Strategic Objectives and Change Needs for Samson Media

This article discusses the strategic objectives and change needs for Samson Media, a publisher of upmarket fashion magazines. It covers the change management process, publishing business in Australia, PESTLE analysis, barriers to proposed changes, and strategies for embedding change into an organization. The article also includes a questionnaire to assess employee readiness for change.

Assessment one
Introduction of the business
Samson Media is a publisher of several upmarket fashion magazines. It has strong links with
a number of high profile fashion houses whose products are featured in the magazines and
also provide a significant source of advertising revenue. Readers of the magazines are
predominantly 35 – 54 year old women.
Why changes are required
Change is the need of the hour for every individual, every organization. Engaging in the same
old methodology which is turning to be obsolete can lead to failure. This need to change is of
highest priority. The failure in recognizing the very urgent requirement to change heads to
many serious, critical problems. Change helps the organisation to be competitive in the
market and to be more effective and efficient in their operations.
An overview of the change management process
The change management process is the sequence of steps or activities that a change
management team or project leader follow to apply change management to a change in order
to drive individual transitions and ensure the project meets its intended outcomes. The below
elements have been identified from research as key elements of a successful change
management process.

Read the case study given and analyse the company’s strategic objectives and identify
the change needs.
 Enact a transformational change of the company that will convert all magazines to a
digital format only.
 Relocate to a smaller office.
Write what kind of changes are required for the business and also write the reasons
after strategic objectives of the business:

Some of the kind of changes required are:
 Focus on health and beauty, fashion and celebrity gossip.
 Some free content but full access available only on a subscription basis.
 Additional features available to subscribers such as video clips, podcasts and discussion
Reasons could be:
 Decreasing sale,
 Decreasing profit
 Increasing competition
Brief research about publishing business in Australia
The Book Publishing industry has contracted over the past five years. Industry revenue is
forecast to decline at an annualised 1.5% over the five years through 2017-18, to $1.4 billion.
The way consumers read and purchase books has changed significantly over this period.
Consumers have been increasingly buying print books and ebooks online rather than
shopping at local bookstores. Ebooks can be read using readers or tablets. Because many
books can be stored on one device, ebooks offer customers greater convenience. Parallel
import restrictions (PIRs) protect the local publishing industry.
Conduct PESTLE Analysis for Samson media.
Political / Legal
Booksellers in Australia have long lobbied the Australian Federal Government on two
significant political/legal issues that impact upon the industry’s ability to compete,
particularly with overseas retailers:
 Imposition of GST on overseas consumer purchases.
 Parallel importation.
Economic
The economic climate of the past five years has not been conducive to growth in the print
bookselling industry in Australia. This period has been characterized by a weaker global
economy, instability in global markets, a drop in consumer confidence, and subdued
discretionary spending. This is because of the drop in the readers and popularity of digital
books.
Social

From a demographic perspective, Australia’s population is ageing with a significant number
of Baby Boomers entering retirement in the next ten years. These retirees are more
financially independent than their forebears due to their access to compulsory
superannuation. With more time on their hands and with the benefit of an expendable income,
there is likely to be continued demand for physical books from retirees, presenting
opportunities for print booksellers. Thus Samson media still have market left for it.
Technology
Technology has impacted significantly on the print bookselling industry, a traditional
industry with little inherent capacity to reinvent itself. Not only has technology brought us the
eCommerce boom – the online sale of physical goods – but it has also spawned numerous
close book substitute products – the electronic book and the audio book – that threaten the
very existence of print.However, the popularity of digital books is result in decrease
popularity of physical books and thus Samson has to make initiative in being digital.
What barriers you could face for proposed changes and possible strategies to overcome
or address them. You may use below template for this.
Proposed change What could be the barriers How to overcome it
Digitalisation of the
magazine
 Lack of employee
involvement and
skilled labour
 Unknown current
state
 Lack of planning
 Better planning
 Training and
development of the
employees
 Analysis of market
and industry
Inclusion of more fashion
related content
 Unskilled labour
 Resistance to
change
 Training and
development
 Better hiring of
skilled labour
 Effective change
implementation
plan
How an organisation can check their readiness for change. This should include
examination of how organisational behaviour can impact change.
Change readiness is the ability to continuously initiate and respond to change in ways that
create advantage, minimize risk, and sustain performance. Each organization has unique
characteristics that make change management either easy or challenging. These
organizational attributes are important to understand so that you can educate your team and
sponsors about potential obstacles. This assessment would cover areas such as:

 Culture and value system
 Capacity for change (and how much change is already taking place)
 Leadership styles and power distribution
 Residual effects of past changes
 Middle management's predisposition toward the change
 Employee readiness for change
Employee behavior and organizational change are very much related concept. It has been
analyzed that if the employees are not interested in making the change than they resists.
There are other types of behavior also such as fear of failure and loss by the employees, work
burden etc. drives the resistance amongst the minds and behavior of the employees regarding
the change.
Strategies for embedding change into an organisation:
Kotter’s 8 step change model, developed by John Kotter is powerful organisational change
management tool.
1. Create a sense of urgency
This first step of Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model is the most important step according to John
Kotter. By making employees aware of the need and urgency for change, support will be
created.
2. Create a guiding coalition
It is a good idea to establish a project team that can occupy itself with the changes the
organization wants to implement.
3. Create a vision for change
Formulating a clear vision can help everyone understand what the organization is trying to
achieve within the agreed time frame.
4. Communicate the vision
The most important objective of step 4 of Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model is to create support
and acceptance among the employees.
5. Remove obstacles

Before change is accepted at all levels, it is crucial to change or, if necessary, remove
obstacles that could undermine the vision.
6. Create short-term wins
Nothing motivates more than success. Create short-term goals so that the employees have a
clear idea of what is going on.
7. Consolidate improvements
According to John Kotter many change trajectories fail because victory is declared too early.
However, change is a slow-going process and it must be driven into the overall corporate
culture. Quick wins are only the beginning of long-term change. An organization therefore
needs to keep looking for improvements. Only after multiple successes have been achieved, it
can be established that the change is paying off.
8. Anchor the changes
The last step of Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model. A change will only become part of the
corporate culture when it has become a part of the core of the organization. Change does not
come about by itself. Values and standards must agree with the new vision and the
employees’ behaviour must provide a seamless match. Employees must continue to support
the change. Regular evaluation and discussions about progress help consolidate the change.
Prioritisation of the recommended changes including your reasoning.
Digitalisation of magazine:
Reasons: competitive edge, more reach, reduced cost, largesse market
Increasing fashion content:
Reasons: Large youth market, more interest by the customers, attractive magazines
Change management and implementation plan
Name of the
change and
activities
involved
Stakeholders
involved
Revision
history if
any
What type of
change it is
policy/process /
people/system
What
resources
are
required
Cost
and
benefits
of the
change
Timelines to
complete the
activities for the
change

Digitalisation: Top
management,
designing
department,
marketing
department
- Transformational
change
SEO team,
technical
team
$106,000 6 months
Fashion content: Top
management,
marketing
department,
content
developers,
editors
Remedial change Content,
market and
industry
news,
efficient
workforce
$155,000 6 months
Skilled labour
hiring:
HR
department
Organisation
wide change
Recruitmen
t system
and tools
$100,000 2 months
Training and
development
HR
department
Remedial change Training
system,
training
portfolio
etc.
$100,000 2 months
Risk management plan
Change activities Risk related with
that
Likelihood of the
risk and
consequences
How to mitigate it
Skilled labour hiring Lack of
appointments and
lack of efficiency in
judging the person
Moderate Appointing experienced
candidates
Digitalisation Technical faults High Development of highly
efficient technical team
Fashion content involvement Content flaws and
research issues
High More and more research
Training Training need
identification issues
Moderate Effective training plan
Communication and training plan
What to
communicate
How to
communica
Who will
be
What
training
Which
training
Who will
deliver the
How
much
Expected
training

te responsible is
required
strategy
to use
training the
trainin
g will
cost
outcomes
Communicatio
n about the
change
Thorough
meetings
Top
manageme
nt and
department
managers
Change
acceptanc
e
Seminar
s
Top
manageme
nt
$10,00
0
Reduction
in change
resistance
Communicatio
n about the
roles and
responsibilitie
s of each and
every person
Through
meetings
and mails
Managers Technical
skills
Teaching
s and
learning
Departmen
t head $10,00
0
Effective
performanc
e of
employees
Reporting protocol
What would you report?
When would you report and whom would you report
To: CEO id
CC: The entire department heads
Subject: approval and feedback on change implementation
Hello!!
The purpose of this mail is to seek the approval from your side regarding the change
management implementation plan that needs to be implemented in our company. I
would like to have the reply from your side soon so that we can proceed with the further
steps. Please provide the feedback also.
Regards
………..
Assessment 2:

Questionnaire:
1. Are you aware of the change?
2. According to you, the change would be effective or not?
3. What are the issues you are facing regarding the change?
4. What are your roles and responsibilities?
5. What are positive and negative of change?
6. What are your suggestions regarding the change?
7. What more changes you are expecting from the company?
8. How can you involve yourself more in the whole process?