. The path of the node to node used is single and this is due to the source destination. Congestion of networks is controlled by networks that engage in robust operations. The latter is especially beneficial when dealing with wireless networks, which are heavily congested. Rates of data, which are low, are used in frameworks for transmission. In turn, good put, and network throughput, are decreased in the network. Frame loss is achieved as a result of the nodes that allow transmission of rates of data that is low. The distances between the frames can be increased further through a signal to noise ratio. Rates of data, which are high, should be consumed when congestion is present. The implemented multirates adaption scheme functions in a unique way. The impact on work performance of the wireless congested control is high (Xu &Tian & Ansari, 2005.220). The other option, which exists, is that power transmission can be controlled by the clients. The latter ensures that high data rates are effectively utilized through transmission and data frames.
In the different scenarios, which have been witnessed, the mesh network finds that there is under utilization when the ABL05 is used. When compared to the MRMC-CC, the latter is much low as compared to the minimum rate, which is required. Furthermore, there are two reasons, which bring about under utilization. Source rates are forced upon by fairness constraints, and this occurs even in topologies that are non regular. ABL05 constraints, which are linked based, are conservative and thus, different from the ones in MRMC-CC. There is a belief that the links are interrelated in many ways. Topolog, which is based on a grid, seems to favor the ABL05 approach due to the constraints, which are involved. Spatial reuse is exploited by the paths of the node to node that are multiple (Stewart, 2000.1). Constraints that are linked based and those related to fairness are under utilized by the ABL05. The average rates of ABL05 are lower than those of MRMC-CCM, as the latter has higher yields. If the network has added resources, a difference between the two approaches increases. Network resources are utilized by the proportional fairness that exists and in a manner that is fair. If the problem of wireless communication congestion is not solved, performance will reduce drastically. Also, there is a risk that the wireless networks will degrade and become worthless. Losses might occur to the people who use wireless technologies, and especially those who use computerized systems.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the problem of wireless congestion should be addressed, as it benefits many of its users. Furthermore, it will be easy not to misjudge or misinterpret congestion of networks. Bandwidth and jitter ratio is achieved through the information feedback, which is obtained. A control mechanism for congestion control should exist in order to improve the system. The other areas of congestion control, which need to be researched, are on whether a permanent solution can be found to solve congestion control. This means that existing wireless networks will no longer have to affect various computerized systems. The community has a role to play in this issue, as it can advocate for more wireless communication networks to benefit it. Furthermore, society should use wireless communication networks that do not cause congestion. In turn, there will be an improvement in wireless communication congestion. Thus, channel assignment and congestion control are indeed problems that can be solved through proper and relevant research.
Work cited
Bertsekas, D. Nonlinear Programming. New York: Athena Scientific, 2nd edition, 2003. Print.
Xu, K. &Tian, Y. & Ansari, N. “ HYPERLINK “http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2004.07.006” Improving TCP performance in integrated wireless communications networks,” Computer Networks, 47, 2, (2005): pp. 219–237.
Greenspan, A. & Klerer, M. Et al. “ HYPERLINK “http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2008.4557043” IEEE 802.20: Mobile broadband wireless access for the twenty-first century,” IEEE Communications Magazine, 46, 7, (2008): pp. 56–63.
Stewart, R. “Stream Control Transmission Protocol.” Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), RFC 2960, 2000.
Lin, X. & Ness, Shroff. Utility maximization for communication networks with multi-path routing. IEEE Transactions on Networking, 51,5, (2006): pp 766–781.
Giannoulis, T & Salonidis, E. & Knightly, W. Congestion control and channel assignment algorithms in multi-radio multi-channel wireless mesh networks. Extended version available at http://www.ece.rice.edu/∼ag4934/agiannou/mrmc-cc-extended.pdf.
HYPERLINK “http://www.informit.com/articles/printerfriendly.aspx?p=98132” “Getting to Know Wireless Networks and Technology”. informit.com. HYPERLINK “http://www.informit.com/articles/printerfriendly.aspx?p=98132” http://www.informit.com/articles/printerfriendly.aspx?p=98132. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
Cantieni, G. Et al. Performance Analysis under Finite Load and Improvements for Multirate 802.11. Elsevier Computer Communications Journal, 28, 10, (2005) : pp 1095.1109.
Lin, X. & Shroff, B. Joint rate control and scheduling in multihop wireless networks. In Proc. Control and Decision Conference (CDC), Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas, December 2004.
Wang, W. & Palaniswami, M. & Low, S. Optimal flow control and routing in multi-path networks. Performance Evaluation, 52, 2-3, (2003):119–132.
Pahlavan, Kaveh. & Krishnamurthy, Prashant. Networking Fundamentals – Wide, Local and Personal Area Communications. New York: Wiley, 2009.Print.
Changes in organization culture at Tesco
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783766” Executive summary PAGEREF _Toc359783766 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783767” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc359783767 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783768” Company overview PAGEREF _Toc359783768 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783769” Changes in organization culture at Tesco PAGEREF _Toc359783769 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783770” The nature of organizational change brought about by innovation (multi-channel digital strategy) PAGEREF _Toc359783770 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783771” The main drivers (motivation) for this change PAGEREF _Toc359783771 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783772” The main objectives to be achieved by the change PAGEREF _Toc359783772 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783773” Key stakeholders impacted by the change PAGEREF _Toc359783773 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783774” Innovation resistance PAGEREF _Toc359783774 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783775” Resistance to change PAGEREF _Toc359783775 h 7
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783776” Causes of employee resistance to changes in organizational culture PAGEREF _Toc359783776 h 8
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783777” The change management strategies to employ when implementing the strategy PAGEREF _Toc359783777 h 9
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783778” Various types of organizational change PAGEREF _Toc359783778 h 10
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783779” How to measure the success of change management process PAGEREF _Toc359783779 h 15
HYPERLINK l “_Toc359783780” References PAGEREF _Toc359783780 h 17
Executive summaryOrganization culture is a concept that is used to refer to a collection of organizational beliefs, values, general demeanor and policies that are critical to the daily running of companies (Mullins,2010). The concept is used to refer to the general context of all activities that are done within a given firm. In this paper, we explore the concept of change management within Tesco due to the possible resistance to changes in its organizational culture. The strategic change in this case is the adoption of a multi-channel digital strategy within the operations of the retail chain. The methods of implementing this strategic change are evaluated as well as the ways of measuring the success of the suggested change management strategies.
IntroductionOrganization culture is a concept that is used to refer to a collection of organizational beliefs, values, general demeanor and policies that are critical to the daily running of companies (Mullins,2010). The concept is used to refer to the general context of all activities that are done within a given firm. In this paper, we explore the concept of change management within Tesco due to the possible resistance to changes in its organizational culture. The strategic change in this case is the adoption of a multi-channel digital strategy within the operations of the retail chain. The methods of implementing this strategic change are evaluated as well as the ways of measuring the success of the suggested change management strategies.
Company overviewTesco PLC is a leading UK general merchandise and grocery retailer. It is also the 3rd largest grocery retailer worldwide (Potter,2011). The company controls over 30% market share within the UK market where its closes rivals are ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and the Co-operative Food. Tesco is famous for its excellent loyalty and endless dedication to its clients. The company’s workplace and staff policies tailored to create an excellent shopping experience. For the sake of achieving excellence, the employees at Tesco PLC are encouraged to be extremely courteous, friendly and polite with good mannerism being a mandatory requirement.
The organization also strives a creating an excellent operating environment that is professional and yet formal. All these are reflective of the personal touch, affordability and quality nature of their product offerings. Additionally, Tesco’s organization structure has a great emphasis on organization culture. The organization structure at Tesco is hierarchical with a top down operating structure. Briefly, the organization structure at Tesco PLC is autocratic as well as formal. This organization structure and culture are what makes Tesco one of the best performing retailers worldwide.
Changes in organization culture at TescoExperts in organizational behavior, note the concept of organizational culture change to be a necessary element of every company. For performance to be optimal, adjustments must be made to existing organizational cultures. Companies must ensure that they adopt completely new changes for them to remain competitive within the contemporary and future marketplace. Armstrong (2009), for instance, reiterated that change is the only element in an organization that is constant. Kotter (2000), however, indicated that companies are in a state of constant flux. Mullins (2010) noted that the inescapability of organizational change is a constant element of every firm as a result of the quest by these firms to adapt to the new and emerging business challenges, technological innovations and new ways of doing business. Market forces such as the dynamism of products and services are what forces firms to adapt to changes. Organizational change is therefore an element that must be taken into account in the formulation of new business strategy as well as the creation of new insights. Several forces can initiate organizations within Tesco. In this paper, we concentrate on their need to align their business and marketing strategy by the adoption of a multi-channel digital strategy. This in itself is a technological innovation that can create serious changes to Tesco’s organizational culture.
The nature of organizational change brought about by innovation (multi-channel digital strategy)The work of Ellen, Bearden and Sharma (1991) argued that even though technological innovations can be seen as one of the main keys of success and survival for several firms, it can also be a key source of employee resistance. Hitachi Consulting UK noted that the adoption of a multichannel strategy is the only sure ways for UK retailers to maintain competitiveness within the current and future market place (Hitachi, 2012). The company issued a strong warning to all UK companies to adopt a strategic multi-channel approach in order for them to survive. Customers must first be taught how to engage these multichannel strategies. This must then proceeded by an effective re-orientation of the entire business operation in order to successfully deliver the identified engagement. The manner in which technology can be used in facilitating the engagement then becomes the final step. The process is noted by Hitachi Consulting Group to be greater than any other existing information technology platform initiative and should include people, system processes as well as technology changes across the entire business units such as e-commerce, marketing, customer service as well as social media (Hitachi,2012). This means that the implementation of the strategy would be enterprise-wide.
For Tesco PLC to realize this goal, it must ask itself pretty hard questions since its traditional organizational boundaries as well as responsibilities would be highly challenged. All areas of Tesco’s business (supply chain, buying and retailing operations, merchandising, finance, IT and human resources) would be affected by this change. The quest for a seamless consumer experiences as well as constant brand image would cause serious changes to Tesco’s organizational culture. Resistance to this change is therefore obvious.
The main drivers (motivation) for this changeAs noted earlier, the main driver for this change is the need to remain relevant and competitive within an increasingly competitive UK and global market place. Hitachi Consulting UK noted that the adoption of a multichannel strategy is the only sure ways for UK retailers to maintain competitiveness within the current and future market place (Hitachi, 2012). The company issued a strong warning to all UK companies to adopt a strategic multi-channel approach in order for them to survive. Customers must first be taught how to engage these multichannel strategies. This must then proceeded by an effective re-orientation of the entire business operation in order to successfully deliver the identified engagement. The manner in which technology can be used in facilitating the engagement then becomes the final step.
The main objectives to be achieved by the changeThe multi-channel approach would allow Tesco’s customers to shop from wherever they want (be it in-store, at home, from the company’s online catalogue, through their Smartphone or PCs). The system would allow consumers to locate their preferred products easily and shop online as well as order their products for delivery right straight to their doorsteps. All of the company’s digital marketing as well as PR initiatives would seamlessly be integrated. An elaborate mix of multi-channel strategies such as in-store advertisements, search engine optimization approaches, search engine marketing strategies, pay per click advertising as well as social media would be employed. The advantages of using this a multi-channel approach are improved sales and business performance, the ability to share all forms of actionable information as the ability to come up with a better attribution model that can help Tesco to gain a better strategic foresight. After all, the future of shopping is argued by Deloitte to lie within the digital realm. According to a research carried out by Deloitte, multi-channel customers spend about 82% (averagely £116) more money in each of their transactions as compared to the in-store ones. The contemporary multi-channel consumer is claimed by Deloitte to be well informed about their shopping and this, ultimately results in higher volume and value of their purchases.
Key stakeholders impacted by the changeIn order to determine the key stakeholders who would be impacted by the change, a stakeholders analysis is quite necessary. A stakeholder analysis is a process that helps us to determine the various individuals who would be affected by the introduction of the multi-channel digital strategy within the operations of Tesco PLC. A quick look at the scenario indicates that the implementation of the multi-channel digital strategy would be enterprise-wide. The specific areas whose operations would be directly affected in the company are supply chain, buying and retailing operations, merchandising, finance, IT and human resources. This means that the key stakeholders who would be impacted by the change are Tesco employees from various departments and customers. It is therefore important to evaluate the impact that this change would have on these key stakeholders.
As noted earlier, technological innovation is often seen as the secret to success and survival for most companies. This is regardless of whether such a technology is to be used for internal or external users. The adoption of any technological innovation should and must take consideration of the final user’s reaction. According to the work of Mahajan, Muller, and Wind (2000), a vast majority of technological innovations have experienced great failure in the marketplace. This has happened without regard to the benefits that they have or may have brought to the firms or the economy. One of the main causes of innovation failure in the marketplace is customer resistance to these innovations (Sheth, 1981). A multi-channel strategy is a concept that relies on a multiplicity of technological innovations.
Innovation resistanceAccording to Gatignon and Robertson (1989), resistance to innovation is a perfect case of resistance to institutional or organizational change. This is for the reason that innovation is a cause of changes in consumption as well as production. Resistance to change is defined by Zaltman and Duncan (1977) as any behavior aimed at maintaining the current state of affairs in the presence of great pressure to modify the current state. Resistance to organizational change is therefore, a purely normal process or reaction of people to any changes that may interfere with the prevailing equilibrium of organizational activities as noted by Watson (1971). Innovation resistance on the other hand takes place when people resist the various changes that are associated with a given innovation but not the rejection of the innovation in itself. During the course of innovation diffusion, resistance is normally experienced at the stage right before adoption, as indicated in the work of Woodside and Biemans (2005). If the vendor of a given innovation is incapable of overcoming the resistance, then its adoption may be delayed or completely fail. Chances of multi-channel digital innovation creating resistance within Tesco are therefore real.
Resistance to changeThe contemporary global economy is rife with changes within the participating organizations. The changes are continuous and swift. Due to the reason that change is part of organizational dynamism, employees and customers who resist these changes may ultimately impede the operations of these companies. Individuals can never change overnight. People change gradually and it takes them time to acclimatize to the new behavior set as well as work-defined patterns. In this paper, our focus is the effect of organizational change on employees and how to manage the resistance associated with the adoption of new changes within Tesco as an organization. Care must be taken to manage organizational culture change due to the fact that the process can create resistance and skepticism and thereby make it impossible to successfully implement various organizational improvements (such as the adoption of a multi-channel strategy) (Folger & Skarlicki, 1999).
Causes of employee resistance to changes in organizational cultureThere are several causes of resistance to change within an organizational setting. These particular factors can be categorized into two main groups- organizational and individual sources. The individual sources of resistance emanate from fundamental human traits like needs, perceptions, personalities as well as needs. These categories of human traits are inherently ingrained deeply into a person’s behaviors and core beliefs. They are also not easy to manipulate. For instance, there are employees who believe that the adoption of any kind of technological innovation would result in layoffs and forceful retrenchments. The adoption of a multi-channel digital strategy could therefore, be perceived as a threat to their jobs. Other examples of individual sources of resistance to change are fear of the unknown, security, economic reasons as well as selective processing of information. Security in this case refers to an individual’s need to experience safety within their working environment (Robbins & Judge, 2010).Issues like job security are therefore what might be the main source of concern among a certain class of workers at Tesco. Economic factors on the other hand are a source of change resistance due to individual reasons like the fear of not performing new tasks in the best way possible. This they feel could get them either demoted or replaced altogether. Tesco employees in the marketing and sales force may therefore feel inadequate against technology that would be brought about by the multi-channel strategy.
The change management strategies to employ when implementing the strategyChange management is the elaborate study of the reasons why firms require change, how those change influences them as well as how they should respond to those changes within their environment. All stakeholders within a given firm or organization have a key role to play in the effective and successful realization of change management. In order for Tesco to succeed in implementing change management, it must engage in doing the following;
Establishing a very clear change management strategy both at its management level while also communicating this shared vision to the entire organization
Realizing that effective communication the key to a successful implementation of any given change management strategy.
All Tesco managers must beat the temptation of resisting participation of reaching a decision during the very early stages of involvement. Usually, there are two main advantages for allowing all sorts of early participation to occur during the change process. This is because it encourages stakeholders to have a sense of project ownership
The creation of an open climate that is necessary for expressing individual apprehension as well as concerns and the application of positive effects of thoughts and understanding of the given organization.
It is also important for Tesco to set goals that are quite clear for individuals or workers to aim at
Training should be viewed as an important investment in the developing of skills as well as creation of an alternative organizational type.
Various types of organizational changeIn order to fully understand the best strategies for implementing organizational change at Tesco, it is important that we outline the various type sof organizational changes in existence. First, we must note that there are several ways of grouping organizational change. The property understanding of the actual nature of organizational change is critical to the proper determination of a suitable strategy. These are the different types of organizational change;
Incremental changes
The concept of incremental change could be a major and even highly important change. However, it is repetitive and gradual. Change if done incrementally, may help in stopping all aspects of employee resistance.
Strategic change
According to Pettigrew and Whipp (1991) strategic change is a very wide concept. This is because it is long term and can be used in addressing issues that are enterprise-wide. The ability of an organization to accurately determine and comprehend the various competitive forces at work as well as how these forces change over a period can be associated with the ability of a business operation to rally as well as utilize the available resources for a given competitive response over time. All organizations must within this line of thought, expect change. The proper planning as well as management of the concept of organizational change must be made a critical part of organizational strategy.
Lewin’s Force Field Model
According to this model, an equilibrium must first be interfered with in a rather planned way for change to be realized. This is accomplished by strengthening the change forces while also weakening the forces that act against organizational change. According to this model, the following are the key processes;
Unfreeze – the process that effectively alerts a system to the actual need for realizing a give change
Change – the development of new responses on the basis of new information.
Refreeze – the establishing of change through the introduction of new responses into the concerned personalities.
The continuous change model
According to this model, the top leaders within a given organization are critical in the process of articulating the mission and strategic vision of a given company. They must discuss the main changes that are important in the meeting of corporate objectives with the other employees while also telling them the suitable alternatives and the most likely results of the process as noted by Kotter (1995).
The Emergent approach of change
According to this strategy, Tesco’s management has a vital role in the advancement of change agenda. As Tsoukas and Chia, (2002) noted, this observation is expressed and derived from the ‘emergent approach’ of change management. It is generally known that there exists a scope for the initiation as well as implementation of change in a bottom-up approach as opposed to the opposite.
Kotter’s model
According to this model, the change process involves a series of eight steps. The steps include;
1. Establishing of urgency
2. Establishing an alliance
3. Creating a vision as well as strategy for organizational change
4. Communicating this vision as well as organizational strategy clearly.
5. Removing obstacles
6. Production of noticeable signs of the improvement in terms of short-term goals
7. Adhering to the process of change and avoiding quitting when circumstances are tough
8. Cultivation as well as determining a new culture to help in supporting organizational improvements together with the innovations that are being instilled.
Overall, there are four major steps that Tesco must involve itself in for the change management process to be successful. The first process involves communicating to its employees and customers in a clear and quite straightforward manner the importance as well as need for the change process. This process must take place in a civilized manner without crating any dramatic pictures. All Tesco employees must visualize and feel assured by the senior management that the situation is under control. They have to be assured that everything that is to be changed is for their best interest of the company. In the process, the employees must be acknowledged and be heard. The communication process must therefore be interactive.
The second step involves the provision of reinforcement of organizational support for the change process. The transitions that people face during the change process must be considered at this stage. It is important to note that whenever change takes place, people usually need adequate time to absorb the meaning of these changes. It is important to note that some of the workers may get into a negative spiral. Tesco must therefore provide such employees with the support and resources that they require to succeed and cope . This can be done by means of internal sessions with their senior management or training opportunities for the workers to learn the required new skills that are necessary for change.
The third step involves the reinforcement of the positive through the recognition of both individuals as well as groups who need to embrace the given change. This means that at Tesco, the employees who demonstrate great performance during the transition phase would eventually be recognized through promotions and other incentives.
The forth process involves making sure that Tesco establishes various measures of organizational or change management success.
The reasons why change was important at Tesco
There are various reasons why change is important at Tesco.They involve the following;
The creation of better value for their customers
As part of the company’s specific strategy for retaining its clientele and also attract new ones, it had to adopt the multi-channel strategy as part of its value creation process. This is what led to the adoption of the multi-channel strategy.
A growing customer base
Tesco’s success in the present time can be partly attributed to the rapidly growing clientele vase. The multi-channel strategy is suitable since it would allow the company to target a larger customer base without any physical limitations.
Technological innovations
In regard to the growth and advancements in technology, it is critical for companies to use advanced technologies for them to become successful. The company needs to implement the multi-channel strategy for it to improve its operational throughput.
Competition
Competition is a common factor in the triggering of organizational change worldwide. Tesco needs to use the multi-channel digital strategy to leverage its performance and to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors like ASDA.
Labor costs
One of the main business objectives of every enterprise is profit maximization. Tesco needs to improve on its operational efficiency both at back and front-end. The multi-channel digital strategy would allow the company to reduce the number of staff needed for functions such as marketing, order processing etc.
How to measure the success of change management processAccording to Rick (2012) measuring is the initial process in the quest for absolute control and eventual improvement of every organization. Some of the common measures for the success of change management strategies are the achievement of the set project goals and objectives, the implementation time as well as checking to what degree the expenditure is within the initial budgetary allocation.
Several change management experts advise that it is important to measure various activities like the number of employee communication sessions that are held. The main challenge is usually the measurement of the effectiveness of change management operations that are marked by cases of non-events. These includes the measurement of employees who are not resisting organizational changes, the measurement of valued employees who are not leaving the organization, measurement of projects that are not being abandoned, measuring rediuctions in productivity in the implementation stage as well as measuring the number of customers who are not negatively affected.
In order to assess the success of change management, one needs to measure the success of the individual transitions as a response to the changes. Whenever a given organization is implementing change, the change comes into live one individual at a time. Each of the affected workers must go through an intense personal transition for them to adopt any given change. Organizational success is therefore a cumulative outcome of these individual transitions. Change is therefore aimed at realizing successful individual transition.
In order to effectively measure the extent of individual transitions, the company must first define these transitions, measure the nature of individual progress and then measure the cumulative impact of these transitions.This information can be gathered by means of interviews with a representative samples of the affected stakeholders as well as via individual surveys.
The level and nature of individual progress as well as cumulative impact must be repetitively measured during the project lifecycle for the project effectiveness to be evaluated objectively. An effective as well as useful measurement regime must focus on how the various change management initiatives are contributing to the overall improvement of organizational outcomes.
The other techniques involve the use of benchmarking as well as gap analysis techniques. The benchmarking process involves comparing Tesco’s performmanbce with those of ASDA and other competitors. The firms must however belong to the same category. A gap analysis can also be used in measuring the gap between Tesco at present at where it should be in the future.
References
Armstrong, M.,(2006), ‘Human Resource Management’, London, Kogan Page
Folger,R. Skarlicki,DP (1999) “Unfairness and resistance to change: hardship as mistreatment”, Journal of Organizational Change
Gatignon, H., & Robertson, T. S. (1989) Technology diffusion: an empirical test of competitive effects. Journal of Marketing, 53(1), 35–49.
Hitachi (2012). UK Retailers Need to Adopt a Multi-Channel Strategy to Survive, warns Hitachi Consulting UK. Accessed on 22nd |June, 2013 from HYPERLINK “http://www.hitachiconsulting.co.uk/newsDetails.cfm?EID=918” http://www.hitachiconsulting.co.uk/newsDetails.cfm?EID=918
Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review
Mullins, L. J. (2010) Management & Organizational Behavior: 9th Ed. U.S.A.:Pearson Prentice Hall
Pettigrew, A. and Whipp, R., (1991). Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford
Rick,T (2012).How to measure change management success. HYPERLINK “http://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/change-management/”http://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/change-management/
Robbins & Timothy A. Judge., (2010) Organizational Behaviour, 14th Edition
Tsoukas, Haridi o s and Robert Chia. (2002). “On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking
Organizational Change.” Organization Science 13:567-582.
Watson, G. (1971), “Resistance to Change”, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 4, May – June, pp. 745 – 766.
Woodside, A. G. and Biemans, W. G. (2005). “Modeling Innovation, Manufacturing, Diffusion, and Adoption/Rejection Processes”, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 20, No. 7, pp. 380 – 393.
Zaltman, G. and Duncan, R. (1977), Strategies for Planned Change, Wiley, Toronto.
smooth transitions
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Some students seem make very smooth transitions from their writing in high school to writing in college, and we all heartily wish that all of us find college writing easy and compatible to what we have been used to. But other students are usually puzzled and also frustrated by their experiences in writing for their college classes. Only months earlier, their writing was winning praise; but now the instructors are dissatisfied, and are constantly saying that the writing isn’t quite “there” yet, and also saying that the writing is “lacking something.” We haven’t changed in college–our writing is still excellent and mechanically sound, while our descriptions are accurate, and we are saying smart things.
But the instructors are still not happy. Some of the criticism comes in a way that is easy to understand as it is easy to predict that the standards at college are going to be somehow higher than in high school. It is not just a matter of higher standards: As often, what our instructors are asking of us is not just something better, but something very different. If that is the case, then we won’t succeed merely by being more or extra intelligent or more skillful at doing what we did in high school. Instead, we will need to direct our skills and intelligence to a new task.
Most of the times, this struggle occurs because college professors have varying expectations regarding the structure and the argument of writing than those that are usually found in high schools. College writing usually differs significantly from high school writing in several ways that will be explored below.
In high school, you are taught to construct five paragraph essays and many other short forms of writing. College writing strongly and aggressively discourages this five-paragraph essay format, and instead pushes the students to break out of these limits that have been imposed by such a rigid structure. This introduction, three-supporting-points/, and conclusion strategy is simply not practical and applicable for college assignments. College students should be prepared to explore the alternative strategies in writing. Generally, there exists fewer rules and regulations that are imposed in college. We will be expected to make and stick to our own schedule, and keep up on all our work. Professors expect us to be in class to learn. And whether or not we learn is our responsibility. Many students, after a short period of adjustment, settle into a balanced lifestyle of good work and play. Those who do not usually do not make it through their first year.
In high school, we learnt to include a thesis statement in papers, and usually somewhere near the end of the first paragraph. Likewise, most college writing also depends on thesis statements, but they usually look very different from the statements we were used to seeing and writing. A typical high school thesis statement looks like this: In this paper, I am going to discuss Abigail Williams’ motive in The Crucible. On the other hand, a typical college thesis might look more like this: In The Crucible, Abigail Williams strongly denounces Elizabeth Proctor and the other women from her village in one attempt to win John Proctor for herself.
This shows that the sample college thesis statement acts to set up a specific argument and also takes a position on the argument. Additionally, it gives the reader some warning that regard the kind of evidence expected in the remainder of the paper. Readers expect, at minimum, the information about the relationship between Abigail and John, relationship between Elizabeth and John, and also between Abigail and Elizabeth. College thesis statements should always be specific and opinionated, as well as deniable.
A paper in high school might have involved the collection of information from Yahoo! or from Google and also re-presenting the information in one book-report format–that is, research for sake of research. College research papers are usually nearly always argument-based: meaning you collect evidence so that you can make a point, and not just to prove that you found five sources. Moreover, all college papers require a different and more scholarly level of source material. While the Internet is a great research tool, college students should and must learn the difference between the unreliable “free web” sources and the more reliable “scholarly” sources. Anything the library pays for through all subscription services is generally an acceptable research source. Scholarly and also professional-level books, websites and all peer-reviewed journals are even better.
Though it varies by professor, most of the college papers are usually typed, double-spaced, and with standard margins. They are usually in the 12-point font, and in either Times New Roman or Arial. Unless the professors specifically ask for one, papers are generally submitted without a cover page; and similarly, college papers rarely include the plastic binders or other types of folders. Graphics, such as charts or clipart, maybe permitted, but they should be professional looking and not count as page space.
References
Vincennes University, (2009). Some Differences between Writing in High School and In
College. Retrieved from www.vinu.edu/differences-between-college -high-school on 5 August, 2013.